Chapter 1: Rebirth

The air was stagnant and filled with the aroma of death. A snake like man stood over a body that the Akatsuki had disposed of. A strange multi eyed statue was perched over the two. The one that was breathing made several hand signs then shouted,

"Release."

One of the eyes cracked on the statue and a bright light emerged and engulfed the motionless man. He started screaming as he floated above the ground. Energy flowed into his body and he twisted around. The aura left him and he fell to his knees. The cloaked man went to stab him. The downed man made a few hand signs his voice whispered,

"Fire Style: Dragon Tongue."

With his last word an explosion caught the man. As he threw the flames aside but the other man was nowhere to be found. The snake man yelled out in anger. He had lost his weapon that he wanted to control. Now the man now eluded him.

Ichirou Kenshin was lost in the forest. He had no idea where the next village was. When he felt his stomach rumble he placed one hand emitted a long guttural groan. His voice was normally cool but a whine emerged from his throat,

"I'm so hungry. Where the hell is a village? It feels like I've been walking for months."

In all reality he had been actually walking for three months. It had been about six days since he had eaten a handful of candy that a little girl gave him. He was feeling malnutrition set in. He took a deep breath in with his nose and smelled a fruit like scent. He pinpointed the delicious smell and proceeded to follow his nose. He came upon a big field of flowers that were shining in the sun. There were strawberries that lined the green grass. Ichirou stepped forward and reached out his hand. His legs buckled and he fell on his face. He couldn't move anymore. His body gave out on him. He fell asleep since he couldn't move. A voice woke him from his slumber,

"Hey are you alright? Hello?"

The woman flipped him over with her foot. She gazed down to see his pale grey eyes staring back at her. His voice was weak,

"I'm so hungry. My name is Ichirou. Who are you?"

The blonde girl brushed her hair to the side with a smile,

"My name is Ino. Here let me help you."

She helped the young man off the ground and handed him a few strawberries. He put one in his mouth and bit down on the succulent fruit. His face filled with joy as the juices squished about in his mouth. He immediately popped another one into his mouth. He let out a whimper,

"Delicious."

Ino giggled at him and proceeded to help him towards her village.

The gates they reached were gigantic and Ichirou could hear construction noises coming from the village. She led him to get medical treatment center. A pink haired girl stopped the two,

"Who is this Ino?"

"Hey Sakura. He is a guy I found collapsed near my family's strawberry field. He seems a bit malnourished so I'm taking him to the medical center."

"Well where is he from?"

He answered her,

"I'm from the village hidden in the haze. It is in the Land of the Four Suns. It is a type of kingdom technically. But we have ninja just like the Land of Fire or any other of the five great nations. I even have my own headband."

He reached into his pack that he had on the side of his waist and pulled out his proof. It was unique with four interlocking circles at the center. He slipped it back into the pack and smiled at Sakura and they moved on. Ino let Ichirou down onto a bed and a nameless nurse came in with some rice and set it in front of him. With chopsticks in hand he nearly inhaled the whole bowl in a few seconds. Several more bowls were gulped down and the nurse said he should be fine. He got up and grabbed his things. HE shook Ino's hand and said that he was going to explore the town. Just as he hopped onto the windowsill Ino spoke up,

"Hey let me show you everything. Maybe you'd like some ramen or maybe some Bar-be-que. That rice probably wasn't very good."

"Thank you Ino. It has been quite a while since someone has been this kind to me. I would love to have dinner with you tonight. For now, I have to go train. Can you point me in the direction of a training field?"

She pointed the way he was facing and he hopped out of the window. She watched him hop across buildings, his average length black hair being pushed away by the wind. As he hopped across the buildings he caught the eye of a jonnin who was walking the streets. Several other ninja noticed him and started to follow in silence. A certain gennin saw him and caught up to him. The orange he was wearing made Ichirou's eye stare at him. His raspy voice called out,

"Hey who are you? I've never seen you in the Leaf village before."

He followed until they reached a training field. Ichirou finally spoke,

"My name is Ichirou and I am planning on training. You might want to stand back so you don't get hurt."

"Hey what does that mean?"

"I'm going to be practicing some powerful jutsu here. So stand back kid."

"My name isn't kid. It is Naruto Uzumaki."

"Okay suit yourself."

The young man made several hand signs and spoke out,

"Wind Style: Air Bullets!"

Several gigantic shots fired from his mouth that ripped apart some trees and crashed into the middle of a lake. Naruto stood in amazement. The last person to use that technique was Gaara. It was an extremely powerful jutsu. He took a deep breath and Naruto shouted,

"Wow, so you're a Wind style user?"

"Not exactly. I can use wind but it isn't the only thing I can use."

Someone interrupted them,

"Well that isn't a jutsu you see every day."

"And you are?"

"Kakashi Hatake. Naruto's sensei.

"Oh I see. Well sorry if I seem forward but I want to fight you. I need a challenge and you seem to be well tuned in the art of combat."

"Well…Okay. A bit of sparring won't hurt."

Naruto stood by as other shinobi made their way to the battle. Kakashi stood with a kunai in hand and said,

"Well with your abilities I shouldn't hold back. So….."

He pulled his headband up and opened his eye to reveal his Sharingan. Ichirou smiled and said,

"Wrong move. If you had left your ocular jutsu out of this, you might have stood a chance. But now…"

He made a set of unusual hand signs and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath and let his eyelids open. His voice rang true and clear,

"Sharingan!"