Chapter 5

Three years later Haruko was sitting in the darkness of the Mizukage's office. He sat at his desk, surrounded by Hunter-Nins, "You seem to have gotten yourself up to the A-rank missions, and have not failed one." He said in a dark voice, looking pleased, "So I'm giving you a mission that only you will go on."

Haruko was sitting on a chair, leaning on her bandaged arms. She wore a black t-shirt with a fishnet shirt underneath with sleeves that went past her hands. She wore black pants with fish netting just above the knees. The bangs of her dark blue hair hung down in front of her face covering her eye completely on the left side, the rest pulled back into a spiky pony tail with 2 kunai sticking out of it like hair sticks. Her emerald green eyes ripped through the darkness at him, "Well, what is it already?"

"At least you're eager," He cleared his throat, "You're to travel to Konoha, there is a scroll there, full of their village secrets. You're mission is to acquire it and bring it back here to me. Our spies tell me that it's under heavy guard in the tallest building in the village."

"Right," She stood up, "I'll be off then."

"Just remember, Haruko, what will happen to you if you fail me."

She turned away from him and stood for a moment, "…right…" She walked out.

That evening she was just outside the Konoha gates. She was sitting in a tall tree surveying the village. She could easily see the Hokage's tower from where she sat, "Well, that'd be the tallest one." She stood up, but before she could go anywhere she heard loud voices below her. She looked down to see three kids about her age. A blonde boy with an orange jacket, a girl with short pink hair, and a boy with black hair wearing a blue shirt with a fan on the back. The black haired boy stopped for a moment and looked up in her direction, "Hmmm…"

"Sasuke-Kun!" The girl shouted to him. He looked away and walked after the others.

"Shit…that was close…" She hopped over the village wall and onto a roof on the other side. She jumped from roof to roof until she got to the tower, where she found a small trap door at her feet, "Lucky."

She lifted it off and dropped down into a dark windowless room. There was another trap door in this one, but it was hard to see in the darkness. She quietly pulled it open to reveal a short staircase below. She moved silently down and came to a doorway that lead into a brightly lit hall. She jumped up onto the ceiling and clung there, then slowly made her way down the hall looking at all the signs above the doors.

Finally she came to one labeled "Scroll Room". She dropped to the floor and pushed the door open. The room was huge. It had a wooden floor in the center that was surrounded on all sides by water. There were shelves with hundreds upon hundreds of scrolls on them. As she walked in she noticed a huge glass case with a gigantic scroll inside, "That must be the one…" It was almost as if she was drawn to it. She touched the case; the glass was incredibly cold for being in the heat of the room. Her fingers made the glass steam up. The case was sealed tightly on all sides; she looked around it but could see no weaknesses.

She took one of the long thin kunai out of her hair and jammed it into the seam between the top and side panel and pried them apart. She peeled off the side panel and set it gently on the floor, careful not to make a sound. She carefully pulled out the scroll. It was incredibly heavy; she was barely able to swing it up over her shoulder.

Just then she heard voices outside the door. Her eyes widened, "Shit." She looked around and dashed behind a nearby shelf. Two shinobi came inside. They walked for a few steps then stopped. There was no sound for a moment, and then the door slammed shut.

She peeked around the shelf once to see that she was once again alone in the room. She took a quick look around and noticed yet another trap door above a nearby shelf. She climbed up onto the shelf and pushed it open. As she pulled herself up the shelf tipped over, spilling scrolls all over the floor and into the water below. She crawled back into the dark room and could see the outside light from the roof trap door.

- - - -

Tsunade had gathered all of the Anbu and Jounin in the village, "Someone has stolen our forbidden scroll, our village secrets are in danger! Go get it back, no matter what the cost! Go!" She dismissed them and they dispersed.

- - - -

Haruko sat on the roof of the tower looking through the scroll. She was so fascinated by it that she couldn't resist, "Wow, look at all these techniques the village has banned." A shout from below her snapped her out of her scroll reading trance. She looked down to see a group of Jounin standing there. A bit of panic struck her, she should've been out of there by now. She quickly rolled up the scroll and took off.

The darkness of the village seemed to be enough to cover her at least long enough to get out of the village. She stopped on the wall to see someone standing there. A tall Jounin with silver hair stood there, he held a book in one hand. He glanced up at her and just stood there for a moment, seemingly shocked, "You're just a kid…"

"Just a kid!" She took something out of her pocket, "Just for that you don't even get to try." She slammed what she had into the ground and it exploded in to swirling purple smoke.

"Just a smoke bomb." He said as he ran into the woods after her.

Haruko sped off toward the village border, "Hey! Stop!" A voice yelled from behind her. She looked over her shoulder to see the Jounin right on her heels. She sped up a bit more.

