Ippiki Okami - Lone Wolf (chapter one)

16 year old Serenity Litheas mysteriously shows up in Konohagakure one night and joins them in their ranks. What happens later on and who is she?

I was walking along the road, my backpack secure on my shoulders, heading into a large, green forest. It was night time and bugs were buzzing in the night air. My dark blue eyes scanned the area and it seemed like any normal forest, except I knew better. I was heading to Konohagakure no Sato, the village hidden in the leaves. I stopped at a tree and leaped up, extending chakra to my feet to get a firm grip on a branch. I took a deep breath, rolled my shoulders, and then began jumping through the trees, heading northeast to the village that surely lay ahead.

I was dressed completely in black, wearing a long sleeved shirt and black leggings. My shinobi sandals were pure black and they made a soft, rhythmic tapping sound as I landed on each branch to jump to the next. I was focused on being fast and I didn't notice anyone following me. As I was leaping ahead, something flew at me in the air and I noticed it a split second before it reached me and bent down as I landed on a thick, oak tree branch.

The kunai was embedded in the tree a few feet above my head. I slowly stood up and looked around; knees bent and ready to dodge if more kunai came at me. I heard leaves shuffle and I relaxed my posture to signify I didn't want to fight. Shadow's encircled me quickly and as they stopped I was surrounded by three people. I inspected each of them and realized they were Konoha ninjas. I raised my hands up in the air in surrender and said calmly "I'm not looking for a fight."

The tallest ninja, a man with silver hair that hung to the left side of his head, stepped forward. A mask was covering the lower left of his face and his forehead protector that bared the emblem of Konoha was slung over his left eye. He spoke, "state your business," I blinked innocently and he added, "If you don't, we will be forced to take action against you." I shrugged and said "I'm just traveling to Konohagakure to seek a life there, nothing more, nothing less." He blinked, expecting a different answer and said slowly "A normal traveler would be walking there, not jumping through trees." 'He has a point there,' I thought silently to myself, 'oh well...' I straightened up further and declared "I trained myself in my ninja ways," it was partly true, "so may I please carry on?"

A blond boy my age with blue eyes and whisker-like marks on his face whined and said "Come on Kakashi-sensei, can we just let her go? I haven't eaten since yesterday! I can go for a huge bowl of Ichiraku ramen right now with-" The last person, a kunoichi with short, pink hair and green eyes interrupted him and said with an annoyed voice "Be quiet Naruto! This could be very important! What if she's an assassin or something?!" I chuckled at this "If I was an assassin, you wouldn't have seen me in the first place."

The man with the silver hair named Kakashi sighed and said "Well we might as well escort her on our way back, is that okay with you Miss...?" I grinned happily "Serenity Litheas, a pleasure to meet you, and yes that would be very kind of you to escort me back." The three ninjas started running through the trees, with me following them behind. I was staring at the blond that was named Naruto 'I have a feeling I've saw him before...but I could've sworn I never saw him in my life! This is weird...'

I was thinking about it before Kakashi, Sakura, and Naruto stopped ahead of me at the edge of the trees. I stopped right next to them and breathed a sigh of relief. There ahead of me stood Konohagakure. The village had a lot of buildings standing tall in colors of mostly orange, red, blue, and purple occasionally. A huge mountain towered behind it with five faces, four were men and one was a woman.

"Wow," I breathed out, "how pretty!" Naruto straightened proudly and thumped his fist against his chest "Isn't it?! And one day I'm going to become the Hokage!" I laughed at this and I said "Pretty big dream there!" He grinned and replied "But Grandma Tsunade is the Hokage for now." Kakashi stepped forward and then looked over his head at me. "Come on, Serenity, I'll lead you to the Hokage right now so you can speak to her about moving in." I nodded and followed Kakashi as he led the way through the village. Naruto and Sakura followed behind until Naruto saw a ramen stand with the words "Ichiraku" hanging over it, and dragged Sakura in after saying goodbye to Kakashi and I.

