AN: wow I cannot believe that I am here on a 7th chapter to this story. I normally don't go longer than 3 or 4 chapters but so far this is turning into a mini book for me. I sincerely hope that you are all enjoying this story.

Curses of My Father

Chapter 7 - Repercussions and Success

Athena ended up dozing off not long before the Sound ninja arrived, which was just before sunrise. She was woken by screaming villagers who had burst into her little hut worriedly, they wanted to let her know that they were under attack by ninja from a neighbouring country. Athena got up and quickly began trying to fight the ninja, faking that she wasn't quite as strong as she actually was, she was in fact much stronger than the villagers knew.

People were dying all around her while the children hid in trees on the opposite side of the village, all the children who were old enough had been taught to climb trees to help with harvesting fruit and nuts and such when the time came each year, a big help to the adults. Two adults were with the children to take care of them. There were a few old ninja among the villagers and thankfully a handful of people strong enough to try and fight against the ninja.

Aid had been requested a while back from Konoha so that they could be assessed to be given a few ninja as aides for tasks in fixing things around the village, a D rank mission if ever there was one. Kakashi and squad 7 were the ninjas sent to tend to this task, but Sasuke was injured to Neji was added into their group to fill in the gap as his squad was being given a couple of weeks to wait for Gai to recover from an injury. It was thankful that they were nearby when the attack began as when they arrived they were able to begin fighting the Sound ninja.

Athena was fighting now with all the strength she had as she had been badly injured and could hardly see now for the blood in her eyes. She had let them injure her badly and now that she was weak she fought with everything that she had in order to just stay alive. Kakashi ended up getting to her area just as the Sound ninjas began preparing to go in for the "kill", he saved her from them but she was already beginning to black out. The Leaf ninja fought off the Sound ninja, the few that now remained ran off heading back for the village carrying with them the news that the plan was proceeding as it should.

One of the villagers began to bandage up Athena but they knew she was far beyond their abilities as a healer. "Please take her to your village as quickly as possible….. I know that your Hokage is a skilled healer and unless our Athena receives her care she will die!" the villager begged them. Kakashi stood and debated it, it was only after the villager handed over all the money they had as payment for this extra task that he agreed to take her.

Neji had been watching as she was being taken care of and he had to admit that despite all the injuries she was quite beautiful. He could see why a man would want to have her healed but when the children began to cry that she was leaving it became clear that she was probably a kind and gentle soul, or so the villagers knew her as. Kakashi picked her up and tied her wrists in front of his chest so that he could carry her more easily and then he took off with Naruto, Neji and Sakura following him.

The students didn't know if they would make it back in with Athena before she died from her injuries, but they were hoping that they would, Sakura would be able to maintain a certain level of healing thanks to her training with Tsunade but she couldn't heal her completely. Kakashi was just worried about completing this mission and going back to his lazy lifestyle of reading Make-out Paradise and training his students. Neji however was actually trying to think about what would happen to the village now that they had been attacked and had no one left to protect them since most of the ninja that had migrated to the village were either badly injured or dead.

Athena was out cold on Kakashi's back and she looked like hell, cuts and bruises everywhere and her chakra was so low it was hard to sense it. Naruto was of course complaining that they weren't even doing anything fun and that he was hungry while Sakura tried to get him to shut up. Kakashi sometimes wondered just how he managed to deal with Naruto, he was thankful to be able to see how his mentor's son was growing up though. He was also quite thankful that Naruto had stopped saying believe it after every statement as he had done when he first became a ninja.

They finally had to stop when Kakashi felt wetness against his back, some of the wounds that the villager had tried to sew shut had torn open again and Sakura began healing them as best she could. She hadn't been working under Tsunade that long and therefore hadn't really developed much in the way of healing skills yet. Athena weakly ended up opening her eyes staring at the sky as Sakura tried to heal her, Kakashi noticed this and took her hand. "Just lay still and let Sakura take care of you so that we can keep going." He told her. Athena gave a weak nod and closed her eyes again, she felt weak and tired so decided she would go to sleep.