The Jounin stopped, "I guess I have no choice, sorry kid." He pulled four kunai gently out of his pocket, carefully adjusted them in his hand, and tossed them swiftly toward her.

They slammed into her right shoulder, "Huh, he actually hit me, oh well." She ran for a bit longer until her legs collapsed beneath her and she fell from the high forest branches. She clawed at the bark of a tree trying to get her chakra to stick, but she ended up slamming into the ground.

She pushed herself up, her right arm was completely numb and the numbness was spreading. The Jounin walked up behind her, "You're a strong one."

"Poison, hm? How clever." She smirked. She stood up and started to pull the kunai out of her shoulder one by one. Her legs were barely able to hold her up,

"So you can still stand."

"Of course I can," She crossed her arms, "You think a little poison could stop me?"

Then he noticed something, "The scroll…Where is it?"

"Scroll? Whatever are you talking about?"

"Don't give me that shit! Where is it!" His temper was beginning to get the best of him. He grabbed his headband and pulled it up, revealing his scarred sharingan eye.

"Sharingan..." Haruko whispered. She started to back away, "Shit…"

"You're a Kage Bushiin!" He growled, "Just a stupid diversion!" He ran up to her and tried to slice her but she dodged out of the way and tripped him instead. He caught himself and grabbed her throat, "Tell me where the scroll is, now!"

"Or what? You'll kill me?" He tightened his grip but it didn't phase her in the least, she just laughed, "By the time you're done with me, that scroll will be looooooooooong gone." He grabbed a kunai and slashed her across the chest. She exploded into thick purple smoke. He quickly put the kunai away and continued in his pursuit.

- - - -

"Looks like he made it through my distraction. Better move along." Haruko said as she started running again. She was nearly to the Konoha border when something hit her from above. She stopped on a rather thin branch and turned around. An Anbu jumped onto the branch in front of her, and one behind. She sat down on her branch, "Now fellas, can't you just let me go? You wouldn't want to hurt an innocent child now would you?" The Anbu didn't speak, but moved very quickly toward her.

She jumped up, dragging a long shiny piece of wire along with her. They landed on her branch and she wrapped the wire tightly around them. Then landed on another branch, "My, Konoha fighters are soft." She said as she continued on her way.

- - - -

A short time later she was just at the border of Konoha. The sky was starting to lighten up, "It's almost dawn, I'd better get over the border before that or I'm screwed." She picked up her speed just slightly.

Suddenly she noticed something, something shiny on one of the branches in front of her. She wasn't sure what it was, but she had an idea. She quickly swung down so she was now running on the underside of the branches.

Just then she felt her foot snag on something. It wrapped around her ankle and pulled her down so she was swinging upside down by one foot. The scroll, still on her back, was now hanging down below her head.

"Yatta! I did it!" a voice yelled. The blonde boy she had seen earlier came out of the brush below her, "I caught her!" He danced around foolishly.

"Lucky you…" Haruko said sarcastically, "Dumb luck captured me…" She scowled at him as the light breeze blew her back and forth. The four kunai were still in her arm, dripping blood onto the ground below her.

The boy climbed the tree to the top of the rope and looked down at her, "So, what's your name?"

"Shouldn't you introduce yourself first?"

"Sure!" He struck a silly pose, "Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage of Konoha!"

Haruko sighed, "Oh please."

"And your name is?"

"Why would I tell you that?"

"But…You said…"

"I said what?"

"Um…Uh…Argh!"

"Awful quick tempered now aren't we?" She said as she started to cut the rope with one of the kunai from her hair.

"Hey! Cut that out!"

"You think I'm just going to stand here and let some amateur shinobi taunt me?" She hacked at the rope some more. It started to split and unwind. Shortly after she had freed her foot and was jumping down.

She landed with a soft thud and stuck her tongue out at Naruto, "You're as foolish as they all say." She adjusted the scroll on her back and prepared to take off when another young shinobi stepped out in front of her.

"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled at him. Obviously jealous that he'd stepped in. Sasuke glanced up at Naruto, then back at Haruko, his black eyes full of anger, "Your journey stops here."

"I think not." She took a step toward him, then stopped. She couldn't move, "What the hell!" Sasuke took the opportunity to rush toward her, pushing a kunai into the side of her neck. She fell over backward, pulling him down along with her. He landed sitting over her holding onto the kunai.

Blood began to trickle out of her mouth, "My…You seem to be pretty good…" She put her hand over his, he tensed up a bit. She squeezed it, "If you want to kill me though…You'll have to do better than that." She forced his hand back, ripping the kunai from her flesh. She rolled over and forced herself to sit up, her hand over the bleeding hole in the side of her neck. Blood stained the collar of her shirt and sleeve. It was streaming down her left arm, staining the bandages there an ugly dull pink.

