The brush strokes left abstract splashes of colour in their wake as Xiahou painted in long, graceful arcs across the wall. The head of the afternoon was pleasant, ensuring that this coat would dry efficiently. With a final long stroke, Xiahou stepped back from the wall to observe his work. The coat was even, consistent with the colour of the rest of the wall. The young Shinobi had done a good job on this one and, truth be told, he was feeling a little proud lately. The work he had done around the village had lead him to earn the respect of a lot of the shop owners and elderly residents.

Xiahou was beginning to feel like he belonged here.

"My my, Xiahou," Came an elderly voice from the Shinobi's right "That does look like a job well done,"

"Thank you, Mister Kareru," Xiahou said, turning to face the man and issuing a quick bow in his direction. The old man was a regular user of Xiahou's willingness to help with tasks. He appeared to live alone and was far past his prime, unable to perform heavy lifting and the like. It was for this reason that at two in the afternoon, every day, Xiahou would stop by to make sure the Old Man didn't need anything done, something moved, groceries carried, or gardening done. The two had talked in length numerous times and one of those talks had lead to today's task.

Someone had been vandalising Kareru's house. In the dead of night the criminal would strike, painting profane graffiti across the length of the outside walls. It was likely the criminal was young. Xiahou had heard about this while enjoying a cup of tea with the Old Man and it was mentioned to him. Wasting no time, Xiahou volunteered to help and had already hatched a plan. He needed to take this to the next level, create some way of deterring these events from happening anymore in Konoha. It would take some time, but the crafty young Shinobi was cooking up a very special debut for tonight.

Saying his goodbyes, Xiahou headed back to his dorm to prepare for his steak out that night, and to ready his surprise.

As the moon rose high in the night sky, cutting severs of silver light around Konoha. Xiahou waited atop the Old Man's roof, perched like a hawk, ever vigilant for the vandal to appear. Pale blue eyes scanned the streets back and forth, but to his dismay, Xiahou saw no signs of any groups of teenagers or, in fact, anybody approaching the area. He knew they struck nightly though, and a few houses on this street had been hit by their nefarious activities.

Then he saw it. Three kids, younger than he expected, paint cans in hand. He recognized the one in the middle as Akane Fuji, a young academy student, a little pudgy, and dressed almost comically in clothes two sizes too big. Xiahou's eyes narrowed as he tensed his muscles and waited for the perfect moment to strike. His gaze trailed them to the letterbox, and witnessed them noticing their work from the night before had been painted over. Laughing, the group of boys began to advance down the dirveway.

'Not yet,' Xiahou thought, 'Just a little further,'

As the boys reached the eastern wall of the house, Xiahou made his move, leaping from the roof and reaching to his belt to grab a flare that was set there. He would front flip and land behind the boys, igniting the flare and bathing the vandals in bright white light.

Gasps escaped the boys' lips as they turned to face the Ninja behind them. But they were not met with the elegantly dressed young Shinobi, Xiahou. Instead they were met with a figure clothed in green. A dark green Shinobi mouth mask, Konoha headband, and a long green cape with a hood. All this over top of a tight bodysuit, a lighter shade of green than the cape and hood.

"Stop right there you hoodlums!" Xiahou bellowed commandingly, prompting the boys, in shock, to drop their cans and make a run for it. Akane, slower than the other boys, was the one unfortunate enough to be caught by Xiahou's reflexive arm extending to grip him by the scruff of the neck.

"Wh-Who are you?! Lemme go!" The boy protested, squirming in Xiahou's grasp.

"I am the avenger of the weak, the champion of peace. I am Konoha's spirit of justice,"

Xiahou would look down at the boy sternly.

"I am,"

"The Hidden Avenger!"

"And I am here to put an end to these acts of vandalism," Xiahou barked at the boy, who by now had stopped squirming and was listening intently "I don't want to see you around here again, Akane,"

Nodding and a little shaken, the boy was released and took off like a bat out of hell, running home, never to commit a crime again. And with that, the Hidden Avenger would leap away, disappearing into the night only to appear again where the weak need defence, where justice needs to be championed. The birth of a legend, the hero Konoha deserves, the Hidden Avenger!