The timeline of this fanfic is after the death of The Third and before Naruto traveled with Jiraiya.
CHAPTER 1 : How It All Began.
Group 7 was on their way home after finishing the mission. Everyone was feeling very happy especially Naruto since he had done a heroic act back at the village. Naruto was whistling happy tunes. At first, everyone enjoyed his whistles but after a few hours, it started to get on their nerve. Naruto however didn't realize he was annoying his group member and his teacher with his whistling.
Sakura was the first one who burst. " Stop it already! Naruto! You're getting on my nerve," Sakura yelled at Naruto. " Huh? What, Sakura-chan? What did I do," Naruto asked innocently. Sakura tighten her punch. Naruto saw it and got afraid but he doesn't know what was wrong with Sakura. " Your whistle. It's killing her and all of us," Sasuke told the confused Naruto. Kakashi nodded his agreement. Naruto sighed. " Okay.. okay… I'll stop." Sakura calmed down. They continued their journey back to Konoha Village. Naruto can't wait to tell Konohamaru what he had done at the Waterfall Village. The village was about 5 kilometres from their whereabouts when suddenly, Kakashi halted. Narotu who was walking behind him bumped into him. Naruto was mumbling about how Kakashi stop abruptly. Kakashi made no reply. His face was serous. Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke knew something was wrong when they saw Kakashi's serious face.
Kakashi looked around. He strained his senses to detect and confirm what he heard just now. Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke were on their guard. They looked around for ambush or enemies. Finally, a shadow emerged from the bushes 5 meters in front of them. It was a female ninja. Behind her was three other ninja. The ninjas were on her tail. The female ninja looked very weak. Her attire were torn apart and her face was dirty with dust and blood. Kakashi gasped. His gasp was loud enough to catch his students's attention. " It can't be her….," Kakashi muttered. The female ninja looked at the group way. She had the same surprise look on her face when she saw Kakashi. She looked behind her. The ninja were still following her. She was too tired to run so she decided to stop and face the pursuers.
Naruto saw the female ninja stopped in the middle of the road. Three others ninja surrounded her. They were in for a battle. Kakashi was still stunned. " Kakashi-sensei…. Are you alright? Do you know her," Sakura asked with concern. Kakashi recovered his composure. His mind was spinning around for the next act. ' If I were alone, I'll definitely help her but now I'm with my students. Helping her meaning putting their life in jeopardy. Furthermore, the three ninjas are surely well-trained assassins.'
The fight had started. The three ninjas attacked at the same time, leaving the female ninja no room for counter-attack. She could only dodged and avoided the ninja's attack. Things didn't look good for her. Naruto watched the fight with anxiety. His punch was tight. He wanted to help the female ninja but he could not determine who was the good guy and the bad guy. " Don't let your guard down. They maybe fighting the female ninja but they might be coming for us," Kakashi warned his students. Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke nodded.
The female ninja managed to build up an amount of chakura and focused it on her palm. Kakashi was surprised again. " Chidori…..," he blurted. His students looked up to him. " What did you said, Kakashi-sensei? Naruto asked. He was sure it's the name of the jutsu the female ninja used. Kakashi looked at his students and explained, " The jutsu she's using is chidori. Focusing your chakura at one place, in this case: the palm. The light that emit from her palm is her chakura.It's a very difficult to perform especially when you're moving. You need focus and a lot of practice to be able to pull out the jutsu. She sure had a lot of it judging by the way she handle it."
The female ninja hit one of the ninja with her palm. The force of the hit threw the ninja into the bushes. The ninja never came out, signifying death or lost of conscious.
The chakura from the female ninja's hand disappeared. She was breathing heavily. The remaining two ninja gave her no chance. They kept attacking her. They had only one mission : kill her. The female ninja dodged but when she attacked, Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto recognized the taijutsu. It's Jyuken : the one used by the Hyuuga Clan. They remembered the taijutsu from the chuunin exam. It was the taijutsu used by Hyuuga Hinata and Hyuuga Neji. After a few attack from the female ninja, the pursuing ninja left an open space. The female ninja took the chance and hit her opponent direct at his heart. That caused him to fall down to the ground: dead.
The final fight was between the female ninja and one of the pursuers. They were facing each other. " Why don't you go back to your village and tell them you lost me. They won't blame you. They know how strong I am…," the female ninja spoke for the first time. Her voice was steady although her breathing was not. The other ninja grunted a protest. " I'm giving you a chance to live. It's up to you to choose..," the female ninja continued.
The pursuer ninja replied with a kunai thrown to the female ninja. She dodged it easily. " Fine… Suit yourself..," she said and reached into her pocket. With lightning speed, she threw kunai and shuriken towards the pursuer ninja. He was too slow when he dodged the attack and the kunai and shuriken hit him. He was bleeding but still standing. He knew he had no chance. Then, he saw his way out.
Kakashi saw the look on the ninja's face. He knew what he was thinking. He was going to use the children to escape. Kakashi lurched forward to protect his student but he was unable to move. ' Damn it! Kanshibari no Jutsu! ( Body Freeze Skill).' " Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke! Be prepare! He's coming for you guys," Kakashi yelled from his position. " Huh?." Kakashi was right. In just a second, the ninja was already in front of Sakura. Sakura was too afraid to move. They tried to get to the frozen Sakura. But they knew they couldn't compete his speed. ' Please… someone… save Sakura,' Naruto prayed in his heart. He could only look the ninja raised his kunai while he was running towards Sakura. The next thing he saw was splashes of blood. And more blood…