Uchiha Sasuke and Gaara met at a village. It was beneath them, but it wasn't that poor. The largest house was said to have been owned by one of the greatest swordsman's pupils. Sasuke paused, trying to remember his name. Ah, Orochimaru. The two teens regarded the other with mild distaste, but they didn't really care. That kind of rivalry was a past time not liked by either. It was too…boring. And too much work was required.

Sasuke approached a man about forty. "Have you seen a girl named Namikaze Naruto?"

He scratched his head. "Nah, but I know of a Naruto. She left about a week ago. Dunno what happened. But they say her father wasn't really her father and how he performed illegal experiments on her and…" he paused, grinning. "He was murdered right in front of ol' Naruto. Sweet girl, yes."

"Thanks," Sasuke said. He had another person show him to the house and stepped in. The smell of rotting food and blood hit his nose. The teens frowned in discomfort. Sasuke saw something move and had his sword out before Gaara could blink.

"I have something to report in person."

Sasuke flinched. "Itachi?"

"Yes. I waited for you. I knew you'd eventually come. The girl you're looking for disappeared. She did live here with Orochimaru, believing her whole life that he was her real father. Be wary, she is skilled in combat and swordsmanship," Itachi said. "And, I wanted to apologize, for leaving you. How have you been?" he gave a small smile.

"Be quiet, mercenary. Is this all you have to report?"

"Not all of it. I overheard your conversation with a villager. He did not perform experiments on her; he took her from the Hokage thirteen years ago. He wanted her blood to gain immortality. Before that could happen, I killed him, inadvertently letting Naruto see me. She now wants to kill me."

"I want to kill you," Sasuke snapped. "Is that all?"

"Yes," Itachi sighed.

"Then go. Find someone else to kill," Sasuke said, sweeping his hand to dismiss the older Uchiha. Itachi smiled. I'm glad you're not depressed, Sasuke. I'm truly sorry.

"I suppose that's everything. Stay well, Sasuke," Itachi said and walked out.

Itachi was honestly truly sorry. He knew having himself there, though, would further hurt Sasuke. The main reasoning was that Itachi had to spend time, all of it, dealing with being the ruler of the Country of Fire. Sasuke kept wanting his attention and leaving was the only option to break the boy's want with him. So, Itachi left to stop Sasuke's pain from never being able to talk with his perfect older brother.

Sasuke and Gaara walked around the house and eventually found Orochimaru. Well, two parts of him: his decapitated head and his body. It was an ugly sight with blood splattered in a clean arc and the body reeking of decay.

Gaara's face then became engulfed in a maniac grin. A small laugh escaped his lips.

"This was one ugly snake. An arrogant snake. I wish I were there to kill him. The look on the Hokage's daughter's face must've been quite the sight."

Sasuke didn't comment. He knew any comment would pose grounds for an argument.

Sasuke walked a little more about the house until he found a drawer with a photo of the pale man and the blonde. Gaara snatched it out of his fingers and grinned.

"This girl is going to be so fun to kill," Gaara said. He saw the almost surprised look on Sasuke's face and then added, "Kidding, you stiff Uchiha."

"Well, Naruto looks to be about ten in that photo, so I suppose it's a good reference. Let's go," Sasuke ignored the comment. Gaara took this as a challenge to break the seemingly unbreakable poker face of Uchiha Sasuke. However, Sasuke was quite the opponent; not having his perfect older brother hardened Sasuke to the point where he hadn't laughed…for a long, long time.

Jiraiya and Naruto kept moving. Naruto didn't like staying in one place for too long; she was a swordsman with no home. In this day and age, they were basically mercenaries. At some point, they'd be captured and thrown into a syndicate to serve some sleaze.

Jiraiya wanted to keep moving not because he worried for his sake or his abilities in his own skills or keeping Naruto from the greedy syndicates, but because he'd gotten wind of the Majesty of the Country of Fire and heir to the Country of Wind looking for the girl.

He heard of those two boys. They were Naruto's age and according to his information sources, ruthless. The heir was said to have murdered his own siblings, out of said fun. The former boy was the kind of ruler who didn't care much for his people. Sure, he didn't go out of his way to prosecute anyone, but he didn't do anything. A rumor was that all he did was let the advisors deal with paperwork and he simply watched people cook or clean the pond or gather vegetables. The boy seemed to almost be depressed. From what, Jiraiya didn't know and gladly neither had to know or care.

Jiraiya bit into a peach as Naruto practiced her footwork and agility with her sword. The sun was particularly harsh that day and beads of sweat ran down her face. Every so often she'd wipe her forehead with her arm. Soon, Jiraiya found himself slipping in and out of sleep since the heat was so strong.

"Naruto…let's go back…inside," Jiraiya yawned into his hand. He blinked the sleep out of his eyes and looked at her. She was asleep on the grass with the sword having cut her hand. She didn't seem to be in too much pain to wake up. Jiraiya sighed. This girl was very interesting, and not in the way he was in to, but not a bad way either. She's a striking reminder of the Hokage.

Jiraiya picked up the sword and watched in fascination as the cut on her hand healed after a few minutes.

"So that's what Orochimaru was after?" Jiraiya said softly to himself.

