In the Final Hour

HP x Naruto Crossover

In 1981, Lily Potter showed exactly what it meant to be the brightest witch of her age. Fifteen years later, Nara Rei is enrolled in an S-Rank mission to compete in the Triwizard Tournament as missing Mia Potter. FemHarry. AU.

Characters: Harry P., Tom R. Jr.,

Part one:

Chapter 1 - Mia stands for Missing in Action.

Lily Potter

Godric's Hollow

At 13 years old, Lily Evans hadn't realized how important it was to choose good elective subjects. She hadn't considered the practical applications of any of the classes, much more than what she thought might have been a good challenge - and which ones James Potter and his knuckleheaded friends wouldn't dream of ever taking. It was that last reason, why Lily ended up making the critical decision to take Ancient Runes instead of taking Care of Magical Creatures.

This is what the twenty-year-old redhead had contemplated for hours after her old Headmaster, the elderly Dumbledore had told her about a prophecy, one that could very well be referring to her newly born daughter, little Mia. Children didn't have the capacity to think of their futures that much in advance, and this sweet, little girl surely didn't have the capacity to handle stopping a Dark Lord.

Not before he could get to her, at least - and that had been Dumbledore's argument to get them into hiding. That Voldemort would never stop hunting the littlest Potter, not while he believed the words of the prophecy. "She'll never get to the age where she could do anything," Lily had whispered so lowly, that James, her husband, didn't seem to hear her. "They'll always hunt you while you're here, and what if I can't always protect you, my sweet Mia?"

What if the Dark Lord got to them before Mia even had a chance to grow into her powers? How long could they truly hide? This was the darkest, most powerful man of the century, and there was one thing that Lily knew - and that was that she needed to have a back-up plan. Just like in third year, when she'd swapped electives to Runes, when she realized that she'd never learn with the so-called Marauders around bothering her.

Just in case they were found, Lily knew they needed a back-up plan. Lily had trusted Sirius to always have their back - he was more loyal than the strongest Hufflepuff, but Peter was a different story. So while she was in hiding, and as the women slowly went crazy from constantly redefining her set of runes, and changing the rules, and adding in things that she didn't fully understand.

In a year, she hadn't completed her task, but after a year, Lily's worst fears had been realized. They had been found - and with little Mia in her arms, Lily had scrambled to the back room, jamming the door shut . James was shouting for them to run, for them to hide - and quickly, she had placed her baby on the ground, and rummaged around the shelves on the walls.

"Mama," Mia had called, "where dada?"

Lily had, for the very first time, ignored her daughter as she pulled several things from their hiding places. Her plans hadn't been done, she hadn't had the time to complete this project, but there was no time for that now. If she didn't try, then Mia would die. If she did try, then her baby might die - and those were odds that she was willing to take. Arms full, Lily spun to watch her curious little girl.

Trying to calm her shaking hands, Lily began to work, quickly stuffing the girl in the white, rune covered jumpsuit that she'd made - runes carved into stones were placed around the girl in a circle, and with her wand, she began to chant. Lily hadn't even managed to get halfway through the ritual that she'd made, before the door with all of her barricades was broken down.

Lily had spun, trying to use her body to cover her baby, to hide her baby. "Stand aside," in the doorway, stood a tall, terrifying man - but Lily didn't shake, Lily didn't tremble. In that moment, even as he called her to move to the side, Lily knew that she was about to die. "Side aside now, silly girl. I only want the child."

"I will never stand aside," even if she hadn't fully managed to power the runic stones she'd made, she knew that somehow, this would be the only way. "Mia is a child, a baby, a little girl. Have mercy!"

"I will not ask again, stand aside."

Lily refused to move, and that was how she died, back-straight protecting her precious little girl.

As Lily Potter fell, Voldemort didn't take more than a few moments before he sent another killing curse towards the baby. Curiously, the spell seemed to absorb into the little girl, causing many of the runes to glow green, runes that previously he hadn't completely noticed as Lily Potter's dead body had hidden most of them.

The spell, much to his surprise, shot back out at him, while he'd been distracted by the glowing stones. In a scorching white and green flash, the little girl, clad in her runic covered onesie, disappeared, like she hadn't been there in the first place.

Hours later, they would be found. James Potter was discovered first, then they had found Lily Potter, and the ashes, robes and wand, of Lord Voldemort. Curiously, there was no sign of the baby they'd previously been so proud of.

Albus Dumbledore had been the fourth person to arrive in that house and had been the one to realize that whatever happened there, that Lord Voldemort had been slain.

"Where's the babe, yer think sir?" The man with the aged Headmaster, was a tall, giant of a man, with a long wild beard, and very kind eyes. Kind eyes that were now worried, there was no body of the girl, with everyone else accounted for, Dumbledore looked around in confusion.

Ducking, he picked up a simple stone, and rolled it over to see a rune etched into the other side. Quickly, he noticed nearly a dozen others - with a quick diagnostic spell, it showed that both Lily Potter, and Voldemort had channeled power into them. "Lily, what have you done?" Dumbledore had whispered, as he looked at the stone for Protection.

"Wha' is i' Professor?"

"The runes for Protection, Hidden, and Warrior. I am not yet sure what this means dear Hagrid," Dumbledore said, as he slipped each one into his pocket. "But as soon as we find this out, I believe we will find where Lily Potter has sent little Mia," Dumbledore sighed, "wherever young Mia is, I fear it is hidden far away from where we currently are. The one thing I know for sure is that young Mia Potter seems to have survived here, where Voldemort has not."

