Hola, mi amore~ /slapped.

Dark Rose Charm - Thank you so much! I'm glad that my story got you interested. I hope you'll continue to stay tune, because I have a lot of plans for this. *wink wink*

Thanks to all the people who followed and added this story to their favorites!

Now, back to the story~

Naoko was currently lounging about in the hospital cot she was put in after losing consciousness during her time in the Intelligence Division. Her head was still aching due to the previous shenanigans that the people from the other day had put her through. Even though she is young, she knew what was going on—or at least, had an idea.

Her mother did not raise a fool for a child. She had taught Naoko enough about the world outside their clan's village. The good and the bad. Whatever those may be.

Oh, her mother. Her mother who was gentle and kind. Her mother who was smart and strong, despite the hateful attitude that her clansmen had treated her with.

The child bit her lip as she looked out the window. She shook her head to rid herself of the memories of her mother which resurfaced in her mind. She did not want to think about anything regarding her clan at the moment.

A sigh escaped her lips, wondering how long she was to be cooped up inside this dreary hospital room that they had put her in. It seems that she was still under observation until further orders from the authorities in this village. She hoped that the verdict on her would be something along the lines of letting her live—instead of leaving her to die a dog's death.

"A ryo for your thoughts?" A familiar man's voice caught her off-guard. The girl squeaked in surprise, nearly falling off the cot. When she finally composed herself, she was face to face with the same man who was the root of all evil, smiling amicably at her.

It was what she had started calling him in her mind upon recalling what he had done to her a few days before. He had knocked her unconscious, and because of that, she did not trust him one bit at the moment.

Naoko warily looked at him, her pale red orbs glinting suspiciously. She scooted to the other side of the cot, trying her best to get away from the man. She would have rather preferred that Yamanaka Inori came for her instead of this man who was still smiling dumbly at her.

"...Who are you?" She asked, her tone suspicious. The blonde-haired man straightened up, the smile never leaving his face. "And please stop smiling at me like that. It's creepy!"

"I'm Namikaze Minato. It's nice to meet you, Naoko-chan!" The root of all evil introduced himself cheerfully. He was not deterred despite her insult. And she wondered if he was always like this—looking like he was spitting rainbows and unicorns.

"What are you here for?" Minato seemed to tilt his head to the side, as if trying to find the right words to say to her.

"You don't have to be so careful with your words. I think hearing what you say about the verdict regarding my situation is much better, than waking up chained to a chair and becoming a subject of mind torture." Naoko added, her eyes turning steely. Her stoic expression did not fit well with her childish features.

Minato, on the other hand, was quite taken aback at the maturity of the child before him. He felt pity and awe for her, all at the same time. He pitied her for losing her family during an all-out attack that wiped out her whole clan. And he felt awe, because she was not bawling her eyes out unlike the children he often saw in the village when they didn't get what they wanted.

'She's just like someone I know,' he thought and raised his hand to pat her head gently. Naoko looked up at him in mild surprise, before her facial expression shifted into one of disgust.

She slapped his hand away, feeling peeved that she was obviously being pitied because of her situation. Naoko did not need to be pitied. She is the heiress and now, the head of her clan—being the sole survivor and all.

"I don't need your pity. Just tell me what you came here for," the child whispered, almost inaudibly. She looked down on her small hands on her lap.

A few moments passed between them, without anyone speaking before Minato decided to do so. He figured that Naoko might lose her temper all the more if he took his time.

"You will be enrolled in the academy that teaches children to become a shinobi. Also, you will be training directly under me and Yamanaka Inori. I believe you have met him last time." An image of a certain light-haired man with an intimidating air suddenly popped up in Naoko's mind.

So far, she was getting the gist of what Minato was trying to say. She will be trained to become a soldier of this village, is what he basically told her. It seems she will be able to keep her life for longer though.

"You will also be given a home to stay at under the Hokage's name. Someone will be helping you to move in soon." The child nodded in understanding, upon hearing the full explanation of her situation.

