Chapter 12: The White tiger

A/N: Sorry for the wait, my 'college' is going crazy with all the exams the teachers are giving us, and the Christmas exams are coming as well, on top of the regular tests we have, which makes 6 exams this week. I realize that I've been late in my updates since a few months ago, but... well... :/

I do not own Naruto in any way, I only own this story and my OCs!

-Kakashi-

Konoha is under attack.

Well, that thought made Kakashi pause. Because no matter how well trained he was and how much experience he has - for a chuunin as young as he is - he was not expecting this. Konoha is powerful; extremely so, since she came out victorious of two major wars with little casualties. Powerful enough so that her name is taboo in most hidden villages. So he never even considered the possibility of a direct attack on the village, because it just isn't possible, and it has nothing to do with the fact that he's a 10 years old chuunin, even with eyes and a mind that were too old for his body. Someone may argue that overlooking something like that is quite foolish, but who can blame him? He is not a war veteran after all. Not yet anyways.

Perhaps he overestimated Konoha's power; perhaps it's because this had never happened before; perhaps it was because he was under the delusion that, even in a war, they cannot be attacked. Or it was simply because of the fact that, with over 400 experienced sensors and trackers posted everywhere from Fire country's borders to the deepest part of the sewer system right under the headquarters of Root, no enemy could ever get through. Yes, he was aware of Danzo's Ne's existance, since a few months in fact: he had taken to the habit of sneaking into his father's study in the few nights sleep seemingly forget him, and he happened to stumble upon a scroll with detailed information on Root and all the places Danzo left fingerprints, ally or not. His father had done quite the spying he must say. He knew his father was aware of his little visits, but the man probably trusted him to not go into potentially dangerous scrolls; and he was right seeing as Kakashi had pretty much dropped the scroll the second he realized what it meant. The Hatake heir was by no mean stupid: he knew that he was nowhere powerful enough to be able to protect such crucial information if an enemy ever got him. He wonders if Danzo, the old war hawk as everyone calls him, knew that his actions were not as hidden as he thought they were.

'But now is not the time to sit and ponder on such trivial thing,' Kakashi thought with a fierce scowl, 'because it is now my job as a chuunin of this village to protect her and her villagers.'

And he may be not the best at defending, but Kakashi knew he was damn good at attacking.

The young teen disappeared in a soundless Shunshin, never noticing the black shadow silently following him.

-Sasuke-

She was annoyed.

She had been woken up by the dobe way too early for her taste, around six in the morning, and she knew that Naruto was aware that they both had fallen asleep around four; even then, they had too much on their minds to be able to rest peacefully. Even if they both were more than capable to go without sleep for about a week, thanks to a certain Uchiha ancestor of hers, she certainly was not going to pass such a good chance to rest, or any other chance so to speak. The dirty yellow of the walls and the stiffness of the beds were certainly not helping, but since it's already way better compared to what they had during the war, Sasuke was not going to complain. Sleeping on the ground or on a tree is not exactly what she'd comfortable all year long after all.

Naruto had immediately started to jump around, carelessly tossing cloths at Sasuke and telling her to hurry up, something about being impatient to go eating. The woman looked happy, the sunlight reflecting on her now bloody red hair; but Sasuke knew better than to believe the facade her Hokage, no, her friend put up; she knew the dobe better than anyone after all, perhaps even more than Hinata because of everything they had to go through together (the raven winced at the memory of an encounter between her chidori and the chest of her superior), and she can recognize that glint in her friend's azure eye anywhere. A glint that she sees in the mirror every morning. They were eyes that had seen war, the black side of the human heart; eyes that had already gone too far, too far into the bottomless abyss that is insanity to ever hope to come back again.

'But again, madness is the thing that allowed us to ever come this far without breaking...'

Beating those depressing thoughts back into nothingness, Sasuke continued to practice her Uchiha scowl on everyone who dared to do as little as look at her. Then there is the fact that she was forced to disguise herself as a civilian woman, and she almost put on a Henge - the one Naruto invented in her youth, only toned down quite a bit - out of habit only to realize that she didn't need one anymore since the...change. That realization hit her hard, and she was almost tempted to pull some of her now ridiculously long hair out; but as a dignified Uchiha, she will never do that. Why can't she just sneak around in her shinobi attire? She's good enough to be able to supress her chakra signature to almost non-existent, and the dobe knew it; no, she had to put on those uncomfortably tight civilian pants – that were called jeans, if she remembered correctly – that wouldn't even let her place a good kick without tearing the material, and high heels that just begged for her to break – how can anyone walk straight with those anyways? And worse of all, the dobe had the nerve to laugh at her... slight discomfort. At least the idiot shut up after she threatened to slap a silent seal on her mouth for the rest of the mission.

