Prologue

The cruel smell of sweat and blood filled the night air as the sky seemed to throb a frightening red. The night was filled with screams of terror when the ground shook as the gigantic nine tail fox terrorized the village of the Hidden Leaf. The nine tales was a terrifying sight to see, the fox's eyes were piercing red that had a catlike stare to them. His tails swished around his skyscraping body. His growls shook the earth right to its core.

At that moment Lanati Alno just gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, whose name was Mari. Lanati's husband just ran out to the battlefield after aiding his wife giving birth. Little did Tashoko know that his wife was sick with a rare disease that she tried to keep secret. She didn't want to tell him because she was scared once he knew that he would become distracted and forget his dream of becoming HOKAGE.

She felt the soft warm breath of her new born baby's breath. A single tear ran down her cheek knowing that this was probably the last time she was going to see her baby. She held onto little Mari's soft, warm hand as the baby with big hazel eyes stared into her mother's crying face. Lanati's breath became labored as she felt the pain taking a deadly turn right into her chest. She wished she had a couple minutes with Mari. But the world is sometimes not always fair. She whispered her last words that her baby would not understand but said them anyway before she died.

"One day you will become one the most beautiful, caring strongest kinochi that ever was. I have hope in you little Mari! Make your father proud. I Love you, Mari." And with that her mother's eyes closed and died. Mari began to cry.

7 YEARS LATER

Mari

I felt butterflies flying around inside my stomach, as I stepped out of my apartment into the cold air. This was my first day at the Ninja Academy and I was more nervous then I had ever been. Not only did I want to be an awesome ninja like mother and father, but I wanted to go above and beyond and become the best ninja that ever walked the earth. As I started locking the door I heard a noise to my left. I turned my head and saw Sarah, one of my closest friends. This was her first day of the academy too and she was just as excited.

I walked over to her, grinning like the Cheshire Cat.

"Hey!" I said.

"Hey girl!"

I rolled my eyes at Sarah's girly voice.

She looked me up and down and clucked her tongue disapprovingly,

"Honestly, Mari! You didn't even dress up for the first day of Ninja Academy?"

I looked down at my regular outfit of loose shorts and plain white shirt.

"We're preparing to be ninjas, not models." I replied sarcastically.

Sarah just shook her head once more and began walking toward the school.

As we were reaching the building, I saw a young girl about my age coming out her house giving her mom and dad a kiss while they wished her a good day at school. I averted my eyes not wanting to think about any depressing thoughts on the first day of school. I couldn't stop myself though thinking about both my deceased parents.

I must have had a sad expression because Sarah put a reassuring hand in my shoulder and was smiling at me. I smiled back, lucky to have a great friend like her.

"SHUT UP"

My head snapped up and I watched as a boy with blond hair and whiskered cheeks scream at some local villagers. Some of the villagers just laughed and pointed at him saying things like "look, the monster has feelings". While others just glared at him. I didn't know what he did, but no one deserves anything like this.

I started to walk towards the boy but Sarah caught my wrist and pulled me back.

"What are you doing" she whispered in my ear. I snatched my wrist back and kept going towards the boy. Before I could reach him he turned around and ran right into, knocking me down in the process.

"Sorry, I didn't see you there "He said as he glanced down at me offered me a hand. I hesitated a bit from the shock and I guess he took it as I didn't want him to touch me. I saw a look of pain cross his blue eyes. He then turned and ran away without looking back.

Sarah hurriedly ran towards me and helped me get to my feet. She was telling me something but I didn't hear her since I was still staring at where the boy just ran off.