All Karumi could see was the orange blaze of fire as her brother carried her in his arms away from the village, his white hair a mess of sweat and dirt. She could see the other ninja now tailing them, quickly catching up, and gripped her brother's shoulder.
"Sousuke? They're getting closer." Her voice was quiet and shaky as her brother cursed and sped up. Neither of them could understand why their village was being attacked. Her family were the only ninja living there amongst the civilians, and even then they were only a clan of medics.
A sharp kunai hit Sousuke in the back, sending him forward to the ground. Karumi wriggled out of his grasp, kneeling beside him and shaking his shoulder. She could tell he was still alive, but he was growing weaker by the second.
"There they are!" One of the ninja tailing them shouted, making Karumi look up in panic.
Her brother gripped her hand, pulling her closer before whispering the word, "Run!"
The little girl took off, weaving desperately through the trees as they continued to chase her. She came to a stop in front the edge of a cliff and began looking around for a way down. The bushes rustled behind her and Karumi turned around, watching as three of the ninja began to close in on her.
"What? She's just a kid!" One of them said, looking to his comrade.
"It doesn't matter. Our orders are to eliminate them all." The other replied, crouching low and weaving some hand signs.
Karumi wasn't sure what hit her, but she fell backwards, eventually landing in the river below with a loud splash. She floated down stream, flailing in panic as she struggled to see beyond the pitch black darkness that clouded her vision.
After what seemed like hours of struggling Karumi made it to the riverbank, coughing and spluttering as she blinked rapidly. "I can't see," she said to herself, her eyes welling with tears as she lifted her head. She pushed herself up, stumbling forwards and catching herself on a tree.
Her elbows and knees stung. She'd probably grazed them. Karumi winced as she touched her leg, her eyes stinging as a sea of red invaded her sight. She gasped, quickly pulling her hand away. Karumi had been told about her clan's inheritable eyes, but she didn't think she'd be able to use it at her age. She'd always been told that she was too young.
Keeping her hand pressed against the trunks of the trees, Karumi made her way through the forest, tripping on roots and slipping on mud. Finally she reached a road, but left her hands outstretched in front of herself.
Karumi didn't know how long she'd been walking before she collapsed to her knees, clutching her stomach in hunger and doubling over in exhaustion. The waves of panic had long since subsided and her body had filled with adrenaline, but even that was dying now.
"Hey, look!" Karumi's eyelids grew heavy in relief when she heard the voice. Maybe she'd finally reached another village. "Are you okay?" The same voice sounded again.
"Should we take her to the Hokage?" Another voice asked.
"Maybe we should get her to the hospital first," the first one said, before Karumi felt herself being lifted up.
"Water..." she managed, touching the side of the person's face. The colour flooded back into her vision again and she smiled. Though slightly off-putting, Karumi found comfort in the fact that she could see the skull and surrounding tissue of the man carrying her. She was used to seeing the anatomical drawings that hung in her parents' study, so the bulging brown eyes that sat in their sockets didn't terrify her like they would any other four-year-old. She was happy enough to be able to see the man's eye colour.
Something that felt like a water canteen touched her lips and Karumi sipped it gratefully, coughing a little as the water touched her parched throat.
The air suddenly cooled and Karumi flinched. She could hear the sound of heels clicking on hard floor as a feminine voice spoke. "Is there an emergency?"
"Yes," the man holding her said. "This little girl collapsed in front of the village gates."
"What's your name?" The woman who Karumi assumed was a nurse asked.
"Karumi," the girl answered weakly, jumping in surprise when a cold hand touched her wrist. Her ears began to ring as a wave of dizziness overcame her, and Karumi stopped trying to listen to the nurse. Her hand slipped off the man's face and her vision grew dark again. She knew she'd been using her chakra to see into the man's body, and her stamina was depleting quickly because of it.
Karumi felt herself being laid on a bed, the sound of groaning patients around her filling her ears. Her eyelids grew heavy again as she felt the stinging jab of an IV in her arm, and her entire body grew numb.
A few streets away at the Hokage building, Minato Namikaze looked out over the village from his office window. Things were beginning to make sense, but he still couldn't figure out why it had happened. The little girl was still in an induced coma in the hospital, and while he'd recognised the image of a lotus on the back of her clothes, the open scroll on his desk had confirmed that she was indeed from the Hanakawa clan; a large family of medical ninja residing in a small village in the Land of Fire.
The scroll told of a massacre from the Land of Fire's enemies due to the belief that such a strong group of medics would allow the Hidden Leaf Village to not suffer as many casualties as other nations.
Minato's head dropped and he gripped the ledge he was leaning on. In actuality, the Hanakawa clan were humanitarians, helping anyone who passed through their village.
A knock sounded at his door and Minato looked up, watching as his wife and her friend Mikoto Uchiha entered the room, both their stomachs swollen and pregnant. "What's the meaning of this, Minato?" Kushina, his wife, asked angrily. "You know Mikoto has time off from missions!"
The Fourth Hokage smiled and shook his head. "It's not a mission," he said, and his wife calmed down almost instantly. "It's more of a favour."
The two women frowned at each other. "Is it about the little girl in hospital?" Mikoto asked, touching her stomach lightly.
Minato nodded. "As far as we know, she's the sole survivor of the Hanakawa clan's massacre, but I don't want to have her sent to an orphanage." He looked across the room at Mikoto. "If it's not too much, could the Uchiha clan take her in?"
The black-haired woman smiled softly. "I'm sure Fugaku wouldn't mind, but I'll have to check with him."
The Hokage nodded gratefully. "Thank you," he said, smiling as the two women left. He dropped his head again and sat down at his desk, re-reading the scroll. The Hanakawa clan started training their members while they were still young, but Minato couldn't be sure how much the girl knew until she woke up.
He rested his head in his hands, cursing himself for letting something like this happen in the Land of Fire. At the very least, the clan's sole survivor was now in the Hidden Leaf's custody, meaning that if anything bad happened, she could be protected.
