A/N: Chapter one; REVISED. Black Demon of the Leaf is the rewritten version of 'I'm a What?'. Beta: Senior Coq-on-face the Third.

When you had biological family that couldn't give two shits about you, that they even allowed you to mingle with the common street gangs that used kids for various reasons, you learned to not care about people. You learned to not to care about anyone except yourself.

I grew up, spending more time outside with the guys on the street that smelled horrible, dressed horrible and were horrible people in general than I did with my own family. I told myself over and over again that it didn't bother me, that the sight of other families being happy never fazed me. I had siblings, whom I never got along with. Our parents didn't care about them either, we were all a source of money for them. They were all brothers, each so different from the other.

These men that I hung out with more than my own family were despicable men; rapists, murderers, paedophiles, arsonists, etc. They taught me that trusting people was a bad idea. I learned that the only way to protect yourself was to either overpower, outsmart or outlive them.

I turned out to be no better than them. I was corrupted.

And the thing was… I didn't care. In fact, the whole process of murder and torture allowed me to experience the most fun I had ever felt in my life; it allowed me to feel as though, for a fleeting moment, that I was superior in the way that I held someone's life in my own hands, that their pain was either prevented or caused by my own whim.

The neighbourhood we lived in was poor, the police as bad as the criminals they were meant to arrest. It was no wonder how so many of us despicable beings walked around, free to do as we wished. Not that I cared about the injustice of it all, it only worked in my favour.

The one time I had by chance seen one of my brothers, I had thrown away my own life to save his; to whom I hadn't spoken to in years. Heroic, right? Ha, no. The only reason I wanted to save him from that fucker that tried to kill him was so that I could kill him myself.

Shit, there was only like two brothers that remained in my family and he was one of them. I hadn't had the chance to see what it was like to murder one of them. Our parents had gone and left town as soon as we were of age, the bastards.

But no, my fantasy of seeing my own brother die by my hand was merely an impossible dream that was ripped from me as the dirty blade embedded itself in my ribcage. Pain and anger coursed through me as I staggered back, only barely seeing the sudden and swift attack from my brother, effectively cutting the offender's throat.

I collided painfully against the wall, coughing violently as my wound worsened. My brother had apparently kneeled in front of me, his hands cupped under my chin so that he could lift my face up and look into his cold, black eyes.

Except they weren't cold. There was an emotion that I wasn't used to. "Why?" he murmured. His voice was foreign. The tone in his voice too soft. I coughed again, bubbling laughter filling me.

"S-So I could kill you m-myself, f-fucker!" I snickered through painful wracks of pain. I was fading fast. It was my own fault, momentarily forgetting my life lessons for the opportunity to pry my prey away from another predator.

His eyes softened immediately, something that would've caused my heart to constrict, if I didn't think it was from the punctured lung. "You were always so stupid." he muttered, lightly touching my wound and causing me to wince. "You're going to die because of this, you know."

And that was the reason I hated him. Always pointing out my mistakes, the mistake of my being. With all the strength I had left, I spat blood mixed with saliva into his face, snarling lightly before my world faded to black.

I didn't know what I expected when death came and took my pitiful life, but the unending darkness that left me with my own thoughts was not what I expected in the least. I wondered if I would see the 'light' anytime soon or some shit like that. Contemplated if God was real and if I would be taken to Hell or Heaven. Of course, I knew where I would be going.

But despite my thoughts, the unending darkness receded and I was greeted by the painfully blinding light that made me cry shrilly. I'll spare the details of such a horrifying event where I heard voices, felt cold and like I was covered in fucking mucus, tiny and pitifully helpless whilst this horrible lighting was surely going to make me blind.

I was a newborn.

Yes, indeed. Reincarnation worked. Yes, I was a newborn, unable to control my limbs, bladder and basically everything apart from my whirling thoughts.

One of the ups to this whole event was the fact that the language was so painfully familiar to me that I was happy for small blessings as such. Japanese was already a difficult language, what with the fucking kanji and all, it would be too much for my brain to have to handle two separate languages. As much as I would've loved to say that I was smart enough to handle any and everything, that would be a blatant lie.

