I do not own Naruto Shippuden or any characters from the series.
Enjoy!
A loud crash followed by screams could be heard throughout the stone walls of the village. It was such a daily occurrence that many people rarely paid any attention to it. Well those who had nothing to worry about didn't pay attention to it.
The screams belonged to families who were being executed due to the so called Bloodline wars. In other villages, where these bloodlines would be held closely to the village due to their usefulness, here they were labeled as traitors. They received the blame for the loss of the last war, because they were not able to successfully aid the village of Kirigakure in winning the war.
Those who had kekkai genkai did their best to hide. Not show what they were capable of in the hopes that their family would live another day. Those citizens, ninjas and civilians alike, that tried to escape and get to one of the other hidden villages, whether they had a bloodline or not, were executed on spot. There were some, though, who had been careful of their kekkai genkais from the start. They weary of what others would think if they had discovered what they truly held within.
Satsuki moved to this village when she was very little. Her father said that she was only a few months old when they made the long trek from a large a proud ninja village to come and live here. He never did explain why they came only stating that it was 'necessary' to protect those that we loved. 'It is necessary'. It was her father's favourite phrase, his go-to way to end any conversation, and it demanded obedience whenever he used it. It was something that she learned while she young was a very important sometimes unexplained order that she had to follow, although she did not know why.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Flashback~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Satsuki," a tall figure with spiky silver hair knocked on the doorframe of the small room as he continued through the room to tap on the shoulder of a small child sitting at a desk seemingly working on something important.
"Yes, daddy?" the little girl dropped her pencil on the desk and turned around, her large smile beaming as she looked up at her father.
"It is time for you to start learning to become a ninja. Come." The girl's father was straight to the point and turned around to lead her back out of the room.
The girl had a confused look on her face as she scrambled off of her chair and scurried off after her father. "But daddy, why?" The older gentleman kept walking and simply looked over his shoulder and stated "Keep up." He led her out of the house to their large fenced in backyard. He grabbed a soccer ball out of a chest by the backdoor and set it on the ground.
Satsuki just stared at the ball, curious as to how this had anything to do with becoming a ninja, when suddenly the ball went sailing towards her head. She sloppily turned on her heel falling on her bottom looking towards her father with a scared look on her face. "What was that?!" She shouted as she studied the face of her father it remaining impassive, as he picked the soccer ball back up that had rolled back to his feet.
"Again." Was all he said as he threw the ball a second time, not even waiting for her to get off the floor. This continued for the next two hours, the girls' father continuously throwing the ball and more often than not hitting the girl as she tried to dodge.
As the second hour came to a close, the small child was on the verge of tears as she got hit with the soccer ball once again. "DADDY WHY?!" The girl stamped her foot on the ground as she crossed her arms. "You're not even a ninja! Why do I have to learn to be one?!" She sniffed loudly as she ran the back of her hand across her nose.
Her father sighed and let his shoulders sag. "It is necessary." He put the ball back in the chest by the door as he headed inside. He looked over his shoulder at his daughter who had just reached four years old earlier that week. She was the spitting image of him, but with her arms crossed and the pout across her face she showed just how much of her personality she got from her mother. She ran towards him and grabbed his hand opening her mouth as if to ask another question. Her father stopped her short and led her inside saying "No more questions darling. Now let's go eat dinner."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Time Skip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Daddy, why can't I leave the house?" Satsuki questioned looking up at her father with wide eyes.
Her father kneeled down in front of her, reaching his hands out to touch her cheeks, his thumb gently stroking the bright red triangles that marked her pale face. "It's because you're special darling." His voice was full of admiration as he looked into her coal black eyes.
"But, I want to go outside and play with the other kids!" a small pout crossed her lips as she crossed her arms across her chest.
Her father feigned being hurt and his had instantly recoiled back to grab his chest. "You don't want to play with me anymore?" He smiled a toothy grin at her as she ran up to give him a hug.
"It's not that daddy, it's just, I want to go out and do things like the other kids!" She buried her head in his chest.
There was a loud sigh that could be heard echoing through the halls of their small house. "You can't." Satsuki instinctively yanked her head back to glare at her father. "You won't understand my reasons now, but you will. It is necessary." Satsuki's shoulders fell and she dropped her gaze to the floor. "Come-on pup," her father slowly picked himself up off the floor and held his hand out to his daughter. "It's time for more training."
