Ren Note: First things first: This story is an alternate timeline for my OC, Ren, to have taken during my fanfic All Or Nothing. It's a stand-alone story with little-to-no copying and pasting from there so reading it is not a necessity. Nothing in here will go unexplained but the time in which you gather the knowledge/history of the story will be like fitting one piece of the puzzle at a time until you've got the whole picture. Thank you, I hope you enjoy! This was requested and I hope I do not disappoint.
Sunagakure was abuzz with life as the sun shined down overhead. Children laughed as they chased a ball around, shopkeepers were calling out to the foreigners trying to sell their wares, and near the Kazekage tower, people danced to music played by a traveling band. The celebration of Gaara's inauguration as Fifth Kazekage was in full swing.
White eyes scanned the crowd from one of the rounded rooftops; a slender body was crouched in hiding behind the chimney. As the girl stared down into the city a gust of wind blew the white cloth hanging from her nose to the side. With an internalized groan she pulled a black mask over her pale face leaving only her eyes visible; it would keep the sand out better than the white one. The cotton around her head concealed her dark hair but she was still identifiable.
As she watched the children playing in an alley, a strange man approached them. He was asking them questions but the children ran away like they hadn't heard him at all. Her feet were in the sand before she even thought. "Is there something I can help you with," she asked the man; her voice was muffled by both the mask and the cloth hiding it. Briefly, she examined the area to find the alleyway was empty except for the two of them now.
"Yes," the man cooed with a nod. "I'm looking for a friend of mine. Perhaps you've seen her." Golden eyes with snake-like pupils stared at her intently. "We have unsettled business."
"What does she look like? What do you want from her," the girl asked as she stood a little taller. She was only five feet tall but she didn't allow that to stop her from her job.
"Just to talk. She looks exactly like you," the man chuckled as he flicked his black hair from his shoulder. "You're Hyogo Ren aren't you?"
"You already know that I am," the seventeen-year-old muttered.
"The Hyuga hid in the Sand," the man mused as he circled her slowly like a predator. "Tell me, Ren-chan, do you know why you are the way you are?"
"The way I am," she asked in confusion; her eyes never left him and her hand was against one of the pockets of her brown flak jacket ready to pull out whatever weapon she could.
"You're the fastest kunoichi here," he purred, "as strong as most of the men with an affinity for wind they could never dream to achieve, and you can see things no one here can. If only your Byakugan didn't cause you such pain. My, my, how powerful you would be. You exceeded my expectations; rising to ANBU so quickly."
A lump formed in Ren's throat as she focused on the man; he looked vaguely familiar. The longer he stood there the paler his skin became and the more pronounced the purple markings around his eyes were. The man's true appearance left no room for doubt of his identity. "You have a great deal of nerve, stepping foot in Sunagakure, Orochimaru."
"And you have a great deal of nerve addressing me so informally," he hissed as he crossed his arms over his chest and stopped directly in front of her. "Is hostility how you repay the man responsible for saving your life? My dear child, how you wound me."
"I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about," she growled.
"Who do you think concocted the medicine to awaken Sleeping Beauty from her slumber? Did you believe Raza valued you so much that he would fund such research on his own? Do you truly believe you are solely responsible for what you are now? That power is because of me. You live because I wished it," he explained with a smirk.
"I suppose I will have to make you regret it then," Ren sighed as she pulled three shurikens from her vest. The revelation wasn't something she would take the time to process right now.
They were thrown directly at Orochimaru but he avoided them. "My, how rude you are," he chuckled.
"And how annoying you are," she muttered as she pulled on the chakra threads connected to the shuriken. They pulled back but Orochimaru dodged them like they were nothing.
"Foolish child," he hissed, "You owe me your life and will come to find me when you decide the pain is too much."
"I won't," she growled as she pulled a white fan from her hip and sent a gust of wind towards him. He vanished into thin air.
"Hyogo-san," a voice called from behind her, "are you alright?"
"I'm fine, Baki-sensei," she murmured as she replaced her weapons. There was no sign that Orochimaru had even been there. "My eyes were just playing tricks on me, I think."
"That's not like you, Hyogo-san," the older shinobi stated.
"It's been a long day," she lied with a yawn. She only had her feet on Sunagakure's sand for three hours and hadn't taken a moment to rest; Gaara's inauguration had begun just after she arrived and she had refused to miss it.
"You just got back from a mission," he nodded in agreement.
"The mission wasn't difficult," she shrugged, "but the trip home was tiring. I may call it a day and rest."
"How is it that when it comes to assassinations you have no issues but if you're sent on a mission to help another village you're sloppy?"
With a quick swallow, she told him, "Assassinations are to protect my Kazekage. Other villages would stab me in the back the moment I turn around."
"Both mission types come from your Kazekage; failure to treat them equally is a slap to his face. He wishes to speak with you on the subject," Baki informed her.
"Right away," she told him with a closed fist over her heart and a bow. The moment her back was straight she seemingly disappeared in a whirl of sand; her feet carried her from rooftop to rooftop as she made her way to the tower.
Ren Note#2: This story is far from finished. Consider this a teaser so that I can get some feedback. I'm looking for someone who has time to discuss things with me. I feel like I keep hitting a blockade because I don't have anyone to mull ideas over with.