Scarlet Kunai
By Ginta and Hakakku Fangirl
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any of the characters
A/N: Original Character's name is Kyoko, female, only a few months older than Uchiha Sasuke, no Kekki Genkai, ANBU-ranked kinoichi, more info in story.
Rated M for violence and language.
*This chapter is the real beginning of the story, about four years later (first series, before the Sasuke Retrieval Mission, after chunin exams). This whole story will be spaced out over the first and second Naruto series. Enjoy!
Chapter Three: The Story Begins!
An ANBU lieutenant, draped in a black shroud, glanced up as the fifth Hokage entered her office. She had been called in for yet another mission. She wasn't surprised. Not only had she known Tsunade before the female Saanin had become the fifth Hokage, it seemed that the Hokage favored her team's work above all the other ANBU teams she had seen. Apparently, the Third's written reports on Kyoko's team had impressed her as well, as Tsunade had only sent Kyoko on the most difficult of missions.
"Lieutenant." Tsunade nodded to her, sitting down.
"Hokage-sama." The ANBU with the dog-masked face glanced around; she was the only other person in the room. A solo mission?
"Congratulations on another successful mission. Take off your mask, Kyoko."
"Yes, Hokage-sama. Thank you, Hokage-sama." The ANBU pulled her mask away, revealing grey eyes, red lips, and pale skin. Tsunade stood up.
"For your next mission, you will be able to use your real name," the Hokage said, circling the young kinoichi in the middle of her office. "You're to pose as a gennin. There will be three other gennin on your team."
"And a jounin?"
"Yes. Other than your rank, Kyoko, you are free to be yourself. All four of these ninja know you. You're story as to your whereabouts these past few years are that you were with a relative who's health was failing in a neighboring village. You received private training from one of our ninja, and became a gennin a year before the rest of your class here. Are we clear?"
"Hai, Hokage-sama!"
"Your team will be traveling from the Land of Fire to the Land of Wind. You will stop in Suna before continuing north on your journey to the Land of Earth and the Village Hidden in the Stones."
"Hai, Hokage-sama!"
"Are you ready to meet your teammates, Kyoko?"
"Hai!" Kyoko let her cloak slip down from her shoulders and pulled the ANBU armor off, placing it behind the Hokage's desk.
"You can come in now," Tsunade called; the door opened and Kyoko caught a brief glance of white, black, and yellow, before a rush of bright pink shot towards her, enveloping her in a crushing hug.
"Kyoko-chan!"
"Sa-- Sakura-chan?" Kyoko gasped. Haruno Sakura pulled away from Kyoko, all smiles, before hugging her again. Over the pink-haired gennin's shoulder, she saw Hakate Kakashi smiling at her, as well as Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke, both of whom were staring at her.
Sasuke!
Kyoko flinched as she saw the boy who looked so much like his older brother, the shinobi that had trained her to be an ANBU in the first place. Sasuke stared at her a full five seconds before glaring. Not that she could really blame him. Kyoko had spent a great deal of time at the Uchiha's home with his brother, just days before she had been taken by the older Uchiha to start her training as an ANBU. It was only natural that Sasuke had been jealous then, and that he could seem to hate her so much now; she was only a reminder of the few weeks before Sasuke's world had been destroyed. Still, she smiled. A fake smile. But a smile.
'Damn it, Tsunade!' Kyoko thought. 'Why'd you have to team me up with Teichou's baby brother?!?"
Outside, however, Kyoko continued her fake smile. "Hello, Sasuke-kun!"
"Keh." Sasuke turned away; Kyoko continued to smile. She turned to the blond. "Naruto-kun!"
"Uh…" Naruto looked confused; he walked up to her. Kyoko raised an eyebrow as Naruto circled her, looking her up and down. Kyoko frowned.
"Hmm…" Naruto stared at her another moment. Finally…
"Do I know you?" he asked. Both Sasuke and Kyoko's eyebrows shot up far enough to disappear into their hair. Sakura looked annoyed.
"Damn it, Naruto!" she yelled. "It's Kyoko! We went to the Ninja Academy with her! She always sat with Sasuke-kun before class, and walked with him afterward! We ate lunch together!"
"She was friends with my brother," Sasuke muttered. Only Kakashi and Kyoko heard him; they both frowned. Sasuke's scowl deepened. Kyoko turned away. Kakashi came to stand next to her.
"Kyoko-san," he whispered.
"Kakashi-sempai."
"It's been a long time."
"I've had missions."
"Quite a few, for an eleven-year-old."
"Twelve."
"When did that happen?"
"Last month."
"I'm sorry."
"Why's that, Sempai?"
"Because I forgot."
"You had your own problems."
"I wouldn't call a birthday a problem."
"I meant your own missions."
"Ah."
"I didn't care."
"Hmm?"
