I know it had been a little longer than usual, but with school starting and looking for a job it's taken me a little longer than normal to get this one out. That, plus I kinda wanted to get this right, even though its a sort of a filler chapter. There is some pertinent information in here that will be addressed later on. Do keep in mind, though, that if I write something in here that isn't exactly how it went, keep in mind that I'm writing from one person's perspective, so if they don't have all of the facts, then i'm going to write it that way. So pretty much I think you need to pay attention, otherwise you're probably going to be confused later on when things ramp up, and they will be ramping up pretty soon. If you haven't figured it out yet, i'm mainly going to be focusing on Naruto and his sister, Akiko and how their stories intertwine.
Anyways i hope you'll like this chapter and as always, please leave a review in the comments section below. I love to hear your guys' thoughts on how i am progressing the story and what you guys think i could do better or maybe some off the wall idea will spawn something completely new.
Chapter 5
Something was different. She felt something inside of her. It wasn't like it hadn't always been there, but ever since last night she felt it was stronger. When she circulated her chakra throughout her body she felt it there, deep within her core. It was there, and yet it wasn't there. It was as though, while centered, it was spread out and permeated every cell in her body. She always felt it, even when she circulated her chakra within her body for the first time.
But now, it was stronger than before.; a curious thing that would require more contemplation and investigation later when she was with her instructors. For now, she would have to get back to her exercises.
For the past two years she had been sequestered away from scrying eyes. She was special and had to be kept as a trump card in the event of some sort of foreign invasion. That was the problem with being the last of her kind, she didn't have much direction. All she had was based off of what her tutors could get a hold of, and they had already turned over everything they had; well, at least they said they did.
Enkidu, the chains in which divinity could not escape. The more divine the target, the stronger the chains became. It was a gift from the last Uzumaki to live within the walls of Konoha, Uzumaki Kushina, who died the day of the Kyuubi attack. She had used the heavenly chains to subdue the beast long enough for the Fourth Hokage to seal it within the newborn babe that was to be the beast's container. Unfortunately for her, the beast got its last hit in and mortally wounded Kushina, dooming her to an early grave.
The girl had wondered what her mother had looked like. While she was told that her mother was on a prolonged ANBU operation, she had wondered what it would be like if her mother was here and they were just a normal family. She often dreamed of going to the civilian school, and getting into small misadventures, eventually falling in love with a boy and holding hands with him.
Too bad she was training to kill her enemies with extreme prejudice. She resigned herself to the fact that her family was doomed to be in the killing business. And it seemed that now more than ever, business was good. She saw less and less of her comrades when she spent her hours at the Ops Center hidden behind the small restaurant.
Walking down the road towards her base, she mulled over her plans for the day when a low voice came from the alley next to her and broke her from her reverie
"Kuma-san."
"Yes." she stalled her movement.
"Your presence is required by the Hokage."
"Yes. I'll be there momentarily." she felt a small gust of air that signaled the Operator's departure. She idly peered over at the now empty alley where the voice came from. Duty calls she thought and promptly turned around and vanished in a burst of speed towards the large tower that dominated the cityscape that was Konoha.
There was a slight tension in the air of the office of the Hokage.
She stood at attention in the center and was waiting patiently for the Hokage to address her. He was currently standing, facing away from her and staring out of the window and looking over the village. She couldn't see his face because of the long and flowing Hokage robes that he wore every day.
She didn't need to turn around to see them, but in each corner of the room to her back was an ANBU Operative, wound tightly and ready to spring forward to protect their leader at the slightest hint of aggression.
She idly noted that security had been getting a little tighter in the recent weeks. It wasn't very noticeable; an extra operator at the gates, another patrol leaping from roof to roof in the night, and while there wasn't an official curfew, the civilians seemed to retreat into their homes a little bit earlier, as if they feared something in the night.
"How old are you now?" came the voice from behind the cloth in front of her.
"Twelve."
"And we've been training you since you were six, so seven years now..." he paused for a second and then slightly turned his head to his left. "Do you know why you were summoned?"
"No."
He paused for a second more before turning around, and leaned heavily on his wooden cane. His hardened un-bandaged eye bored into her with a steely gaze. "You are powerful. You are fast. You are smart." his eye turned to the two guards behind her and made a waving motion with his hand and they promptly left, closing the door behind them. His gaze returned to her, "You are a Jinchuuriki and as such need to harness your powers. With your chains you can subjugate the beast but until you fully grow into your body, you will need a caretaker. Someone who can control you if your beast gets out of control."
"It will not, Hokage-sama." she said with finality.
His single eye narrowed at her, "Nevertheless, from now on you will learn to work with others. We have trained you as well as you can be trained. So until your body finishes its development, you will be placed on a team." he moved the chair behind him and sat down and leaned his cane on the desk beside him. "However, there are other security measures with must be taken." His now free hand moved to a larger file and he slid it across his desk to her. "In this file you will find your two targets. This is no assassination mission, but a long-term protection mission. Open it."