Once the wounds were closed enough Kakashi got her ready to travel again and placed her on his back before they all took off for the villager again. They moved a bit faster now knowing that Sakura would only be able to help her for so long before her skills would be insufficient for the task. She wanted to be good enough to take care of this but she also knew that only Tsunade would be able to take care of Athena. There was lots of internal damage that Sakura couldn't take care of that could potentially kill her if it wasn't treated within a certain amount of time. All of the bleeding could eventually cause permanent damage too even if she was saved, and if she had any fluid around her brain or swelling that could kill her or do serious damage also.

There was a lot riding on this mission right now, a lot of it had to deal with Athena surviving. She may only be half the woman that she was or she might end up being a vegetable if things went poorly. Kakashi didn't want to be left feeling responsible for her if anything bad were to happen, he didn't want any more guilt to be left to him. He had enough guilt with Obito and Rin, he wasn't even sure if he could handle anymore guilt than what he was already suffering in his life.

Kakashi also didn't want to admit that he thought Athena was an attractive woman, he had a mission to focus on and had no time to check out, sexually one might add, the woman whom he was currently trying to save. *I really hope that this is dealt with soon….. I also hope that she survives this, if not for the chance to have an attractive fling then for the children in the village.* Kakashi thought to himself as they neared Konoha. Moving at the speed that they were, the trip which had taken 3 days to make had taken only just shy of a day, and they hadn't stopped at all except when they needed to tend to Athena's wounds.

Kakashi took Athena right to the hospital while Sakura ran off and grabbed Tsunade, Kakashi looked down at the once more unconscious Athena with worried eyes. Tsunade ran in and kicked Kakashi out of the room so that she could get to work, and work she did. Once she was done she stood talking with Kakashi to see if more aid was needed for the village from which they had come, Athena came to during that time. She tried to move and cried out in pain which brought Tsunade back in.

"You're lucky to be alive young lady, you shouldn't move around too much though, you are most likely paralyzed from the waist down." Tsunade said her eyes sad for her. She wanted to talk to her after she managed to kick Kakashi out of the hospital and thus left with the promise of returning. It took minimal time to get Kakashi gone and to go back up to Athena.

"I want to talk with you for a bit do you mind child?" Tsunade asked.

"Go ahead, my name is Athena by the way." She said.

"Hello Athena my name is Tsunade, I am going to be blunt. Do you know a man named Orochimaru?" Tsunade asked right off the bat.

"No, I am sorry but I do not know anybody by that name." Athena said, she was loopy from the head injury. Part of the repercussions from the plan were that she might be paralyzed and that her memory was off. "Too be honest I don't remember much before leaving when my village exiled me to the attack….. My head feels foggy like." She mumbled.

"That's understandable you had quite the head injury and now that you are awake and wanting to move you will be in for a long recovery….. Until we know for sure about your condition I request that you stay in this village. And that if you are going to try to find somewhere to live, that for now it be this village. You will have a hard road to recovery if you ever do recover fully." Tsunade said.

"So you mean that I can't go back to the village?" She asked. She looked heartbroken at the thought of staying away from the people she had really only spent a short time with.

"Yes, I am afraid that this is for the best, it's the only way to make sure you don't overdo it, and to make sure you recover as much as you possibly can." Tsunade explained, she planned to talk to Jiraiya about whether or not Orochimaru had any children that he knew of. This young woman looked a lot like him aside from a difference in the colour of her eyes and the markings on her face.

"Alright, I will concede to staying in the village, until such time as I can return to the village you found me in." Athena said bowing her head to the Hokage.

Tsunade gave her a small smile before administering some pain medication to help Athena sleep. Tsunade knew that it would be a miracle if this girl ever regained the ability to walk, she had taken a lot of damage. If she did walk again though it would take a lot of work. Tsunade left to go and talk with Jiraiya but even he had no knowledge of Orochimaru having a daughter or any children for that matter. So for now the history of how she got her markings was a mystery to Konoha, but she was too badly injured for them to risk moving her yet.

Athena was now successfully implanted in the village but at the cost of her mobility and memory. Would she ever remember the real reason for the attack on that village, and her needing to be injured? Or would she forever remain in the dark of her own father's evil plans.

AN: Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out, I've had a lot of stuff going on. I'm planning to get started on the next chapter right away though, so stayed tuned and thanks for following me this far :D