Mercy to the Hateful

Chapter One

Prologue Part 2

Disclaimer: I am not Masashi Kishimoto, nor do I own or control Naruto in any way, shape or form.

Faster than I would have believed came the Chunin exams. It didn't come as much of a surprise that Team 7 was nominated, as Sasuke was Rookie of the Year, my brother was awesome, and Sakura...wasn't utterly useless. However, when my team was nominated, I was surprised. While I felt I was capable of taking the Chunin exams, Hikaru and Genji was less than confident in. Both of them had improved since we first became a team, but neither were anywhere near capable of fighting evenly with me.

However, if Masashi-sensei felt we could do it, then perhaps I was missing something. So I decided to give it a try, but not before warning the two boys not to screw anything up. Glaring mulishly at me, they said that they were going to do the best they could, whatever I said.

And so, the next day, the exams began for Team 4...and they also came to a crashing end. We made it into the first phase of the exam, where it was necessary to take a incredibly-hard test of ten questions. I'd like to say that I was able to answer them all myself, but frankly, it was too difficult for me to answer any of them. Eventually, although it took me a while, I realized that that was the point, and I was supposed to cheat to pass the test.

Unfortunately, I had only learned the basic academy jutsu so far...save for my brother's infamous 'Sexy no Jutsu', so I was in rather a quandary.

It took me a while, but eventually I realized that the answer was rather simple-I just had to wait, giving the idiots time to be eliminated, and then copy the closest person's answer sheet. Simple enough with a Kunai up my sleeve to reflect off of-I was particularly glad to have copied my brother that day and worn a jumpsuit, albeit a tan one rather than one that was orange...or worse, green.

It worked, and we made it to the final question, the one which Proctor Ibiki said if we missed, we would never be able to become Chunin again. I was terrified, especially because cheating was no longer an option, but in the end, I decided to try for it.

I never got the chance. Before I could even hear what the question was, Genji, sweat dripping down his stupid long hair, had said that he was going to give up, and try again next time. As such, all three of us were disqualified.

The moment we were out of the room, I grabbed Genji by the scruff of the neck and slammed him against one of the walls. Trying my best to suppress my rage, I bit out, "What...Were...You...Thinking?"

"I'm sorry!" blubbered the boy, tears streaming down his face. "I...I got scared! I didn't want to fail, but that doesn't mean I want to risk us never becoming a Chunin!"

At that, I positively snarled, "Well, maybe if you weren't so utterly useless, then maybe we would have passed the exams!"

"Leave him alone," said Hikaru, tapping me on the shoulder. In a consultatory manner, he said, "You know as well as I do that we weren't going to pass, even if he'd have said nothing. We had no chance of answering that question without cheating. There's always next time."

I was in no mood for being patronized like I was a child, so I retorted nastily, "Yeah, you're right. There was no chance for any of you to pass, but I could have made it if I hadn't been held back by you moronic goons!" Letting go of Genji, I smirked. "Did either of you actually answer any of the questions at all?"

I knew there that I'd hit the mark, as Hikaru's tan face turned positively red as he said, "Maybe we could have, if you didn't keep the answers to yourself, shoved up your ass with the rest of your head!"

I was just about to punch him for his remark when Masashi-sensei said, his voice thundering, "What is going on here!?"

The three of us looked at each other nervously, then Hikaru said, "Well, you see..."

As Hikaru explained what had happened, Masashi looked more and more unhappy, before finally saying, "I am very disappointed with all of you, Especially you, Naruko."

"Why me?" I asked, confused.

"Hikaru, Genji, leave us alone for a bit. This should be private." Waiting for them to leave, he then gave me a hard look, like I was a stupid daughter who had failed a particularly simple task. "You said you knew the whole time that Genji and Hikaru never had a chance...but did you even consider trying to help them?"

I shook my head. "No, but I was having a hard enough time myself. Besides, how would I have communicated the answers to them?"

