Hey guys, this chapter is written solely by me and I'm excited to see how you guys like this. I hope you all will enjoy this story. This is not Naruto's third person POV but is Reiko's third person POV. Thanks for reading and thanks to BlackPANDA xD for the story (but this chapter is mine. the ones before mostly belongs to BlackPANDA xD)

- Kaerelie Cecilia, the keeper and guardian of B1aCk RoSE

Chapter 1: Reiko's Story

Four years ago:

A little toddler of what looked like only at oldest two walked unsteadily on its feet. The toddler, obviously a girl, seemed unsure of her steps as she walked around her huge backyard, wondering where her parents were. Her clothes were elegant and her pretty indigo black hair blew in the soft breeze of wind.

"Ma… Mommy?" the girl tried to pronounce a word that she learned only a week ago. "Ma… Mommy?"

There was no answer. The girl didn't know why but she felt a strange aura surrounding her house, making her feel so chilled and alone. "Mommy? Da… Daddy?" the girl cried out, now scared that no one answered her. Usually, her servants or her maid would have come out by now if her parents weren't at home, but… there was no one.

"Mommy! Daddy! Ako!" the little girl cried out into the silence, tears overflowing her fear-filled gray eyes. She called out to her parents, she called out to her Aiko, her nanny, but no one answered.

The girl ran into her house as fast as her short unstable leg could carry. Now, tears were cascading down her scared face, leaving puffy red eyes behind.

The little toddler entered her house and found it dark, not a single ray of light illuminating the huge mansion. She had a bad feeling and her mind screamed at her to run.

'Run, Reiko. Run.' Her little mind told her but she refused to obey.

The girl, whose name was Reiko, felt her way to her parent's room and felt stick liquid trailing down the granite wall. It was too sticky, too sticky for her likings and she yanked her hand from the substance. Even after wiping her hand on the hard marble floor, her hand still had the sticky feeling and the substance seemed to harden on her hand. Now, Reiko was getting really scared and her little mind was confused at the sight before her.

"Mommy? Daddy?" Reiko peered into her parent's room, expecting her parents to all the sudden pop out of nowhere and tell her everything was alright. She wanted her little teddy bear, Konatsu-chan with her along with her parents and her nanny. She didn't like this at all and she'll tell her parents she was really scared and didn't like the prank.

The room was cold and some sickening stench came from the large bed deep inside the huge room. Reiko could smell the grotesque odor of salt and iron. A two slumped form caught her eyes and Reiko ran toward them.

"Mommy, Daddy, I found you! I was so scared, everything's all dark and Aiko didn't come to me when I called for her." Reiko ran toward what seemed to be her parents as fast as her short legs could carry her.

When she reached the bed, a grotesque sight met her eyes. Her parents were lying slumped on the bed, their throats slip and their bodies limp. Her mother's eyes were open, her glazed gray eyes looking at nowhere. Her father was in similar position, his face in expression of utter horror, and his blue eyes glassy without focus. The blood from their throat trickled down their neck, staining the silky bed cover below. Her father was slashed in many different places, the gash right across his abdomen being the most prominent of them all.

Reiko didn't understand what was happening but she knew one thing. Something happened. Her puny brain tried to process what she saw but all she saw was her beloved parents lying in the pool of their own blood, their body mutilated with gashes and blood. Reiko cautiously felt her mom's hand, a hand that had comforted her when she had a nightmare, a hand that steadied her when she first took her step, and coldness jolted through her arm. The hand that had always been there for her when she needed it was cold and dead under her soft touch.

Reiko cringed away from the coldness and sudden fear surged through her body like it had never before. Then, her keen eyes caught a sudden movement in the shadow. She snapped her head in the direction of the door, her gray eyes widening in fear. The shadow stopped for a moment and Reiko somehow knew that the shadow was looking straight at her.

"Who… Who are you?" Reiko stammered, her heart beating loudly with fear. Every cell of her body screamed her to run but Reiko stood there, paralyzed by fear.

"Who I am is none of your concern. You will find me when you are older. Next time we meet, I will not hesitate to take your life so get prepared for an early death." A low husky voice told her from the shadow and Reiko's little brain inferred that the voice belong to a man.

