"So, my lovely daughter....*Cough* has the power to succeed me now."

In a dark room, away from the eyes of the populace. A place only known from a few as it was well-hidden and a room which house only a bed and a few necessities.

An old man with wrinkles began to laugh as the arm on his right was already gone and while he had the power to regrow them, it seems the perpetrator was already prepared to stop him. Yet, he was not given a final blow as of now, she just stood there in silence as a man behind stood and waited if something goes wrong.

A dark haired man with a tired look on his face as just standing there in silence as he felt nauseated about repeating the same incident in the past yet he was not the one to deal with the blow.

The girl in front of him with the same hair as him, just stared at the old man with complex emotions....

"G-grandpa..."

"Hehe... Come now my child, we already know that it would have come to this, while i have many chances to end your life.... I hesitated..."

The old man sighed as he recalls some incidents.

While he had many attempts to do so, he felt the necessity to use his own biological granddaughter to his greater scheme, yet he was slowly losing himself to the power to not notice the changes. In the end, he was stabbed when he was prepared to defend yet he didn't expect that his own daughter to prepare to counter his trump card.

Yet, even when she had the chance to end his life, she hesitated.

Tears began to roll in her eyes as he felt like she couldn't do it. No matter how vile or evil her grandparent was, he was the only family left in the world. The blade in her hands began to shake yet she was determined, to stain her blood which would be soaked like the old man in front of her, she had to do it for his sake...

"K-kizuna.... Please...."

The old man who had little power left slowly caress her cheeks with a smile. While he is a power-hungry man, he had lost something important which he had gained as time passes on. No matter what, he can't seem to hurt her granddaughter no more even when he is a merciless man.

Because he saw it....

His dream, the dream and the pride he had in the past, now to be passed on to his successor, the only living child he had left in this world.

"P-protect Konoha in my stead..."

The old man was power-hungry yes, but he also left the will of fire in his heart to still accompish his ninja way, even if he had to stain his blood.

'The power to protect Konoha.'

Thats what he wanted, a place he had to protect the lives of people. Which Kizuna saw in the old man and decided to keep his old man's dying wish. To her dying breath.

When the old man saw his daughter's resolves, he smiles weakly as he slowly make his way to her head and pat her.

"I.....i..i'm.....proud......of........y....you............u............"

And so his life had now forfeited, the life of a megalomaniac man who wanted to rule over Konoha, had now passed away.

The young girl just stood there in silence as her tears were still pouring as the young man just stood there and couldn't say anything. He had the same experience as her. Because he also did the same yet it wasn't for the sake of vengence, it was to protect someone important and the hope of the village while she only want to protect her important friend.

'Why....'

Why did she had the will to do this? Why did she did something so painful for her friend? Was it worth it? Was he worth the effort?

This plagues the man before her as he couldn't help but see in her that look which resembles his as both of them just stood.

There was no sound, no suspense or any people to tell or converse in this atmosphere as she just stood there, a knife on her own grand parent as she wipes her tears and turns to the man behind her.

"Itachi, i thank you for the assistance."

"I barely did anything but just observe. No need to thank me."

"No, you already did plently."

She weakly smiles as she slowly makes her way to her grandfather's closet as she took one of his robes.

Begining to wear them with a determined look as the clothes she wore had now represent a new meaning to her, she faces Itachi as her will of fire was now burning more intensely than ever.

"Itachi, would you walk with me and the 'dead'? A place no one will belong to both worlds? A place where we will soon face our deaths?"

"........."

He just faces the girl who her fears have finally disappears as a new conviction was now placed before him. He had nothing in the past and he only did his take in the Akatsuki for the sake of his brother but...

He was given a new purpose, a new life and a new conviction. For this girl who was now the same as him, for the people in the foundation who had nothing left, the 'dead' will rise and become the shadow of Konoha, the Hagakure no Kage(Shadow of the Hidden Leaf). 

Kizuna with a steeled look, would now drop her name of Mikoto and take the mantle of the last name of her grandfather, Kizuna Shimura. 

She will act in accodance with her grandfather's will yet not the same morality as his. His knowledge, experimentations and the children he made or aquired, she will use everything in her disposal for the sake of the village and her friend. 

"Naruto...." 

From the depths of her heart, she still was the young Kunoichi who laughs and befriended the fox as her sharingan with 3 dots spiral continuously as she turns to Itachi and sends him away.

She needed a bit of time and preparation to do as she will reform the foundation and will become a force to not be reckoned with.

She summons her clones to check the place and hidden places she couldn't find as she spots a scene so disturbing yet something which would use many times in the near future.

The place her grandfather never knew he would do.

And so, it begins the tale of Kizuna Shimura, the once orphaned girl of the hidden leaf, making a tale in which would save lives through her own power.