Disclaimer: No I do not own Naruto.

Wings of the White Angel

Chapter 1: Enter Kin

Konoha, the Hidden Village of the Leaf. It is a place of peace and home to some of the greatest ninja in the world. However, not all of the ninja here are motivated to do their best. Kin Watanabe, the only child of the Watanabe line of ninjas, has always had problems with motivation. Though the potential to be a great ninja was within him, there was never a driving purpose to go along with it.

Until now…

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It is a peaceful afternoon in Konoha Village at the Watanabe household. The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and everything couldn't be more peaceful.

In the garden of the Watanabe complex sat a young boy of no more than twelve years of age. He was very thin, albeit healthy looking. A long mane of aquamarine-colored hair hung down his shoulders, giving him a strangely wild appearance. ("Another day of nothing to do…another day of mediocrity in my life.")

Looking up at the sky, Kin's single green eye and single blue eye traced over the shape of cloud after cloud. ("To think I passed my Academy test just this morning.")

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"Step forward please."

Kin stepped forward, his green vest and green shorts almost hanging off of him. "Kin Watanabe," he spoke with no strength in his voice, as if this wasn't important to him.

"What's with the attitude, boy?" The examiner narrowed his eyes, morning light filtering into the classroom through the blinds. "How about you show a little enthusiasm?"

"Why?"

That brought the examiner pause…and he broke it with a cold glare. "Because if you don't I'll fail you on the spot."

"Then do it and let me go home."

A vein bulged slightly out of the examiner's forehead. "Why you little…"

The other examiner chuckled and held out a hand to his bristling comrade. "Come on, don't get angry at him. He's trying to keep his cool in this situation."

Kin closed his eyes and sighed. "All right, what do you want me to do?"

Looking his papers over, the non-bristling examiner glanced up at the boy. "I'm going to throw a kunai at you. As you noticed when you came in, there is a small log propped up in the corner of this room. I want you to perform the Replacement Technique to dodge the attack." His hand lifted up to reveal a knife. "At the count of three. One…two…"

Kin opened his eyes slowly. "Just throw."

"Three!" The knife hurtled towards him like a rocket.

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Kin stood up and brushed some blades of grass off of his vest. "It was so easy…I don't feel any success in it. Maybe because I know what the other students don't…and that's that only nine of the passing students will actually become Genin." Turning, he continued to look up at the sky. Then his eyes trailed over to the birds that were chirping in the tree right next to him. "There's no way I'm going to be able to match up to the rest of the class. There are too many skilled…"

"Talking to yourself again, Kin?" The voice came from the kitchen window that looked over the garden.

"Yes mother…" Snapping his head away, Kin walked towards the far end of the garden. He hated it when she listened to him speak with himself. It was such a pain.

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"He went that way!"

Terubisu leapt from rooftop to rooftop, his eyes narrowed as he looked for a way to shake off these annoying Konoha ninja. ("How long am I going to have to run from them?")

He was shaken from his thoughts as someone leapt onto the rooftop right in front of him. "Stop right there, thief!"

Sliding to a stop on his rooftop perch, Terubisu sneered from underneath his face mask. "Or you'll what, you pitiful excuse for a ninja?"

They met eyes…and then their hands were moving, each performing a long chain of hand motions. It was a race now. Both had chosen their Ninjitsu techniques to try and perform, so whoever completed the seals first would most likely win the confrontation.

Except that there had been more than one pursuer. "Stop thief!" A knife went sailing through the air and stabbed right into Terubisu's neck.

The ninja's eyes widened slightly…right before he dissipated into a cloud of smoke.

"It was a fake?" Now that his target was no longer in sight, the ninja that had been performing the seals stopped and focused his senses. The real thief had to be somewhere nearby.

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Kin looked down at the water of the pond below him. ("Father…why do I still pursue the dream you had for me? You're dead and gone, but yet I still continue to try and become a ninja.") Ever since his father's death two years ago, his drive to become a ninja had died…and yet somehow he managed to keep himself in training. Even though his will was weak, his body and spirit kept going. ("And now here I am, on the verge of meeting the end of your foolish dream. After I take the Genin examination tommorow, I will be able to quit being a ninja once I fail. There's no purpose in me continuing this path…I have no reason to follow your dream, right?")

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"There he is!"

"No, he's over there!"

Terubisu did a triple back flip out of the range of the Konoha Ninja's kunai. "Too slow, you mediocre fool!" The moment his feet touched the ground he was moving, his fist connecting with bone-shattering force to the face of his opponent. His other hand grasped the handle of the kunai that the struck ninja had been holding and wrenched it from his grasp. "Now let me ease your pain."

Driving the weapon point-first into the injured ninja's eye, Terubisu quickly turned and continued his run. He was far from free yet, and until he was he'd kill anyone who got in his way. What he had stolen was far too precious. And no one would stop him from getting it out of this village.