"My birthday. It's just one more day, one more mission."
"Is that all? Just one more? Or one more since your teichou--"
Kyoko glared at Kakashi, who shrugged.
"Just don't get in my way on this mission," she hissed. "I'd hate to have to use a ninjutsu on you."
Hakate Kakashi chuckled.
"If I remember correctly, that's how you came to be one of the ANBU Black Ops in the first place."
"Speaking of which…" Kyoko nodded towards Naruto. "I think he's found my mask."
And, sure enough, Naruto, who had stepped behind the Hokage's desk to complain closer to their leader, had stumbled upon the puppy-like mask Kyoko had placed there. At first Naruto looked stunned, then nervous. His whisper carried over to the two ANBU ranked ninja as he asked the Hokage if he was in trouble. The old ninja only shook his head, muttering that it didn't concern him. The relief on Naruto's face was immense.
"I take it the Kyuubi Jinurichi has had a few run-ins with people meaning him harm," Kyoko said quietly.
Kakashi nodded. "He ran into a few…old friends of the village, I
guess you could say. One of them was, anyway."
"Who?"
"Just how long have you been gone?" Kakashi asked, surprised. "I was told by the Hokage that all the ANBU had been informed of the incident with Akatsuki."
"Akatsuki? Is Naruto-kun okay?"
"You didn't know?"
"I've been doing non-stop missions since the Third's death," Kyoko snapped, "and even more since Tsunade-hime was appointed as the fifth Hokage."
"Yes, I had heard. And quite a few of them were solo missions, correct?"
"Hai."
"That's not exactly healthy, for so young a girl to travel so often alone. Even if she is an ANBU."
"I'm not just an ANBU," Kyoko muttered.
"Oh?"
"I'm a lieutenant now."
"Congratulations. One more step and you'll be a captain."
"No thank you. If this is the first 'break' I get in six months since Sarutobi-sama's death as a lieutenant, then think how bad it would be if I were a captain."
"Nonstop missions, assassinations, and paperwork," Kakashi muttered, nodding. "I've been there."
"Hai. Then you see my point."
"Kakashi! Are you paying attention?" Tsunade snapped.
"Hai, hai, Tsunade-sama," Kakashi said, bored. "We go to Suna, stop for supplies and to rest, then continue on to the Village Hidden in the Stones. We get the documents, bring them here, mission complete."
"Then…why do we need another teammate?" Naruto asked. "Ow!"
"Idiot," Sakura muttered, unclenching her fist and watching with satisfaction as Naruto rubbed furiously at the knot she had just given his head. "It's a long journey, and a fifth comrade will make it easier on all of us. Right, Kakashi-sensei?"
"Right."
"Oh?" Sasuke snapped. "And just how is having her around going to help?"
"Yeah, I'm with Sasuke!" Naruto said, then rounded on Kyoko. "Just where have you been all these years, anyway? You left in our first year at the Academy. How do we even know that you're a real ninja?"
"I have the regulation ninja forehead protector, aren't I?" Kyoko asked, pointing to her forehead.
"Hmm…" Naruto glowered. "Just don't slow me down, Sister," he said.
"I highly doubt that that will happen," Kyoko said coolly. "If what I've heard about you is correct, then it will be you who slows me down."
"You're a regular Sasuke, aren't you?" Naruto snapped.
"No. I'm considerably different from Sasuke-kun," Kyoko said calmly. "For one thing, I'm a girl. For another, he knows Chidori and his fire techniques are far superior to mine." Seeing Sasuke's smirk, she added, "However, I have a few skills that Sasuke cannot possibly hope to match any time soon."
Naruto looked pleased. Sasuke raised an eyebrow.
"Oh?" Sakura said. "And what's that?"
Kyoko just smiled. "The ability refrain from calling Naruto-kun a loser."
Sasuke chuckled and Kakashi laughed. Even Tsunade looked amused.
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"So, Kyoko-chan?"
"Hai, Sakura-chan?"
"Why were you gone for so long?"
Kyoko paused a moment, hitching her bag higher up on her back; they were walking through the Fire County towards the Land of Wind.
"I was with the monks at the Fire Shrine," she said, knowing that the monks had already been informed that she would be using the Fire Temple as her cover story. Not that it was much of one. No matter the mission, she stopped at the shrine in the Land of Fire before coming home. "And before that, I was with a relative. My uncle. His health was failing, and I was sent to help my aunt care for him."
"Then, how'd you get to be a ninja, if you didn't graduate from the Academy with us?" Naruto asked, catching up to the two girls at the head of the group and walking on Kyoko's other side.
"Special training," she said shortly, quickening her steps; behind her, she could feel Sasuke staring at her.
"What kind of special training?" Naruto asked, catching up with her.
"Weaponry. Taijutsu. Genjutsu. Ninjutsu. Everything that you learned."
