S-S: Welcome to the first chapter of Improbability! It will be featuring an OC heavily, so please keep in mind that the first coupleof chapters will not be very canon focused, but it will get there!

And I dont own Naruto, as that right belongs to the great Kishimoto.

Improbability

1

New Eyes

Dear reader;

If you have found this journal, then you are probably looking for answers. Answers along the lines of 'why'. Why did we do it? A great big answer that might just make people understand everything.

Too bad. I haven't the ones that you want.

If I have learned anything over the course of my life, it is that the truth is rarely what we want it to be. Often times the truth is something that we didn't want to hear. Something that we cannot possibly comprehend. If, after you read all of this, you still cannot understand our reasons for making the choice that we made then I have but one thing to say to you. You are blessed.

We made this choice so that people, readers like you curious ones, could live a life without suffering. We swore to create a world where no one would have to see what we saw. I know that there will be those who hear stories about ninja and battles and chakra and I know that people might long for a life like that. Good. Keep dreaming. That truth is not what you might think. This truth might not be what you wanted. Too bad. It is, and it always will be, true. I have written down everything, everything that I can remember about this, everything that I have heard, and everything that I have put together. All of it is true.

That is the one thing I can say with total confidence. I did not write a single lie.

Read. Learn the truth. And maybe, if you can truly picture a world of bloodshed and shinobi, you will understand why we did it.

You might not be able to picture the world that we lived in. You might think that these things could not possibly happen. Know that nothing is impossible. There is only the improbable, and how to get around it.

-Keika

Many years ago...

"Again, you have my thanks, and the thanks of Danzo-sama and Konohagakure. This information will be very helpful in winning the war." The man said, his voice a disturbing monotone.

The man was Root, and he was a shinobi, through and through. His scruffy brown hair was the only thing unruly about his appearance, the rest of his features looked so contained and neat as if to make up for the messiness of his hair. Thin jaw, nondescript hazel eyes, and no bright smiles or large grins to light up his blank face. His gloved hands placed the teacup gently down on the oaken table. The cup was still full, he hadn't drunken any of course, but he had picked it up and pretended to take a sip simply to be polite and thus helping to encourage further negotiations between Danzo-sama and the two civilians that sat on the other side of the table.

The man opposite him nodded, his plain black hair tied back with a strip of white linen in the style favored by most merchants and fishermen. As opposed to the Root agent, whose stature was almost of a child – indeed the ninja was only fifteen – the older man had tan skin and stocky shoulders. "We're not ninja like you may be, but even we can see that this war ain't gonna end anytime soon, and when it does, it most certainly won't be our victory." he said solemnly.

The thin woman beside him shook her head up and down in a frantic agreement, "We're happy to help this all end. Anything else you may need, please, ask. And tell Danzo-sama that if he ever requires anything from us, we'll be happy to assist him," she chimed in, her thin hands twitching nervously with a strand of her drab blond hair, her eyes darting about like she was afraid that someone was going to attack in any second.

The Root agent slipped the scroll into his pocket, his hand lightly resting on the plainly decorated porcelain mask that lay in front of him on the table. Root ninja wore masks that, unlike the ones of Anbu, did not portray animals. Although aid from civilians in winning a war was unusual, Danzo-sama had felt that it would not do good to look a gift horse in the mouth. When the civilian couple had contacted Root, Danzo-sama had almost jumped at the chance to get a hold on the information they claimed to have. Less than an hour's walk away from the house of the couple, was one of the main camps for a large part of Iwagakure's forces. The husband was a merchant that often traveled to Kusagakure, and the wife did a lot of trading with the ninja camped out near the Kusa border. Being civilians, many of the ninja didn't consider holding their tongues around the two, allowing them to pick up gossip and plans worth a mine of gold to any Konoha ninja.

And for some reason, the two were willing to sell everything they knew to their country's enemy. To the Root ninja, and to Danzo-sama, the reasons were a minor detail. After all, the civilians did not know anything that that could endanger Konoha, and the Iwa ninja were very unlikely to figure out that their plans had been discovered by a civilian couple. The Root ninja gave a slight nod towards the man, "I believe there was also the matter of Iwagakure's shinobi roster, and their current locations…" he trailed off with a small wave of his hand.

