Author's Notes: I wanted to make Yozora's size clear to everyone reading. I modeled him after the wolves in Princess Mononoke, so if anyone's seen the movie, he would be the size of Moro, but black.

Chapter 3

Ashi couldn't see anything. There was no light at all where she was, and she had to think for a moment before the memory of what happened came back to her.

Something brushed against her nose, and her head jerked back reflexively only to bang against something hard above her. Swearing, Ashi raised her hand to rub the back of her head. Something brushed against her other arm this time and a whimper sounded.

"Yozora?"

She got another whimper. Forgetting her bumped noggin, Ashi reached blindly down and sighed in relief when her hand met fur.

"Yozora, are you ok?"

Yozora barked once, which Ashi knew meant "Yes." Ashi breathed another sigh of relief at this, but her relief at both her and Yozora's lack of injury disappeared almost as fast as it had come.

Reaching out with her hands, she found that she was surrounded by rock, and with no light to guide her, she wasn't sure which way was out. It seemed that luck had really been on her side, because the biggest injury that she had was the bump on her head. Yozora was in pretty much the same shape sans the bump.

She was crouched on all fours with Yozora beneath her, his back pressed against her belly and chest. Stretching out her right hand and leg, she found that she had couple of feet of extra room. Moving forward, she pushed experimentally against the rock in front of her.

The rock didn't move. She moved backwards and pushed against the rock behind her with her feet, and that one didn't move either. Starting to feel panicked, Ashi shoved against the rocks above her and to the sides of her. None of them moved.

Ashi panted from fear and felt tears prick the back of her eyes. She didn't want to die, and dying like this…

"No, stop it Ashi. You're going to be fine, just fine," she said to herself, trying to hold off the fear. "Um, you have a couple of matches in your pocket don't you? Let's light one and see if that makes a difference."

Feeling her pockets, Ashi eventually found the one that held the little box of matches. Taking them out, Ashi struck one and the space she was confined in was immediately flooded with light.

Giving a quick smile to Yozora, Ashi inspected her surroundings. A boulder served as her ceiling, with two smaller ones at her front and rear. Large rocks piled on top of one another at her sides.

As far as she could tell, there was no light at all that she could see through the cracks. Then again, she didn't know how long she'd been unconscious, so it could be night outside.

Suddenly, a faint buzzing sound assailed her ears. She looked around and choked down a sob when she spotted one of Daichi's bugs on the rock in front of her.

"Daichi's alive…" she murmured.

The little bug flew to her and landed on her out-stretched palm. The bug flitted around on her hand before flying down to the ground. Ashi watched as the little insect started to burrow into the dirt.

Ashi understood the message. Daichi was telling her to go through the ground since it was impossible for her to get through the rock. She felt stupid for not thinking about it before. Huboro-san had gone through the art of moving through the ground a while ago.

Looking down at Yozra, Ashi raised her eye brow. "You ready?"

Yozora barked twice. Smiling, Ashi pulled Yozora into her chest and followed Daichi's bug.

It seemed like forever before Ashi and Yozora broke through to fresh air. Taking a deep breath, Ashi pushed Yozora out into the night air before coming out herself.

"Ashi!"

Ashi looked up and saw Daichi and Huboro-san with a lamp. Both of them looked fine except for the rough splint on Daichi's left forearm and she noticed that Kazuki wasn't with them.

"Where's Kazuki?"

Daichi looked up at Huboro-san worriedly. Huboro didn't say anything, just jerked his head and walked away towards the trees. Ashi hurriedly got up and followed him with Daichi and Yozora.

After five minutes of walking, Ashi found herself in a small clearing with a small fire. Beside the fire lay a figure. Ashi rushed over and knelt by Kazuki.

"What happened to him?"

Huboro spoke. "He wasn't as lucky as we were. Daichi only had a broken wrist, I had a few bruises, but Kazuki's leg…It was completely crushed in the fall. We need to get him to a doctor or he'll die."

