The small room was packed full of chuunin, jounin and special jounin, with the Hokage sitting at the front and speaking seriously to a light brown-haired jounin. Another of the Sannin, Jiraiya, was crouched on a chair on her left side, openly expressing how uninterested he was in the topic. Iruka and Kakashi were seated in the front of the room, chatting lightly, and the chuunin examiner Genma was leaning casually against a wall with his eyes closed and his toothpick still. They were talking quietly among themselves, debating what they should do about the Hunter-nin that unexpectedly entered their lives three days ago.
Jiraiya suddenly got up and headed for the exit, followed by a sleepy Genma, but they were suddenly stopped as they heard a loud thump from the room behind theirs. The room where the Hunter-nin was supposed to be sleeping. Thirty heads suddenly spun around and all talking ceased. There was another thud and the paper doors to the kunoichi's room slid open.
The shinobi rubbed her eye and she seemed to take no notice. She had dark brown hair which was done up in a bun, covered in white cloth, and her bangs hung loosely in front of her face. In her other hand, she loosely clutched her red and white Hunter-nin mask with broken fingers that were lightly bandaged. To the assembled ninja, she looked almost like a small child who had woken up too early. Tsunade broke the silence. "You're up already?"
The ninja's eyes focused and she took a step back. "Ah! Hokage-sama! Gomen! I- am I interrupting? Gomen...."
"Actually we were just talking about you. Come sit...." Tsunade pulled up Jiraiya's abandoned chair. "We wanted to ask you some questions. Do you even know where you are? I expected the first words out of your mouth to be 'where am I?' or something like that." She smiled slightly.
The Hunter-nin coughed and sat down across from the Hokage, her previoulsy childish look now exchanged for a serious one, she seemed fully awake and alert. "I won't waste my breath on useless questions." I have made it to Konoha finally......
"Tsunade-sama, I have important news to deliver." She paused and coughed some more before continuing slightly quieter.
"The Akatsuki... they have taken action against some of the smaller hidden villages. They have taken over one and destroyed two more which would not side with them. The Grass ninja are currently under their control, and the Hidden Rain Village has been completely destroyed. They went great extent to make sure that there were no survivors. Another village, one completely unknown by the rest of the ninja world, was also destroyed. They were an extremely powerful village completely made up of assasins, and they took many Sound ninja with them when they fell, seriously wounding many of the Akatsuki as well, and thinning their numbers greatly. The name of the village was the Hidden Moon Village, and my father was the Kage. His last orders were for me to run and report to the nearest village."
I smell a war, thought Tsunade. It took her a moment to digest this information, but she kept a calm exterior before replying. "And why has the Akatsuki suddenly decided to take action? Why now of all times?" I wonder why we didn't find out about this sooner...
The Hunter-nin shifted uncomfortably, and fiddled with her mask, before she replied. "Ah..... It- It's because of me.....I think....."
When silence greeted her, she decided to continue. "You see, I, uh, I possess two different bloodlimits, and I use a use a style of fighting that was thought to be extinct. The Akatsuki found out about the Hidden Moon and about me and my father, and saw us a a large threat to their existence, even though we had nothing to do with them. They were trying to destroy us. My father said that my skills might rival those of the legendary Orochimaru, and that I could overpower almost any one of the Akatsuki with ease. He told me that there were few who could ever challenge me. But now I am the last Moon Ninja, and the last to possess either of my two bloodlimits.
"My father told me that in a few years I was to teach at least five other ninjas my style of fighting, to keep the line going, and after sending out a few of our most talented Anbu, we chose them. One from the leaf, one from the Lightning, one from the Waterfall, one from the Rain and one from the Grass. Obviously, the chice of the Rain and Grass were eliminated. Three days before I arrived here, the Akatsuki attacked. They were controlling many Sound-nin and Grass-nin, and the Akatsuki themselves fought. Although our village was extremely powereful, we were few in numbers and were slowly pushed back. My father sent me on my last official mission, and that was to escape to the nearest village and alert the Kage. I had to run for three days straight, but I finally made it."
The kunoichi ended with a small coughing fit, covering her mouth and clutching at her throat. When she finished she closed her eyes and sat back, fiddling with her mask again. Tsunade was struck with her age, she looked to be around seventeen or eighteen, and yet she was a Hunter-nin. She looks exactly like.....
Whispers broke out through the room, and the only person who looked unconcerned was Genma, who still leaned against a wall with a questioning eyebrow arched and his toothpick bobbing up and down thoughtfully. Even Jiriaya was somewhat impressed.
Tsunade adressed the ninja one more time. "You should go back to sleep for awhile and try to replenish some of your chakra."
The shinobi nodded and stood to leave, bowing once. This kunoichi sure is polite, but she doesn't seem to be used to socializing, Tsunade mused. But before the shinobi could open the door to her temporary recovery room, Kakashi decided to question her. "Oi, Hunter-nin, what's your name?"
There was a small pause. "It's Tsuki Koumei."
Kakashi searched his mind before venturing farther, "Tsuki... You mean like..... Tsuki Haku?"
That's it! She looks exactly like that boy..., Tsunade thought.
Komei spun around angrily and glared at him, a sudden change of personality that astonished Kakashi. Oops, he thought. Strike one...
"You don't deserve to speak his name, Copy Ninja. If I weren't in another village, you would be dead by now." Most of the ninja in that room would have agreed that had she been able to, she would have screamed those words. Her voice dripped with venom, and her deep brown eyes flickered dangerously.
Tsunade jumped up and glared a warning at Tsuki Koumei, as the majority of other ninja in the room drew kunai or shuriken. Komei shot a look at them that said she could kill them without effort, but she thought better of it. She snapped the door open, entered and slammed it shut with amazing force, causing the paper to shudder.
Tsunade returned to her seat before adressing Kakashi. "Please refrain from personal questions in the furure, Kakashi. There are many shinobi in this world that have painful memories, and I do not want this ninja as an enemy."
"Gomen, Hokage-sama."
The Hokage dismissed the meeting, but called out for one of the special jounin to remain. "Kasei, may I speak to you for a moment?"
"Of course, Tsunade-sama." A medium sized shinobi, around nineteen, turned slowly to face her. He was the same ninja that hadbeen speaking with her earlier. I knew that this would happen. I should have made an effort to leave faster. Why always me? He sighed, causing a few strands of light brown hair to annoyingly fall into his eyes. He brushed them aside before approaching the Hokage.
"Kasei, you know what I am going to ask you, but will you accept the job once again?" The Hokage looked into his cold grey eyes, which were constantly alert. She smiled. Kasei nodded, "Hai."
"Arigato. You understand the danger in watching over a ninja from another village, don't you? The last time I got someone to watch another ended up with Gekkou Hayate being slaughtered. And he was not as frail as he looked. Are you sure you want to do this? This kunoichi is probably not one to brag about her abilities."
"Hai, Hokage-sama. I am confident in my own abilities."
"I'm confident in your abilities as well, Kasei. Find out any information you can from her. You may go now. But be careful, I can't remember the last time I sensed this much chakra coming from any one person. Especially not one who ran for three days straight, chased by the Akatsuki." She added the last part sarcastically, and grinned again. He did not return it.
Kasei had noticed too, and it annoyed him more than anything, but his expressionless face showed nothing. He bowed slightly before leaving. When he was outside, he stretched for a moment, breathing in the cool winter air, before crouching low and springing onto the nearest rooftop. There, he silently slipped over to the roof of Koumei's room and made himself comfortable. This is gonna be a long day.