It was about a week after the mission and I was practicing my Dark Style techniques. I wanted to learn more about my Shadow Clone and see what it can do. "Dark Style: Black Shadow Clone!" I awakened my shadow as it turned into a figure of me.

It stared blankly out into space. "Oh, right. You can't see." I said with a face palm. "Awakening Eyes." Its eyes glowed a blood red and looked at me. "Can you speak?" I asked my shadow. It shook its head no.

"But you can understand me." I said. It nodded its head, yes. "Do you have a name?" I asked it. It shook its head again. "Do you want me to give you a name?" I asked. It shrugged its shoulders in response. "How about... Wait, are you a male or a female?" I asked.

I face palmed again. How am I supposed to ask it that question when it can't even speak. "Okay. One finger for yes, two fingers for no, okay?" I explained. It nodded, saying it understood. "Are you a male?" I asked. It held up two fingers.

"Female?" It once again held up two fingers. "So, you're... genderless?" I asked. It held up one finger and nodded its head. "Okay. How about we call you... Shadow?" I suggested. It shrugged its shoulders.

"I'm gonna take that as a yes. All right, Shadow. Let's see what you can do." I said. I made a clone of myself so it could fight Shadow. "Ready when you are." I said to Shadow. It nodded and got in position.

It used its body to wrap around my clone like a snake and began to squeeze the life out of her. Soon, my clone turned into a puff of smoke. "Cool. What else can you do?" I asked. For some reason, Shadow went into my shadow.

"What the...?" Hey, what's wrong?" I asked it, but it didn't come back. "There you are, Nue. Didn't you hear me calling you?" Shikamaru said as he walked over to me. "Hey, Shikamaru. Sorry, I didn't hear you." I said. So, that's why Shadow went away.

"Listen, Tsunade wants to speak with you."

"About what?"

"I don't know. She just told me to come get you."

"Okay."

I followed Shikamaru as he lead me to the Hokage House. "Nue, why do you have to wear that cloak? I already know what you look like." Shikamaru said. "I just wear it so other people won't have to see them. But I guess there's no point in the matter, now that they know." I said, sadly.

"Don't worry about what they think of you. What matters is what you think of you." Shikamaru said. I giggled slightly. "You sound just like Naruto." I said with a closed-eye smile. He smiled back and we were at the Hokage House.

"Hello, Nue." Tsunade greeted. "Hi." I said. Shizune's pig oinked and ran over to me. I picked him up and petted his head. "Nice to see you, too, Tonton," I set him on the floor, then looked at Tsunade. "So, you wanted to speak with me?" I asked.

"Yes." She answered. I noticed there were other jonins in the room. "Uh, what's going on?" I asked. "Nue Houjuu, you've been promoted to Chunin. Congratulations." Tsunade announced. "Say what?! Why?! All of a sudden?!" I was totally surprised and somewhat speechless.

"A few jonin saw your performance back at Nekomata's Fortress and during the attack from the Sound Village. They saw how you protected your teammates and defeated Gaara. You fought very bravely, Nue." Tsunade praised.

Wait, if they saw me, does that mean they saw my wings tails, too? Okay, that's a stupid question when the answer's obvious. "I... I really don't know what to say. Thank you, Lady Tsunade." I said.

"You're welcome. And to test your skills as a Chunin, I'm assigning you an A-rank mission." She said.

"By myself?"

"Of course not. Shikamaru will be with you to observe your progress. Everything you need to know is in this scroll."

Tsunade handed me the scroll that explained what the mission was. "I won't let you down, Lady Tsunade." I vowed.

Shikamaru and I headed off. "So, what are we supposed to do on this mission?" Shikamaru asked. I took out the scroll and looked it over. "According to the scroll, we have to investigate a small village. Some villagers claim that there's been a monster coming into the village and killed people." I explained.

"That's all?" Shikamaru asked. "Apparently so, and there's a map in here that should lead us right to that village." I said.

