AN: Seven years after the countless readers and reviewers have not given up their waiting, I give you *this*.

Disclaimer: Masashi Kishimoto does NOT own Naruto. I do. It's mine. Mine, I say!

Prologue - Where It Started

I was five when I was given my first ever training lesson. For the first time in my life, a kunai was pushed into my clumsy hands. I remembered thinking it was heavy.

It wasn't my parents teaching me but my uncle: Reikou, the head of the Makijiku clan, serious and frowning. Years later I would realize he was determining if I was a prodigy, like his children or my older sister. I was relatively sure I'd not shown any natural talent. All I could remember was being handed the kunai, feeling how heavy it was, and not long after I'd cut myself. I was wailing and bleeding, Reikou tried to quiet me while bandaging my hand. When he finished I ran from his backyard, but not toward home. I left the Makijiku district completely, following a dirt path into Kumogakure.

I didn't want to grow up. I didn't want to learn how to fight, kill, spy and any other dangerous thing a ninja was expected to do. In an hour I'd be scared into returning home, but at that moment I truly believed I could escape these expectations by running away.

The first time in my life that I'd been left without supervision I was four. I couldn't stop crying, and I banged on the neighbor's door until she opened it. Mom had just gone out to do the shopping, and I'd been the one who insisted on coloring instead of going with her and my sister. I was undoubtedly safe, as our district was full of other clansmen. Since then I'd been to Kumogakure's preschool, and made quick friends with a handful of other snotty children. Included among them was my best friend: a girl from a ninja clan just like me. Since I'd gotten somewhat used to spending time away from my parents, I'd thought I'd be alright.

The clouds were low that day. They always clung to the mountain-tops, and when there wasn't much wind they shrouded the walkways. It got thicker and thicker around me, like mist. I took a few more strides forward before stopping and bunching up, crouching on the spot. My wound stung beneath the bandages, so I couldn't stop crying. I was scared by the blindness but I couldn't keep quiet. When I realized the trail wasn't going to get any clearer I made myself shuffle onward. Slow steps, until the handrail was above me, and then my foot felt only air, and I could still see only white, and I was falling.

My tears rolled off my wide eyes; someone jumped and caught me. I glimpsed strong dark arms and a white scarf. I felt safe, and watched in amazement as he leapt up the mountain side, practically flying until he set me down.

"Don't cry child, it's just a mild leap, for you see, you've been rescued by Killer B, yeah~"

He was sitting there with one knee bent; I steadied on my feet. He patted me on the head. B was a burly cloud ninja with tiny sunglasses. His funny way of speaking put me at ease. I was a fairly trusting child, having grown up in one of the largest clans in the village. While his weapons and muscles should be scary, I kept replaying his rescue in my head: staring down at the cliffsides and other clouds while B flew between bounds. It seemed so effortless. Ninja are strong.

"Thank you," I mumbled.

"Please, no worries~"

"Amai!" my grandmother called, rushing despite her walking cane. She stopped short when she recognized who I was with.

I tensed and almost hid behind him. Grandma Kouga always spoke in a harsh, clipped manner - she was my boogeyman. For a few more years after that point, I'd continue to be absolutely terrified of her. She wore the pale-green robes of our clan, with gold adornments topping her cane and spangly earrings. Her silver hair was in a tight bun and pierced by ornate chopsticks.

Her lined face turned harsh, "Amai, get away from that man! Come here!"

I yelped and scurried over, she gripped my hand in her cold talon then walked us away at once. She pulled me, making my armpit sore. I looked over my shoulder to see B quietly sitting there; Grandma's admonishments were going through my ears: "That man is dangerous! You are to never go around him again, you understand?"

"But- but-" he saved me.

"No buts!"

In the following weeks I had recurring dreams of jumping like B did, flying above the clouds and walkways. It felt like a rushed, pointed excitement.

By the time next year rolled around, I was eager to enroll at the ninja academy.

It would be many more years before I'd be assigned my three-man squad and jōnin instructor.

At that time in my life, Sokumaru-sensei had not yet considered taking on students. He would do so in a few years time, then be met by tragedy after all three of them die on a mission away from the village. He'd be unable to protect them. It would be a few more years after that when he'd consider taking on me, along with two other boys.

Daichi was feeling at a loss for how to comfort his mother, even at his young age. They were normal people, not from a ninja clan. His father had just walked out, leaving his mother weeping at the foot of the stairs. Daichi crouched at the top with his little hands clenching the wooden slats. In time his mother would grow unhealthily attached: controlling, demanding and even physically abusive.

Akuma wasn't even in the Land of Lightning at that time. Beyond the border, in the Land of Frost, he was among his people as they traversed an icy slope. He'd inherited a valuable kekkei genkai that would make him a talented ninja. To reach Kumogakure the band of Inuit-like travelers would need to scale treacherous terrain, moving east and then north between the craggly mountain peaks.

But until we all do meet this is just my story. The tale of Amai Makijiku.