The woman looked up, "Ah, yes," she glanced at her husband, "Daiki, can you fetch those please?" she asked timidly, as if she expected him to refuse and hit her over the head. As soon as she had spoken, she returned her gaze to her hands, which were still working their way into her hair, intent on knotting the blond strands as much as possible.

Daiki nodded slowly and stood up, pushing his chair far back from the table to allow his stocky form room to leave. He took long slow steps towards the door, shutting the sliding kitchen door behind him as he left the room. In his slight absence, the wife took a deep breath of relief, and opened her mouth to speak, when she was suddenly cut off. A loud 'thwack' echoed from outside into the still house.

The wife flinched at the noise and immediately looked out the open doors that gave a pleasant view of a wide gravel garden. Another 'thwack', and the woman muttered a quiet, "Please excuse me," before she stood and left, going outside.

Unknown to the woman, the Root agent silently stood and walked to the doorway, looking out to where the woman was. She was striding towards a small child, a tiny girl that couldn't be older than four, who had been throwing rocks at a metal lamp pole. "Keika! I have told you time and time again not to throw things!" she yelled, her soft and timid voice rising to a shriek.

The girl, Keika, muttered something under her breath before turning her head away from her mother. The woman looked even more angry, "Do not talk back to me, you brat! I happen to be in a very important meeting! The work I'm doing is very important and I don't want you interrupting! Can you manage to stay out of trouble for a few seconds?" she screeched. The way she said 'you' was like an insult, all spit and fire, no loving parent.

"Stop being so scared!" the child yelled back, her voice oddly sophisticated for a four year-old, "Is not my fault, if you get 'fraid talking to ninja," with that, Keika tilted her head slightly to look behind her mother. Surprisingly enough, she was looking right at the Root ninja, at least he assumed she was, for her eyes were covered by her mop of unkempt blond hair. The ninja felt a strong urge to duck around the doorframe and remove himself from her gaze. That was strange. When was he, a highly trained killer, scared from the gaze of a child?

Furiously, the woman raised her hand as if to smack the child, but shakily lowered her arm, scared. She was hyperventilating, her chest heaving with anger and fear, "I have told you, never to do that! Don't you dare! I am not afraid, and you need to keep your mouth shut, you impertinent brat!" she shrieked. With one final glare at the child, she turned around and walked back to the house.

Keika pouted at her mother's back, before her mouth quirked up into a sneaky smirk. She picked up a stone from the ground and threw it defiantly at the metal post, resulting in a loud 'thwack'. Her mother looked as though she was about to rip her hair out, but continued back the house. The Root agent raised an eyebrow – the post was a good fifteen meters away, and he could see that there was a rut in the pole from where it had been hit before in the exact same spot. Keika hadn't even been facing the pole when she threw the stone, she had been facing her mother. For a four year-old, that was strangely… ninja-like.

The Root agent ducked back inside the house and sat back down at the table just as the mother came back inside. From his calm demeanor, it appeared to the woman as though he had never stood up, or in fact, even moved at all. Brushing her apron off, the woman sat back down at the table, "I do apologize for the rude and disrespectful behavior of that girl." she said quietly, her voice losing its fire.

"… Your daughter?" the Root agent asked, not seeming at all curious, merely as though making simple conversation. In truth, the child had sparked a tiny interest in him, a strange curiosity for a simple civilian child.

The woman nodded slowly and reluctantly, "Unfortunately yes. I am ashamed to say that the child is mine." She sounded truly bitter and resentful about this, although what the child could have done to inspire such animosity at such a young age was unclear to the Root agent.

"Does she know why I am here?" he asked, the real question that was on the tip of his tongue got swallowed up in the thread of politeness. It would simply not do to insult those he was currently doing business with.

She nodded slowly, and answered in the same way, "Yes… I think. I do not believe that the child cares. She listens in and sneaks around," her voice turned more bitter, "Eavesdropping on me and Daiki's conversations. It doesn't matter though, she won't speak of it unless she wants to be punished, and it's not like anyone would believe the rotten child if she did tell." Before she could continue this tale of horrors that the child was subjected to, Daiki's chakra signature returned as the tall man slid the door open.