Reiko's young mind didn't quite comprehend what he just told her but she knew that something was wrong. She didn't understand what the man was doing in her mansion and why her parents were lying on their bed, looking as they did. All she knew was that she was scared and she didn't like the man standing in the shadow. Yes, she decided. She didn't like the man at all.

The man just laughed a husky, bone-chilling laugh and disappeared. Reiko didn't know what happened but she was pretty sure what she saw just moments before was real. She didn't understand why the man was in her mansion and told her weird things. She didn't know how he managed to disappear like that. All she did understand was the tension that hung thick in the air and the suffocating stuffiness that seemed to choke the breath out of her. She just followed her child's instinct and ran out of the room, out of the suffocating stench of the mansion, out into the blue sky.

Reiko wasn't sure why she started but she started screaming at the top of her lungs, a scream of fear and absolute horror. Her little body shuddered at the image of her parents lying in the pool of red sticky substance and even though she didn't quite comprehend what happened, she knew that it couldn't possibly be anything good.

"Help, help. My mommy and daddy won't wake up and no one is answering me! My nanny's not answering me!" Her high-pitched childish voice was octave higher than her normal voice due to the releasing of pent up fear. Reiko ran through the woods, out into the streets of busy Konoha.

Her high pitched scream for help soon caught the attention of many adults, who looked pitying at the tearful little child who couldn't have been any older than one.

A man with silvery hair that seemed to defy gravity and a white mask with designs that looked similar to a wolf approached the screaming girl. He wasn't very tall for he was only 5' 4'' but he seemed to be towering to the little child who was nearly three feet shorter than him. She looked at him with fear, her little 2' 10'' body shaking visibly with fear.

"What's wrong?" the boy asked. Reiko was sure he was only a boy for something about the aura that surrounded him told her he was much younger than the adults that surrounded her.

"My… My ma… mommy and daddy won't wake up. I called to them and they just looked right past me… and a man in the shadow told me something weird…" Reiko burst into tears as she remembered the bone-chilling voice that spoke to her. You will find me when you are older. Next time we meet, I will not hesitate to take your life so get prepared for an early death. The voice was though it was tattooed into her mind. "He told me something about early death and next time we meet when I'm older… I don't understand anything! Why weren't mommy and daddy answering me? Why's mommy's hand so cold?" Tears cascaded down the young face of Reiko and the silver haired boy felt a deep sympathy for the poor girl.

The boy awkwardly pulled her close to him, holding her in an embrace. She sobbed into his ANBU uniform, her occasional shudder making her thin shoulders shake. The adults around them clucked their tongue in sympathy for the little girl and couple of them left to alert the Konoha Military Police Force.

"How old are you and what's your name?" the boy gently asked the girl, clearly not willing to make her even farther upset than she was now.

"I… I'm Reiko Okubo and I juh… just turned two couple weeks ago." The girl spoke through her sobs.

A sudden wave of sympathy again jolted through his body. Only two and have her parents murdered… He was pretty sure her parents along with her servants were murdered. He has heard of similar incidents before… no one answering the calls, people lying on their bed with glazed expression, a murdering nearby in the shadow. The only difference was that this time, the lone survivor is a little girl who was barely two years old.

Konoha Military Police Force sent a team of investigators over to Reiko's house and they only found slashed bodies of servants and Reiko's parents. They searched for clues that might have told them why the one of the richest family in Fire Nation was murdered in such manner for they found no money or any luxury items missing. The only thing actually missing was the lives of the wealthy Okubos that once lived in the white mansion. There was absolutely no clue on who might have committed such gruesome massacre and after trying and failing to gather some information about the murderer, they wrapped up the bodies and prepared for a funeral.

Reiko went to the funeral and her young uncomprehending mind didn't understand why they were burning bodies. She didn't understand why they won't wake up. She didn't understand why her nanny won't just sit up and give her a big hug. She just didn't understand.

The next day, the bodies were burnt in three piles for there wasn't enough space in the graveyard to accommodate all of them. Only Reiko's parents got to be buried in their own spot for they were one of the most powerful couples in Konoha, famous for their riches. All the riches went into a bank that was to be held secure until Reiko came to her age and now, Reiko didn't have anywhere to go.

