A/N- So, this starts after Kasumi met Jiraiya and Naruto. Jiraiya sent her to the Village Hidden in the Horizon, to talk to the Suikage. I don't actually have any of the original characters from the series in this story at the moment, except for being mentioned in passing, I may have some come in later, I don't know. I hope you enjoy.

Chapter One

I looked around at the village. The buildings were white washed and I saw people running along the roofs, leaping from one building to the next. There were also people taking the more conventional route on the streets below. There were little kids running in between passersby, chasing each other and laughing hysterically. I smiled a little sadly at that, remembering my home and the way I had done the same thing with the pups, wrestling and playing chase the monkey.

I couldn't help but wonder how such a happy, peaceful village could have produced the monsters that had killed my family? Was it really this village? Had Jiraiya-sama sent me to the wrong village? But, no, I could see the same symbol on the forehead protectors of many of the adults.

I sighed and glanced down to my side, "Ready?" I asked the wolf waiting at my side.

She flicked her tail in the wolf's way of saying yes.

I nodded and we started forward, merging in with the crowd. I looked around for the building Jiraiya-sama had told me would be where I could most likely find someone to help me.

I spotted it then, a tall gray tower that over looked much of the village. "Come on, Eboni!" I started to run, my wolf right on my heels.

When we reached the building I stared up at it. It was even bigger than it had seemed when I first saw it. I had to crane my neck just to see the top. I wondered how I had missed it in the first place.

When I went in, I walked up to a desk that had a young woman sitting behind it, looking through a stack of papers that was at least three feet tall. "Umm?" I said trying to politely get her attention. I didn't want to get thrown out until I had found out where the Suikage was.

She finally looked up after my fifth attempt at getting her attention. "Oh, I didn't see you, can I help you?" she asked.

The woman had short brown hair, and green eyes that peered at us through thin rectangular black glasses. She had a trim figure and looked like you could snap her arm like a twig, but something told me she was stronger then she appeared. She had a pencil stuck behind one ear, her hands were smudged with ink and she had a black streak across her cheek where she must have wiped her ink stained hands.

"Yeah, umm, where could I find the Suikage?" I asked.

She started searching through the mess of papers on her desk. "Aha!" she exclaimed, holding up a slightly crumpled piece of paper. "Here it is. Let's see…" she ran her finger along the characters written on the paper. "What's your name?"

"Kasumi."

"Sorry, but you don't appear to have an appointment."

"No, I just got here, but I need to talk to the Suikage now."

"I'm sorry but I can't let anyone in to see him with out an appointment."

"Can't you ju…"

I was interrupted by another voice, "Rina! When are those two lazy bums getting back?"

The woman whose name must be Rina, sighed and then turned and yelled back "Arashi and Sho are supposed to be back today at some point!"

"When?" the voice yelled back, it sounded male.

"How should I know? They do whatever they want!" Rina called back. She sounded pretty annoyed and I wondered whom she was talking to, and whom they were talking about.

"Ugh! I need to talk to them, dang it!" he complained. "You would think they'd be more considerate of they're Suikage?" He said this more quietly but I still heard it. I glanced at Eboni and she nodded.

We took off up the stairs before Rina remembered us and tried to stop us. Not that she really could have. When we got to the top of a very long staircase, we came out into a round room, with a desk at the center of it, a guy was sitting behind it his bare feet up and a book in hand. I couldn't see much of his face because of the book, but I could make out a black head of hair.

I walked up and dropped the letter Jiraiya-sama had given me on the desk in front of me. "Here, I was told to let you read this first."

The book was slowly lowered to reveal blue eyes, which studied me up and down, "And you are?"

"My names Kasumi."

"Surname?" he asked.

"Just Kasumi." I replied in a toneless voice.

"Alright, and what's this?"

"Obviously not a letter," I replied sarcastically.

He just looked at me, and then opened the letter and started reading it, setting his book down and giving me a quick glimpse of his face. He looked young, maybe a few years older than me, with a few days growth of beard and a strong jaw line.