Ashi looked down at her unconscious teammate. There was a sheen of sweat on his face and the bottom half of his body was covered by a blanket.

"So what do we do now?" Ashi asked in a quiet voice.

"We can't go back," Huboro said softly. "Whoever Kiren was, I'm sure that she was one of Konoha's ninja's. If we go back, they'll just try to kill us again, and next time, they'll make sure that we're dead."

Ashi looked up at Huboro-san. "How do you know she was from Konohana?"

"The technique she used to trap us. It's specific to a particularly small clan from Konohana."

Ashi pursed her lips tightly, trying to keep in the tears. Not going back home meant that she wouldn't be able to see her parents, her brother, Minato… They'd all think that she was dead.

Ashi felt a heavy hand on her shoulder. "I know that it's not what you want to hear Ashi," Huboro said, "but you need to understand that we can do so much more if the people that did this think that we're dead."

Ashi nodded. Daichi came to stand on her other side and placed his uninjured hand on her other shoulder. That almost broke her, but she managed to keep it together and asked, "What about Kazuki?"

"There's a small village near here. We can get to it faster than travelling to the capital of River Country. I'm going to make something to carry Kazuki in and then we're going to move. Wait here with him."

Ashi watched as Huboro sped off into the woods. After he left, the first tear slipped and fell down her cheek. Daichi knelt beside her and wrapped his good arm around her. Ashi turned to him and buried her face in her shoulder, sobbing.

Ashi had run out of tears by the time that Huboro got back with the make-shift gurney and an armful of logs. Before they helped Kazuki, Huboro instructed them to make duplicates of themselves using the logs. This way, if anyone found them and returned them to Konoha, the people responsible for their attempted murder would believe that they succeeded.

After they did that, they loaded Kazuki carefully the gurney and started to make their way north. They reached the small village of Kintara in a few days. In the time that it took their little group to travel there, Kazuki's condition worsened.

The first thing that they did in the village was find a doctor. Before entering the village however, they had all removed their ninja headbands, vests and weapon so as not to raise suspicion.

The village doctor saw them in his little hut of a clinic and after inspecting Kazuki, he told Huboro that all he could for him was cut off the crushed part of his leg. The damage was far too extensive to try and save it, and if not removed, gangrene would eventually set in.

Daichi, Ashi and Yozoro stood outside while the doctor operated on Kazuki. After a couple of tense hours, Huboro finally stepped out and reassured them that Kazuki was going to live.

Ashi sagged down onto the ground. "Thank god…"

Yozora came over to her and put his paw on her leg. Ashi smiled at him and reached up to scratch his ear. Yozora whined in pleasure.

Kazuki regained consciousness within the next couple of days, and after getting over the shock of losing half of his leg, he started his rehabilitation. Needless to say he wasn't the same boy as before. Over the next couple of months he continued to train with all of them, not allowing his handicap to slow him down.

They had decided to stay in the village for the time being. Huboro became stricter and pushed the genin and the young wolf to their limits. Most of the time they collapsed after a day of training, but after a while, they improved and started to get less tired.

All of them were determined to grow stronger in the hopes of one day finding and taking out whoever had been behind their attempted deaths. Kazuki was slower to catch up for obvious reasons, but Ashi though she could fix that given time.

After Kazuki had lost his leg, Ashi's determination to train and get stronger went further than the others. Not only did she train, but she studied medical texts that she borrowed from the local doctor that had saved Kazuki. She learned about ninja healing techniques, chakra points in the body, medicinal herbs and medicines.

She also started to train more with the quickly growing Yozora. Specifically, teaching him the art of speech. She knew that some ninja trained animals could do it, and she had no doubt that Yozora could also do it.

She also took a sort of apprenticeship with the local black smith, so that she could learn how to make her own weapons. With her knowledge of the human body and the metal working, Ashi found a way to help Kazuki get back in prime fighting condition.

Almost two years after their coming to the village, their team was sitting down at the dinner table of their humble house when Ashi spoke up.