"Really? Then…how was it special?"
"I only had one sensei."
"Really?"
"I was taught a lot in a very short period of time. If I didn't learn fast, I would have been a burden, and not worth teaching."
"Really?" Naruto asked. "Sounds kinda like Ero-sannin."
"Jiraiya-sama?"
"Yeah."
"No."
"Huh?"
"No. Not like Jiraiya-sama."
"What do you mean?"
"If you did not learn quickly, it was alright, Naruto-kun." Kyoko turned to look at him. By now, she was running, too restless to walk. It was a habit she had quickly picked up from her "sensei." She continued, "You were already a ninja when Jiraiya-sama started to teach you. I was still in academy when I had my training, and my sensei didn't have the time to stay with me all day to teach me. If I didn't learn the lesson that day, I would be too far behind to keep up with your class."
"But, didn't you graduate a whole year before us?"
"Hai."
"How did that happen?"
"I'm a fast learner." Kyoko pushed off hard from the ground and jumped into a tree, continuing her running from there. She heard the sound of shoes and chakra hitting the wood behind her. Annoyed, she turned to face Naruto, fully intending to tell him off for his constant questioning. Instead, she found herself facing Sasuke.
"Sasuke-kun," she nodded.
"Kyoko-chan."
Sasuke glared at her; Kyoko glared back.
"What?"
"That was a nice story you told Naruto."
"What are you talking about?"
"I mean, why don't you just go ahead and tell him who your 'sensei' really was?" Sasuke asked, glowering.
"Because he doesn't need to know. You don't need to know."
"How could I not know, you trained right in front of me!"
"If you want to know if he said anything to me, you can forget it," Kyoko snapped. "Do you honestly think that Teichou would have told a little girl what he was going to do?"
"No. But why are you still calling him 'Captain'?" Sasuke snapped back. "And why did you even start to call him that in the first place?"
"That has nothing to do with you!" Kyoko hissed, before speeding up yet again, leaving a very pissed off Uchiha behind her.
"What do you mean, I'm going to be an ANBU?" eight-year-old Kyoko asked. "I'm still an academy student."
"Let me explain it like this." One of the ninja in masks knelt in front of her and pulled out a kunai; he was much shorter than the others. "Kyoko, you know what happens when you're about to be hurt?"
"Yes."
"Hokage-sama believes that you have amazing talent. You're so far ahead of your class. All you need to learn now is Shadow Clones and perfect your ninjutsu, and you could qualify for genin. Now…I'm going to show my team what you can do. Are you ready?"
Kyoko closed her eyes and nodded.
And without another word, Itachi had thrown the kunai, headed straight for Kyoko's temple.
One of the ANBU made to block the blade, but Itachi stopped him.
"Look." Itachi pointed. Kyoko had simply lifted her left hand, and the kunai fell away before even making contact. "She's channeled the chakra to her other hand without a single thought, and built up enough to deflect the weapon without even touching it."
Itachi drew another kunai. Then another. The three ANBU watched as their captain threw weapon after weapon at the young girl, kunai after kunai, shurikan after shurikan, aiming to kill every time.
Kyoko didn't even attempt to dodge. After the seventh kunai was blocked by merely raising one hand or the other, she stood still. She was radiating chakra, and the weapons still fell away, just before making contact with her body. She stared blankly at Itachi as he finally stopped throwing his weapons, and the aura of chakra fell away.
"Like I said, she's far ahead of her class," Itachi said. "And what she's doing now is no Kekki Genkai."
"I've never seen anything like this," one of the ANBU said. "And she was able to stop the chakra from flowing?"
"It's still being channeled, just not as defensively. She's perfected her use of the chakra, and control."
"But she's only eight! I haven't seen anyone so skilled with chakra at this age since--"
"Hakate Kakashi," Itachi finished. "And even he wasn't this good until after he made ANBU."
"But she's right; she's still in the Academy. She's not even a genin."
"So she'll go in front of the Hokage. He'll determine if she's ready to graduate or not. This whole mission was his idea."
"But to become an ANBU…Are you sure she can handle it?"
"That's for the Hokage to determine," Itachi said. "Her graduation exam is in three days. If Hokage-sama thinks it's appropriate, then he'll send her to the Sand for the chunin exams; she may even be able to skip the exam to become jounin."
"But the chunin exams are in two months. How will she be ready in so short a time?"
Itachi only smiled.
"I'll teach her."
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A/N: Hey! Yeah, the first couple of chapters are going to be just a little childish, and Itachi will only be mentioned in thoughts and conversation (Kyoko calls his "Teichou," it means "Captain""). But don't worry, he is in this story, he'll be along once Team Seven reaches the Stone. For those of you who are further in the anime/manga, you probably know what I mean, and can probably guess what's going to happen.
Review.
Fangirl