In his right hand, he held a rolled up map and a fat scroll, both of which had clearly seen better days and looked as though they had been shoved in a drawer for many months, going by the yellowing paper and faded colors. He sat back down at the table and placed the documents on the table, "That's the list of teams that Iwagakure has deployed recently, as well as the list of shinobi who participated in the war," he said, pointing to the fat scroll, "And this," he unrolled the map, revealing a detailed depiction of Iwa, Ame, Suna, Kusa, and part of the surrounding lands, the areas dotted with marks indicating what village's teams were posted where, "is the most recent map that I could secure." he finished, pushing both objects towards the Root agent.

With a respectful nod, the ninja took both of the items and placed them inside his weapons pouch for safe keeping. The wife removed her twitching hands from her hair as she stood and removed the tea cups from the table, depositing them in the kitchen sink, "Please, if you would like to stay for dinner, we would be very honored by your presence." she nervously asked, her eyes darting around the kitchen without looking him in the eye.

The Root agent opened his mouth to say that no, he couldn't and although he regretted it, he had to swiftly return to Konoha and get the information to Danzo-sama so – "I would be thankful to stay for dinner." he said instead, his words surprising himself more than the two civilians.

The wife blinked twice before shaking her head slightly and replied, "That's great. I'll just start cooking and food should be ready shortly." She hastily began to fill the sink with water to clean the tea cups and started to bustle around the kitchen gathering pots and pans, taking food out of the refrigerator, and pulling out a wooden spoon, making rather a lot of bangs and other such loud noises in the process.

Daiki stood and retrieved a pipe from one of the drawers in the kitchen. Filling it with tobacco and lighting it, he puffed happily away at it. "Don't worry," he said to the Root agent with a chuckle, "Kana won't poison dinner." Thinking himself to be unusually intelligent for discovering the reason as to why the Root agent did not drink tea, he chuckled again before settling down at the table with his pipe and an air of content superiority.

As she placed a particularly heavy saucepan down on the stovetop, Kana turned to Daiki and asked in a barely audible voice, "Dear, could you please tell that child to get inside now?"

He nodded with a sigh and rose from his seat, placing the heavy pipe down on the table, as resentful to part with it as if it were his lifeline. He trudged out to the door and yelled, "HEY! Get inside, Kana has some work for you to do!" His manner of addressing his child was vulgar at best, and not for the first time, the Root agent wondered what the child had done to deserve such treatment from her own parents.

Like a ghost, the blond girl appeared at the door, having made no noise to announce her arrival. "Yeah?" she asked quietly, "What can I do to help?" She didn't seem particularly eager to please her parents, and her tone was even a little bit rude.

Kana shoved a few bills into the girl's dirty hands, "We're out of butter. Go down to the market and buy three more sticks. And for the love of god, don't lose the money or drop anything or make a mess or whatever else it is you do." she hissed under her breath, shoving the child forcibly out of the door.

The Root agent stood and walked to the door, "I will go with her and make sure she does not cause trouble." he said calmly, "I will perform a henge so that the other villagers do not recognize me as from Konoha."

Daiki nodded slowly and tossed the ninja a concerned look, "Are you sure you want to go with her?" he asked, clearly confused as to why he would willingly spend time with Keika.

The ninja simply nodded again and glanced down at the raggedy blond child before he followed her out the door. He politely slid the paper door shut after they left the house. As they walked across the gravel garden towards the house gate, the Root agent made a conscious effort to make noise when he walked, so as not to frighten the child. To his surprise, he was the only one making sound. Despite walking quickly on gravel, Keika made no noise at all, her feet silent on the unsteady ground.

Before the two left the gate, and thus the house grounds, the Root agent stopped. Keika looked up at him curiously, "Whatcha you doing?" she asked, and he could practically feel her gaze behind her hair.

He formed a simple hand sign, "I am performing a henge. It changes my appearance." With a poof of smoke, he assumed the appearance of a nondescript brown haired-browned eyed man dressed in civilian clothing.

Keika titled her head curiously, "Well, it doesn't work very well then, does it? Are you sure you want come with me? Your clothes are pretty obviously from Konoha." she said, sounding knowledgeable and slightly skeptical of his abilities.