While following the directions from the map, we made it to the village. The place looked completely worn out and the buildings were in critical damage. "It looks so sad." I mentioned. "Yeah." Shikamaru agreed.

"Are you two from the Leaf Village?" Shikamaru and I looked down to see a sad little girl holding a teddy bear in her arms. "Huh?" I asked. "Are you two from the Hidden Leaf Village?" The little girl repeated.

"Yes, we are. May we speak to the person in charge of this village?" Shikamaru asked. The little girl gave a small nod and lead the way. When we got to the elder, Shikamaru and I respectfully bowed our heads to the elder.

"Sir, we got a message saying a monster has been killing your people. Is that true?" Shika asked. "Yes. Our village has been attacked multiple times, by a beast." The elder said. This guy reminded me of the Third Hokage. I really miss him.

"Do you know why the beast has been attacking this place?" I asked. "We don't know. It's just been coming here and destroying everything we have. It calls itself Ai." The elder explained. "Ai?" Shika and I said at the same time.

"Please... I beg of you. Save our village." The elder pleaded. I walked over to his desk and placed my hand over his with a gentle smile.

"I promise, we'll do whatever we can. We won't fail you." I said to him. "The elder smiled. "Thank you." He said. "Aaahh! Help! It's the monster!" Someone screamed from outside. I looked ran over to the window and saw a cloaked person holding a villager by their neck with one hand, choking them.

That's the beast? Shikamaru and I jumped out the window and ran towards the cloaked person. "Ninja Art: Shadow Possession Jutsu!" Shikamaru's shadow stretched towards the cloaked person and it connected with the person's shadow.

Shikamaru made the person let go of the villager and I yanked the cloak off the person so I could reveal their identity. "It's... a girl?" I asked.

She looked around 15 or 16 as she had long black hair tied into two tails with blood red-looking eyes. She was dressed in a black kimono as she wore a mask near her head. Her skin was very pale as if she were dead.

"Ai... is a girl? She's the monster?" Shikamaru asked as he held her in place. With her height, I would she's about as tall as Anko. "Why are you attacking this village?" I demanded. She frowned at me. "You wouldn't understand. Nobody understands." She said. "What are you talking about? What did the villagers ever do to you? Answer me." I commanded.

"I'm just sick of it, you know? Sick of rejection. Sick of the villagers. I'm sick of it all!" She snapped. A huge wind blasted from her body, making me and Shikamaru fly back. I sat up and saw the girl running off into the woods.

"She's getting away! Look after the villagers, Shikmaru! I'm going after her!" I informed, then ran after her. "Nue, wait!" Shikamaru called. But I was already in the woods. I spotted the girl run into a small house. I followed after her and kicked down her door.

"It's the just the two of us now." I said, approached her with a kunai knife in my hand. "Yes... It is." She smirked.

Kakashi's POV (Short Flashback, after Nue and Shikamaru left)

"Kakashi, you, Asuma, and Kurenai are to keep an eye on Nue. If her eyes start to glow or if her behavior acts up, you are to act immediately. Stop her at all means necessary." Tsunade ordered immediately." Tsunade ordered. The three of us gave a nod as we understood our mission.

(End of Flashback)

"She ran this way. Come on." Kurenai informed. Asuma and I followed her as we jumped from tree to tree until we came across a small house. "Are you sure she went in there?" Asuma asked. "Definitely. I can sense her chakra." Kurenai said.

"Aaahh!" The three of us looked towards the house with wide eyes as we heard that scream. "That was Nue!" I said, jumping to the ground with Asuma and Kurenai in follow. I ran towards the house, then kicked open the door as I saw Nue on her knees, clutching the top of her face while a girl stood over her.

"The first mistake was following me. The second mistake was entering my house. Now, you pay the consequences." The girl said to Nue. She chuckled as she teleported somewhere, leaving Nue on the floor, grunting in pain.