And then, just as her pent up anger was about to burst when she couldn't get into any shop without men leering at her and jealous wives glaring holes in her skull, those drunken bastards who are not even worthy of the dirt on the ground she walks came and tried to get a feel – and as a hopeless civilian woman, she cannot do anything but to allow herself to be led in those disgusting alleys that stink of vomit. Oh, what satisfaction she would have when those idiots will be lying on the ground, crying and begging for her mercy!

She chuckled madly in her mind, and an evil smirk grew slowly on her face as she realized that no one will see what she does to these men. Just a little bit won't hurt, not for her anyways, and Naruto wouldn't mind if the dobe didn't know...

And, well, she also can't deny that she she felt slightly smug over the fact that her good looks remained, what with all those past fangirls turning into fanboys. She now only had to hope that her once fanboys (and there were quite a few of them) won't turn now into fangirls... yuck.

Now, putting aside all that useless thinking, Sasuke knew better than to let the tight control on her chakra go. She had something called 'chakra field': it was the result of the giant chakra reserves she had. Instead of flowing smoothly like a river in her body, her chakra was more like a wild whirlpool; to avoid chakra overload, she had to transfer a certain amount of it into something else every few hours. It had not been a problem on the battlefield as she had been throwing massive chakra consuming jutsus around, but it became a huge disadvantage when it came to hiding and escaping Madara: it was almost better than to paint a huge target on her back. So she had to constantly redirect her chakra outwards, creating unintentionally a sort of barrier that extends to a few dozen meters around her. It allowed her to completely supress her chakra for a few days since she have that way a lot less chakra to control than normal (her definition of 'normal' is slightly different though). On top of that, it boosted her sensing range to more than a mile and allowed her to practice her chakra control 24/7. The only drawback is that when she's not supressing her chakra, the chakra in her body and the chakra in the field will combine and any chakra blast higher than jonin level will cause an immediate collision between the two and create an explosion able to level any village in a few seconds. Useful on the battlefield but not so much right now.

So it had been dealt with the moment Naruto had been able to move, precisely the third night they spent in the hospital after their return. She had put a chakra storing seal on them both and activated it to level 16 for Sasuke and 25 for herself. No matter how evenly skilled they were, the loud redhead still had tons of chakra in extra compared to Sasuke's already more than massive reserves. The raven was of course not going to complain as she experienced firsthand how troublesome it was to manipulate all that while trying to waste as little as possible. But even with the seal they both chose to keep a toned-down version of chakra field around them: they were after all not going to lose such an advantage. Oh the pleasure she would have when she would see the surprise on her enemies' faces as their own chakra explode in their faces...

Yeah. And no one ever told her that she was slightly sadistic.

So, because of all those things that are going to give her a headache sooner than what she'd like, Sasuke squashed the idea of releasing her control the second it appeared and kicked herself mentally for even thinking about that. The Uchiha was about to tell the men off when she suddenly sensed a huge chakra blast coming her way, distracting her from the drunken men surrounding her; her eyes widened and she managed to jump a few feet back a millisecond before the wall a few meters from her collapsed suddenly, followed by the sound of an explosion that made her ears ring painfully. Sasuke, like most shinobi, had enhanced hearing, and her senses were considered to be one of the bests; so if she didn't instinctively send chakra to her ears, she was sure they would be bleeding very, very badly, not to mention that if that blast collided with her chakra field when she had it at full power, the explosion would probably destroy the entire village and a bit more.

She knew something went wrong. Awfully so, because the chakra signature accompanying the blast is way too powerful to be normal; it contained so much...anguish and guilt that it made her dizzy and slightly weak in the knees. The raven knew instinctively that it belonged to her target: after all, this kind of situation happens almost every time an Anbu mission jumps from A-rank to S-rank. She had to hurry: she has to stop whatever is happening, since it can't be good; Sasuke knew that her own chakra gave off a similar vibe for a major part of her life, and for another person to have it... she didn't want to know what happened to the poor guy. But then, as she extended her sensing range, another powerful chakra source, this once familiar, hit her and she would have smiled if not for the current situation.