The second of the ups were my new parents. Cynical being that I was, I was sorely suspicious of the two for a good amount of time. When my eyes didn't just take in lights and actually took in shapes and colours as they were, I studied my new parents with an uncomfortable intensity.

Kuroi, as I had found out, was a naturally tanned man that apparently liked to cosplay; with dark black-brown eyes that were soft and laid-back. His black hair was a wonder, with the way it was gravity-defying and spiked up in impossible ways. There were dark markings under his eyes that were rather like eye bags, making him look fatigued and yet it didn't seem to detract from his overall handsome appearance. He spoke in soft drawls and enjoyed teasing his wife. I rarely saw him, but as much as some part of me disliked it, whenever I did there was something pleasant that bubbled within me.

Kuroi's wife and my mother, Aonami, had long and silky black hair with lightly tanned skin that was caused from too much sun; her eyes were the epitome of emeralds, shining brightly even when the sun wasn't there to make it look any brighter. They were unbelievably expressive, able to tell entire sentences with a single look. The affection she had for both Kuroi and I made me feel horribly awkward. I was uncomfortable with the foreign look yet strangely warmed and it confused me.

Our home was a two storey one, I was located at the end of the second floor. I was there most of the time, finding the large window beside my crib the perfect view to stare out of as I contemplated my current situation.

When I wasn't relearning basic motor skills and injuring myself to that point that I would reflexively start to cry (because that shit hurt!), I asked the moon why I was reborn. What had I done to deserve reincarnation of all things? I rather expected being burned in the fiery depths of Hell than being reborn as an infant with my memories fully intact.

I only felt guilty a handful of times, when I was younger and was still learning the ropes of my criminal life. I didn't like the feeling then and I didn't like it now, that shitty feeling of guilt as I thought about the strangely loving parents that I had been deprived of in my previous life.

They saw their innocent little baby, showering her with love and affection. They had no idea that their child was a fucked up murderer, how could they? However, I knew. It shouldn't have affected me so much. I shouldn't have felt this constricting pull of my tiny little heart. I should've been happy that I was to start anew with a loving family, lived the life that I formerly wanted as a child where I could be somewhat semi-normal.

But I wasn't. The simple fact of it was that I had grown to like my old life, that I had even grown to love it. Then it had to end abruptly due to stupid lack of forethought on my part and I was forced to live again. I felt guilty that I missed that horrible existence of a past life when I had two great parents right here.

Enough of that, though. The more interesting knowledge of this all was when I found out that my new father was in fact, not a cosplayer of Naruto ANBU. Well, not when the Hokage mountain was staring at me so blatantly in the face that I wouldn't have been able to deny its existence.

No, the more I looked around I had realised that yes, I was in an anime that I had obsessively watched since it was released as it was one of my only childish loves. Yes, I did indeed wonder about the logic of it all, why I was reborn here of all places.

Mist, dammit. They couldn't have put me in goddamn, motherfucking Mist. That beautiful village that was like a hardcore version of my own neighbourhood. But alas, my fantasies upon accepting that I was in an anime were shattered.

The months passed as I continued to wonder about it all, timelines and plots as all who would miraculously end up in an anime would. Also thought about all the chakra and fancy shit that was relevant to Naruto. Whatever chakra I felt was a pitiful excuse of a thing, but it was there. I decided not to attempt to use it yet because I would rather not die again and then end up in some completely normal and happy anime that wouldn't allow for legal murder.

Most of my time was really spent reading. Aonami was an almost obsessive collector of various scrolls and books, somehow even procuring what she had told me to be a few secret scrolls from broken clans. As much as I loved to be a terrible person in general, reading was also a good past time. It allowed for my overall shitty reality to become a mere fantasy as I was lost in the words of a book.

When I was reminded that I needed to establish where in the timeline I was, I toddled my way up to Aonami. "Maaa." I called lazily, crawling onto the couch she sat on. Her book was put down as her attention was now fully focused on me. "Hokage?" I asked, pointing to the book on the ground where I had been sitting.