"We 'ave to find her,' ' Hagrid had said, eyebrows plucked together, frantically looking around, like the baby could be found under some of the rubble. "She could be in danger, Professor!"

"We will look for her, Hagrid," Dumbledore said, in a reassuring voice. "I do believe that she will be very well cared for in the meantime. Wherever she is."

Nara Risa

the village hidden in the mist

Risa had never been a particularly spectacular ninja, not in comparison to other ninja her age, nor against some of her Clan's men who could often think her into circles. By no means was the Nara stupid, in fact, her teachers had often said she was quite smart, but she was not quite as smart as others in the Nara Clan.

It was due to these deficiencies, that she originally took a role in the T&I department after she made chunin at seventeen. At eighteen, the second war had broken out, and mainly due to her plain looks that blended in quite easily. She had infiltrated the village hidden in the Mist. Risa was one of three chunin who were stationed in the country, reporting back to their Lord Hokage on snippets and gossip that they heard.

There was a saying, that Risa had always been very fond of, 'a single grain of rice, can tip the scale', which was why she'd always taken in everything - including everything where she could. That's why Risa thought they didn't recall her for years, she had the talent of observation - had a talent for including small facts, that had an impact on the bigger picture. After a year and a half, pottering around the poverty-stricken country, Risa landed a jackpot.

There had been a ninja, a very powerful, important ninja, who had taken a bit of a liking to her. Risa worked as a waitress, for too many hours, with too little pay - but it easily allowed her to listen to conversations over a meal. (These conversations were usually held by ninja, or very rich families, as they were the only ones who could afford to eat out.)

This man liked how plain, and unassuming she was - he spoke at great length about this, and the size of her thighs - strong from running around all day, she'd told him. Suddenly, having one of the most important ninjas in her bed, every other night, Risa was getting information that she couldn't quite comprehend. It wasn't like he was stupid, but men, even powerful men, were quite stupid when a naked woman was involved, and Risa had been trained for this.

Risa had him singing, and he didn't even seem to realize that he'd been telling her, a spy, too much confidential information. This had the young Nara preening, and she was sure, pleasing her Hokage as well. It had been going well, too well in fact - until Risa had made the grave mistake and had gotten pregnant.

The orders she received where to stay, to keep collecting information, as the war was still raging strong. Risa was never one to abandon her duty, it wasn't in her nature, but she couldn't help the feeling of dread she had. The healthcare in this county was notoriously poor, and expensive.

Somehow, with a mixture of missions, Risa had managed to keep her baby hidden - thankfully, her bump was quite small, and easily hidden. Nara Risa even gave birth herself, by herself, in the middle of her two-roomed apartment. The thing was that Risa hadn't undertaken much medical training either - sure, she knew how to make some elixirs, or creams, but she didn't know how to deliver her own baby.

Much to her grief, this decision of hers led to the death of her son, moments after he'd taken his first breath. Risa knew however, that she couldn't swallow - that she needed to get rid of all the evidence of her foray. It had broken her heart to throw away her nameless son. It had destroyed her to think that she'd caused the death of her sweet child, due to her own choices.

He had been the child a Mist Ninja, true, one that Risa would never want to see have a child, but he'd also been hers. Risa had wanted him too, like she'd never wanted anything else in her life. Another year had passed, with little contact from her Hokage, but she still dutifully collected every scrap of information that she could.

In that year, Risa became quite fragile and withdrawn. Dark thoughts frequently clouded her mind, and she knew she wasn't hiding herself as well as she should have been - and that's when she found her. In the bin behind her house, exactly a year after her son was born, Risa had gone to throw the trash out, and instead, she found a baby.

The fact that there was a live baby in a bin, hadn't startled her - not when everyone was so poverty-stricken. Frequently, poorer families with babies they couldn't care for, would throw babies into bins, into lakes, and rivers. Kiri, unlike her home country, did not have an orphanage. What had startled her was the jumpsuit the babe was clothed in. It was mostly white, quite dirty, but very clearly covered in very complex seals.

Risa didn't touch or grab the baby - not when she was unsure what the clothes would do to her if she did - the baby was awake though, and peering at her with bright green eyes. The baby reached one hand out and babbled something in an odd baby language. Clearly, the baby still couldn't talk. Risa only blinked at the child, who was now tilting her head off to one side.

The fact that the girl was in fact, a girl, was quite clear from the two twin pigtails on top of her head, that messily spiked up, and nearly failed to be contained. "Who left you here?" Risa asked the girl, not expecting the baby to answer.

The baby babbled a little more, before she leaned forward, making a motion for Risa to pick her up, not being able to reach her. Now, Risa wasn't a genius, but she was smart enough to realize that this could be a trap - it was a baby covered in complicated seals, for Kami's sake - and her refusal to grab her, the baby started to cry, wailing loudly and the child's lower lip wobbled.

Without being able to control her actions, she scooped up the baby, quickly trying to hush her. After getting picked up, the girl quieted down instantly, now staring up at Risa with these big, big eyes. Eyes too big to belong to any country that Risa had ever been too, too round, and the colour too bright. Still, her spiky black hair, the way it was styled, reminded her of how she used to do her brother's hair when they were little, and playing dress up.

Pushing some of the hair out of the baby's face, she saw a very ugly, raw scar on her forehead. Risa frowned, it looked fresh, but it didn't seem to be causing her any pain. "Who are you, little girl? Where do you come from?"

It wasn't just her eyes that were strange either, her nose was stronger than any she'd seen - and the shape of her face, even covered with baby fat, looked like it was going to become quite sharp - like a Nara, her mind supplied. Once she's connected two things to the girl, she couldn't help but find several more similarities that the girl had to someone in her Clan.

