Naruto's friend

Chapter one- Falling from the sky

Elita ran hard and fast through the trees, they were on her trail and being as young as she was, she was slowing down. She had used up all of her chakra and just needed to rest so that she could regain it, but the assassins that chased her would give her no solitude- she was the last of their hated enemy, the ninja, and all they had to do was kill her. She turned long enough to see their shadows flitting through the trees behind her and threw the last of her throwing stars. She smirked as she heard several thuds- she had at least made a dent in those that chased her, but there were still far too many of them to face with just her throwing knife. There was nothing she could do but run.

She closed her eyes momentarily, to hopefully call upon what little chakra that her weak body had left, she felt it rising, rising above the exhaustion, yet still it was not enough, she wouldn't be able to kill them all. Her only chance was to use it to teleport herself away from them. It was her only chance and she was willing to take it.

Elita heard a loud bang; the smell of gunpowder hit her nostrils as a burning pain filled her lower abdomen. She cried out as she lost her balance and toppled headfirst into a deep pit. She let out a loud scream of anguish as she hit the ground below, severe pain burned through her body, causing her breath to come out in sharp, pained gasps. There was laughter and she knew that they had finally caught up, "We finally get to wipe out the last of the ninja scum from the face of the earth!" The leader laughed, shoving a knife below her throat, "Goodbye ninja child!"

Elita gasped as the flesh around her throat was torn, she grasped at it as the blood flowed freely from the wound and knew it was deep, but had not cut into her esophagus. She stood rather unsteadily, bloodstained hands at her side, and laughed, "You haven't won!" She said, "I live yet! You bastards will never destroy us- our spirits will remain, you will never win."

"Little girls should hold their tongues!" The man who had cut her said in a vehement tone, "you scum are through on this earth- no longer will you defy us!"

"The spirit of the 7th hokage, my father, will never be severed from this planet, it will force you to suffer for the rest of your demonic lives!" Elita spit a mouthful of blood at his feet, "you are the scum!" She said defiantly.

Once more he pulled back the blade, but instead of going for her throat as he had done previously, he drove the dagger into her chest. Elita groaned and fell backwards, she braced herself for the hard earth, but she never hit it. Her chakra had saved her, but just barely, it had transported her away from the men on it's own, without her consent. It had done that on several occasions, always saving her from death, this time it may have been to late. Slowly, and painfully she opened her eyes and gasped, she was falling from the sky! Elita clenched her jaw to keep from screaming and felt for her small reserve of chakra, the chakra that could kill her if she were to use it all, yet it could also cause her to do horrible things, it had done so many times before, destroying those instantly as they sought to destroy her. Her mind grew blank as the chakra appeared around her falling form and she knew no more.

Naruto Uzumaki smiled as he finished his work on the Hokage statues; the bright paint that he used was still dripping when they found him, two of the village ninjas jumped up beside him on the statue, "This has gone too far!" One said, lunging for Naruto, "You need to be taught a lesson!"

Naruto giggled and leapt from the statues head, paint can in hand as they chased him. He ran through the streets and into the woods, he didn't quite understand why he wanted to go that way, but he did anyway. That's when he noticed the bright light above him, "Hey!" He exclaimed, "That's not the sun!"

He shielded his eyes and glanced up through the slits, to his surprise he saw a girl falling from above, the light was her chakra. Naruto dove to the side as she hit the ground softly. Naruto looked at the body that lay before him, her eyes snapped open and she saw him, "Who are you!" She exclaimed, unable to sit up, yet she still tried, Naruto saw the fear that burned deep with in her, was she afraid of him?

"Hey! You're the one who fell and nearly crushed me, so I should ask who you are!" Naruto exclaimed dropping the paint cans, the colors splashed together and crept towards the fallen girl's form.

"My name is Elita." She said, "Now do you mind telling me who you are?"

"Did you get into a fight or something?" Naruto asked, staring at the bloodied clothes and the dagger that was still embedded in her chest, "Cause your bleeding rather badly."

"Naruto, get back here!" Uh-oh, Naruto thought, they had found him, "You little pest, the hokage can't make excuses this time, you're in big trouble, boy!"

"Naruto? Is that your name?" Elita asked, pulling herself painfully into a sitting position, she stood shakily, balancing on a tree, "Where am I?"

Elita looked around at the trees, "It almost looks the same…" She muttered.

"Yeah, yeah…" Naruto said glancing at the trees as the two ninjas sped towards them, "almost the same as what though?"

Elita's attention was focused solely on the plants, however, and she didn't answer him, "there is a difference though, the trees are so much younger than they were, so much smaller than before." She mumbled, running her hands over the bark.