"Hey Kazuki, isn't it your birthday tomorrow?"

Kazuki looked at her suspiciously. "Yeah, it is? So?"

"Well, it seems that when you have a birthday, traditionally you get a present right?"

Kazuki frowned. "Please tell me that you didn't get me a present."

Ashi smiled at Huboro-san and Daichi. They both smiled back at her because they both knew what she had gotten for Kazuki and had actually helped her with it in their own ways.

Getting up from the table, Ashi went into the room that they all shared for sleeping, went into the closet and got out Kazuki's present.

When she stepped out with the gift in her arms, Kazuki's mouth dropped open.

"Ashi…" he said with wonder.

"Do you like it?" Ashi asked.

Kazuki didn't answer, just stared. In her arms, Ashi held a metal prosthetic leg that she had made herself. (Think Full Metal Alchemist) There were springs and wires that would connect to Kazuki's nerve and chakra endings to give him ultimate control over the fake limb. Over time, his body with get used to the prosthetic and it would be like Kazuki had never lost his leg at all.

Ashi walked over to Kazuki and handed him the prosthetic. He held it in his hands carefully and looked as if he was in a dream.

"Kazuki?" Ashi said looking down at her friend. "Kazuki? Aren't you going to say anything?"

Kazuki looked up at her slowly. He licked his lips and opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He bowed his head so that she couldn't see his face, but when his shoulder's started to shake, Ashi knew that she didn't need an answer.

Silently, she sat down beside Kazuki and placed her head on his shoulder, letting him cry.

"Happy Birthday Kazuki!"

Ashi laughed and looked out the window. Yozora was standing with his paws on the window sill, grinning a wolfish grin as only he could. The others laughed as well, even Kazuki and pretty soon everyone was laughing and joking together.

Yozora had grown a lot, coming up to Ashi's waist when he was on all fours. He would grow larger in time Ashi knew, because she remembered her mother telling her so.

Ashi thought of her family often, wondering what they were doing, how they were doing, how they were getting along. She missed them all terribly and not a day went by without her thinking about them.

She had the others though, which made her memories less painful. Both Kazuki and Daichi had become like brothers to her and she'd die for them if she'd have to. Huboro could never be her father, but he made a good father figure. He always had time for each of them, helping them, teaching them. And Yozora…well, everyone loved Yozora. He had a happy disposition and could always put a smile on anyone's face.

She and Daichi had been working on new techniques together. Trying new things with his insects, with the use of chakra and Ashi was sure that with the new moves that they had worked on, they would be able to one day defeat their unknown enemy.

Huboro had told them that they would be going out to collect intelligence very soon so they could start to find out who was behind their attack and what their future plans were. Very soon, they would have the info and the means to take down the enemy and very soon, she would be able to go home. Soon…

8 Years Later…

A black figure moved across the rooftops of the small town. The figure's target was a three story concrete building located in the west part of town. The figure jumped from rooftop to rooftop before landing on the top of a light post in front of their target.

The dark figure studied the building before making their next move. It was imperative that the mission was completed; there could be no room for mistakes.

The easiest point of entry would be through the men's washroom on the second floor, located on the east side of the building. From there, make way down the hall and into a small maintenance closet that was right above the security room. After killing the two guards that were on duty inside, the figure could then control the camera and light systems of the building.

The figure moved into action. In a few minutes and a couple of dead guards later, the figure was sitting at the control panel of the buildings security system.

"Alright, they said that they wanted dramatic… Let's see what we got to work with."

Using the cameras, the figure focused them on the front entrance of the building. There was a pathway leading to the front entrance and a row of lights on either side. The figure turned off the lights on the path one by one. Next, they focused the outdoor cameras on the dark path and waited.

The figure waited a few seconds before they heard a faint buzzing sound near his left ear.

"Finally." Reaching up to his ear, the figure clicked on the com-link in his ear. "Ready when you are."

"I'm in position. Do it."

