𝑾𝑰𝑻𝑯 𝒀𝑶𝑼 | 𝑲.𝑰𝑵𝒁𝑼𝑲𝑨

|I{•------» [3] «------•}I|

SIX YEARS HAD PASSED IN THE ACADEMY, and as the Hokage's granddaughter, Ruka had learned a lot. However, she still had to train after class with her personal trainer, Asuma, and her grandfather with the goal of surpassing Hiruzen.

But today, she was too tired to focus in class, so she decided to drag her best friend and skip class. The two of them went to their favorite hotspot, sitting down and falling asleep on each other.

"Hey," Kiba looked down at his best friend whose head was leaning on his shoulder. "Are you ready for next week's exams?"

"Of course... Are you?" mumbled Ruka.

"I'm ready if you are," Kiba told her truthfully, but he couldn't shake off the anxiousness inside him. "But what if we're not going to be on the same team?"

Ruka opened one of her blue eyes slightly. "You're not going to stop talking to me if that ever happens, are you?"

The Inuzuka boy sighed. "Idiot, I would never do that."

He couldn't imagine a day without her in his life. If that ever happened, it would drive him insane. He remembered the promises he made to her, "When we're grown up, I'm gonna marry you, so stay with me always."

"Ruka may think that the promises aren't real, but I will do whatever it takes to make it happen, one day," Kiba thought to himself.

"I don't think I could live for the rest of my life knowing that you stopped talking to me," Ruka mumbled as her cheeks began to flush slightly red. "Kami, please don't let it happen."

He looked down at her as his eyes softened. "Me either, Ruka."

The two of them smiled at each other shyly until someone decided to interrupt their cute moment.

"RUKA! KIBA!"

---

Ruka was lost in her own world, her mind focusing on the training she had done with Ebisu. She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't notice someone trailing behind her. She pretended not to notice until she heard him fall. "Ah!"

Ruka had to force herself not to roll her eyes as she turned around to find her younger brother wincing in pain. "That hurts." Ruka quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him up. "Really?"

"I didn't think you would notice me," Konohamaru pouted, which caused her to raise an eyebrow at him. "Oh, I didn't. But I sensed that you were about to get yourself injured again, so I had to save you."

Konohamaru smiled at her, feeling a bit dizzy. "Teach me how to defeat the old man! I'll be the next Hokage after that."

Ruka chuckled as she ruffled his hair. "You're too young for that, Kono."

Just as Konohamaru was about to shout at her, Ruka heard a rustle in the bushes. The two Sarutobi turned their heads to look at the bushes.

Three tall men in black robes came out of the bushes. Ruka frowned, not recognizing them. "It's nice to see you, Princess," chuckled one of the men who held a three-bladed scythe.

Konohamaru turned his head to look at his sister, who stared at the three men in front of her with hard eyes. Konohamaru began to follow her. "If you don't run away, our grandfather's gonna defeat you! He's the Third Hokage!"

The three men let out a dark chuckle, which caused

Konohamaru to hide behind his big sister in fear.

---

After managing to escape and defeat the villains with her Shadow Clone Jutsu, Ruka quickly dragged her brother until they bumped into two dead ANBU. "Stay here," Ruka whispered to her younger brother as she walked towards the dead ANBU, noticing how their bodies and hair looked familiar. Ruka grabbed the mask off the male ANBU's face and let out a gasp. "Father."

She quickly grabbed the other mask from the female ANBU, confirming her suspicion. Her parents had died on their mission.

"Big sister..."

Ruka turned to see Konohamaru looking at her in fear, tears in his eyes. "I'm scared."

"Don't worry, I'll protect you," Ruka whispered as she wrapped her long blue scarf around his neck. "I need you to close your eyes and cover your ears, okay? Remember what I taught you when you're scared?"

Konohamaru nodded hesitantly. "Sing a lullaby softly."

"That's right," Ruka smiled softly at him. "Can you do that?"

"Okay." Konohamaru began to do what Ruka instructed him to do, and Ruka quickly walked away from him. She knew she couldn't defeat all of them, but that was the least she could do to protect her younger brother.

Ruka took a deep breath as she gathered her chakra. She began to perform the hand signs that only her grandfather could do, forming fire in her mouth. The flames manipulated into the shape of a dragon and divided to strike the Root members from the left, right, and front all at once.

But she didn't notice that her eyes glowed bright blue as her flames changed to blue instead of the usual fire.

"Ruka..." The sight of the orb moved towards her as she began to defeat them. Seeing his son and daughter-in-law died caused him grief, and seeing how his granddaughter's beast began to make an appearance, he knew that it was finally starting.

After defeating them, Ruka began to walk away in exhaustion, causing Konohamaru to look up and hug his sister tightly. "It's okay, you're okay now," she whispered.

"Ruka? Konohamaru?"

Ruka looked up at her uncle as darkness clouded her senses before losing consciousness. She noticed a guy with a snake-like appearance grinning at her before walking away. "Ruka!" Asuma ran towards her just in time to catch her limp body before her head hit the ground. His hand reached her forehead. "She's burning up," Asuma told Kurenai in panic.