Reiko just stood without moving, her eyes wandering around at her surroundings. The silver haired boy was shocked to see such a young girl with mature expression. Her expression was like those of a sage, understanding everything that happened around him/her. Her gray eyes were the color of sky before a thunderstorm hit and her expression was so distant, so ethereal.

The boy knew she didn't have anywhere to go and she couldn't just stay at the ANBU headquarters forever. He contacted the Hokage and got the girl a place to stay – an orphanage. He watched from the shadow of a tree as the little girl packed up few of her possession and stood up to leave. The boy walked out of the shadow, offering her to walk her to the orphanage. Her small backpack held her toiletries and in her right arm, she clutched a large brown teddy bear with onyx eyes. When she caught him looking at her teddy bear, she smiled at him and introduced her little teddy bear.

"This is Konatsu-chan. My mommy and daddy gave him to me for my first birthday." Reiko actually looked like a little girl for a moment but the childish expression was gone soon and was replaced by a distant, unearthly look.

The silver haired boy pitied her. No one should have to go through what the girl did. No one should have their entire family wiped out by one man and be the first one to find the bodies. No one should have had to go through all those when they were barely two. No one deserved that.

"I never introduced myself to you, have I?" the boy looked at the girl with somewhat affectionate look.

"No, you haven't. I thought you might not want me to know your true identity so I didn't ask." Reiko answered.

Kakashi was for a moment set back at the thoughtfulness of such a young child. He was pretty sure Reiko was the first child he ever met that even had a tinge of thoughtfulness. Reiko was so mature for her age… heck she was more mature than most ten-year-olds he saw.

"Oh… Well, I don't mind you knowing who I am. My name is Kakashi Hatate and I just became an ANBU. I'm thirteen and I became an ANBU only couple weeks ago." Kakashi introduced himself.

"What's ANBU?" the girl innocently asked.

"ANBU is a special group of people that protect Konoha from outside and inside harm. You can think of us as high-level security force." Kakashi explained to the girl patiently. "They stand for Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai."

"That's cool. I want to be an ANBU when I grow up." The little girl beamed at him and Kakashi couldn't help but to smile back. "How do you become an ANBU?" Reiko asked.

"Well, first, you have to enroll in a ninja academy and if you graduate the academy, you become a Genin. As a Genin, you perform easy missions and once you are good enough and pass a certain exam called Chunin exam, you become a Chunin. As a Chunin, you will perform harder mission and prove yourself. When a higher-up thinks you are good enough, you get a challenge and if you can manage the challenge, you become a Jounin. To be an ANBU, you have to be at least Jounin level, even if your ranking isn't. ANBUs are specially chosen by the Hokage regardless of their rank, age, gender, and past." Kakashi explained, a small smile forming on his lips as he watched the little girl absorb all the information he just told her.

"That's... that's cool. I'll be the best ANBU there is when I grow up and I'll meet you again." Reiko chirped in her high-pitched voice and jumped up and down.

Kakashi simply watched the childish innocence of the little girl and wished she would never have to become an ANBU and have to live through all the horrors of the reality. He truly wished she would never lose her innocence and spirit. As they approached the orphanage, Kakashi's heart seemed to weigh down by the gruesome details of ANBU missions. He didn't want such a spirit like Reiko's to be crushed to the ground.

"Well, here we are. This is the orphanage you are going to stay until you are old enough to move out on your own, Reiko." Kakashi told her.

"Will I see you again?" Reiko asked, her gray eyes looking straight into his dark blue eyes.

Kakashi hesitated for a moment. He knew seeing her will be difficult due to his ANBU missions but he didn't want to crush her spirits.

"Yes. You'll see me again." Kakashi made sure not to specify when he will see her again and he just hoped that the observant girl missed this little fact.

"Okay. Bye. See you later." Reiko took her small belongings and ran inside the orphanage. Kakashi just watched as she disappeared through the door, her indigo black hair flying behind her.

"Bye, Reiko." Kakashi whispered and he turned on his heels. As he walked back to the ANBU Headquarters, all he could think about was the childish carefree joy that somehow managed to survive in the little girl.