As the villagers began to panic, Sasuke swiftly knocked the confused and drunken men out with a quick chop on their neck. She didn't have the lux to waste time with them anymore. Not with the unconscious man under the collapsed wall that she knew isn't supposed to be here. She'll have to take care of him quickly if she wanted to be able to help Naruto with whatever is going on.

-Naruto-

So much anguish. So much suffering she can sense... so much that she can smell it in the air, the guilt and the helplessness almost making her choke. It was painful. So much worse than the unworldly potent killing intent of the Juubi. Her left eye hurts, and the urge to use its power was becoming overwhelming, just like every time she feels threatened; only that this time, it was because of the sickening fear and pain that assaulted her senses. The still form in the midst of the destruction was the source of that suffering; she can barely see anything past the light screen of smoke surrounding him, not fading unlike the dissipating smoke around her.

She can tell that the being was powerful; every fiber of her being screamed it at her, telling her to escape if only her legs would move. The smoke around him had a strange golden color, almost like the golden dust that caused so much fear during the yondaime Kazekage's reign; but the being was anything but dangerous, or at least had no ill intent against her, his chakra flow told her that. No...he was calm, and a little bit sad. Nevertheless, beads of cold sweat still ran down her back from the nervousness she felt as the being's scarily imposing aura brushed against her own impressive presence. His was commanding, as if telling you to bow down, unlike hers that was warm, welcoming with a hidden dangerous edge. She cannot see him, and yet she felt minuscule compared to the mysterious being.

The almost ethereal golden glow around him made her left eye itch even more, and before she can stop herself, she opened it and the world around her immediately shifted: the left side of her vision became black and white, and everything suddenly became so much more. Naruto grunted when she felt her chakra storing seal being forced to release a few levels, since using this power seemed to be extremely taxing on chakra, even more so than Sasuke's Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan; reacting to the sudden augmentation, the invisible chakra field around her almost doubled in size in a matter of seconds. She really should have expected it. She can now hear the wind, feel the low grumbling of the earth, and most of all, see the life energy swirling in the air with the wind and slowly flowing in the ground, small tendrils of it within every plant, rock, and animal. It wasn't chakra. No, it was completely different yet similar, as if chakra was part of it. Even sage mode can't compare with this. But something felt wrong, different from the few times she has called upon this power. As if... as if there was something missing, something she couldn't pinpoint.

However, the beautiful view didn't last long as the vague and familiar form of a man entered her vision.

'When did he get so clo-'

'Kit!'

'K-kurama?'

'Kit, this isn't the time to space out! Focus, dammit!'

'What were you doing?! You didn't answer any of my calls since t-'

'KIT!'

Surprised at the sudden outburst, Naruto only had the time to register the fact that Kyubi cut their connection before another violent chakra wave sent her tumbling to the ground. A small gasp escaped her lips and she closed her eyes, knowing that the slight daze caused by the abrupt disconnection with Kyubi will prevent her from reacting fast enough to cushion her fall. But the impact never happened.

The Uzumaki cracked an eye open, and she was met with the view of a powerful chest. Her other eye snapped open in surprise as she felt an arm around her waist, preventing her from falling. Mismatched eyes widened to impossible size as the man smiled at her, the expression almost alien on her target's face. Amused amber eyes stared back at her.

''Pleased to meet you, Onee-sama.''

-Kiba-

The famous Anbu capitain was pleasantly surprised. At first, when Hokage-sama assigned him this mission, he almost refused despite never having turned down anything before even if he had the right to do so, in fact he could have for anything under S-rank. And this mission was A-rank, but the Hokage had insisted on its importance for the village. Kiba knew that it could damn well have been anyone else that got chosen; even a fresh jonin would be able to do this job! But no, Hokage-sama had to choose him and end his well-earned vacations a week in advance, vacations that he had neglected the past few years no matter how his teammates had insisted. He scowled at that thought: he had counted on this week to finally do some very late father-son bonding with his boy - no, not boy anymore, no one can still be a kid after becoming chuunin. But Kakashi will always be a kid in his mind: he was his little, adorable Kashi, after all. Well, his and his wife's, who had been gone for several years already.

