3 - The Bridge

The boring stuff gets better I swear

In case it wasn't obvious, Fuyuka's parents weren't around anymore. Same with her two older brothers. They weren't dead, at least not confirmed, they all went mysteriously missing, one by one.

Her father was the first. Now, he'd be 40 years old. His name was Hokuro Hoshino, a slightly tired, leaderlike man with neat black hair and olive green eyes. He was an excellent jonin before he disappeared, though Fuyuka hadn't known him at all as that was four years before she was born.

Then was her mother, Miyabi. It had been eight whole years, and her oldest brother just turned 12, with Fuyuka being 4. Then Miyabi Hoshino, the gentle jonin healer with steel blue hair and violet eyes disappeared as well.

That left their oldest brother, Katsume Hoshino, to raise his siblings himself. Katsume was an introvert, same as Fuyuka, except he didn't have her sass. He looked like their mother, with medium length steel blue hair and red eyes just a few shades different from her. And when Fuyuka was 8, Katsume disappeared.

The then 13-year-old almost literal ball of sunshine, Yamiki Hoshino, was a genin at that point. Yamiki had black hair like his father, steel blue at the ends, with bright yellow eyes. He was an optimist, insisting that their missing parents and brother were alive. That was before he disappeared, when Fuyuka was 10.

Kogane had always been the lazy, sassy type like her sister, but that meant she had to step up. She was 13 then as well, a genin. She had promised she would never disappear like everyone else, something Fuyuka insisted was true.

What did blue blood have to do with all of this?

The next evening, Naruto and Sasuke returned, having both managed to climb to the top of a tree. Fuyuka was incredibly miffed, deciding to go up to the roof again that night, this time with the tree climbing strategy.

Sadly, this meant she fell asleep on the roof and was left behind when Sasuke and Sakura, along with Kakashi escorted Tazuna to the bridge the next day.

"Yoohoo, guys, you here?" the blue-haired girl asked, having hopped off the roof and entered the house. She found Naruto ready to chase after Kakashi and the rest of the team.

"You two should stay here today, your sensei wanted you to get some rest," the woman suggested. Naruto disagreed, rushing out. Fuyuka was less eager. "Why pass on a chance to be lazy? Ninja don't get these chances everyday."

She went back to the roof.

Introverts.

However, she soon found her lazing around and reading manga time disrupted by a group of thugs before the door. They didn't notice her. Hey, most dangerous kunoichi don't sit on roofs reading manga.

She retrieved a shuriken from her holster, aiming it carefully and throwing it down, hitting one of their shoulders as a warning shot.

"Wh-what?!" They looked up, finding a blue-haired girl with pale blue eyes sitting on the roof, her legs dangling off and another shuriken in her hands.

One problem- her aim actually sucked. And she needed to jump off the roof from the other end.

The girl whipped around, dashing across the roof to get down. By the time she arrived on the ground, she found the blue-haired woman, the boy Inari's mother, being dragged away.

She hurried into the house, finding the black-haired boy sitting in a corner, eyes wide in fear.

"Come on, do you want to save your mom or not?"

He looked up, blinking in surprise at Fuyuka. Then, the boy wiped a few tears away. "Y-yeah."

"Then hurry up and follow me!"

The two found Inari's mom held hostage by the somewhat ugly thugs. Inari, brave as he was, was an idiot and decided to charge straight forward. One thug scowled, knocking out the woman with a blow to the head. Fuyuka cursed, retrieving a kunai, mentally keeping note that she needed a permanent weapon as she had no set technique.

She lunged forward, defending the boy and woman from the thugs bringing their katanas down. The blue-haired girl made a few hand signs, creating a few clones to circle then as she dashed in and out, keeping them away from Inari and his unconscious mother.

Fighting alone was much more natural to her, but it was hard to attack and defend at the same time. She cursed more, something not suitable for the presence of a child, when one of the thugs managed to avoid her and slashed at the unconscious woman.

The log was cut to pieces.

"Damn it! You!" one thug shouted angrily, turning to a confused-looking Fuyuka. She spun her head around wildly, finding Naruto laying the unconscious woman down. "Sorry I was late, how were you holding up?"

Inari ran over to his mother, thanking Naruto. Fuyuka cursed even more as the thugs began to run towards the blond mid-conversation.

"Watch out, idiot!" she shouted, throwing a kunai straight at one of them. Naruto whipped around, summoning a shadow clone that quickly dispatched the second.

"Th-thanks, both of you," Inari said, running towards the two ninja. "You two were so cool!"

Naruto soaked up all the praise and cheerfully conversed with the awestruck child, causing a vein to pop on Fuyuka's forehead. "Are you going to the bridge or not? It's not the time for compliments and crying, as amazing as I am, our teammates might be in danger!"

"Right." The blond nodded. "Inari, I'll leave this to you. We have to get to the bridge!"

When the two arrived, the mysterious masked boy Haku had just caught a kunai Sakura had thrown at him from his ice-mirror-thingy that Fuyuka found kind of cool. Naruto, being the idiot he is, charged straight in, though he did manage to get a hit in, which was impressive.

Fuyuka, being clearly more amazing, cool, smart and awesome, stayed in the shadows. She suppressed her chakra, staying near Tazuna and Sakura, ready to defend in case it was needed.

Again, Naruto was an idiot. Sasuke was trapped inside the ice mirror cage, which should break if attacked from both sides, but nooo, blondie had to join Sasuke inside the cage.

She hefted a kunai. 'So I'll have to fight after all.'

The girl nodded at Sakura, telling her to continue defending Tazuna, before silently approaching the ice mirror cage. Making sure she has not yet been discovered, she chakra-walked to the top of the dome.

"What are you-" Haku had discovered her, the clone inside this mirror turning to face the girl.

Fuyuka didn't reply, raising her kunai. "Sasuke, Naruto, attack this one!"

She infused her kunai with as much chakra as possible to strengthen it, before plunging it down into the ice mirror.