Chapter 1 – Awakening

It was a bright and sunny day in the ninja village of Konohagakure no Satō and the Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, was regretting his life choices.

A very spiky-haired chūnin with a bandage across his nose appeared in front of the Hokage. He was breathless and panting, as if he had just run a mile.

"Well? Did you have any luck, Kotetsu-kun?" the old man grunted from beneath his conical red hat.

"Iie, Hokage-sama," the young chūnin replied, out of breath. Hiruzen frowned. The boy was getting out of shape, lazing about and checking passports daily with Izumo. He'd have to send them on a mission soon. However, there was a more crucial matter at hand.

"Nowhere in the village?" Hiruzen asked, raising a graying eyebrow. Kotetsu shook his head: no. "Then bring me a squad of ANBU black ops, now!" The chūnin was taken aback at Hiruzen's intensity, surely wondering: why bring in the ANBU for something so trivial? However, he shunshined away, unspeaking.

Hiruzen sighed, gazing out his office window at the Mountainside images. There were four carved heads, one for each Hokage who had overseen the village. He studied at the last one, a sorrowful smile showing on his features. What a cruel trick of fate, that the Third had outlived the Fourth!

Ah, Minato. The old man smiled fondly at the remembrance of his beloved pupil. The boy had been so fearless, sacrificing himself to seal the Kyūbi into a newborn baby.

"Hokage-sama!" several young voices chorused, snapping the Hokage out of his reverie. A trio of ANBU stood in front of his desk. One of them was noticeably smaller than the others. Itachi, was it? Yes, he had to be – the youngest to ever be chosen for ANBU. And the others were Yugaō and Sensho.

Hiruzen cleared his throat. "Ah, yes. Thank you for coming at such a short notice. The mission I have for you may not seem difficult, but it is of the utmost importance to Leaf. If you succeed – and I have no doubt that you will – the pay will be that of a B-ranked mission!"

"Find Uzumaki Naruto and bring him to me!"

A six-year-old Naruto Uzumaki rested on an ancient log, catching his breath before allowing himself a tiny giggle. His blue eyes shone gaily as he basked in the triumph of his successful escape from the village. Ha! Just let Kotetsu-nii an' Hokage-jiji try an' find me now, the little boy thought with a snicker.

He slid off the log and flopped back against it, feeling the bark rub against his back. Yep! Nobody's gonna find me!

Naruto was so confident in his victory that he nearly missed a crashing sound coming from his left. The little boy sat up. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to come out here after all – what if it's a BEAR? He shivered as the crashing came closer and closer until it seemed as though it was just on the verge of the clearing. By now the boy was terrified. Then he heard a cough. It wasn't a bear at all! It was human!

Naruto fumbled around and grabbed a modest sized rock from the ground. Hokage-jiji told me not to leave the village cuz' there were lots of bad people out there like enemy shinobi! He swallowed. But maybe if I can beat this enemy ninja, then everyone'll notice me an' they'll think I'm a hero! He gathered his courage and rose up.

"Hey, enemy ninja! I'm Naruto Uzumaki, the next Hokage! Come out and fight me, dattebayo!" His slight voice echoed off the tree trunks, sounding frail and weak. Naruto tightened his grip on the stone. "C'mon out, you"- he racked his mind for an appropriate insult to use- "you doofus enemy ninja!"

All Naruto heard was a giggle coming from the leaves of a tree in the direction from which he'd previously heard the crashing. He narrowed his eyes, feeling like a real ninja as he stared at the treetops. Then he swung his arm back and threw the rock as hard as his tiny arms could. It flew into the treetops and crashed through the leaves.

There was a yelp, and then somebody fell out of the tree into the bushes, landing in a crash. Naruto grinned. Now I can grab this bad guy an' drag him back to the village! The boy could already see the Hokage's smile. Breathless, he stumbled through the trees to find the person he'd brought down.

Only it wasn't a shinobi.

