The White Nin contains spoilers from Naruto Shippuuden. Don't read if you don't want to know.

The woman stumbled when she was thrust forwards. The binds around her wrists were cut roughly, the blade nicking the inside of her arm. Hands finally free, she tore off her blindfold; it had been on for hours. She was in a room which was pitch black, aside from the yellow square of light let in by the open door.

"We'll be back in a day or two, for whoever is left." A man's rasping voice floated from the doorway. She spun around to view the speaker, but the door slide shut; the resulting bang echoing distantly. The room must be large. She walked backwards towards the door, feeling blindly for a wall. The woman's trembling hands brushed rough concrete, and she pressed herself to it. Her heart throbbed in panic. She didn't know where she was, or what she was to do.

The silence pressed in on her; surely she would go mad if this carried on. Where was she? What had he said? "We'll be back…for whoever is left".

Whoever was left?

...So there were others in here?

No sooner than the thought drifted into her head did she begin to sense it. Movement in the dark; stirring, then footsteps. A low chuckle.

She swallowed hard, eyes straining against the dark. There were others, and they were meant to fight each other…to the death? They weren't concerned with being quiet now, and every now and then there would be a gasp, the spurting noise of blood, the sound of metal slicing through the air. The battle had already begun.

She shut her eyes. She needed to stay calm and focus on chakra signals.

She slowed everything, her breath, her heartbeat and branched out her energy, feeling for spaces in the air, where people would be. No good, the people in here were good enough to know how to block the signals. Others who wanted to get in to the group. Ninja.

She realized that these were try-outs.

More and more noise; screams and hisses and curses. But everything stayed black. No one was risking Ninjutsu.

She hadn't eaten in days, and she had been traveling for so long. Energy levels were low; the only way to get out of this was to fight, but the only way she could do that would be to use…

But she had been ordered not to. Before she was taken and blindfolded, taken away from him, he had told her not to use it, if they saw - if anyone found out what she had…

Her eyes snapped opened. Air whipped against her face as something rushed by. It didn't notice her. Its footsteps grew distant until someone else screamed and thudded to the floor. Something wet touched her bare feet; she hoped it was just water. She peered into the darkness again, her eyes gradually adjusting to the gloom. Every now and then she could catch sight of a figure darting by.

It was her only chance to survive, and if she could not let herself get caught, she would just have to leave no survivors. One last time couldn't hurt.

The hairs on her arms stood on end, and she knew someone was watching her. Two large round reflective eyes, like a cats, flashed at her in the darkness. The thing let out a guttural groan, and swayed slightly. It sized her up, considering the best way to kill the new-comer. From what the creature could tell, she didn't look like she would be much trouble.

The woman gritted her teeth; she didn't like the way the thing stared at her. She was tired and hungry and now she was scared. The special supply of chakra bubbled to the surface; she could not have stopped it if she tried. She lit up the arena entirely and immediately clothes-lined the ninja sprinting towards her. His legs swung into the air and she wrenched the knife from his grip, sinking it into his chest before he hit the bloody ground.
At least a dozen other bodies were scattered on the floor.
The battling stopped, and fifty or so ninjas glared back at her. Some were sitting against the wall, waiting for the weaker ones to kill each other off so as to conserve energy.

These were ones to worry about.

They were all monstrous and powerful, but they were much in the same state as her. They all wore the same smug expression, assuming that she had just inadvertently made herself a target by lighting up. She smiled back grimly, knowing their thoughts and willing them towards her all the same. They would learn to judge on appearances.

They had to read what was underneath the underneath.

She gripped her weapon tightly before she bolted forwards in a burst of white light…

Kakashi shot up, waking abruptly from his dream. He was covered in sweat and his heart was pounding. He looked around, forgetting where he was for a moment. The cold night air swirled around him, and he pulled the blankets he had kicked off in his sleep tightly around his shoulders. His dogs were scattered around him, snoring softly. Only Pakkun had woken when he sat up. The small dog raised its ears in question.
Kakashi ignored him, and it settled back into sleep. He covered his eyes with his hand, trying to remember his dream. He had been having these nightmares for months now, but it was always the same story. He would wake, shaken and was only ever able to remember a flash of bright light and a feeling of dread.

And it was always to do with her.

He forced himself to his feet; he would feel better once he walked this off. Kakashi moved quietly past his dogs and into the surrounding forest. He could hear water up ahead and made his way quickly towards it. The sun would rise soon, and it would be back to training.

He cleared the forest and arrived at the stream. He splashed cold water onto his face, clearing his head and waking him up properly. He gazed down at his reflection with disdain. He didn't bother with his mask out here, there was no point. But now he was forced to look at the state he was in. Dark circles ran under his eyes, and he hadn't shaved in days. His face was gaunt from training to exhaustion every day, but he couldn't slow down. Akatsuki grew stronger by the minute and he had to be ready for when things finally came to a head. He would need to be strong enough to take her back.

The village had not obtained any information as to the Akatsuki whereabouts or plans for three months after Maia deserted, but just before Kakashi had left, there had been a breakthrough. Uchiha Itachi and his partner had been spotted in the Lightening country.

Maia had not been with them.

Her welfare and whereabouts were unknown, though several black ops teams had been deployed to find her.
He tried to think of her as little as possible.
She had been an enemy all this time and he hadn't realized, and still he could not help but go over the few months she had lived in Konoha again and again. How could he have not realized her intentions? Wasn't he an elite ninja? Shouldn't he have known the minute she set foot over the gateway?

He rubbed his eyes again. It was hopeless to rehash this; it was a waste of time, and it would drive him to distraction. That was part of the reason he left the village, to get away from the memories. The people who knew their story and watched him with worry.

He had stayed for three months after Maia disappeared and thrown himself into his work. His wound had healed quickly, and he was surprised not to have a scar. He demanded mission after mission, taking the most dangerous without a second thought. It was a distraction to his failure, and it had worked until the Hokage finally caught up to him in her paperwork and realized what he was doing. Tsunade had forced him to take leave, and so he did just that.

He left.

He ran off into the wilderness, and he had been roaming around for maybe four months now. He would need to go back soon, when he mastered his new technique with the Sharingan.

He sighed and straightened.

The sun would be up in a few hours, and there was no chance of sleep now.

He forced the lasting images of his dream from his mind, and prepared to train.

This chapter is just a short introduction to Part two to get things moving and create a sense of time – I didn't want to just totally jump over the two and a half years, so bear with me here. The second chapter is much longer, and I am just beginning to edit it. It should be up soon.