Lip quivering, she took the baby into her apartment, and took off the seal-covered clothes and found another pink jumpsuit underneath. This one seemed cleaner, but she took this off the baby too. Risa cleaned the girl up in the sink, washed the pink onesie, and redressed the baby as quickly as possible.

The Nara woman gave the girl some of the gross food that she had in the cupboard, the baby seemed unimpressed for a second, before seemingly getting over it, and eating it all up. Risa watched as the little girl ate, seated on the table, and spared half a glance at the seals.

Mist, to her knowledge, didn't have a Seals master - if they did, her Hokage would want to know right away. Yet, Risa hesitated for the first time, not wanting to follow the directives of her Lord. What would happen to this giggling, clapping little girl? A girl that looks painfully foreign and yet, even more painfully a Nara.

It took three hours for Nara Risa to decide to keep the baby and pass her off as the one that she'd lost.

It took four hours to name her new daughter, Nara Rei.

It took her six hours to start making her plan on how she was going to get herself and Rei back to Konoha without breaking her mission contract.

Three weeks after getting Rei, they were welcomed back home, with open arms, despite the war that was still raging on in the background.

Nara Maen

When Nara Maen's older sister had come home early, after three years undercover, with a one-year-old foreign baby - he hadn't thought that the child could have possibly been his sister's baby.

Within three months of her return though, Nara Risa had been re-deployed, only to never return - leaving him alone with baby Rei. At the start, he was awkward with the baby, then, he started to realize that she was in fact, his sister's child. His niece. Very clearly curious, and most certainly a Nara baby - with wild, spiky black hair - and a knack for solving all the pre-training baby toys with little regard for simple logic.

When his sister was declared M.I.A, Maen made a promise to young Nara Rei. "I promise that I'll do my best by you Rei. I'll make sure that you get the training you need, so that you won't suffer the same fate as both your parents did."

Nara Maen did not break his promise.

From a very young age, he would train her to the highest level of her abilities, which seemed to grow every few months. By three years old, he'd had the child running katas, and solving complicated tactical issues.

The one thing that he had been trying that never seemed to stick, was the silly little scar on her forehead. On a near weekly basis for six months, he had taken her to medics, and the scar just sucked in chakra, never to heal. After six months, he started trying other ointments, and creams, but that didn't seem to work either. It wasn't until her right eye bled red, that Maen had decided that it wasn't a scar that could heal.

The healers had to idea how their chakra had changed the colour of her right eye, but it hadn't seemed to have any severe impact. Maen never did seem to notice that after every infusion, Rei's intelligence seemed to spike.

Nara Rei

Age: 5

"Are you sure you want to move there Rei-chan?"

In front of her, sat several tiles, moved around the board, her eyes glued on the last piece that she'd moved. Bright eyes that belonged to the recently six-year-old Nara glanced up at the man on the other end of the board. Nara Shikaku was the Head of her Clan and sat across from her with a serious sort of importance. "I can't take it back now, you can't go back after you've moved a piece," Rei told him, a little too seriously for one as young as she was.

"So you're confident that you've made the right move then, are you?"

Rei gave him a look, a sarcastic look that she was quite famous for within the Clan. "I wouldn't have made it, otherwise, Shikaku-sama."

He didn't smile, but he did lean back slightly, moving a piece that brought her very close to losing. In fact, if her Clan Head was allowed to move twice, she would lose. The move that she'd made had left her very, very open. This was clearly what he had been questioning her over. "Now, you can move the other piece, and finally I have him! After all these years!"

Rei tried not to sigh at the maniacal voice that spoke in the back of her head. Raidon was an odd guy, for someone who lived in her head. His name wasn't actually Raidon, but Rei had dubbed him that as it stood for lightning, and Raidon apparently lived in the lightning bolt scar on her forehead.

It was a very, very long story. However, it wasn't the most unusual thing that Rei had ever seen or heard in the village where she lived.

Rei took the move that he told her too, flooring her Clan Head, who looked over the board several times in bemusement. "That is an irregular tactic you used, Rei-chan," he told her with a warmer tone than his words dictated. "What made you think of it?"

"It worked though," she tried not to sound as smug as Raidon did, considering it wasn't her tactic that had won, it most certainly belonged to the voice in her head. "I thought it might work?"

Shikaku nodded, eyes flickering between her, and the board, "yes, it looks like it did."

Her Clan Head had sounded much graver than the situation warranted. It was like she stabbed him in the foot, not winning a silly board game. "What do you think of being a ninja, Rei?"

"He's being more outright than normal," Raidon warned her, "normally your old Uncle here only talks in riddles. I say, get out of the situation."

More often than not, Rei thought that Raidon often blew things out of proportion. "Need I remind you that if you die, that I die as well?"

"I want to be a ninja," Rei said a little bit louder than necessary to drown out her only friend, "Maen-oji-san has been training me for ages!"

"I see… what if I offered you a chance to go in earlier than we planned?"

"It's a trap!"

Rei smiled, trying not to roll her eyes. Raidon was truly the most paranoid disembodied voice she'd ever met, "really!? You think I'm ready? Maen-oji will be so happy!"

Rei was quickly, and efficiently enrolled into the academy, starting a week after she'd had her conversation with her Clan Leader - much to Raidon's annoyance. If anything, she thought he'd be happy that she was finally learning more ninja techniques, which he had been endlessly fascinated with previously.