Lying amidst a heap of crushed bracken was a girl who looked like she was only a few years older than him. She wore a gray t-shirt and tattered black pants. Her hair was tied into a dirty-blond ponytail; her feet were encased in ratty leather sandals.

"You OK?" Naruto gulped. Jus' when I thought I finally beat a bad guy. I hope I didn't kill her. He stared down at the girl's leg, which had awkwardly twisted beneath her when she fell.

"I'm fine!" the girl exclaimed, her eyes bursting open. "Neko ni kyūshō ari. Except my leg, but I'll get you back for that later," she joked. As she sat up and tried to move the appendage, she winced. "Itai!" Naruto could see a dark blue bruise beginning to blossom on her calf.

Her eyes're so pretty, Naruto thought distractedly. Her eyes were gorgeous, to be fair, the irises a lovely shade of indigo stained with turquoise, but he was forgetting something… wasn't he?

"Hey, um, I'm really really sorry I hurt you," Naruto apologized. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki, dattebayo! I'm gonna be Hokage someday! An' hey, I'm gonna start the Academy next week! Are you in the Academy, nee-chan?" he babbled "Hey, what's your name?"

The girl gave him a strange look. Naruto slouched. Forget it, she's probably just another one of the villagers who hate me. He turned around, kicking at moss and rocks as he made his way away from the girl.

"Wait!" the girl called. "Naruto…san! I didn't mean to upset you! My name's Yugito Ni'i. I'm from Kumogakure no Sato; I don't know Konoha customs that well!"

"Nah, that's OK!" Naruto replied, running back toward her. "And I am really sorry I knocked you outta that tree." He was confused though. Isn't Kumo like really far away? How come she's here? A thought occurred to him. "Ano-sa, ano-sa! Nee-chan, wait here! I'mma go get you an ice pack from my house! Be right back!" he called over his shoulder.

"Going somewhere?" a lightly muffled voice asked from behind Naruto. The blond jumped and slowly turned to look up a trio of white-and-red ANBU masks.

"Aw, shucks!" he groaned.

Two children sat in front of the Hokage's desk in stiff-backed wooden chairs. Two pairs of blue eyes peeked at the Sandaime from beneath two heads of blond hair.

"I'm sorry, Hokage-jiji," Naruto mumbled, squirming in his seat. "I jus'…" Yugito barely paid attention to him. The ninja from the Leaf weren't that awful after all. One of their medic ninjas (a boy only four years older than her) had healed the bruise – while Naruto apologized over and over – and now it felt like her fall had never happened. They're not as bad as the Kumo elders made out. Riko-baa always said that the ninja from other nations were mean and hurt people. But then again, she also said they'd take care of me. A single tear rolled down her cheek.

"Never! Do that! Again!" the Sandaime bellowed, jolting Yugito's nerves. The old man pounded his palms on the desk. "Naruto…" His face softened, looking so much like the faces of the Kumo elders. "Naruto, it's too dangerous out there. Imagine if you had been eaten by a wolf! Please, don't leave the village alone." The little boy nodded. "Promise me that you'll never go out there by yourself again."

"I won't, Hokage-jiji. Believe it!" Naruto replied seriously.

"Arigato gozaiyamasu," the Sandaime said with a smile, ruffling the boy's hair. "Now, Karasu-kun?" The young ANBU who had been resting in the corner zipped to the front of the desk and saluted his Hokage. The old man passed him a stack of ryō. "For the moment, I'm releasing you of your duties. Take Naruto-kun out to Ichiraku. My treat."

"OHMIGOSH ARIGATO JIJI!" Naruto shrieked. He flung himself over the desk

"The rest of you except for Taka, dismissed!" ordered the Hokage. Yugito hadn't even noticed the other ANBU guards, but she saw them disperse in gray blurs now. So cool. However now she realized she was alone in a room with one of the most powerful shinobi to ever walk on earth, her nerves spiked. What will he do? Is he going to kill me? Or even send me back to Rai no Kuni?

The Hokage did nothing of the sort. Instead, he sighed heavily, sat down, and drew his chair up to the desk. "I didn't catch your name", he said, showing Yugito a loving smile.