"Yes daddy." She stood up and then walked past her father, jamming her hands in her pockets. Her father sighed and followed her grabbing a bag of small rubber balls by the backdoor as he went.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Time Skip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Brightly coloured lights danced around the small house that Satsuki and her father called home. There was a small Christmas tree in the corner of the house with several small boxes underneath, and Satsuki's father had his limber frame stretched uncomfortable over an armchair as he thought about several of the presents that he had meticulously wrapped for his little cub. It terrified him to no end, and it made him worry about what this would mean for the future, but he knew that it had to be done. He wouldn't be able to shelter her forever-she was too much like her mother for that to be an option.
She had been growing in her training like a fish to water, and she could now dodge kitchen knives as if they were the soccer balls that she had first started to learn dodging with. She had eventually turned it into a game, much to her father's chagrin, trying to see how many objects she could dodge with her eyes closed. The first time she attempted the little 'game' of hers resulted in a rather deep gash to her shoulder due to a very pesky kitchen knife, but she took it like a champ. She gritted her teeth, took a deep breath and growled 'Keep going.' He didn't keep throwing the objects though and stepped forward towards his little princess. 'Dad,' he remembered her saying, 'If this was a mission, I would not let a wound from a kunai stop me. Keep going.' And so he did.
It had been just over two years since he had started training her. The bulk of her training had been spent on learning to dodge projectiles and speed training, preparing her for the dreaded day that he hoped would never come but knew would come sooner than he liked.
He shifted his spot in his chair as his sensitive ears picked up the small sound of blankets rustling in the next room as his small charge woke up. He allowed himself one last long sigh as he steeled him against what would happen that morning as a result of Satsuki opening her presents. 'It is necessary' he whispered to himself as he picked himself up out of his chair and walked towards his little silver haired princess who was sleepily walking down the hallway rubbing her eyes.
"Happy Christmas pup!" he smiled down at Satsuki, enjoying the sudden realization that spread across her face as she remembered what day it was.
"That's right! It's Christmas!" Satsuki shouted as she ran past her father as she tried to run straight to the living room, only to find herself suddenly blocked by her father. "You're no fun! How do you always do that?" She crossed her arms and frowned up at her father who just chuckled at her.
"It's a secret that you'll learn when you're older. Now come. Breakfast first, then presents!" Breakfast was never a quite ordeal in their house. It consisted of lots of loud laughs and things being dropped as the duo 'helped' each other out. Today was no different and it ended in a game of catch using eggs as the ball, only ending their game when an egg 'accidently' hit the side of Satsuki's head.
"EW!" She giggled. "That's….yolky!" Satsuki snorted at her own pun as her father rolled his eyes.
"Now you have to go wash up," He chuckled. "Go do that and I'll finish up here. I'll be done with breakfast by the time you're done."
A half hour later found Satsuki and her father sitting on the floor in their living room with two small piles of presents in front of them. They went to work opening their presents one at a time and making small comments to each other about how much they liked them until they got towards the end. Satsuki had three boxes in front of her while her father's pile had run out.
"Keep going," he urged her.
Satsuki picked up the largest of the three boxes and slowly opened it up, pulling the contents of the box out. It was a long black trench coat with a deep hood. She put her arms through the sleeves and watched in amazement as the coat slowly began to shrink down to her size. Her smile chased her cheeks to her eyebrows as she started exploring different parts of the trench coat, her small hands find pockets after pockets hidden in different locations on the jacket. "Thank you! I love it!" she grinned at her father and he motioned her to open the next present.
The next present was smaller than the first but felt as if it weighed just as much. She ripped the paper open to reveal the cover of a book. It was a rather plain looking book with no discernable picture or title on the front and a lot of pages. Opening the hard cover on the book she looked at a title that was scribbled into the first page with pencil: 'Tales of the Ninja: Henohenomoheji'. She looked up from the title an indescribable look on her face. "Did you write this?"
Her father shook his head and smiled sadly. "No, but a very close friend of mine did. I hope you enjoy it." The answer seemed to satiate the young girl next to him as she eagerly opened the book to the first chapter to start reading it. "Don't forget you have one last present to open." The girl scratched the back of her head sheepishly as she closed the book and reached for the last present.
The last present was a small box, and when she shook it to try and determine the contents and made no notable noise. She carefully peeled the paper back and opened the box to reveal a small stretch of fabric. She gingerly picked it up and held it out to her father with a confused look on her face. "Dad, what is this?!"
Her father laughed loudly, waking up the large Great Dane that was sleeping in the corner of the room. The Great Dane huffed loudly and closed his eyes and went back to sleep. "It's a mask. It's so that," He paused for a moment as if readying himself for what he was about to say "It's so that when you leave the house, no-one will-" He was cut off as he daughter launched herself at him and embraced him in a large hug.
"You mean that I will be able to leave the house?!" She squealed in delight.
