It was a bright morning, sunlight leaking through the windows of the Third Hokage's office. The Hokage himself was seated behind a large desk stacked with piles of paperwork, writing furiously. He needed to get things done much quicker than this. As he wrote, his pen scratching against the paper, the sunlight a constant distraction, there was a knock at the door.

"Come in," he called wearily. The door opened and two jounin entered, each holding the upper arms of a young girl, who couldn't have been any older than twelve or thirteen. The Hokage stood up and stepped around his desk before stopping in front of the young girl, who was staring boldly back at him.

"We found this girl entering the village. She wore no headband and seemingly has no ties to our village, or any village for that matter, and refused to tell us her name, so we brought her to you," one of the jounin told him.

"Very well. Miratashi, Thisuha, you may leave."

The two men released the girl's arms and walked out, closing the door behind them. The girl looked pretty harmless. She had black hair and extremely pale skin, a curious combination.

"Who are you?" the Hokage asked gently.

"Eira," she replied simply. "I was told to come here to live. I have no family. I have trained as a ninja though," she added helpfully.

The Hokage looked at her thoughtfully. How was it that she refused to tell the two Jounin her name and yet had no problem telling him? He voiced this question.

"Because you're the Hokage. And they're not," she answered bluntly. The Hokage chuckled. There was something strange about this girl. The genuine bluntness of her answer was strange and intriguing at the same time.

"Very well, you may stay in the village, but Jounin in the village will be keeping a close eye on you until we're sure you're not up to anything," he told her. "We currently have no available houses but you are welcome to temporarily live with one of the genin your age. Starting tomorrow you will be enrolled in the Ninja academy. You'll have to do a lot of training tonight, it's graduation day tomorrow. You're at genin level, am I right?"

Eira nodded.

"You may be dismissed. By the way.. I'll need your surname," he added with a slight smile.

"Kihara," she replied, before turning and leaving.

Eira's POV

They told me to come HERE? Ridiculous. Two grown men confront me as soon as I walk in and there's an old man ruling the village?, I thought to myself as I wandered aimlessly through the streets of the Leaf Village. I actually had to skirt around the entrance to the village just to convince myself this was actually the leaf village. I heard barking and soon saw Eriko, my little golden puppy running towards me, yapping happily. I picked her up and cuddled her, before placing her on top of my head. She seemed to enjoy it up there, her small paws hanging over my forehead and bangs.

"What's cookin' good lookin'?" a voice said behind me. I whipped round to see a boy wearing a grey jacket with the fur-rimmed hood down, containing a small white puppy, and spiky brown hair winking at me. He had strange red marks on his cheeks, like fangs.

"How corny," I retorted, turning and walking away from him.

"Wait!" he called. "What's your name?"

"Eira," I replied, looking over my shoulder.

"I'm Kiba!" he called back.

"Nice to meet you.." I said, quieter than before, and walked off. That puppy of his... He bore an uncanny resemblance to Eriko. Strange.

Soon I realised I didn't even have any money. Well this is just fantastic, isn't it? I thought to myself wearily. I couldn't even book a room in the inn for the night.

It looked like I'd be sleeping outdoors for the time being. I couldn't even get any food or a blanket to keep me warm. I'd come totally unprepared. I sighed and carried on walking, dragging my feet along the path, looking at the floor until I bumped into someone.

I looked up to see a boy about my age with raven black hair and onyx eyes.

"Watch where you're going," I muttered, even though it was probably my fault we bumped into each other.

"Hn," he replied. I supposed he wasn't much of a talker.

Night fell rapidly as I wandered the streets, and I realised I was going to have to find a place to stay. I was exhausted from my long trek to get to the village, so exhausted I didn't even have the energy to climb a tree. Instead I found a nice one with lots of branches and leaves, creating a nice shelter, and curled up at the bottom of it. Eriko climbed on my lap and tried to make me warmer, and I cuddled her close, slowly drifting off to sleep.

I was awakened by someone in my face, loudly inquiring why I was asleep under a tree. I opened one eye, suppressing a yawn, to see a boy with spiky, blindingly bright yellow hair, cerulean blue eyes and weird markings on his cheeks. He was wearing a weird orange jumpsuit.

"Could you get out of my face please?" I asked irritably, annoyed that I'd been woken up by some idiot.

"Sorry," the boy muttered, blushing. I opened my eyes fully and stood up, Eriko jumping into the hood of my hoodie. I wasn't very tall, and it didn't look like this boy was either. I was only an inch shorter than him, and I was quite short for my age.

"Your name?" I inquired.

"I am Naruto Uzumaki, Believe it!" he exclaimed, fist pumping the air. I sweat dropped, wondering if he was always like that.

"Yes, he's always like that," a bored-sounding voice told me, reading my mind. I saw a boy with spiky hair in a ponytail leaning against a tree.

"How did you know what I was thinking?" I asked, confused.

"Everyone thinks that," he replied, smirking.

Suddenly I realised; I was supposed to be at the academy! I waved and ran at top speed and reached the academy, panting, only to find the classroom empty. Maybe I was a little early...

I decided to wander round some more. Big mistake. I ran into the Uzumaki kid again.

"Heey, I wondered where you ran off to, I wanted to ask what... what your name was?" he inquired, blushing.

"Eira," I muttered, then walked away as he shot off at top speed. I wondered where he was going. It took a while for me to realise, but them it dawned on me. He was at the academy too, and he must have been late.

"Naruto! He- Hey! Naruto!" I yelled, racing after him, but he was too far away to hear me now. I arrived at the academy and burst into my classroom to see it now filled with students. They all turned to stare at me.

"Sorry I'm late," I mumbled. Everyone was still staring at me.

"What?" I asked rhetorically, annoyed, as I picked a random leaf out of my hair. "Am I some kind of freakshow? ...Wait, don't answer that." I sighed and sat in the only available seat next to that Kiba dude. Eriko hopped onto the desk in front of me, resting her head on her paws.

"Ah, you must be the new girl. Eika, am I correct?" the sensei at the front of the classroom said to me.

"It's Eira," I replied stiffly.

"Yeah, sorry," he awkwardly scratched the back of his head. "I'm Iruka Sensei."

"Hi Iruka," I said, stroking Eriko's head.

"Iruka-sensei, if you please," Iruka answered.

"Sorry Iruka." This caused some of the students to chuckle. Kiba grinned at me, but I stared at him blankly.

Iruka sighed and began explaining the basics of the graduation exam. I stopped listening after a while and sat talking to Eriko. I noticed Kiba was staring at her curiously.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing.. she just looks familiar." he shook his head, still scrutinizing Eriko.

"Whatever," I muttered, turning away from him.

I seriously didn't think I was going to enjoy being here. What was he thinking? making me come all the way here.

I didn't understand my life sometimes..

Thanks for reading! I'm gonna upload the first 13 chapters now because I'm carrying this over from another site where I have it posted J I hope you enjoyed! Sorry if my author's notes at the end of each chapter annoy you, just ignore them J