"Nue, are you alright?" Asuma asked as he was by her side. "Aaahh! My eyes! It hurts! Help me, please!" Nue pleaded. "Nue, we're here. It's okay." Asuma said. "Who? Who's here?" She asked. The three of us shared confused glances.

"Nue, it's us. Kurenai, Asuma, and Kakashi." I said. "I... I can't see!" Nue removed her hands from her eyes as they were wide with terror. The color of her eyes were no longer red. They were solid white. No pupils, not even a hint of color. Just white.

"Where are you? Where are you?" Nue asked in a panic. She stood to her feet as she felt around for anything to grab onto. "Easy there, Nue." Asuma said as he grabbed her hand. "Why... Why can't I see?" Nue said. "We need to get her back to the village." I said.

Kurenai and Asuma nodded in agreement. Asuma picked up Nue and we headed back to the village.

We took Nue to the hospital and the doctors did what they can to heal Nue's sight. "How did this happen?" Tsunade asked as looked at Nue through the window of her room. "We... We don't know. She was only in there for a second and then... this happened." I explained.

The doctors were finishing up with Nue and a nurse bandaged her eyes. A doctor came out of Nue's room and approached us. "How is she?" Tsunade asked. "She's stable, but as for her sight... I'm sorry. We tried everything we can. But we can't heal her eyes. She's permanently blind." He explained.

"How long will she be like this?" I asked. "I'm not sure. All we can do is wait until the jutsu wears off." He said. "Jutsu? Are you saying this caused by a jutsu?" Tsunade asked. "Yes. A powerful one, too." The doctor added.

Tsunade and I looked at Nue as she stayed sat up in bed as her head was lowered. I wonder what she's thinking about right now?

Nue's POV

What can I do now? Without my sight, I'm useless. I lifted my head a little when I heard the door open. "Who's there?" I asked. "It's me, Nue." I heard Kakashi say. "Oh. Hi, Kakashi." I greeted. "How are you feeling?" He asked me.

"I've been better. Can the doctors heal my eyes?" I asked. "Well... Nue, the doctors did everything they can, but they can't heal your eyes. They said until the jutsu wears off, you'll be blind for a while." Kakashi explained.

I hung my head in sadness. "Nue-chan!" I heard Naruto yell. "It's me, Naruto! I'm going to hug you now, so don't be scared!" He shouted in my ear. Naruto hugged me and I patted his head. "Naruto, she's blind, not deaf." Kakashi explained to him.

"Oh. Heh, heh. Sorry about that." Naruto apologized. "How did this happen?" I heard Sasuke ask. "I don't know. I was facing her and then... this happened." I said. I threw the blanket off me and began to find the door. "Nue, what are you doing?" Sakura asked.

"I'm looking for the door."

"Why?"

"So, I can find that girl and get my sight back."

I kept feeling for the door until I felt myself bump into someone. "Even if you could find her, how will you fight her? You'll be completely defenseless without your sight." Kakashi said. "Uh..." I trailed off, not having an answer for that.

"Okay, I see your point. So, what should I do?" I asked. "All you can do now is wait until the effects of the jutsu wear off." He advised. I sighed. "Okay." I mumbled. Kakashi guided me back to my bed and helped me get situated. "Don't be sad, Nue-chan." Naruto said.

"I just want to be alone right now." I said, turning on my side so my back was facing them. I heard them leave after a few seconds. 'I need to find that girl so I can get my sight back' I thought to myself. "But the question is where to look, right?"

I sat up when I heard Yin Yang's voice. "Are you reading my mind?" I asked. "Yes." He answered, simply before I felt him jump in my lap. "Would you like to know a secret, Nue?" Yin Yang asked. "Sure. Okay." I said.

"Do you know why the Third Hokage or Granny Cat didn't know anything about the Houjuu Clan?" Yin Yang asked me. I shook my head. "That's because the Houjuu Clan didn't exist."

~  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nue's blind and there's nothing she can do about it. How will Nue adapt without sight? I hope you all liked this chapter. Don't forget to vote & comment! Sayonara!!

Kureiji out~