After the rain, earth hardens. –Old Japanese Proverb.

Chapter One: Talc

The doctor's face was grave and ashen. Her footsteps fell with a finality that could only signal bad news.

"Oh god," cried the man, falling back into the chair. "Is…"

"I'm sorry," replied the doctor gently. "We were unable to save your wife. But we were able to save your daughter."

He was silent for a few moments—though for him, it felt more like an eternity. "Can I see her?" he said, finally. "Can I see my daughter?"

"Of course." The doctor hesitated, and the man's shattered heart sunk lower. "We were able to save your daughter," she said again, "but… her chakra coils are completely shredded. The backlash of her mother's death was too much for her developing system."

"What do you mean?"

"Her involuntary chakra system works fine. Her cells will get the energy they need to survive. However, she will not be able to control her chakra at all." The doctor looked straight at the man. "It is absolutely impossible for her to become a ninja."

He bowed his head. "Is she otherwise healthy?"

"Perfectly so," said the doctor, smiling slightly. Many ninja would not have reacted the same way.

"Then I wish to see her." He pushed past the doctor and walked into the gray room where his daughter cried, feebly struggling against the blanket wrapped around her. His wife rested on the bed next to the crib. Gently, with uttermost care, he lightly brushed his finger against his wife's cold cheek for before pulling the blanket over her head. Then, the man ignored the nurse's protests and picked his daughter up.

Tears began to form in the man's eyes as he rocked his wailing daughter.

"Hello," he whispered. "Hello." He paused, composed himself, and called his daughter by her name for the first time. "Hello, Kumade."

Explaining what happened to his son was the hardest part.

"Mother died?"

"Yes, Sakumo." Tired, Hatake Shizu looked at his son. When had he grown so big? Sakumo had just turned seven, but he had already graduated, becoming a ninja and an adult in the eyes of the village—though not in the eyes of his father.

Sakumo rubbed his eyes, reflexively blinking back tears. "Moth—" his voice cracked. Taking in a shaky breath, the boy stepped forward. "Is that my sister?" he asked, voice wavering slightly.

The Hatake clan head nodded. "Her name is Kumade."

Sakumo cautiously prodded his sister with his finger. To his surprise, the baby grabbed it. The boy glanced up at his father with teary but surprised expression.

Shizu smiled. "Do you want to hold her?"

After thinking it over, Sakumo agreed. He held her carefully, as if she was made of glass.

"She's wrinkly," said Sakumo bluntly.

"She is." Shizu's smile grew slightly bigger. "All babies are wrinkly."

Sakumo scrunched his nose. "Weird."

"Weird," agreed Shizu.

Unconcerned with the conversation, Kumade quickly fell asleep.

The Hatake clan had always been a small one. But the First Great Shinobi War had hit the Hatake clan exceptionally hard, causing its numbers to dwindle further. Currently, it consisted of only three members: Shizu, Sakumo, and Kumade.

But regardless of their current state, the Hatakes had once been a true ninja clan. The remaining members—at least, the two older ones—still possessed many of the traits that had distinguished them from other shinobi.

The silver hair was the most noticeable feature—second in fame to only to their prized white chakra. The clan also possessed a minor Dog Summoning Contract, which endowed them with keener senses and lifelong companions. In battle, the Hatake clan was known for their precise chakra control and their devastating kenjutsu style.

The combination of these abilities had made them particularly dangerous on the field. Though not influential or numerous, the clan was afforded respect for its skilled members.

A less known trait of the Hatake clan was its propensity for child prodigies. On average, Hatake children tended to be very smart when compared to their peers.

It was because of this that Kumade managed to avoid suspicion.

Whenever she did something that a normal child couldn't do, her father always chalked it up to Hatake genes. And that suited Kumade just fine.

Damn it, Jim. I'm an engineer, not a child development specialist! Her lips quirked up at the thought. Thank God for crazy genes. She knew next-to-nothing about kids. Even by freaky magic ninja standards, she was an odd child—but her clan blood deflected further suspicion.

And that thought reminded her of something she'd rather forget.

She was in fucking Naruto.

And she knew nothing about that show.

Oh, Kumade had read plenty of manga in her last life. (Side thought—reincarnation? Not cool. Traumatic, more like it.) She'd been a proud geek/nerd/whatever back then. But for some reason, magic ninjas had never really caught her interest. The length of the series had intimidated her, and she'd been more of a sci-fi fan, anyway.

Boy, was she regretting it now.

Thankfully, Kumade didn't need to worry about being a ninja herself. She didn't know the specifics, as her grasp on the language wasn't very strong, but something about her body made becoming a ninja impossible. Hooray for not becoming a murderous child assassin!

That didn't mean no training, though. Despite being (basically) a chakra-less five year old, Kumade's father still drilled her in sword fighting. She'd be useless against anyone with a tiny bit of chakra control, but her father's goal was to make her stronger than most other civilians.

But Kumade knew that she got off easy. Her older brother trained four times as much as she did. She really didn't envy him.

"Watcha doing, squirt?" Her previously mentioned brother ruffled her ridiculous hair. "You look like you're thinking too hard."

