Summary: She looked up at her once teammate and said, "Lies. All lies." Because that was what she had been taught to do. Lie.

Rating: T, or 13-15 but swearing will be heavy later in the story, along with violence .If you can't stand any of that I suggest you click the back button.

Genre: Drama/Adventure/Romance

Author: Lielka

Author's notes:

This is my first story and I hope you enjoy it. As far as I am aware this is the first time a fiction like this has been written with Kakuzu as the one "finding" Hinata.

Otherwise it has only been Itachi and Kisame as far as I know.

You can vote what pairing you want on my profile. Any pairings not listed you can PM me, although I will only use them as a side pairing then.

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Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Naruto, however I own the plotline.

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The bounty hunter and his partner watched as the Kumo nin jumped through the trees with a small bundle tied over the leader's shoulders. "Can we attack 'em yet?", his current partner Daiko whined.

Daiko was a fat yet powerful nukenin, who was unfortunately for his partner almost always hungry. The food bills Kakuzu had to pay were a testament to that. He was also very, very perverted and would go for any woman, single or not, if she was reasonably pretty.

Daiko didn't get an answer, due to the fact that the only thing Kakuzu currently had in mind, was getting the Kumo nin with the delicious bounty of 8 million ryo. He disregarded the other seven nin, as they had no bounties, and therefore were of no value to him.

In the meantime, while Kakuzu had been thinking, the Kumo nin had come to a halt in a small clearing. The bundle was quickly untied from the jounin captain's back and as her form became clearer in the bright light of the full moon, it became apparent that said bundle was actually a girl round about six or seven years old.

The two Akatsuki stopped following, and concealed themselves in the shadows, Kakuzu waiting for the right moment, and Daiko begrudgingly waiting for Kakuzu's orders.

They watched with little interest, as one of the ninja pried open one of the girl's eyes and said, "Yep, No trick's been played", as the reply to an unspoken question that had flitted through the group's mind.

Kakuzu's interest suddenly grew as he recognized the telltale white eyes eyes. The girl was a Hyuga. He struggled to remember what little he knew about the clan (although it was still significantly more than most people, and ninja knew).

All those who had their kekke genkai, a bloodline limit called the Byakugan, had a 360° range of vision, and they could cause severe internal damage with a simple "poke" or tap of their fingers. What was less known was that they could see chakra systems, and the occasional individual could see chakra points.

Due to these facts, many people wanted the incredible doujutsu, as it was also said that the sharingan, another one of the strongest kekke genkai, was a twisted or mutated version of the Byakugan.

The only problem in trying to steal it or at minimum analyze it, was that it was jealously guarded by the Hyuga clan, by means of a seal on their brows, which, in case of death, destroyed all evidence of the Byakugan in the body of the sealed, and would react similarly to experimentation.

The only people without the seal were those of the main house, the leaders of the clan.

Kakuzu regarded the small child who had been propped up against the tree while her captors were taking a break, with more interest, noting that her forehead was bare, signifying that she was of the main house Hyuga.

Possibilities rushed through Kakuzu's head. He could kill the cloud-nin, get a bounty and gain a chance to figure out the secrets of the Hyuga.

If some of them got away with the Hyuga, he still had the bounty and if she died and he had her body then someone like Orochimaru could probably still access the Byakugan's secrets. Sasori, Orochimaru and all the five great shinobi nations would pay a small fortune for the body of a Hyuga, for their respective reasons of course.

All the situations were win/win, as Kakuzu had no doubt in his own skills.

He had doubt in his partner's abilities, but that was no matter, as there were mainly chunin in the squad they were going to attack.

Finally coming to a decision, he turned to his partner, eyes brimming with bloodlust.

"Leave the brat alive. Kill the rest."

Without further ado, both nukenins jumped into the clearing, Daiko killing the first nin in his way with a quick flick of a kunai, whilst Kakuzu had all except the jounin leader ensnared in his tentacle-like appendages, quickly ripping through their vital organs. In the mean time, Daiko grappled with the jounin, although this was quickly brought to an end by Kakuzu using a tentacle to stab through the Kumo nin's heart.

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Hinata woke up to the smell of smoke, in near-darkness , and her confused mind, after a few bewildered moments panicked as she realised that she wasn't on her futon at home. Looking at her surroundings in a frenzy, she stood up and got into a shaky fighting stance, activating her Byakugan.

"Sit down kid." A deep voice from behind her ordered, and Hinata, being the good girl she was and in addition a currently very frightened girl, obeyed and sat back down on the ground with a muffled thump, deactivating her precious kekke genkai. After all, it wasn't much use anyway, as she could only see distinctive shapes about three metres around her, after which everything blurred into confusing shapes.

She timidly looked up to catch a small glimpse of the man who had spoken. He was wearing a black cloak patterned with red clouds, sitting on the large root of a tree. Due to the cloak's high collar covering most of his lower face she could only catch a glimpse of what appeared to be a mask, or , as she looked at the upper part of his face, the lower part of a two-coloured balaclava. The only things she could discern were his eye and skin colour.

His skin was dark, like coffee except greyer, like slate or granite, which made him look more like a very scary statue. His eyes though, were another story altogether.

The whites of his eyes weren't white, but a rather fleshy pink and the irises and pupils were the same colour, a dark shade of green. This made him look even creepier, and just when Hinata thought she couldn't become any more scared, he had to turn his eyes on her and glare.

Gathering up the dregs of her disappearing courage, Hinata managed to ask a single question. "W-who are y-you?"

