Author's note:
Ok, this is my second FanFic, but that doesn't mean that I'm not going to do everything to make it as good as possible. I've already got a few chapters written, but I will update once a week, so the updates will be regular. So, here's the prologue.
Important: I'm currently editing this FF – mainly style, spelling and grammar. I won't be changing anything regarding the plot, so even if you don't feel like it, you don't have to read it from the beginning. Every chapter having this statement is already edited. Thank you for your attention.
Prologue: The Story Begins - My Beginning; Her End
Fire - the flame tops licked the buildings throughout the village. Everything was burning.
Death. The smell of rotting corpses hung above the place, bodies lying everywhere.
A single figure walking in the middle of the village. A tall woman with long brown hair, falling freely over her shoulders, and dangerous bistre eyes. A dark suit concealed her body, marking her as a creature of the night. Hard to pass by were the big wings decorating her back, currently still and waiting to be put to proper use. Another unique feature of her appearance were her hands – merging from human flesh to bird-like claws.
All in all, she had the usual animalistic features that every Demon had even in its human form.
She – the Rokubi no Washi (Six Tailed Demon Eagle).
In her rampage she had destroyed yet another village. But it had not been her fault - for some time now the humans, those pitiful creatures, had been trying to use her powers. They wanted her Chakura, her strength to settle down their own problems. How pitiful. Around her were the ruins of the village her last persuader had hidden in. Now he was dead along with the rest of them. That's what he deserved, anyway.
Suddenly her sharp hearing detected something. Was that… crying!? She thought she had killed everyone, not leaving a single soul to express its sorrow, but apparently she was wrong. Quickly the Rokubi turned around and headed towards the source of the sound. It didn't take her long to reach a burning building, a hospital from before her attack, where the sound was coming from. She went inside, not affected by the heath and the fires burning around her. After a moment or two spent in wondering around the ruined halls, she found the room where the crying was coming from. She entered through the open door to be greeted by a room, enlighten by the flames of hell with multiple bodies being burned to ash spread around in it. However the window was open and the smoke was not piling in the room, leaving some possibility for a human to survive. One bed was unaffected by the fire and that was exactly where the crying was coming from. As she made her way through the room the Demon found herself in front of that bed, and lying there was …
A baby… A small newborn girl, cuddled in red blankets, crying with all her might. The Biju (Tailed Beast) narrowed her eyes in annoyance.
'How could such a small creature make so much noise?'
It didn't matter anyway. The Washi was here to kill everyone in this village and wasn't thinking of making any exceptions. She raised her right hand with the clear intention of cutting through the baby's chest with her claws, but at that moment the kid stopped crying and looked at her. Crimson ayes met with bistre and the Demon's attack was held back. She didn't know what it was, but something in this little baby in front of her made her feel strange, almost… human… She stared at those eyes, as the baby was looking back with curiosity. Did it even realize what kind of a mess it was in? Probably not. It was too young to see such things.
The Rokubi stayed like that for what seemed to be a few minutes. Than a sudden crack alerted her of a burning piece of the ceiling falling down and made her act immediately. More on instinct than on real thought, the Demon shot her right hand foreword and caught the burning wood. The fire painfully licked her flesh, but she just shoved piece of towards the other side of the room. In a few seconds her arm had regenerated completely, not having a reminder of the burnt, but she didn't even care about that. Her eyes were beaming towards the baby, checking if there was any harm done to it. There was none. She sighted.
"You're a lucky one," she said, looking at the child, and then smirked, "And you can be of use."
With those words the Rokubi reached foreword and got the baby in her arms. Than with a quick move she opened her wings and flew out of the open window seconds before the whole building collapsed. She flew for some time, not even caring how long, until she finally landed in the middle of a forest. She already knew what to do – everything was clearly thought out and she didn't have the slightest hesitation within her. She put the now sleeping baby on the ground and bit her thumb, drawing different seals on the ground with her blood. She had to reopen the little wound pretty often, since her Chakura didn't let the injury stay open, but she was done quickly.
During the last few years, the humans had become even more bothering than usual. Their wars had nothing to do with her, and neither did their lack of strength. However they continued bugging her, trying to capture her with all sorts of crazy Jutsus designed to take control over her and her Chakura. None were successful. And still, this had to end! And the one way the Demon saw, was to do what all they wanted to do to her, herself– to disappear from the world, locking her existence in the shell of a human being. And that was just what she was about to do.
She put the baby in the middle of the seals and caught its left hand, opening its palm. The small girl started to stir, but a quick paralyzing technique left her steady enough for the seal to be done. With that settled, the Rokubi used a little more of her own blood to do the marks on the girl's palm, and then went a little back.
