CHAPTER 3:

Asuma could not sleep. After seeing his niece go after her younger brother, he went to the pub to drink his way through a bottle of the best whiskey in the Fire Country. At around ten pm, he retired to his small, dingy apartment and immediately fell into his bed. It was not long afterwards that he jumped up, cold sweating from one of the worst yet most realistic dream ever. He was seventeen years old and he had taken part of the clan's decision to exile his niece Yuri to the Land of Poison. It was like déjà vu. He reminisced over the memory while washing is face over the sink in his bathroom.

He sat on his father's right side since he was his father's only son (Yuri and Konohamaru's father and the Third Hokage's elder child had died years before). The two men from ANBU entered the chambers with the little kunoichi in her white dress trailing behind them, glaring at the members of the council with her dark eyes so similar to her grandfather's. Asuma looked up and saw his father's expression. The old man's eyes were downcast and refused to look at his granddaughter, who has been in his care ever since her parents passed away three years previously.

Elder Sarutobi, who resided in a small city on the outskirts of the Hidden leaf, waved at the girl to sit on the floor facing the council and then began to speak to her. "Yuri Sarutobi, you have just turned nine. Am I correct?" Yuri nodded, but this was apparently the wrong thing to do since Elder Sarutobi had barked, "Speak up girl when I am speaking to you!"

"Yes, Elder Sarutobi," she responded with a slight edge to her voice.

Elder Sarutobi then turned to father and asked, "Why haven't you sent her away sooner Hiruzen. Or has the position of Hokage made you soft?"

There was a ripple of laughter around the ranks of the council and father spoke up with his eyes downcast, "I preferred not to send her away Elder because I believe the council should change their laws." This caused another round of laughter even louder than before.

"Silence, you idiots!" shouted Elder Sarutobi, but the council continued chortling at the Hokage's statement. "SILENCE!" he shouted again and this time the council chamber became quiet. He then directed his attention back to Hiruzen Sarutobi. "So you want the clan to change its laws, don't you Hiruzen? And why do you want that Lord Hokage? Pray tell me."

Father looked up and glared at the head of the clan. "Elder, you are sending innocent children to their doom by continuing in this ancient way. I, too, was blinded by our family's rules, but you have to admit it is a bit harsh, don't you think?"

"Well, well, Hiruzen. You really do care about your granddaughter, don't you?"

"Yes I do! Just as much as I care for my only living son Asuma, my grandson, Konohamaru and Yuri's father who had perished in the aftermath of the last Shinobi war. Before he died, my eldest son made me swear that I will never allow you, Elder, or any member of the council to banish his daughter. She is a leaf shinobi and this village is her home just as much as any one of us."

Elder Sarutobi was livid since no one in the clan had ever dared to speak to him in this way or to question the clan's laws established by their forefathers. But here was Hiruzen Sarutobi; the present Hokage of the Hidden leaf Village, going against the clan's wishes by sheltering this little, insignificant miscreant on the say so by his deceased son, who was supposed to take the role of the clan's head.

The entire chamber was quiet as all the members were waiting for the axe to fall. Elder Sarutobi asked through his clenched, "Well Hiruzen, I'm waiting for you to tell us what is so important about this girl. What is so important of this girl that has caused you to believe that she is important to live here?"

Asuma's eyes widened with horror. They didn't actually think they would send Yuri to the Land of Poison with the Hokage against them?

Did they?

The third Hokage finally stood up and addressed the council. "I have already dispatched Yuri's Academy reports. You have all seen for yourself that she is one of the top students to graduate from the Academy and is supposed to take part in the next Chunin exams as recommended by her sensei. She can be a great asset to this country and village of her birth and I highly doubt that you will disagree with me when I say that her affinity to lightning is extremely rare in this clan since most of us have affinities to fire and earth."

Some of the members were clearly impressed, Asuma noted. He nudged his father, "Nice work dad! Apparently Elder didn't inform the council about Yuri's achievements."

"Of course he didn't," Hiruzen Sarutobi muttered back, "he's just another power hungry fool. He doesn't care about the rules. The only thing he is worrying about right now is staying in control of the clan. And in his old age!" he added with a snort.

This had got Asuma's attention. While watching Elder Sarutobi call the council to order, he asked his father, "Why is he so intent on keeping power?"

"Think about it Asuma! Who's the next person in line to be head of the Sarutobi clan?"

Asuma looked at his father as he gestured with his chin towards the child sitting in the middle of the chambers, whistling to herself and rolling her eyes at the adults, obviously bored.

"So that's why he's so adamant about banishing Yuri? Yuri's supposed to be head of the clan!"

"I will not stand for any of this ridiculousness!" shouted the present head of the clan. "You all know the rules and you, Hiruzen, will be suspended from this council for two months because of your idiocy. I call a vote; all in favour of banishing the brat say 'I'." There was series of 'Is' around the chamber. "Any against?" he asked with some venom in his voice. There were a few outbursts here or there, but it was not convincing enough.