"You can't agree to things without seeing the consequence, Rei. No one does things for you, just for the sake of you."

Paranoid, she'd tell you.

The first day of school her uncle had dropped her off, hardly containing his smile, or his pride. All the new students were funneled into one large room, and then subjected to several long, and boring talks - she had quite liked the one the Hokage gave, but Raidon hadn't agreed. In fact, he had told her that her Lord reminded him of an old Professor of his, another paranoid old man.

Just like Raidon was, of course.

In the hour that preceded the speeches, all the students were shuffled into six groups of twenty, given a teacher, and boxed into a small room - with a whiteboard, large windows, and rows of desks. Rei surprisingly, didn't seem to be the youngest in the room despite the fact that she'd been enrolled two years earlier than the rules dictated.

Right in the front, sat a boy nearly as small as she was with hair as black as hers, and looking quite a bit smaller than the rest of the students. Grinning, she clambered to take the seat next to him, and stuck her head quite close to his face - he didn't flinch, but he did blink in surprise; "hello, my name is Nara Rei. What's your name?"

"Uchica Itachi," his voice was quite a bit softer than she'd expected, taking her hand very quickly, and letting it go moments later, but his response had still made her smile quite brightly.

"You look younger than everyone else," Rei said conversationally, "like me, I'm six! How old are you?"

Raidon told her she was being rude, but she didn't agree with him. Itachi confirmed that they were actually the same age, him being a few months younger, and technically five, and quite contently, she claimed the seat next to him, and he didn't seem to mind. Their sensei had come in moments later, quieting down the class with some difficult work.

In the coming months, Rei would always try to sit by Itachi, and engage him in conversation after realizing that the other students weren't quite as happy to have a six-year-old in their class, let alone two. Sometimes, she really didn't want to sit by him though, but she wasn't given much of a choice by the other students. You see, Raidon was incredibly competitive and so very, very smart.

For the last two years, he had only been focused on beating Shikaku through her and was pleased when he'd finally won. He did not like it when Itachi beat her, and by extension him. Raidon got quite annoyed if she didn't listen to him, and mixed in with the training her uncle had been giving her since the moment she could walk - she quite rivaled the young boy in all their grades.

Rei was much better in physical grades then she was in theory, but with Raidon being in her head, she very rarely faltered on that front. Itachi seemed to be able to do this all on his own, leaving her to think that perhaps Itachi might also have a voice in the back of his head to help with theory work too.

It would be incredible, Rei thought, if Itachi managed all this on his own, and still managed to beat her out! "We are not getting beaten by a six-year-old," Raidon promised. Rei liked to imagine his face sometimes, in this instance, she thought that he might be scowling darkly.

Due to Raidon's competitive nature, which was much more than her own, after four months in the Academy, both were offered the option to take the graduation exam. Three and a half years early! Raidon was pleased, Itachi was pleased, Itachi's dad seemed incredibly pleased, as did Maen - Shikaku wasn't as pleased.

Despite her Clan Head's displeasure, Rei still took the graduation exam, graduating with her friend Itachi. The day that she graduated was a pretty exciting day, getting her headband, wrapping it around her forehead, and waiting outside for her Uncle to arrive. Itachi, despite both his parents being there to collect him, stayed with her and waited.

The two of them sat down by the swings, swinging back and forth together, until they were approached by a very old man. He seemed more interested in Itachi, then he was in her, but his eyes still watched her, and he seemed to make Raidon incredibly nervous. Everyone made Raidon nervous though, he was incredibly paranoid about everyone - he thought that they all wanted to kill him. Thankfully, he was chased away when her red-faced Uncle came to collect her.

What a strange man, she thought. "A politician," Raidon corrected, "and he seems very interested in Itachi, and he's amused by you. This is really not a man to be trusted, Rei - I mean it this time."

"Team two will be Izumo Tenma, Nara Rei and Uchica Itachi under Jonin Minazuki Yūki," the instructor said with the quick efficiency of a man, who had several more teams that he needed to get out within the hour. To her left, she stared at her friend Itachi out of the corner of her eye, a little glumly.

It wasn't as if she hated Itachi, in fact, she really did like him - other than the voice in her head, he was her only friend. Rei also liked Raidon, and most of the time, he was a good sport about most things, but he could get so incredibly jealous, and competitive when there was someone around that seemed smarter, or stronger than him.

Considering that he was just a voice in her head, this often manifested itself as him viewing her as his proxy; and he hassled her until she cracked. Most of the time, Rei often just wanted to keep the peace, and make everyone happy, so she listened and followed Raidon's advice. Being on a team with Itachi was going to make her next few years until she made chūnin. The other boy in her team, Rei, didn't know who he was, or what he looked like.

So, she asked Itachi if he knew, and he gestured her into the direction of one of the boys two rows ahead of them, with long, gray hair - which was the only thing she could see about him.

Rei just hoped that he wasn't some sort of genius that would spur on Raidon's intellectual rage. After their sensei had finished up dictated who ended up on which team, he advised them that their new sensei's would be around shortly to collect them. Quietly, she chatted with Itachi about what their new sensei was going to be like.

It only took their sensei fifteen minutes to arrive, and he was the second one to have done so. The man had entered, looked around with his highly polished face, ugly eyebrows and an unusually small mouth that looked a bit ridiculous on his face. "Team two, with me," he had said, and swiftly, she followed behind Itachi, trying to contain the mean thoughts that she had around the size of her new sensei's nose.

