Chapter 4
Outsider

The wolf bounded through the vacant village streets in a glimpse of white.

Shadows crept and crawled from their cover. The hidden shinobi that were hot on her trail kept tailing her, their path towards her dancing in the shadows. When the white beast reached the empty and quiet plaza, it was surrounded, its claws scratching against the sand ridden ground. Trapped with no route for escape. Firming its stance into the sandy earth below, the creature's muscles tensed. Backed into a corner, the wolf barred its fangs, snarling in aggression with its back and tail reared defensively.

Revealing themselves from the darkened shadows, the figures pursuing her stepped forward out from the shadows of the surrounding buildings that coated them in the brutal dark. Four eerily masked ninja stood before her with no weapons drawn, all of them clad in Suna flak jackets and mysterious expressions hidden by carved porcelain. The animalistic shapes of their shrouds unnerved her, the fur on her back frayed and arched upon meeting their unwelcome glances. Only their dark eyes were visible in the moonlight as well as the hilts of their sheathed katanas.

"That's as far as you go, wolf." One of them spoke. "We don't want to fight, we can assure you."

Analyzing their stance, the wolf barred its muzzle. Although their words were calm, she sensed their chakra as untrusting. While they stared her down, all she could see through her beastly purple eyes were the masks that appeared before her. Owl, cat, lizard, and fox. The one with the vulpine mask appeared shorter than the others, their young frame dwarfed by the adults beside them. The vulpine carving of their mask unnerved her the most, laughing at her in the dark. Their eyes were boring into her as if in apparent disgust. A sharp growl escaped her jaws, her muscles tensing as she rubbed against the stone behind her.

"Growling at us isn't going to do you any good. We already told you - we don't want to fight. Unless," The fox grasped the hilt of his katana at his back. "You'd rather die in a pool of your own blood –,"

"Tojiru!" The leader snapped, his owl mask whipping towards him. "Enough! Our commands are to intervene, not kill. Sheath your blade at once!"

"Fine," Tojiru sighed, the blade sliding back into its place. "It's been so long since we last had a good hunt... I'm disappointed."

The condescending tone of the vulpine shinobi made her want to snap her jaws at him. But after looking at the glances from the others, she realized they had no weapons drawn and no hand-signs woven. They were right. Surrendering herself, the wolf gave a snarled wince as its form suddenly changed. Slowly, the creature transformed back into the girl, all signs of wolfishness receding under the moonlight as Nomasaki sat crouched on the ground before them. Her eyes frightened by their strength, she narrowed her glance towards them.

"Don't let them know you're afraid," she remembered Hanone's words, "Your enemies will use fear against you."

"Who are you?" She brought herself to ask. "What do you want from me?"

"We are shinobi of the Sunagakure Tracking Unit," The owl-faced leader stepped forward. "We work amongst the shadows to keep the peace, and hunt down those who threaten the existence of our village. We are the hunters, the pursuers, and the trackers that protect Suna from disorder."

Tracker-nin, she thought.

Having heard the stories of Kirigakure to the far east, she understood what these men were. Hunters. Tracker-nin differed from ANBU, she remembered. The tracker-nin were bounty-hunters who sought down the missing-nin of their village through careful tracking and quick capture - or if called for, stealthy assassination. They were experts in the art of espionage and elimination in the same respect as the ANBU, but what set them apart was their allegiance. Unlike the ANBU, the tracker-nin did not answer to their Kage - they answered to their Commander above all else.

Whoever their commander is - they want me dead, Nomasaki soon realized.

Her heart skipped a beat as she breathed in the chakra around her, their silent stares from their hidden expressions striking her with fear. She was afraid, she realized. Afraid. Clutching her hands against her chest, she calmed her shaking while forcing herself to look towards the owl mask directly into their darkened eyes. She had to swallow her fear, she had to. A wolf does not fear, she reminded herself, A wolf devours fear. But she was but a girl of thirteen, trembling and frozen as the clothes at her back scraped against the stone fountain behind her. Just like the armored men who arrived in her homeland days before, the shinobi before her exerted the same daunting presence in their still stances.

