The War Angel (A Naruto Fanfic)

Konoha

Prologue

I ran as fast and as hard as I could knowing how close they were. I could practically hear their footsteps echoing behind me. Ninjas, I knew, were people to be afraid of.

A branch seemingly appeared out of nowhere and I fell down, face first.

They crowded around me instantly.

"Did you really think you could get away from us?" the brown haired leader sneered down at me saying. His squad laughed at my idiocy. I almost laughed myself. Did I really think I could escape them on my own?

I struggled to get up making sure to shoot them the worst death glares I could conjure, but it was cut short when one of my pursuers grabbed me by the hair. I was jerked upwards and I came face to face with the ninja from the Land of the Lightning.

"You made mistake trying to get away. The Tsuchikage will have our asses if you ever got away."

"Who cares what happens to you?!" I screamed at him, struggling against his strong hold.

He slapped me across the cheek. It stung but I stuck it out, not wanting to show them how weak I was. "You little -!"

He threw me down and they all circled me. The leader gave me the first kick and then they soon all joined in. The pain was unbearable. Their hard boots hit me in my face, stomach and every other sensitive spot they could find. Blood started to trickle down my face. I let out a small scream of help.

"You guys better leave her alone."

Suddenly the kicking stopped as if a tap was turned off. Was it over? It was as if everything froze. I heard footsteps coming towards me and I closed my eyes even further. It was wimpy, I know but I couldn't help it.

"Are you okay?" A kind voice spoke from above me.

This time I risked a peek. A boy, around my age looked down at me with kindness and concern, something I haven't seen in a long time. He had brown, shaggy hair and red marks running across his face.

I remained silent, unsure of what to do. He noticed my hesitation and smiled warmly at me, his pointed teeth winking at me. "It's okay," he said, "We're the good guys."

This caught my attention and I looked up fully, then tried to get up. My assailants stood above me, completely frozen to the spot, twitching as they tried they're hardest to move.

"What the-" I whispered to myself.

The brown haired guy smiled at me and pointed. And that's when I realized he wasn't the only one. There were three of them. The second guy was crouched down, hands clasped over themselves, concentrating hard on my attackers. There was a girl too, with blue hair and pale eyes, who stood to the side, hands positioned to fight.

I asked the question that I knew they were expecting me to ask. "Who are you guys?"

"I'm Kiba," the brown haired guy said, raising his hand and grinning. A white dog popped up on his head and I involuntarily took a step back. Did he know there was a puppy on his head?

"And I-I'm Hinata," the girl said, her voice squeaky and soft, almost as if she was too scared to talk.

"That guy's Shikamaru," Kiba said, pointing to the one that was crouching. I looked back down at him. Why was he crouching like that? It looked very uncomfortable. I could just imagine myself doing such a thing. My legs would be a sleep within minutes.

Upon closer inspection, however, I realized that his shadow was stretched and attached to the shadow of my attackers.

That must have been why they couldn't move.

Shikamaru let his hands fall loose and they fell to the ground.

They wasted no time. As soon as they were set free they attacked my rescuers. I screamed. I didn't know what else to do. They were just coming in so fast and so hard that I panicked.

Shikamaru, Kiba and Hinata didn't seem flustered however. Apparently, those guys were easy enough to take out. Soon they were knocked out on the ground.

"Are you okay?" Kiba asked. I nodded jerkily, too terrified to speak. His dog barked and I almost jumped out of my skin.

"This is such a drag," Shikamaru said, "I'm on the team who finds the lost girl."

"I'm not lost!" I retorted. But I was lost. I had absolutely no idea where I was. I hadn't kept track when I escaped, I hadn't cared at that time.

"T-that's fine," Hinata whispered, so low I could barely hear her. "We're almost near the village."

"Village?" I asked, confused.

"The Leaf Village, Konoha" Kiba clarified.

I nodded. I had no idea where or what that was.

"Do you live somewhere?" he asked.

I shook my head. I had no intention of ever going back there. I looked anxiously at my unconscious pursuers. "Shouldn't we leave before they wake up?"

I had no idea why I said 'we'. I only knew that wherever these persons went, I wanted to be there too. It would definitely beat hanging around by myself in an unknown place, practically waiting on the others to find me.

Shikamaru sighed. Kiba scratched his head. Hinata looked at everything but me.

"What?" I asked.

"We're not sure that we're allowed to take you into the village," Hinata said.

"But I have nowhere else to go."

"Do you know why those guys were after you?"

I looked away.

Shikamaru sighed and kicked the ground. What crawled up his ass?

"Come with us."

They set off immediately, practically disappearing from my eyes. "Hey, wait up!" I shouted.

I ran after them but I couldn't keep up with their speed. They were ninjas after all and I was just a weak little girl. I tripped and stumbled man times before I caught up with them.

"We're here," Kiba said. I looked up, relief flooding through me like a wave.

They walked towards an open gate. Kiba threw his head back and grinned at me, Hinata smiling at me timidly and Shikamaru looking completely disinterested.

"Welcome to Konoha."