Masashi-sensei shrugged at that, his voice gentle but his eyes cold as he said, "It is not a question of whether or not it was possible. It's that you didn't even consider the possibility of helping your team, even though you knew they wouldn't be able to complete the task. Then you blamed them for their inability to do it themselves."

"But I can't be expected to do everything for them," I argued. "Surely they should work so they can do it themselves."

He sighed, frowning deeply. "Indeed they should, eventually, but although you are a very skilled Kunoichi, I nominated you all as a team. You would pass and fail as a team, and in this case, you failed. Now, I'm going to give you some time to yourself, and I want you to think about what I said."

With that, he left, leaving me alone to my thoughts. I hated it, but he did have a very good point...maybe I was being too harsh on the boys. After all, I never bothered to help them all that much, so why should I be surprised when they failed? I didn't like them, and it was obvious that they didn't like me. But if I ever wanted to be a Chunin, they needed to become stronger, so I would have to help them.

So resolved, I decided to find Masashi-sensei, so that he might help me figure out what to do next. I found him in a seedy bar nearby, talking with a beautiful brunette woman alone in a corner. I was about to make my presence known, when what he said froze the blood in my veins.

"...so, like I said, I've got the Kyuubi bitch on my genin team. What great luck, eh?"

The woman gasped at that. "Oh, wow...what is she like?"

Masashi snorted. "She's a stuck-up brat who thinks that she's better than everyone else on her team."

"Why even bother teaching her, then?" she wondered aloud. "I mean, you'd just be making the damn fox stronger."

Masashi-sensei said, his voice stern, "When I started training genin, I swore that I would never let my personal views get in the way of doing my duty, even if she is the Kyuubi." He paused, smirking. "That said, if she got herself killed on a mission by being an arrogant bitch, I think I could live with that."

I didn't need to hear anymore. Without saying anything, I turned around and left the restaurant, at first walking, then jogging, then eventually running flat out through the market, not caring where I was going. All the while, those passing by whispered and watched me, their eyes narrowing at the sight of me.

Finally, I found myself alone in a deserted alleyway. Hugging myself tightly, I laughed bitterly. It was that day that I finally realized that if all of Konoha hated me, then that meant that ALL of Konoha hated me, even Masashi-sensei.

The only two people who liked me it seemed were Naruto and Sasuke. Everyone else, they were watching me with fearful, wary eyes, some concealing their hatred behind warm smiles while others sneered as I passed. Only those two could be trusted, nobody else.

Even though the day was warm then, for some reason, I was freezing cold.

...X...

Team 4 spent the next several weeks focusing on relearning the basics, teamwork, basic chakra exercises, D-rank missions. I worked hard, until exhaustion even, but my heart was no longer in it. I felt like I was just going through the motions.

My malaise wasn't helped by how it seemed like Naruto and Sasuke had suddenly vanished off the face of the earth. Both of them were constantly training for the Chunin Exam Finals, and it was hard enough finding any time to spend with Naruto, and we lived in the same apartment. Sasuke spoke to me exactly once, and that was only to apologize to me for being able to make our sparring sessions on account of the finals. After that, I didn't see him at all.

I never apologized to my teammates, not that they seemed to care. It was clear now that there was no bond between us.

The next several weeks passed by in a blur, until the day of the Chunin exam finals. I made sure to watch from the crowd. I may not have made it through the exams, but I was able to cheer on Naruto and Sasuke in their matches. I still wished I could have been in there with them, though.

The finals turned out to be far more than anybody could have predicted. The first three matches had gone off without incident, save for my brother beating up Neji. I did say he was awesome, after all. But then Sasuke had his matchup with Gaara...

I was awestruck by how much Sasuke had improved in that month of training. His speed had gone from quick, to quite frankly, blinding. And the way his newly-toned muscles moved...I found myself a little bit dry in the mouth. Surely, I thought, this Gaara stood no chance against Sasuke like this.