"Very well. Hiruzen say goodbye to your ward and both of you," he signaled to the to ANBU members, "get that brat out of here!"

The ANBU black ops officers held onto the arms of a now sobbing Yuri and were leaving the chambers. Yuri struggled against them and turned back to face her grandfather with tears streaming down her face. The Hokage had, once again, bowed his head in guilt with his eyes clenched shut. Asuma saw the venom in her eyes through her tears as if she swore to herself that if she returned she might just be responsible for a clan massacre similar to the Uchiha's.

Even though she was already out of sight down the corridor, he could still here her sobs echoing…

Asuma dried his face with the towel hanging on the rack next to his sink. He looked into the mirror and muttered, "You're wrong Yuri! Father tried his best to help you."

Yuri tossed and turned in her sleep. A sudden cold breeze flooded through the room causing her to wrap herself tightly into her quilt. Not long after a fine film of sweat built up on her brow caused her, in her restlessness, to kick her duvet of her completely exposing her lean body covered in a short, silk nightgown. For the next hour or so, Yuri thrashed around in her sleep mumbling a strain of unrelated words.

"Moriko," she muttered, "stop now before you get us all killed…."

The memories of her past life in the Land of poison were swirling around in her head like the shifting of glass in a kaleidoscope.

She awoke in darkness to find herself strapped tightly to a rickety wooden chair in the middle of the cabin. Her head was pounding like crazy and the metallic taste of blood was still fresh in her mouth. She could not remember who she was or how she ended up here. She started to struggle against the leather straps around her wrists when the cabin door flew open and three men entered.

The tall man with the bald head who had entered last crouched down in front of Yuri. She immediately bent her head and sobbed, "Please don't hurt me anymore!"

The other two men sniggered and the man in front of her lifted her chin so that her eyes were level with his dark ones. He stroked her face and said, "Don't worry my dear. If you obey all of orders, you won't give me any reason to punish you. Remember that Yuri Sarutobi!" he released her chin and signaled for the two men to release her from her prison.

The memories shifted again…

She was standing in front of a group of four kunoichis who were huddled around a small camp fire in the middle of the camp, sharpening katanas and kunai and mending their deteriorating attire. They stopped immediately when they saw the bald man, who was obviously the leader, and stood up in a straight line just like soldiers.

"This is Yuri Sarutobi," the man started. "She is the newest member of this squad." He then turned to a girl who looked a couple of years older than herself with short red hair.

"Noguchi!"

"Hai, Commander Moriko."

"You are in charge of training this team and making sure the Yuri here, picks up everything she needs to. Do you understand?"

"Hai, Commander."

"Good! Get some sleep. I expect everyone to be up at five hundred hours sharp."

"Hai, commander," they rest of the girls chanted.

When Commander Moriko had left, the girls beckoned Yuri to sit with them around the fire. The redhead girl spoke first. "Are you hungry Yuri? Would you like some miso soup?" She nodded her head and practically inhaled half of the soup. The other girls giggled and another girl with dark brown hair, like hers, commented, "You really must be hungry. How long did they keep you in interrogation?"

"I can't remember anything. If the Commander didn't tell me my name before I wouldn't have remembered."

"You poor thing! Don't worry it will come back to you sooner than you think," replied the redhead. "By the way I'm Kira Noguchi." She pointed to the other girls around her. "This is Misora Ishimaru, Kiyoshi Nakanishi, Rinako Hiroshima and Seiko Mizutani."

Yuri nodded to the girls and the girls mirrored her. Misora was the dark haired girl. Kiyoshi was the blond and she was so thin she looked fragile. Rinako was the girl who was sharpening her katana before. She had an air about her that she could kill anyone and anything easily. She also looked the most experienced in the bunch. Seiko's blue hair and amber eyes made her appear as the clown in the group. But her aim was so deadly accurate Yuri swore that she would never cross the girl.

The memories shifted again so that she was seventeen…

The five girls ran through the forest and were closing in on the merchant they were hired to assassinate, who were camping in the clearing. Kira gave the signal. Yuri drew her gold hilted katana from her back and she and the other girls entered the clearing and proceed to slash every human being to death. The minute her katana slashed the merchant, he was transformed into a log.

Yuri swore under her breath and shouted to the other girls, "Let's get the hell out of here! It's a trap!" A kunai with a paper bomb stuck to it flew in front of her face and she immediately flipped backwards a few meters only to find her self caught in battle with a jonin from the Hidden Cloud Village.

He did a couple of hand signs so fast she could not recognize theme and then shouted, "Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder!"

She felt a huge shock wave through her body causing her to be instantaneously knocked out with her attacker's good looking face watching her.

Yuri sat up straight in her bed, breathing hard. Her left hand gripped the sheets next to her while her right hand fingered the gold ring on the chain around her neck. When she had regained control of her breathing, she slipped off the bed and stood in front of her open window. She read the inscription on it and smiled.

"I almost forgot that you had almost killed me with that jutsu, Daichi, my love."