Prologue:

Kaze no Kuni, also known as the Land of Wind is a dry and arid land with nothing but the sea of sand and hot, scorching weather that is lifeless in the eyes of many. Although its harsh environment is unsuitable for almost anything that lives through nature, it is a destination for some adventurers, scholars, and the occasional movie and TV industry that thrive in the Five Great Shinobi Nations. Of course, the latter would need to pay for the fees needed to the current Kazekage of Sunakagure before setting up to film the vast desert for whatever they are shooting.

In the middle of the desert is a small group of people located near a pile of monolithic stones that has been washed away by the sandy winds of time. Only five months ago, the huge rocks were partly visible to some of the Suna nin who have found shelter behind it during its occasional sandstorms. Tons of sand that has been dug out and careful excavation planning have revealed what this team of archaeologists that has been searching for years. The rock formation resembles something of a pyramid, where the huge stone slabs leaned towards a central point like that of a tent, and in the center were huge blocks made of sand and straw, which was proof of an ancient civilization possibly long before the founding of Sunakagure. The expedition team was a collaboration of two allied nations, namely Sunakagure and Konohakagure, and laborers coming from the Hidden Sand village. In order for the Sand Village to prosper, the ruling members of the Sunakagure council have decided to go back to their roots and see how their ancestors have prospered in the past. The Hidden Leaves' Hokage was quick to send aid as well as experts to help their ally.

Sitting inside the comfort of his tent, the expedition leader has been looking over various pieces of paper and old scrolls while doing a cross referencing with a topographical map. It has been a long and harsh project between the two nations, and it seems it would soon come close to an end with fruitful results. Taking some water from a canteen on the worktable, he was about to draw some water into his mouth when one of his colleagues barges in with an excited look in his face wrinkled face.

"Professor Kunimori! We've found something in the center of the rocks! You have to see this!"

Professor Kunimori's hands begin to tremble as he dashed out of the tent, forgetting his parched throat as he followed his colleague outside. A few laborers and other scholars and ninja gathered around to take a look at their discovery as the professor pushed his way through to see what it was. In the hollowed center of the rock formation is another rock, but the only difference is the small carvings of hieroglyphic origins that covers it. As the professor clambered down the makeshift stairs, his sights were averted towards a single kunoichi of Konoha as she brushes the sand away to begin deciphering the hieroglyphs. The woman is well in her early twenties, wearing her hiai-ate just above her short, dusty blonde hair and wearing clothes similar to the citizens of the Hidden Sand, a necessity due to the harsh and sandy weather. Her face partially covered with a single strip of cloth to prevent sand from entering through her mouth and nostrils. She strokes the brush over the rock with practiced ease and care, making sure the original shape remains intact.

"Sachiko-kun," the professor called as he walked next to her. "Anything interesting with this rock here?"

The woman named Sachiko turned her dark green eyes to face the professor as she moved the brush away from the rock.

"Yes, sir. Seems like we've found what we've been looking for." She points towards a line of hieroglyphs on the rock. "According to this row, it speaks of the ancient civilization that worships the Angry God of the Sun, which would imply the desert sun." Then she moved to the other side of the rock with the professor in tow. "And over here states a warning of some sort, but the rest of the hieroglyphs have been carved away, possibly due to the sand erosion or when the rock is lowered in this very spot."

The professor examined the rock closely, as well as called for a photographer with his camera ready to take pictures of the rock and the hieroglyphs. Upon his third orbit around the rock, the professor found something he had overlooked as he squatted down for a closer examination. It showed a symbol of intricate letters of ancient past as well as a shape that resembled a humanoid. Though the original tone has disappeared, he took a piece of paper and began carefully stenciling the symbol on top of it. It took a few minutes to complete the stencil impression until he was satisfied as the professor left the scene followed by Sachiko, followed by the order of cleaning the rock by the rest of the assistants and a couple of picture by the photographer. The two walked towards the shelter of the tent as Professor Kunimori and Sachiko sat down on one of the chairs to begin their study. Sachiko removed the strip of cloth from her face as she breathes in some air that is not from the outside. Under the light of the plastic sunroof of the tent, Sachiko's facial features are revealed a cunning look about her as well as three whisker-like birthmarks on both cheeks.

The professor took a scroll out of the trunk and unrolls it on the table, which shows an intricate seal brushed on the paper. With a few hand seals, a small puff of smoke revealed a large tome as the professor began working on it. After several pages, the professor's eyes widened a bit, as he kept switching from the stenciled paper with the tome, unable to believe on what he was looking at.

"By the gods," the professor whispered to himself, which caught the attention of Sachiko as she hovered behind the professor to see what he was looking at. Closing the heavy tome with an audible thump, the professor crumpled the piece of paper and throws it away before breathing a long audible sigh.

"We must abandon the project." The professor said as he slowly sets his eyes towards Sachiko.