Reiko explored the orphanage, her curious eyes absorbing the sight before her. The orphanage was well polished despite its obvious age and she ran toward the voices that she could faintly hear. Reiko soon found a small room which was furnished like her dad's office. There was a lady sitting at the desk who was talking with two well-dressed people. Reiko waited until they were finished talking and the two came out. She slipped inside the office and went up to the desk lady.

"Excuse me? I'm Reiko Okubo and I just arrived at this orphanage. An ANBU named Kakashi walked me here. What am I suppose to do now?" Reiko asked with gaiety in her eyes.

"Ah, you must be the orphan from the recent massacre. You are…" the lady scanned a file before her and looked at her again, "two years old, right?"

"Yes. Two weeks ago, I turned two." Reiko told her.

"Well, you will be staying in the second floor at room 205. Atoka here will lead you to your room." The lady kindly told her.

A tall boy in baggy clothes sauntered into the room as the desk lady finished speaking and scanned the room with bored expression. His eyes caught the little girl who was clutching at a oversized teddy bear and looking at him with curious expression. He let out a sigh as he approached the girl.

"Thank you." Reiko told the lady before she left with the boy.

"I'm Atoka and I'm like the hall monitor of the orphanage. You will call me Atoka-san. You have to listen to whatever I say for I have all the power and you don't." The boy told Reiko in hard voice.

"Ye… yes, Atoka-san." Reiko stuttered. She didn't know what it was but she could feel a dangerous aura off him, as if he was holding some kind of grudge against her. But then, she didn't know much about outside world and maybe this was how everyone was like. Maybe the desk lady and Kakashi-san was just an exception.

Reiko arrived in front of a worn down door. The wooden door had numerous scratches on it and sharp objects were sticking out of random places. As carefully as she can, she grabbed the handle without cutting herself and she twisted the knob. The wooden door opened with creaking sound and a nearly bare room met her eyes. There was only a hard wooden bed in a corner and a desk in the opposite corner. The window was curtain-less and was stained with rust. Reiko calmly accepted the room and thanked Atoka-san for showing her the room. Atoka just rolled his eyes at her as though he thought she was stupid and left the room without acknowledging her gratitude.

In the next couple days, Reiko met others in the orphanage. Many were older than her by at least couple years and they all looked down at her. They made her do servant's work and laughed at her as she scurried past them. The desk lady, however, never seemed to notice the little antics.

In just a week after Reiko arrived, Reiko was already in the lowest status of the orphanage. She was picked on by variety of kids and was always the victim of everything.

Reiko took all the bullying with serene expression which made the others get even more determined to break the child's unperturbed serenity. It was on this one fateful day that changed Reiko's life upside down.

"Reiko, I want you to scrub the rust off my window. I want it crystal clean and when I say crystal clean, I mean crystal clean." Akota sauntered up to Reiko and poked her bony right shoulder.

Reiko didn't get enough to eat for the orphanage rationed only little bit and what little bit she had was always taken away by the older kids. All she got to eat was licking up the bottom of her porridge bowl and little crumbs of bread lying on the table. Reiko always had lean body and without enough nourishment, her body became bony in a week.

"Yes, Akota-san." Reiko complied without any defiance.

As she walked up to Akota's room, Akota glared at the retreating figure of Reiko who was so serene and composed. No matter what Akota and his friends tried, Reiko's royal aura was never breached. Her emotions were always held in check and she wore the serene air around wherever she went.

"That stupid little brat. One would think that she's the queen of the world." Akota spat the word 'queen' as though it was acid on his tongue.

While Reiko was busy scrubbing, the others in the orphanage were outside playing. As she scrubbed the rust off the window, she noticed that everyone outside seemed to have friends. She felt sorry for Akota who never played with anyone.

'He must get really lonely sometimes. Maybe that's why he feels a need to order someone around. Really, I should be grateful I didn't have to go through the things he does. I know how hard it is to be without friends but I'm more used to it since I was always kept inside my family's mansion.' Reiko mused to herself as she concentrated on her work.

Akota watched the little girl scrubbing hard on his window, rust falling away like autumn leaves. He hated that serene expression on her face, that ethereal composure that she held herself. No matter what kind of lowly work she did, she did it with such royal grace that everything was regal.