"My name's Yugito Ni'i, at least that's what the elders called me…" Yugito murmured shyly. "I'm from Kumogakure no Sato."

"Mm. Konoha's a long way for the Kumo elders to send one girl," the Hokage mused. "They didn't do a proper job of equipping you either. The sole dangerous object that the ANBU discovered in your bag was a single kunai." He frowned. "Would Kumo truly stoop so low…"

"They didn't send me," corrected Yugito, feeling that the old man was getting the wrong idea. I'm not a spy! "I ran away."

"Did you? Then that explains many things," the Hokage remarked. "But it does not explain your ability to leave the village without being followed."

"I left a suicide note," Yugito said. "They think I jumped off a cliff and blew myself up with an explosive kunai." Her lower lip trembled. "It was really the only thing I could think of to keep them from – from coming after me."

"I see…" The Sandaime rose and began to pace before the large office window. His red-and-white haori swished gently against the tiled floor. "Tell me, Yugito-san, why did you flee from Kumo?" His voice was filled with fatherly concern.

The girl took a deep breath. "I – I ran away because – because the elders were going to turn me into a weapon. They took care of me ever since my parents died, but they didn't do that for any of the other kids and I thought that was weird." She shifted slightly. "Demo…when I asked them, all they said was that I was 'special'. And about a month ago, I heard them talking when they thought I was asleep. One of them said 'you know this training could kill Yugito', and then the other said 'but if she lives, she'll become a greater weapon than that Hyūga kid ever could.' There are lots of kids who died doing special training in Kumo. I didn't want to die – or be a weapon – so I left as fast as I could." She sighed, gazing down at her soiled feet.

"Hm…" said the Sandaime. He paused his pacing and turned to face Yugito. "And how old are you, Yugito-san?"

"Nine years old, Hokage-san, no, -sama," Yugito replied, the honorifics feeling strange on her tongue

"Nine… so it would have been a year before Naruto…" the Hokage muttered. "The Raikage did mention a broken seal…" He raised his voice. "Bring me Hyuga Iroha, now!"

Yugito saw a gray flash – an ANBU had taken off through the window. "Are you…"

"Merely confirming a theory, my dear," replied the man with a fatherly look. "Now whether my hypothesis is true or not, I shall allow you to stay." He paused. "Out of an old man's curiosity…why come to Konoha instead of another village – or hiding away in Rai no Kuni?"

"Because I still want to be a ninja," Yugito said quietly. "And the other villages are scary. Especially Chigiri," she emphasized, using the infamous nickname for Mizu no Kuni's Hidden Village – the Bloody Mist.

"Hokage-sama." The even, smooth voice came from the doorway. A young man with almond-brown hair had entered the room without Yugito noticing. He wore the same high-collared green vest that most of the other Leaf ninjas wore. But the strangest thing about him was his eyes. They were devoid of pupils and the irises were white like clouds.

"Iroha, take a look at the girl and tell me what you see," the Hokage ordered.

The Hyūga stepped up to Yugito's chair and squinted at her. "Amazing. Her aura is strong – I can feel it." He held up his fingers in a seal and intoned: "Byakugan!" Immediately, his irises contracted and the veins on his temples bulged. It looks silly, Yugito thought. But after a few seconds of staring, he stepped back with an expression of awe on his face.

"My god," he gasped. "Hokage-sama, she's – "

The Hokage beckoned him over and they had a hurried, whispered discussion, which resulted in her being sent outside the Hokage's office while a group of grumpy-looking old people argued with him. Yugito strained her ears – she'd always had cat-like hearing – but all she heard was the word "jinchūriki." And she didn't even know what "jinchūriki" meant.

Finally, the council filed out of the office, and she was called back in. The Hokage smiled at her. "Well, Yugito-san, it seems that you'll be moving in with Naruto-kun this afternoon."

"Naruto-san, it's very… messy," Yugito declared upon seeing Naruto's apartment. Naruto scratched his head in embarrassment.