Jiraiya knew of her father, whom he had doubts of actually being her father. He'd heard her talk in her sleep and he'd caught a name: Orochimaru. He knew that his teammate, for the life of him, wouldn't date a woman (but like any woman would fall for that sickly skin and cruel attitude).

He picked the blonde girl up and took her back to their temporary home.

Two months later, Uzumaki Naruto and Jiraiya had lived in over fifty different locations. Naruto had never really traveled, so she didn't complain. Seeing new places was always interesting. She didn't make any friends, much less any of the same gender, since it was uncommon for a woman to be wielding a sword. However, it wasn't unheard of.

They'd actually gained a companion. His, or her, name was Haku. Naruto felt more comfortable calling him a her since it felt good to at least think she wasn't the only girl, and also because he looked like a girl. Honestly, how could a boy look so pretty?

Well, Jiraiya and Naruto had traveled some time before they'd met Haku. Haku was living in a rather poor village outside of the city of Kiri. Then, the village found out his mother was part of a group that had protected and provided aid to those who fought against the soldiers of Kiri. To top it off, his mother was also had a special blade, rumored to have killed hundreds in the civil war a few years ago. It was made of a special metal found only in that area.

These special swordsmen had apparently murdered Haku's grandfather. Even though Haku's grandfather was dead and the civil war was over, his father still harbored hatred. As a result, he tried to kill his own son after killing his wife. However, Haku's frightened tears reacted with the metal, causing the air around Haku's father to condense, freeze with his father trapped in the block of ice, and then crack.

That was about thirteen years ago, according to Haku. He is nineteen now. A soft smile plays out on his lips every so often. He looks so innocent despite the amount of bloodshed he's known.

"Where are were going now, Jiraiya-sama?" Haku asked, seeing how they'd stopped at a dango shop. Naruto bit into it, the topping being anko, red bean paste, instead of mitarashi, sweet and salty sauce. Haku preferred mitarashi.

"Konoha," Jiraiya said.

"Why?" Naruto asked, swallowing.

"There's someone there I want to kill," Jiraiya said, his eyes growing cold. "And, Naruto," he glanced at her.

"What?"
"Uchiha Itachi is rumored to be staying there for a bit. He intends to join their ranks," Jiraiya said.

"That bastard, huh?" Naruto asked softly.

"Who?" Haku asked.

"The one who killed my father right in front of me," Naruto said. "My father was a kind man who did everything he could after my mother died and then that Uchiha has to come and kill him for no reason."

"Naruto-san, don't take this the wrong way, but from my experiences, I have learned two things. One, I doubt it was for no reason. Two, not everything is what it seems. Did your father ever say anything strange, anything that would contradict his usual actions?" Haku asked.

Naruto frowned. "Yeah, but that Uchiha probably made him say it."

"I hope you're right, for your sake," Haku said, his eyes sad. Naruto cocked her head and sighed. Haku was a strange one.

Konoha wasn't far from where they were anyway. At least, that's what Jiraiya had said. Naruto and Haku suffered the unbearably boring path to Konoha.

By noon, the path seemed to veer into a town. Naruto and Haku gladly ran to get yakisoba, pan fried noodles and vegetables. Jiraiya sighed and told them he'd be looking for hot women and booze.

"Don't spend all your money," Naruto said. "And I'm not lending any."

Jiraiya didn't seem to mind. He looked confident he wouldn't go broke. But Naruto couldn't count anymore the times he'd looked confident and then walked out with a half-drunk bottle of sake, no money, and drunk beyond belief. Naruto honestly wondered how he'd managed to be so skilled with the sword and have sake in the other hand.

Naruto and Haku wanted to go to different stalls to see what they had in the town, so they split. Haku went to a stall where you had to carefully poke out the outside of a stencil, often in the shape of an animal.

Naruto saw a stall where you had to catch koi fish with a small net. She also saw someone her age trying and failing. He looked embarrassed, but it was probably her imagination. He had a real poker face.

Naruto knelt down next to him and tried to catch some koi. She caught some easily.

"Hey…" the boy started.

"Hm?" Naruto gave him a small smile.

"How do you do that?" he asked quietly, almost too quietly.

"Catch koi?" Naruto asked.
"Y-yeah," he said, looking away.

"Well, you're not going to catch anything when you're not looking at the fish," Naruto turned his head to face hers, then the water.

"Then, you need to place your net away from everyone else's and stay very still. Don't move at all. Once one is above your net, bring up your net as quickly as you can so it doesn't have enough time to get out," Naruto smiled. "So, anyway, what's your name?"

"Me?" he asked. "You wouldn't want to know."

"Sure I would. Here, I'll start. I'm Uzumaki Naruto," Naruto grinned.

"Fine," he sighed. "I'm Uchiha Sasuke."

Naruto dropped her net in the water and had her sword out, her eyes blazing with anger.

"So you're related to that Uchiha Itachi?" she asked, glaring.

"Hey, calm down! We're estranged brothers! I don't talk to him at all," Sasuke said, easily dodging her sword and pulling her out of the stall and into some bushes.

"Don't touch me, Uchiha," she spat.

"I need to tell you something," Sasuke said.

"Like I'd listen to you," she sneered.

"Looks like we're going to have to do this the hard way," Sasuke said.

"Do what?" she asked.

"You'll see," Sasuke said. He moved to quickly behind her that she could only watch from the corner of her eye as he knocked her unconscious.