Akota then felt a surge of hatred for the little two-year-old girl shoot through his veins. He was an unwanted child between an alcoholic and a prostitute. He was never wanted in his life and his mother abandoned him as soon as she could, not leaving him a single thing that he could call it his own. That girl now sitting on his window scrubbing the rust had the royalty in her and her stately composure annoyed him to no end.

Akota could feel himself walk silently toward her and he couldn't control his body. His long sun-brown arms reached out in front of him and… he pushed Reiko off the window.

Reiko was falling. Akota's room was at the top of the orphanage, at least six stories high. She didn't know who but someone pushed her off the window. She wasn't paying attention to her surroundings and she let herself get caught off guard. Now the consequence of not paying enough attention was death. Then, she felt a strange jolt run through her body and it felt warm in her veins. She was amazed that she could kind of control it. All she was thinking of at the time was trying not to die and she focused on not falling, her stately composure coming back into play.

Reiko could feel the wind rushing past her cheek and she knew she would hit the ground soon. She willed herself to not fall, to right herself before she was slammed into the ground and the feeling in her veins started creeping to the back of her body and her feet. Reiko could feel herself get uprighted and as the ground moved fast to meet her, the strange feeling at her feet seemed to push the ground away from her. She landed with feline grace despite the height she fell and stood up straight, observing the playground.

The orphanage kids started pointing at her and they started whispering to themselves.

"Did you see that…"

"She's a monster…"

"no… she's a demon…"

"Don't go near her…"

"what is she?"

"She's a witch."

Reiko didn't understand. All she did was save herself from getting killed and now others were whispering about her. She looked around and her gray eyes locked with brown eyes that were looking at her with fear.

"Get away from me, you witch." The boy suddenly screamed at her.

Reiko wasn't sure what was going on. One moment she was falling to her death and when she narrowly missed dying, bunch of kids were calling her with weird names. She could feel the hostility radiating from them and she slowly backed away into a tree.

"Witch!" another boy screamed at her and threw small rock at her. Reiko quickly dodged and the rock bounced off the tree where her right eye was just a moment ago, leaving a small gash on her upper right cheek.

More and more rocks were thrown at her along with some names and Reiko started running away. She didn't understand why the kids were doing it and she was scared. Her little body which was spotted with blood from couple spots where the rock got her ached and the adrenaline rush was the only thing that kept her going. She wasn't watching where she was going and she ran into an old man.

Reiko looked up at the old man and found him to be bandaged on his head and over his right eye. The old man helped her up and looked at her with curious expression. He had seen her fall down the six-story building and land with feline grace. He wondered who she was.

"My name is Reiko. Reiko Okubo." Reiko quickly told the man, curious at why the man would want to know her name.

The old man's showing eye widened at the mention of her last name and Reiko could see a small surprise flittingly pass through the eye. The surprise was gone as quickly as it came and the man asked her if she would accompany him in a walk.

"Uh, sure." The little two-year-old Reiko answered, unsure as why an old man that she just met would want to take a walk with her.

They started walking through the woods in silence, the old man's one showing eye watching like a hawk every movement Reiko made. Reiko started to feel uncomfortable under such intense gaze but she kept up her stately composure, her royal breeding showing despite the rags that she was wearing at the moment. Her serene expression didn't betray a single emotion and she just waited calmly for the old man to start talking.

"My name is Danzo and I have a couple questions for you. I've seen you fall through the six-story high building and still manage to land with such grace. Have you ever had any training for shinobi or anything?" the old man who just introduced himself as Danzo asked.

"Well, I'm not sure what you mean by training but I've never had any martial arts training before. This is the first time I actually had to do anything physical." Reiko answered truthfully, her curious mind wondering why the old man was asking her such weird questions.

"Well, that was some excellent chakra control you just showed today." Danzo told Reiko.

"Chakra?" Reiko asked, her puny brain trying to search through her memory for anything that was related to the strange word she just heard.

"Chakra is a mixture of the physical energy present in every cell of the body and the spiritual energy gained from exercise and experience. Once mixed, it can be channeled through the chakra circulatory system, which is to chakra as the regular circulatory system is to blood, to any of the 361 chakra points called tenketsu in the body. Through various methods, the most common of which is hand seals, the chakra can then be manipulated to create an effect that would not be possible otherwise, such as walking on water. Your case is somewhat special. Normally one should not be able to break such a fall without a hand seal but somehow, you managed to manipulate your chakra to break your fall without a hand seal." Danzo explained, a nearly non-existent smile playing around his mouth.

