Chapter 3:

Slowly, Matsuri opened his eyes and pushed himself up by his elbows. He noticed something surrounding him. It crackled and shifted as Matsuri moved. It made his skin feel tingly. The way it danced around made Matsuri think of lightning when it flashed through the sky.

Then he saw that the men were still there, but one of them, the one that had his foot on Matsuri's back, had been thrown into the side of the temple and was slowly getting up with a curse. The other had back up a few steps, but his gaze was locked onto Matsuri.

Matsuri pushed himself to his knees and studied the men. He'd never seen anyone like them before. They were probably missing-nin. His sister(his heart panged at the thought of her) had told her how he had to be careful not to insult anyone in case the person was one. But she'd also said that there were some that didn't care and hurt people anyway.

The one getting up from being knocked down had no shirt, just dark grey pants with bandages wrapped around the ankles. Matsuri could see a pendant hanging from his neck with that same symbol that he'd seen earlier on the ground in blood. He long grey hair that was slicked back and reached to just below his collarbone. His eyes were a weird purple, a color that Matsuri immediately hated and would hate for the rest of his life. A forehead protector was tied to his neck. Matsuri could see three diagonal lines on it with a slash cutting through them. The weapon he had was a scythe with three blades. That man was a shinobi, a missing-nin.

The other was dressed in black, with only his black eyes showing above the mask on his face. A big knife hung by his hip. He didn't have a forehead protector but Matsuri was sure that he was a missing-nin too. He had to be.

Just then, the lighting shield that had been surrounding Matsuri flickered, and disappeared.

The two exchanged looks, and broke into feral grins. The chuckles made Matsuri fall back from them in fear. "This will be fun. The bitch will make Jashin very pleased."

"Did you taste her blood?"

"Not yet." They took out two kunai each and leapt at Matsuri.

Matsuri cried out, and closed his eyes, expecting the pain to hit him.

Nothing happened. At least not to him.

What sounded like thunder shattered through his ears and when Matsuri's eyes snapped open, he saw both the men flying back and slamming into the ground a dozen yards away from him.

"Son of a bitch." The silver haired one snarled, the look on his face turning angry.

The other grunted in agreement, eyes locking onto Matsuri. As they both got ready to attack again, they froze, tilting their heads to the side.

"Damn, they found us." The one in black clicked his tongue before turning away from Matsuri.

The other stayed a second longer. "I'll find you and finish you, just like the rest of them." The man smirked, before he too disappeared.

Matsuri stayed frozen, not believing that the were gone. After a few seconds, he got shakily to his feet. His back twinged in pain from being pushed into the ground earlier. His eyes darted back and forth.

Nothing.

"Nee-chan..." Matsuri muttered, feeling the strength returning to his legs. He ran back to where he'd left her. He blocked everything around him except for thoughts of his sister. She had to be alive, she had to.

As he got within view of her house, his heart stopped. The spot that she'd been in was empty, except for the pool of blood. Almost like he was walking in a dream, Matsuri made his way to the steps and fell to his knees. He wasn't even aware of the tears that were silently making their way down his cheeks.

Reaching out, Matsuri's hand hovered of the blood…

Was it all a dream? Some horrible nightmare? Would he wake up crying in a few second? Would his sister show up in his room, still alive? Still breathing?

Matsuri didn't register the sound behind him. He wanted to wake up, he wanted to wake up and see his sister. He would wake up, it had to be a nightmare…

It just had to be…

"Kami..."

"There's a kid! She's alive!"

Matsuri's muscles tensed as he was finally conscious of the presence behind him. He whirled, eyes wide, and promptly fell on his butt.

Next to the puddle of blood.

Matsuri forgot about the people as he lifted a shaky hand that was covered in blood. It was still warm.

He felt his head swarming in circles and could feel the urge to throw up the contents of his stomach.

That was when someone crouched down in front of him. "Hey."

Matsuri looked away from his bloody hand and into the eye of the person in front of him. He had a mask covering the lower part of his face, almost like the man from earlier. This one's mask was blue, with his forehead protector covering one of his eyes. Matsuri's green and silver eyes noticed the symbol on it was of the Leaf. His Clan's old home village. There weren't any slashes going through it. He wasn't a missing-nin.