The Root agent glanced down at his hands, his ungloved, un-scarred hands. What was she talking about? The henge had worked perfectly. Keika said sadly, "Oh, you really think it worked, don't you? You don't know why I think it didn't. You're confused. I'm sorry." She turned her head to the ground and clasped her hands together sadly.

He was. He was confused. He did think the henge worked. He didn't know why she thought it didn't. But his face was a perfect mask of indifference. So how did she know? And why didn't she think the henge worked?

His questions only grew as they entered the town. Shops and stalls were set up all along the streets, and vendors called to the crowd of people. Merchants held up samples of their products to be observed by passersby, in the hopes of tempting lookers to become buyers. There were no ninja to be seen, and the Root agent realized that there were probably no ninja in the whole town. Instead hordes of civilians walked the streets, carrying shopping like ninja carried kunai. But no one, not a single person, called out pleasantries to Keika, and the people glared at her as they passed by. They made sure to walk away from her, the crowds parting around her like water. The henge had worked, and no one gazed at him with suspicion, but the angry looks were given to the child freely, and without any restraint. Some even spat at her as she passed.

The Root agent could see a problem in the near future. He glanced down at Keika and said, "I believe it would be easier if you gave the money to me, and I preformed the necessary transactions." Although this problem was obvious to him, he wondered if her parents knew of this, and if they had known, if they had sent her to the market anyways, hoping that she would be attacked.

Keika nodded and handed him the money, "This always happens when I come to town, but Kana sends me anyways. She sends me because she knows that people don't like me," she admitted reluctantly, like it was a big secret, "People don't like me. They think I'm a monster cause I can see them. Other people can't see people, but I can and no one likes me."

This strange explanation raised more questions than it answered. But he took the money without a verbal protest and walked over to the nearest stall. Purchasing the butter as quickly as he could, he hurried back to Keika, trying to walk as fast as possible, on the highly likely chance that someone might try to hit her while he was away. He held out the butter to her awkwardly, "Here," he muttered, unsure of what else to say.

"Thank you." she said, taking the items out of his hand with a smile, "It's real nice of you to buy the stuff for me." He gave a stiff nod at her acknowledgement and the two began to return to the house.

Once the two were far enough away from the market and the busy areas of the small town, the Root agent couldn't contain his curiosity any longer, "Why do you think the henge did not work?" he asked, only barely managing to keep sounding indifferent, his tone now slightly curious, which, considering the general nature of people like him, said a lot about his current curiosity.

"Well…" Keika said, clearly unsure as to how she should word it, "You just don't look any different. The people in town didn't look at you funny, but you still look the same to me. I know you did somethin' but I just can't see what. This isn't the only thing weird 'bout me," she continued, grateful to have someone to talk to, even a stranger, "I can see people. Like you can see me all normally, right? But I can see people. Like I know when Kana or Daiki's scared or angry or whatever, the same with everyone else. Sometimes I can even see what their thinking when it's a real strong thought. But whenever I try to ask them about it, they give me those weird looks and call me a freak and a monster, but they don't do it out loud, they just look it instead. And I know when people are lying to me, or when they're telling the truth. I see people." she looked up at him, nervous, "Is there something wrong with me?" she asked, her voice full of concern and honest uncertainty.

Blood pounded in his ears as realization came to his mind. He was not in possession of such a thing himself, but he knew the gist behind such things. The only thing that he could think of that came to mind instantly were the Sharingan and Byakugan of Konoha, although he had heard that there were more. "Keika-san," he said, his voice surprisingly calm considering what he was thinking, "May I see your eyes?"

She blinked twice, before uneasily reaching towards her blond hair, the untidy mess covering her upper face, "Sure, I guess. I keep 'em covered, cause people don't like my eyes. My eyes scare people." She pushed her hair back revealing the most fascinating thing the Root agent had ever seen. Her irises were silver, like for a mirror or piece of metal. A dark black swirl began in the center of her eye, where a pupil would have been, and swirled all the way out to the edges of her iris. It was a kekkei genkai. An undiscovered one at that. Keika looked up at him and grinned, "You aren't scared of my eyes. You like them," she said, like it was the most amazing discovery she had ever made.

"Your eyes are fascinating." He said with total honesty. In his mind, he pondered the matter over thoroughly. This was quite possibly, the most rare and even unique kekkei genkai in the world. He had never seen anything like it, not even when fighting on the front lines, and he had never even heard whispers of an eye that could do what this one could.

