Author's Note: Yes, I am perfectly aware that I have no business creating another story when I have two unfinished to work on. Please don't yell at me.

I have had this idea in my mind for a very long time. It is something I have always wanted to do. A timetravel, that makes sense, story. I have tried with my limited knowledge on Naruto - have not read much Shippuuden (spelling?), but I have watched through the first exams. So this story will be as close to cannon as I can make it. I have read as much as I could on wiki and other naruto fan sites as possible to understand the characters that I'm going to portray. That being said, I will more than likely make mistakes. If I do, please let me know. If I can change it, trust me I will. If I can't, well it is a fan-fiction. Its not going to be perfect. It is also going to be a SakuraxKakashi story. I expect to be flamed because some people don't like it, but hey, give it a chance. It will hopefully be as believable as possible.

Ok. With that through, the most of the prologue will take place during the years between Naruto and Shippuuden. I don't know exactly when, but Sakura is fourteen. If that is non cannon -deal with it! As for the end... well you will just have to wait and see. There are hints. I don't its too difficult. lol.

Last note for right now. I have tried to keep my Japanese words to a minimum. The that I use, you should be able to figure out because you are reading a Naruto fan fiction. All jutsu will be in Japanese. I will include a list at the bottom. I just feel its not the same if they are in English. *sigh* Some will be made up. I will only include ones that are named. If you have question about any that are not called by name just leave a message.

(Sakura's inner voice)

The rest should be self-explanatory.

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, plot, or themes of Naruto. Obviously, I am neither Japanese, a man, nor famous. If you think I am... please seek help immediately. Thank you.

The Paths We Take

Prologue - Mission

Life is full of twists and turns, branches that sprout into different paths. Fate, some say, has predetermined how one's life will end, the outcome of the maze. Yet, it is our individual choices that shape the future, is it not? We have the power to choose which path of the many available to us we will take. One wrong step, one false move could alter the chain of events that link one to the future they were destined to follow, could likewise shift and reshape the future for better or for worse.

Or is that misstep also the product of fate, destined to be taken?

Sakura focused as hard as she could on the small earpiece lodged in her ear. With a sigh, she realized willing someone to speak wouldn't make it happen. She hated to admit it, but she was getting cramped hiding between the rocks. Not to mention hot. Five brutal hours in the Suna desert was doing little in the way of cooling her hot temper.

She didn't like this mission. What she liked even less was being left behind a hot rock while the rest of the three man squad went in. For what, Sakura didn't know. She had been told be Tsunade that it was classified, and as such, none of her business. It had taken all of Sakura's extremely limited patience to keep her mouth closed during her miniscule briefing. She did not like the fact that Tsunade was sending her into a mission blind. That was what got ninja killed.

A bead of sweat trickled down her spine causing the pink haired medic to shiver slightly in the heat. What could be taking them so long?

She tried to keep her mind focused on the mission, on being alert and watchful, but honestly, five hours with nothing to occupy the senses would get to anyone, right? She shook her head and focused again on the surrounding area. She would have laughed if this hadn't been an important mission because there was nothing around her. No birds, no trees, no ants. Nothing! (You forgot the sand.) She pushed out her chakra slow and thin to avoid detection (by what?), checking again for any concealed ninja.

A soft almost nonexistent sigh escaped her lips. Nothing. (What do you expect? This is the edge of wind country.) Sakura beat back her pesky inner voice, ignoring its internal nagging and harassment as usual. She wasn't a child anymore, and she wasn't going to start complaining either, even if the awful sand was chaffing at her already dry skin. She had handled worse, probably would handle worse in the future. Sakura kept that thought in mind as she tried unsuccessfully to ignore the sweat dripping down her face and the cramping muscles in her legs.

(Just for a second….) No! Sakura shot down the whining again. She wasn't to move from her position until the others gave her the signal. No, Sakura wasn't going to move because she was of half a mind that this mission was a test of some sort. Who sent a genin medic out on a mission that was probably B ranked at minimum with only the excuse that 'all other medics were unavailable.'

Regardless, she was the medic on this mission, her first field assignment in that position, and she wasn't going to screw it up by getting caught or injured by enemy shinobi. Sakura gave herself a curt nod to ingrain those words into her mind. She was not moving.

The com link in her ear crackled. Sakura pressed her finger to it hoping beyond hope that it would give her clearance to move. Sakura waited in a tense silence for seconds before she heard it.