Her pools of emerald lit up as something akin to pride and eagerness swam in them. I was bombarded by this emotion that it was almost suffocating me. "What about the Hokage, Kuroki-chan?" she asked, her voice soft as a smile graced her rosy lips.

I suppose I had forgotten to establish my new name in this world. My name was Taidana Kuroki. For a loving father, you'd think that his choice of names for his first child would implicate that he hated me from the start, however it was apparently a clan thing to name members of the Taidana with 'Kuro' or at the very least 'Ku'. It was probably just a thing amongst ninjas to name your child something intimidating like 'Black Demon'. Strange as it was, I was rather partial to it. Aonami had begrudgingly accepted it since he had won a bet from long ago about naming their children.

Yes, I am from a clan. More about that later.

"Who?" I asked, shifting away from her hands as they had a habit of running themselves through my hair and making me fall asleep. Sorcery, I say.

"The current Hokage is Namikaze Minato. He's the youngest Hokage of all four Hokages in existence!" she answered, unperturbed by my shiftiness. Eventually, she caused an unnatural giggle to escape me as she nuzzled me affectionately. I was both delighted and horrified by this amount of affection. It was an overload of fluffiness that disgusted me.

With Minato being the current Hokage, I could only wait until he died on the day the entire village is attacked by a giant, rabid, Uchiha-controlled fox and hope I didn't die by a stray tail. That would be unfortunate and set in a deep hatred for foxes.

Nothing of serious importance really happened in the following year or so, so I had turned two without many hiccups. I was mostly improving myself as a toddler, establishing my future title as a prodigy as I had every plan to become a ninja early and murder something. The two years of having loving and affectionate parents was pleasant, however my urges for bloodshed had never left me; in fact these obvious displays of emotion were fuelling my desire. It was smothering me.

It wasn't until I was three when the Kyuubi attacked. The foul, terrifying chakra that brought fear into the hearts of the villagers within Konoha… had caused me to feel fascinated at how much hate would be needed to be able to so easily project and almost consume those surrounding it. It was primal and hating.

Then I realised that my new parents that I had slowly begun to care for were now were out there and could actually die from some stray tail. Oh, how I hated how this… emotion I could only call worry gnawed at me, made me anxious and restless whilst also pissing me off because I didn't want to feel this.

However, my worry finally won out and I flew out the door, running as fast as my pathetic little legs could take me towards the giant fox that wreaked havoc in one direction.

The various ninjas ignored me as I frantically tried to find my new parents, gasping suddenly as my father appeared out of nowhere and then scooped me up into his arms. I could barely hear him over the deafening roar of the fox, my eyes glued to its magnificent form.

Soon, Aonami found us, dressed in ninja gear and face the most serious I'd ever seen. She was a retired ninja, since she felt that she would rather be there for her child rather than continue to go on missions and then die, leaving her only child alone and with a father who was enlisted in ANBU. We left.

It wasn't like they could really do much, not with that barrier or whatever there. It seemed like they didn't want to stick around with me there, but they didn't go back when we returned home.

That night, it occurred to me that they had somehow seeped their way into my dark little heart, entangling themselves and forcing me to care for their well being. I was pissed and frustrated at my own idiocy, however, it was done. These people were my parents… parents that actually cared. It hurt so bad to think about what it would be like to lose them. I didn't like caring about people.

Other than that, I realised that I was three years older than Naruto and some of the other shits. What was I going to do about the plot now that I knew? Change it for the better, save people for the better and be heroic?

For the better, my ass. I wasn't heroic either, I was just some lucky or unlucky scum of a being to be reincarnated into an anime where murder happened to be an overly familiar concept and it came with superhuman capabilities too; it was a dream. I had to admit that there were some characters whose deaths impacted me greatly, however most of them were Akatsuki. I really didn't see how I would be able to do shit for them.

Moving on from that, Kuroi was fine, even approving of my wish to start training early. Hell, even Aonami was happy. I showed promise and untapped potential, as they said. The praise caused my selfish little heart to swell and then deflate as I realised that I wasn't worth the praise.