"Soon." He carefully grabbed her shoulders and pushed her back so that he could look at her face. "You have one more thing to learn before you can leave the house." A frown instantly adorned her face as she opened her mouth up to oppose, "Satsuki." He stopped her before she could say anything. "You know that everything I do, is for you and to keep you safe. Because it is necessary." She sighed as she cast her eyes towards the ground. "Besides, that mask is designed after the one Henohenomoheji wears in that story, and this technique that you are going to learn is one straight from that book!" he grinned as Satsuki looked back up at him with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "We can start on it now if you would like." Satsuki was instantly on her feet and heading towards the back door.
Her father waited back for a moment or two and sighed.
"Do you think that was the right choice, Minoru?" a gruff voice spoke out besides him.
Minoru lazily looked back to the corner where his Great Dane was now sitting up in. "No Daisuke," Minoru sighed. "But, it is necessary." The dog snorted and got up stretching his limbs as he headed out towards the backyard.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Time Skip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Her father had left HOURS ago.
Well, maybe not hours, but it certainly felt like it was hours. He said he was only going out for groceries, and it's not like they really needed anything in the house, but man this was taking FOREVER.
Satsuki had passed annoyed a few minutes back, and was now draped across the large comfy couch in the living room, giving her perfect view of the front door.
"Where do you think he went, Daisuke?" Satsuki asked as the large dog came plodding towards her.
He gingerly climbed up into the chair next to her, and let out a loud huff.
"I know, he went for groceries." Satsuki giggled as Daisuke plopped his head on her stomach. "But he could hurry back after all, I'm HUNGRY." She grabbed ahold of Daisuke's maw and give him a kiss on his nose before going back to staring intently at the door.
She continued staring at the door, and before long she noticed something odd: the decoration on the frame around the door was dancing. Well, not dancing, but definitely moving.
Satsuki quickly sat up, much to Daisuke's annoyance and watched the door with wide eyes as the moving streaks slowly came to a stop and emitted a small glow as the door opened up.
"Here we are! In you go!"
Satsuki watched, in confusion as she saw a kid with bright blonde hair, and an adult with bright red hair walk into the entry way before the living room.
"Shoes go here in the hallway, and your coat can go up on the hook." The red headed adult instructed as he took of his shoes and crossed in to the living room.
"Minoru-san, are you sure it's okay for me to be over here? I don't want to get you into trouble." The blonde-haired boy stated quietly, his shoes still on his feet.
Satsuki continued to monitor the interaction from the side, and watched as the red colour disappeared from her father's hair as he turned back around to the blonde child.
"Of course, I am. That's a silly question to ask." Minoru raised an eyebrow at the young child in front of him as a mischievous grin appeared on his face. "Now I have someone that I want you to meet, and she's an extremely impatient person."
"Daaaaaad!" Satsuki whined, sliding off the couch.
"Satsuki." Minoru only had to say the one word, his tone laced in such a way that showed trouble would be on the way of she continued whining. "I have someone that I want you to meet, come here."
The silver haired child begrudgingly complied and walked closer to the entryway where the blonde boy had just finished taking his coat and shoes off.
"Satsuki, this is Naruto Uzumaki. Naruto, this is my daughter, Satsuki Ha-"
"Why is your hair grey?" Naruto's arms were on his hips, and his eyes scrunched up as he scrutinized the girl in front of him.
Satsuki wrinkled her nose in disgust before replying. "It's not grey, it's silver. What's wrong with your face?"
"My face? There's nothing wrong with mine. What's wrong with yours?" Naruto's arms were now crossed across his chest and he was leaning away from Satsuki.
"Why do you look like cat?" Satsuki rephrased her question, poking her finger into Naruto's cheeks,
"I do NOT look like a cat!" Naruto stomped his foot and sucked his cheek in. "Why do you look like an Inuzuka?"
"A what?" Satsuki shook her head and heatedly responded, "They're birthmarks!"
"Oh." Naruto instantly seemed to cool down. "Mine too."
Satsuki and Naruto stood in the hall staring at each other for a few minutes before Satsuki turned back to her father.
"You said you were going for groceries! Where did he come from?"
"Met him a couple of days ago. I figured he would want some real food compared to that takeout he eats every day. So, I invited him over. Figured you could do with a friend, really." Minoru stretched his arms over his head and turned towards the kitchen.
"You eat take out every day?" an incredulous look appeared on Satsuki's face as she turned back to Naruto.
"Yupp!" Naruto popped the last 'P' in the word as he leisurely strolled into the house. "The people who run it are the only people who are nice to me, not to mention Ichiraku Ramen is the best in the world!"