The mission scroll said that he was supposed to keep an eye on the newest – and highly unusual – pair of Anbu, follow them anywhere they go, missions included except if told otherwise by the Hokage himself: it was just a shinobi assessment blown out of proportions.

So, as any at least half-decent shinobi should do, he began by observing silently. His first impression of the duo had been a good one: they were powerful, had unworldly chakra reserves that even hurt to look at, and in no way wet behind the ears since showing off their abilities seemed to not be a problem, what with that grandiose entrance; yet, they somehow managed to not give any information at all. No one learned anything that can be used against them, other than the gender, approximate high and appearance, and even then they could have been using a Henge like most high-leveled shinobi do. The Anbu Headquarters had been chaotic after their leave – questions were flying around, and not a single answer was heard. They were good. No, more than good. Really, there's bets going around within Anbu on nearly everyone's true appearance: the less the other Anbu know about you the more respect you earn, and Kiba can say that the newbies will definitely find that part to be a piece of cake. It is a pity that the Hunter-nin don't have that kind of relation between them, because they probably would be less stuck-up bastards if they did. But again, the rival organization is quite the complete opposite of what the Anbu are.

Then, when the unpainted masks were dropped, he felt, to his own confusion, surprise and, dare he say it, fear. Surprise for the deceivingly young features and fear of their abilities – what kind of monster could reach the rank of Independent Anbu at what seemed to be less than twenty years old while he, one of the strongest shinobi in the Elemental Nations and on par with the Sannin, hadn't even been asked to take that position? But what shocked him the most were the eyes – empty, almost lifeless eyes ones as young as them should never possess. They were not only eyes of veterans who had seen more than enough war and lived to tell their stories; no, they were more. Those eyes were icy cold, the warmth that once resided in those beautiful orbs lost to uncountable bloodshed and cold bodies, the will of fire still burning deep inside but hidden to the world. They were eyes of survivors who had lost everything dear to them. Kiba shuddered at the memory of those cobalts and obsidians: he had seen those eyes only once before in one of the perhaps most memorable encounters that left him at death's doors, and they still haunt him to these days.

He has to admit he was interested in the duo, especially the black haired one: the raven had made something stir within him, a feat that few people had accomplished. While the redhead had been fierce, commanding and standing out like a sore thumb, the other had been silent and calculating, emitting a dark and powerful aura. She was to be the one working in the shadows, standing as the supporter of the other; however, her eyes seemed to have a glint that said otherwise, almost like a predator that waited in the dark for her prey to approach. It's that slight contradiction that attracted him: just what was she? And the leader of their two-man cell, what in her made this black panther submit so willingly?

They were strange, he decided. Strange and interesting.

A few minutes after the sudden departure of the duo, he was summoned to the Hokage office for an urgent meeting and he learned that he was to leave immediately with the new Anbu squad for a retrieval mission in the land of Lightning, mission which he shouldn't interfere with under any circumstance. It was supposed to last a bit more than two weeks, leaving him exactly two days before he'd have to go on another mission, a diplomatic one that had been decided on a few weeks ago. He had been grumpy at the news: he had hoped that he still had a few more hours to at least see his son before his duties began, but no, his targets just had to get a mission the second they make their presence known to the world. And he had no idea how such powerful individuals could have lived for so long without their name appearing on the Bingo Books of every Nation.

At that time, he didn't know what awaited him.

A few hours in the travel, his bad mood all but disappeared. The sheer speed they traveled at amazing: he swore he was running almost twice as fast as his usual pace, which was already grueling for most newbies. If it continued like this, the normal 3-4 days travel will become a two days – no, 36 hours travel! But then, just as he began to feel the urgent need for a break and, if possible, to get his porcelain mask off and breath for a second, he had to sense them slowing down only to go even faster; the first time he didn't understand, the second time rose some suspicions, but the third time it happened he almost laughed out loud at his own stupidity. They were waiting for him – yes, they were waiting for the great White Fang of Konoha to hurry up! Oh, he's going to show them what he's capable to do even if it tires him so much he wouldn't be able to move for a week afterwards. And by the looks of it, it would probably be pretty close to the truth.

Grinning tiredly behind his mask, Hatake Sakumo sped up as he felt his targets slow down. But even then, he didn't learn the lesson that the Hokage should have beaten into his skull the second he was assigned to the two time-travelers.

Always expect the unexpected.

