The Village Hidden in the Shadow, formed by the legendary Sannin, Orochimaru, formed mostly of missing nin ranging from various ranks. They supplied their abilities through forbidden jutsu consisting mostly of Shadow. This was an element that nearly none had been able to tap into, but Orochimaru had managed to teach his students to tap into the darkness that dwelled in everyone's heart to control this devastating and gruesome element. Successful students lived on, though many died later unable to control their power. Only the strongest survived, each Shinobi and Konoichi had an internal being that dwelled within them also called their Animal Spirit. The most common were often Cats, Dogs, Mice and even Birds, though there were the rare few that came along to posses something far worse than a small animal, something that could drive them to insanity if they were unable to control their thirsts for power.

(Kage = Shadow)

Staring into the darkness before her, all was silent other than the dripping that had reached her ears. The sewers of Kagegakure were a damp, unsettling place to dwell, criminals swamped the underworld of her village, and they say that they had created a second village beneath, even though Kagegakure was dark due to the high thick trees around it. Sunlight still managed to sneak through the treetops, unlike this foul place. Her mission here? To seek and destroy the leader of a small group of thieves, though this would be a simple mission for a Jounin to accomplish.

Despite the constant dripping of water, there were echoes not to far off that reached her ears, the sound of men discussing amongst themselves. Silencing her steps and suppressing her Chakra signal, she crept over to the corner and peeked around it. There must have been at least twelve men sitting around with alcohol accompanying them. A smirk formed on the woman's lips, her shinning green eyes sparkled mischievously in the dark. Passing through hand seals the woman closed her eyes; she would take them out slowly…and painfully.

"Shadow style: Rising Dead Jutsu!"

A black pool formed beneath her feet and a foul stench reached her nose as masses of rotting flesh crept out of the darkness she had summoned. Humans – No more like Zombies had crept out of the darkness their red eyes fixated on her awaiting their command. They were silent to her surprise, usually they moaned in agony, in despair to be set free from her grasp, but it seemed that they had realized they wouldn't be free for a very…very long time. Pointing around the corner, she had merely nodded and the most recent of her collection's mouth had opened wide and let out a blood curdling hiss as it ran into the sewer, following the rest of the group. The hissing was loud enough to harm any ears. She had brought forth twenty cadavers to do her bidding, though she must have had hundreds. The screams of men reached her ears. Peeking round, she stepped out of the darkness and watched the blood fest. Her minions must have been pleased to finally feast on human flesh. There wasn't much you could do against something that just wouldn't die…unless you struck them over the head that is.

A man's torso was crawling over, eyes pleading for the massacre to come to an end. Though his silent plea had failed as when he was dragged back to the bloody mass. She didn't like what she saw, but it had to be done. Stepping over half eaten bodies, she had reached the far back and looked for the man that led group that had caused nothing, but annoyance to the public. Grasping a wad of blond hair, she raised the head of the leader. Though he hadn't known his name, Kaida licked her lips in acceptance. The earlier black abyss had leaked out of her shadow and enveloped minions and corpses into the darkness; their forms melting away to were they belonged.

"How did it go Kaida?"

An old man, at least fifty had been waiting by the man hole, though she never knew his real age, it was just an estimate. He was bald and even though he was from this evil village, he was still happy, much like everyone else. No one caused problems even if they were criminals…except a rare few. But every village had their bad apples.
Fixing his white tunic, the man's hazel eyes sparkled with acceptance.

"It was fairly simple Kuro-Senpai!"

Raising the head with a grin, she tilted her own head to the left and laughed cheerfully. Mission complete!
Kuro had been training her since she arrived at the village six years ago. Though once every year Orochimaru-sama only accepted people into the village once every year and it was normally a battle to see who was worthy of joining his ranks. Parting her full, rosy red lips and exhaling a sigh, she ran her tongue along the moist flesh, looking up into the thick treetops.

Long, golden locks slid over her shoulder from small the incline of her head. It was still sunny despite the lack of light she could see that she was unsure of the time of day. Returning her gaze towards her surroundings, few people stared at her with a curious gaze, following their eyes. Her green orbs examined the head she had in hand and snickered. It was best to bring this to the Kage…well the replacement minion Kage. It wasn't often that Orochimaru would show his presence in the village incase outsiders were willing to assassinate the old Sannin. Not long ago he had visited for the first time in many months with a young Uchiha. Every once and a while, he would come to the village for about a month for the Uchiha to learn new techniques from the various ninja that inhabited Kagegakure.