The man quickly directed the three children to a nearby training field, and sat them down, looking at each of their faces for a moment, before jumping to the next one. "Hello team, my name is Minazuki Yūki-sensei, and I will be your Jonin sensei moving forward. Today we're going to be having a meet and greet and getting to know each other a little better. To introduce myself, I'm twenty-nine years old, and I like Tampora, and I dislike Dango. My dream for the future is to settle down with a family. I have been a sensei to many new genin teams, team two will be my thirteenth genin team."

There was a silence, and Rei couldn't help but notice that Itachi seemed incredibly disinterested in what their sensei was saying. Rei for her part, was trying to wrap her head around this man having a girlfriend… with those lips? "Let's have a basic introduction from each of you, please follow the format I've used," he said this in a clipped tone. "Nara Rei, please start."

"I don't think he likes you," Raidon whispered to her, "he must already realize he's inferior to me."

Ignoring Rai, she continued; "hello, my name is Nara Rei, and I'm seven years old. I really like sweet things, and my baby cousin Shikamaru. I dislike it when people argue about nothing and my dreams for the future is to make my Uncle proud of me," Rei bowed her head, smiling.

There was a lackluster response to her introduction, Itachi went next, and for some reason, his little speech seemed to anger her other teammate more than hers did, because he had scoffed and said; "being seven isn't a personality trait, you know. It's not very impressive at all!"

Itachi appeared to not have heard him, his eyes focused on the ranch of a tree in the distance. Rei, though, took the insult rather personally and scowled, "I'm sorry that you're jealous that someone half your age is twice as smart as you," she said tightly, rolling her eyes. "Sorry, not all of us can be dimwitted morons."

Yūki-sensei seemed shocked at the direction their polite, controlled - as he seemed quite controlled, conversation went. "Jealous? Je- you think I'm jealous of two little brats!"

"Yes, yes I do," she said, staring him down, like she was egging him onto a fight. "I'm right too."

It was true that Rei didn't like to argue, but she also didn't like bullies either. Apparently, she wasn't going to like this silly boy either. "That's enough of that," Yūki-sensei said, in a voice trying to be firm, and failing, "please continue with your introduction Tenma."

Tenma glared at her heatedly, and Itachi sighed quietly. "My name is Izumo Tenma, and I dislike people who wrongly think too highly of themselves when they're not anything special," Rei glowered at him, "my dreams of the future are to put certain people in their place."

In her place, he wants to put her in her place!? "He might not be referring to you," Raidon tried, though she could hear it quite clearly in his voice, that he agreed with her.

This was the team of her nightmares.

Her new sensei seemed too disinterested in her, Itachi seemed to always cause Raidon to go crazy - and Tenma seemed like a jealous little idiot.

Maybe she should have just stayed in the Academy like Shikaku had wanted her to.

After they had gotten to know each other, and Rei realized that she wasn't going to like anyone on her new team, they were dismissed, and grumpily, she tugged back home, muttering darkly to Raidon in her mind about how annoying Tenma was.

By the time she got home, she was already in a darker, grumpier mood than she had been when fighting with her eldest teammate. Maen-oji was home when she got there, and he greeted her with a cheerful grin, clearly ignoring the fact that she was in a terrible mood. "So, who did you end up with?" he'd asked cheerfully, with an already prepared snack, that Rei scoffed down a little too quickly.

"Itachi," she said swiftly, finding it ironic that at the start of her day, he was her biggest problem, and now he seemed the only one on the team that she liked. "A boy named Izumo Tenma, who is really jealous that Itachi and I are seven, and Minazuki Yūki-sensei."

Maen snorted. "Minazuki-san, huh? He's quite experienced, a very solid sensei to get you promoted to chūnin within two years, at least."

"I don't like him," she proclaimed quite boldly, and incredibly petulant.

Maen shook his head, "you don't have to, you just need to learn from him. Speaking of learning, guess what we'll be learning today, Rei-chan?"

Quirking her head, she stared up at her uncle with her big green/red eyes widening even further, causing him to crack quite quickly. "Well, I spoke with Shikaku-sama as we decided that it would be best if you started learning the clan jutsu."

Forgetting how grumpy she had been moments before, a large grin overtook most of her face, and she tried her hardest not to squeal in her excitement. Finally, finally! "Finally!"

"I was thinking about starting with the shadow possession jutsu."

Yay!

"This… this is not… not how it's meant to work," Maen said hours later, staring in horror at the plant that Rei had managed to finally connect her shadow to, only for her to wrangle the plant, like the shadow was a solid chain or whip and uprooted the whole thing. "I don't… understand?"

Neither did Rei, and her ever constant commentator was oddly silent. "We need… we need Shikaku-sama."

Moments later, Rei found herself dragged across her compound to the Head's house and contemplated just how crazy her day had been. Rei was deposited in the main room with Yoshino-san and her three-year-old son, Shikamaru, who quickly challenged her to a game of Go. Maen disappeared to speak with their Head within mere seconds.

Three games with the three-year-old later, and numerous thoughts about why she was so strange, Maen and Shikaku-sama filtered back into the room. Yoshino then took Shikamaru to his room, saying it was nap time, which the little boy didn't protest, and the two men sat by her side. "Theoretically," Shikaku told her, "anyone can learn our shadow techniques. The only requirement is really intelligence, the fact that you, Rei are only a half-blood Nara should not make any impact on how well you can use the shadows."

So, she was just a strange, unusual girl who didn't belong? Was it Raidon's fault?

That night, Rei spent most of the night with the Clan Elders testing and prodding exactly where her usage of their Clan's secret techniques had mutilated.