I watched what I could see of his face for any expression while he read the letter, but it stayed blank until he got to the end. Then his eyebrows went up in surprise.

"You know the Toad Sage?" he asked in surprise.

"I only met him a week or so ago on my way here but yes I do know him." I wasn't really sure why that merited such surprise, but I didn't feel like questioning it.

"So, what do you need to know?" he asked. I assume Jiraiya-sama must have told him I needed information, since I never did get to read that letter.

"I'm looking for 3 men, who I believe come from your village." I replied carefully keeping my tone neutral I didn't want to give away my intent before he told me what I needed to know.

"What do they look like?"

"One has black hair worn in a pony tail, another has bright blue hair and soulless black eyes; the third has spiky brown hair. The blue haired one uses fire jutsu and the pony-tailed one it extremely good with weapons, as for the third he…" I broke off as 2 people walked into the office. I turned around and stiffened.

One had silver spiky hair and golden eyes, but I barely noticed him. My attention immediately focused on the other one. He had green eyes and long black hair pulled back in a ponytail.

I heard Eboni give a low growl. I didn't respond. I just moved, a kunai in my hand aimed for the guy's throat. But before I could get there, the guy moved and I felt a force slam into me. I hit the wall, but picked myself up, instantly moving aside, dodging the fist that slammed into the wall where my head had been. I sent a foot into my attackers stomach, knocking the wind out of him. I caught a glimpse of silver and then a Kunai was pressed to my neck. "Don't move or I'll kill you," a voice hissed in my ear.

"I would love to see you try," I spat back. Then I closed my eyes and let my body dissolve into mist.

The guy stared at the spot where I used to be. "A clone?"

I reformed behind him, "Not really," I replied as I performed some hand signs and froze him solid. "Now, where is Ponytail?" I asked looking around.

"Here!" Eboni growled I looked over to where she stood facing off with said guy.

I walked over; as I did I glanced around and saw the Suikage still sitting at his desk, apparently reading his book. I looked back in time to see a wall of black fur come flying into me. I grunted and pushed Eboni off me. "You ok?"

"Fine," she wined, trying to get up. She got part way there before collapsing with a whimper; I looked at her more closely, noticing several gashes on her legs and a deep slash across her side. I ground my teeth. Rage was pouring into me, instilling me with an icy calm. I looked up at the man who had done this to my friend, at one of the men who had killed Ayame, the only human mother I had ever known.

"I'm going to kill you." I said with quiet eerie voice. I saw fear streak across his face. " You killed Ayame and now you hurt Eboni, again. Tell me where the other two are and I'll make it quick, otherwise…." I let the unfinished threat hang in the air.

Ponytail looked at me in confusion. "Ayame…? Other two? What are you talking about?" he asked, as if he really didn't know what I was talking about.

"Ayame, one of the women you and your two buddies, killed about three weeks ago. Remember? She was with her squad, you killed them too, and the other squad we sent after them, you murdered them!" I almost screamed the last part, launching myself at him, a kunai in each hand.

He dodged, slicing a long thin blade at me as he did. " I have no idea what you're talking about! I haven't killed anyone!" he shouted.

"Liar!" I screamed dodging the sword and throwing one of my kunai as I did. It traced a thin red line on his face that quickly grew into a stream of blood.

Thunk! I look to where the kunai stuck, its tip buried in the ice I had formed around the silver-haired guy. Crack, crick, crack! I watched as thin cracks spread out, growing wider, until the ice shattered in a small explosion of ice crystals.

Shoot, I thought, now I have to fight two people!

The cloud of white particle suddenly burst into brilliant light, nearly blinding me. When my vision cleared I saw a figure, lightning running up and down his body, the light reflecting off the ice shards in blinding prisms. "Ooohh, this is going to be fun!" the figure yelled.

Then he vanished, or seemed to. I realized his intent to late and was hit by a lightning charged fist. I was flung into the air only to be met by a foot, slamming me down. I lost track of the hits I took and ignored the pain focusing inward on the inner stillness I always have inside me. I slowly pulled it out, and let the energy around me fill that place, allowing me to take in more power. I would need that power to heal Eboni; I had been too rash to fight them head on.

