Prologue

In the years following the victory of Allied Ninja Villages of this world over the evil organisation that called themselves the Akatsuki the young heroes of the Great War soon took on the challenge of preparing the next generation of Shinobi for the hardships that they may have to overcome in their lives.

To recount here all that happened in just one alone of the battles of this "War to End All Wars" as so many referred to it in those days would take many years however among the most famous of the events have been listed below.

After the rescue of Gaara the young Kazukage by Team Kakashi an emergency meeting was held by the five great Kages of the Shinobi world to discuss actions that must be taken against the evil corporation. A decision was made to place a spy amongst the Akatsuki's midst in order to deduce just what they planned to achieve through stealing the Chibi from the great Kage of the Sand. It was thus concluded that Itachi Uchiha – Konoha's finest Jounin – was chosen to undertake this perilous task.

Following his acceptance of the task the Five Great Nations slowly gained the information they required to plot the removal of Madara the evil leader of Akatski from the face of the Earth and any Shinobi stupid enough to stand in their way.

After months of drawing their plans the Five Kages sent orders to their beloved Nin to prepare for battle. Carnage followed and many noble Shinobi lost their lives leaving many in doubt and despair.

However, just as hope was beginning to wane; what many can only describe as miracles began to occur. There first of these miraculous event was the return of an almost unrecognisable Naruto Uzamaki from years of vigorous training to become a Sage like his Sensei Jiriya of the Legendary Senin and his defeat of the amazingly powerful Rinagan wielder who called himself Pein and his enraged minion Konan. Following this fortunate turn of events Harino Sakura singlehandedly defeated Sasori the Puppet Master of the Sand.

With the removal of three members of the Akatsuki in such a short amount of time hope rose within the Shinobi's ranks and the demise of Kakuzu and his partner Hidan quickly followed at the hands of Shikumaru of the Leaf and Tamari of the Sand.

With the numbers of the Akatsuki dwindling at an alarming rate Madara was forced to take more direct action resulting in the beginning of the greatest battle of the fourth Shinobi War. Madara considered his remaining five members to be perfectly adequate to take down the Shinobi host, however unbeknownst to him Itachi had been deceiving him for the whole time that he had been his supposed puppet of war and as if this was not troublesome enough for Madara, Itachi had also managed to save Deidara - his partner in mission that he carried out for the Akatsuki – from Madara's evil clutches. To say that the odds were against this Sharingan wielding lunatic was an understatement!

As the five cloaked characters began to run towards the huge Shinobi crowd smoke sprung from the ground in front of them to the bewilderment of the battle pumped ninja who starred with confused eyes at the shadows and cries issuing from the slowly dispersing smoke screen.

Minutes passed before four figures leapt out of the smoke as suddenly as it had appeared however two had shed their cloud embroidered cloaks and where now standing on the Shinobi hosts side there long raven and blonde locks billowing in the wind. The other two stood glaring at the troublesome duo that had destroyed any chance of their victory with their decision to disobey their orange masked leader. It seemed to the astonished spectators of this strange turn of events that the glaring match dragged on for hours until gasps issued all around as the smoke cleared to reveal the mangled corpse of a Missing nin who could only be described as half human in that he appeared to have a large set of gills framing his shock stricken face.

The enraged Uchiha continued to glare at his Blood Brother from behind his mask. The phrase "If looks could kill" was clearly fashioned for this precise moment.

To Madara's utter amazement a sly smile stretched across the young Uchiha's face as he looked back indifferently at the man that was at that very moment imagining tearing him limb from limb in the slowest and most painful way he could imagine.

As the reality of the situation seeped through the crazed Madara's thick wooden mask and into his brain he realised that the battle was now hopeless but before he could teleport away a previously un-noticed AMBU squad led by Gaara Kazukage and Shikumaru of the Leaf stepped in launching hell in the form of hundreds of paper bomb burdened Kunai on the real life demon that stood before them. Madara's shock was so great that he was unable to react to the solid wall of sharpened blades hurtling towards him faster than the eye could see and his final thoughts extinguished along with his life.

In the years following this great day of victory the two former Akatsukis became powerful in their villages with Itachi Uchiha eventually succeeding the ill minded Danzou as the head of the ANBU organisation in Konohagakur. Lady Stunade was later replaced as Hokage by Naruto Uzamaki who also surpassed his Father Minato as the youngest Hokage of all time at a mere 19 years of age.

Many happy years followed under the protection of Naruto and saw many unions of his friends in marriage including to his great surprise Ino and his best friend Sasuke whom he had considered to hate the strong willed blonde. He was also ecstatic to see his previous admirer Hinata and Kiba tie the knot along with Shikumaru and Tamari the sister of Kazukage Gaara. However to say that he was down hearted by the pairing of his childhood crush Sakura and Uchiha Itachi was more than a understatement although he knew that he would be happy for them once the shock of it had sunk in.