"What do you mean? We were so close!" Sachiko glared at the professor with disbelieving eyes.

"You don't understand, Sachiko-kun." the professor shakes his head, "If we move on further, it may bring an unspeakable evil upon us all."

Sachiko have always been the type never to give up when starting on something big, a trait which she inherited from her father, the current Hokage of Konoha. Of course, there is nothing that draws the line when it comes to mysticism and science, something that just about everyone living in the Shinobi Nations have known, the possibilities of something that would bring destruction ever since the days of Orochimaru and Akatsuki. It was a decision that would either save an ally or destroy the world in unison now rests on Sachiko, which makes the other half of the professor's.

"So what are we facing?" Sachiko could only ask questions for now.

Professor Kunimori rubs his eyes from the stress and fatigue, as well as the disappointment of an impending failed project that have amounted several million ryo, as well as the disappointment of the volunteers and workers who have dedicated themselves to the task at hand.

"Tell me, Uzumaki-kun," the professor calls her by her formal name, something that Sachiko would be wary about whenever a life or death decision needs to be made. Though she's been with the team for no more than three months, Uzumaki Sachiko have always prided herself with the intelligence of her late mother she never knew, as well as the stalwart and confident nature of her father, Naruto. 'Never back down from my word', a nindo that her father always quoted and adopted it as her own, this situation now tests her desire to find a discovery she swore to complete over the fate that may end all of existence.

The professor observed the Hokage's daughter for a few minutes, taking in the silence that she is now deliberating on the decision, he rose from his chair and placed a paternal pat over the girl's shoulder.

"You don't need to rush." The professor smiled kindly. "It would sadden me if the project has to be cancelled, but I would definitely die in peace knowing my children and grandchildren would be safe from a fate that would befall them in the future."

Looking out from the partition of the entrance, the professor continued.

"We shall end today's work for the night, and hopefully I'll have your decision by tomorrow morning whether we should push on or bury the monument."

Sachiko gave the old man an appreciative nod as she flashed him a fox-like grin, something that most of the men have accustomed to love and the means of encouraging them whenever they feel tired or miserable.

The day ended in the middle of the afternoon, which the expedition team took the explanation with mixed expressions. Even laborers were permitted to return to the Sand Village, as a relief team will arrive the day after tomorrow. The evening sets in, the blazing temperature now replaced with cold dry weather as everyone settles in for the night when a few figures dressed in black have infiltrated the perimeter of the excavation site. Sneaking in closely, they surveyed the area for any Suna nin patrols, making sure that dispatching them would be swift and silent. Though Sachiko plays the role of an archaeology scholar, she happens to be of jounin rank herself as she took the first watch that lasted for three hours before being relieved by the night watchmen. Her replacement arrived as she heads off to her tent she shared with a few of the professor's female assistants and one chunin of the Sand when an explosion nearly shook her off her feet. Various screams followed as Sachiko readied her kunai as she searched her surroundings. The tent occupants left their shelter to find out what caused the explosion when Sachiko felt the presence of killing intent surrounding her. Looking up towards the night sky, she saw faint glimmers that resembled projectiles.

"Everyone take cover!" Sachiko yelled as she made a hand seal of hers and her father's favorite skill.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Sachiko yelled as several solid replicas of herself appeared in a puff. Each readying a kunai or shuriken, they all hurled their projectiles towards the incoming ones, deflecting most of them while others landed harmlessly away from the non-combatants.

"Damn it!" Sachiko cursed as a wave of unidentified ninja came close to the expedition site. The few chunin and jounin in the area rushed in to impede on the attack as Sachiko approached one of her shadow clones.

"Go back to the Sand village and request for reinforcements. Also, have them send a carrier hawk to the Leaf Village on what's happening." Sachiko ordered as the clone nodded before leaping away. The odds were against them, not knowing how many bandits were there as she hurried to the professor's tent.

Inside, the professor was scurrying around picking up tomes and scrolls and dumping them inside his trunk before sealing it inside his scroll.

"Professor, we have to get you out of here. I'll have one of the clones escort you back to the Sand Village." The clone steps in, ready to take the professor to safety. Professor Kunimori nodded feverishly as he finished sealing the trunk inside the scroll and hurried to the waiting clone. Before leaving, the professor grabbed Sachiko by the shoulders as he gazed sternly into her eyes.

"I do not know what they are after, but whatever happens, DO NOT let them remove the stone!" the professor spoke with utmost urgency before leaving with the clone.