When I came back to the world, I saw a knee coming at my face. I dodged, performing a hand seal, then I blew hard. A roiling, white cloud spewed from my pursed lips, engulfing the entire room. The temperature dropped at least thirty degrees and frost started to accumulate on everything. In the thick mist, I ran silently to Eboni. I placed a hand on her injured side and concentrated pulling the natural chakra from my surroundings and concentrated it on her injury, healing her as I did. I moved to the other major injuries, working fast. When I was done, Eboni got up shook herself, and then faded into mist. I joined her, searching out our enemies in secret. I found Ponytail first, and formed silently behind him. I had started making rapid hand signs when suddenly the Suikage stood in front of me.

"Stop, I don't feel like having one of my best ninja killed," He said. He had a hand out, reaching for me. I backed up, that's when I saw the eyes. His eyes were red with black, spiraled triangles ringing the pupils.

I froze, I didn't know what those eyes meant but I knew it wasn't good and that I was no match for this man. I could feel the power rolling off him.

Ponytail whirled around at the sound of his Suikage's voice, his eyes widened when he saw both of us standing behind him.

"Besides, Sho wouldn't kill anyone, unless they attacked him first. And he certainly wouldn't be running around with Sendo, and Ayumu. My guess is that it was Shin who you saw," the Suikage explained, as if this was just an ordinary chat, not a matter of life and death.

"What? Why didn't you say that before?" I exploded. "And how do I know I can trust you?"

"Well, besides the fact that The Toad Sage sent you to me, and that I haven't killed you yet, you don't."

"Alright. So, why didn't you mention this earlier?" I asked again.

"I was bored and I thought it might be interesting to see how you reacted," he replied offhandedly.

"You what?" Sho yelled. "You let her attack me knowing full well why she was doing it and that you could stop her?"

I was feeling similar anger. If what he was saying was true, then I had just attacked an innocent man, for no reason but that he happened to have an evil twin. I looked over at Sho, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Yes, and we should." he replied emphatically. Then we both punched the Suikage in the face. He fell over onto his butt, with a shocked expression on his face.

"What was that for?" he asked in consternation.

"For being an idiot," I replied.

"For letting me get beat up," Sho replied at the same time.

"Hey, can one of you get this wolf off of me?" a voice called.

We peered through the dissipating mist to see Eboni sitting proudly on Silver Hair's chest. I burst out laughing, "Eboni, stop playing and get over here."

"Fine, but only if I get rabbit later," she replied in human, startling everyone else. "So, are you sure we should trust them," she asked in wolf, as she sauntered over to stand next to me.

"I don't know, but I don't think Sho was the one who attacked Ayame. He should be dead or recovering from that injury I gave him last time, now that I think about it. And, the way he seemed genuinely surprised by my accusation is also fairly good evidence." I replied in the same language.

"So, could you tell me why you attacked Sho, with more details please, Jiraiya-sama wasn't very forth coming with those?" The Suikage asked politely.

I considered for a moment, "Hmmm, no, I don't think I will considering you didn't tell me what I needed to know until after I got into a pointless fight."

"Hey, I said I was sorry!"

"Actually, no you didn't."

"Well, sorry. Now, will you tell me?" he asked pleadingly.

"No," I replied shaking my head.

"So, who are you?" Silver Hair asked.

"My names Kasumi, and you are?"

"My names Arashi of the Storm Fist, they call me that because I have such a strong fist and can use lightning."

"Really? I never would have guessed," I replied sarcastically, rolling my eyes. "It's not like you didn't hit me with said fist or anything."

Arashi seemed oblivious to the sarcasm, and asked another question, "So why is your hair silver, wasn't it blonde before?"

I blinked, my hair was silver? I pulled a long strand forward and saw that it was indeed silver. Huh, that was new. Wait, was I still in sage mode? I assessed my inner stillness and found it brimming with chakra. I let it flow out, and I watched my hair change back to its usual pale blonde color. I had forgotten it did that when I used Sage Mode, since I usually wasn't paying attention to my hair when I used it.