"Gomen'asai," the little boy mumbled. "I woulda cleaned up, ya know, but how'm I s'posed to know Hokage-jii was gonna gimme a roommate?" The apartment was dim and diminutive. Its atmosphere was permeated by the electric hum of an old-fashioned refrigerator that loomed in the corner.

"Anyway, cm'on! I'll show you around, dattebayo!" Naruto seized Yugito's wrist and yanked her into the apartment. He cheerily kicked the door shut. "It's super awesome havin' my own place! Even that Sasuke-teme doesn't have his own!"

So, this is how Konohagakure treats orphans? It's different from Kumo's prison-like orphanage… but who would make a six-year-old live on his own like this? Yugito wrinkled her forehead.

As if he was telepathic, Naruto broke into another string of chatter. "Ano-sa, ano-sa! Nee-chan! Wanna know how come I got my own place? Hokage-jii says the orphanage didn't want me anymore." He pouted. "Buuuut…he gave me this place when I turned six! It's the best birthday present ever, dattebayo!"

The orphanage didn't want Naruto. The Hokage had said Naruto was a special case, but…

Naruto hauled her over to the tiny kitchenette next to the refrigerator. "See? I got my own kitchen! There's the fridge, an' the sink, an' the tea kettle…" He let go of Yugito's hand and hopped onto a cute stepstool to open a cabinet above the counter. "An' I got lotsa ramen, dattebayo!" he cheered. Yugito could feel the little boy's pride surge as he indicated the neat rows of instant noodle cups.

"An' this is the table," Naruto continued, pointing at a small table with two chairs that was pushed against the main room's window. "An' I got a real big couch!" He zipped across the room, full of hyperactive toddler energy and plopped down on a well-worn sofa, releasing a plume of dust. The end table next to the couch was piled high with back issues of Shinobi Jr magazine, atop which a lamp balanced precariously. More magazines were scattered on the floor, the reason for the "mess" Yugito had mentioned earlier.

"It's very nice," Yugito said. "Thank you for letting me stay here."

"Oy! I ain't done showing ya 'round yet, dattebayo!" Naruto leapt off the sofa. "The bathroom's in here." He opened an unmarked brown door. Yugito caught a glimpse of a small sink before the door crashed shut. "And this is my bedroom!" He flung open the other door; it banged against the wall as he charged into the room and bounced on one of the beds. "Huh. This wasn't here before. Weird. Why stick another bed in my bedroom, dattebayo!"

Yugito cleared her throat.

"Oh," Naruto realized. "An' hey, look! They brought a buncha stuff for ya!" He pointed at the neat pile of objects on the new bed. Yugito looked around the room. There were two beds, one on each side of the room, with their feet towards the door and a window between them. A dresser sat under the window. On the wall next to the door hung a mirror. Naruto's side of the room (the messier one) had a large poster showcasing a bowl of ramen. It was a small but cozy space, and it felt a lot warmer than the Kumo orphanage's bedrooms.

She shouted with joy when she saw her knapsack amongst the things on the bed. The ANBU took it before I could even do anything! Dear Kami, I hope Tabi's okay. Ripping open the top of the bag, she reached in to pull out a well-worn, floppy but cute stuffed tiger. "Tabi!" she squealed, rolling backwards onto the bed and hugging the plush tightly. "I'm so glad they didn't take you!" Because you're the only thing left to me of my parents…

Yugito opened her eyes to see Naruto looming over her. He was standing on the bed with one hand behind his back and a huge grin on his face. "I gotta stuffed animal, too, dattebayo! See?" From behind his back, he removed a shabby orange fox plush. One of its button eyes was missing and the seams were starting to pull apart, but it was easy for Yugito to tell that Naruto loved it.

"His name's Underwear, dattebayo!" the six-year-old said with complete sincerity, though not without a giggle. Yugito giggled too, and then busted out laughing so hard that she nearly rolled off the bed. Gasping for breath, she sat up.