As we continued walking I noticed Kakashi reading an orange book that was titled "Icha Icha Paradise" it had a man chasing a woman on the front with hearts above their head. 'Oh geez...I have a pervert on my hands' I thought with a slight chuckle. I walked a little faster until I was right beside him. "So," I said casually, "what's the book about? By the way your reading it, it looks like a good read." I smirked a little when I saw him quickly put the book away and he said "Oh, you know, the usual, um, romance novel." I laughed a little and he looked at me curiously. "Reaaaaaallly," I drawled out, "usually Jiraiya rights pretty perverted books." Now he was confused "You know Jiraiya? How?" I thought back on the first time I met him and I announced "He was peeking in the women's hot springs...let's just say I taught him a lesson or two and got to know him a bit when I was chatting with him, he even gave me signed books that he wrote," I paused then went on, "and he told me of the things he was thinking of making in his next book...hm but usual romance novel? I just can't seem to believe that!"

I was laughing a bit now as he looked at me and with what I could see, his mouth dropped in shock. "Wow, that's...shocking. Small world isn't it? Eheheheh..." I heard him mumble "Maybe later on I can ask her about what's in the next novel..." I looked at him and asked "So are we there yet?" I asked sarcastically. He came back to his senses and said "Huh? Oh, um, yeah it's right up ahead of us." I looked forward and a big, orange building loomed over us. "Pretty big" I muttered, and we walked inside.

Kakashi and I walked inside and walked up to two doors. He raised his hand to knock but before he did we heard "What's with all this paperwork?! I'm going to die in here if I do anymore! Shizune get me some sake!" Kakashi and I sweat dropped and he knocked. The room went quiet and then I heard some shuffling sounds and after a moment I heard "Enter!" I opened the door and walked in with Kakashi.

Before us was a woman who looked to be twenty-one. She had blonde hair and blue eyes. She had a blue diamond tattoo on her forehead. She was wearing a gray shirt with a blue sash around her and blue pants. Over her shirt, she wore a green robe. She looked up from a huge stack of paperwork she was working on...and when I say huge I say there were other piles about three feet high! She spoke, "Kakashi who is this...?" He rubbed the back of his head and answered "My team and I found her in the woods as we were heading back to the village after our successful rescue of the Kazekage, Gaara." I jumped at the name Gaara and looked at Kakashi curiously "Gaara? Gaara of the Sand?" He looked confused for a second and then nodded. "I know him!" I chirped happily.

Tsunade looks at me for a second, and then back to Kakashi "Did she say who she was and what she's doing here?" Kakashi scratched his head and said "She said her name is Serenity Litheas, she states that she wishes to live here and has come here to ask for your permission. We found her jumping through the trees to the village and she states that she taught herself in the ninja ways..." Tsunade laid her chin on her hand and propped her elbow on the desk. "In that case, do you wish to become a ninja here? If you can pass the genin exams, and the chuunin exams are in a month, then you can join Team Kakashi since they have an empty position for a teammate due to some...unfortunate circumstances. Though I'm not trying to pressure you, I just want you to know the offers there."

I stared at her, shocked. I began to speak "Excuse me, Hokage-sama but I am not even a genin in this village, how do you know that I have what it takes to become a chuunin? I was simply using basic ninja skills when I was heading here, by putting chakra on my feet to be able to cling to a tree..." Tsunade looked at me with an interested look on her face "I am one of the three legendary sannins, and a medic ninja, I can tell just by looking at you that you have high chakra levels."

I looked at her in amazement, took a breath, and exclaimed "That's so cool! Can I be a medic ninja?!" She looked amused and said "Mmm...Your huge amount of chakra will make it difficult, since you need delicate chakra control for being a medic ninja, but I can teach you some of the basics, and, maybe, if you train long and hard enough you can heal a good sized wound." I looked on in awe at her "Really? Thanks! Oh and I have a question..." She raised her eyebrow and motioned for me to continue with her free hand. "Since you're a sannin...do you by chance know Jiraiya?" She smirked and replied "Hmm? Yes I do and how might you know him?" I grinned from ear to ear and replied "I caught him peeking in a women's hot spring that I was in and...Told him a thing or two. He's such a pervert!" Tsunade burst into laughter at that and said in between gasps "That's Jiraiya alright! Haha I see that someone other than me can keep him in line" I laughed along with her and I saw Kakashi's mask move up a little and I guessed he was smiling.