"Whoa, now it's back to normal. Why were you using a transformation jutsu?" Arashi asked.

"No, actually I was in Sage Mode."

Everyone stared at me. Arashi looked like someone had just given him an unexpected present. Sho's mouth was hanging open and it looked like someone had just told him that he was dating his younger sister. The Suikage looked like the cat, who had just caught the canary. I noticed that his eyes were back to normal as well.

"What?" I asked, not sure how to read their various expressions.

"S Sage Mode?" Sho managed to gasp out, between great gasping breaths. I was afraid he would faint from hyperventilation.

"Fight me!" Arashi yelled getting into a fighter's stance facing me.

"I just did," I told Arashi, exasperated. What was up with this guy?

"Huh, I thought it was sage mode you were using, but I was under the impression that you had to meditate and stay perfectly still to achieve use of nature chakra. But you did so while being beaten to a pulp, how did you do it?" the Suikage asked curiously.

"Hmm, I'm sure I can explain this very well, but I'll try. I think part of it is that I learned from different teachers than the other sages I've heard of. Jiraiya-sama was trained by toads and supposedly all the other ninja sages were as well, but I learned from the Mist Hunters and The Wave People so I suppose I learned a different form of the sage mode. I didn't even know it was anything special until I came to Hidden Mist. To me it was just a part of life.

"When I use sage Mode, I retreat into a special place, where I am always still, and always one with nature. It can be dangerous to do this in a fight because I lose myself to the world, but it allows me to become much stronger then I could on my own. Those who taught me use only nature chakra, so I learned this method as soon as I was old enough to understand speech." I explained.

The Suikage looked at me with interest and possibly respect, but I couldn't be sure, since his face was so hard to read. Sho looked stunned and thoroughly impressed. Arashi looked ready to burst, "You have to teach me that!"

"I don't think I can teach anyone it. I'm not a good teacher. I don't even remember when I first learned." I explained. Plus I didn't really think that knowing how to use Sage Mode would be a good thing for this guy. From what I'd seen, he was way to reckless and bloodthirsty. He'd probably get himself killed the first time he got in a fight, or he'd destroy the entire village. The more I thought about it the more I thought it would be the latter.

"Ahhh, come on. That would have been so cool to be able to use Sage Mode like that," he complained.

"You probably would have just turned into mist anyways," I said shrugging.

"Turn into mist?" Sho asked.

"If you use Sage Mode wrong you can turn into mist permanently," I explained.

"I thought you turned into a toad."

"Well, not where I come from. I've never even heard of that," I replied frowning in consternation, why would you turn into a toad?

"Interesting," the Suikage said, he was now back at his desk in his original position, feet up and book in hand. "Now, Arashi, Sho, I would like a debriefing. As for you, Kasumi, could you go tell Rina that she should find you a room to stay in for now, until we can find you an apartment."

"What? But I'm not planning on staying. If Soulless Blueberry and company aren't here, than me and Eboni are going to move on and keep hunting."

"No, you are going to stay here and join my village, since you are not part of Hidden Mist any more." It wasn't a request, although he said it almost like it was. "Don't worry you'll get your revenge, just be patient while we gather Intel. These people are missing Nin from here so I would like my own people to deal with them. I will send you out as soon as we find them. In the mean time I'll make sure you have something interesting to do," he promised.

I looked at him for a long moment. The entire time he had been talking he hadn't once looked up from his book but I got the feeling that refusing would be a really bad idea. And besides it would be nice to have an actual place to stay for once. "Fine, but only as long as it stays entertaining, if I get bored I can't promise anything."

"Agreed," He set the book aside, reached out and grabbed my hand, startling me. He shook it and then returned to the book. I frowned at him, then headed downstairs to go have a talk about a room.

A/N- So did you like it? I hope so, because I tried my best. Please review, helpful criticisms welcome. Thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, it belongs to Kishimoto-sensei. I only own my characters and plotlines.