I'd barely bothered with maintaining a childish façade, the entire mask breaking shortly after its construction as it was both draining and annoying. I glared naturally, it felt unnatural and weird to have some weird, happy smile plastered on my face every hour of the day.

That broken and long-dead clan that I was from? Yeah, Kuroi had decided to elaborate it… I'm not divulging until later. Why? Because I can.

But yes, most of my new little childhood was occupied with studying, training and sleeping. Chakra was such a strange and draining thing that sleep occurred often. Within those hours of unconsciousness, I was back in my old world, scolded and laughed at for the attachments I had unfortunately made.

At one point, Kuroi decided it was a good time to give me weights in the form of dark, stretchy cloth that wrapped around various parts of the body. They felt like second skin, really, but the moment my father had put a bit of chakra into the strange material, I immediately felt weighed down by the new chakra that was now trapped to cause me hell.

Only a tiny smidgeon, he had said. I was once again reminded of my pathetic toddler body that was straining under the weight of a smidgeon of chakra.

Enough of that, though. It was by chance that I stumbled into a random mirror that obviously belonged to my mother, and being the curious little shit I was, I decided to take a look at this new appearance of mine.

I had the same tan skin as Kuroi, same silky black hair as Aonami. My hair also defied gravity, spikes of hair directing themselves automatically to the right of my head. It was disorienting in a way, they would simply go back into place when I tried to push the spikes down. Luckily for me, my hair was naturally trained to stay out of my face and simply frame it instead.

There was a black mark on my left cheek that started from my eye to near my jawline, shaped like an elongated fang marking. It was permanent apparently, as no amount of rubbing did anything. There was also a mole under the corner of my right eye, with another situated right in the middle of my throat.

Intentionally, I had left my eyes for last, as they were by far the most intriguing and strangely disturbing feature of my entire appearance. They were a black-brown, the same as my father, however… my eyes were not unlike those of a dead man's. Glazed over and lifeless, the sun made them shine a little more, but overall the look of my eyes were seriously too creepy.

How were these two even able to look at me and still find it in their hearts to love me? Fuck, if I saw a child with eyes like mine, I would've been long gone. That shit wasn't natural. Neither was the whole reincarnation into an anime, but hell.

They really loved me… huh? I was still their child. It was just so strange how two people who murdered for a living (Aonami having retired) were able to love so much and my former parents just seemed so incapable of it. If you didn't count them loving each other. They were fucking gross, banging with no care of their children being around. No wonder they had so many of us when they didn't give a fuck.

That was in the past though. All in the past. Kuroi didn't increase my weights until a month or so later, when I had gotten used to the additional weight. There was really no point in having weights if you didn't increase them over time, after all.

As a little toddler, I rarely left the house. I didn't really have much reason to, since I was preoccupied with other things like learning katas that Kuroi taught me. When I saw him training one morning, when he was free, I saw how swift and graceful his movements were, the style he used was reminiscent of gymnastic boxing.

When he was gone, Aonami was left with me. She was jounin-level, so she was easily able to help me with both my academics and my physical training. Being a toddler was really a bitch, not being able to write properly even though you knew what to write and how.

I would often stay in my room, the light rarely on unless I was studying. The darkness was my friend, swallowing me up and allowing me to simply… be. My mind would often wander as I stared at the moon, idly wondering if the people I'd known missed me. Shit, they were probably dead too.

The guilt once again consumed me, this was so much more than I could've ever asked for. It was great, loving parents, a popular occupation that included murder, being in a world that was fiction until it was not. Yet I felt like I belonged in my old world more. I was scum compared to Aonami and Kuroi. They… didn't deserve to have me as their child. I probably took the original Kuroki's place with my own… soul. A bitter sound left my throat and I realised it was a sob.

And the moments where I would cry in front of the moon alone, would continue on. The cry then soon turned into maniacal laughter as the two sides of me fought against each other. The ludicrous humanity that I had against the pissed off inhumanity. One part of me was guilt-consumed, the other was screaming about how it was such a great opportunity, fuck everything else. It was confusing and irritating, yet it continued.

