AN: well chapter 6, can't believe that I am still working on this lol. I never managed to write long stories so this is a big achievement for me. I hope that you are enjoying this story so far, I am going to be only going so far in this particular story name I have decided, and then there will be a sequel to it that I will be able to possibly fly through the first few chapters of. I hope that you are all as excited as I am that my groove seems to be back and that I may be able to stockpile chapters to post fairly often. Also a warning this chapter contains a lot of filler compared to actual needed content, I needed to keep the story going but was still unsure of how far I wanted to go for the next chapter.

Curses of My Father

Chapter 6 – Preparations Take Time

Athena and Orochimaru had eventually made it to the Hidden Sound village and they had done so without any further problems or reasons/needs to stall. Orochimaru was thankful that there were some younger ninjas in the village to distract Athena for a while so that he could get to work setting out his plans. It's not so much that she would get in the way but that he didn't want her to know that she was going to be his top pawn in the plans to destroy the Hidden Leaf.

Athena was shy at first but slowly started making friends with the other preteens and teens in the village. They were impressed with her abilities in regards to all ninja arts, something that showed just how hard she had trained so far in her life. Orochimaru was definitely a proud father as he heard some of the older ninja talking about how impressive Athena's skills were.

All of his preparations thus far had been worth it, she was growing up into the perfect weapon he wanted while still being relatable and approachable. It would be a great asset for when he got her to infiltrate into Konoha. Orochimaru smirked to himself as he sat planning things out with a few trusted ninja; all the best preparations took time. Such as the cultivating a young child into a young woman who would be capable of destroying an entire village singlehandedly.

True to his word when her birthday came he taught her another jutsu, this time wanting her to focus on the technique made famous by Kakashi, Chidori. He knew that would put the village into madness because they would assume it was either Kakashi or Sasuke. He showed her how to do it a few times before leaving her alone to practice just outside of the village. She had seemed excited to learn the technique; she said she liked how it sounded like birds chirping.

She trained in the field all day only returning when dark began to fall, she still hadn't been able to complete the technique properly yet but she was determined to master it within a couple of weeks. She set this personal goal for herself because she wanted to impress her father with her abilities, ever the faithful daughter always seeking his approval. That faithfulness was one of her strongest qualities at this age, where most 12 year olds would be starting to break away from their parents she was sticking close to her father and still trying to seek his approval for everything.

Now that they had settled into a village with other ninja-in-training Athena was beginning to take lessons and learn things, though she had been bumped up into advanced classes due to her already extensive knowledge about many jutsu. She spent most days in classes and ran some low level missions which also built up her real world experience as a ninja, making her an even stronger weapon in her father's eyes. She would then spend her evenings and days off working on trying to master Chidori, something that she was starting to make some progress on.

*10 Years Later*

Athena was now 22 and a Jounin in the Hidden Sound Village, she had her own squad and she was running missions that many of the other ninja in the village would be unable to complete. She was a force to be reckoned with and she was like a drill sergeant with her students. During the last couple of years she had been marked with the same curse mark that Orochimaru had placed upon Anko and Sasuke, she had thankfully survived the whole ordeal.

She didn't question her father when he had done so, she simply believed him when he said this was a special type of training that only she was strong enough to handle. She still had complete trust and faith in her father even though she was now old enough to think whatever she wanted of the man. Thanks to that unwavering loyalty Orochimaru had been able to submit her to the hell that was the whole process of the curse mark without her feeling that he had betrayed her.

Orochimaru had called her into his office of sorts on a sunny summer day to tell her that he needed her to slip into the Hidden Leaf village to see what they were planning. He explained that he had heard rumours that they were going to attack their village and he was hoping that she would be able to find out how and when for him. She had readily agreed to do this for him with a promise that she would send as much information as often as she was able to him.

Orochimaru smiled and thanked her for that promise and continued to smile like a proud father until she left, then his smile morphed into an evil satisfied smirk. Things were now progressing exactly as he had hoped they would and in some cases even better than he had planned. Athena truly was a gift in her loyalty and ability as a ninja. She was hopefully just the thing he needed to slip into the village; he had given one of his aides a note for her that would outline who to be careful of once in the village.

Athena read it and then left instructions for her squad and headed off; she planned to implant herself in a weak village near Konoha and when that village was attacked get injured to require the skills of the new Hokage in power, Tsunade. She didn't know much about her except that she was the best healer on the planet and a Sounin like her father. She didn't know about their former friendship or anything like that, she didn't even connect the dots that they would know each other simply that they were both insanely strong in their own way.

Athena changed into a simple kimono and headed off. She wasn't one to waste time when it came to completing missions. It was something that others admired about her, was her determination.

In the 10 years she had been preparing for this task she had taken on a fierce attitude and lost some of her childish ways. It had taken those 10 years to complete all the preparations of her character even in order to get to the point she was now. But for Orochimaru it was well worth the wait, and he couldn't wait to watch Konoha fall.

You know what they say, all good things come to those who wait. Well Orochimaru had waited 10 long years to cultivate his daughter into the perfect tool for his plot against the Hidden Leaf. Now it was only a matter of time before he would get to watch the village fall to pieces and if he was lucky be completely destroyed. And then he would swoop in and watch the realisation wash over Tsunade's face.

Athena was almost to the little village just inside fire country within a couple of days. She had hardly stopped to rest, giving her eyes dark circles underneath. When she got there she spoke to the village elder and gave a heartbreaking story of her family kicking her out of their home. How the villagers in her home village had exiled her for refusing to marry the man her parents wanted her to.

The elder was a kindly man who warmly welcomed Athena to the village and even got her set up in the recently abandoned hut in the center of the village. She unpacked the few things she had brought with her and then decided to get some sleep. That evening she was formally introduced to the village which was having a little festival of sorts for the children.

Everyone was kind to her and she in turn was polite with everyone she spoke with. She played and danced with the children and sat and talked with the elderly. Before the festival was over everyone was in love, in one form or another, with their newest arrival.

*1 month later*

After a month of settling into her role in the village Athena was beginning to view this little village as home. It was a dangerous feeling since this village was just a stepping stone to her real goal. She would soon have to forsake this little village and move on.

It really was a peaceful place, nobody fought for long except for the children who seemed to argue for days on end. It came as a great shock to everyone when in the early evening they saw smoke rising into the sky not too far from them.

The villagers worried it was a forest fire but Athena knew it was a warning the Sound ninja were coming to put the plan into motion. She pretended to be just as worried as the others and quickly for the children to prepare bags in case they had to evacuate.

As she lay down and pretended to sleep her mind whispered, "I am the bringer of death, the demon who paves the way for creation. I will mold this village by covering it in my blood. I will be the demon in the night."

She was determined to do this right to please her father. After all she was to become death. So her instructions had read when she looked at them. She smiled to herself, she was going to be putting everything on the line when the attack began.

"I will become the lady death, porcelain skin dyed crimson with my life's blood." she whispered with a dark smirk.

AN: well that is chapter 6 for you. I hope that you enjoy it. I apologize if it seems kinda jumpy. I had been working on this on my wattpad app on my cellphone since my computer is fried and the app crashed causing about 3000 words to vanish. I just tried to bridge it as best I could after a mini-meltdown. I want to thank all my readers, when I posted chapter 5 I had only 840 views total on the story and within a few hours I was up over 1000 views. It is seeing things like that, that make me want to keep writing these stories. I truly hope you enjoy this chapter and the story as much as I am. Can't wait to see you all in chapter 7. 3