It all started off as a regular day in Konoha. I was asleep, and it was my day off. Ever since becoming Jonin, life became difficult, I was constantly going on missions and I had not caught a break. I thought to myself quietly, Ever since Master Jiraiya died, everything had gotten difficult. Even though I was never one of his students, we did speak about Naruto on many occasions. Jiraiya was closer to one of my comrades, Kakashi Hatake, he was a couple of years older than me, but he was much more experienced than I was, just becoming a jonin at 25. Naruto…I thought to myself. I smiled a bit at Naruto's ambition to find Sasuke. He faced the Akatsuki, and he went through so much and he never gave up. He became a hero in the village.

When I thought about Sasuke, he reminded me of his brother more and more. I smiled…Itachi Uchiha, my first love. Itachi and I were at the academy together, and he was constantly at the top of the class, this made everybody else hate him but the girls were in love with him, but I admired Itachi, and saw how hard he constantly worked. I liked watching him succeed and it made me smile. Before Itachi went rogue, he was kind and caring. When my parents passed away on a mission, he even comforted me.

I had a clan, who took me in, but they loathed me since my mother married another man from an enemy clan. My mother's clan, the Ezahiya, and my father's the Hishikawa had been enemies for years, but I inherited great things from both of them. From my father's clan, a kekkei genkai, the ryakugan, and silky black hair from my mother's clan which was well unimportant, but something they took great pride in.

My thoughts went back to Itachi and how I caught him training and made him fight me. He beat me so bad. I trained with him sometimes though because all we wanted was to protect the leaf. Itachi made me stronger, and I still remembered when I kissed him out of the blue. He wasn't expecting it, but I just did it. He had no expression and I ran away. I was a chunin at that point, and the next day Itachi went rogue. But he was dead now, and it was Sasuke who killed him. I didn't blame him for any of it, Itachi murdered their whole clan.

I pulled the blanket over my head and sighed, "It's too early to be having these thoughts." I said out loud. I hauled myself out of bed and I brushed my teeth. It was actually the afternoon and I was just sleeping in. I started to put all my clothes on when I suddenly heard an explosion go off, and just heard the fearful screams of others. I quickly put on my black shorts over my gray stockings and my black net full sleeve shirt with my jonin flak jacket on top.

I ran outside into the small neighborhood where my mother's clan resided. Children were still outside, a whole bunch of them and they were being watched by their grandparents. "Get down!" I yelled at them as my eyes flew to a Kunai that had a paper bomb attached to it. I was too late.

"Ryakugan!" I yelled activating my kekkei genkai. The ryakugan turned my eyes gold with four dots around my eyes. The ryakugan let me see things better, and it gave me the ability to calm down a little more. It enhanced my vision dramatically, prevented me from falling under low level genjutsus, see chakra, and other things, but since nobody taught me how to use it, I hadn't been able to advance it.

"Earth style!" I yelled out, "rock dome!" Which built a protective area around the area and where most of the buildings were. The explosion went off and a few rocks crumpled down. It didn't take much out of me so I was still alright.

"Veena!" One of the older people yelled, I whipped around quickly and it was one of the elders of the Ezahiya clan. "The village is under attack; you must go help the rest of the village. We here are working on these barriers, but the rest of Konoha needs as many people as they can get! Go now!" she shouted at me.

Despite the fact that they had hurt me a lot over the past years, I couldn't help but look at them in concern, "I can't just leave you all here!" I told them

"Just go!" the old granny told me. I grunted. But I obeyed and burst through my own jutsu from the top before resealing it again. I jumped roof to roof scoping out the scene and I saw explosions going off everywhere, until finally I caught glimpse of three people in the air.

"The Akatsuki symbol!" I said in my head as I kept jumping from roof to roof. Bodies were flying everywhere as the explosions continued. I grit my teeth. "This is crazy" I said out loud, and then I saw a man struggling while trying to help someone injured. I was about to swoop down to them but then I saw one of the Akatsuki members swoop down. They all looked the same but there were distinct characteristics that made them different.

I gasped "Iruka!" He was trying to move an injured person and it looked like the Akatsuki member was trying to stab him. Iruka froze. "NO!" I yelled as I grabbed the rod he was about to stab into Iruka's chest.

"Veena!" Iruka yelled in surprise.

"Get that man, and get out of here fast. I'll handle this." I told him.

Iruka just took the man and fled from the scene. The Akatsuki member looked at me. "Who are you?" I asked him.

"I am Pain." He said to me. My eyes went wide as I realized this was the man who had killed Master Jiraiya.

"You're Pain…" before I had time to finish my sentence he whipped the rod back and grabbed me by the throat.

"Now, do you know where Naruto Uzumaki is?" he asked me.

I knew exactly where he was but I would never tell him, "Naruto is a member of this village. I will never sell him out." I told him. He looked at me with spiral eyes. "I see…" I started. "You possess the rinnegan. Kill me, but I will never tell you where Naruto is." I spat.

"Then you shall die." He said softly.