Leaving her train of thought, she stood in front of a door and sighed. Knocking on it lightly and waited for a response. There had been no words, just sounds of the door creaking open. Peeking into the dark room, the green-eyed girl stepped inside, head in hand. A whistle of shuriken had reached her ears. Jumping towards the ceiling, the girl had transferred Chakra to her feet and hands in order to cling to the roof. Examining the room, there was a simple, lone figure. Though she couldn't make him out in the darkness. All she could see was the fiery, red gaze that seemed to glow in the non-existing light.

Hearing a whisper, though her ears couldn't make it out, she watched the man's right hand raise and her eyes had gone wide. A spark of red escaped his lips moments before the flames had been released. Falling from the ceiling, she had ducked, avoiding the flames that had now set the ceiling aflame, creating an eerie, red glow. How could that be? That was a skill Sasuke had taught her not to long ago. Taking note of the cloak, her eyes had gone wide, lips parting to gawk at the horror that had finally stricken her.

"Uchiha…Itachi."

The genjutsu master. To the far right of the room laid the body of the Kage. The older Uchiha had said nothing in her presence, she knew already that she was no match for an S-ranked criminal…but she wouldn't leave without a fight. Especially since the Kage was murdered! A taller figure jumped through the window, her heart stopped in her chest. What was she to do now? In the dim lighting of the fire that was slowly spreading on the ceiling, she could make out blue skin…Kisame Hoshigaki.

She was fucked now, literally fucked. If she ran away to warn the village…they would kill her. If she stayed…they would kill her. Unless she got lucky that the Uchiha wasn't in the mood to cause any destruction, though that would be a relief on her part. Questioning her options, the taller man looked to the Uchiha with a smirk evident on his face.

"Can I kill her?"

There was silence, though the Uchiha turned his head to stare at the blue skinned man before giving a reply. A little incompetent to spend so much time awaiting a reply from a partner, no? She took the short moment of distraction and exited through the door behind her. Of course they had noticed! They were S-ranked criminals. Leaving the building, she jumped into a higher tree nearby, watching from a distance to see if the men had left. Taking a few steps back, she had bumped into a solid figure and stiffened. It couldn't have been the trunk of the tree, though right now she was hoping it was. Slowly turning her head, she had caught a glimpse of sleek, black hair; she had literally swallowed her own heart in attempts to draw up the courage to face the Uchiha. Her body whirled around, leg whizzing through the air. He was much taller than she and at most her leg would never reach his head, not that it would matter. His hand had brought her leg to a halt.

Trying to pry her foot loose, he grasped her ankle and twisted it. She could feel her bones shift in discomfort. Limbs weren't designed to bend that way. Biting her tongue, he released her foot. A cold hand grasped her neck and bashed her against the tree trunk. His cold red eyes stared at her, unimpressed. Her throat was being crushed beneath his grasp. Inhaling a choked breath, she grasped his wrist, green eyes pleading to be released. How pathetic. A Jounin to scared too fight back and defend herself. She was sure some of the Genin would even try.

"Pathetic…"

Baring her teeth at him, her green eyes sneered into his red gaze. This man's presence sickened her. His grasped released, dropping her onto her bad foot, kunai in hand. She had managed to reach into her pouch in time to block the oncoming attack and disappear from sight. From the trunk of the tree, she'd done multiple hand seals, and brought her fingers to her lips just like the Uchiha had as well.

"Fire style: Great Fireball Technique!"

The same stream of flame had been exhaled as the Uchiha's was, though the attack had missed, sadly. His form disappeared from view and all that remained was the scorched tree limb were he had last been standing. Turning around to block another kunai, his free hand grasped her neck once more and he brought her closer to him. Jumping from the tree trunk and slammed her body onto the earth bellow, using his body weight to increase the severity of the damage. A squeak of pain had escaped her lips; she could feel the distasteful metallic flavor in the back of her mouth. It was vile.

"Curious…"

Though she dare not question, she glanced away from the spinning tomoe. Feeling her head rise and smash into the earth, she knew very well what the Uchiha wanted and that was to look him in the eye. Kaida would not obey. A moan of discomfort soon followed the sound of skin on skin, his large fist had came into contact with her jaw, knocking her head in the opposite direction. The hand that had hit her gripped her chin with a bone-breaking grip and turned to face him. Staring into her closed eyes and applied more pressure to her throat…eyes snapping open she gazed into his. Though it was best to simply lay back and obey in a situation like this.