Outside, a couple of bodies from both sides littered the area and her clones were reduced to a handful. It was a terrible onslaught as she charged in to help the other Sand jounin in keeping the enemy at bay. Somehow, more enemy shinobi kept pouring in like an angry sandstorm when Sachiko heard the cries of an elderly man as she turned to where the professor was escaping. The clone that was with the professor has sent its memories to Sachiko, revealing a effeminate-looking shinobi with white spiky hair and a robe as she leapt towards that place. As she landed, her eyes widened to find the professor impaled by the enemy's sword through the chest with blood leaking from the wound. His killer showed no remorse or even a blood-thirsty visage as he picked up the scroll from the professor's robe and pockets it in his hip bag.

"No, professor. Oh gods… No…" Sachiko choked and her tears spilled forth when her dear friend and teacher during her youth was brutally murdered right in front of her. The wave of sadness, anger, loss and rage twisted inside of her like a powerful typhoon when she hunched over, her sobs were slowly reduced to a more feral growl that is deemed inhuman. The white-haired shinobi observed her with little interest, as she raised her head towards her teacher's killer, her eyes changed from a cool green to a more demonic red with cat-like pupils and the whiskers on her face thickened. Her body bursts in red flames of chakra as more of her physical features changed like her fingernails growing sharper, the canines on her teeth growing into sharp fangs and the excess red chakra transform into a shape of a tail that moves on its own.

"Kill… kill… kill… you… kill you…" her voice was throaty yet held all the hate she could muster. She slowly raised her right hand, willing her chakra to gather over the palm as it begins twisting and rotating into a weapon of powerful jutsu with the strength of a tornado.

"RASENGAN!"

The white-haired shinobi could only sneer at her as he felt the sudden spike of her murderous, not killing, intent as she charged with the speed that is beyond any shinobi with a frenzied scream with her right hand stretched towards his head. To the white-haired shinobi, it seems like time only slowed down to him before thrusting his knee forward, to find it connecting to Sachiko's abdomen with the force of an ogre's club at full swing. This caught Sachiko by surprise when she felt the air in her lungs blown out by force and the Rasengan on her hand dissipates before her opponent swings his fisted hand across her face. The impact proved powerful enough to send her skidding across the sand and crashing at the stone monoliths on her back. The force of the punch was powerful enough to leave a web of fissures across the stone as Sachiko's demonic chakra dies out as she coughs up blood. In a blurry gaze, Sachiko fought desperately to regain her eyesight, only to find her throat being squeezed in bone-crushing strength as she was lifted off her feet. She held onto the arms of her opponent as she choked and gasped desperately for air.

"Dear child," her opponent's voice sounded smooth and composed- a far cry from how he managed to kill her teacher. "It would seem that my theory where a demon's jinchuuriki can be changed from one host to another may be proven. Or perhaps it divided itself from the original jinchuuriki to its offspring, just like giving birth to a new demon. I wonder, how many tails does your Kyuubi possesses?"

Sachiko's eyes widen a bid from confusion with her left eyelid drooping due to the hit she took, thinking how anyone could engage themselves in academic thinking during a battle.

"No matter, in the end, there could only be just one Kyuubi in existence."

The white-haired ninja throws Sachiko aside, as he approached the monument and towards the rock in the middle. Sachiko struggled to move despite of her injuries as she crawled on her arms and legs, reaching out towards the rocks. By the time she arrived, the white-haired shinobi was forming a series of very fast hand signs that took nearly half a minute before plunging his chakra-flamed hands on the rock. Instead of crushing the rock, Sachiko was shocked to find the shinobi's hands being absorbed through it, and the rock glowed with an eerie purple.

"It's time." the white-haired shinobi breathed with relish as he took a step back to watch the glowing rock after removing his hands from it. "The rebirth of an ancient village will soon rise again to rule the Five Great Shinobi Nations, and our Kage will bring peace and order once again."

There was no telling what would happen if the process is complete, as Sachiko's mind raced furiously for a plan. Instead, she ignored the pain of her injuries when she pulled out a kunai and lunged for the shinobi. As the blade almost reached the back of the shinobi's neck, her body seem to float when she finds herself encased inside a bubble made of chakra. An open hand was pressed outside the bubble, and the white-haired shinobi was controlling it.

"It would seem I need to take care of you in order to complete the rebirth. Yet I must admire your tenacity and foolishness to even try and land your weapon at me. For that, you shall be rewarded."

Sachiko watched as the white-haired shinobi made a couple of one-handed seals, something that is a rarity even among the Kage of the Five Nations. Upon completion, she felt her body beginning to hollow out, and her sense of touch following suit before she could no longer feel herself disappearing.

As the attack of the excavation site died down, another shinobi approached the stone monoliths with the authority of a higher rank with his long black hair flowing flawlessly in the slight breeze. He wore the standard outfit much like the invading shinobi, which consists of black and red with netted armor underneath. Looking down, the shinobi felt the chakra signature of the jutsu the white-haired shinobi performed.

"Was that even necessary?" the shinobi asked.

The white-haired shinobi could only smile slightly as he turned to his companion.

"I'll find out in a few days, if the father could remember even having a child."