Authors note!
I began this Fanfiction about... wow.. going on maybe five years ago. It's a little rough around the edges as I haven't really touched it since. It started off as following the plot of Naruto, but I have since stopped watching and have a vague idea of what has happened in the show haha. Even still, I felt my writing bug hit me a couple of days ago and thought maybe I would start up again. There's a lot of this one already written up, and a lot of bits and pieces from when I had inspirations and wrote. Of course I will try and those in, and you may find that after a couple of chapters the story starts to take on it's own plot line. You have to get through the first chapters first of course ;)
Anyways, I like how stories have the ability to change before they are written, So here's my challenge to my readers. I will post the first chapter of this story. From here, I will read your comments and alter what has already been written and is waiting to be posted. Maybe from here the story will take on life anew. There is a lot to improve upon with this fanfic, and I would see it bloom until it can captivate my audience. So, read, subscribe, comment and enjoy.
With out further ado, I give you A Blind Ninja.
It was dark again. But, it wasn't like she knew it. The world was always dark to her. She had never seen the sun before, never seen anything before, except the monotonous silver of her chakra in her eyes, and those of others. Though, she didn't know what the colours were. She didn't even know what colors were. The man who had taken her from Ai-sama had begun her pillar of support. She didn't know where her father was anymore, and so she found herself looking for some form of substitute.
Kato walked into the village beside her the man. She trotted beside him silently holding onto his hand. Her sightless white eyes allowed her to see through a constantly controlled stream of chakra. For her, it was effortless. Her three year old body was already at the level of a ninja five times her age, even if her mind wasn't. Around her face, her snow white hair swayed gently. She looked up at the man. Where was she? From beneath his mask, he smiled. He swiftly swung her up and onto his back. She was amazed by the amount of people in this village. Back home, there was hardly anyone. Her home was quiet and mildly damp. It was in an underground city. The perfect place for someone like her. She could feel the slight greetings that these people gave to the man carrying her. No doubt giving cheerful smiles. Her father taught her to look behind the smiles. Because behind someone's smile was a secret that you could hold to your advantage. Her father was her most precious person in the world. She wished she would be brought her back to him. He had looked sad when she went away.
"When can I see Tou-san?" she asked quietly. The man didn't reply. He placed her on the ground and held her hand as they began to climb up some steep steps. After what seemed like forever to Kato, Kakashi stopped and pushed open a thick door. They continued to walk down a hallway and Kato could here the sounds of people talking quietly ahead of them. Her ears were far better than the man standing next to her, she though with a scrunched face. When they walked into a room, a small, aging man greeted them solemnly.
"Kakashi, you've returned safely," the man said with a sweeping motion indicating that he should enter the room. He looked down to Kato, who stood impassively next to Kakashi. "This must be her." the old man turned and walked to the large window wall. After a long silence, he hesitantly began speaking again. "Kakashi, do you think he will come looking for her?" Kakashi glanced to Kato quickly. She seemed to have fixed her sightless gaze on the older man before her with an evident distaste, but curiosity at the same time..
"He will find her eventually. But not anytime soon. She has been dropped off in so many places; her trail would have become complicated." Kakashi replied. "I think she should be safe here for a time."
The old man nodded grimly before making his way back toward the two.
"When can I see Tou-san?" She asked again, this time with a bit more volume as she stared past the old man. He looked up to Kakashi, who shrugged. Kato's unfailing loyalty to her father was a cause for concern. It was in fact, a very large problem that needed to be dealt with as soon as possible, for her and the village's sake. The sooner she forgot about him and anything associated with him, the better. Even if her father didn't love her as much as he did, she was a weapon created by him for his purposes. The seal on the girl's back was a symbol of that.
It was the seal of Tsede.
She ran blindly through the trees, desperate to reach her destination. She glance back over her shoulder and saw nothing but black. She scoffed at herself for thinking she could see otherwise. For some odd reason, even her chakra couldn't activate her potent, but sightless eyes. The desperate sense of urgency continued to pull her in this direction. She really had no idea what it was that insisted she move faster, and as her pace quickened she began to feel an ominous aura bringing itself ever so much closer to her thudding steps. She stopped and quickly tied an explosive tag to a kunai and shot it through the trees. The explosions that followed provided a means from her to "see" what was going on around her. She realized quickly that she had made a large mistake and cursed to herself. Not only had she wasted a tag and a kunai, she had given away her position. She turned to continue her quick pace. In an instant, she was flying through the trees again. She looked back again, returning her gaze and finding herself flying in the opposite direction as a malicious punch landed squarely on her face. She slammed in to a tree…
She rolled over and groaned. She opened her eyes and stared into space. That was the third time in the last week that she had had that dream.
The sun shone brightly into her room and heated her legs under the blanket. The sun was far too bright for her liking. Outside on the rooftops, the birds chirped and sang loudly while some children tormented as small cat in the alleyway across the street. She threw her blankets off and waited to hear the familiar whoosh as it hit the floor. She sat up, rubbing her eyes, then trudged toward the washroom. She looked into the mirror and ran her fingers through her messy snow-white hair. Even though she was blind and really unable to see what she really looked like, the stead stream of chakra gave her some variation of sight. Her sight was based off of chakra that she continuously ran through her eyes. She wished she could see things the way everyone else saw things, if only for a day. Even without the use of her chakra, she had been trained to see various other ways and thus had far more of an advantage than normal ninja did. But it still disappointed Kato when everyone around her chatted so carefree about what they had seen at a certain point in the day. She had trained herself to focus her the eyes each and every one of them. It made her feel slightly more normal. Though she hardly ever stared someone in the eye, she still gave quite a few ninja the jitters when she was around. She could feel the change in their demeanor and hear their change in pulse.
