Chapter 4: Secrets Revealed! The Tora Family Bloodline Limit!

Tsue didn't give Sasuke a chance to move as he rushes in with his huge bo for the finishing blow. Suddenly, a blur of blue and green dashes before the young genin and stops in front of the boy to reveal Kakashi. The strong jounin holds out his hand to block the attack and stop Tsue right in his tracks.

"Nande?" exclaims the big guy.

"Why don't you pick on someone your own size?" retorts Kakashi. "Oh right. There aren't any people your size."

With a ferocious growl, Tsue pulls back his bo and swings it around to hit the jounin. Kakashi ducks effortlessly, grabs both Sasuke and Senko, and sprints out of harm's way.

"You're not getting away that easily," snarls a man with lengthy long cerulean hair, who attacks Kakashi with a three-bladed claw he wore on his left arm.

Kakashi manages to dodge the blades, but not without losing a handful of hair.

This guy's fast, he thought as he jumps away.

Kakashi sets Sasuke and Senko near Sakura and Naruto.

"I don't know what's going on," began the silver-haired jounin. "But don't let any of those men get Senko. No matter what."

"Hai," replied his three subordinates.

"Tsk, so troublesome," sighed the young member of the enemy's group. "Why do you all protect someone you don't even know?"

"What is it that you want with this girl?" demanded Kakashi.

"That's just between me and her," answered the young man. He looks over at Senko. "Isn't that right, imoutosan?"

He called her 'little sister,' thought Sasuke. That means…

"So," began Kakashi. "You must be Kagerou."

"Oho?" exclaims Kagerou. "Has my imoutosan been talking about me? That's not a nice thing to do, talking behind my back."

The young man focuses his attention on Senko.

"You have something I want," he says to her.

"You're not getting it," growls Senko.

"Why must you always do things the hard way, imoutosan?" sighed Kagerou, brushing some hair from his face. "Hasami."

"Yes sir," replied the man with the three-blades on his hand.

"Take care of these weaklings," orders Kagerou, motioning to Kakashi and the genins. "And Kobushi?"

"Hai," responded a man with spiked brown hair and a much more muscular body structure.

"Bring me my sister," commanded Kagerou with a smirk.

Senko, Kakashi, and the three genins prepare themselves for a battle they might not win. As the two strangers advance towards them, a big puff of smoke suddenly billows in front of them. When the smoke cleared, a red frog with armor stood between the strangers and the Konoha ninjas. Perched on top of the frog was a white-haired man in his fifties.

"Ahh, behold the greatest man of all who possesses the ability to seduce women at will!" declares the middle-aged man. "It is I! The great frog tamer and one of the Legendary Sannins, Jiraiya!"

"Perfect; more weaklings," groans Kagerou. "This is getting too much."

"Shall I take care of him, Kagerou-sama?" inquires the fifth man with dark blue hair that ran down the length of his back.

"No, that won't be necessary, Gensou," assures Kagerou. "Let us retreat for now. There'll be other opportunities later."

"Understood," responded Gensou disappointedly.

With that said, all five of the intruders disappear in a blur of colors, leaving Senko and the four Konoha ninjas perplexed at their sudden exit. Confused, Jiraiya turns to Kakashi for answers.

"What was that all about?" he asks the jounin.

He looks over to the unknown girl they were protecting and sees something very familiar on her forehead.

That symbol on her forehead protector, thought Jiraiya. I've seen it somewhere before.

"Hmm, so you're a surviving inhabitant of Kouengakure," he says out loud.

Senko turns to the white-haired man and looks at him in amazement.

"Hmm," exclaims Jiraiya. "I thought so. That reaction of yours confirms it."

The foreign kunoichi turns her eyes to the ground and remains silent.

"You don't have anything to fear," assures Jiraiya. "I know the story of your village. Since you don't have a permanent home, you're welcome to stay and live in Konoha."

"Live in Konoha?" repeated Senko.

She lifts her head to look at the Legendary Sannin.

"We'll provide a place for you to stay and everything," adds Jiraiya.

"You're all very kind," said Senko. "I thank you for helping me, but I don't want to trouble any of you."

"It's no trouble at all," assures Kakashi. "We're more than happy to add another ninja to our Konoha village family."

Tears began welling up in Senko's eyes. She has been on her own and alone for so long, she had forgotten what it was like to be part of a family. She clenches her fists tightly, trying to hold back the tears.

"Arigatou," she thanks them sincerely. "Domo-arigatou everyone."

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That night, Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto, and Kakashi all gather around Senko near a campfire.

"I'm thinking there is more to you than we realized," noted Kakashi, recalling the events of earlier in the day. "Would you mind telling us more about that incident that happened today?"

Senko sat in silence as the jounin and genins before her look on for an answer.

"In my noble family, the strongest shinobis are empowered with the Chakra of tora no youkais (tiger demon spirits)," began Senko. "Only the worthiest of the Tora family are chosen to be sealed with a tora no youkai at birth. This began when a strong ancestor of mine hundreds of years ago fought courageously in a battle and protected the life of a demonic tiger in the process. In return, the tiger blesses my ancestor with the power of its spirit and since then, the spirits of tiger demons voluntarily seal themselves only in ninjas of my family bloodline."

She stops to look up at the night sky.

"Usually the males of my family are chosen to be containers for the powerful tora no youkais, with the occasional kunoichi such as myself," she continues. "My brother, Kagerou, resents the family bloodline because I was chosen and he was not. Somehow along the way, he had managed to seal an evil tora no youkai within himself and used that power to destroy my family and Kouengakure. Luckily, my sensei used the Shiki Fujin (Corpse Demon Seal Exhaustion) on him, extracting the evil tora no youkai out of my brother and sacrificing his own life in the process."

Senko looks at her Konoha ninja friends.

"And now Kagerou is after me for the tora no youkai inside me," she concludes. "But that won't be easy since the Chakra of my tora no youkai and my Chakra have almost completely merged into one. If Kagerou is to succeed in extracting it, I will surely die in the process."

"That's not going to happen!" declares Naruto firmly. "We'll do whatever we can to prevent that. That Kagerou won't be able to lay a finger on you with us around."

"That's right," agrees Sakura. "You're our friend now Senko. We won't let anything bad happen to you.

Sasuke nods in agreement as well as Kakashi.

"Domo-aritgatou," thanks Senko with a smile.

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A/N: All Naruto techniques referenced from Wikipedia search for Naruto jutsu.