"Is that it, then?" She shook, accepting her fate. "Are you here to kill me?"

"You may be an outsider, but the Suna Council finds you to be potentially useful."

"Useful?" She questioned, as she could feel nervousness well up inside of her. "What do you mean? Why should I even trust you?" Stepping closer towards her, the leader of the pursuit team passed her a thin scroll. Hesitantly, she reached out and took it from his gloved hands. Reading its secretive contents in the night, she saw the words etched clearly before her. Shocked, her hands trembled as her widened eyes began to glisten with hidden tears of relief. "I'm... being given permission to... –?"

"...Become a shinobi of Sunagakure." He finished, sternly. "You have sensory abilities unlike Suna has ever seen, so you would be a great asset to our forces."

"I... I can really stay here?" She stammered, surprised and confused all at once. "I'm from Yamagakure, the Land of Mountains! Does that... matter?"

"If you can fight alongside us," The owl-faced man spoke, his tone serious. "Then you can live amongst us. Remember… you must earn your share."

Looking up at them wide-eyed, she sat helpless and bewildered by their proposition. She had a chance for survival as a ninja – something she always remained unsure of during her days in the sheltered mountain reaches of Yamagakure. That was why she quit, she remembered. Caring for her dying mother was one thing, but to return to such an environment afterwards was unthinkable. However, she knew deep down that she was not a natural-born fighter. She was soft and meek, unlike the stoic and fearless shinobi standing before her who had skill beyond her current grasp.

This was her opportunity to change her fate, her ticket to freedom of a new life.

Becoming a kunoichi was her new freedom.

Forming a single hand-sign, the leader of the tracker-nin team looked down at her – their brown eyes gleaming from the moonlight through their porcelain veil. "Become a kunoichi of Sunagakure, and you can stay here as long as you wish. That is the offer the village presents to you… an outsider."

Suddenly, within a vast cloud of smoke, three of the masked shinobi that surrounded her were gone, disappearing within an instant. Standing alone before her, the vulpine-masked ninja pointed his blade towards her. Chilling her, she met the unwavering contempt of his eyes. They were mocking her. "Become a shinobi... or choose death." He said, calmly as a breeze. "I wonder which one you'll choose?" Forming a hand-sign with his free hand, she could see the grinning of his onyx eyes boring through her fragile glance. "Until next time, wolf."

As he vanished from her sights, she felt a wave of relief surge through her. Not a single trace of his chakra remained. Breathing easy, she thought of his words. Shinobi or death. Which would she choose? She did not exactly have a choice, and she knew it. She was backed into a corner just as she was earlier, her moral compass spinning rapidly as it tried to find its place in the world. But what world would that be? She had no home, no family, no village, no clan.

She was alone.

Glancing down at the scroll held open in her hand, the calligraphy of the words 'shinobi' struck her. As brief as the pardon was, she was unsure of their intentions. Her chills easing, she contemplated to herself. Should she take up their offer of freedom – or was the path of the ninja too vicious for her to adapt?

Remembering her past life in the mountains, she suddenly was reminded of her promise to herself. I will become a shinobi - like my father. Wherever he was, whether alive or dead, she wondered if he thought about her and her late mother, if he ever missed them. If he would ever find them. But if she became a shinobi, she could be the one to find him. And I will be strong, she told herself.

She knew deep down that she no longer had a choice...

"An outsider –?! What on earth – why are you here –?"

"I'm... –,"

Nomasaki looked up to the baffled instructor with a nervous glint to her eyes. She could feel them staring into her, examining each fiber of her anxiety, seeing her hands twitch at her sides and grasp the scroll tighter. They were frozen on her strange eyes, the instructor's glance widened towards hers of ominous lilac. It was an older woman of near retirement age, her chestnut hair greying as it swirled into her bun. The woman was clothed in a loose-fitting garb and a dark poncho on her shoulders, her eyes pale and blue and glaring at the strange girl before her in the empty training fields. Nomasaki could feel the contempt in her glance, reminding her of the fox-faced ninja from the night before.

