Disclaimer: I'm Kishimoto and I own Naruto. I'm sure you'll realise that when I attempt to write female-characters.

I panted in exhaustion as I leaned against a thick, gnarled tree trunk, its rough bark scratching my back. I still wasn't anywhere close to the Land of Fire, and with those relentless Kiri-nin chasing me, I wasn't sure how long I could last or even if I could make it there without passing out from utter exhaustion.

I truly felt envious of those people who were reincarnated in a safe place with a loving family around them. They got to live a peaceful life, free from the constant threat of death that had become my reality.

The memories of my prior life were blurry and fragmented. I could remember some things, such as how I used to live alone in a small, dingy apartment, the stale scent of unwashed clothing and expired food pervading . But I couldn't recall where I lived or what city it was in. I knew that I had a set of parents, but I couldn't remember much about them - their faces, their voices, or even their names. I had a job, but I couldn't recall what it was, though I felt unsatisfied whenever I thought about it, as if something crucial was missing . I didn't even have the luxury of remembering my name, though I would have died already if my memories weren't fragmented, as I would have taken more time to adapt to the current nightmarish situation.

I used to be an avid fan of the show, but I never wanted to live here, in this unforgiving world. The slaughter of my clan hurt, and I wanted to make all those who attacked us pay, to avenge the fallen with their traitorous blood , but I wasn't delusional enough to think that I was strong enough to defeat the thousand Elite-Jōnin who were after us, alongside the larger force of Chūnin. The screams of my clan members still echoed hauntingly in my mind, and the image of our village in flames was forever etched into my memory, the acrid smoke stinging my eyes .

I sighed and got up, my legs aching from the constant, grueling running. I needed to leave this cursed place. If I stayed here too long, they'd catch me for sure. The Land of Fire and Uzushio weren't anywhere close to each other, at this point I wasn't even sure where I was blindly running off to.

I circulated chakra throughout my network and felt myself revitalized, the energy coursing through me. The feeling of using chakra was like being on an invigorating sugar rush. I wished I had paid more attention to the chakra-control lessons instead of wasting my time whining about not learning flashy techniques. Now, I was paying the bitter price for my laziness.

Could you blame me? I was twelve and a Chūnin at that, as such I had a full head but I was still a mere child. Better chakra control would have been invaluable now, since I was currently running on fumes, my reservoir of chakra dwindling . The Kiri-nin had been relentlessly chasing me for nearly an entire day, and my body was screaming for desperately-needed rest.

I jumped onto a tree, the brittle branches creaking ominously beneath my weight. I silently started to lightly jump across the trees; the ability to navigate through thick, overgrown trees silently was one of the core lessons that we were drilled in. My senses were on high alert, scanning the dim surroundings for any telltale sign of my pursuers.

I'd use Kagura Shingen, but unfortunately, that was a highly chakra-intensive technique, and making any sort of seal while actively pursued was a fool's errand that would likely get me killed. I didn't have the chakra reserves to spare, and I knew it with grim certainty.

My ears picked up the faint sound of something whirring towards me as I cursed my rotten luck and performed the Body-Flicker technique to hastily leave the path, just in time, as the place where I was at was viciously bombarded with shuriken. The razor-sharp metal blades bit deeply into the tree trunk, mere inches from where my head would have been, leaving jagged scars in the wood .

I took out a pair of kunai to deflect any more shuriken as I searched the shadowy forest to try and find the attacker. My eyes scanned the dimly-lit surroundings, my heart racing with sickening worry.

I faced off against the Kiri-nin, my heart pounding with dread and anxiety. He was the same as me in rank, but as a Shinobi you feel an instinctive sense that tells your chances of winning, and mine weren't good at all. My chakra reserves were running perilously low, and I was worried that I wouldn't be able to keep up with him for much longer.

"Just give up, kid. I'll make it quicker if you do," he taunted, a small, sinister smirk on his face.

It was clear what he was craftily attempting to do. He was trying to goad me into rushing him in a blind rage and attack him sloppily, falling for his trap .

If it wasn't for the newer influx of memories taking the edge out of the traumatic massacre, I may have done just that in my anguished state.

Seeing that I wasn't going to foolishly give up, he sighed and the previous smirk vanished into a hardened frown, "You Uzumaki are stubborn; that much I'll admit." With that, he swiftly vanished towards me with the Body Flicker as I leaped back, tensing for the inevitable clash.

A silver lining here was that there wasn't a large, exploitable source of water anywhere, and he didn't particularly seem like a Clan Shinobi, giving me a sliver of hope .

