The glorious reward of he who stays and fights,
To Live and fight forever, his soul, the thousand nights.

--Madara Uchiha


The wind blew particularly hard that day. The gusts of wind make even the larger trees sway gently in the wind, making waves of ripples in the grass.

Today was a day to be spent outside.

Every citizen of Konoha was outside today, enjoying the good weather. White clouds littered the sky, providing shade from the sun. it was a perfect day. You could lay a blanket out, and just sit there for the entire day, and be entirely content. The perfect day to have a picnic, and just relax with your friends.

However, one person alone was not pleased at all with the pristine weather.

Konoha's number one hyperactive ninja, Uzumaki Naruto couldn't be more annoyed at the weather.

He lay on his back, gazing at the sky, hating it with a firery passion. Today was perfect...perfectly boring.
Naruto scowled. Everyone was off doing something or other. Spending 'quality time' with their familes, or on missions. The only person who was free was Shikamaru, and..
"We'd be doing to same thing." Naruto spat bitterly, turning his attention to a pair of singing birds, hating them for being happy, as if they were mocking his misfourtune.
Naruto turned his head to they sky, where the wind was pushing the clouds lazily across the sky. He had no clue how shikamaru could stand doing this for hours on end.
"so...Bored..." he groaned aloud, jumping to his feet.

He then heard a sound.

Naruto's ears perked up, and he listened closely. Musical notes could be heard coming from inside the forest.
Intriuged, and longing for something to do, Naruto began to follow the noise.

The wind blew still harder.

"Darn it, where on earth is that coming from?" he muttered impatiently, as the light, high notes drew ever closer.
"Gah!" he grunted, as he tripped over a stray root of a tree, and fell to the ground.
The music stopped for a second, but then continued.
Naruto slowed his breathing, parted a bush in front of him, and peered out.

a girl around his age was perched on a large tree branch, playing a wooden flute. Her red hair hung over her face, and her one visible purple eye was half closed, focused on the flute.
Naruto noticed two things. One, she was extrodinarily beautiful, with an elegant figure. She wore strange clothes, as well. She wore a long, white skirt that was kept in place by a red sash that was wrapped around her waist. She had on a short red jacket that ended above her midriff. To Naruto's embarressment, she didn't seem to be wearing anything under neath it, as the jacket that was unzipped down the middle seemed to indicate. Perhaps it was that he was used to the fifth hokage, and her..questionable wardrobe, but seeing people dressed like that was somewhat unnerving to him.

However, the second thing was even odder. There were white bandages wrapped around the left side of her head, concealing her left eye.

Naruto's imagination briefly created an image of her with the sharingan, but he dismissed it. he'd been spending too much time with Kakashi.
"How strange...is she foreign?"

A kunai thudded into the ground next to Naruto, and he froze.

The music stopped, and the girl spoke, with a cold, hard voice. "Whoever's there....come out..."
Her right eye opened completely, and she glared at the spot where Naruto crouched.
"..or this next one hits your neck."