She struggled to her feet and smirked at him, "What's wrong? Afraid to kill someone are you?" She formed a handful of long sharp ice needles, "Regardless, I'm not." She threw them and they hit his torso in various places, causing him to fall down on one knee. This pain was all too familiar, although this time, it was to kill him.

"But you see," Haruko started, "I like to make my kills slowly." She towered over him. Terror filled his eyes. If he didn't do something quickly, he'd be killed for sure. He quickly opened his sharingan, which caused his cursed seal to open.

A momentary look of shock overtook her face, but it passed quickly, "Good, this'll be interesting." Sasuke stood up and rushed at her. She stepped out of the way. He turned around and grabbed her arm, flipping her over onto her back. He stomped down on her ribs, she could feel them snapping beneath his foot. She grabbed his leg and pulled him down. She jumped back up into the tree, knocking Naruto onto the ground. Sasuke glared up at her and followed.

He had just gotten her backed up against a tree trunk when she grabbed his ankle and tripped him. He lost his balance. As he began to fall she grabbed his throat, pushed him down, and they both slammed into the ground below.

When she looked back at him, his cursed seal was closed and he was out cold. She stood up and loose dirt fell off of her clothes. Naruto ran up to her, "How the hell did you do that?"

"Do what?" She said, brushing some stray hairs out of her face, "I suggest you stay out of my way weakling."

"Weakling!" He rushed toward her, she easily hit him in the back of the neck, knocking him onto his face on the ground, "You're too weak to kill me, don't even try." She turned her back on him for a moment when something hard hit her in the back of the neck. She stood there for a moment, then turned around, the Jounin had returned.

She tilted her head to the side, "Finally found me, hm?"

He glared, "You go no further than this."

"C'mon old man, you can't stop me."

"I bet you can't even move right now."

"Wha…?"

"Those kunai. They were coated in a very potent poison. I'm actually surprised you're still standing."

Her eyes narrowed, "You bastard!" She started to slowly back up. He made a few quick seals with his hands and took out a scroll that he put his blood onto and she was then held fast. She looked around to see she was being held there by several large dogs, their teeth dug into her arms and legs. She struggled to free herself but it was no use. The Jounin put his hand down toward the ground and it started to glow blue with a whistling chakra. Haruko struggled even more,

"You plan to kill me then?"

"No…" He said in his blank bored voice. He lifted his hand and ran toward her. It struck her chest with tremendous force. He quickly backed off and the dogs disappeared as she fell limply to the ground.

He walked over and knelt down next to her, "Poor foolish kid." He grabbed the scroll and picked it up along with her. He took the scroll off of her back and tossed it over his shoulder. Sasuke and Naruto had just begun to get up. He turned to Sasuke, "You alright?"

"Mm…" He nodded.

Naruto noticed Haruko's limp body under his arm, "Kakashi-Sensei! Did you kill her!"

"No, but she will die if we don't get her back to the village."

"But won't they….?"

"I don't know." He tossed the scroll to Naruto and put Haruko over his shoulder.

- - - -

Iruka waited, on Tsunade's orders, at the village gates. He paced back and forth, starting to wonder if the others had been killed or something. Just then Kakashi ran through the gates and stopped next to Iruka. Haruko's hair had fallen over her face and blood oozed from her mouth and landed with a soft 'pat' on the ground, "I'm to take her from here Kakashi."

"Right." He said slipping her off of his shoulder and handing her over to Iruka. He took her and started to walk away, "Be careful of her Iruka." He nodded and walked off.

He looked down at her. The way he was holding her the hair fell out of her face. The sunrise lit up her pale skin. Her long dark eyelashes twitched as her eyes moved beneath them. The bright red blood really stood out against her skin. Her mist headband, worn around her neck, had slid off to the side, and the metal plate was splattered with blood.

Sadness crossed his face, "You…You're her…aren't you?" He sighed as he walked into the hospital. He took her to the front desk where a medical Nin was sitting, "Um…This is the girl that tried to steal the scroll." The medical Nin walked out from behind the desk she was actually very short. She gasped when she saw the bloody child in his arms, "Oh my…" She paused and cleared her throat, "Come this way, we've prepared a room. The Hokage will be taking care of her."

"Well, if anyone can keep a criminal under control, it's her."

They turned into a small room with one small window. The small bed had arm restraints on it, "Go ahead and lay her down Iruka dear." He did so and the medical Nin snapped the arm restraints in place and took out a needle. She stuck the needle into her arm and drew out some blood, then looked up at Iruka, "You can go now, we'll take it from here." He hesitated for a moment, then left the room, shutting the door behind him.