"Yes, Naruto, but if you're wanting to become a Ninja, then takeout for dinner every night is not going to help you achieve that goal." Minoru shouted from the kitchen.
"You want to be a ninja?" Satsuki asked as she turned to look at the curious boy.
"Yeah! I'm going to be the best ninja ever! I'm going to be Hokage, believe it!" The blonde-haired boy beamed at her sticking his thumb up in the air.
A minute passed as the boy's answer processed through Satsuki's head, before she started laughing loudly.
"I think you're going to have a problem if you want to become Hokage," Satsuki paused as she heard a loud thud in the kitchen. "You're in Kirigakure. You can only be the Mizukage here!"
"And I thought I was messed up," Naruto gave Satsuki an incredulous look. "Teleportation isn't a thing. I was in Konoha when I met your dad, I went to your house in Konoha, and now I'm inside your house in Konoha." Naruto put both his behind his head a let out a small whistle. "Now I know why you have no friends. You're crazy."
An angry look crossed Satsuki's face as she chewed on the inside of her cheek. She looked between Naruto, Daisuke who seemed to almost be laughing, and her father who had just appeared in the doorway with a large goose egg on his head. "I am NOT crazy!"
"Satsuki," Minoru sighed, "You're too smart for your own good." He turned around to go back in to the kitchen, and called over his shoulder, "Let's eat, I'll explain things over food."
Naruto sat at the table, his chopsticks dangling loosely in his hands and a dumbfounded expression on his face.
"I told you I'm not crazy." Satsuki replied smugly from behind her bowl.
"But, but-" Naruto stuttered as emotions flashed across his eyes, before he finally settled on one and he set his chopsticks down and crossed his arms. "If this is your way of kidnapping me, it won't work! I know the Hokage! He'll send his best ninjas after me!"
"I mean you're the one who came willingly with a stranger." Minoru shrugged his shoulders as he continued to eat his meal. "I would barely call it kidnapping if you followed me like a lost puppy."
"Oh. Hehe." Naruto laughed sheepishly as he went back to eating. "So this fujutsu-"
"Fuinjutsu, yes."
"Fuinjutsu," Naruto said the word slowly letting it slip across his tongue as he familiarized himself with it. "It allowed you to transport me, here, to Kirigakure?" Suspicion was written all across his face.
"And it's supposedly super difficult?" Satsuki piped in.
Minoru simply hummed in agreement to what the children were saying.
"And you used that super difficult talent to kidnap me to the Village Hidden in the Mist?" Naruto asked, cocking an eyebrow.
"I invited you to dinner, weirdo." Minoru laughed as he pushed himself away from the table.
"Psht, I'm not a weirdo, you're a weirdo." Naruto scoffed into his bow.
"Do you have any homework, Naru-chan?" Minoru asked as he started to gather the empty bowls from the table.
"No." His answer was short and clipped, causing Satsuki to laugh.
"I wouldn't lie if I were you. Dad has this weird ability to know exactly when someone is lying."
"So go grab your homework Naru, we'll help you out. I'm sure Satsuki would like to learn something new anyways."
"Wait-" Naruto stopped and stared at his silver-haired host. "You mean it?"
"Of course!" Minoru flashed a bright smile at him. "Got to make sure that you're set up for success to become Hokage one day, no?
Satsuki watched quietly as Naruto's eyes welled up and a huge grin spread across his face as learge tears streamed down his face.
"But there is one condition. Do you think you can handle it?"
Wiping the tears from his eyes, the blonde child vigorously nodded his head.
"For now, you have to keep Satsuki and I a secret, okay?
A confused look spread across Naruto's face as he asked one small question, "Why?"
"Because it is necessary."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Time Skip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Satsuki felt as free as a bird. It had been a year since her father had taught her about chakra and how it could be molded into different jutsus, and how it could help strengthen your muscles and help you run faster, or if you put it towards your ears it could help you hear further. Satsuki assumed that it worked for her other senses as well which is why you could find her sitting in her back yard pushing chakra to each of her other senses to see what happened.
Her sense of hearing and smell were already strong to begin with, for reasons that her father never fully explained, only explaining that 'it was necessary' for her to not know the full reason. She found though, that when she pushed chakra to her ears, she could hear even the smallest of insect, flying around the backyard, and when she pushed chakra to her nose, she could smell the dinner being cooked several houses over.