"Do you have any questions?" Minato asked, observing how Naoko pursed her lips and fiddled with her small fingers.

"Do I get a say in all this?" She motioned her hand as if pointing out something invisible in front of her. Minato smiled sadly at her. "Unfortunately, no." He responded.

"Wonderful," the girl muttered under her breath. A sigh could only escape her lips as the reality of her situation finally sank in her mind.

"Also, here. Your bag. I took the liberty to see if there is anything dangerous inside. I hope you don't mind." Minato smiled down at her as he handed a small, ragged backpack to the child.

Naoko scrambled to get it from his clutches, and glared intensely at him. "Thanks for retrieving it, but I don't exactly appreciate you snooping through my things."

Minato held up his hands defensively, looking guilty. As much as he did not want to look into her things, he needed to follow protocol. When Naoko saw the look on his face though, her expression softened for a bit before it became guarded again.

A knock interrupted the both of them and they looked at the door as it opened, revealing the female, brunette nurse who took care of Naoko when she was first hospitalized.

"Taji-san," the child brightened up a little upon seeing the familiar face. Somehow, she took a liking to the older woman, because she seemed like the genuine type of person in her opinion.

"Hello, Nao-chan. How are you feeling?" Taji approached the both of them, after closing the door behind her. She was holding a clipboard and a pen.

"I'm doing great. I feel much better than when I arrived," Naoko grinned childishly. All the tension from earlier left her body. Unbeknownst to her, Minato was watching their interaction silently.

He knows that Taji is someone reliable, since she is working directly under the Third Hokage's wife. He knows that he could trust her to take care of Naoko.

"Mm, all good! You can be discharged now," he heard Taji say to Naoko, who was still smiling widely, after the brief check up. During the past three days that Naoko was confined in the hospital, Taji was the one who took care of her because honestly, she was being a pain in the ass to the other doctors and nurses present.

With her sarcastic comments and heated glares, the child became well-known and feared in the aforementioned place. Well, that works to her advantage though, because she did not want to deal with strangers manhandling her anymore.

"I assume that you will be taking her into custody, Minato-san?" The blonde male nodded his head, a small smile lingering on his lips. He looked at Naoko who, for the umpteenth time, was staring at him with a guarded expression. All traces of her childish personality from earlier were gone.

Taji followed Minato's line of gaze, and she also noticed the change in atmosphere in the room. The medic-nin smiled helplessly at the child before her, understanding what Naoko might be feeling right now. After all, she will be left to the care of a complete stranger, who had a record of knocking her unconscious.

"Don't worry," Naoko looked up when she felt a hand stroking her head gently. It was Taji with a warm smile on her visage. "Minato-san is a reliable man. He won't hurt you, nor put you in danger."

Minato doubted the last bit of Taji's statement though. He had enough enemies outside the village who were hunting him, so if they knew that Naoko has relations to him in any way, she might get targeted later on, if not soon.

"...Really?" He heard Naoko ask. Taji just smiled widely and nodded her head as a response.

"You won't do anything weird or worst, suddenly kill me right?" There was an unreadable expression on the little girl's face, but Minato had quickly taken note of the way fear flashed in her pale, red orbs.

"Like I told you earlier—" He was cut off by Naoko. "I know. But it could all be a lie," she whispered. Silence ensued between the three of them. Taji continued to stroke the child's head to make her relax.

"I promise that everything what I said earlier was the whole truth, Naoko-chan," Minato approached her and squatted down a bit so he was meeting her eyes.

"I promise."

A month later, Naoko was finally starting to settle into a new routine. Her life had taken a turn. Whether it was for good or bad—she did not know at the moment. But she could say that slowly, she was starting to like how her new life was taking shape.

She still reminisced about the past—her family, her clan, her life in their clan's village. It was completely different, and it made her feel bad.

It made her feel bad that she was the only one able to experience being out and about, living a new life outside their isolated village. She felt bad that she was the only one left of their clan. She felt bad for being the only one to survive.