She took a step forward and grabbed the folder, opening it and pulling out two files. Each was about a quarter-inch thick with a picture paper-clipped on the front. The front one had a picture of a boy with black hair and black eyes: Sasuke Uchiha. The second was clipped with a picture of a girl with dark blue hair and pale eyes: Hinata Hyuuga. She pushed the files back into their folder and held it at her side. She would study them later.
"You will go undercover as their teammate and protect them from the shadows. War is coming. Orochimaru has formed his own hidden village and will without a doubt attempt an attack on Konoha. He will most likely form an alliance with another village, so be on the look out for any suspicious acts of character from now on."
"Yes."
"Your team leader will be Hatake Kakashi. He will continue your training from here on out. Learn from him and do not fail in your duties. You are from here on out permitted to leave the village on official capacities only."
"Yes."
"One last thing." he paused to look her straight in the eye, "Remember that you are more valuable than your charges. Should the day come that you must sacrifice them to save yourself, do it. Two lives do not matter in the grand scheme when the safety of the entire village is on the line. Until I call for you, you will not answer to your ANBU Handle, and take all commands from Kakashi. Any questions?
"None, Hokage-sama."
"Then you are dismissed."
"Yes."
She turned on her heel and left his office, leaving him to turn back to the window and overlook the village, stoically gazing over it in contemplation. "Do not fail in your duties as well Kakashi..." he murmured to himself.
Fools, all of them.
They had no idea what true suffering was. They all lived their comfortable little lives with their mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters, living happy days and staying blissfully ignorant of the world around them. Hate me. He gritted his teeth behind his two hand that were clasped in front of his mouth. Soon, most of these children would be dead, betrayed by the naïve ideals that the academy instilled in them.
They were completely unprepared for what lied ahead of them. He could only wonder what two idiots he would be paired up with. As long as they didn't slow him down and stayed out of his way, he didn't care one way or another.
So here he was, sitting in the final minutes of his academy class. His teacher, Umino Iruka and Mizuki were both at the head of the class, lecturing them of what to expect as a ninja. Hmph, as if a final "here's what you should expect" lecture is going to adequately prepare them. There teams were announced and he was paired with one Hinata Hyuuga. In all honesty, he could have been paired with her, the pink-haired Haruno Sakura. A complete waste of human flesh. Her only attributes being her intellect and her ability to act as a human shield to take the first blow while he took out the enemy with his vastly superior skills. The Hyuuga's Byakugan would be a powerful asset in his coming missions, and her gentle fist style would prove an adequate challenge for his skills. While he had no doubt that she would fall at his feet like all the others, she would undoubtedly prove to be a good benchmark in the beginning.
Interestingly enough, he wasn't assigned a third teammate. He was only informed that he would be getting a ninja who was already in circulation. He wasn't given a name so he could only hope for someone who would be a better challenge than the Hyuuga.
"...with that, good luck to everyone in the future, and I wish you all the best! Please wait for your Jounin Sensei's who will be here momentarily." Iruka and Mizuki both bowed and walked out of the room amidst a chattering of excited voices. Already he could see the teams gravitating into the cells they were assigned to and moving off to get to know each other better.
He kept his silent vigil on the window outside, lost in the memories of that fateful night when a small 'ahem' announced the arrival of his soon-to-be teammate. He looked over to see her with her hand folded over each other in front of her.
"Hello Uchiha-san. My name is Hyuuga Hinata. It will be a pleasure to work with you. Please take care of me." she said while bowing in formal greeting.
"Hn." he answered, looking back to the window and ignoring her small snort of displeasure. Of course he knew who she was. He knew about as much as he could without going over the line and tipping everyone off that he was preparing to kill anyone who should cross him. He saw no need for those kind of formalities. Life was a fleeting thing and there was no room in it for things such as honor and feelings.
Power and Procreation: the two necessities of life.
It was the basics in which the world turned. One gained power to impart his will upon the world. He gained power in order to carry on his genes to the next generation. A predator would always find its prey and consume it and its energies. He was a hawk, and a hawk always finds its prey. It just needed to be patient. So he would wait.
And he waited.
And waited.
And waited.
And waited some more.
Soon enough, it was he and his partner who had gone and started doing basic kata to pass the time. Right when he was about to murder her for his sensei being late, the door slid open revealing what had better be his sensei.
A Grey-haired, one-eyed, masked face poked into the room and locked onto him and the girl.
"Hello, team seven?" he smiled and gave them no time to respond, "Meet me on the rooftop!" and then the door closed and his sensei was gone. There was nothing left to do but go to the roof.
And that's what he did.
The first thing she noticed after going through the door after Sasuke was her sensei to her right seated on the ledge reading an orange book. She spied the title and suppressed a grimace at the Icha Icha Tactics smut that her new leader was reading. It seemed he was a rather large pervert, but it shouldn't be a problem. As long as he didn't get...grabby...there was no need for any action.