"I'm here to... take the graduation exam." She answered, stepping forward. "I want to... become a kunoichi of Suna."

"A foreigner becoming one of our shinobi?" The woman scoffed. "Why would one of your kind come all this way to –?"

Catching her attention, the purple-eyed girl held out the scroll. Hesitantly, the woman looked at the scroll, then the girl, and then the scroll again. Taking it from her nervous grasp, the woman read its contents carefully. Narrowing her eyes upon its words, Nomasaki folded her hands over her stomach as the nerves built up inside her. She heard the woman sigh the words silently to herself as she read them, making sure that the scroll was authentic and truthful.

"I see, so it's Kenzō-sama's doing," The woman said, closing the scroll. "It seems you caught the attention of our council, outsider. You're a lucky one. Most of the foreigners who travel to these lands without the proper etiquette are not treated nearly as kind."

Staying silent, Nomasaki averted her eyes nervously. The words made her uneasy. The desert was an unforgiving place as it was, with its sandstorms, sweltering heat, and scant amount of water - but to hear that the people were just the same unnerved her. It reminded her of that man who called her 'outsider'. The way the woman said the word had the same tinge of hatred and annoyance, she knew that much.

"It appears we have no choice... Here, girl – follow me. The examination halls are this way. There, you will be tested to see if you are indeed worthy of becoming a shinobi of our ranks."

As the woman started for the towering building beyond the sandstone fields, Nomasaki followed quietly behind. Stepping into its shadow, she looked up at the intimidating structure as it loomed over them. Sunagakure Ninja Academy, it read. Inside, she could sense the chakra of many shinobi young and old. Soon, she could become one of them. In Yamagakure, the exam was a survival test. Primed since they were children, the students of Yama were told of their mountain terrain, the numerous herbs and plants, and how to make a fire. She knew all there was to survival – Hanone saw to it that she did. But in Suna, there was no snow, no mountains, and no need to set a fire.

She was walking in blind.

There was no telling what the desert lands had in store for her as she entered the exam hall. Voices and mutters of surprise soon filled the air silently as they entered, unwillingly catching every eye in the room. Keeping to herself, she held her head down as the instructor led her to her assigned seat towards the middle of the room. As she eased into her desk, she felt the stares on her from the students around her. All of them stunned by the appearance of an outsider.

"An... outsider...?"

"Her eyes are so weird..."

"I wonder what country she's from... the Land of Rivers...?"

"Why would she come here...?"

She wanted an answer to that herself. All she remembered was sensing a large body of chakra, pulling her towards it as she trekked the desert aimlessly in her desperate bid for survival. That was what she told the Suna shinobi who questioned her, she remembered. Ignoring the whispers amongst her, she wrote her exam silently after the head instructor gave the signal to begin. Much to her relief, it was just a written test. Although she left in the midst of her studies, Hanone had trained her well. She knew the basics, the fundamentals, and the mechanics of survival – all she had to do was apply what she remembered. Baffling the instructors who lined the rows of desks, they did not anticipate the arrival of a rag-clad foreigner from a distant land.

Before long, she was ushered to a room after passing in her papers to fulfill the final testing requirements. As calm as she could make herself be, she performed the Clone Jutsu, Substitution Jutsu, and Transformation Jutsu seamlessly. The latter was the more stressful - her wolfish blood near causing her to become a wolf by accident. Luckily, she fought the urge and simply transformed into one of the exam proctors - who was startled, but impressed all the same. Breathing easy, she walked out of the exam room with her certification that claimed her as a genin.

Within a few short hours of taking her seat in the stunned classroom of onlookers, she was the first outsider in years to graduate from the ninja academy. Although a feat in itself, it came with some suspicious glares from the elder higher-ups of the village – who were especially displeased with the foreigner becoming a Suna shinobi.