BOOOOOOOM

Eyes wide with fear, Sakura watched the black mushroom cloud ascend into the sky. A rough guess said it was coming from wherever the rest of her team was since she recognized the blast as one of her taichou's favorites. Her team was under fire. Hastily, she pressed the com link.

"Yuuki-taichou, Yuuki-taichou." The dead response grew the rising terror in her mind. Yuuki-san was a respected jonin. He couldn't be dead. "Yuuki-taichou, answer me." She demanded trying to keep fear out of her voice. What the hell kind of mission was this?!

The line went static again before Sakura heard. "I'm a little busy at the moment, Sakura-chan." His voice was gravelly and full of tension, but he was alive. Sakura's hope raised a fraction of an inch even her ears picked up the sound of kunai in action.

"Give me your position and I'll come and assist." She pleaded/demanded from behind her rock. Her team leader was in danger, and she needed to help him.

"No, Sakura-chan."

"Why?" This was what she was here for. Her heart was pounding, and adrenaline was pumping through her system. Why wasn't he letting her help him? It was her job as the team scout and medic; he was denying her her job. Did he think she was too weak to help? Sakura tried to push down her anger. He was the team captain. He knew what was best.

"Mizune-sama is coming your way. You must deliver the scroll she possesses back to the Hokage. You must complete the mission, Sakura-chan. Do you understand?" Sakura watched in horror as another explosion rocked the ground. This one much closer than the previous one. They were coming her way, quickly. "Do you understand, Sakura-chan?" Sakura's eyes landed on the nondescript bolder in front of her. It was a captain's order. Refusing it would be against ninja code. Her fist clinched, her nails biting into her gloved hands… but her team was in trouble. "Sakura-," his voice cut off with a gurgle.

A shiver passed down her spine. Yuuki-taichou was dead. She recognized that sound anywhere, the product of the life Sakura had chosen, the proof of her lost innocence. Still, that knowledge did not erase the lump that seemed to have formed in her throat. Nor did it dim the shot of pain at knowing a teammate was lost, and this one could never be saved. Jet black hair and cold eyes floated in her vision.

(Mizune needs us!) Sakura snapped back to the present. She leapt from behind her bolder, her mind made up. She would not loose another teammate today. She would not fail Kakashi-sensai anymore. His first true advice rang through her ears as she sprinted towards the open sand directly towards the curling swells of black smoke.

"Those who abandon their friends....are worse than scum."

Her eyes widened as she passed over a dune and the scene came into her frame of view. Dozens of bodies lay scattered in broken pieces across the dirt. (How could you have missed that?!) The ancient runes crumbling from age were disintegrating from the explosions that had rocked their core.

Sakura forced her eyes away from the carnage to focus on the moving bodies. She counted six sound/nuke ninja against her last teammate, Mizune-sama, one of the last of an ancient and respected clan. Her vivid orange hair curled around her head as she dodged kunai and jutsu. If Sakura had been an innocent bystander, she would have been awed by the almost dance-like grace with which the girl moved, but she was not. She had a job to do. Get the scroll, and save her teammate.

Sakura leapt into action. She took only a second to aim before her own deadly weapons flew towards their targets, killing two (HA!) unprepared ninja instantly. Mizune didn't slow down or even acknowledge her comrade. Her mind focused on the battle between her and two at least jonin level nuke-nin.

Sakura was left to face the remaining two. She dodged a fire jutsu and pushed chakra into her feet. She slipped a little on the shifting sand, cursing the desert again. Her taijutsu would be almost useless with all this sand. Her ninjutsus were limited and her chakra reserves had always been low. How on earth was she going to fight? She forcibly pushed those negative thoughts away. She had to focus. Her hands clinched, drawling blood, as she faced down her two opponents. I will not loose!

Automatically, her mind began to plan, picking through the few jutsu that she had trying to find any that would help her now. Her mind was working in overdrive as she quickly dogged the barrage of projectiles thrown her way. Dodging was her specialty. It had been the first thing she had learned after deciding to study medical jutsu. She would be useless if she got injured too. Determination lit her eyes as a plan began to formalize in her mind.

Her eyes lit up as her hands flew through the hand signs and drawing out just enough chakra. She didn't want to waste any of the precious little she was born with. Her mind focused on the newly learned jutsu. She would have to thank Temari if she ever made it out of this alive.

"Fuuton: kyoufuu."

Sakura's hands swirled downward toward the millions of grains of sand that had been her pain in the neck. Instantly, the gust of wind forced the particles into the air, lowering her opponents' visibility.