And so, when the two chakra blasts came, respectively from an unknown factor and Naruto, his normally quick reflexes abandoned him and his small chakra field exploded upon collision, sending him flying into the forest and knocking him out when his head met with a not-so-gentle trunk.

-Naruto-

What. The. Hell. Just. Happened.

''Pleased to meet you, Onee-sama.''

No. It just... isn't possible. It can't be.

Sister. He had called her Sister.

Her target had just called her sister. After he caught her. In his arms.

...

Oh Kami.

Really, where is that bloody teammate of hers when she needs her?!

And so, with really nothing else to do, her brain decided to freeze and so she was stuck staring into his amber eyes. The man was... beautiful. Yes, Naruto knew that 'beautiful' is not what you usually call a guy, but she really can't find any other word to describe this unearthly vision. Unlike the photo she was provided with, his golden hair was waist-long, slightly wavy and no sign of spikes anywhere and two long bangs framed his effeminate jaw. Honey-like orbs framed by thick, long lashes stared back at her, an amused glint dancing playfully in them. His build was obviously one of a shinobi, sinewy muscles clearly showing behind his tattered clothes. Naruto frowned however when she saw specks of blood on the black material, barely visible to the human eye; but she had her doujutsu activated, and so she can clearly see the fresh blood on his shirt. Now that she pays attention, she realized that it was made from a mixture of tissue, mesh and steel, a special combination original from Konoha, as well as the Anbu tattoo proudly displayed on his left shoulder. Now thoroughly convinced of his origins as well as his identity, the kunoichi relaxed in the man's solid grip, still able to draw weapon at a moment's notice but less prone to turn someone to a pincushion at any second. But what happened to him? Naruto, in all the previous encounters she had with him, had never seen this side of the blond man. Now confused and wary, the kunoichi craned her neck to glare at her target, only for her brain to screech to a halt again when an unfamiliar symbol appeared on his forehead; it was glowing white, somehow not hurting her sensitive eyes, and it looked like a white tiger of some sort standing in front of a disk that reminded her of the rising sun. Seeing her dumbstruck expression, a smirk appeared on the man's exotic features.

''Something wrong, Onee-sama?''

''Ok. Explanation. Now,'' She commanded, ''and don't you dare lie because I can see right through it and I have more than enough weapon to spare.'' Her threat must have been lost on the man, because he only chuckled before releasing his hold on her. Now that she wasn't stuck in an awkward angle parallel to the ground, she realized with pride that the man was only around a few inches taller than her. He gestured for her to sit, but then, seeing as she wasn't doing so, sat comfortably on a chair that miraculously survived the explosion. His eyes met hers, as if searching for something, and Naruto calmly stared back. He let out a long sigh, and the redhead noticed that the previous golden dust surrounding him had disappeared.

''I shall answer your questions, but keep in mind that some things are meant to remain unknown,'' he began softly, ''that Mother will give you what you need in time. And that,'' he looked sharply at her, ''what had, is and will be said and seen here cannot get out no matter what.''

Naruto seemed to hesitate for a moment, her eyebrows furrowing in deep thought. ''I agree to these terms,'' then, she stared right back at his amber eyes, ''but I have to be able to inform my teammate, and possibly the Hokage or Jiraiya of the Sannin if the situation demands it.''

''In dire situations only.'' Naruto nodded. ''But I'll have to ask you to inform me first.''

''How? I know for one that you're not 'naturally' in that body, and I can't exactly go into 'your' mind since that would just destroy it, my techniques are not quite as refined as those of the Yamanaka clan,'' she inquired, shifting so that her hidden chest plate don't press painfully into the healing bruise on her back.

''Well, you will find out soon enough. You see that symbol?'' he pointed his forehead, ''This, is going to be very useful in the near future. It's all I can say.'' At Naruto's disappointed look, he chuckled and his shoulders shook slightly with the movement. ''Now don't look like that, I said that it would all be explained soon, and it should already have started by now if your eye is any indication. Now hurry Onee-sama, we're running out of time.''

Not questioning his statement for once, the kunoichi silently activated a small seal on her earlobe and began. ''I'd like to know your identity for one and your origins if possible. Then why did you choose this 'body' and your purposes here. I can sense that your essence is clearly different from a human's, so I would appreciate an answer for that as well.''

