Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Why

"What's your name?" A man with spiky black hair and a beard asks while taking a drag from a cigarette. He's staring at me from the other side of the campfire with an expression that isn't too inviting. The fire feels nice and warm, but it's difficult to enjoy when I'm surrounded by strangers I do not trust. There are three others with him; one girl and two boys. They look to be about fifteen, maybe sixteen. The girl has long blonde hair and is sitting next to me on the left. To my right sits a large boy that has swirls on his cheeks. And next to the smoking man is a boy whose hair makes his head look like a pineapple. All four of them are looking at me waiting for an answer. But I don't want to give one. It's too soon.

The man sighs and lets a long stream of smoke leave his mouth before he puts out his cigarette by dabbing it into the ground. "Look kid we aren't looking to harm you or anything, but it's pretty suspicious when a beat-up, chakra exhausted little girl comes wandering into our lands with a pouch filled with kunai and shuriken". So they know that I'm not completely helpless. My age is probably the only thing keeping them from tying me up. But they did take my weapons away the moment we ran into each other. Right now the pineapple kid is analyzing one of my kunai. As if it can explain to him what happened. I want them back, all of my weapons. I've been able to fend for myself for weeks thanks to those kunai and shuriken. I feel almost naked without them. I do not think I will be able to hunt if I do not get them back. And if I run into any more bad people it would be better to not be weaponless.

I lick my cracked lips before turning my eyes back on the man. I want to run; need to run. But I don't think I'll get too far considering that I am sitting squashed between two of these strangers. And I'm not stupid enough to think that I can last by myself without Father's weapons. Maybe if I answer they're just let my go with my kunai. Maybe I can leave if I promise to leave their lands. "Manami". I forced out in a raspy voice. I haven't used it in a while.

"Huh?" The man asked as he leaned forward; resting his elbows on his knees.

I take a gulp of air before stating, "My name is Manami". Feeling four pairs of eyes taking me in I wrap my arms around my knees and rest my head on top of them. I wish that I could go home. But that is no longer possible.

"Manami-chan", the blonde girl said. I frowned at the suffix. She doesn't know me. "How old are you?" She asked.

I turn to look at her, but I have to tilt my head back just to see her. "Nine and a half", I answered.

"And what are you doing in the land of fire?" The man asked his next question.

"Is that where I am?" I blurted out without thinking. Father would be displeased.

All four of them stare at me as I inwardly scold myself for my mistake. Too many mistakes and I might end up dead. "Okay", the man said; voice adopting a sort of flat quality, "Tell us how you got here."

I bit my lower lip. I don't want to tell them anything. Father always said to not tell others about us. He said our lives were a secret. Though, I guess it is just me now. "I don't know where to start".

The boy on my right places a soft hand on my shoulder. I think it is supposed to be kind, but it makes me jump. Another mistake; showing weakness. Maybe it is a good thing Father is not here to see me fail him. Looking at the boy, I see that he carries a gentle smile on his face. "The beginning is usually to the best place to start".

I nod and take a deep breath. I might as well just give the strangers what they want. "My father used to say that our blood is special because it exists only in him and me. Not my mother, and not my brother. I asked him why. Why is my blood different from my brother's when we share the same mother. He just smiled the smile that adults always give to kids and said, 'one day you'll find out why.' That was his response to everything. His answer to why my brother went to school while I stayed at home. Why the girls from our village got to play with dolls and skipped rope when I played with knives and attacked pieces of wood for practice". I paused to breathe and wondered if I was saying too much. But when none of the strangers told me to stop wasting their time and just tell the important bits, I decided that things cannot get any worse and I should talk when I have the chance.

"Father had a lot of secrets. He was a woodcutter living on the outskirts of our village with his wife and two kids. That's what Father told me to tell anyone who asked about our family. Mother's job was to take care of the house. My brother's job was to go to school. And my job was to help Father in the woods. But it was all pretend. Mother might have known that we were lying. One of us often came home with bruises or odd wounds. And everyone thought it was weird that Father chose my help over my brother's. If anyone asked him why Father would just say it was because he could only afford to send one kid to school. No one ever questioned him, Mother included. Probably because Father always made sure that a cart filled with wood came home with us at the end of the day. As long as Father could pay for food and our house, Mother was not bothered. And that fitted into father's plans perfectly". I paused again. It... felt nice to talk to another person after all that time. But thinking about my family was making my chest ache.

"We cut wood every day, but the wood was not Father's main focus. I was. Since I was big enough to stay awake all day, Father was my teacher". In those days spent in the woods, I learned why I should keep my hands during a fight. I learned about chakra. Father taught me to discipline my emotions. And most importantly, he trained with me so I could have a chance to survive in this world. But the strangers did not need to know that part. "Every day was hard. If I did not learn what Father wanted me to, I got in trouble. But I did not mind. It was my job to learn". I stopped again to rub at my eyes. They were starting to feel heavy.

"My brother did not like it that I got to spend the whole day with Father. He wished that he and I could switch places. He said it was unfair that I did not have to go to school. My brother used to ask Father why he could not work in the forest too. Father said it was because of his eyes. My brother had our mother's eyes. And I have my father's. Father said that since my brother did not have his eyes, he was safe. My brother did not need to learn his secrets like I had to". It was another answer Father gave often that did not make any sense. My brother hated it. He'd always argue that there was not anything wrong with his eyes. But it never worked. "I do not understand all of it, but our blood made our eyes special and that had to be a secret because if people know about we would be hurt".

The four strangers exchanged looks with each other; a silent look of knowing in their eyes. Do they know... about my eyes?