I didn't like feeling. I had laughed in the faces of people who probably were feeling exactly like this, told them they were weak pussies and to man the fuck up. There was always one kid that would be dragged into my world unwillingly, forced to do despicable things that they hated in return of not being one of their victims. Emotions made you weak. Hesitation would get you killed.

I became more reserved around my new parents after that. I couldn't deal with the feeling of being on a high when I was with them and then guilt stabbing at me randomly, with one or both of them blatantly concerned for me. God, it was terrible.

Staring at the mirror, I didn't have the shitty haircut; the white and scarred skin; cold eyes of light brown. I had Kuroki's face. I was Kuroki. Taidana Kuroki.

I didn't deserve this, but… wouldn't it be a terrible waste to let myself wallow in guilt and pathetic emotions instead of becoming a ninja? I could become an actual ninja with inhuman capabilities. What sane moron wouldn't want this? Or maybe I was in the minority.

My reflection grinned, looking horribly unnerving on this dead-eyed child face.

Aonami and Kuroi were blessings to me, helping me in this world and loving me. Whilst I would distance myself emotionally from them, that didn't change the fact that I was demonically possessive… or protective. Either way. My heart still soared when they would praise me. Because I was the one who solved with problem or properly pulled off a kata. It was me and no one else.

I had left the house together with Aonami one time. It was my first real time going outside into Konoha where I could walk, and I didn't realise just how big the village was. We went to the park, where there were other children.

A growl was the first thing that left my mouth when a child had run up to my mother, pulling lightly at her skirt and complimenting her or some shit. The child jumped, finally seeing me beside her and I do remember that my face was quite the sight.

When they ran off and cried to their own mother, I laughed. Really, I laughed to the point that my stomach hurt and needed Aonami to support me.

After that, I sat on a swing. Cloud watching wasn't too bad actually, didn't really have time to before, but it was actually relaxing. None of the other children wanted to go near me, my eyes and apparently even my different skin tone had scared them off. Not that I minded, I in fact welcomed it. I disliked children with a passion.

"There's something wrong with your daughter's eyes." one woman had 'whispered' to my mother.

I really didn't care, but I was downright shocked to see that Aonami was furious. She appeared ten times more intimidating in the matter of seconds, the infamous 'mama bear' mode I heard so much about was on.

That day, I realised that my mother was actually really fucking terrifying when she wanted to be.

A few weeks before my birthday, I was finally able to release a small amount of chakra from my hands. The amount was honestly pathetic compared to what Kuroi and Aonami could do, but hell I at least did it.

That shit was really not easy. The amount of concentration that was needed. First, locating your chakra required concentration. That was easy for me, since I never had chakra before. Being able to stay tuned to it wasn't too difficult. However, moving it required tonnes of concentration from me; it was like trying to push a giant boulder. Releasing it through the tenketsu in your hands was even more hell.

But shit, I had done it in the span of a few months. It was a pathetic amount, but I still cheered for myself. It was horrifying to know that children without my mental advantage were able to do this with ease. Fuck.

This world was messed up.

Anyway though, I was getting somewhere at least. My chakra control was far, far from perfect; far from even being satisfactory I would say, but Kuroi had mentioned that I would only get better with more practice since I wasn't even four yet and most children my age wouldn't have even been able to do it.

In all honesty, I enjoyed taijutsu most. Close combat was always my specialty. This body was practically built for taijutsu, having the genes of two highly skilled ninjas. I highly doubted that genjutsu would be pivotal in my style, ninjutsu as well. As cool as both were, I felt more comfortable with something I knew, even if most of these stances katas were foreign to me.

Other than that, Kuroi made me get ear piercings. Three lobe piercings and four helix piercings on both ears. They didn't really hurt, but most of all I was simply curious. He then showed me his own piercings, telling me that it was something the Taidana clan did. The three lobe piercings that were black studs, going from largest to smallest. The helix piercings were small black hoops. I honestly couldn't feel them at all, as if I was wearing normal earrings.

On the day of my fourth birthday, I was surprised to see that Inuzuka Tsume and Kiba had shown up. I really didn't expect anyone to show up, since apparently Kuroi didn't have any other family and Aonami's lived in Kirigakure.