"Fuin Jutsu: Roku Icchuu Gokuin (Sealing Technique: Six Point Seal)" the Demon called after making a hew handseals and slapped her right palm on top of the baby's left one.
Suddenly everything exploded in a blinding light and when it disappeared all the seals from the ground and the Rokubi were gone.
All that was left was a small baby crying in the middle of a circle of fire.
--
A ninja jumped from branch to branch, landing skillfully every time. His long silver hair fluttered behind him. Hatake Sakumo – the White Fang of Konoha was coming back from a mission.
He wasn't supposed to be in a hurry, though. The mission was a success and he had even finished it faster than expected. Well, there had been some problems on the way, but everything had been taken care of.
And despite of that, he was still rushing towards his village. He wanted to have a little rest, to see his wife and son again - he had been away for more than two months, after all. There had been a Chuunin Exam during that time and he knew that Kakashi had entered. He wondered if his son had become a Chuunin... That would be almost a miracle - the boy was hardly six years old… But considering what a genius he was, who his father was, and how young he started his career as a ninja, the son of Konoha's White Fang might have actually done it.
At that thought Sakumo quickened his pace. He really wanted to see Kakashi again, to ask him how everything was, to train him, to-
Suddenly, a hardly visible flash of light made him freeze in his place. Instantly he prepared to defend himself, but to his surprise nothing came. Than he realized that he could smell something… Was that smoke? Very carefully he started moving towards the place where the flash of light had come from, and soon he could hear crying. After another moment or so he found that the smell of smoke was coming from a ring of fire, and inside of that ring there was… a baby. A little baby girl, left in the middle of the forest alone. He quickly examined the place for traps and other ninja and after that went closer to her. He reached over the flames, but suddenly they exploded and burned his hand a little, forcing him to retreat his hand.
"Katon: Kaen Surikesu no Jutsu (Fire Element: Flame Effacing Technique)" he said after doing a few handseals.
He raised his right hand close to the fire and a small black sphere appeared in front of it, absorbing the flames. When nothing was left of the ring of fire, Sakumo dispelled the Jutsu and reached towards the baby again. Then something else made him stop. He wasn't that stupid! Konoha's White Fang concentrated his Chakura looking for any kind of Genjutsu, Henge no Jutsu or any other variations of traps there might be. There were none. When that was finally cleared out, he gently got the blanket wrapped girl in his hands and looked at her. She had stopped crying and was now staring at him with her wide ruby eyes.
'What kind of a person would leave a baby in the middle of the forest…?' Sakumo shook his head in disapproval. As he ooked straight at the baby a small smile crept on his lips. "You have the same eyes as her. The same as Takumis," he said. "She always said she wanted a girl."
With those words he started jumping from branch to branch towards Konoha, hugging the baby close to himself.
--
The Hidden Leaf Village was as noisy as ever. People were going up and down the main street, taking care of their own business, children were running around, screaming and laughing, the voices of merchants giving publicity to their goods were hanging above the crowd. Many different aromas surrounded everything, from the sweet smell of flowers at the Yamanaka Flower Shop, to the scent of ramen being cooked at Ichiraku's Ramen Stand.
Everybody was going their own way, hurrying to their destination, or walking slowly between the shops and no one seemed to notice the man, jumping from roof to roof in the direction of the Hokage Tower.
It wasn't long before Sakumo finally reached his destination. He landed on the ground and greeted the guards. They bowed a little and greeted him back with respect. He quickly passed them and went inside the building, heading towards the Hokage's office. Once there, he stopped in front of the door. Two ANBU units were standing on guard.
"Good day, Hatake-sama," greeted one of them, a man who was wearing a rat mask.
"Good day," answered Sakumo, "I need to talk to Hokage-sama as soon as possible," he added.
"I'll see what I can do," replied the ANBU and disappeared into a cloud of smoke.
"What's that, Sakumo?" asked the other one, obviously a woman, wearing a cat mask, as she nodded towards the girl in his arms.
"What does it look like, Itami?" asked the white haired man in a joking tone, "Is the mask the reason you can't see, or are your eyes getting bad, because of the Sharingan?" he teased her, "It's a baby, obviously."
"Don't talk to me, like I'm an idiot, you cocky bastard!" she snapped back at him. "I can clearly see that it's a baby! What I'm asking is what, in the name of Kami, are you doing with that baby!?"
Sakumo chuckled. His old Uchiha teammate was as short tempered as ever. It was really amusing to tease her like that. He remembered that she also had a kid – Obito, or something like that. He was Kakashi's age, but didn't show much interest in becoming a ninja… for now.
Sakumo just opened his mouth to say something, when the other ANBU appeared in a cloud of smoke and told him that the Hokage was waiting for him.
"Well, see you later, Itami. I have something important to do now," the Hatake said with a smile on his face.