The man knew that Matsuri was studying him so he kept still, and made sure not to let off any threatening auras. He wanted to distract him from what had happened.

"What's your name?"

Matsuri stared wordlessly for a moment. The man didn't feel threatening. "M-matsuri Mo-mori..."

"Matsuri-chan, huh? How old are you?" The man asked gently, soothingly. Matsuri could feel calming chakra exuding from the man. It was making him forget about the blood, about the bodies.

"Six..." Matsuri blinked sleepily. He was feeling detached from reality like he was walking through fog.

"Let's go for a walk, alright?" The man extended his hand, but waited for Matsuri to take it.

"But my nee-chan..." Matsuri murmured while reaching shakily for the man's hand.

The man paused for a second, the sad look passed before Matsuri could register it. "Don't worry, we'll find her. What does she look like?"

Matsuri let the man pull him up so that he was standing. "Like me. She just got married..." He turned and pointed at the body that he'd ignored before. "To Kou-san."

The hand that held his tightened for a second, before the man started walking away. "My name is Kakashi, Matsuri-chan."

"Nice to meet you, Kakashi-san. You are a shinobi?" Matsuri blinked up at him feeling the fuzziness surround him. He let it.

The man smiled, Matsuri could tell by the way his eye closed and the tug on the cloth around his lips. "Yes I am."

"From Konoha." Matsuri stated. "My family used to be from there... but we moved a long time ago."

"Maa, the Mori Clan." Kakashi said, nodding his head as he left the rest of the shinobi to look for survivors.

Matsuri looked to the dirt in front of him. "Everyone's dead."

Kakashi's hand flinched in Matsuri's before the grip tightened again. "You don't know that, Matsuri-chan."

"Their chakra's gone." Matsuri stated simply. He'd felt it when he'd gone past all the bodies. The only one he'd sensed had been his sisters. But her's was gone too.

It was slowly sinking in that it wasn't a dream.

Wasn't a nightmare.

The fog made it easier to stay detached. He wouldn't be able to stay like that forever, but for the moment- he was grateful.

Kakashi was studying him intensly. "You can sense chakra?"

With a nod, Matsuri replied. "Yes. Everyone had chakra earlier. Now there's nothing. Those two men had a lot of chakra. You have chakra, they have chakra." Matsuri stated about the shinobi sweeping through the compound. He then tilted his head to the side in puzzlement. "But you're making it smaller... How do you do that?"

"Maybe you'll learn someday." Kakashi replied. Someone walked up to him and shook his head slightly before walking on.

Matsuri saw the movement but didn't comment. Instead he kept walking. He came across his broken bow, laying in the middle of the path. He must have lost it when he'd been running from the missing-nin…

He stopped, let go of Kakashi's hand, and gently bent to picked the bow up. It had been a gift from his sister for his birthday the year before. She had told him to take care of it. He had, until that day.

A sniffle escaped as Matsuri clutched the shattered bow to his chest.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Much of what happened next was a blur to him. Nothing really registered except that he was going to be taken somewhere away from his home.

Matsuri traveled back to Konoha with Kakashi and one other shinobi that didn't really talk much to him. The rest had gone back to tracking down the two missing-nin. Matsuri had asked who they were but Kakashi hadn't answered him. Matsuri didn't think that man knew who they were either.

During their journey, Matsuri mostly kept silent, though tears would leak down his face whenever thoughts of his sister grew too strong.

Since he wasn't really fast enough, Kakashi carried him on his back most of the way there.

During one of their breaks, Matsuri asked Kakashi a few questions.

"Why are you taking me to Konoha?" The six year old ask after taking a drink from his canteen.

Both shinobi froze, before Kakashi answered. "Normally, we wouldn't but I'm sorry to say that even the village..."

"Them too...?" Matsuri muttered, dropping his gaze. There had been people there that had talked to him. They were gone too... "Is there another reason why you're taking me there..?"

Kakashi eye smiled at him. "You know, you're very perceptive for a six year old Matsuri-chan. You're parent's must have been proud of how smart you are."

