The Life of Ki (Naruto Fanfic)

The First Encounter

The knocking on the door continues, and Naruto gives me a reassuring smile as he rests his hand on the door handle. I can't help but to tense my body as Naruto yanks open the hotel room door.

A man stands on the other side of the door, his head angled down to look at Naruto. His hair covers most of his face, but I can still spot the friendly Leaf-Village symbol on the man's headband.

Thank goodness! A friend? A messenger?

Naruto opens the door further, and the ninja raises his head as he notices that Naruto is not the only one in the room.

My heart leaps to my throat as I see his face. The man wears a Leaf-village headband, but a prominent scratch runs through the symbol–

a sign that this man is an exiled ninja from Konoha.

He is young enough to have committed his unforgivable crime while I was present in Konoha. In fact, he looks quite familiar...

I immediately find myself narrowing my eyes and turning my body at an angle to keep my Leaf-Ninja headband out of sight.

A blue tinted hand pushes the door completely open, and I note that the exiled ninja is not alone. A strange looking man accompanies him.

This second man oddly resembles a shark; gills run the length of his neck, and rivets on the side of his face remind me of fins. Most terrifying of all is the double set of teeth lining the man's mouth as he smiles at me and Naruto.

"Itachi, which is the kid we need?" The Shark-man asks his partner.

I swallow my fear as I take a threatening step forward.

Whether it's me or Naruto they're after, i'll fight them off.

I take a retreating step back as the name Itachi finally resonates with me.

'Itachi'...Uchiha, by chance? Is this Sasuke's brother? Not many children have been named Itachi in Konoha...nor exiled...

The ninja bearing the Leaf-ninja headband shows strong resemblance to Sasuke.

This man--it is Itachi, I realize--has hair longer than his brother's, and it hangs more nicely at the side of his face than Sasuke's spiked hair. But as Itachi meets my eyes, I note that they both share the Uchiha Sharingan.

This...this is the man that Sasuke spoke of murdering during the first day Team Kakashi formed.

What had Itachi done again? Sasuke spoke so horribly of this man... He betrayed his entire clan, murdering everyone except his baby brother, Sasuke.

"Naruto." Itachi's voice breaks the tense silence of the room. "We would like you to come with us." He holds out a hand towards Naruto as a sign for the boy to join him.

Naruto blinks in surprise as he glances back at me in confusion. Clearly he does not recognize this man as the same man that Sasuke had sworn to murder, so most likely he does not know the danger the two of us are in.

Itachi motions for Naruto to exit the room, and does so hesitantly with me following behind closely.

I need to warn Naruto that these men are dangerous, but I also don't want to start a fight unless I have to. If it comes down to a fight, Naruto and I should be able to draw enough attention that Jiraiya or another helpful soul will come running over.

The Shark-man turns his pale, white eyes onto me.

"So we don't need this one, Itachi?" The Shark-man asks, referring to me.

"We should kill her now before she causes any trouble." He touches a large sword handle on his back.

"While I'm at it, I'll cut off the other runt's leg so he can't run away." The Shark-man takes a threatening step towards me and Naruto.