''Eager, huh? Onee-sama is still the same,'' he smiled a little, almost fondly at her, ''and yes, that would also be explained later. Now, I am what you call a Kami, but you see, I'm not complete,'' he crossed his right leg over the other, ''because I'm only one third of a greater being, the Golden Heart, the third part to be exact. I believe that Father is called Izanagi by you humans, and Mother is Izanami. You see, when the Energy – something akin to chakra, but acting more like the source of all Life - had been split into Ying and Yang, Three realms had been created: the first one is the realm of the Gods, Takamanohara, the second one is the Universe of Humans and summons, and the latest one is Gehenna, or as humans call it, Hell.'' He paused a little to see if she followed. Hecontinued when he saw her eyes fixated on him, urging him to talk.

''Each realm was given what we call Guardians. For the first one, it's obviously Kami-sama, and while that term applies to all of us, it also designs the Great, the One we all came from, and that is the first being formed by the Energy. Two of His children were sent here, Izanagi and Izanami, and they became the Holy couple of this realm, giving birth to all of us. After their task of creating the world as you know it, Izanagi split himself into three parts so that each one will hold one part of his power to balance out the Energy of Mother. Mother's first task as the Goddess of Creation and Death was to kill 1000 people while Izanagi created 1500 new lives, all of that daily; however, as the only Vessel of the Energy after the Great Kami, it soon became too much for her to handle. So she split her power between her children, and so was born Amaterasu, Goddess of the Sun and Creation, Susanoo, God of the Tempest and the Sea, and Tsukuyomi, Goddess of the Moon and Death. Since that day, while her children worked on maintaining the order of the world, Mother withdrew herself in a faraway forest of this world and watched us from afar, providing the Life energy necessary to this world. At least, that's how things have been until a few hundred years ago.''

''So you are basically a part of a Kami. Interesting, but that still doesn't explain why you are in my target's body,'' the Uzumaki woman stated, crossing her arms over her chest.

''You are correct. You see, when one of us want to stay in this world for an extended period of time without going back to Takamanohara to replenish our lost Energy, we have to choose a Vessel,'' Naruto tensed at that word, and the man waited a little bit for her to relax again, ''who has to be able to handle our essence. Also, instead of a sealing process you humans seem to favor, we go through what we call Rebirth, where we have to pass through a womb.''

''A...womb? Like, you get in someone's womb and-''

''No, no'', he quickly shook his head, ''it's nothing like that. We just let our energy flow into Mother, who gets 'pregnant' with it and 'gives birth'. In fact, she just infuses Life energy with our essence to allow us to stay in a Vessel's body. You see, we Kami are not born the same way as you humans, so we do not have the Life energy that makes you mortal; therefore, we need to go through the same process as you did to be able to 'synchronize' with the Vessel enough to not be expelled by the body. The womb is just because it's the quickest and easiest way to do it,'' he explained.

''I-I see. So... right now you are not 'you' but your Energy, like a Kage Bunshin, right? And when your vessel die, your Energy goes back to you 'body' and you become 'you' again?''

''...Yes, I guess you can put it like that, it's just that our consciousness actually travels with our Energy instead of duplicating it like Kage Bunshin does.''

Naruto nodded again to show she understood. ''Okay, that's all good and stuff, but what are you really doing here? You can't make me believe that all this was 'just on a whim' like snake-teme says.''

''I'm afraid I cannot answer that yet. You shall understand however when the time will come.''

''Always have to wait...'' she grumbled under her breath. ''Well, can you at least tell me your name? Just so I know how to call you if you ever decide to pop out again.''

Amused by Naruto's choice of words, a gentle smile appeared on the blond kami's face, but disappeared as a sudden fit of coughs hit him. Naruto looked at him worriedly, but he just waved it off. ''It's okay... my time is running short.''

''Naruto.'' The redhead suddenly said, offering her hand to the man.

''Huh?''

''Uzumaki Naruto. My name. And yours?''

''...Shiro.''

''Well then, nice to meet you White!'' the Uzumaki redhead said with a big, goofy grin and was going to laugh at her own joke when Shiro suddenly swayed dangerously. Her grin fell in a second and she didn't have time to think as she rushed forward to catch the man's body before it lands awkwardly and break something. After all, this is the body of her target, and she was supposed to bring him home safe and alive, not with a broken arm that happened because of her inattention. Groaning at the sudden additional weight, she blinked when her hand didn't feel the expected silkiness of the man's long hair. Surprised, she looked down only to find a pair of confused ocean blue orbs staring back at her mismatched eyes.