The figure clicked and pushed some of the controls on the panel and one by one, the lights on the path blinked on again, starting with the pair nearest the door.

As the light progressed down the path, the cameras captured all of it. On the screens, the figure observed as the lights continued up the path, showing nothing until the ones nearer the end started to turn on.

When the second last pair of lights turned on, they illuminated a person standing in the middle of the path. The person was dressed in a long black coat, making it impossible to distinguish whether they were male or female. Their face was covered by a black tribal mask of a wolf, with golden markings on the forehead, cheeks and chin. A wild white wig flowed down to the center of the person's back, covering their natural hair.

The masked person stood perfectly still; made no move towards or away from the building. The person's presence would be unsettling to anyone watching, but it wouldn't be until the last set of lights came on that real fear would well up inside them.

A normal person would have screamed and ran once the last set of lights revealed what waited in the darkness. A common ninja would also feel fear, but would at least try to fight off the danger before turning tail. The figure in the control room just smirked.

Standing in a pool of pail light stood a hulking beast with blazing eyes of golden fire. The beast was bigger than a horse, and its fur made it look much bigger and much more powerful. Its mouth was open to reveal large ivory teeth, its hot breath steaming in the cool night air.

The image of the beast and the person stood still on stage for a brief moment before they both took a step forward, as if they were of the same mind. This is when the figure in the control room cut off all the camera feeds.

"Time to get to work."

Hiroku was a slight man with wire rimmed glasses, greasy blond hair and plain features. He was one of those people that you would look over when you scanned a crowd; there was really nothing worthwhile about hm.

Hiroku didn't like to make waves, didn't talk back and never, never did anything he wasn't supposed to. He hated confrontations and he knew that people thought he was a pushover, which he admitted he was. But when a person worked in a place filled with people that could kill you with a flick of their thumb, you didn't want to make anyone mad.

Hiroku hurriedly made his way down the hall, a large envelope clutched in his hands. What was inside the envelope was going to make some people mad, and he dreaded the thought of being in the same room with these people when that happened.

Reaching an unmarked door, Hiroku opened the door and walked through, stepping into one of the building stairwells. He took two flights up and walked onto the floor. Making his way down another hallway, Hiroku found himself in front of a pair of double doors.

Taking a deep breath, Hiroku knocked.

"Come in!"

Hiroku pushed the door open to reveal a lavish office. Expensive paintings hung on the walls, the furniture was made of dark polished wood, and the carpet underneath Hiroku's feet was a plush carpet.

But Hiroku's attention wasn't on any of these things. The man that sat behind the large desk demanded all of his attention. With iron grey hair, broad shoulders, grim face and eye the color of pitch, Genka Itsuo commanded attention whenever he was in a room. One of the advisors to the Hokage of the Land of Fire, Genka was a powerful man, and Hiroku had no intention of getting on his bad side.

Bowing his head, Hiroku waited for Genka to allow him entry.

"You may come forth Hiroku. What have you got for me?"

Gulping down his nervous feelings, Hiroku approached slowly. "My lord, I have the surveillance footage that you requested."

"Ah, yes. Bring it here."

Hiroku handed the envelope over to Genka. Genka opened the envelope and dumped the contents onto his desk. Photos littered the polished surface. Picking one up, Genka studied it with his eyebrow raised.

"What am I looking at here?"

Clearing his throat, Hiroku moved around to stand beside Genka's chair, but not too close. He pointed to the figure captured on the photo.

"My lord, this figure here is assumed to have taken out our foremost intelligence outpost in the south."

"Just this one person?"

"Well my lord, if you look at this picture here…"

Hiroku picked up a photo and held it up for Genka to see. His eyes widened in surprise. "What the hell is that thing?"

The image had the first figure, the person, in the same position. But the picture that Genka held did not have the space behind the dark figure illuminated. The picture that Hiroku held did. When Hiroku had first seen the photo, he had nearly pissed himself in fright for never had he seen an animal the size of the one in the image.