A genin.

The next day would come the team assembling...

Standing in the training field that sweltering morning, Nomasaki stood amongst her graduating class timidly.

As she watched her comrades be called to their jonin instructors, the herd was thinning at an alarming rate. One by one, the head instructor called out the names from a clipboard, riffling through the pages as the names were checked off in succession. The heat of the village was still getting to her, her bones aching from the blinding sun and the melting feeling returning. Surprising her, it was becoming more bearable. Swapping out her ragged kimono, she clothed herself in a long-sleeved white tunic and tight black shorts with bandages wrapped around her legs – her shuriken holster placed on her right thigh and thin-armored plating on her wrists and shins. On her forehead was her newly acquired Suna headband, its emblem gleaming in the sunlight as she stood.

"Nomasaki."

The sound of her name made her head perk up. But no clan name was spoken.

"...to Team Hashira."

Stepping out of the rows of genin, she felt all their eyes upon her as she made her way towards her assigned instructor. Standing calmly with two other genin, he turned to greet her. Taking her by surprise, he was a young man no older than his twenties with a glance that was friendly yet stern all at once. As she came to a pause, the conversing genin turned to her. A boy and a girl, both of them her age.

"I take it you're the outsider everyone is up-in-arms about," Hashira started. "No need to worry yourself. You're amongst your team, now."

"I'm Shinto," The black-haired boy grinned. "Nice to meet you!"

Relieved, she gave a timid nod as she found herself smiling back. "Your name is Nomasaki, right?" The girl approached, her face kind and welcoming. As Nomasaki looked to her, she noticed her short brown hair and dark eyes instantly. "I'm Meiyumi, I'm training to be a medical-nin."

"You didn't ask that old bat to be your mentor, did you?" Shinto smirked, putting his hands in his pockets. "Chiyo-sama doesn't take students, I'm told."

"She doesn't," Meiyumi grinned back. "But I can already mold chakra into healing-form so I think I have a decent shot of convincing her!"

"Who's Chiyo-sama?" Nomasaki asked, entering the conversation timidly.

Meiyumi looked to her with a friendly smile. "She's the greatest medic-nin in the village! She's also a legendary puppeteer."

Nomasaki knew next to nothing about either, but she wanted to be included so she gave a shy smile and nodded. Before she could convince herself to say anything more, she saw Shinto step closer. "I'm a genjutsu user and I can use earth-release." He added. "What can you do? You have a Kekkei Genkai, right?"

She nodded, but she did not let the shock get to her. The genin of her class all gossiped about her since the exam day, so she had to accept that rumours travel fast. They know of my clan already. "Yeah. I can also use wind-release. I can't use genjutsu, but my taijutsu is good... I think."

"Now then," Hashira started, crossing his arms over his chest as his voice alerted them. "Since we're now officially a team, I'll introduce myself. I'm Hashira and I'll be your sensei from here on out. I may be young, but I do have experience. I fought in the Third Shinobi War alongside the Forth and I was enlisted in the ANBU for a while. My areas of expertise are wind-release and sealing jutsu, also known as fuinjutsu." He friendly expression grew slightly stern. "As a team, we have our first exercise tomorrow at dawn. Meet me here in the training grounds, and we can get started. I advise you all get a good night's rest and eat lightly – the task might prove difficult."

Striking the three genin, they all felt as if the winds were taken from their bodies. They were now shinobi - and being a shinobi meant to endure. No longer sheltered by the walls of the academy, each of them was being thrown to the wolves. In the teachings of Suna, shinobi were expected to be duty-driven, hardy, and resilient. The brute strength and ferocity of Suna shinobi was known throughout the lands, with recent voices echoing with the failed sack of Konoha. The only village whose reputation was more fearful was Kirigakure to the far east of the continent amongst the silver waters – known by many in passing as the 'Village of the Bloody Mist'. And both villages were known to host unfathomable jinchuriki.