Her senses were far better than that stupid Sharingan of the Uchiha clan, or the Byakugan of the Hyuuga clan, even if she didn't have 360 degree vision, or the ability to copy a person's ninjustsu. In addition, she had her own Kekkei Genkai, her own bloodline limit. It was from her mother. She had the ability to 'disappear' briefly, to mask her presence for however long it suited meant she was invisible even to the byakugaan and the Sharingan. Because of this, her kekkei Genkai gave her the ability to shoot vast amounts of chakra into her opponent. First disabling him and then possibly Killing him. With this kekkei genkai, she could use any chakra she darn well pleased, with any of the elements with ease. This was who Kato was. However, Kato had a deeper, darker secret. One that she would most likely never share with anyone else. And she hated it. She hated herself and everything about her.
She tied her hair up and placed on her headband declaring her an official ninja of Konoha. Though she had only been 6 when she had first gotten it and had been far then well placed to become a chuunin. Kakashi, though, had thought it best if she stayed a gennin until she was back with people of her own age. He had said it would give her experience and more of an ability to adapt to situations and well as get to know her peers. Little did she know, it was only an excuse to keep her progress a secret. There had been word that her father had begun his search to find her again. After nine years of on again off again searches, he had begun to move around. But no one really knew why now.
Kato opened her fridge and pulled out a bento box. Kakashi had been ever so knightly to leave some spare change on the counter for a small meal for lunch. Kato gave a signature frown and ignored the pile. Kakashi had taken the some what aloof role of being her guardian, if that was what you called it. Nowadays, she pretty much lived by herself. And she refused to think of him as dad.
She sat down and began to eat quietly, pouring over a medical scroll. Kato planned on one day being able to become a medical ninja that rivaled the best medical nins out there. It was a long shot, but she believed she could do though she was completely blind, she thought that having this as a goal was something she could strive for. The real reason though, wasn't for glory or for something to accomplish herself in. It was so she could obtain the one thing she wanted more than anything in this entire world. Even without the medical jutsu, she was already pretty good at taijutsu, preferring it over genjutsu or ninjutsu any day. That was not to make the mistake that she was inept at the two, she was in fact fairly advanced in ninjutsu. But, what was the point of a genjutsu if you couldn't see what it was you were doing. And with ninjutsu, she couldn't really counter that because she couldn't see the shin obi's hands as they made the seals. So, she made it a point to better herself in other ways. She could still remember slight things about her dad, and knew that there was something big she was supposed to do only she couldn't remember what it was. She had an uneasy feeling that it would involve a choice over her new home and him. And at the moment, she didn't know which she would pick. After all, she had spent so many days with Naruto and the others that she didn't know how she could make any sort of decision like that and she could hardly remember her past, so would she give everything she had become for everything she had been?
She put down a rice ball and thought for a moment, her mind trailing away from the uncomfortable thoughts and towards something she had been thinking about the day before. Neji had seemed a bit off. Ever since she had told him that they would all be going into the chunin selection exams. He had seemed somewhat cold to her, and he was like family. She had realized that Hinata, his cousin was also participating, but she had never thought that he hated her and her family so much. It was his family too after all.
Almost as if sensing what was on her mind, the door to her apartment opened and Neji was standing there. The two were an odd couple. He had 360 degree vision, and could see through basically anything while she, had the amazing skills of a bat. Blind anyway you look at it. Despite that, they were inseparable at times, and really did consider themselves siblings. Kato never really was sure how that had happened, after all neji had made it clear when they were young that he had wanted nothing to do with her and her lack of sight. She never really noticed how close they had gotten. She would have preferred to keep hating Neji, especially when he got in moods were he would rather insult her 24/7 and tell her how "It is fate that you don't see." And "Why try so hard? You won't get very far. It's your fate to stay at the level you're at." She squeezed the rice ball in her hand in slight frustration at the memories. She wanted to crack his neck sometimes. But then again, if she did she'd lose her best friend. On the other hand, she would kick the crap out of Neji's constant "fate is everything" lectures.
Kato listened as he shut the door and quietly sat in the chair across from her. He seemed quieter today, which was odder than his reaction to her the day before. Kato usually saw a side of Neji that no one else saw, and that was in part what kept them so close. But as today was the first day of the chuunin exams, he hardly seemed there at all. With him in this sort of mood, she really didn't feel like spending time with him. He had a lot on his mind, most likely. Personally, Kato didn't really feel like dealing with this moping loser. Not again at least.
Sarutobi had allowed Kato to join Kakashi's three-man cell for the chuunin exams. At least, until they figured out where they could put her. Neji had been taken a back by this, hoping instead that Kato would be allowed to join his cell. He had been unbearable for a while after that and quite frankly, had driven the albino up the wall. As Kato watched him more carefully, she noticed that there were predominant shadows in his eyes. He was deep in thought, that was for sure, and about what, Kato could give quite a guess. She closed her eyes and leaned her head against her hand.
"Are you that eager to fight against Hinata?" Kato said bluntly. Neji's eyes flashed to her quickly before returning to the table. He shook his head as Kato stood up. Liar, she thought. She placed the half-finished bento box in the fridge and put on her vest. She walked to the door and place on her sandals, waiting for Neji. She cleared her throat and watched as he quietly stood to leave. Kato scratched her cheek before following Neji out the door. This was going to be a long day…
This is where I will Leave off for the first chapter. Not much of a cliff hanger, and the story was a bit rushed to get into it. All the same. Leave your comments and lets get this party started!