The Young Hokage smiled to himself as he considered how powerful and influential both he and all of his previous class mates had become and could not contain his excitement when he pondered on the Chounin exams that would be gracing his beloved Konohagakur in just under a week.

Chapter 1

A flash of her dazzling red hair flew with the brisk wind as she sprinted head on towards the academy entrance leaving the faces of disapproving villagers in her wake.

"I can't be late! Not on my first day as a Chunin for God's sake!" she cried as she burst through the archway leading towards the nostalgically familiar courtyard abode of her days as a first year at the school. It seems like almost yesterday when I first stepped through this arch way, she reminisced to herself although she admitted with her familiar sarcastic grin I may have been a little less out of breath back then.

"What are you looking so pleased about Kinaga- kun? Don't you remember the most important rule as of a Shinobi?" accused the -regrettably- familiar voice of Hokorashi from a shadowy corner.

Oh fantastic she thought rolling her eyes in exasperation. I can already tell that today is going to so much fun! Even just in her head she could hear her voice oozing with sarcasm. Deciding to humour her comrade she replied perfectly calmly to his demand.

"What might that be then Hokorashi-san?" she replied with no hint of irony whilst fighting with all her might to restrain the unavoidable curl of her lip which plagued her existence when it came to lying, flirting or just generally annoying her acquaintances.

"You know full well what I'm talking about! I can tell! Don't think I don't know when you're lying! It is important for a Shinobi to know his comrades every little trait on the Battle field" He replied smugly. The Uchiha's annoyingly observant nature had yet again foiled Kinaga's Teasing Action Plan for the day. She had been sure that she had concealed her bluff calling card from at least one of her friends (if that's what he could be considered as anyway.)

"God damn it Hoko! Quit being such a smart ass and let me go find Sensei already! You know I'm late!" She could feel her cheeks slowly beginning to match her hair colour as her face temperature rose along with her rage.

Luckily for Hokorashi he noticed Kinaga's fists slowly clenching and beginning to tremble giving him just enough time to skilfully dodge a well aimed fist from his fiery comrade. He may be proud, but even Hokorashi had to admit that Kinaga packed a hell of a punch!

"Ok! Ok! You can go just remember that you're a Chunin now so things are gonna' get a lot more intense for you from here on out" He called as she stormed down the corridor with her eyes on fire.

"Worthless piece of shi..." she began before noticing just in time where she was as her Sensei walked out of one of the first years class rooms. Quickly changing colour from ruby red to a sickly green she employed her best casually surprised voice. "Oh. H- hey, Sempai. I -ummm- I didn't see you there." The newly appointed Chounin smile innocently up at her young, pink haired teacher, Harino Sakura.

As she casually leant against the tall beige wall outside the academy students study room, Kamoku considered how different her life would be now that both she and her best girl friend had qualified as a Chunin of Konoha. Of course she realised that most things would remain the same – like the fact that she would still hold a personal vendetta against Hokorashi for being such a pompous ass or that more importantly she would continue to try her best with her training – but even so the added responsibility of new duties in the village and the pressure of maybe having to lead her own ninja squad out on missions gave the mousy haired nin butterflies (though she hated to admit it).

Whilst musing on this she heard the faint yet incredibly distinct sound of her friend's bouncy footsteps echoing down the corridor.

"I've been looking everywhere for you!" shot her fiery haired friends incriminating voice from the opposing end of the hallway. Kamoku considered sending an equally accusing answer down the corridor before Kinaga's enraged brown eyes came into view betraying her apparent anger at the situation causing the now cowering nin to reconsider this notion.

"S- s- sorry Kina. I thought you were still with Sakura Sempai. I was just about to come and look for you" she stammered with the sweetest smile that she could muster. "I thought you were working on your medical jutsu all day?"

"No I managed to esca..." realising what she was saying the mischievous shinobi quickly corrected herself. "I mean... finish everything early today. Now how about we go shopping to celebrate our new statuses?" She returned her friend's sweet smile hoping that her offer of a girly day out would encourage her friend to let that almost fatal error slip. She was pleased to see a short flash of white as Kamoku quickly rolled her saucer like green eyes and agreed to go shopping.

As she walked down out of the academy gates and down the dusty streets towards the shops Kamoku cursed her weakness for a healthy dose of retail therapy though she soon managed to convince herself that her friend's Sensei would make her favourite student catch up on her missed lessons tomorrow as she cast her glowing eyes over her favourite shops new season of ninja wear.

She slumped onto her bed exhausted allowing her long auburn hair to lie where it chose. She hadn't realised that what her friend called a "short shopping trip" in fact consisted of three solid hours in her high heeled ninja sandals and at least eleven separate trips to the shops' changing rooms! After dumping her bulging shopping bags – containing an admittedly kick ass new outfit picked out by her best girl friend - on her room's wooden floor she began to question whether shopping was really a better alternative to ten hours of nonstop medical jutsu training. As she dwelt on her hardships she slowly drifted into an uneasy sleep pondering missions to come.