She released a barrage of kunai and senbon into the mini sand storm to keep her opponents busy as her hands flew through another set of hand signs. (Whose the copy ninja now?!)

The sound ninja was beyond irritated as he dug the senbon out of his arm. The pink haired bitch was going to pay for that as soon as he could see again. As the sand started to shift away, his eye sight returned. He glanced over too see if his partner was still alive. He was irritated to see that the bastard was no where in sight. Shit. He forced his glance forward, looking for damn kuniochi he now had to face in a fair fight. Only, she wasn't there. His eyes widened in shock as he jumped backward, looking around for a flash of pink.

Where is she? His mind searched franticly before it dawned on him. The sand! He looked down just in time to see a pink nailed hand reach for his foot. He grinned in triumph as he jumped away from her questing digits and threw kunai towards her now exposed body. A puff of smoke, a clank of metal on metal, and a two kunai thumped into the soft sand.

"Kawarimi?" He gaped at where his kunai lay on the ground, forgetting his opponent in his confusion, a mistake. How could she have fooled him with such an elementary technique? He didn't have any time to reflect any further as a chakra infused fist collided with his head snapping his neck and ending his life. Sakura never stopped to notice her blood stained hands.

(In your face!) Sakura didn't have time to celebrate as her senses screamed forcing her to drop and roll to escape the leg of her last opponent. He was a lot smarter than his comrade having avoided her first wind attack all together. Obviously, there was no love amongst the group as he hadn't tried to prevent her destruction of his teammate in the least. In fact, he had used his teammate to draw her out, to get her to show herself. (What do you expect from sound ninja, baka?) Still a flash of anger passed through her. He had let his teammate die while she had come to save hers.

"You're a little skilled. Not that it would have taken much effort to kill that piece of useless trash." He remarked coldly. Sakura suppressed a shiver as his cold, black eyes met hers. He reminded her of someone she wished she could forget.

Sakura didn't answer. She slid her leg back and moved her arms into a standard taijutsu position, ready to attack or defend. Sakura noted apprehensively that his exposed and highly defined muscles made him physically stronger than she was by a wide margin. She checked her chakra levels and was more than slightly annoyed at how much she had already lost. For all of her training, her charka reserves were still a major weakness. She wasn't fool enough to think she could continue fighting for much longer especially with her disadvantage, but that still didn't mean she couldn't win.

Sakura was pulled from her thoughts as he reached behind his back gripping the handle of his kanata. The steal hissed as it left its sheath. There were odd markings around the blade. Sakura didn't have to wait long to figure out what they meant. She watched his one handed seals, uneasily, before he grinned as if he had already won.

"Katon: Ittou no Gouka."

Sakura's eyes widened in disbelief as black flames immersed the glinting metal of his blade. She didn't know anyone outside of the Uchiha clan was able to use fire style techniques as strong as that one. The analytical part of her mind justified that he must have thrown the fire jutsu earlier too. Who on earth was this man? He held the sword surrounded by black fames into the air. His smirk was triumphant. (Cocky bastard!)

"Do you like it, kuniochi-chan?" As if he saw the questions in her eyes he continued. "Oh no, I'm not from your precious Konoha, I just happened to steal it from an abandoned shrine." His sound headband glinted in the hot sun as if to mock her. His blade sliced through the air, destroying the bunshin she had created to distract him. Damn there goes that plan. His eyes turned back to face her, a strange glint hiding within them. "Let's play."

Sakura launched herself backwards, away from the assaulting ninja. She wouldn't stand a chance if that blade managed a direct hit. Her muscles strained against the rapid movements she was forcing them into. He was faster than her, she noted as the smell of burnt clothing assaulted her nose. Too close. She had no ninjutsu that would stand a chance against that blade. She wasn't willing to risk blocking with a kunai in case the fire on the blade managed to melt through her own steal. It was too much of a risk. What else could she use?

Sakura dodged his down strike, trying to ignore the pain as it managed to score a superficial (damn that hurts!) hit on her arm. (Use a genjutsu, you baka.) Sakura tried to push the idea away. She simply didn't have the stamina to sustain a genjutsu for long. But maybe if she played on his arrogance, maybe then it could work.

Her hands flew through the signs as he rushed towards her. The sound shinobi grinned as she pulled a kunai to block his on coming attack. She was a fool and completely inferior to him. His weapon sliced easily through it, and she screamed in pain as he cut her arm away from her body. He frowned. Something was telling him this wasn't right. His eyes flashed.