''...Kushina?''

-Kuro-

She was Kuro. Kuro, the third leader of Pandemonium, the Mask of the Underworld, the Bloody Shadow, the assassin, the killer of a thousand. She was the Silent one, the harbinger of Hell, feared by all human and demons. She wasn't Yomi, the despicable, the traitor, the filthy half-breed. The daughter of a mere human and a Demon lord. Not while she was under this mask, not while she was under this coat; no, she was Kuro the masked. She was the blade in her hand, the black blade that danced with deadly accuracy; she lived for the blood that was shed, the warm, red liquid that was on her tainted hands.

Adrenaline rushing through her body, trembling in ecstasy, she raised her sword and brought in down in a slashing motion, cutting through yet another body. Blood spattered her mask and grey shinobi sweater; she lost her coat when a blazing fireball was launched not so gently at her. Sweet, sweet blood that had painted her white mask pink and showered her in crimson rain. The coppery scent that always send her into euphoria, sinking her into the deep and warm waters of Lethe. The lovely metallic taste that makes her feel alive, that sends delicious shivers down her spine and that makes the fight all the more enjoyable. She was happy. For now, she would enjoy the feeling of not knowing and savor the sweet cries of mercy of her soon-to-be victims. She didn't have to think. She was just a broken war machine that no one had use for. And it was okay, as long as she was happy.

There was simply no time for regret.

But she knew that once this is over, just like any other time, she would return home, battled and bruised, and wanting nothing more than to scrub all the blood off her body. She didn't need to taint herself more than she already did. It was disgusting. She knew that she would be grieving for the people she had killed, and she would feel disgusted with herself. She would call herself a monster, and perhaps cry herself to sleep, if she ever sleeps. But it would be later. Now, she just needed to do. She was Kuro. Kuro. Kuro.

She just needed to kill.

Blocking a kunai with her black sword, she ducked under a pathetic swipe of a tanto. Thrusting the pommel of her sword back, it connected with the stomach of a kunoichi, and not wasting a second, she brought her left leg backward to kick the woman in the chest, breaking a few ribs and puncturing a lung. The momentum lifted her in the air, and twisting her body to dodge a volley of shuriken, she kicked another shinobi in the face and managed to slit his throat before a young shinobi grabbed her ankle and used her own momentum to fling her toward a tree. Pretty impressive for a rookie, but still not good enough. Her body reacted on its own and instead of her back, her feet attached themselves to the tree with chakra and used it to propel herself back into the battle, and this time landing on her free hand, she did several backflips and slashed another shinobi across the chest. A familiar gurgle sound came out of the man's opened mouth and he fell to the ground, motionless and dead. A well-aimed kunai from behind almost hit her in the shin, but she grabbed it and flung it back at her assailant; however, the knife seemed to be stuck on her hand, and she tsked with annoyance as she saw the exploding tag attached to its handle.

''Doton: Doryuha!'' yet another shinobi yelled in the distance, and Kuro immediately teleported herself to him. Driving the kunai in the soft flesh of his abdomen, she detached her hand from the handle with a small lightning bolt and teleported out of the way just as the man screamed in pain, his jutsu collapsing due to lack of chakra. The explosion was astonishing: it blew a hole 20 feet deep and 35 feet wide, and the blast created a few more cracks on the outer walls of Konoha. They had obviously planned to kill her with that attack. Smirking behind her mask covered in blood, Kuro looked around only to discover that the explosion had taken out most of the shinobi. Pathetic. Quickly slashing the throats of the stunned survivors with her sword, she whipped the black blade on a kunoichi's clothes before picking up the equally black scabbard that she had thrown at an enemy at the beginning of the fight. Looking back at the village's enormous gates, she gently shook her head and disappeared in the shadows of the trees.

Her shadow clone had just been dispelled, and she wasn't going to let her charge wander around alone in this big mess.

A/N: Ok, longest chapter yet with 6,308 words, not counting the apostrophes and author notes. Yeah, think of it as a very late apology to you guys for always being late in my updates. Well, Happy Christmas, Happy New Year and just for you to know, my resolution for 2015 is to be less late in my updates! Oh, and is the fight scene okay? It's my second time writing one... XD