She thought to the next sense that she wanted to try: seeing. Would it be possible for her to see farther if she channeled chakra to her eyes? It was worth a shot. She closed her eyes and slowly started to channel chakra to her eyes. She heard the small yip of Daisuke inside signaling that her father was home, and she could smell the coconut shampoo from his hair as he entered the house. She continued focusing on her eyes, keeping her breathing focused as she did so. A small voice in her said 'Open', and so she followed the command and opened her eyes, and all of a sudden she could see everything with precise clarity.
"This is so cool!" She breathed out as she took in all of her surroundings. Satsuki focused on Daisuke for a moment and the coloured coils that she could see within him "That must be his chakra," She mumbled as she continued to look around not noticing Daisuke slip away in to the house.
"Satsuki?!" She heard her dad holler from inside the house. She turned to look at the doorway and all of a sudden her father was sliding across the grass to right in front of her "Satsuki?" He grabbed her shoulders "What have you done?!" There was panic in his voice, something that she had never heard before. He was always so calm and collected.
"I just put chakra to my eyes is all.." Satsuki mumbled not meeting her father's gaze.
"Stop the flow of chakra, Satsuki, please!" He begged shaking her shoulders. Satsuki followed his orders and cut the chakra going to her eyes, and her father's shoulders sagged in relief when he say the red colouring of her eyes fade back to the original coal black. "Satsuki, you have to promise me that you will NEVER do that again!"
"But why father?" The confusion and worry was apparent across Satsuki's delicate features. "It was so-"She was cut off by her father.
"IT'S DANGEROUS!" Her father shouted and she tried to jump back as it hurt her sensitive ears so much, "It's necessary, you have to promise me to never do that again!" Minoru was shaking from panic at this point.
Satsuki sighed heavily, not fully grasping why what she did was so terrible, but understanding his unspoken order. "Yes father, I promise not to do that again." Her father sighed in relief and drew her in to a tight hug, not allowing her to back out of the embrace.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~End Flashback~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was just over a year ago that Satsuki's father made her promise to never channel chakra to her eyes. He never explained it further than the stereotypical 'It is necessary.' Over the course of the next few months she managed to put the pieces together, and came to the realization that it was this so called 'bloodline war' that was going on that caused her father the worry.
The shinobi who were carrying this war out against those with the kekkai genkais never came close to the house. Minoru was not a shinobi, they lived at the very outer edge of the city, and they did everything possible to seem as boring as possible as to not draw attention to themselves. This made them blend in very well with the civilians who lived all around them. In fact, if you asked anyone of their neighbors, not one would even be able to give an accurate description as to who they were, that's how seemingly 'boring' they were.
Satsuki glanced up from her book 'Tales of the Henohenomoheji' and looked towards the window. It sounded as if the shinobi were coming closer to her home. "That can't be," She muttered as she got up out of the chair and walked towards the window.
She pulled the curtain back the slightest bit from the window and peered through the small open corner of the window. Almost out of her view she got the glimpse of two men walking side by side. One was a tall man with short, fiery red hair that stuck up in every direction; the other being of average height and long black hair. As the men walked closer to her apartment she noticed that they weren't particularly looking at anything, but the one was flipping a kunai knife in his hand as if he was waiting for something to happen.
"What are they doing this far from the tower?" she mumbled to herself as she continued to look at the two men. "That's odd," she continued to talk to herself "They're wearing matching cloaks. That have," she paused a moment longer "red clouds on them?" She snorted quietly "Is that supposed to scare us or some-" Satsuki was cut off as Daisuke started growling from behind her.
She turned to look behind her and saw Daisuke standing up growling with his hackles raised. "What's wrong bud?" Daisuke growled louder in response. "We'll be fine boy." She turned back to the window to watch the strangers finish their trip down the street.
"Eeep!" A brown eye was suddenly staring straight back at her, and she lept backwards letting the window curtain fall back in to place as she skidded across the floor behind Daisuke. Satsuki held her breath and focused on her hearing to see whether or not the man was still outside her window.
She stayed like that for what seemed like hours before she finally let her breath out and started to stand up. "I think he's gone 'Suke. I wonder who those men we-" She instinctively ducked down, slamming her body on to the wooden floor as her living room window shattered to pieces and a kunai came speeding by where her head previously was.
She whipped her head back to the window that the projectile came from to see the faces of the two men staring back at her with mischievous grins. The one with the bright red hair opened his mouth and drawled out "Looks like we finally found the little wolf cub! You're a difficult one to find."
Satsuki stopped as she felt her blood run cold. This was not good. She caught herself staring at the men in front of her and she noticed their headbands. There was a long slash running through each metal forehead protector. They were missing ninja. This was definitely not good.
So there we are, the end of the revised chapter one! I hope y'all liked it, and if you did, please leave a review :)