"Kai."

"Too late." He felt the cold metal against his neck before Sakura slashed at his throat. Her own eyes widened as she watched the rock thud back against the ground. (Where did he get that stupid rock?!) A kawarimi jutsu. She flared her senses out trying to detect him, annoyed at being fooled that easily.

Sakura shifted backwards, a mistake, as his aura flared with killing intent from right behind her. Before she could turn away, his hand curled around her waist pushing her against his chest, a position that in another other situation might have been intimate. The heat of his sword forced more sweat to bead on her arms and face. The metal glinted as it came towards her, but Sakura's hand was already funneling green chakra into the hand holding the instrument about to end her life. If she could just numb it enough… With a cry of pain, he lost grip on his weapon and it sunk into the sand (YES!), the black flames disappearing almost immediately.

Sakura's elbow slammed backwards right into his gut with a little added chakra just to make sure he felt it. He bowed forward as Sakura escaped his grip. She spun and latched onto his hair - (It's so silky!) shut up! - pulling his head down on to her thrusting knee. She was extremely satisfied to hear his bones shattering. She loved it when they underestimated her strength. Flecks of blood flew through the air after impact. She did not let go of the grip on his hair as she twisted his neck, snapping it as well, just to be sure.

Ok, so that had gone a tad bit better than she had thought as she sucked in deep breaths of air. She tried to ignore the throbbing third degree burn on her right arm as she turned her attention back to Mizune's fight. She watched as Mizune managed to fight off an aggressive jutsu from the last alive sound ninja. She shifted, her crystalline eyes glancing towards Sakura. Immediately, she took a kunai out of her back pocket and threw it wide of her target who just laughed at her.

Sakura picked the kunai out of the sand in front of her. Instantly, she noticed the light weight of the weapon. No, of the transformed scroll. She did not notice how the scroll seemed to absorb the blood soaking her hand. Her eyes itched, the lump had returned to her throat. Sakura knew she was going to be fighting off tears. She knew what Mizune-sama expected of her, and she hated the weakness she was showing during a fight. She checked her chakra levels: forty percent, not enough to help in a jonin battle.

Sakura's eyes watched the two fighters unable to follow their quick movements at times. The reality of her uselessness hurt her, cut her deep. She would just be a burden if she stayed, but she could finish the mission.

Mizune-sama might win; Sakura chided herself for not thinking positive. At the moment, it looked like Mizune even had the upper hand. Sakura's clean fingers tightened on the false kunai as she made her decision.

I'm sorry Kakashi-sensai, but I can't protect her.

She locked eyes one final time with the last remaining member of her three man squad. She nodded, her eyes blazing, warning Mizune against dying as she turned her back on the harsh desert dunes, picked up the stolen sword from the sand, and ran toward river country. It was too dangerous to leave the sword out there for anyone to find. (Or some one in particular) You be quiet!

She loaded her feat with chakra. The sooner she got back to Konoha the sooner she could get help for Mizune-sama. It would take a day for her to get back if she was traveling with full stamina, which she wasn't. She popped a soldier pill into her mouth and bit into it feeling the rush of lost energy returning to her limbs. Her chakra levels soared. She could do this.

It was getting dark. Sakura had been running for what she suspected was almost six hours. She had not stopped for anything, drinking water and eating while she was running. She wouldn't have even done that if she believed she could make it back to Konoha without it, but she knew she had to get nutrients into her system after using the soldier pill.

She was getting tired too. It wasn't the normal tired either; no, this seemed more like unconsciousness sucking her into its dark embrace. Definitely not a good sign. Her arm throbbed again, as if to make sure she didn't forget it. She knew she should treat the burn before it got infected, but she couldn't waste chakra for that nor did she even think she could. Burn treatment required the medic to first scrape away all dead cells before promoting new cell generation. It was far more difficult than normal repairs, especially sense third degree burns affected nerves and muscle tissue as well. It would be fine till she got to Konoha, then she could have Tsunade-shisho yell at her and fix it at the same time. She grinned at the thought. It would be strangely welcomed after the hell of a mission she had just been put through.

In that moment, her senses' flared with warning again as Sakura was forced to dodge the kunai that would have punctured a lung. Missing her intended tree limb, Sakura jumped to the ground. She began running as soon as her feet hit the soft grass. Being an idiot, she had only brought one soldier pill. She didn't have the time or chakra for another draining fight.