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Kin wandered around the garden, his eyes closed. He listened to the wind blow through his ears, and sighed weakly. ("Father…why did you have to die?") Reaching into his shirt, he pulled out a small golden chain with a golden dragon's claw grasping a fire diamond at the end of it. ("This is all I have left to remember you by…your gift to me. I miss you so much…")

"Stop thief!"

Kin looked up just in time to see someone go flying over the wall of the garden and run right into him, sending him flying to the ground.

Terubisu growled and saw something on the ground. It was glittering in the dying sunlight. ("How'd it get out of my pouch?") Grabbing the item, he leapt up and continued running. ("I have to get away before they catch up to me!") As he hurtled over the next wall, he felt a kunai shoot right past his head. ("Damn it…I have to move faster!")

Kin's eyes slowly opened…and the first thing he noticed was that his father's memento was not around his neck. ("Where'd it go?") Looking around frantically, he quickly realized where it had gone. ("No…he took it? No way…") Turning, he ran as fast as he could into the house. ("I won't let it get away! It means too much to me!")

His mother blinked in surprise as her son shot past her like a rocket. "Where are you going in such a hurry?"

"I'm going for a…" Grabbing his backpack, Kin was out the front door before he could even finish the sentence.

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Terubisu leapt from tree branch to tree branch, chuckling to himself. He had those foolish Konoha ninja following one of his smoke replications. And now he had to double back to make sure that he had escaped from them. Having them chase him all the way out of Fire Country was not the most ideal possible outcome. ("But it doesn't matter, they'll never catch me.")

He caught something out of the corner of his eye, and stopped immediately. A kunai stabbed into the tree in front of him. ("Hmm…what's this?") Something blurred into his sight of vision.

Kin held another kunai cocked back to strike, now just a few inches from Terubisu's face. "Give me back my necklace!"

Terubisu blinked in surprise at the sudden attack, barely able to leap backwards right before the weapon was buried into the wood of the tree he had been standing on the branch of. "What necklace?"

"I saw you take it!" Kin let go of the kunai instantly, his other hand snapping down and fishing a trio of shurikens out of his side-pack. Snapping his hand up, he let all three of the small metal stars fly towards the black-clothed ninja.

Terubisu casually dropped from the branches of the tree and landed on the grass of the small park that he had been traveling to. "You've got some guts trying to stop me, kid."

Kin growled and mentally counted the number of shurikens and kunai that he had left in his belt. ("About 10 kunai and 15 shurikens remaining…and this guy seems like he's pretty clever. He must have some ninja training.") Using his hand to help him gain momentum, he rebounded off the next branch and came down with a flying kick towards Terubisu.

The ninja calmly watched the approach of the boy's kick, almost in slow motion to his highly trained senses. ("This kid has no idea what he is getting himself into.") Leaping back, he drew a kunai from his clothing and calmly tossed it right at the boy's open chest.

Kin saw it coming, and snapped his arm up to deflect the blow with his own kunai…but even as the thrown blade met the held one, he understood the danger he was in now. Bringing his eyes back to the spot where Terubisu had been a few seconds ago, he found no one standing there. ("Where'd he go?")

"Hey kid…"

Kin's blood ran cold as a voice whispered into his ears. "Impossible…"

Terubisu's hand positioned itself under Kin's chin. "…know who you are picking fights with." His hand drove into Kin's chin and stopped his forward momentum, sending him rocketing backwards about twenty feet into a tree. "And as for your necklace, I don't give a damn."

Kin's back slammed into the hard wood of the tree and indented into it. Coughing up a few drops of blood, he started to slide down to the ground.

"Actually…I'm not done with you yet." Flipping his kunai in mid-air, the black-clothed ninja caught it by the point and hurled it with all of his strength. "Take this!"

Kin heard the whistling noise and tried to overcome the shock in his system the collision had caused. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't break the momentary stasis his body was in.

Terubisu chuckled to himself as the weapon embedded itself right in the boy's throat. "Too…"

Kin smiled slightly…and there was a burst of smoke that filled the air. When it cleared a log dropped to the ground, the kunai sticking out of it.

("Kawarimi no jitsu? I didn't expect him to know any Ninjitsu techniques.") Drawing another kunai free, Terubisu extended his senses to try and locate where Kin was. ("He couldn't have gone far…") His eyes widened as he felt something sharp and metal drive into his lower back.

"Give me back my necklace." Kin spoke through clenched teeth, holding the kunai in the small of the man's back. "Give it back right now."

Terubisu responded by exploding into a burst of smoke. And when it cleared Kin found himself holding the kunai point-first into a log. "When did…" His breath caught in his throat as shurikens launched past him in a wave of five, two of them lodging into his arms, and two lodging into his lower legs. The final one pierced right between his ribs, going in to about half of its length before the flesh finally stopped it. Blood sprayed out of each wound, and Kin, still stunned, could only stand still and watch his own blood start to slowly pool at his feet.

"You're pretty good, considering your skill level." Terubisu dropped down from out of a nearby tree and started to flip his kunai up and down slowly. "However, you're messing with a Jounin, little boy. Of course it really doesn't matter now, because you're dead." He walked up to the wide-eyed Kin and placed the tip of the kunai against the boy's neck gently. "So tell me, how does it feel to know you picked a fight with Terubisu of the Smoke?"