"Wow. That is so cool." Reiko looked amazed by the information Danzo just told her. "Can I learn how to control them too?" Reiko asked.

"Yes. Actually, I want to ask you if you would be one of my students. I am the leader of a group of top-secret ANBU called Foundation or more commonly called Root and I want you to join." Danzo told her with gloating smile in his eyes.

Reiko's ears perked up at the sound of ANBU and especially at top-secret ANBU.

"Wait, you want me to joint ANBU? But don't I have to go to academy and become Chunin or Jounin or whatever that things is to become an ANBU?" Reiko asked, confusion clear on her face.

"You have heard of ANBU?" Danzo raised his eyebrow as he looked at the little two-year-old with amused smile.

"Well, this ANBU who walked me to the orphanage when I first arrived told me a bit about ANBU. I think they are cool and I want to be an ANBU when I grow up." Reiko told Danzo.

"Why not now? I promise to make you better than average Jounins in two years. I think you have great potential in you." Danzo told her.

"Sure. When do I start?" Reiko asked, her expression in one of a joy.

"First, we have to move your things to your new accommodation. Since ANBU Foundation is kept as top secret, all our members stay in designated accommodation block." Danzo told her, his eyes gleaming in anticipation.

"Awesome. I don't have to live with all the other boys anymore." Reiko jumped in joy.

Reiko soon moved her small possession to her new accommodation block. The room was medium sized and looked empty – a single bed in a corner, a desk in the opposite corner. There were shelves with some scrolls and books and other than those, the room was completely empty. It was white and cold – it made Reiko feel chilled to the bone – but she ignored the feeling and proceeded with moving in.

In only a week, her Konatsu-chan was taken away from her along with all her personal belongings. She at first fought valiantly but after repeated training, she became an ANBU drone. Extreme training with Danzo's direct supervising soon made Reiko a ruthless ANBU. She was easily the best and in just a couple months, she was better than most Chunins. After each training session, Danzo went to his room, his gleeful smirk on his face as he watched Reiko walk back to her room, the childish gaiety long gone from her face.

As Reiko got better and better, Danzo made her training sessions longer. Even though she was still only two, she slept three to four hours a day and trained the entire day if she didn't have any missions. At the end of sixth month she was recruited into ANBU Root, she was a completely different person. Danzo discovered that Reiko's chakra is easily ten times the others for some strange reason and he started really drilling her, making her use up all her chakra by the end of the day. Despite this entire nightmare, Reiko's stoic face never betrayed a single emotion, having killed off all her feelings in the first few months with Danzo.

Danzo knew he was completely using her but he didn't care. Reiko was a useful weapon for him, being an immense chakra storage and very talented. He was became more ecstatic as Reiko grew colder, stronger, and emptier.

Danzo had easier time in getting rid of Reiko's past and emotions than any other for Reiko was very young. All he had to do is just probe in Reiko's mind and put block on certain things that couldn't be suppressed. He made Reiko do heartless things that soon made her into a drone. In automatic self-preservation, Reiko learned to suppress her emotions as she was punished for showing emotions. Also, having emotions made her tear up inside and she soon learned that not feeling emotion stopped her from feeling the tear in her heart.

Reiko turned three and she became known as one of the deadliest ANBU. Reiko went on solo S-rank missions and always returned unscathed and emotionless. She had her first kill three months after her second birthday in cold blood and she didn't feel anything now. She wore Fenikkusu(meaning phoenix) mask, a white mask with yellow beak and red decorations with bits of blue. The black lines outlined the decoration, making them look even fiercer. She was known as the Fenikkusu of death.

The gray eyes of Reiko which once held innocence and hope was gone, only to be replaced with deadened look. She was truly the definition of walking dead.

Thanks for reading guys. This chapter completely belongs to me including all the characters except the original Naruto characters like Kakashi Hatake and Danzo. I hope you all liked it and post some reviews. I want to know what you guys think of this chapter. I would really appreciate constructive criticism.

- Kaerelie Cecilia, the keeper and guardian of B1aCk RoSE