Her flight plan was disregarded almost immediately when two ninja appeared in front of her. Her senses picked up two others just behind her. She angled and maneuvered her back to a tree so that she had all her enemies in her sights. Sakura noticed the village headbands out of habit, but was caught off guard. She had never seen their symbol before. There was a small circle in the middle with two swirled lines extending from the circle as if it was the center. She put aside her curiosity as another far more important detail of their headbands caught her eye. A horizontal slash marred the odd symbol. (Damn it!) Nuke-nin.

The tallest of the group leered at her. "What's little miss kuniochi doing out in the woods at night?"

Another's eyes widened as Sakura shifted causing the waning light to catch in her hair. "No way!" The ninja took a step back.

Sakura remained on high alert, hiding her confusion. Surely, she wasn't that well known yet. She wasn't even a chunin– granted that was because Tsunade-shisho always seemed too drunk to recommend her when the exams came, and she was short a team member or two.

"What is it, Muji?"

"She's got pink hair!" The nuke Muji yelled.

"What?!" Another exclaimed.

"The sword too! Damn it, it's her!" The third said.

The tallest's eyes jumped quickly from his companions back to the pinkette leaning against the tree. "It can't be her. She's too young."

"No, Muji's right. She looks just like the girl!" The third's voice was shaking.

Sakura had no idea what they were going on about, but she didn't care. They were distracted, and she wasn't fool enough not to take the golden opportunity. Her gloved hand slipped into her kunai pouch grabbing four senbon. She would take out the easiest first. Her hand flicked, and two nuke-nin (the closest to her) slumped to the ground. If she had aimed right, they were dead. If she had missed, which was likely, they would be unconscious or paralyzed. She hoped, sadly enough, that they were dead.

The arguing missing nin turned back to where the pink haired girl had been only to find the spot empty. With a roar of rage, the remaining two took off after her. Muji followed reluctantly, clearly frightened by the pink haired girl. Sakura was already sprinting through the forest trying to figure out how to get away from these strange ninja.

In the few seconds she had looked them over, she had noticed their ages. These missing nin were older, especially the tallest. Not out of shape old, but jounin old. To be nuke-nin at that age, they had to be skilled. She marveled in the fact that she had even managed to escape them once. She would not be able to get out of this if it came down to a straight fight. A second later, she heard the shout. They had found her and were gaining.

Sakura reached back into her hip pocket drawing out some special kunai. A flick of the wrist and they were soaring back towards her oncoming prey. She heard the clank of metal on metal as the kunai was deflected. A feral grin stretched her pink lips as she let go of the chakra blocks. The explosion rocked through the river country and mingled with the cry of a dying man. Her explosive tags had been a success then.

"Bitch."

Sakura had no warning before a leg rammed into her side. She was slammed into a tree trunk. Her head connected with violent force. The blade she had fastened over her shoulder cutting into her back and pushing all her breath from her lungs. She couldn't gather her senses in time to dodge the kunai that embedded themselves in her shoulder, thigh, and hip. A cry of pain pushed past her lips as she crumpled to the ground. Her breath came in and out raggedly as she tried desperately to regain some vital air.

Her green eyes shot up as a soft thump signaled her opponent's arrival. It was abundantly clear to Sakura at that moment that she stood no chance against this man. The tallest of the missing nin eyed her warily. He wasn't going to be making anymore mistakes.

His eyes glinted. Sakura shivered under the oppressive killing aura that seemed to choke her. (Great, you managed to piss him off.) Sakura ignored her inner self and tried to draw upon her last remaining chakra. She had less than twenty five present left. Maybe if she could get him in closer, she could get one good punch in. (Like he's going to let you do that, baka!)

"You just killed three of my comrades with your pathetic tricks. What are you going to use on me? Let me guess, that damn super strength right?" Shivers crawled up her spine again. How did he know so much about her? "I'm going to enjoy finally killing you." (Finally? What did you do to this guy?) I did just kill his friends.

His hands flew through a series of hand signs that she had no chance of following before she felt the world around her getting fuzzy. Then it was like a million kunai were hitting her all at once. Screams tore through her lips. She tried to think past the pain. She tried to focus on her chakra to push it erratically through her system, but it was a weak attempt at best. She wouldn't escape from this genjutsu. Pain slashed through her again and again, numbing her mind, halting all previous concentration.

Then it was gone, like it had never been before leaving her muddled mind in its wake. She was panting, gasping, trying to hold on to consciousness. She felt him grab her shirt, clearly thinking she was incapacitated. She tried to focus some chakra into her right hand, but found she barely move it. The kunai must have damaged the muscles. She was in the process of funneling her chakra into her other hand when he pushed her face close to his.

