Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
Prologue
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Kakashi was troubled. He sat at his desk, his Hokage hat hung carelessly over the back of his chair. Brow furrowed, he scanned the reports spread out in front of him once more and laced his fingers together in front of his chin.
Shinobi from every major hidden village west of Konoha had gone missing over the past few months. The first two or three were overlooked as statistical casualties. However, as the months progressed, it became apparent that the disappearances were connected. Almost every week, a new report would come in. One or two shinobi from a village would simply vanish. Perhaps the most disturbing element in these disappearances was the fact that the victims were all jonin. Every single one. And all of those jonin vanished either during or en route to missions to the western regions of the Land of Earth and the Land of Wind. Other than that, the disappearances held no similarities to each other. The victims all differed in age, gender, notoriety, and abilities. The mission rank also seemed to be unimportant. So what was the connection? What was the purpose?
"All jonin. All disappeared on missions to the west," Kakashi murmured to himself, eyes drifting to the large map spread out across the office wall to his right. "The west…"
Coming to a decision, he straightened in his chair.
"Sai!"
A masked figure materialized immediately, head bowed in deference as he knelt before his superior.
"Hai, Rokudaime-sama."
Kakashi regarded the young man solemnly, at once loathe to send him into danger yet compelled to do so by the necessity of leadership.
"I have a mission for you."
Half an hour later, Sai melted back into the shadows, mission scroll safely secured in his weapons pouch.
When the young anbu's presence had vanished, Kakashi rose and paced to the wall of windows overlooking the village. Konoha had yet to lose any of its shinobi to this faceless enemy, but as he watched the setting sun bathe the western horizon in a blood red light, his eyes narrowed.
He had a very bad feeling about this.
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The sun was setting in a blaze of orange and red as Izuma and Kotetsu were preparing to end their shift at the village gate.
"Well, the night crew should be here soon," stated Kotetsu, threading his fingers together behind his head. Then he sighed. "Another uneventful day, eh?"
"Mm," Izuma acknowledged with a nod. "It's to be expected. Ever since that guy from the moon was defeated, it's been pretty peaceful."
"Almost two years," Kotetsu mused. "I mean, don't get me wrong, peacetime is great. I just wish something a little exciting would happen. Everything has become so dull.
Izuma shook his head good naturedly at the man's restlessness- he was a shinobi, after all- before turning to take in the radiance of the sunset. As he looked out down the wide path that led away from the gates, he noticed a small, dark shape against the vibrant red of the sky. Straightening up, he squinted into the sun and lifted a hand to shield his eyes from the glare. A few moments longer, and he could see the object of his scrutiny was, in fact, a person.
"Oi, Kotetsu."
When his friend looked up at him, he nodded his head towards the approaching individual- a young woman, he realized. On seeing her, Kotetsu also rose to his feet and called out to her when she got a bit closer.
"Good evening, miss. If you'll come this way, we'll just make sure everything is in order before you enter the village."
The woman continued to make her way up the path without a reply. She was slightly hunched over and seemed to be slowing down.
"Miss?" Kotetsu tried again.
No answer.
"Something's wrong," Izumo muttered.
As Kotetsu prepared to call to her again, she stumbled. Then her knees seemed to buckle, and she collapsed into a heap in the middle of the road.
The two shinobi were at her side in an instant.
"Oi. Are you alright?" Kotetsu asked, skidding to a stop.
Izumo knelt down and gingerly turned her over. For a moment, the two men were frozen in shock.
Close up, they could see what the glare from the sun had hidden from them. The young woman had a sluggishly bleeding wound on the side of her head. Dirt and blood matted her long, dark hair and her clothes were torn and completely covered in dust. But worst of all was the horrible burn that ran from her left shoulder, up her neck, and to just below her cheek bone. Angry red and raw, it oozed with yellowish, fluid filled blisters.
After a few seconds, the young woman's eyes fluttered open, and she grasped feebly at Izumo's arm.
"Please," she began to beg weakly. "Please, I need… I need to speak to your Hokage. He-He has to help me. My people… They… They're…"
"What happened?" Izumo asked urgently.
The young woman looked up at him with wide, fearful eyes.
"Caldera," she whispered.
Then her eyes closed and she slumped back to the ground.
Izumo cursed and gathered her in his arms before turning to Kotetsu.
"I'll take her to the hospital. Once the night crew gets here, go and alert Hokage-sama. I have a feeling he'll want to know about this."
Kotetsu nodded grimly.
"Oh, and Kotetsu," Izumo added darkly. "You should be careful what you wish for."
With that, he leapt away into the rapidly darkening night, the mysterious woman limp in his arms.
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A/N: Uh... hi? Wow, it's been a long time. So this is a story that I outlined YEARS ago, but then I finished college and started a real job and just lost the time and the motivation to write. But I got bitten by the bug, so to speak, and I'm gonna do my darndest to finish it because I'm actually pretty proud of the story and all the planning that went into it. I have no idea what update schedule is going to be like, but I'll try to publish something every month. So, yeah. Enjoy.