"At the end of last summer, Father said I was ready to learn more about what people with our special blood can do. He called it the Katon jutsu. He had to be careful when he demonstrated it. Because the Katon is this huge fireball that comes out of the mouth, and if the forest burned down then the family business would have been gone. Father said that anyone that has our blood would learn this jutsu. He said it was a tradition. From then until winter, the only thing I did was practice the Katon. It wasn't hard to memorize the hand signs, or how to stand right. The hard part was building up the chakra. Too much and you get burned. Too little and you would be lucky to get a mouthful of smoke. I do not like this jutsu very much. It made my hair smell smoky, and my lips and skin would dry up. But when I finally mastered it, Father smiled even though he never smiled. And he told me that I was now a 'true member'. I asked him what I was a member of. But he would not tell me".

Again, the strangers pass looks over my head that they think I do not notice.

"Even time I learned something that Father thought was important he would tell me another secret. When I first learned to summon chakra, Father told me about our special blood. When I could hit most targets, Father told me why I was different from my brother. And after I learned the Katon, Father told me a story; He said that he used to be a chunin for a village called Konoha. He was not well known in the village, but his clan was famous because they had power and special blood. That made people jealous and made them dislike Father's clan. One night, when he was coming home from a mission that had ended later than planned, he heard a scream. That scream was followed by another, and another. So, Father said that instead of taking his regular route home, he jumped onto a nearby roof to see what was going on. What he saw was a nightmare. Father said he saw his clansman slaughtering everyone in their clan. Father said that he should have gone to help. He should have tried to save his family, but he thought it was weird that no one else had responded to the screams. Father said that the clan's compound was at the edge of the village, away from other residents. But the Shinobi on patrol should have still heard the screams. Father did not think he could survive, so he ran".

I paused to take another deep breath, but the blonde turned to her companies and said, "You don't think-",

But the smoking man interrupted her with a sharp, "Ino!" before looking back at me. "But how did you end up here?" He asks pointing to the ground by his feet as an example.

I stare at him. "I am getting there", I said. The man waves his hands in the air as if to say, 'go on'. I take another breath. I guess I should skip to the part that led to me sitting with these strangers "One day after training, Father was going to stay late in the forest to get more wood, but I was going to go home. On my way, I saw two very scary men. One was blue, one looked a little like father, and both of them had black cloaks with red clouds on them. When father first started to teach me about chakra he said that if we ever see any foreigners we would have to hide our chakra so no one would figure out what we do in the woods all day. I am not really good at suppressing chakra, it gives me a headache. But I tried my best when I was passing the two scary men. I heard one of them say something about finishing the four-tails job by the end of the week. I think it was the blue man who said that. My head was starting to hurt, and right when I walked past them I lost control. The blue one called me a brat to get my attention. I thought a girl would listen, so I did too. I turned around to see what they wanted. The blue man asked me if there were any shinobi in the area. I said no, and he called me a stupid brat. I thought they go back to their business after that, but they did not. I was starting to get nervous because they would not leave. That is when Father came; pushing the wood cart. He looked at me, saw the two men, and froze. The other man, the one that kind of looked like Father called out Father's name. He sounded surprised. But not a happy sort of surprise. Father's eyes turned red before he let go of the cart. I ran over to him as fast as I could and hid behind him. I thought Father could make them go away. He was the strongest person I knew. Father moved into an offensive stance and yelled, 'What are you doing here traitor!'

But neither of the men answered him. The blue man looked like he was having fun when he said, 'Looks like you missed one Itachi'.

Father whispered for me to take a kunai from his back pouch, and to run when he said to. He said I had to run as far and fast as I could away from the men and our house. Father did not want me to lead the men to Mother and my brother. He said that I should avoid fighting at all costs. And he told me that if they came after me I had to do everything in my power to get away. He said that being a coward is what kept him alive for so long and that now it was my turn. Father yelled, 'Now!' And everything happened really fast. I did not run right away like I was supposed to. The man that looked a little like Father barely moved before Father was knocked to the ground. I didn't know what to do. My heart was beating very fast, but I could not move. Father's look-alike told Father that he had always been a weakling. said, Father forced himself to his feet and yelled at me to run. This time I listened. But I did not run far away like father said to. I ran home, I wanted my mother. There were a lot of sounds; clashing metal, scary laughter, and Father screaming. I used chakra to make me go faster, like how Father had taught me. When I got home I ran through the kitchen door. Mother was there with brother, getting ready to eat dinner. I tried to pull them out of the house so that we could run to the village to hide and wait for Father. But I was breathing too hard to tell them anything. There was this loud smash, and glass went flying everywhere as father dove through the window by the kitchen door. except, he was not moving. Mother fainted, and brother yelled. I heard the scary laughing again. I grabbed Father's kunai pouch and ran out the front door, as the two men were entering through the kitchen door".

By now I'm sobbing. The campfire no longer feels warm, and I want to stop, but I cannot. Now that I have started, I have to finish. "My mother and brother are probably dead. My father is dead, and I did not do anything to help them. I was... I do not understand why I'm not dead too".

Four pairs of eyes stare at me with pity, as I sob into my knees. "If the scary men from your story haven't caught you by now they probably had something better to do than murder a kid", the smoking man said. I think it is meant to calm me down, but it does not help me feel better. Did he not understand? My family was dead all because I could not hide my chakra. Everything was my fault.

I let out a hiccup. The large boy reached over and pulled me into his lap. I flinched but did not fight him. I am too tired to fight. He starts to bounce me up and down with his knees; like how my father did the first time I got a bloody knee when I was four. It is childish, but it makes me stop hiccuping. With my body tired and hurting, I find myself leaning into the large boy as my eyes become too heavy to keep open. The four talk in hushed tones. Accepting the first human contact I have had in a long time, I unwillingly fall asleep; wondering why my father's eyes turned red, why that man knew Father's name, why did my family have to die. Why?