After a minute of laughing, we calmed down and Tsunade grinned "It's nice to meet you Serenity, you can come to my office any time you want to visit, oh and do you want to take that offer?" I nodded my head "I would love to, Hokage-sama." Tsunade leaned forward on her elbow a bit more and looked at me lazily as she said "Call me Tsunade; enough people call me Hokage-sama every day." I looked at her in shock "I could never! That is disrespectful!" She looked at me, amused by my shaken up look. She propped her other elbow on the desk and then leaned her head on both hands. "Are you questioning the Hokage?" She asked slyly. My eyes widened slightly and I shook my head "No way, um, and not anymore." We stared at each other for a while longer and both started cracking up. Kakashi just seemed to be reading his book again as we conversed, but now closed it.

I took a quick breath to calm down and then said "Hoka- I mean Tsunade, what's in the genin exam?" She gave me another look, sizing me up, before she replied "It's easy, it's just a written exam and then a practical." I laughed at the simplicity of it and replied "Sounds like I'll be going to the chuunin exams this year!" Tsunade grinned and said "I hope you like hot weather, because this year's exam is in Suna!" I groaned at that, I just got back from Suna, and now I had to go back!

Tsunade stood up and stretched her arms above her head and then let them fall down again. "Well, tell me when you wish to take the genin exams, I'm sure I can set up a private one so you don't have to wait until the end of the year to take it." I nodded my head in agreement "Thank you Tsunade, is it okay if I take it tomorrow?" She folded her arms and leaned on her left foot. "I don't see how that can be a problem, though do you think you can pass the written exam?" I laughed and replied "No problem, I studied a lot when I was in Suna, I know plenty about it!" Tsunade chuckled at my simplicity "Very well then, come here tomorrow at four p.m. I'll have an examiner come give you the exam." I bowed gratefully and said "Thank you Tsunade."

I jumped as I almost forgot and chuckled "Oh yeah! Is there a place I can stay at? I got so carried away I forgot!" I rubbed my head sheepishly and Tsunade laughed but then frowned. She took a deep breath in and said "I'm afraid there isn't a lot of room in the village right now, its summer and travelers are passing through here and sheltering in the extra houses and guest rooms..." Then she looked like she got an idea because her eyebrows went up and she went into a thinking pose, one arm was holding the other up, elbow propped on her hand and her other hand holding her chin. "The only place that has room at this time is the Uchiha compound, because so many people fear it for what happened a few years back."

I looked at her and said aloud "Uchiha... where have I heard that name before..." Tsunade looked at me with worry and said "Only two Uchiha's are left, one massacred the entire clan except for his brother; their names are Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Sasuke. Sasuke left for Orochimaru for power to kill his brother and Itachi now resides...in Akatsuki." I put my fist down on my other hand "I think I saw him in the bingo book on the way here!" She nodded "Well, stay there for now, you can choose any house you wish to stay in. And if anything weird happens, come straight to me. Nobody's been in that area of the village since Sasuke left." She looked over at Kakashi, who was ready to leave "Kakashi! Lead her to the Uchiha compound, please." He nodded his head and we started walking out.

Suddenly I remembered what Naruto said and I spun on my heel and asked "Oh yeah, I was listening to Naruto and, well, why does he call you Grandma Tsunade if you're so young?" An irritated vein popped up on her head and she muttered "Damn gaki, Naruto..." She took a breath and said "I don't tell this to a lot of people but...I'm actually 51. I'm changing my looks to 21 at the moment." I was surprised but I bowed to her and Kakashi and I left.

He took a few turns here and there and before I knew it we were standing below a gate with a fan crest on it. I raised an eyebrow and looked ahead. There were a bunch of white houses with orange rooftops and a few other colors here and there. It looked like nothing had ever happened to the place except that nobody was living there. I couldn't see any life here, no birds, beetles, or anything of the sort.

"Hmm...It's not that bad!" I said cheerfully, trying to liven up the mood as Kakashi just stared at the village. He shrugged, said goodbye, and left. I walked through the little village and stopped at a big house. "I don't know why," I stated slowly, "but this house gives me the creeps!" I walked inside anyways since I was tired and went to a medium sized room. There was a rack of kunai and a few shuriken along the wall and I breathed out. "Looks like this was a ninja's room..."