"How do you like being weak?" There was madness in his eyes. His fetid breath pushed against her, but it was his words that lit her up. (I AM NOT WEAK!)

She drew her remaining strength into one final hit. He saw her hand coming and jerked backwards. Her hand just nicked his jaw, breaking it instead of smashing his skull. He dropped her and stepped back. Her, now glowing, left hand went automatically to fix her right shoulder, mixing their blood, as she tried to get to her feet. (Come on!) She flexed her right fingers. It wasn't a full fix, but it would last for maybe one or two more attacks.

Once she was steady, she pushed her left hand into her kunai pouch grabbing her last kunai. Its light weight stopped her. The scroll. She pulled her hand back dropping the useless kunai back into the pouch. She would have to use her emergency plan. She moved her fingers into a cross that usually was attributed to her overbearing teammate. In her haste, she didn't notice how clean her left hand was.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Sakura's remaining chakra was split between the two images as they both sprinted in opposite directions. With any luck he would follow the clone. Sakura was so focused on sensing the enemy ninja's chakra that she didn't immediately notice the prickly, warm feeling erupting over her back. She slipped behind a tree as the strange sensation began to take over her full body. Had he managed to hit her with a jutsu?

She went to pull out the hidden scroll, intent on hiding in case she was captured, when she noticed it had transformed back to its original shape. She stared transfixed as the ink on the scroll seemed to be flowing in strange patterns. She unrolled it as the prickling heat grew harsher. Her eyes scanned the page only picking up two symbols that she recognized. The rest was a written in a language she could not understand. Sakura could make no sense out of the two symbols since they were only numbers – 2 and 14 – but somehow it seemed important that they were written in red ink instead of the black ink the rest of the scroll was written in.

Sakura jumped as an explosion rocked the forest. What on earth was that? Memories from her clone flashed through her mind quickly. It had crossed into some trap. She hoped the nuke-nin had died with her, but she couldn't count on it.

Just as she was going to hide the scroll in the ground, the prickling heat intensified almost unbearably. She watched horrified as the 2 shifted to 3 before the scroll's ink seemed to burst off the page. Sakura watched paralyzed as the red and black ink covered her body. She couldn't move, she couldn't scream. She could only watch as the black ink covered her vision and the prickling sensation moved to her right wrist.

The black ink was the last thing she saw before she lost herself in unconsciousness.

Kawa Hotaru had been diligently cleaning the shrine like she always did in the morning. It was something she had been required to do since she was a child. Her father believed that the responsibility would instill in her certain positive qualities. Qualities he felt she needed for the life she had chosen to lead. She had been doing it for so long that now, even though she had graduated from the Academy, she still went to the shrine like she always had. What she hadn't prepared for was what would happen on that particular morning.

The bizarre event had happened quickly. One moment she was sitting on the now clean floor, caressing the swirled insignia of her newly acquired Whirlpool headband, and the next, a strange warmth had blossomed behind her. Confused she turned around just in time to see her family's precious sword disappear into thin air.

Hotaru blinked twice before pinching herself just to make sure she wasn't imagining this. Ouch! Ok, this was real. The sword was gone. Who on earth could have- She paused then as frustration boiled under her skin. This was taking their little games too far. She wasn't even supposed to travel let alone pull pranks in her condition. Still, it couldn't be anyone else but-

"KUSHINA!!!!!!!"

I hope that you are at least intrigued. The next chapter is under way, but I don't know when it will be up. Hopefully soon. Let me know what you think by dropping a review or personal message. I want to know what you think. ^^

Dictionary:

Fuuton: kyoufuu - Wind style: strong wind. This jutsu relies on chakra to direct a large gust of wind where ever the hands are focused. The more chakra used, the stronger the gust.

Kawarimi - Ninja art: Substitution. This simple jutsu replaces the user with an object in their surroundings. (In my fiction it can be anything, though is usually a log)

Katon: Ittou no Gouka - Fire style: Hell Fire Sword. This jutsu draws black flames to rest upon the blade created to hold it. If used on a regular blade, the blade would melt. It's flames are hot enough to cut through almost anything, including metal.

Kai: Release. Used to escape genjutsu.

Kage Bunshin no Jutsu - Ninja art: Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu. Trademark of Naruto, this forbidden jutsu creates a real clone by splitting the chakra of the user into another body. When they are destroyed, all memories are given back to the creator.