When the two entered the gates of Kana and Daiki's house, the Root agent released his henge, glad to resume his usual appearance. Instead of walking strait back inside, he steered Keika over to the lamp post that she had been hitting with stones. He paused for a moment, looking at the dented metal. Dented. Metal. She was four! And she managed to dent metal. "Keika-san, I would like to test something." he informed her, walking over to the trees that lined the edge of the property.

She nodded slowly, "Sure. I know you're curious." she said. He reached into his weapons pouch and procured five kunai. Cautious at first of giving sharp metal to a small child, he delicately held them out to her. She placed the sticks of butter on the ground, and then curiously reached out her hand and held the weapon in her too-small hands perfectly, testing the balance of the blade. Relieved that she wasn't going to cut herself and bleed out anytime soon, he handed her the rest of the weapons and walked over to a tall oak tree that stood not less than twenty feet away.

Taking out his own knife, he hastily scratched five X's on the tree bark, placing each one a significant distance away from the others. "I would like you to throw each of the kunai on my command and hit each of the targets one time." he commanded, slipping back into the voice he used when he was playing the part of squad leader.

Keika nodded and grasped the kunai that seemed vastly oversized in comparison to her tiny hands. She reached behind her head towards the sky, and with a sharp sudden motion, brought her arm down, releasing the weapon at the optimum moment. The metal blade sailed swiftly towards the tree and imbedded itself deeply into the wood, landing perfectly on the first target. Wasting no time, she quickly threw the remaining four, each hitting their mark.

Done, she stood silently waiting for his approval, although with her gifts she could probably already tell that he was clearly impressed. He stood deep in thought, his back ramrod straight, his arms stiff at his sides.

This child, this fascinating child that he had just happened to stumble across, was quite possibly worth more than the information he had originally came here to obtain. She was in possession of a powerful and probably unique kekkei genkai. She walked noiselessly without effort, being silent on gravel, more ghost-like than child like. She had perfect aim, and the strength to throw projectiles far distances. He had stumbled across a prodigy, and thank god he had found her before Iwa or Kusa had, or else the odds would have tipped away from Konoha's favor. As it was, she was young, and probably easily moldable to Konoha's ways. Danzo-sama would be extremely interested in this child.

"You're glad I did good!" she said happily, a bright grin slowly lighting up her face. Her expression was so happy, like no one had ever been glad when she had done something right before. In fact now that he thought about it, no one probably had.

"Yes." The Root agent said quietly.

She smiled up at him, "Say, what's your name?" she asked, "You're gonna lie, I know, but I'd like to know what you want me to call you."

He looked down at her, at her large and unusual trusting eyes that already knew he would lie but were fine with that. "… You may call me Fushidara." he said, taking conscious care to make his voice sound as less cold as possible.

She grinned, "Okay Fushidara-nii-san!" she said, clasping her hands behind her back. Her hair still remained brushed away from her face, and he could see her gaze wander to the kunai stuck in the tree, the longing clear in her eyes, "Um… Fushidara-nii-san, do you think… I could… keep those?" she asked nervously, pointing to the kunai.

He was Fushidara-nii-san. A big brother. Sure, it was only an expression, not like they were actually related by blood. But no one had ever called him that before. He had never had a brother or sister. The words flowed from his mouth like ink before he could stop them, "Actually, I believe I can do one step better," he said, "Keika-chan," he tested the honorific on his tongue before asking, "Are you happy here?"

Her gaze dropped to the ground, and then brushed to the doorway of the house where they knew her parents were. She shook her head sadly, "No." she admitted.

"Would you like to come back to Konoha with me?" he asked hastily, before he could keep the emotion out of his voice. Once he had asked her if she was happy, he had already known her next answer. In fact, he would not have asked had he not already known what she was going to say.

Her face lit up with joy, and she practically jumped up and down, "Oh yes oh yes! I would love to go back to Konoha with you Fushidara-nii-san!" she ran up to him and grabbed his leg briefly for a hug before letting go upon seeing the awkwardness in his expression. She looked up at him with big bright eyes, "Am I going to be a ninja? Am I going to have my very own knife like yours? Are you going to train me?" she asked, all in a rush, her words stringing together.