The battle was fierce indeed, Sasuke was in top form today, but his opponent was incredibly tough as well, with an amazing defense. It went back and forth for a while, then Sasuke managed to penetrate the dome of sand that Gaara used to defend himself, causing the Sand-nin to enter a state of seeming hysteria.

Then, for some reason, I started to see flower petals drifting lazily through the wind...

When I came to, the battle was raging in and around the arena, but no longer between genin, but Full-fledged ninja from the sound and leaf villages, in a mad frenzy of battle, while atop the roof where the two kages had once stood was a giant cube of purple flame.

I was still groggy, but my fighting instincts told me that if there were enemy ninja nearby, my duty was to fight them. As such, I pretended to be unconscious for a moment longer, then leapt at the nearest Sound-nin, sinking one of my kunai into his neck from behind.

He clutched his neck with a gurgle, blood spurting out from his wound, before falling to the ground, dead.

I remember staring at him, at his pale skin and short red hair, his bangs almost concealing a cross-shaped scar. His pale blue eyes were wide open, seeing nothing. In a moment that seemed an eternity, I realized that I had killed him. That because of me, he would breathe no more. I had undergone some training to prepare for it in the academy, the first time you take someone's life, but I had never done it before. It was a surreal moment.

That moment was promptly interrupted when no less than three Sound ninja attacked me at once. I tried to fend them off, making use of every bit of skill, strength and speed I had earned in my training and sparring with Sasuke.

It wasn't enough, in under a minute, I was covered in wounds, my back against the wall. Then one of them summoned a giant spear of rock and hurled it at me. I didn't have enough time to dodge before it impaled me through the chest. I don't remember much of that moment, save for a sense of bitterness at dying for a village that hated me...and a raw, animalistic fury.

Then I felt it, monstrous rage pouring through my veins, my entire body red hot with power and my wounds vanishing. Opening my eyes, I looked at the enemy ninja standing terrified and saw...prey. A goddess fallen to earth, I ripped the spear out of me and shattered it with one squeeze. Then I attacked.

They didn't stand a chance. Every attack I batted aside, every jutsu I deflected. Their fists were weak, their speed pitiful. I tore through their defenses with ease, my hands ripping through their flesh like paper. Almost before I knew it, they laid dead at my feet.

Exalting in my newfound strength, I search eagerly for more foes. But it seemed that the fighting had left the arena, leaving me behind. I was alone.

The battle haze finally cleared a little, leaving me wondering what I should do next. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a burning, orange energy surrounding my hands, which had taken the appearance of claws.

It was then that I heard it for the first time, a low, monstrous voice reeking of malice, echoing inside of my mind. "So brat, we meet at last..."

It was a voice that chilled my very soul. "W-who are you?"

My vision swam. I saw walls of flesh, a cage of steel, and inside it, two demonic eyes. The voice roared, rumbling like a thunderstorm, "At my steps, the earth QUAKES! At my breath, storms are UNLEASHED! My power is unmatched, my rage is without end, and the WORLD ITSELF TREMBLES IN TERROR AT THE THOUGHT OF MY AWAKENING! So tell me, brat, WHO AM I?"

It was then that I knew, whispering so quietly that it was more of a whimper than speech, "The Kyuubi."

It let out a laugh that rumbled, quaking through my very soul, and I saw huge jagged teeth twist into an immense, malevolent grin. "Indeed, and that was but a taste of my power. SERVE ME, and I shall bring your enemies to their KNEES!"

I quailed, terror turning my legs to jelly. But I forced myself to say, "I-I won't serve you!"

I feared that the Kyuubi would somehow would rip through that cage and devour me, but instead, it laughed again. Its voice sinister and sure, it said in a whisper that would echo through all of Konoha, "So you say now, but one day, when you are tired and weary, broken by hatred and bitterness, know that I will be be there. And when you agree to serve me, then you will have the vengeance you crave."

"I don't understand..." I whispered, uncomprehending.

Its grin widened further. "You will. Until then, enjoy your taste. We will meet again."