"Naruto- what happened?" The other ninja exclaimed, noticing Elita who had backed herself into the tree the moment she saw the adults enter the clearing. Her eyes widened and it was almost as though she were trying to press herself into the tree, to hide from the elder men.

"I don't know!" Naruto said, "She fell from way up there!" He indicated the sky.

Elita stood straight, letting go of the tree, nearly toppling, before she caught her balance, "must have used the last of my chakra when I fell…" She muttered almost incoherently, "Damn…"

"Chakra? Are you a ninja?" The first man asked in surprise, "You're young, where are you from?"

Elita nodded solemnly, "What of it?" She retorted, "Going to kill me like the others? It's not like I have a home anymore, it was taken long ago, destroyed by merciless men, terrified of who we were!" She spat vehemently.

"What are you talking about?" The second asked in confusion, "why would we kill a child?"

"It seems that I am not where I used to be…" Elita said thoughtfully, "Where I-I'm from, the people want to get rid of the ninja, I was the last one, the only one that stood in their way of a perfect nation." Elita said, "Even though I wasn't able to finish my schooling… they still wanted me dead."

"Why would people want to get rid of ninjas?" Naruto asked, "I mean we're the good guys…"

"I don't know." Elita moaned, "they just want us to be destroyed, no matter how much blood washes over their hands, they just want us dead!"

"Maybe we should take her to the doctor?" The first said, looking questioningly at the second before glancing back at Elita's pale complexion warily, "She's weak, and bleeding, would the hokage allow it?"

"I think that we should speak to the third Hokage first." The second said, "Take her to him; he'll know what to do… or maybe he knows now, as he knows so much, he might wish us to take her to the doctor first, but we don't know that, so we must see him first, see if he approves of her."

Elita stumbled along behind them as they walked slowly towards the village. Her snowy hair constantly falling into her eyes as her head remained bent in exhaustion, it was all she could do to remain on her feet. Naruto ran ahead of them, to the third Hokage's home. Elita stumbled and fell, rolling to the side to keep from plunging the blade deeper into her body and stayed where she was, eyes clenched shut as she waited for the pain to subside. Her breaths came in ragged gasps, she couldn't continue, she was so very tired and just wanted to sink into the dark oblivion that promised refuge from the pain. The two men had stopped and looked back at her expectantly when she didn't move they looked at each other, "Maybe the doctor first then?" the second suggested to the nod of his partner.

"Yes… it seems that that would be best now, doesn't it?" Said the first slowly, "pick her up, we need to hurry."

The second hoisted Elita into his arms and was surprised by how light she was. He felt something poing him uncomfortable in the shoulder and moved her away momentarily to see what it was, "my god." He said in shock, "How could we have even thought to go to the hokage first? She's got a blade in her chest, no way she would have made it!"

He shifted her into a different position, protecting her from having the blade shoved deeper and possibly killing her before they got to the village, he then turned and followed his partner back into the village. They were watched closely as they made their way to the doctor's house. "What is this?" The doctor asked cautiously, looking at the men.

Danak, the physician, looked questioningly at Elita and then back to the two ninjas, "we really can't find out until she is healed," Said the one that held her, "She says that where she's from she is the last ninja and that the others were wiped out… we don't understand, she needs healing before we can question her."

"That is horrible, but still, why hunt a child?" Danak asked.

"The people of her land obviously didn't like her kind very much…" Said the first.

"Alavier, who would want to kill a child though?" Danak asked, "Saren, do you know the answer to that question?"

"No sir." Saren said, "I merely followed Naruto into the trees and he found her."

"Yeah," said Alavier, "Naruto found the girl. Just heal her and let the hokage know when she awakens."

With that, Alavier and Saren left the girl in the care of Danak, who studied the girl closely before hoisting her onto the table that was used for surgeries, he needed to get the blade out of her flesh and see the damage that it had inflicted. Elita moaned and her eyes fluttered open momentarily, "who are you?" She asked faintly, "what are you doing?"

"Do not fear me, child, I am Danak, I am going to help you." He said as her eyes squeezed shut once more.

"Finally," She muttered, "a place where I can rest rather than run."

Danak looked at Elita a moment longer before pulling out his surgical knives and delicately cutting around the blade. He pulled it out and stitched the open wound on her chest and throat before wrapping bandages around them and carrying her over to a small bed. He covered her up and sat by her bed to await the moment in which she may awaken again.

He was surprised to see blood still seeping through her clothing and lifted the shirt to see where it was coming from, a small hole, roughly the size of a large pebble, bled profusely. "What the-?" he said softly, grabbing his knives once more, he made the wound a little wider and saw a glint of metal.

Danak's nimble fingers pulled the thing out, he was surprised to see something like that, he had absolutely no idea what it was. He cleaned and stitched her last wound before once more covering the child and closing his own eyes in exhaustion, now came the wait.