"You're of some use to me…"

The girl had blacked out…His sharingan truly was a useful tool in battle, though it brought on weakness to the older Uchiha. Kisame appeared behind the Ravenette and examined the girl that lay unconscious in the dirt before them. The Kage he had killed earlier hung carelessly over his sword. His lips pulled back into a toothy grin, while he shook his head.

"What are we to do with her?"

Silence…then followed a stern reply of a name.

"Kisame."

Right then he knew what the Uchiha wanted…he needed no words to understand exactly what he meant. Picking up the girl and tossing her over his other shoulder. He had disappeared not to long after the Uchiha met up with him outside the village.

Night was falling and the girl hadn't awoken yet. Kisame was already sick and tired of carrying around someone so useless. Why did the Uchiha want her? He didn't know and surely his curiosity would get the best of him and eventually figure it out for himself. The Ravenette had stopped ahead of him. His red eyes looked back at Kisame, he already knew what it meant, tossing the corpse against a tree, he placed the girl down on the grass and walked away to gather supplies for a fire.

The sound of gentle crackling had awoken the blonde; she slowly raised her head and examined her surroundings. She was in the woods…by a fire. How long was she out? It seemed that night had already befallen her, sitting up completely. She rubbed the back of her head. Her entire body ached from the earlier collision with the ground. What a violent introduction to the two. Taking a moment to realize that no one was around, Kaida had gotten to her feet and leaned against a tree, not to far off was the body of the Kage that the Akatsuki had murdered. Her jaw tightened, she would avenge the man no matter what! He was a good man that didn't deserve to die this way.

There was a breath at her neck and the girl stiffened, turning her gaze to her left to lock eyes with emotionless, red orbs. She couldn't see his entire face with the high collared cloak and hat that covered his head. The white ribbons of cloth also shadowed the rest of his features. All that could be really seen were his eyes and the bridge of his nose. But even that was hard to see in the darkness. Turning her body completely to face him, a look of fear glinted in her expressive eyes. She took a painful step back and a hand had grasped her right wrist. One could visibly see the Ravenette's head tilt slightly to the right…as if curious.

"Name girl."

Parting her lips to speak, all words had left her and she sealed them together, dropping his malicious gaze to stare into the fire. He was definitely going to want to know were she had learned that skill she'd performed earlier…But what to do? She could summon her minions, but that would probably only distract him. She could meld into the shadows and maybe he'd never find her if she was lucky…but someone as powerful as him could probably detect her chakra even if it were suppressed.

"K-Kaida…"

With his free hand, he twirled it as if motioning to continue. It seemed that her name hadn't sufficed the Uchiha's curiosity. What was she to say? She didn't have a surname. That name had been forgotten long ago…taken away when she left to join Orochimaru's ranks. She would remain nameless, not even she could remember her own surname. Though she was sure that Orochimaru remembered it and kept it in her documents for when the time came.

"No surname…"

Silence once more. The Uchiha turned away and sat down in front of the fire, his red eyes never leaving the destructive flames. A sigh of relief washed over her and she leaned against the tree, dropping to her knees. Watching him with caution, what was the man thinking? She couldn't tell. Was he going to kill her? Was he ever going to let her go? A thud had reached her ears, eyes wide. Kaida looked to the kunai that stuck out of the tree to her left, by her face. It was a challenge. The Uchiha hadn't moved, but he watched her with those evil eyes of his. The battle had begun once she gripped the kunai and released it from the tree.

Itachi was gone when she looked back to him, she as well rose to her feet, twirling into the night air and disappeared into the darkness, coating her skin in a thin layer of Chakra that made her almost completely transparent. Would that even aid her against a sharingan user? She had heard about it, but the village had never taught her much about it, even if one had been in the presence of Orochimaru at all times…Sasuke was his little toy, the new vessel for his body.

The sound of feet tapping against the ground behind her reached her ears and she ducked, placing a hand to the ground and kicked upwards in attempt to crush his jaw. But he was gone. His speed was inhuman. It was literally unbelievable. A knee had collided with her waist, forcing a cough out of her lungs when her frame greeted a tree. Getting to her knees, the girl's green eyes glared at him in sheer fury. Repeating her had seals from earlier her hands touched the wall and a smirk graced her features.

"Shadow style: Rising Dead Jutsu!"

The ground around them had turned black. She herself and the Uchiha had sought momentary shelter, each on their own branch of a tree. Ear piercing hisses erupted from the black abyss beneath them. Her minions were hungry for flesh…in fact all of them were. Erupting like a volcano, a massive pile of corpses jumped into the air, scattering around them and straightening out her formed on her back. The full mass of her undead army stood silent. Their red eyes staring at her waiting for her order, mouth agape in hunger.

