Disclaimer: I do not own any Naruto characters.

Chapter 1: The parrot, the spider and the girl

"It has been a great day so far." The silver-haired shinobi thought to himself as he leisurely strode along the mountain ridge outside of Konoha.

Hatake Kakashi was a Jounin from the Hidden Village of Konoha. Jounin was the highest rank a shinobi could achieve. Thus, not surprisingly, these elite ninjas often had to take on the most difficult and dangerous of all missions. At the moment, Kakashi just completed an S-rank mission in a small neighboring country. During the mission, he identified and captured a spy that had infiltrated the feudal lord's residence. Kakashi finished the mission rather effortlessly, if he might say so himself. In fact, he completed the mission one day early, so he decided to take his time to travel back to Konoha. After all, being a busy Jounin who was always on call for missions, Kakashi rarely had the opportunity to enjoy some quiet time by himself.

The afternoon sun made Kakashi feel warm and fuzzy. He looked up at the clear blue sky, and saw a few fluffy white clouds floating here and there. Shikamaru-kun would have enjoyed watching these clouds, Kakashi thought idly as he let his mind drift off. Suddenly, a loud sound of rapid flapping brought him back to the present.

Kakashi quickly turned towards the direction of the sound – it seemed to be coming from the bottom of the cliff. What could it be? Kakashi wondered, as he drew a kunai into his hand. Suddenly a white shadow rose from the bottom of the cliff and zoomed past Kakashi. However, when it noticed the masked shinobi, it quickly turned around and stopped on a nearby tree branch.

Standing in front of Kakashi was an unbelievably beautiful white parrot, with feathers as pure as fresh snow, and eyes shiny as black onyx.

"Kind shinobi-sama, my master is in great danger, would you kindly offer your help?" The white parrot said politely but urgently.

Kakashi quickly realized that the talking parrot was a ninja animal, much like his own nindog Pakkun, rather than a silly bird that had picked up a few human words.

"Who is your master? What kind of danger is he in?" Kakashi asked.

"My master has been caught by a giant spider monster at the bottom of the cliff. I don't have time to explain. You will understand when you see it. I don't know how much longer my master can last, she is running out of her chakra. Please, kind shinobi-sama, would you please follow me?" The parrot pleaded.

Kakashi tried to assess the current situation. Could this be a trap? Was an enemy waiting for him at the bottom of the cliff? What if someone really was in danger? Ever since his friend Uchiha Obito's death, Kakashi could not bear to see innocent lives lost in front of his eyes anymore. Even if it was a trap, he could handle it. He just needed to be careful. He was the famous Copy Ninja Kakashi after all, someone who had made his name into the Bingo Book.

"Lead the way." Kakashi told the parrot simply. He gathered chakra on his feet so that he could run down the cliff as if he were running on flat land. The cliff was steep and deep. Kakashi wondered how anyone would end up at the bottom of it. Did the parrot's master fall? Perhaps it really was a trap.

Suddenly Kakashi froze and came to a screeching halt. In front of him was an enormous black spider standing on a web that spanned across the width of the entire cliff. The spider was the same size as Jiraiya-sama's big toad boss Gamabunta. A woman was lying in the middle of the spider web. Half of her body was wrapped up in the spider's sticky threads.

"Haruka!" The white parrot shrieked. It tried to fly near the woman but the spider shot a thick strand of thread at it, forcing it to change direction.

The woman did not react to the parrot. She seemed to have lost her consciousness. Kakashi hoped that she was still alive.

Kakashi threw a couple kunais at the spider to test its response. The spider simply let the kunais bounce off its hard shell, without even bothering to dodge them. Kakashi decided that normal ninja weapons and taijutsu would not have much effect on this monster. Ninjutsu would be the only way to defeat it.

"Kind shinobi-sama, please be careful with the spider threads. They are extremely sticky. My master got caught by merely one strand and has been stuck since then." The parrot warned Kakashi, who nodded in response.

This parrot was probably the most conscientious and courteous of all ninja animals he had seen, Kakashi secretly thought. He wondered if this reflected on its owner's personality.

Meanwhile, the spider monster attacked Kakashi with another strand of sticky thread. This time, instead of dodging it, Kakashi performed the dragon fire jutsu and breathed fire at the incoming thread. He was very pleased to see that the spider thread was not fire proof – it caught on fire and dissolved immediately.

Now the great Copy Ninja Kakashi had a plan in mind.

"Please distract the spider for a moment." He told the parrot. The beautiful white bird immediately started flying around the spider at high speed to capture its attention.

Kakashi then reached into the pouch around his waist and fished out two long pieces of wire. He first tied one around his ankle and hung himself upside down from a tree above the woman. Then he threw the other piece of wire at the woman. With the help of the weighted hook at the end of the wire and a little bit of skill, Kakashi was able to wrap the wire securely around the woman's body.

"Lead the spider away from your master." Kakashi was pleased to see that the parrot followed the order precisely -- the bird was well trained for the battlefield.

Kakashi gathered a large amount of chakra in his mouth. He had to succeed in one go, otherwise he would put himself and the woman in danger.

"Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu!" While the spider monster was distracted by the parrot, Kakashi yelled and used the fire to draw a ring on the spider web around the woman. The web around the woman dissolved quickly. With a quick jerk of his strong wrist, Kakashi caught the woman's body in his arm. Then he swung his body away from the tree towards the cliff. He cut the string when he felt solid ground underneath his feet, and he started running up the cliff quickly. He knew a giant monster like that would be slow in speed and could not keep up with him. His goal was to rescue the woman. He did not really care about killing the monster.

"Retreat!" He told the parrot. Both of them quickly ascended the cliff, leaving the angry monster behind, shooting threads of sticky silk into the air to no avail.

Soon Kakashi was back on the ridge again. He gently laid the woman down on the ground, and put his finger in front of her nose to check her breathing. She was alive and breathing alright, but her breaths were short and rapid.

"Your master needs immediate medical attention." Kakashi said. "We are not far away from Konoha, so we'll take her there. We have great medic nins in Konoha."

"That will be perfect, shinobi-sama. We are on our way to Konoha as well."

Kakashi raised his head and smiled kindly at the parrot, "My name is Hatake Kakashi. I'm a Jonin from Konoha. Please don't call me shinobi-sama. What is your name?"

"My name is Kazahana, Kakashi-sama."

"Ah, Kazahana, the snowflake. It is the perfect name for you." Kakashi said as he picked up the woman in his arms. "OK, let's get going now so that we can reach Konoha as soon as possible."

"Yes, Kakashi-sama." Said the parrot, and the party of three began their journey towards the Hidden Village of Konoha.