"His name's really Underwear?" she asked incredulously.

"Yup!"

"Underwear the Fox?"

"Yup!" The hilarity of this struck both children and they rolled about on the bed in paroxysms of laughter before finally calming down and returning to their seats. "Tabi, this is Underwear," Naruto declared solemnly, pointing to his plushie. He stared at the fox with stern intensity (well, as much as a cute kid can have) and then pointed at the blue tiger. "Underwear, this is Tabi. Be good friends, OK?"

"Hai!" Yugito replied in a squeaky voice before setting the stuffed animal aside and delving into her knapsack again. Out came several items she'd purloined from the Kumo academy: a half-full bottle of hyōrōgan, a kunai knife, and a few scrolls. She had a few of her own things too, namely a hairbrush and a few crumpled items of clothing, plus two books: Tale of the Gutsy Shinobi and The Legend of the Six Paths. Both were hand-me-downs; she'd never read the former.

Turning her attention to the rest of the items on the bed, Yugito discovered that the Konoha people had provided for her several sets of clothing (how did they know her size?), towels, toothbrushes, and a comb. In addition to the essentials, she had been given a pair of small boxes wrapped in gray paper and tied with a ribbon.

"Uwaaa! They gave you presents!" Naruto stared at the boxes jealously as Yugito slid off the bed. She put her clothes away in the dresser (Naruto hastily crammed all his into one side) before returning to the now-clean mattress. "Open them, quick!" Naruto cried. Smiling, Yugito picked up the first box and tugged at the ribbon, unraveling the knot while Naruto slowly died of suspense.

Inside the box was a small, oblong, disc made of the same green stone that permeated Rai no Kuni's mesas. The disc balanced on a white marble base shaped like a cloud. It was engraved with the symbol of Kumogakure. Yugito picked it up to set it on the dresser and a note fluttered out from beneath the ornament's base. Curiously, she grabbed the tiny piece of paper.

Naruto scooted behind her and leaned over her shoulder. "Hey, nee-chan!" he yelled practically into her ear, almost giving Yugito a migraine. "Nee-chan, nee-chan, what's that say?"

Her head ringing from the earsplitting "nee-chans", Yugito groaned. "You can't read?" she asked and then smacked her forehead. Of course he can't read, he's only six! Barely old enough to start the Academy!

"Well, I can read most of it, dattebayo!" Naruto protested, squinting at the kanji written on the wrinkled paper. "It says…uhh…for Y-y-you?"

"Yugito," the epynomous girl corrected.

"I knew that," Naruto said. "For Yugito, to-to re-remi-"

"Remind," Yugito suggested gently, feeling like a big sister.

"To remind you of your-Hey, nee-chan, what's home-land?" the little boy asked.

"Homeland?" Yugito answered. "It means the country that you were born in."

"OK!" Naruto cheered and continued to haltingly parse the letter. "Um… remind you of your homeland when… you feel…home-sick?"

"Meaning you miss your home," supplied the older girl.

"When you feel homesick," Naruto continued. "Sa-ru-to-bi Hi-ru-zen. Sandaime Hokage!" he finished triumphantly. "I know what that means! It means the third Hokage! Uwaa! Hokage-jiji sent you a present! I don't really ever get presents," he babbled, "'cept on my birthday, an' they're usually from jiji and o-san at Ichiraku." Yugito smiled at the boy's enthusiasm.

The two children opened the the other box. It had a stuffed bunny inside it, a rabbit with such a silly expression that Naruto immediately dubbed it "Baka-Usagi", before Yugito reminded him that it was her present and she ought to get to name it. The present was from someone named "Haru", so she decided to call the plushie "Haruka".

The kids spent the rest of the afternoon playing with Haruka, Tabi and Underwear. It was a surreal experience for Yugito, who had never been allowed to play alone with another kid in Kumo, because she was "special". She found it even harder to believe that she'd been leaping between trees in the forest that morning, without knowing where she was or destination. Now, she was playing with another child and having fun in one of the most secure places in the Elemental Nations.