"Do you know what the hell that is Hiroku?"

Hiroku shook his head. "No my lord, I'm afraid not. At first I thought it was some sort of bear, but the legs are too long and so is the muzzle. Next I thought that maybe it was some sort of genjutsu, but that wouldn't have shown up on film. A few eye witnesses that survived the attack said that it resembled a giant dog or a wolf, but I've never heard of any breed of dog or wolf that could reach that size."

Genka sat back in his chair, frowning. "I have…" Reaching over to the phone, Genka dialed a number and said into the mouthpiece, "Get Kiren up here. Now."

Genka hung up the phone and motioned Hiroku to sit in the chair across from him. As Genka studied the other photos and Hiroku sat quietly, a woman stepped into the office. Hiroku turned his head to see who it was.

The woman had straight black hair, clear skin and a pleasant looking face, or it would have been if not for her eyes. She had cold grey eyes that could cut through a person like steel, and when she looked at Hiroku, he had to quickly look away.

Genka smiled when she entered, but the smile did not reach his eyes. "Kiren, so nice to see you. I trust that you're well?"

The woman, Kiren, nodded.

Genka studied her for a moment before turning his attention to the images on his desk. "Hiroku here has just brought me some surveillance footage that I thought you might want to see."

Genka picked up one of the photos and threw it Kiren. She caught it easily and glanced down at it. Hiroku looked up as she did and saw her eyes widen in surprise. Hiroku looked down again, not wanting to get caught looking at the woman. She looked as if she angered easily.

Genka spoke up. "Look familiar Kiren?"

Kiren looked at Genka. Licking her lips, Kiren said, "It's not possible."

A short burst of a laugh escaped past Genka's lips. "Apparently it is Kiren. I gave one simple task to do all those years ago and you couldn't even do that."

Genka sighed and rubbed his forehead like he had a headache and was trying to sooth it away. Glancing up at Hiroku he said, "Hiroku, have you shown these photos to anyone else, talked about it with anyone else?"

Hiroku shook his head. "No my lord, no one has seen these but me, and no one knows about the figures in the photos either except for me and the few survivors. There's also a tape in my office that only I have seen."

Genka nodded absently. "Good, good. That will make things easier. Kiren, if you please."

Hiroku didn't have time to think before he felt the woman's hands on either side of his head. Before he knew it, she yanked his head to the side, breaking his neck.

Kiren let Hiroku's lifeless body slump in the seat. Looking up at Genka she asked, "What would you like me to do?"

"Nothing. The fact that they let themselves be photographed and taped was to let us know that they're coming out of the shadows. They're going to come out into the light very soon Kiren, and when they do, they'll bring whatever evidence they got from that building with them to the Hokage." Sighing, Genka stood and walked to the windows, looking out into the darkness.

"That building was our major intelligence base. It had 50 top ranking ninjas protecting it, and only 2 survived. That too, was a message. We cannot afford to underestimate them Kiren, and we can no longer stay in the village. When the time is right, we will assume power and become kings of this land, and soon after that, we'll take control of the others."

Looking over at Kiren, Genka said, "Pack up everything Kiren. We leave for the mountain base as soon as possible, and leave nothing behind. Get to it."

Kiren nodded and bowed slightly before leaving.

Genka turned to look out the window one more time. "I'll be ready for you, just you come and see."

Nodo stood with his father as they waited for the rest of the clan leaders to arrive to the meeting.

A few days ago, one of the Hokage's chief advisors, Genka Itsuo, had disappeared unexpectedly. His offices had been completely emptied, his home was vacant and all of the ninja under his employment had disappeared with him.

No one knew what was going on or what was happening, which was why the Hokage had called a council meeting. His father had told him that the Hokage had been suspicious of Genka for a few years now, but never had any evidence to prove that Genka was doing anything worthy of an official investigation, until now.

Nodo sighed and leaned against the wall behind his father's chair. His eyes scanned the room. The Hokage and his son where all ready in attendance, and he shared a brief smile and a nod with Minato.

