Sorry about the wait!! Stupid bombshell blowing up my summer plans. Oh! And by that I mean daily life, not an actual bombshell. This will be a very good and longer chapter than before(in my opinion). Action, mystery, drama, everything you want in one bundle from comcast for only 1,000,000!! It's funny 'cause it really does cost that much(Wow that was stupid). Anyway, time for the story.

Disclaimer: It's a dis to the claim that I own Naruto and an er.. muttered by Kishimoto. What?! Damn you Masashi!!

Oh yeah, anything I say will be in parentheses. (Like this.)

Oh, and thanks to Hyrulehalfbreed. (Is that too many Oh's?!)

foreword

Chapter 2: Remains

I can only watch slowly as you are broken

I can only sleep soundly when you are in pieces

I can only cry softly as you are leaving

I can only be free when you are gone

start

The village hidden in the shadows was not a quiet one. Many of the village's main trades had something to do with violence. Also, the trek to the world of light was not an easy one either. You see, the weather in the village was a constant. No birds flocked overhead. No clouds threatened with their rainy promise, their torrential debut. There was no sun, only faint light drifting from the houses riddling the streets. Numerous nameless shinobi died trying to get across to the world of light, which made one wonder as to why Haze was seeking to leave anyway.

Life was rotten. There were a few poor districts, including the one Haze lived under. Children's death was a common sight in these districts. No one bothered to help the dying child, I mean, their bodies were too small, right? Or maybe those convulsions were a bit too wild to tame? No, no one was willing to risk their own life in exchange for someone else's in the poor districts. So they went unnoticed, washed away in the tide of everyone else's own selfishness. Shinobi rarely inspected these districts, which was one of the reasons why Haze had been living underneath one.

But elsewhere in the city, life was at its peak. Every family was adorned with at least a three-story house, and ample yard space. The sons and daughters of these families got to be shinobi. They got to have lives, they were allowed to mate, to have a legacy. Oh, the people in the outer ring, as it was called, they could mate; but to what purpose? Their children would have no inheritance, no legacy. Unlike the people in the middle ring. And even further inside the city, life was even richer. The extremely wealthy gathered there, flocking together to flaunt their money to each other in a show of supremacy. And the walls, the giant, forty foot walls that divided each part- a sign of the villages ugliness. The separation was suffocating, like having everyone you know leave you and take your oxygen with them. It was like a bullseye, a bullseye shot at by people with bad aim, meaning they always hit the edges, always got the lowest score. But for those who hit one of the inner rings; life was sweet. Life was normal...

switch

Haze walked along the wall separating the middle and outer rings, making sure not to make a sound; even though it couldn't have been more than four in the morning. He sighed quietly as he walked on the streets cracking pavement, his boots making a soft crunch every time he took a step. He was finally leaving. He was finally leaving the godforsaken village he had grown up in. This is it, he mused to himself, this is the day that I either die or change my life forever. That last thought made him stop. Forever? . . .Do I really want that? Yes, he decided, he did. He let his hand aimlessly run along the wall, caressing it almost as if it was a loved one that he did not want to leave.

He thought about, strangely enough to him, his parents. He didn't remember much, or, more like, he didn't want to remember. They nearly abandoned him for most of his childhood. Every day after school, he remembered himself checking if his parents were there, wondering if maybe they would take him out for ice-cream. Then he would always be disappointed when they didn't, come home that is; not like they took him out for ice-cream either. Then, one night, his parents came home. Early. And with friends.

flashback

Dull light emanated from the lamp in the kitchen, casting a warm glow throughout the house. Haze sat alone, doing some homework in the old reclining chair seated in the far left corner of the living room. It was a somewhat large house, so he had plenty of places that he could stay but for some reason, he always felt drawn to the golden-brown chair. Maybe it was the soft leather, he didn't know.

He glanced sparingly at the clock, it was already a habit by now. The minute hand and the hour hand were touching, pointing straight down almost as if to start a waltz. Six o'clock. P.M. At least four more hours to go until he parents came home. But it wouldn't matter, his bedtime was at nine. He went back to his homework. Man, he hated math.

Fifteen minutes later, he heard the front door open, creaking slightly. And he winced slightly as it banged against the wall next to it- a telltale sign that his father had opened it. Leaping out of the chair, he practically ran to greet his parents.

"Mommy! Daddy! I missed you so much! You didn't tell you would be home so soon-" He was cut off.

