Origins II

Thirteen Years Later

"Tāra! It's time for you to go!" Hinata yelled.

"Alright Mom!" Tāra yelled back. She opened her bedstand's drawer and pulled out the ribbon Sakura had given to her. That Sakura is so nice! She thought, She gave me this ribbon to tie back my hair! She tied her long hair into a pony tail with the dark blue ribbon. She ran down the stairs and ran out the door. "Bye Mom!" Tāra yelled as she ran out the door.

She seems so peaceful, so innocent. Hinata thought, If only she knew the truth…

Tāra ran down the road as fast as she could. The academy was just down the road, and she wanted to be the first one there. But someone was watching her.

The eyes that looked out of a nearby bush had been watching her for years.

Tāra walked into the academy. She glanced at the clock. 1:00? She stared at her watch. 7:53. There's only one explanation. She thought, Genjutsu. "Alright, Kiko! You can come out! Show's over." Tāra said.

Over on the left wall, the girl lowered her screen. "So. I still can't fool you!" Kiko said, walking over to Tāra.

"You should know I have a watch!" Tāra said. They both laughed. Kiko stared at the clock. "We'd better get to class right now!" She said. 7:55.

They both ran down the hall. But behind them, they left a man behind a screen. He had been spying on both of them, but his interest was still on the Senkū girl. It always had been. He'd been watching her, silently, for three years, waiting for her full potential to come out.

"Perhaps… If she's not going to show herself, maybe I should help her. Yeah… A little encouragement would help." The man said. He lowered his screen and disappeared into the shadows.

"Alright class. Tomorrow, You'll be tested in all three jutsus you've learned this year. We won't have enough time to complete the entire test tomorrow, so we'll do the first two parts today." Explained Iruka. "Then You'll do the other two tomorrow."

"Iruka-sensei! You said there were three parts! How can there be four parts if there are three jutsus?" Kiko asked.

"If you want to boost your grade, you can show off any jutsus you know that you know that weren't taught here." Iruka explained.

"Okay!" Iruka said, "First test! You'll all have 30 seconds to undo all these knots. And… begin!"

All the students began to use hand signs. Several jutsus went off simultaneously and most students got themselves undone from the knotted ropes. Some students got themselves even more stuck.

"And… time! Um… everyone seems to have passed except Mizuno and Kūnikō. Next Test!"

A man ran through the woods, atop the branches of the trees. He stopped at the tallest tree. He knew this was the tallest one. He used to live here. I'm glad I left this place. He thought, This place has no value to me anymore. Besides, I can achieve more power soon. His eyes glowed red, with black marks. He climbed to the top of the tree.

Then he began to have a headache. He eyes glowed red, very bright, even more than before. The marks in his eyes began to merge into two pinwheels, one in each eye.

Can it be? The man thought, The Mangekyō Sharingan? But how? I didn't kill Naruto, but, maybe… Orochimaru? Yes, that must be it!

The man grinned. "Maybe I'll be able to surpass my brother after all." He said, "But first, I must fulfill my empty promise. I lied to them all. But now I will pay that Senkū girl a visit first. It's time to awaken her true potential."

And so he ran off into the direction of the academy. He knew she hadn't passed. And so he wanted to follow her home.

Off ran Uchiha Sasuke.