"Attack!"

The hisses had turned into screeches as they all turned to face the Uchiha. She couldn't see it, but beneath that hat his eyes had gone wide with disbelief. He had never seen such a thing before, but now the ability was his. She watched him jump away from a few undead who had lunged for him. Stepping onto another branch, his hands had performed hand seals, though he didn't bring his hands to his lips this time…what was he going to do? Though she could feel the chakra filling his mouth, his head fell back a little and he expelled a giant stream of flame to the masses of flesh.

Kaida's eyes had gone wide when he had nearly wipped out her entire army of Zombies. She stepped back against the tree bewildered. How could he do such a thing? They were her babies!

"You can kill him…"

A smirk formed on Kaida's features. She knew exactly who was talking to her. Biting her thumb, she spread it in the palm of her hand, performing the necessary hand seals and slapped her hand to the tree trunk. A black orb formed in the trunk and the tree exploded, splinters flying in many directions. Few had also made their home in her flesh. Accompanying the hissing, there was yet another hiss. A dog sized dragon stood before the girl. Licking his jaw, hungry as he gazed at the Uchiha with his own pair of raging green eyes. The dragon's scales shone a beautiful gold and the green eyes were merely a contrast to his beauty. Though he didn't seem like much, the dragon was much stronger than Kaida…but surely not as strong as Itachi.

Not too far from the commotion, the sound of hissing and destruction had reached Kisame's ears. The dull orange of flame had soon accompanied it off in the distance. Shaking his head, he returned to camp after his scouting to meet a splendorous surprise. With wide eyes, he lifted the sword off his back. There were corpses and undead everywhere! Many were still moving and even attacking as there bodies were ablaze.

"What the hell happened here?"

At least five sets of red eyes had set their sight on Kisame…This was not good. They had lunged at him; his Samehada was heavy, though these little monsters were fast. He swung the weighty blade, chopping the beasts in half and stepped over what he thought were now corpses, but they were still very much alive. From the looks of things, this girl relied a lot on summoning and Ninjutsu.

Finding himself a home on a branch fairly close to the battle, he examined Itachi and smirked. He was just toying with her…to see what she could do. But, Kisame knew Itachi was sick. Playing prolonged games wasn't good for him and he could see his apparent exhaustion. Getting to his feet, he lunged at the girl once her dragon had directed itself on Itachi. Its wings were much larger than its body, though it was necessary for such a creature to keep flight. The muscles on its back and shoulders were very, very large in order for it to fly.

Sensing another chakra presence, she wiped her head around to meet Kisame, who had slammed her up against a tree with his Samehada. The sword especially designed to absorbed chakra. Wiggling against the weight of both the sword and Kisame, she glared at him with angry green eyes.

"Damn you!"

Though all she received in reply was simply a toothy grin, she was finished and knew exactly what this sword was doing to her. She released her undead and the darkness had reformed, absorbing the creatures and their remains before disappearing.

There was a hiss and a set of Emerald eyes staring at Kisame's back. The dragon was always angry in battle. Though, he was wise enough to have a sense of humor. How could Kaida let herself get caught up in something like this? The dragon shook his head to look to at the Uchiha, who seemed ready to kill the dragon on the spot.

"That's no fun!"

Complained the small reptile and landed on a nearby branch and stretched his wings, letting a stream of smoke escape his nostrils.

"You're a cheater that's what you are!"

The two examined the dragon. It was a fairly interesting creature, thought to be extinct many years ago. Kisame clamped his sword to his back, jumping onto the reptile's branch and looked at it closely before putting a hand on its small head. Baring its teeth, it hissed at the blue skinned man before looking to Itachi who was picking up his master's passed out form.

"What is your name dragon?"

Striking green eyes glanced at him curiously, though the mood seemed to have lightened once he had realized that the Uchiha wasn't going to kill her. A loud rumble, almost like sigh, echoed through the dragon's lungs and he licked his chops.

"Mori."

Standing up right, Kisame turned his back to the dragon. They had to leave the area now. The village would be looking for her once they had found out that their kage was missing. Their battle was surely loud and attracted attention for anyone who was nearby to hear it.

"Come with us Mori…"

Not like he had a choice after all. They had his master and she would awaken once her Chakra had replenished. From what Mori could see from examining the man's teeth and skin, the shark man had picked up the branches that he acquired from earlier and followed suit after Itachi had left the area. The rotting smell of flesh still lingered in the air. It was strong enough to make the stomach churn. Flapping his huge wings, he propelled himself off the branch and caught up with the two.