"Next time, Sakumo!" the female ANBU hissed threatening, "Next time you won't be so lucky to have a baby in your hands!"
Konoha's White Fang answered her with a small nod, before passing her and the other guard. Pushing the door open he stepped into the big room. The Hokage was standing in front of his window, smoking his pipe, and looking over the village.
"Ah, good day, Sakumo," he said, turning around. "I see you have completed the mission quite a bit faster than I thought."
"Hai (Yes), Hokage-sama," said the man, "and I've returned with the report and… a favor to ask of you."
"Might that favor have anything to do with the baby in your hands?" Sarutobi asked calmly, sitting behind his desk.
"Hai, Hokage-sama," he said again, taking out his report and handing it to Konoha's leader.
For a minute or so the Hokage looked trough his report and than sighed, leaning back in his chair.
"So I see everything turned out fine. Now, about that favor you wanted to ask."
"Hokage-sama, I found this baby in the forest, on the west side of Konoha, on my way back from the mission. Following the rules I know I have to leave it in the orphanage, but with your permission, I'd like to take it with me and raise it as a part of my family."
The Hokage eyed him, and than the sleeping baby, than he opened the top drawer of his desk and tried to find something in there. After a moment or two, he took out a slip of paper and handed it to the man standing in front of him.
"Here is a document you and your wife have to fill to adopt the baby," he said finally.
"Arigatou (Thank you), Hokage-sama," Sakumo replied and bowed.
"You are dismissed," said the village leader and the white haired man left his office. "Go see your family; I'm sure they've missed you."
--
A young woman with long golden locks and warm crimson eyes was sitting in a beautiful bower, reading a book. She was in the front yard of a big mansion in the centre of Konoha. The fuzz on the streets was welcomed after the quietness of the house, which was inhabited by only her husband, her son, and herself. Sometimes it was lonely when both of them were on missions – being the wife of a famous ninja, and the mother of a genius was never easy. Just a few days ago her son, who was by the way still six years old, had reached the rank of Chuunin – something that was unbelievable for such a young age. Still, the boy was living up to it. However, she knew exactly what this meant – he was about to start going out on more difficult and longer missions, leaving her to worry sick for his father and him. But that's just how life was these days. A war was coming their way and Konoha needed all the Shinobi it could get… including six years old children.
At that time she, Hatake Takumi, was reading alone in front of the house, her son – Hatake Kakashi, was in the dojo, training, and her husband – Hatake Sakumo, out on a mission. One that had taken too much of his time, but neither of them could do anything about it.
A slight breeze messed up her hair a little. She raised her hand, out of habit, to sleek the rebellious locks, still not moving her eyes of the book. Suddenly a voice almost made her jump.
"It's been two months and you still haven't read that book?"
She looked up surprised, but a warm smile appeared on her face, as she saw her husband standing on the door of the fence. She put the book down and ran towards him.
"You're finally back! I was worried sick for you! You really should stop going on those long tern missions they're taking way too much of your time, and…"
At that moment the woman stopped talking, staring at what her husband had in his arms.
"What in the name of…" she started, looking shocked.
"Well, Takumi, remember, when you used to repeat again and again how you wanted to have a girl?" he said with a smile, leaning forward and kissing his wife on the check.
"But… Sakumo... Where… Where did she come from?" asked Takumi, startled.
"I found her in the woods on my way back from the mission. Someone abandoned her, I guess. And I could either leave her in an orphanage, or take her here. But you know I wouldn't make such a decision without you, so, what do you say?
The woman stared at the little girl. She had just awaken and looked at her sleepily. She didn't say anything for a few minutes, but than a kind smile appeared across her face and she reached towards the child, taking it in her arms.
"Now all we have to do is think of a name," she said.
"Otou-san (Dad)," came a yell from the house and a boy, not more than six years old with spiky silver hair and black eyes appeared on the front door, running towards his parents. Sakumo smiled at the sight of his son. "Otou-san, you're finally home! You know what!? I'm Chuunin now! I did it! I-" at that moment the boy seemed to have spotted the baby in his mother's arms and looked at is surprised. "Who's that?" he asked.
"Your sister," his father replied, wondering how Kakashi would react.
Like every six year old boy he looked very surprised and not understanding, but than he said, "Oh… Why is her hair… red?"
It sounded like a normal question every little boy would ask, but it said something to his parents. They looked at each other surprised and then smiled. His mother bent down towards him and kissed his forehead.
"Kakashi, do you know you are a genius?" she said with a smile.
"Hai. Otou-san says it all the time," the boy replied.
"That's true," his father said after a short laugh, and than turned towards the little baby. Putting his hand on her head he said in a soft voice, "Welcome to your new home, Akai (Red)."