Sensing his heavy chakra approach, Nomasaki turned behind to see the brooding-eyed Gaara appear with his siblings before the head instructors as the field grew restless with the banter of the new teams. Far from where she stood, it felt as if he were standing beside her. His chakra entangled with the essence of Shukaku was much too strong to separate in her mind. The whispers around her spoke of him and his older siblings acting as instructors, the name of Konoha was whispered as well. One voice mentioned Shukaku - while another questioned why he was there in the first place.

"It seems the Kazekage's children are here," Hashira pointed out. "They were recently part of a new training program as part of reparations between us and Konoha."

"Hashira,"

Meeting his stern glance, Nomasaki remembered the man. Baki was his name, she remembered. He was the man who questioned her what seemed to be weeks ago, but his permanent scowl was still etched inside her memory. The coldness of that room filled her thoughts, as did the stiffness of the metal chair and the questions of why she dared step foot into their unsettled lands. The red tattoo on his cheek struck her with fear as did his scowl which was partially covered by his turban. He was a calm but fearful man.

"Baki-sama," Hashira greeted with a subtle bob of his head. "You appear well. I take it your new place on the council is treating you well?"

"For now at least," Baki answered, his expression unchanging. "With our Kazekage gone, the elders have been constantly summoning me for assistance. Times are harder than we could have imagined, but we must persevere as a village."

Those words struck her curiosity greatly. Turning towards Shinto, she leaned in timidly. "The Kazekage...?"

"Yeah," Shinto nodded, whispering back. "He was killed by that snake guy, the Sannin Orochimaru... We've been without a real leader for months..."

"What...?" She was surprised, unfamiliar of the name. "You mean... –?"

"Suna is in a sticky situation... To avoid war, we're letting on that the Fourth is still alive..."

Shinto's whispered explanation was nothing less than alarming. It appeared she arrived in Sunagakure at its worst possible time. No wonder she got so many strange and unwelcome glances, she thought – the entire village was paranoid of invaders. To make matters worse, she was from a different land and most were already aware. A land with no allegiances, no allies, and no loyalty to another. From the very start, she was marked as suspicious by the village's eyes and ears.

"I see you're now with a team of your own," Baki said. As he examined the faces of the genin before him, he paused his eyes upon the foreigner. Frozen in her stance, Nomasaki stood silent with her violet eyes nervous. Keeping calm was proving difficult as the more she met his glance, the more she felt the familiar fear swell back into her throat. Thankfully, he directed his attention back to her instructor. "I noticed that the outsider is on your team. It'd be in your best interest to not flaunt that fact to the councillors."

"I'm aware," Hashira nodded. "One of the elders suggested we take her under our wing. Kenzō-sama, sir. Do you know him?"

It was that name again, she thought to herself – Kenzō.

Baki pondered to himself, a sigh escaping his stiff lips. "He's a strange one, Kenzō is... He was on the advisory committee since our Third Kazekage disappeared and has offered counsel to the Fourth. But he is a trustworthy one, he stays true to his word."

"Baki-sensei,"

Startling her, Nomasaki felt the tailed-beast's chakra rear its head towards her again. Behind the stern-faced jonin, the Kazekage's children soon approached. She heard their names and reputations spoken on the air in the field that day. The eldest was the girl, Temari – a smug-faced kunoichi of fifteen, wielding a war-fan with ferocious wind-release at her disposal. She was the strongest genin-level kunoichi in the village, she was told. Beside her stood Kankuro, the middle child. He was the youngest member of the Sunagakure Puppet Corps, clothed in the black of kabuki performers and his face painted with purple markings.

And then there was him.

Gaara.

Standing silently with his expression blank, the young jinchuriki waited patiently for his sensei to answer to his sister's call. They were standing only a few feet apart from another when she saw him. Her body jolting from the feel of Shukaku so close, she averted her glance shyly. She met him only nights before, but she thought it was too soon for a second encounter. It was unexpected to see him there on that day, and she was not prepared.