It slowly faded away, it's hellish cage morphing back into the arena once again. I could see even more bodies, and along the railing overlooking the arena were several Konoha jonin. I thought I recognized Naruto's sensei, Kakashi Hatake, his strange white hair sticking up like some weird broom. I was about to call out to him, but darkness overtook me, my chest screaming in pain as I collapsed into unconsciousness.

...X...

It wasn't for another few hours that I awoke. This time it was different though, as my body was pressed against something warm and solid, and I could feel the air wooshing past me. Opening my eyes, I saw a familiar, particularly distinctive head of hair through the gathering darkness of the evening. In a woozy voice I barely recognized as my own, I croaked out, "Sasuke, is that you?"

"Yes, it is," said Sasuke in a matter of fact tone of voice. "I'm carrying you on my back. How do you feel?"

"Like a giant spent half an hour pummeling every part of my body," I replied, tired and weak. Seeking warmth, I snuggled into him. "Why are you carrying me?"

He seemed to think that over, then said, "You needed someone to carry you home. I was there and Naruto couldn't so much as stand after his fight against Gaara."

"Oh... Thank you," I whispered, not knowing what had happened. I was too exhausted to care though, closing my eyes as I slurred out, "You're a truuue friend, Sasssuke."

Sasuke seemed lost for words for a few minutes, before finally saying, "I heard you took out several sound chunin... That was very good."

"Mmhmm," I mumbled, ready to sleep after a very long day.

It was as I slipped off into sleep that I heard him say, "You have grown strong indeed. I look forward to our next sparring session."

A smile on my face, I let the darkness claim me one more time.

Author's Note: And so ends part two of the prologue. After reading some of the feedback, I decided to adjust it a little to have scenes that were a little less...fast-forwarded. Chapter 1 has also been adjusted.

Now, to answer some reviews:

'Dont make Naruko a Mary sue and take the spot light. A k so you should of made naruto more Mature. Overprotective and Seroius if he have a sister. Considering the fact that she might be treated worse than him because she is a Girl. Not Sure how Female Jinjuriki are Treated.'

I have no intention of making Naruko a Mary Sue character. Although the first several chapters are mostly from her point of view, that is in order to introduce her to the readers. After that, she will merely be part of an ensemble cast, containing four main characters. Although I could have written Naruto as Mature and Serious, I don't see why he would be. He is certainly protective and caring toward her, but his base personality shouldn't have changed much. There's no indication that Naruko would be treated worse because she is a girl in canon. In fact, all the previous hosts of the Kyuubi were women, at least since the founding of Konoha.

'Very interesting! :)'

Thank you. :)

'Nice... So...sasu naru paring?;

Well, Naruko is paired with Sasuke. Does that count?

'I think this does have potential, especially with the conflicts you've set up. Bearing in mind that I might not be your ideal audience, especially since I prefer a more cheerful, positive, in-character girl!Naruto, here are my criticisms:

1) Too much retelling as opposed to showing. I know you've chosen the first person style of recounting for speed, which I can totally understand, having multiple fanfictions threatening to be novel length myself. However, here it weakens her interactions with Naruto, Sasuke, and her teammates.

2) And this relates to the above: establishing a stronger connection between Naruto/Naruko. Show them bantering, doing brother/sisterly things, sharing goals, supporting each other. If the crux of the fanfic conflict is going to be Naruto trying to save his sister, there should be a stronger connection established between them. Consider the actual Naruto/Sasuke friendship established in the manga through the Bell Test, Wave Arc, and Chunin Exams before Sasuke defects for emotional impact. So yeah, this development shouldn't be rushed.

Anyway, good luck with this fanfic! Adding to the girl!Naruto fanfic amount is a worthy endeavour. :)'

Thank you for the very thorough review. As I replied in the PM, I agree with a lot of your criticisms and have made some edits and changes to it after thinking about it. Sadly, I felt I couldn't make Naruko as much like canon!Naruto as I would have preferred, as Naruto is still much like his canon self. I hope this is more to your liking.