Matsuri froze. He didn't speak to Kakashi for the rest of the break except to tell them he was going to the stream. Matsuri left to take a quick rinse in the cool water just out of sight. He'd been able to wash the blood out of his blue hair just before they'd left but hadn't really been able to feel clean. And he doubted he would until Matsuri got a proper bath.

When he got back, Kakashi noticed that Matsuri seemed hurt but decided not to ask about it.

Not long after that, they resumed their journey.

The trio arrived at the gates of Konoha just before sunset. Kakashi dropped Matsuri gently down to the floor before leading him to the gate guards.

"Hey, Kakashi, we weren't expecting you so soon." One of the people said as he spotted the group of three heading towards them.

"Yeah." Kakashi said taking out an orange book from his pouch. "We came across some trouble."

The two men nodded. That was when they noticed the kid hiding behind Kakashi's leg. "Who's this little beauty?"

Matsuri frowned but didn't comment. Why was everyone calling him a girl? He didn't look that much like a girl...

"Matsuri-chan." Kakashi replied. "She's going to go meet the Hokage."

That was a surprise to Matsuri. He blinked at Kakashi. "I am?"

Kakashi kneeled down to Matsuri's level. "Yup. He'll be very interested in meeting you."

Matsuri blinked again. "Oh..."

The man grabbed Matsuri's hand and with a wave to the two men at the gates disappeared.

"He forgot to show his papers again..."

"I have them." The man that hadn't talked much during the trip brought a packet out and showed them to the two gatekeepers.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Matsuri gasped as they appeared in an office. The world spun for a second and he would have fallen if Kakashi hadn't grabbed his shoulders.

"Kakashi, what a surprise." A voice from in front of them said and Matsuri's eyes widened in surprise as he saw the figure. It was an old man with white robes and a hat that had something written on it.

"Hokage-sama." Kakashi nodded.

The Hokage looked at Matsuri and smiled. "Well, hello there."

Matsuri didn't know what to do. He'd heard of the Hokage but he'd never thought he'd meet him. The six year old eyes widened even more. "Ah, hello." He finally managed to whisper out shyly. The old man didn't seem to mind though.

"Blue hair... Mori Clan...?" The Hokage glanced up at Kakashi who nodded. "What brings you here, young one."

"Uh... I don't know...? Somebody came and killed my... um... K-kakashi-san just brought me and said you'd be interested to meet me..." Matsuri could feel the tears well up as his sister crossed his mind again.

"It's alright, Matsuri. You don't have to talk about them. You're here because you can sense chakra." Kakashi patted Matsuri's head.

The fogginess appeared again and Matsuri relaxed with a nod.

"You can sense chakra?" The Hokage leaned over to take a better look at Matsuri.

The six year old nodded his head again, feeling little groggily.

"What is it that you wish to do, Kakashi?" The Hokage turned to the silver haired man with a small smile.

Kakashi ducked his head a little sheepishly. "Well, I think it'd be good if she went to the Academy. She can sense chakra. When she's older she would be an asset to Konoha. She's from the Mori Clan, since she can sense chakra, maybe she'll develop her Clan's Kekkei Genkai."

The Hokage nodded slowly, eyes flickering to look at Matsuri. A gentle smile appeared on his face. "How about that, Matsuri-chan? Would you like to become a strong ninja?"

Matsuri blinked. And blinked again.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

The child had been taken to the hospital for a quick check up, but Kakashi hadn't left with her.

"Report?" Sarutobi asked his face turning grim as Kakashi straightened up.

"We were tracking two strong chakra signatures when we came across the Mori compound. Everyone was killed except for Matsuri-chan. The two chakra signals left as soon as we got close. The village next to the compound was also hit. There was no survivors."

"They escaped?"

A nod. "The rest of the team went after."

Sarutobi gave a sad sigh. "Poor child. She saw it happen?"

"I don't know. She saw the aftermath but I've been keeping her mind fogged so she wouldn't break down. I think we should have Inoichi talk to her... He's good with kids... and he'll be able to see if she saw anything that we could use..."

The old man nodded in agreement. "I'll send for him."

A/N: Thank you so much for reading! Please let me know what you think!