The second thing she noticed was the other girl who was sitting on the ledge a few feet from her sensei. She was currently looking out over the city with an indifferent look on her face. She had on a dark blue, long-sleeved turtleneck under a black, sleeveless hoodie that only came to just above her stomach. Over her hoodie, she wore a gray leather breastplate armor, reminiscent of what the ANBU wore, but slightly different. She wore matching gray shinobi pants, wrapped at the bottom and bottomed off by the standard black sandals that most Konoha ninja wore. She also had a dark leather utility belt with a pair of pouches on either side and loops for storage scrolls that were currently empty.
With her hood down, she could see the girl's long red hair tied into a low ponytail with a pair of slightly spiked bangs framing each side of her deep-blue eyes and slight distant look on her face. Hinata idly thought that even though this girl was just starting to hit puberty, she was already on her way to being what most would consider to be a very attractive woman.
But what she wondered was what the girl actually did around the village. Hinata couldn't remember seeing her...ever, actually. That red hair would be pretty distinctive as it wasn't exactly a standard shade of hair that one would normally see, even in the rainbow of colors red was pretty rare.
"Now if you will, please introduce yourselves to your new teammates so we can get this started." her cycloptic leader eye-smiled and turned his head in her direction, indicating for her to go first.
Hinata took her cue and clasped her hands in front of her at her waist, "My name is Hyuuga Hinata. I am twelve years old and I am the Heir to the Hyuuga clan. I am proficient in the Gentle Fist Style and I am currently working on expanding it. I hope we can get along, so please treat me well." she bowed at the end to her new teammate and sensei in the traditional formal greeting. She held it for a moment before raising herself back up and noticed that her new teammate had shifted her body to look straight at Hinata. She was glad to see that her teammate nodded her head slightly in response to Hinata's greeting.
"Next?" her team leader turned his head towards the dark, brooding boy who had taken to leaving against the door behind her.
"My name is Uchiha Sasuke" the boy said with his arms folded in front of him. Hinata's nose wrinkled in disgust again as the boy didn't even see fit to open his eyes or turn his head in their direction when he was addressing them.
If it was one thing Hinata could not abide, it was poor manners.
"...aaand?" her sensei goaded the boy into saying anything else.
"What do you want from me?"
"Anything else to share?"
"Don't get in my way."
The Gray-haired man's eye smile didn't falter as he responded, "Great!" he turned his head to the redhead.
"My name is Uzumaki Akiko." Hinata's eyebrows shot up in surprise at the name, she could have sworn she even saw Sasuke's eyes open and look at their new teammate in his version of surprise. "I am the last heir to the Uzumaki techniques and am well versed in their ways. I have been in circulation for two years now, and I hope to work well with you." she bowed towards them, which Hinata returned with a head nod.
"Great! Anything else anyone wants to share before we get moving?"
"Yes, sensei I have three things I would like to address." the redhead stated. Taking his lack of response as her go-ahead, she continued, "you have yet to introduce yourself."
"Ah, how silly of me. My name is Hatake Kakashi. I have many likes and dislikes, and you don't need to know my dream for the future, satisfied?"
"Partially. Two: why were you so late today? I was lead to believe that the legendary Sharingan Kakashi would be more professional that this." her blue eyes bore into his frame as he sighed.
"Sharingan? What do you mean Sharingan?" Sasuke demanded, his attention fully garnered.
"Underneath his headband lies the Sharingan of his deceased teammate, given to him before he died."
Kakashi lazy eye moved to her and he sighed in exasperation, "I really wish you would give away my secrets like that. How can I keep my mysterious flare if you do that all the time. How would you like it if I gave away your secrets?" he flashed a knowing look in her direction that Hinata definitely didn't miss. "Anyways, the reason I was late was that I was walking here and then a black cat crossed my path. So naturally, I had to take the long way around, but it kept following me, so I had to keep going the long way around even more. Eventually I ended up in the far end of the town, so by the time I made my way to the academy I crossed the path of an old lady who needed help carrying her groceries home. Then it started raining and I got all soaked, so I had to go home and change clothes, lest I catch a cold. Then I finally was able to arrive on time to see my new, cute, little Genin."
Silence.
"That...was an awful lie." Akiko deadpanned. "Am I to believe that this is going to be a common occurrence?"
"Hmmm...we'll see. Now!" he changed topic, "normally I'd give you another test to prove your worth to me, usually in the form of a self-sacrificing test to show you the value of teamwork, but since my hands are kind of tied on this one, congratulations on passing your Genin Exam. Meet me at the base of the Hokage tower tomorrow morning at around eight, and we'll get started on our first missions! Ja ne!" he disappeared in a swirl of leaves leaving Hinata, Akiko, and an already departing Sasuke alone.
"One more thing I need to tell you two." she called to them, halting Sasuke's departure.
"I am the container of the Kyuubi no Kitsune."