Chapter 2: Finding Haku

Once again disclaimer notice, I do not own any characters or plot relating to the actual Narutoverse, I only own my own plot creations and characters. Without further ado...

Chapter 2

Whoosh...The wind breezed past my face as I continued to run through the forest at a leisurely pace. I took a piece of bread from my knapsack and stuffed it into my mouth with appreciation. Thankfully those bandits I saw earlier were pretty stupid as I thought back to what happened a few days ago.

*Flash Back a few days ago*

"You idiot, I told you to double check the information. Those merchants obviously aren't going to come down this way or they would have crossed our paths yesterday!"

"Alright, calm down Jugo. No need to yell so furiously at Kanwai."

"Sen, you're too soft of Kanwai." Jugo said.

Kanwai gave an embarrassed glance at Jugo and Sen before turning his head away in shame. Sen simply sighed and then said, "Well, no use fussing about it now. Lets go and gather some intel in the nearby town Jugo. Kanwai, you stay here and watch our stuff. We'll be back in a few days."

Kanwai simply gave a nod before lowering his gaze once more. Jugo shook his head and soon after the man called Sen and Jugo both ran off towards the town they spoke of earlier. I simply stayed hidden in a nearby bush remaining as still as possible and controlled my breathing to be as shallow as possible. Not giving a chance to expose my presence.

Thankfully it didn't seem like any of them were a sensor type ninja. Well, given that they failed to track the merchant group they wanted to rob gave me assurance that they probably wouldn't find me so long as I didn't make any sudden movements. I was resting nearby when I sensed 3 different chakra signatures approach so I had quietly made my way over to observe.

Through my sharingan and sensory skills I easily determined that this guy named Kanwai was the weakest of the 3. Since they're bandits I won't feel that bad stealing from them, but should I go in guns blazing or wait for a better chance...I'll wait and see what this Kanwai guy does first. Maybe he'll do something stupid like leave the camp site...

Wow I mused to myself. Speak of the devil, this guy really is leaving the campsite.

"I can't believe I got duped and got false information." Kanwai mumbled to himself. Gotta take a leak he silently thought. He stood up and started walking away from the campsite to a nearby tree.

Heh, leaving your back exposed to me with your guard visibly down, luck is on my side.

"Earth Style Headhunter Jutsu." I placed my hands on the ground and sunk into it. Not a moment later my hands reached up and dragged Kanwai down to the ground by his ankles until only his head was above ground.

He shrieked at the sudden attack. "Who the hell is it!" Kanwai panicked and yelled. He tried turning his head but to no avail.

I slowly walked up in front of him so he could see me. "Wh-who are you? What do you want?" He said.

As I walked closer out from the shadow of the trees and into the light I simply gave him a smile.

"What the hell? A kid?" Kanwai calmed down and started laughing. "Ha-Hahaha! Boy, do you have any idea who I am? Better run before I…"

Before he could finish his sentence his body shuddered everywhere and beads of sweat started falling from his forehead.

The reason?

It was because before he could finish his sentence, the kid in front of him took off his blindfold and revealed demonic looking eyes. The legendary eyes that many ninja in the shinobi world dreaded facing on the battlefield. Those blood colored black patterned deadly looking eyes. The sharingan.

"H-how...Y-you…" At this point Kanwai couldn't form a coherent sentence. I stopped walking once I was close enough to him and then knelt down in front of him as I stared straight into his eyes.

"Don't worry, it'll all be over soon." I said. Utilizing the power of the sharingan I cast a genjutsu on Kanwai and sifted through his memories. He may have been a coward but that didn't excuse his disgusting personality and horrific deeds robbing anyone from children to elderly. Killing innocents too weak to defend themselves and raping defenseless women. I snarled in disgust.

I walked over to their campsite and found some ninja tools, took out a kunai and slit Kanwai's throat effectively killing him. Whether in this world or my previous world, there's always scum like them that exist. The world is better without them I silently thought to myself. I put my blindfold back on and I raided their campsite before leaving and ensuring my tracks were erased so the other two bandits couldn't investigate.

*End of Flashback*

Unfortunately they didn't have any clothes suitable for kids my size. I sighed to myself as I looked down at my raggedy getup. Oh well, there's no helping it. I got some money and ninja tools so I should be able to buy some clothes in town. I'll also need to exchange this knapsack when I have the chance just incase I bump into those other two bandits and they recognize it.

It's already been a few days since that incident and the time interval between those two bandits Jugo and Sen leaving for the town wasn't that long before I raided their camp and left for the same town. I continued on my way and not long after the town came into view. I slowed down my pace and walked through the town.

The weather was dark and cloudy and a cool wind was blowing today. The town itself looked dark and unhappy. There were plenty of children in rags and old beggars on the streets so I suppose I didn't really stand out that much. I silently looked around for a clothing shop and quickly located one near the corner by an alley. I walked in and bought some "normal" looking clothes and shoes and a new knapsack.

Thankfully the bandits I raided from had enough money to exchange for these stuff with even some extra ryo for food and lodging. I walked up to a food stand and bought a meat skewer to enjoy while scoping out the state of the town and listening in on people's conversations in hopes to gather some useful intel. Thankfully the heavens are on my side.