He reached down and hesitantly grabbed her hand, "Yes, I believe you will be trained to be a ninja. Yes, that does include having your own kunai and shuriken. And… I do not know who will directly train you, and although I hope that maybe I will be able to, I know that you will be under the instruction of Danzo-sama, same as me." he answered.

She looked awestruck, "Is Danzo-sama a great ninja? He must be to have trained Fushidara-nii-san!"

Fushidara nodded, "Yes, Danzo-sama is a great and powerful ninja." Danzo-sama was, and he had single handedly created Root, as well as kept the Konoha government in line. Nothing official was ever said about his esteemed leader, only that he was one of the four members of the Council, but Danzo-sama was in charge of all the nasty, behind the scenes work that the Yondaime couldn't handle. Fushidara had nothing but respect for his leader, and although some of the regular ANBU may say bad things about him, Konoha would not be so powerful without Danzo-sama's help.

Still keeping his gentle, and surprisingly comforting, grip on her hand, he swiftly removed the kunai from the tree and pocketed them, before walking up to the house, Keika following him eagerly. He slid open the paper door, and motioned for Keika to follow him inside when she looked reluctant to enter. Kana was stirring something frying on a large black iron wok, her hands twitching on the wooden spoon. Daiki was still at the table, puffing on his pipe. Her father glanced up as the two of them entered, "Ah, you're back." he gave a welcoming nod to Fushidara, but made no indication that his daughter was in the room except for rudely saying, "Cover your eyes, you damn brat!"

Keika tottered up to the table and deposited the sticks of butter onto the solid wood, pointedly ignoring her father's command to cover her eyes. Kana glanced up from her cooking before swooping up the said items and placing them in the fridge. Fushidara turned to Daiki, "My apologies, but I will not be staying for dinner. A very urgent matter has come up, and I must return as fast as I can." he said, giving a slight indication of his head to Keika.

This insinuation was either ignored or not noticed by her family, and Daiki asked, "Oh really? That's too bad then. Kana was going to make the local delicacy, beef and-" he was about to go on a tangent, judging from the look in his eyes, but he happened to glance down at Keika, "God girl, have you no brains!? I said, cover your damn eyes!" he yelled, his tone sharper, shorter, and promising violence.

"No." she muttered, glaring at him with her kekkai genkai. Daiki's breath stopped in his throat and he recoiled, shifting away from her in fear before he even knew the reason. Fushidara had seen many Uchiha use their Sharingan as an intimidation tactic, but her kekkei genkai took it to a whole new level. "I won't." she said, her voice almost demanding, and yet furiously defiant, "Fushidara-nii-san likes my eyes."

Daiki's eyes flickered up to Fushidara, who nodded once. "The urgent business I spoke of is Keika-chan," he said, leaving the '-chan' on to purposely agitate her parents, although he didn't know why he did it, "I believe that Keika-chan has significant potential to be discovered if she embarks on the career path of a shinobi, and I am taking her back to Konoha with me." Daiki opened his mouth, looking like he was about to protest, but Fushidara continued in his calm calculating tone, "You have no say in this matter. You are no longer in charge of Keika-chan, and both of you have proven yourselves to be unworthy of raising a child. You overlooked her potential, and saw only a freak of nature. You did not see her powerful kekkei genkai, the one Konoha will now be using as its weapon. If you make an attempt to prevent me from taking Keika-chan back with me, then I am sure that Iwagakure and Kusagakure will be very pleased to know exactly who sold them out to Konoha. It is simple, you let Keika-chan come back with me, and no one need ever know that you sold out your nation."

Both parents looked stunned, Kana having dropped her wooden spoon to the floor with a loud clatter, her hands twitching too much to retrieve it. Daiki's pipe hung from his bottom lip, all attempts at smoking forgotten. Finally, Daiki muttered and gave a dismissive wave of his hand, "Go on, take the thing if you want her so bad."

Fushidara gave an inward smile, before he glanced down at Keika, "Do you have any personal belongings you wish to take with you?" he asked. She shook her head, her face grinning.

And then, the two of them left the house, headed on a course for Konoha. As they left, Keika said it best, "Wow Fushidara-nii-san, you really scared the heck out of him, huh?"