He dashed towards me with a pair of wicked daggers in his hands and I raised my kunai to defend. I was startled by his blistering speed as we fiercely clashed blades. I was thankful that I had been on a couple of harrowing missions and had sparred with experienced shinobi, otherwise I may have died instantly in our first clash.

Nonetheless, I quickly felt my hand getting cut up with small, stinging cuts which could quickly turn disastrous for me if not treated.

I rapidly body-flickered to create some much-needed distance between us. An idea struck me then, a potential way to turn the tide.

There were secret techniques in our clan such as the 'Adamantine Chains' 'Kagura Shingen' which were the well-known ones, but there were others which were less known and kept as a trump card. One of which was the ability to use our chakra to intricately carved seals on anything that we were touching. For us to do that, we needed to fully understand a seal's complex matrix, which to put it simply, isn't an easy task to master.

Thankfully, in my search for 'flashy' techniques, I had painstakingly learned to carve the Explosion Seal. It still took a significant amount of focus and concentration, which is why I had to hastily run away, but just like the rest of our techniques, this as well was an extremely chakra-intensive technique, so I'd only have a single high-risk shot to try and kill him.

I felt the energy inside of me and brought it forth to the kunai, picturing the seal's design and every single stroke with the exact amount of nuanced pressure, the seconds up to the millisecond on how long to press for the optimal result and trigger a searing explosion.

I had to carefully reserve some chakra to Body-Flicker away from the scene as quickly as inhumanly possible after activating the seal.

"You're one fucking annoying brat," I heard the Kiri-nin growl as he appeared in front of me, a kunai whistling towards my head as I narrowly leaped away, unfortunately not quite fast enough as I let out a small shout of pain, my chin sliced open and bleeding profusely. I needed to make absolutely certain that he wasn't a mere Water Clone as well as find a way to systematically wear his defenses down.

My hands shook slightly from fatigue and injury, but I stubbornly ran straight into the fray, knowing it was my only option left. I gained several more searing cuts as we started to viciously exchange blows, though it was now painfully obvious that he vastly outmatched me in skill. He was worn out as well, I could tell by the way he was raggedly panting now, but I could barely even move without fresh rivulets of blood seeping from nearly fifty cuts coating my battered body.

Just as he was about to go for the fatal killing blow to my exposed neck, I turned around as fast as I could and dropped my kunai, sending the carefully gathered chakra necessary to perform the Body Flicker technique while simultaneously activating the explosive power of the meticulously carved Explosion Seal with the last dregs of my focus. I felt my vision blur alarmingly as I arrived a safe distance away, the roar of the explosion assaulting my ears.

Black smoke billowed up through the trees from the blast site, obscuring my view. I fought the wave of dizziness and nausea threatening to overwhelm me. I couldn't afford to let my guard down, not yet. I needed to make absolutely certain that the Kiri-nin was well and truly dead, his threat permanently neutralized . One stumbling step after another, I made my way back towards the smoldering crater, kunai gripped tightly, scanning for any sign of movement or trap.

As the smoke slowly cleared, the devastation came into view - trees splintered and scorched, the ground charred and cratered. And there, unmoving in the epicenter, lay the broken, bloodied form of the Kiri-nin, chunks of flesh and gore painting a grotesque visage . I nearly retched at the sight, but managed to steel myself, I wasn't some fresh out of the womb Genin, I'd seen my fair share of bloodshed but I truly wasn't used to this level of gore. He was most definitely deceased, penalty for his pursuit exacted and a part of me that I didn't wish to acknowledge felt satisfied. The sad part was I couldn't blame the shinobi that attacked us for what they did, I've previously eliminated people for missions as well after all.

Shaking from the enormous expenditure of chakra and blood loss, I allowed myself to finally collapse, every battered muscle screaming in relief as I hit the forest floor. I had carved out a temporary respite, but I knew all too well that this would be merely a drop in the bucket compared to the total force hunting the scattered remnants of my clan.

'Where do I even go?' I thought morose.

Author's Note: A new story~ not as the Main Character because being Naruto would have been a bit too easy.

If you don't know what I'm talking about check out "I'm Who!? (SI!Harry)" It's my other story and no it isn't abandoned, I just don't want to burn out so a short break to write something else.

This story will be a Kingdom Building/Great Village building fic and will have a lot of OCs as this is taking place during the start of the Second Shinobi War. Please write some Kingdom Building stories, I swear there aren't enough of them.

I have a , even a dollar is highly appreciated but don't worry I'll always keep writing since it's fun but I'll probably write faster that way. pat re on . c o m /spiderlite

Finally, do follow, like, comment/review. The more you spam me with praise and notification the more I'm likely to continue writing.

Thanks for reading.

Masashi Kishimoto (Spider-Lite) Out!

Word Count (Pre-Disclaimer AN): 1789