"Spare us of your idle talk." His father said. He started to shake." You don't have a right to speak to us." The words hurt, like a knife in your side. Why was his father doing this? What was going on?

" What's-" Once again he was stopped from saying anything.

" I told you to shut your fucking mouth." With that his father smacked him. And it hurt, to be sure. Haze cried out in pain as he was flung backwards into the wall behind he, breaking off some of the plaster. He felt a slight bleeding coming from his lower back and from his lower lip.

"No. Ainon, this is supposed to be a quick job." Was that really Haze's mother's voice? Was she really trying to defend him after all this time? No, it had to be some sort of trick; a gimmick of some sort. Would his mother really do that for him?

" Tie his hands and feet and make sure that he cannot escape his fate.(Love the band Escape The Fate, btw) I want this to be over quickly." No, he guessed not.

end flashback

He continued on like this until he found what he was searching for: a door. The door to the middle ring. Most people wouldn't know about it, and shinobi so far hadn't found it, which was thanks to a small amount of chakra concealing it at all times which Haze himself had put there.

He grinned slowly as he gathered the chakra back up and opened the door, carefully checking the other side for people. Seeing no one, he slid himself into the middle ring, cautiously shutting the door behind him. Stage one was complete. It sounded foolish, but yes, stage one was complete. From that moment, he would have to be on his guard, for there were shinobi here. Ninja phantoms that would gladly behead him seemed to lurk around every corner, every house, everything.

And then, they turned into real ninjas armed with kunai and fierce determination; determination, he suspected, to kill him.

"Shit," Haze muttered under his breath. This reaction, I suppose you could say, was understandable. According to him, no one knew about the door. According to him. The truth was, the village shinobi had found it about two years ago; it had been during a same-old monotonous safety sweep of the city. Surprise was registered, but was quickly passed on because the door was valuable. Ever since then, they had been using it to secretly monitor activity near the middle wall.

Three, four. . .The ninja silently formed a small circle around him, perching on rooftops, in side streets, and anywhere else they could to make the circle as perfect as possible. Eight, nine. . . "Holy shit" came another whisper, there were ten freaking people surrounding him. (Things are gonna get dicey.)

A large, four-pronged shuriken danced its way wildly to the back of his throat, making an intense effort to severe his head from his body. It gleamed murderously in the faint city light, creating the effect of a rather deadly Frisbee. It also danced, as Haze dodged it by rolling to the side, into the neck of another man trying to sneak up behind him. The man's body convulsed for a second, and then when limp; blood gushing out of the place where his head once was. Haze smiled a bit, but then bit back that smile as three more attackers flew down to where he was standing.

He jumped backwards and hid in the doorway of a shop, well, you really couldn't call it 'hid' because he could easily see out and they could easily see in. It provided cover, which, as he learned the next moment, he needed. As the attackers landed behind him, his peripheral vision caught one of them doing handsigns. He fell quickly to the floor of the masonry, narrowly avoiding a humongous blast of fire that seared the air above him with its heat. The problem was, he was too elated with dodging the blast that he failed to notice that the air around him was dissipating until it was almost too late.

Regretting having to do it, he leaped out of the window situated right next to the door, shattering the glass as he zipped through it. Three of his attackers grazed him with shuriken as he grazed past them. Not feeling the pain, he grabbed the arm of the nearest one and threw him onto the broken glass still in the window frame. By the time the blood started to spurt out of the man, Haze had his left foot on the ground.

Not wanting to waste any movement, he grabbed a cobblestone(the street is made out of cobblestones) in his left hand and used it as leverage to swing around with his right foot, catching another attacker in the nose. A sickening crunch could be heard as the nose broke, shattering under the force of the blow. Haze watched in grim delight as the cartilage followed his foot off of the man's face, only to be plastered to another face causing the man's mouth to open, practically swallowing the blood, flesh, and bone. It caused the man to gag instantly. Finally done with his right foot, he half somersaulted and lashed out with his left foot, swiping underneath the fifth man that had tried to corner him.

The man easily jumped over it and- pulling out a knife that was attached to a slide-track to his arm- came down with the knife, aiming for Haze's leg. Luckily though, the momentum of Haze's swing brought it out of harms way. The same momentum also allowed him to slash a deep wound in the center of the attackers chest. So far, seven seconds had gone by since he jumped out of the window.