The man merely grunted and walked over to the fire, shifted some logs and sat down, ignoring her question completely.

Hinata stood back up and took a couple of hesitant steps backwards, suddenly bumping into something soft that most definitely hadn't been there when she had peered around. Looking up, she discovered an almost leering pudgy (by shinobi standards), face and she eeped softly.

"What's your name kiddo?"

She didn't reply, instead gazing at him with the wide frightened eyes of a rat caught by a snake. Not that they looked like either animal.

"Jeez." Daiko sighed, moving away from Hinata. "What'cha lookin' s' scared of.

Hinata jumped a little, and finally stuttered out her name. "H-hina-t-ta."

"Sunny place, in the sun, or sunflower. Don't fit cha." Hinata nodded mutely trying to muster up more courage to ask another question. "Why a-am I he-here?"

The man with the mask answered: "One of the nin from Kumogakure no Sato that kidnapped you had a bounty so we killed him." Hinata looked at him with horror, and tired to ask how this tied in with her, but the large (or fat), man , anticipating the question, answered for her. "Wedidn't want ta leave you behind tied up in the forest all alone so we took ya with us. Kakuzu gave Daiko an incredulous look. The way his "partner" had put it made it sound like they actually cared not to leave a child alone in a forest.

"We have a usefor you. If you prove your worth." Kakuzu didn't name the alternatives, which were dissecting her for her eyes, keeping her as a hostage, or torturing her for information. Not that she would know much of importance anyway.

Hinata had tensed up again, throwing a nervous look at Kakuzu. Daiko looked surprised that they might keep her. Meanwhile Hinata was thinking about what the man had said. Prove her worth? She was weak. She knew it, as her father had always said it to her. She knew it was true. "I-I'm going t-to disappoint y-you then. I-I'm weak."

"Strength isn't needed. We just need you to have speed, endurance, stealth and the ability to lie well."

Lying? What for? Hinata didn't like lying. The last time she had lied, her father had punished her harshly when he found out.

That day had been the anniversary of Neji's father's death, her uncle's death, and she had visited his faux grave as his body had never been returned by Kumogakure. Neji had also been there, and had reacted violently, punching her in the stomach and leaving her with an orange-sized bruise that was immediately spotted by her stepmother the next day.

After being notified about it, her father had questioned her. She had given him a pathetic excuse that he immediately saw through and demanded the truth from her. She had not answered and her punishment had immediately been decided. She was banned from doing her favourite activities, no playtime, only nonstop training, and her diet had been regulated as well. She was still well fed, because she was heir, and a child, but many pleasantries had been cut out.

That had been half a year ago. Hinata had never told her father the truth.

She pulled herself out of her thoughts as Kakuzu continued. "If you pass the test you will become my underling. I and Daiko work for an organisation, of which its business is no concern to you. Your tasks would be ones like spying and stealing."

"W-what's the o-organisation's name?"

Kakuzu paused before answering. "It is not my place to tell you. If you pass you will have to meet our leader."

Hinata didn't like the sound of that.

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Several hours later, Hinata was seriously close to giving up and telling the two men that she wanted to go home. They had walked at a steady pace throughout the night and Hinata, having never done so much strenuous exercise before (she had only joined the academy half a year ago), was exhausted.

They had walked from the time she had woken up, to the time it was now, sometime near dawn. An extra annoyance was that her aching muscles were starting to cramp.

Suddenly continuing to walk on in a sleepy doze, Hinata walked into the taller of the two men who had still not introduced himself.

He turned his head to glare at her and Hinata quickly straightened up. "We're there."

Now that she was looking, Hinata could see buildings through the thinning trees and shivered. Her fate would depend on what happened in the small dingy town up the path.

To be continued…

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Author's notes

Translations and definitions

Nukenin
-translated as: missing nin
-definition: A ninja who has defected from their home village, symbolised by having a line slashed through their village symbol on the metal bit of their hitae ate

Hitae ate or hitai ate (sp?)
-translation
: forehead protector
-definition: a band with a metal plate depicting the village symbol, can be tied around neck, forehead waist arm…

Daiko
-definition: an OC created for plot convenience. Don't worry though, he won't last long (Kakuzu has a habit of killing his partners)

-translation: large child (ko means child)

Akatsuki
-translation: red dawn; NOT RED CLOUD OR MOON

Hyuga
-definition: a clan in the leaf village (Konohagakure no Sato)
-translation: sun

Byakugan
-definition: a hereditary trait belonging to the Hyuga clan
-translation: white eye

Kekke genkai
-translation: bloodline limit (I think)
-definition: a special heritable ability, usually confined to clans

Doujutsu
-translation: eye technique
-definition: In Naruto doujutsu are usually kekke genkai in the users eyes, although it could also be applied to a technique where one's eyes are used, say a genjutsu (illusion technique)

Sharingan
-definition: a hereditary trait belonging to the Uchiha clan
-translation: copy wheel eye

Uchiha
-definition: a clan in the leaf village
-translation: The fan that fans the roaring flames or something less complicated/similar

Kumo
-abbreviation of Kumogakure no Sato; translation: village hidden in the clouds
-definition: ninja village in lightning country

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I'm assuming you all know what jounin, chunin… are, and what Akatsuki is.

The rest… well I just felt like it, and I do get annoyed comments from my friends when I say a Japanese word without explaining it. I do not speak Japanese, fluent or otherwise (though I wish I could learn), so if you point out any mistakes I will be happy to correct them.

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R&R (Read&Review)

Lielka