Kin tilted his head back slightly, fear evident in his eyes. ("This guy is a Jounin?") The cold grip of reality squeezed his heart. ("I'm going to die…")

Terubisu casually fished something out of his belt pouch and held it up. "Is this what you wanted?" Dangling the golden-chained necklace in front of Kin, he laughed from underneath his face-mask. "Sorry boy, but I have gone through too much for this thing. And besides, you wouldn't know what to do with it anyway."

As the gold of the chain caught the last rays of sunlight, Kin felt a momentary burst of willpower from deep within himself. "My father's…"

"Your father's?" Terubisu's eyebrows lifted up a little.

"Return it!" Kin snapped his arm out, grabbing the jewel at the end of the necklace and clenching tightly.

Terubisu shook his head and sighed. "Die." His arm shoved forward and stabbed the kunai's point into Kin's throat. After making sure the blood spray was real, he pushed the body back…

Even as his life was slipping away, Kin wouldn't lose his father's memento. ("No…you can't take it from me without a fight…")

Terubisu growled as the chain slid out of his grasp, the boy crashing back-first to the ground with the necklace clenched in his hand. "Stubborn little bastard…" Pulling out another kunai, he crouched in front of the twitching body. "Then let me remove that necklace, and take your fingers off in one blow."

Kin's eyes started to slowly close… ("I've failed…I never stood a chance…")

"So that was your father's huh?" Terubisu lifted up the blade of the kunai and pressed it against one of Kin's fingers. "That's a shame, that you couldn't protect it then. It speaks of just how powerful your father actually was."

It burned to hear this…but Kin felt too much pain. He just wanted to sink away from it all. And so he began to slide into oblivion.

Terubisu ran his kunai over Kin's fingers lightly, dripping blood down into the boy's palm. "And now I have a line to follow. I don't want to risk…" He was cut off as an explosion of red fire shot from Kin's palms and hit him in the chest, sending him rolling back and batting at his burning clothing. "What in the hell?"

Kin's eyes slowly opened…and he sat up. ("I'm alive…") As his vision came back into focus, he looked over to see that thief about ten feet from him, smoke coming off of his clothing. "What…happened?"

"That necklace…" Terubisu couldn't believe it…for some reason the relic he had stolen had awoken for that damned kid. Luckily the energy released had been nothing more than a defensive burst in response to the blood touching it, but that alone had hurt. ("And it might have caught the attention of those damned ninjas who were chasing me…") "Hey kid…I'll give you one chance. If you return the necklace to me then I'll let you live."

Kin wasn't listening…he was too busy staring at what he was holding. "What is this thing? This isn't my father's necklace…" Even as he spoke the pain from the shurikens and from the kunai were diminishing. Numbly, he reached up and slid the blade out of his throat, the wound instantly closing. ("How am I doing this?")

("The necklace is healing him too…damn it…I have to risk it retaliating, because if I don't kill him now who knows what will happen next.") Terubisu leapt to his feet, his hands flying in a storm of motions. "Kemuri Shuriken no Jitsu!" As he finished the hand motions, a small flow of Chakra ran through his hands. "Take this!" Grabbing something from out of his side-pack, he slammed it into the ground and a cloud of smoke filled the section of park they were in.

Kin snapped his head around in confusion. ("A smoke bomb? Why?") Hopping to his feet, he placed the necklace around his neck and drew another kunai. ("I can't run…he still has father's necklace…") A whistling noise pierced the air near him and he ducked, feeling something shoot past his head. ("He's throwing shurikens at me in these conditions? He must be crazy…there's no way he can see me.") Pain shot up his arm as something stabbed right into his right arm, sending blood spraying from the new wound. ("But…I didn't hear it…") Grabbing at the wound, he felt no weapon. ("Where'd the shuriken go?")

"I've figured out your location, boy. Soon enough you'll be dead, so I suggest you give me the necklace right now," Terubisu's voice echoed amongst the smoke cloud, and another silent shuriken stabbed right into Kin's right kneecap.

Gasping in pain, Kin reached down to remove the weapon and found nothing there. The wound was real, but the shuriken had disappeared. ("There has to be some kind of trick to this! Where do these shurikens go when he uses them?") Drawing another kunai, his mind ran through a couple of possibilities, but neither of them seemed plausible. ("It must be a…of course! That's why he used the smoke bomb…he must use his chakra to create shurikens out of the smoke…but how do I fight against something like that? They're silent killers…") Gritting his teeth, he stumbled as he felt numerous sharp pains in his chest. ("I feel like I'm dying…")

"This is over, kid." Terubisu stood right outside of the smoke cloud, weaving the smoke into another handful of shurikens that he threw into it. "You can't hope to last through another volley, can you?"

Kin growled in anger and dropped to his stomach. ("I need to figure out a way to stop this guy's attacks! I have to…")

To be continued…