Currently, Naoko was at the park near the hospital. She was watching how kids her age were playing with their friends—smiling, laughing, and just having fun. For the first time since living in Konoha, she felt envious. She wished that she had her old friends with her from back home.

The little girl stood up from the bench, and with one last longing look at the group of kids, she ventured to one of the training grounds near the ninja academy for her training.

When she arrived, she saw no one in the grounds yet. Naoko looked high and low for any clues as to where her supposed instructor for today might be. Instead, what she found was completely different than what she had expected.

Taking a nap under the shade of a tree was a boy. A boy her age, to be exact. She approached him slowly and carefully, so as not to alert him with her presence. He looked familiar to her somehow, but she was sure that she had not seen him before this. Or maybe she did, but she was not exactly alert that time.

Naoko had learned a lot during the past month—from chakra control to endurance training and body conditioning. She remembered being so tired and beat up that she had slept so well, without nightmares haunting her.

She had also started her education in the academy during that time. Naoko was so caught up in her studies, that she had no time to build rapport with her classmates. At least, not yet. Half of the reason was because she was still reluctant when it comes to making friends. She did not want to feel the pain of being the only one left again, if worst comes to worst.

And as soon as that thought cropped up in her mind, the worst thing that could happen to her did happen right now. She had stepped on a branch, for goodness sake!

The boy stirred in his sleep, before his eyes opened, surprising her. Dark grey eyes met her pale, red ones. He quickly stood up and took on a fighting stance.

Naoko stepped back, her mind warning her to go run away but she was rooted on the spot she was standing on. The boy's eyes seemed to delve into her being. It unnerved her, which prevented her to escape as much as she wanted to do so.

When he finally realized that there was no ill-intent coming from her, he finally let his guard down. The same goes for Naoko, when the boy stood up straight instead of looking like he was going to fight her.

"Who are you?" He asked, his voice low and soft. His tone was laced with irritation, despite the cool demeanor he had. Naoko could barely see his face due to the mask covering the lower half of his face. She could only see his eyes and the rest of his head. He had silver hair, which somewhat fascinated the girl.

"...I could ask you the same question." She shot back, using the same tone he had used on her. Her facial expression shifted into a blank slate at once, not giving away any sort of emotions unlike earlier.

The wind blew, tousling their hairs as it passed by. Leaves flew when the wind made its presence known. On the other hand, the two of them just continued staring down at each other, refusing to back down from each other.

However, the mysterious boy was caught off-guard when a smirk—almost like a smile—formed on her lips. When she spoke this time, her voice had more cheer in it.

Naoko did not know what came to her but the familiarity she felt earlier when she saw him, was what probably made her act unlike the usual.

"I'm Naoko, but you can call me Nao." She said, and waited for the boy before her to introduce himself as well. A minute passed, and she figured that he would not speak up as he just continued to observe her.

"...I'm Kakashi."

Oh, praise the hokages! Finally, he decided to speak up. She was about to say something to him, when someone interrupted them.

"Oh, it seems like you two are just about done introducing yourselves to each other." Naoko saw Minato making his way towards them with a smile.

What good timing!

[A/N]: Hi, hello! Rui-chan is passing by to drop another chapter. (/◕ヮ◕)/

This is to celebrate me passing my Japanese Proficiency certification exam in N5 Level. I got 86/180, whereas the passing is supposed to be 80 points.

This just means, I barely passed. I feel conflicted, since there was one part the test where I only guessed my answers because I ran out of time. I think I guessed about four items. LOL.

I'm still glad that I passed on the first try though, despite some of the questions being hard since it was not yet taught to us in class.

Anyway, I just wanted to share my achievement at the beginning of the year. I hope y'all don't mind. (=´ᆺ｀=)

On thaaaat note, Nao-chan and Kakashi finally met! Imagine them as five-year olds. (≧∇≦)/

I hope y'all liked the update. Thank you so much for supporting this story!

So long, my lovelies~! ヽ(●´ε｀●)ノ