That was the fifth one, he remarked to himself, if things continue on like this it's just going to be a slaughter... He allowed a minuscule grin to adorn his face. And I will be the butcher.

He wasn't allowed any more time to think though, for yet another ninja was attacking him.

This time, the man used handsigns right off the bat.(Did I really just say 'right off the bat'?) Once again, fire rained down on Haze, but this time, Haze was ready for it. He did some handsigns of his own.( Note: I'm not gonna mention the name of his jutsus until later when it is more prudent.) Water raced out of Haze's mouth as the flame came closer to him. When the water hit the flame both instantly evaporated, creating a massive cloud of steam which rolled into fog. That was good, because he cold use it as cover.

Suddenly he saw a shadow slipping its way towards him. He pulled out two kunai, one for each hand. The moment that he could ascertain the man's exact whereabouts in the fog, he threw one as quietly as he could. There was silence for a moment. Then, he heard a soft gurgle and the sound of a body dropping to the ground.

The weapon almost drove home, had it not been for the second kunai Haze held in his right hand, only now that same kunai was tilted behind his back in a 45 degree angle pointing upwards, waveringly parrying the foreign weapon the way a scabbard would guard a sword. His arm slid up, slicing through the man's forearm like filleting a fish. The man screamed in agony at feeling and having to watch someone do that to his arm. But he didn't scream for long. A swift punch to his gut silenced him- he was too busy throwing up. After his past few meals stopped coming up, he groaned softly and fell unconscious. Haze set him down on the rough cobblestones.

Haze looked around, but the attacks had stopped. No more people tried to attack him. Cold feet? It didn't matter, so long as they wouldn't come again. Seven out of ten isn't too bad I guess. He stood up, the staggered a little as a small wave of exhaustion hit him. Maybe he would rest a bit, close his eyes for a few minutes.

No! He shouted in his mind, I have to get to the gateway. He then turned and straightened his trench coat, shaking any remains that could have lingered from the previous skirmish. He imagined the blood coming out of the coat, even though it was impossible- it would have soaked through entirely by then.

"Yes, holy shit, I knew you wouldn't be too much of a challenge." he almost whispered to himself. Apparently, he was stronger than they had suspected, which worked to his advantage.

partial flashback/switch

The body jumped onto the outer wall of the Hidden Shadow village. His target was down there somewhere, in the poor districts. The body then proceeded to masquerade quietly from house to house, searching for the boy. He didn't need to search long though, for the moment he landed on a particularly tall house, the boy appeared, trailing his hand along the middle wall. Where was the boy going, the body's brain wondered.

He seemed preoccupied, which suited the body just fine. It was about to pounce when it heard a soft sigh. The body's ears shot up, wanting to hear any more delicious sounds that it's target might produce. The tongue slithered out ever so slowly and licked cherry black lips in the faint light coming from the city below it. And the hands, they were balled up(1) into tempting fists. These all relaxed when seemingly important movement came from below.

Yellow slitted eyes watched in interest as the boy unmasked a door leading to the middle ring. They narrowed tough, when the door was closed and they could not see the boy. No matter, they quickly proceeded their body in jumping onto the top of the wall. Much better.

There was quite a show for those eyes when the got to the top of the wall. It looked like his target-kun was about to be ambushed. Perfect. Came the body's brain. It could use this opportunity to see just how skilled his target really was.

end

(1) I mean, come on people. Do you not see what I see?

So? What do you think? Huh? Huh?

Just joking around. And don't worry, I think the next chapter will be the last one in the Hidden Shadow Village. but I'm not sure. But I can tell you, after that, We go to Konoha.

I know what you're thinking:

"That was a terrible place to end the chapter LP"

" I know, but I just really wanted to update for all my adoring fans...It's true. I'm not even joking. You really mean that much to me. No applause...Please, I'm serious. People might think you're faking it. And there will be no fake applause on my show."

"Umm, LP?"

"Yeesss?"

" You're not on a show."

"Oh REALLY? That's what you think. Did you not see the cameras? A little side note:They say the camera adds ten pounds. With that kind of money we could buy more cameras and get even more pounds."

XD

So yeah, umm, please review! Or else I'll stare at the empty review page, and cry, and eat thousands of chocolate fudge sundaes, 'cause they help me cope. Yeah, no more guilt trips. They really suck.

Though I really could go for a sundae now.