I openly stared as Aonami and Tsume greeted each other loudly and happily, hugging and slapping each other roughly. They were like sisters, really rough, tomboyish sisters. I was kind of surprised, Aonami looked so serene and acted so motherly that it was kind of strange to see a whole new side of her.

Apparently Hana couldn't make it because she was at the academy and Kuromaru was having a day off. That left Kiba, who was surprisingly cute and quiet at the age of one. I held him, though I felt wholly uncomfortable with it for a good hour just waiting for him to start screaming or something that would piss me off.

He had those signature red markings of the Inuzuka, and I had to wonder if it was permanently painted on or they were born with it. Maybe it's Maybelline.

Tsume gave me a birthday present in the form of a puppy with a silver coat and ice-coloured eyes. It looked somewhat like a husky and a wolf mixture, I wasn't sure. However, I was sure that I fell in love with it. I dislike people, but I always loved animals. He showered me with affection the moment he was in my arms, being all adorable and fluffy and goddamn it was too much!

I would kill someone before they could take this furball away from me.

"What are you going to name him, Kuroki-chan?" Aonami asked with a smile, watching as I sat on the couch, playing with the puppy and allowing Kiba to pet him.

"I'll name him Shiruba." I replied, turning to the two women. I looked at Tsume, grinning a little. "Thanks for the present."

The Inuzuka head laughed. "No problem, kid." she turned her attention to Aonami, once again slapping the woman on the back. It looked like there was a lot of force behind it, but Aonami didn't even so much as flinch. "Hey Nami, your brat speaks pretty damn well for her age." she commented, watching as the Taidana woman's face lit up with pride.

"Oh, I know! My Kuroki-chan is such a little genius! She's already begun her ninja training, just a few weeks ago she was able to release chakra through her hands, and-" and I had tuned out her bragging of my accomplishments.

There was only so much praise I could handle.

I blinked when Kiba grabbed onto my hand, looking up at me with wide eyes. He grinned as cutely as a baby would and then garbled out some nonsense that still sounded cute. My face morphed into a scowl as I was disgusted with myself for finding him cute. This world was changing me. I couldn't wait to become a ninja.

His mother chuckled and had told me that Kiba seemed to have taken a liking to me. Before they left, she said they would be back again.

I grinned crookedly when not even a minute after Tsume had left, Kuroi had coincidentally showed up as if he was avoiding her presence. Aonami frowned at her husband as the man smirked at her, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her close. Her expression didn't change. "You shouldn't be avoiding my best friend, Kuroi." she chided him, automatically kissing him back when he kissed her.

"I would never avoid that deranged woman, Nami." he chuckled, releasing her and stepping back to dodge the hit aimed at him. He turned to me, picking me up as I held Shiruba in my arms. "Happy birthday, my little girl."

My crooked grin was unable to be held back as he said those words to me. "Thank you. Aunt Tsume gave me Shiruba for my birthday," I told him as I held up the puppy, "he's unbelievably cute."

There was a small smile on his face. "He is, isn't he? Shiruba, hm?" when I nodded, he opened his mouth to say something else. "I got you something as well." he told me, setting me on the counter of the kitchen to reach for something behind him. Kuroi pulled out a tanto with a black hilt.

It was apparently an Osoraku-type tanto, with a really sharp point that was over half the blade's length. It was about… twenty-five centimeters in length, so to me it looked like a mini-katana or something.

Aonami's eyes widened as I excitedly grabbed it, examining the beautiful weapon whilst Shiruba sat beside me, curiously looking at it.

"Are you sure that it's a good idea to give her such a sharp weapon?" she asked with a tone of concern, turning to her husband who shrugged nonchalantly. Her face shifted to annoyance.

"She said she wanted to learn kenjutsu, so I figured a tanto would be a good start before she gets her own katana or something similar." Kuroi explained casually, smiling slightly at me as I was sure he could see my obvious excitement.

His wife stared at him. "She's four, Kuroi. Four. I know she's been doing good with her training, but don't you think you're going a bit too fast? Shouldn't we wait until a little later?"