The next morning, Rei was so exhausted that her Uncle had to drag her from bed. When one is learning to use shadows, they can usually only hold it for a few seconds without a target. The Elders had her use the technique again, and again, and again, trying to pinpoint where it was going wrong.

By the time she was ready for the day, clad in her black pants, and navy long sleeve - the same as her Uncle wore, but he had a chūnin vest and sandals instead of boots, and dragged herself off to the meeting point for her team - maybe thirty odd minutes late. "You're late," Yūki-sensei said as a way of greeting, "don't be late again."

Rei sighed and rubbed her exhausted eyes. Yūki then proceeded to let them know that today they would be taking a few missions, as a way for him to properly gauge where their skill sets were up to. The fact that she was already expected to take a mission, or more than one, made her ready to cry.

As the group progressed towards the Hokage's tower to get assigned their missions, Itachi asked her why she was so late. "Clan business, when the Nara encounter a problem they can't solve, things become quite troublesome until they've figured out the problem."

There was a ghost of a smile on her friend's face as they approached the tower and were admitted to the Hokage's office. Yūki-sensei asked for three d-rank missions, and the Hokage had listed the three he thought they'd be able to get done in one day.

They had to catch a cat, paint a fence and then catch 60 fish from the Naka River for a Fish Monger. They were all equally as disgruntled as the next, and they decided by order of their sensei to start off with hunting the silly cat named Tora.

By the end, Rei was certainly not amused.

Yūki-sensei wasn't completely horrible, Rei decided two weeks into her time on team two. He was still a little annoying, but he was a very good teacher, and very stringent on the basics, and wrote pretty good training programs for them.

At least, hers and even Tenma's was pretty good - but Itachi was furious with him. Honestly, she didn't blame him for getting annoyed at it, either, as he seemed… Well, it wasn't as if it wasn't as comprehensive, but Itachi was actually much more advanced than he'd let show in the Academy, much to Raidon's consternation. After training once or twice a week, she would train with a member of her Clan as well, trying to figure out why her use of shadows always seemed to mutate.

Other times, at least once a week, she spent with Itachi. They would spar for a little, with the boy always winning, and subjecting Rei to a lecture from the voice in her head. One day, before they were set to spar, already in a pretty poor mood (their mission that day was to walk several of the Inuzuka dogs that had dragged her through the mud), so she decided something that she thought she could win at. "Do you play Shōgi, Itachi?"

Itachi had agreed to forgo their training session together that week and followed her back to her house. She'd be lying if she didn't notice the way some of her fellow Clans' men tensed when she walked past with the Uchica. She wasn't stupid, she knew that Uchica weren't very well liked. When they reached her house, and let him in, he seemed to relax. The house was empty. On the table sat a note which she picked up, ignoring how awkward Itachi looked in the house. "Would you like something to drink? We have the board set up in the other room," she told him, already shuffling to the kitchen, throwing the note out and starting to prepare tea without his say-so.

Itachi followed, even if he didn't say anything, his eyes lingered on the discarded note for a few seconds; "my Uncle went on a mission, he was just letting me know that he wasn't going to be home and Shikaku-sama is expecting me for dinner."

Itachi nodded and didn't seem to be bothered enough to ask why she lived with her Uncle. Rei continued on anyway, "my parents died in the war, I live with my mother's little brother."

Itachi mumbled about how he was sorry to hear that, and voiced his opinion that war was never necessary. After she'd finished preparing the tea, she forced Itachi into their spare room, holding the pot for her, and set up the tea around the board, with Itachi fixing the board.

The first game, Rei won, which was enough to cheer her up. The second game was close, but Itachi managed to outsmart her and Raidon at the last minute. Three games later though, Itachi couldn't seem to replicate those results. For some reason, losing seemed to delight him. "You're much better than I thought you'd be," she said with her lips turning upwards, she only needed to use Raidon's help once or twice, which impressed her that she'd needed him at all.

She was getting better at the game without him helping her. In fact, he never even chipped in when she played Maen-oji anymore. "You're much better than I thought you'd be," Itachi admitted. "You must play this a lot."

Rei shrugged, before she nodded. "It's a big part of being a Nara. I play my Clan Head at least twice a week. I've only bet him twice," she admitted, smiling a bit brighter, shaking her head, "most of the adults in my clan can't beat Shikaku-sama. Maen-oji never has."

After that day, they both introduced another day where they would play a game over tea - until the day that she was invited over to the Uchiha compound for dinner. Itachi had invited her over for tea, and a game of Go that he would lose moments later. He'd seemed nervous to even ask. Rei had smiled, and agreed quickly and they'd schooled it for the following day after training. Maen-oji had been annoyed about it, and he insisted that she needed to go, dressed nicely or she wasn't going at all.

Maen however, had a terrible taste in clothes, so she had to get Yoshino-sama to help her pick something out, and help her get dressed. After they finished, Yoshino had told her how cute she looked, and Shikaku had told her to be careful when she conversed with the Uchica Clan.

Thankfully, she didn't get lectured too much, as Raidon was even strangely quiet about the whole matter. The Uchica were a noble Clan sure, but so were the Nara. It wasn't like this wasn't something she'd gone through before, right? Granted, she was a half-blood from a distant branch family. If she hadn't been so smart, hadn't had Raidonin her head, she didn't think that Shikaku would have been so invested in her development.

Rei quickly went over to the compound, and then had an escort to Itachi's house. The black-haired girl marveled about how many guards there were in the Uchiha compound compared to hers. Itachi greeted her at the door, with a tiny (maybe three?) a year old connected to his leg. He dismissed the guy who had brought her (Tekka-san) and greeted her nervously. "Hello Rei-san," he said with a formal bow. "This is my little brother Sasuke-chan."