He and Minato had continued to be best friends through the years. Nodo knew that after the death of his sister Ashi, he hadn't been the easiest person to get along with, but Minato had stuck with him regardless. The same couldn't be said for Minato's girlfriend and Nodo's former teammate Yumi Uchiha however.

Nodo hadn't voluntarily spoken with Yumi for the better part of four years. He didn't know when he started to dislike her, but now he hated the frosty bitch and couldn't for the life of him figure out what Minato saw in her.

Yumi stood behind her father's seat, looking groomed and spotless as usual. Nodo's eyes narrowed as he studied her. Perfect hair, perfect skin, perfect build and body shape. Nodo growled low in his throat. He knew that Yumi thought she was better than other people, which was the basic Uchiha mentality.

Nodo was snapped out of his inner thoughts as the Hokage stood to address the council.

"Good morning everyone, it's good to see you although I wish we were meeting under better circumstances. I've called the council together today to discuss the recent disappearance of Genka Itsuo. Some of you know that I have been suspicious of Genka's activities for some time now, but have never had enough evidence to convict or accuse him of anything."

Taking a breath, the Hokage continued, "Last night I was contacted by a group of unknown ninja that claim they have been gathering intelligence on Genka for years. They also said that they would like to share this information with us, so I've asked them here today."

The doors of the meeting room opened. All heads turned to stare at the figures that stepped in. There were four of them of varying heights and widths, all wearing black cloaks, black animal masks with different colored markings and wild white wigs. A ring of armed shinobi surrounded them as they entered.

The largest of them wore a bear mask with red markings. The second largest wore a fox mask with orange markings. The slender one wore an insect mask with green markings, and the smallest of the four wore the mask of a wolf with golden markings.

Nodo studied each, discerning that the three taller figures were male, and the smaller was female, but not by much considering that the shortest of the four was around five foot eight.

He sniffed, trying to catch their scents. None of the scents coming off the larger figures were familiar, but the smaller one…

The fox stepped forward and addressed the council. "We've come here today to offer our assistance to you and your village."

"Why help us?" It was Shiki Kuraya, leader of the Kuraya clan.

The fox turned to look at him. "We help because we owe our allegiance to the Hidden Leaf Village, and because we have a personal score to settle with Genka Itsuo."

Confused chatter filled the room. Kuraya spoke up again. "What did Genka do to you that warrants your hostility towards him?"

"He had us killed," the fox said simply.

More confused chatter. "If you're really here to help us, then why don't you take off your masks? Allies should know one another and I think that if we are to allow you into our village, we should be able to see your faces."

The fox looked at the other three, as if silently communicating with them. After a few moments, the fox nodded and turned back face the council.

"Very well then. We will reveal our identities to you all, but before we do, let me say that this may come as a shock."

The fox pulled off his white wig and black mask to reveal the face underneath. Stunned silence followed.

"I am Kenta Huboro, ninja of Konoha."

Nodo was as silent as everyone else. It was not possible. Kenta Huboro had died along with his sister eight years ago. There was no possible way…

The bear was next to take off his mask. "Kazuki Hokaida, ninja of Konoha."

Nodo watched as the insect pulled off his mask. "Daichi Aburame, ninja of Konoha."

As the wolf pulled off their mask and wig, Nodo watched with horror and anger as the wolf's face was revealed. He saw the same pert nose, same pouty mouth, and the same almond eyes of the young girl he had lost so long ago.

He noticed that her face was thinner, having lost all of its baby fat through age, and she was taller. Her hair looked different too. It was thicker, and was pushed back from her face to wave and spike down her back.

She looked wild and beautiful, and as he looked at her Nodo felt a rage like he's never felt before. How dare this person use his sister's face! How dare they do this to him, to his family, to his village! His eyes turned red as he heard the impostor speak his sister's name as if it were her own.

"Ashi Inuzuka, ninja of Konoha."

Without thinking, Nodo's hand found his knife.