"We're ready for our next mission," Temari reminded their instructor. "Should we start for the gates?"

"Yes," Baki nodded, turning towards them. "We'll embark shortly."

Beside her, Nomasaki saw Shinto gnash his teeth and glare towards the silent tanuki-eyed boy across from them. His bandage-wrapped fists were clenched at his sides, shaking lightly. It was not fear in Shinto's eyes, she noticed – it was hatred. Remembering the words Gaara spoke to her when they met, she understood why. Being a jinchuriki surely was a curse, she thought.

She felt a glance upon her.

Looking forward, she noticed Gaara's eyes were gazing towards her, locked on hers in a way that was neither invading nor mired in contempt. His eyes were just as mysterious and unnerving as when she first saw them in her hazy memories of the desert, the blackened rings around them evoking a slight chill to her spine. But his glance was calm - human. Shukaku's presence was overwhelming her senses as it did earlier, its dark chakra dancing on the air around her as she stood. He was not a very emotive person, she recalled – and it appeared he was not one with words either. Her timid-nature enveloping her, she could not bring herself to say hello - or anything to him for that matter. She wanted to say something to him, to break the silent tension that stood between them like a barrier. She was frozen between an angry Shinto and a cautious Meiyumi, her violet eyes easing to a calm as she tried to forget that Shukaku was lingering on the winds.

"Good day to you, Hashira." Baki nodded, briefly. "I'll be seeing you at the next jonin meeting."

As Gaara and his siblings started for the village streets with their sensei, Temari and Kankuro began bantering to each other as they crossed through the sand-ridden training field. Their voices were hushed, curious, and ponderous. Lacking the knowledge of social cues, he decided to embark into uncharted territory. "What are you talking about?" He asked, calmly.

"Oh," Kankuro remembered, pondering to himself. "We're trying to think of where that new genin came from."

"New genin?"

Temari nodded, perplexed by her thoughts. "Yeah," She said. "That girl with the purple eyes. We're trying to figure out where she came from, since she's the outsider. Never in my lifetime did I think I would see a foreigner willingly come here."

"Suna hasn't had an outsider graduate the academy in years!" Kankuro nodded. "Not even the elders know which village she's from."

Temari scoffed to herself. "Oh, they know." She replied. "They just won't tell. Only the council knows, most likely."

"Hmmm…" Kankuro pondered, scratching his head. "Weird. She's just a foreigner, so I don't understand the 'hush hush' about it… it's not like she's from Konoha or something."

Listening carefully to their words in efforts to provide a social answer, Gaara knew exactly who they were talking about – it was the girl he met only nights ago, the girl who transformed into a wolf before his very eyes. Nomasaki. Having only seen her moments ago with the other genin, he has not spoken to her since the night they met. Intrigued by their unexpected encounter, there was something about her that made him want to speak with her again – as a friend sharing a similar path carved by loneliness.

"Yamagakure," He said, entering the conversation – his tone and expression stoic as he looked up at them. "From the Land of Mountains."

"Huh?" Kankuro gasped, surprised. "R-Really? You don't say."

As the stern-faced jonin and his team walked off into the training grounds, Shinto muttered curses under his breath while Meiyumi reminded him to calm himself. Standing against the desert winds, Nomasaki watched the glimpse of bright red hair disappear against the sands with his siblings. With it – Shukaku followed.

And her first day as a shinobi had come to pass...

Notes: The members of Team Hashira carry some meaning.

Shinto's name (Shinto, 神道) can be translated into "the way of the gods" from the Japanese religion Shinto or Shintoism. The Shinto faith is considered the indigenous religion of Japan, which involves the worship of gods known as "kami" and nature.

Team Hashira's medic-in in-training, Meiyumi (芽依弓), can be translated to "sprout" (芽衣) and "archery bow" (弓).

And finally, Hashira's name (Hashira, 柱) can literally be translated into "pillar", which represents his status as leader of his genin team.