Not caring about how it might crease her kimono, she ducked down till she was eye level with the little boy and smiled brightly. Sasuke was very, very cute, with messy black hair, and Itachi's eyes - he half-hid his face in Itachi's leg. "Hi Sasuke-kun, my name is Rei-chan, it's very nice to meet you!"

Little Sasuke peered out at her, and gave her a very toothy grin, before he hid his face again. Rei straightened up, trying to press the creases out of her dress. "You look nice," Itachi said, "you didn't have to wear a kimono."

"Shikaku-sama insisted," she said, even though it wasn't only him that was insistent. "Yoshino-sama even took me shopping. I think that she was pretty excited. I think she might have been a little disappointed that Shikamaru-chan was a boy."

Itachi smiled, and took her inside his house. It was much grander than her own, and even Shikaku-sama's. Itachi first introduced her to his mother, who was a pretty woman, who Sasuke and Itachi resembled greatly. The woman was soft, and kind, and even complimented her kimono. Itachi's father was much quieter, and much grumpier.

"That man is dangerous," Raidon had said warningly, as she sat down at their dinner table, being introduced to the man. "Don't say anything stupid."

The conversation at the start was a little awkward and stilted. Mikoto was a great conversationalist and would bring very general conversation out of everyone at the table. Itachi's dad did not possess the ease of conversation that his wife did. He didn't seem interested in her hobbies, or hair ribbons, but more interested in her Clan, and her position in it.

Rei had honestly told him that she was in a very unimportant branch of the family - but he didn't seem to completely believe her. "Itachi tells me you regularly play shōgi with your clan head."

It wasn't a question, but a statement. Rei nodded a little unsure, nearly waiting for Raidon to tell her what to say. "My parents have passed," she admitted quite freely, "that makes me the responsibility of the Clan."

Itachi's dad didn't stop there, and by the end, Rei was glad that he wasn't her dad.

Which made Rei think… Who was her father?

Team two got their first c-rank mission four months after they'd become a team. In the past four months they had undertaken nearly fifty d-rank missions, and Rei would be glad to never do another one again. Their first c-rank however, had been a bit of a difficult one, in hot water, where they had been asked to remove a traveling samurai who had been giving the locals a bit of a hard time.

They had left for the week, and in the end, it was Rei who ended up killing the man when his back had been turned. It had been awful, but Raidon had comforted her with words, telling her that he'd killed hundreds, that he never felt guilty about it.

Rei didn't think she could ever be like Raidon.

After that mission, like a floodgate, they were given many c-rank missions - with only one or two d-rank missions sprinkled in. Itachi would shine in the more difficult missions, but he didn't always outshine his two teammates either. Tenma was quite fast, and very good with genjutsu, so in all the missions where they were required to sneak in and steal something - or infiltrate somewhere, he typically took the lead.

Of course, Itachi was much better in hand-to-hand combat situations than Tenma was, and to a smaller degree Rei. Rei herself, using Raidon's knowledge, was typically very good at quickly coming up with a rock-solid strategy that would normally work.

Such as the time when there was a prison break in the Land of Tea, and they were called in to collect all the criminals that had gotten out when the regular lawmen were outmanned with catching them. Rei had quite quickly taken the list of criminals and what they were in for, and Raidon seemed to know exactly where they'd be. Each one was exactly where Raidon had said they'd be, which had seemed to surprise their sensei.

When he'd asked how she knew, she lied as said, "contextual clues."

There were missions where none of them seemed to be in their element, such as the one they'd have, six months in which they had been contracted to spy on a very pretty young lady by her husband. It had been difficult to create reasons for a team of children to follow her places, and had to rely on their henge, which each could only keep up for an hour at a time. In the end, they did manage to catch her out, cheating on her husband, but Rei was still unsure how they'd managed it.

By the time that Rei had been a genin for half a year, she had undertaken nine c-rank missions. Team two had developed a bit of a reputation for completing missions quickly, efficiently, and taking many more then other genin teams. The Hokage seemed quite pleased with them, which might have been why they had been selected to complete a mission to hunt an Iwa ninja that had been seen spying on Konoha.

It wasn't a mission that would typically be given to a genin team, as it was a b-rank mission. It was also the first time it occurred to Rei that she might possibly die doing the job she was doing. The team hunted the tall, dark-skinned man around Konoha, and tried to make sure he couldn't see them. Evaluations had said he was between chunin and jonin level, so Rei had wanted them to be incredibly careful.

She was the strategist, after all. Rei wanted to watch him, evaluate him and then she had wanted to have Itachi overwhelm him, while she nabbed him with her shadow jutsu. Tenma, she knew, had been rather upset with her plan, as it had him as backup for Itachi, and he'd ended up going against her plans.

Tenma had jumped the gun, and charged the man without their knowledge, or Rei's say so. Within mere moments, it came to Rei's understanding that the man was clearly a jonin, and Tenma was in a good predicament. Thinking quickly, she knew that she needed to make a distraction, and had told Itachi as much.

The Uchica quickly intervened with an incredibly large fireball that she was very, very interested in learning, so that Rei could catch him with her shadow. They still hadn't figured out how to make her shadows less solid, but this seemed to be a situation where she'd need to use it anyway. The shadows seemed to pull him down, and chain him for long enough, to allow Itachi to put the chakra suppressing handcuffs on the man.