I had sheathed the tanto as their conversation continued, petting Shiruba as I wondered why they liked to talk as if I wasn't around to hear them.

"She's fine, Nami." Kuroi sighed. "She's four, never touched a tanto in her life before now and not only did she unsheathe it without cutting herself, she also sheathed it. Kuroki's intelligent, far more intelligent than I expected and I want her to learn all she can at her young and malleable age. She'll be a great ninja, I know it."

Aonami sighed. "I just feel like we're forcing her to grow up too fast. She has no friends because the children all think that her eyes are scary and the mothers won't let them befriend her even if they wanted to."

"I don't really care." I interrupted their conversation, blinking as they both turned their eyes to me. "I want to be a ninja, I want to learn all I can now. I don't really want friends either. I have you two, and Shiruba now." the small dog yipped as he heard his name. I smiled.

Kuroi ruffled my hair as Aonami hugged me, because apparently I pulled at their heartstrings or some shit. Still, it was… nice.

"You're such a wonderful child, Kuroki-chan. We're so proud to have you as our daughter." my mother praised me, a beaming smile on her face.

I blinked rapidly as I felt my eyes beginning to water.

Ah, scars. How I did not expect to get you back so soon. I had officially gotten two new scars.

When Aonami heard of it, I had to hide behind the couch because the sight of such a thing was… well, fucking terrifying. My respect soared to new heights when Kuroi merely stood there and took it, then when she was done, he hugged her and soothed her like one would do with a child. It was amazing that it worked.

There was one scar above my left eyebrow and another one on the right side of my neck. Luckily they were only shallow. I got them from the tanto, accidentally tripping and being an idiot. Man, that thing was seriously sharp. I honestly thought that Kuroi himself was a little messed up to think that a child would be safe with a weapon, no matter how intelligent they seemed to be.

Because I pretty much sucked at it and the tanto was admittedly a little too heavy for me to properly handle it, we had decided that physical conditioning was what I should focus on. I had to work on my speed, strength and stamina. Overall, that would then help me improve with taijutsu.

There was a schedule for me that I had to follow.

At five in the morning I would meditate for an hour, then I would practice katas and do physical exercises like sit ups for two; then run around the block as Kuroi said I was allowed to do, with a stopwatch he had given me so that I could time myself every time for one hour. I would then eat breakfast, take a shower and work on my chakra control until noon. Then I took a nap for about three hours before waking up and getting something to eat before working on all these books Aonami wanted me to study from. She had a basement full of books and scrolls with their condition rather pristine-looking. Then I'd eat dinner and go to bed. Repeat.

Shiruba seemed to enjoy running with me, even joining me in my morning katas and sometimes pretending to be an enemy. I shouldn't have been surprised by his high intelligence since Inuzuka dogs were rather smart, or so I believed. I had wondered if Shiruba would be able to talk like Kuromaru.

Over time, as I practised more with the tanto and weapons in general, I had gained a few more insignificant scars that wouldn't have scarred me if I wasn't a four-year-old with admittedly soft skin.

Most of my time was spent doing that same thing, so the most significant event was really when Kuroi informed me that I should enroll in the academy early. I wasn't sure anymore, because if I did, I would probably graduate early and then become a genin, which would allow me to kill someone even quicker, but I felt like I wasn't ready to either. It didn't take skill to be able to stab someone.

There was also the whole plot that I had conveniently forgotten about. Frankly, I didn't really give a shit about the Hyuuga affair or the Uchiha massacre, as bad as that sounds. I found no reason to help them other than for the sake of being moral and not wanting people to die and have bad pasts. I doubt I could do anything either, train to be strong and hope I can take on Uchiha Itachi and Tobi? Ahahahaha! Ludicrous. I was not going to throw away this new life for the sake of people whom I still considered to be characters.

I wasn't going to do anything but better myself. Maybe if there was a reason, I don't know, like my parents being associated to one of the clans. Really couldn't do shit about the Hyuuga affair, so fuck those guys. But the Uchihas… it's too complicated. Fuck it, later.

Those guys were on their own.

A/N: Reviews are love. Reviews are life. It's never ogre.