Something to Fight For (Naruto)

Discovering

Haruka awoke, bruises hurt from her training. Last night she had finally mastered a hard justu that Rioko-sama had been teaching her for the last week and it was certainly taxing.

Getting up, she straightened her small room, or at least went through the motions. All she had was two blankets, an extra training outfit and a set of street clothes. She went through her stretches for the day, feeling her sore muscles clench and strain. Hopefully, today would just be spent on training her mind instead of body, because her body was certainly running on empty.

Even though she had lived with Rioko-sama for 9 winters, she was still young and no matter what physical training she goes through her body will have some unavoidable limits, her stamina one of them. Quietly, she went to Rioko-sama's office, and was about to enter when she heard voices. And of course, what nine-year old would not eavesdrop?

"Nine years and already that strong? Damn! Where's she from?" The man who said this was unfamiliar to Haruka, but she had no doubt that he was speaking about her, for she was the only nine year old on the base, and felt her chin lift a little with pride.

"The Leaf Village. Got her after that demon attacked." Demon? Leaf Village? Haruka didn't know what Rioko-sama was speaking of, and pressed her ear closer to the door.

"We meant to grab her brother, but some idiot got the two twins mixed up." Haruka's eyes widened more and more as he spoke, talking about a brother, a twin. Could she have someone out there?

"'Course, we killed him, but didn't have a chance to get the boy. We kept the girl as a servant, never expecting her to be more than cannon-fodder. But it seems she worth a price. How much you want for her?"

Haruka slowly crept back to her room, shaking. She had seen people get killed, even killed a few herself, but never had she been so afraid, so shocked. She had always thought that she was perhaps the lone child of one of the men at the hideout, but the idea that she could have come from somewhere else, with family, never occurred to her. And now, her only family, no matter how cruel was to sell her?

Blinking sporadically, she quickly made up her mind. Stay here and be sold, a place where all she lives for is training, or leave and find her brother, her twin, and find something to live for. It was a no-brainer.

Gathering her clothes and one of her blankets, she put them all into the other blanket and tied them up tight. She knew she only had a ten minute window to run, so she would need to be quick. She always woke up early, before everyone besides Rioko-sama, and she estimated that he would be the strange man another ten minutes. Haruka crouched and ran as swiftly as possible to the weapons room, getting kunai and shuriken to also put in her bag, and her two Arm Knives.

They were special handmade blades that Rioko-sama got for her when she was 7, for all the swords were far too large. they had sharp, thin blades a little smaller than her forearms and had a hilt that tampered down into a point the same size. At the place where metal met hilt, there was a circular handle jutting out, allowing her to flip the blades from knife to hilt easily, depending on the circumstance.

Once she strapped them to her hips, she continued her crouch-run to the entrance. Now would be the tricky part. She had never cared for anyone in the base, so killing the two guards would not trouble her sleep, but Haruka knew that it would be a delicate matter still. Should she kill them and ensure that she could quickly leave, but risk them alerting the others, or should she trust her stealth skills and just sneak around them?

Peeking around a corner, she smirked. The guards were the Hitori brothers, and were the most oblivious at the hideout. She remembered all the times when she was little that she was able to sneak extra bread and other necessities right in front of them, and they would never bat an eye. Sneaking it was.

Dimming her chakra to that of an ant, she used it to attach herself to the ceiling, like a spider, and crawled over their heads. Right when she was at the entrance, and directly above their clueless heads, she smoothly swung her feet so she was doing an awkward back bend. Her hands and turned, and her feet were attached to small ledge right above the entrance, so her body was curved around the top part  of it in a way that seemed almost impossible. Never before had she been so grateful for the flexibility training.

She used her chakra to attach her feet to the outside ledge, and released her hands hold the ceiling. Slowly, she lifted her torso so that she could stand upright. Once outside, she collapsed, her adrenaline burst from earlier gone and her aches catching up from yesterday. Still, she could not stop. She needed to run now and could always relax later, when she was safe.

Breathing deeply, she sprinted. She had about 3 minutes before they noticed her absence, and planned to take full advantage of that time. She needed to get a far away as possible, and then locate some place called "The Leaf Village," which she remembered Rioko-sama mentioning. Her brother would surely be there.

Brother. As she ran for all she was worth, she couldn't help the first smile in a while come to her lips. It was such a foreign word, but her stomach got all fluffy and she felt light when it was connected to her. She had seen siblings on her trips to villages for assignments from Rioko-sama, and always thought their connection was, well, admirable. It had seemed like a fantasy to hope for something like that, but now? It was a reality.

Her three minutes up, she could feel the surge of chakras 8 miles away on her tail. Still, she smiled.

Wait for me, brother. I will find you.

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Sooooooooooooooooo....

I was having a Naruto-athon, and then happened to listen to a song, and BOOM! This story was born!

I promise, Haruka will not be Mary-Sue and it will get more interesting!

The dedication is for the AMAZING cover! Seriously. it's pretty awesome. She did a great job.

Love? Like? Dislike? Hate?

Edited!