Temna had seemed angry with them for intervening, insisting that he was never really in any danger. At least, he admitted that the fireball was fairly impressive, as was Rei's quickly thought-out plan. Bringing the Iwa ninja in alive, and successfully completing their first b-rank mission had impressed their Hokage.

"Why can't I learn how to use fire jutsu, they're cool, Maen-oji," Rei had groaned, pouting, "I wanna learn how to do a fireball like Itachi! I don't know any jutsu!"

Maen sighed and rubbed his forehead. "You don't get to choose what jutsu you can learn, Rei. You have a great control over your Yin release, and you know many Shadow Style jutsu. I don't see the issue."

Rei pouted, "I want to learn something cooler than that!"

For once, even Raidon was in agreement with Rei - saying that she should also know the techniques. In fact, he seemed to think she should learn all the jutsu in the universe. He was strange like that. "It's not about being cool, Rei," Maen said warningly.

"Are you saying that I can't use any elemental jutsu?" Rei huffed, widening her eyes as she glanced up at him with her pretty glowing eyes. "I just want to keep up with my bestest friend!"

Rei could see Maen cracking. "Fine," he sighed, "I'll get you tested, and we can see what element reacts to you. That doesn't mean that I can teach you anything though. Or that you can learn it either. Elemental manipulation is difficult, Rei."

He'd said it warningly, but she was just pleased that she'd won over him. Hours later, they arrived at one of the ninja supply stores and Maen had very reluctantly asked for chakra paper. It was much more expensive for a single sheet than Rei expected, but did as she was instructed by the merchant, and channeled a little bit of her chakra into the paper, which crumbled instantly. "It's unusual for a Nara to have lightning chakra," the man had said, "I didn't expect that."

Maen had gone incredibly pale when this had been announced and had quickly hurried her from the store - telling her that she should not practice any lightning jutsu until he'd talked to Shikaku.

Rei found the entire situation incredibly strange. "Maen wasn't surprised," Raidon had warned her, "he wasn't surprised, but he was horrified. Does he question if you belong to your clan?"

The black haired, green eyed genin certainly hoped that her uncle didn't think that.

Due to their impeccable record, and the completion of the b-rank mission weeks before, team two was given another incredibly important mission quickly after the first. It had been a great honor, something that even Shikaku-sama had been surprised with when she'd told him.

They had been given the b-rank mission to become the guards for the Fire Daimyo's annual trip to Konoha. It really was a ceremonial job, and not worth the rank it was given - as they were really only for show. The honor usually went to a Jonin team, however this time, they'd been granted the honor, due to their mission record.

They were one of the only teams that had a 100% completion rate with fifty-four completed d-ranks, thirteen c-ranks and their successful b-rank. It was unheard of, and Rei thought most of it had been down to Itachi. If asked, Itachi would say it was mainly Rei's fault.

They had dressed perfectly, in a Konoha standard uniform, and raced across to collect the esteemed man. They were then paraded around before they left, slowly escorting him through empty streets. Three nights in, they were full days stay out of Konoha when the unthinkable had happened.

One second, Rei walked behind the Daimyo, and the next her mind went blank, and Raidon was shouting. "You're being fooled/ Your eyes are deceiving you. Focus Rei!"

Focusing her energy, with Rai's insistence, she quickly broke out of the genjutsu that held her. What was going on? "They're attacking your Daimyo!"

Yūki-sensei had gone down like a sack of potatoes, but her two teammates didn't - they didn't take as long as Rei had to snap out of it, because they had already launched an attack on a tall, masked man. Watching the two boys attack, she watched as one of Tenma's attacks with a kunai went through the masked man harmlessly.

Thinking on her feet, her shadow launched forward, but couldn't seem to connect with the masked man. "He's not actually there," Rei shouted at the boys, "he doesn't have a shadow! Watch your back!"

"You should have been more cautious," the masked man said, in a cool, very creepy tone of voice that echoed around them. To her left, the Fire Daimyo shrunk back even further then he already had. "You attacked too fast, too foolishly."

Suddenly, another masked man appeared behind him, and Rei lashed out with her shadow, in pure terror. The masked man couldn't complete his attack, as she forced him to jump out of the way. He turned suddenly, like he was smiling. "The Nara doesn't have solid shadows; how did you mutate that? What is the Nara Clan hiding?"

Rei didn't falter but took a more solid defensive strange in front of the Daimyo. Tenma was still to the right, and Itachi was the closer to of the two of them - she'd distracted him momentarily. The man was by her moments later, much too fast for her to follow his moves.

Then the strangest thing had happened when he panicked and without a plan, she lashed out with another shadow. The masked man had very stupidly attacked the team at night, giving Rei ample darkness to work with. He ducked, with her attack never landing. "How… interesting."

From her right, Itachi surged forward, his kunai hitting the masked man's - getting one good attack in while he was distracted with Rei. It didn't matter what they did, or what strategery they seemed to use, as the masked man seemed to always be a step ahead of them.

Until he'd plunged an arm right through Tenma's body, disappearing moments later.

Why on earth had someone attacked the Daimyo, just to kill a genin, and not the actual fire Daimyo?

"Because the fire Daimyo wasn't his target, Rei. Neither were you, and neither was Tenma," Raidon told her, as Itachi went to work waking up sensei from his genjutsu, and Rei stood frozen in front of the Daimyo. Eyes glued on Tenma, and the giant hole in his chest where his heart used to be. "He was very interested in Itachi, and I believe you've caught his attention now too. Rei. You need to be incredibly careful."

Who was the masked man, and what did he want with Itachi?

For once, she didn't think that Raidon was simply a paranoid voice in the back of her head.