I overheard a conversation about a tragedy that occurred not too long ago about an incident in a village north of here where a group of people attempted to kill a woman and child due to them finding out they had the ability to manipulate water, but in the end the child ended up killing everyone in pursuit of him. This was exactly what happened to Haku!

I immediately set out northbound toward that village. It would take me at least a week to get there. Cross my fingers that Zabuza hasn't gotten there first. I ran as fast as I could taking as minimal rest for food and sleep as possible allowing me to get there in 5 days. I slowly walked through the snow as I let out a cold breath of air. I draped the pelt of a grey wolf I killed on the way here over my body.

It's definitely colder here I thought silently as I walked into the town. I closed my eyes through the blindfold and sensed all the surrounding people in the small village. I slowly filtered out any adult signatures I was picking up on and focused only on the children. If I want to find Haku quickly then focusing on looking for a kids signature and strong chakra should quickly narrow the search.

In the dark recesses of my mind dark blurry outlines represented people with no chakra and blue flames represented those with chakra. The larger and denser the flame the more powerful the person was. It wasn't long after that hundreds turned into a few twenties and a few twenties turned to tens, then 5...4...3...2...1. That one. That's got to be Haku.

I walked up to a food stand and bought a nice and hot meat skewer first.

Okay, now how to approach. Naturally I guess. Ah whatever, I'll wing it. I walked over to where I sensed the chakra signature was from earlier and turned into an alleyway. There I saw a lone and ragged child fighting off some dogs over a scrap of meat. I kept a cool looking expression but inside my heartbeat quickened slightly.

Holy crap, it's really Haku. I found him! I was internally elated. Haku was currently fighting off the two wild dogs barehanded while guarding the piece of meat on the ground. I decided this is where I should step in so I reached in my knapsack and threw two kunai at the wild dogs. Even though I didn't get to train a lot yet in this life my previous memories as a spy had experience throwing knives and having the sharingan makes it even easier.

Both kunai hit their marks perfectly sinking deep into the nape of the skinny dogs necks. They both let out a whimper before collapsing, dead on the ground. Haku finally took notice of my presence and stared at me blankly with eyes that looked as if he were dead. His eyes devoid of purpose and life.

As he was about to grab the piece of meat on the ground I stepped forward and said, "Wait."

He paused momentarily and turned to face me. In my previous life I too had the same kind of expression in my eyes. One filled with no purpose. One filled with void. Looking at Haku's expression brought back my painful memories of my past life. I too had no parents, abandoned and left for dead. I had to fight for my own survival. Whether in this life or my past life, there too exists kids like Haku. Just seeing his pained expression reminded me of my own and because I know what that pain felt like, I didn't want him to wallow in the darkness.

Haku continued to stare blankly at me with those eyes devoid of emotion until I finally held out the meat skewer in my hand. "Here. Don't eat the one on the ground. You can have this one."

He flinched slightly and held out his hands to grab the skewer. He hesitated at first but then grabbed it and held onto it. He didn't eat it nor did he do anything with it. He simply held it. For the first time he took in the full picture of this stranger in front of him who offered him fresh food. A kid who looked no older than himself, and who seemed to be blind with the black blindfold around his eyes. And with the softest and almost inaudible voice, he spoke, "Why?..."

I stared at him silently for a moment before answering, "I don't know. I just felt like we were similar."

He continued to stare at me for what seemed like hours when in reality it was more like a few seconds. Then a drop of tears poured down his cheek, followed by two and three and soon after tears were streaming down his face. He didn't wail or weep, he simply stood there with tears flowing down his face. I looked on and flinched when the tears started coming down his face. But what caught me off guard was that I hadn't realized that not long after Haku began crying, tears rolled off of my own cheeks. Even though you couldn't see my eyes due to the blindfold the tears rolled onwards. It was like we were both staring at a mirror in that moment. Honestly it was a strange situation to be in.

Two kids the age of 4 standing in the middle of an abandoned alleyway near two dead dogs with one kid holding a meat skewer and both kids having tears streaming down their faces without even weeping or making a noise. Anyone who saw this scene would definitely be confused.

I quickly returned to my senses and used my sleeve to wipe away the tears from my face then said, "Hurry up and eat before the meat turns frozen."

He simply nodded and wolfed down the meat skewer he held in one hand while using his other hand to wipe away his tears. I gave a small smile in satisfaction. He threw away the emptied skewer before saying, "What do I do now?"

I took off my wolf pelt and draped it over him which surprised Haku since he finally showed me a surprised expression instead of an emotionless one. Inwardly I sighed a relief that Haku could show an emotion other than nothingness. "What do you do?...Hmmm...How about you travel with me? You and I are brothers now, deal?" I said as I held out my hand towards him. Haku stared at me with slight disbelief before giving a faint smile that showed how broken he was emotionally inside yet not totally broken. He grabbed my hand and said, "Deal."

"I'm Izaya. Karasuma Izaya. What about you?"

"I'm Haku. Yuki Haku."