"Thinking too hard is better than not thinking at all," she snipped back, grinning. "How was your mission?"

The twelve year old smirked. "Same old, same old. We had to do another stupid D-rank because Juro broke his leg while training." He shuddered. "We had to catch this demon cat…" Sakumo chattered on, using wild hand gestures to punctuate his points.

Kumade laughed as she listened to her brother's exaggerated tale. "If you fought as well as you told stories, then no one would be able to win against you," she teased.

Sakumo stuck his nose in the air, and his voice took on an outrageous accent. "I'll have you know that I was the top student of my year. Clearly, I'm the best in every way possible."

Kumade raised an eyebrow. "I know you're trying to impersonate someone, but I have no idea who."

Her brother sighed. "Oh, right. I forgot that you don't know him." Sakumo stretched, causing his joints to pop. "There's this really stuck-up kid named Orochimaru. He's one year younger than me, but his ego's bigger than Konoha. It's annoying as he—er, heck."

"Right." She snorted. "Like your ego's any better."

"Hey!" Sakumo ruffled her hair again. "Take that back!"

The two fell into easy banter that continued for a few more minutes. Then, Sakumo decided to be responsible—at least for a little bit.

"Since father's not home yet, I'll make you something to eat!" he said proudly.

"Are you sure? You managed to burn the soup the last time you tried to cook."

Sakumo clutched his chest. "Alas, your words are sharper than any kunai! You wound me, sister." He grinned slyly. "I see you live up to your name."

Kumade glowered at him. She knew it was Hatake tradition to have farm-related names, but why the hell had her father thought pitchfork was a good name for a child? At least her brother's name was something nice and peaceful like crops. Really, there were very few things she hated more than her new name. Well, the child soldier thing was pretty bad too. Now that she thought about it, there were a lot of things that Kumade hated about this place.

But it wasn't all bad. The technology level was about equivalent to the U.S. in the 1950s, so at least there were movies and entertainment. The chakra-magic was pretty cool, even if she couldn't use it. And of course, there was her brother Sakumo.

Kumade closed her eyes as she thought about it.

She'd had a younger sister during her past existence. Being just one year apart, they'd argued like cats and dogs. But their bond had been stronger than steel.

Her relationship with Sakumo was different—but equally as close. It was nice being the younger one, for once. They had a friendly, playful bond. Sure, Sakumo could be a bit overprotective, but it was only to be expected. In the ninja world, she was defenseless. Plus, she was five. His paranoia was completely excusable.

"Ready!" Sakumo plunked down a plate with a sad-looking sandwich.

"Really?" She prodded the soggy bread and lettuce.

"…you don't like it?"

She sighed and took a bite. "It's awesome," she lied through her teeth. Kumade shoved the rest down her throat. "I'm done!"

"See? I can cook!" Sakumo smiled proudly.

"Right." She coughed then grinned as she remembered something. "Sakumo-nii," she said, voice becoming saccharine-sweet. Sakumo immediately narrowed his eyes. He knew that she only used that tone when she wanted something. "Did you bring the textbook I asked for?" asked Kumade, eyes wide.

"Uh… no?"

Kumade pouted. "Why not?"

"I forgot," he laughed sheepishly. "Why do you want my old math textbooks anyway?"

"Because math is the greatest," she replied reverently. Math had been her love, and she'd be damned if she forgot any of it. Once she worked her way through the basic algebra textbooks, Kumade could ask for the more advanced ones without attracting suspicion.

"Weirdo," he scoffed. Sakumo was excellent at math—he'd graduated at the top of his class, after all—but he didn't have the fanatic love that his sister seemed to have.

"Thanks." She rolled her eyes and glanced at the clock. "When did your sensei want you back again? It's almost two."

Sakumo dropped his sandwich. "Shi—ship," he corrected hastily. "Koharu-sensei's going to kill me! Lunch break was over ten minutes ago!" He rushed out of the room, food forgotten.

Kumade sighed and leaned back. Her brother could be so forgetful, despite being a ninja. Quickly, she tossed the plates into the sink before heading to her room to practice the alphabet. For some reason, people here used a writing system with literally thousands of characters. Despite being here for five years, she still hadn't achieved complete literacy.

Her tutor had been effective, but it simply wasn't enough. Practice was equally necessary. (Being a member of a shinobi clan, even if she wasn't a ninja herself, Kumade had the advantage of a tutor. Civilian schools were for plebs.)

Her life here was… surprisingly boring. Her father and brother were often away due to missions, leaving her alone with only her father's ninken. Which were admittedly awesome. She wasn't fluent in "Dog" like her brother and father, but she was getting close.

Talking to dogs?

Awesome.

But other than that, five year olds couldn't do much. And she was bored. So, kanji practice it was…

"You brought your little sister?" Juro stared at his teammate.

Sakumo stared back, confused. "Well… yeah. We're allowed to bring family, right?"

"You brought your six-year old civilian sister to the Chuunin Exams?"

"Is that bad?" Sakumo blinked.

Kato Mayu, Sakumo's other teammate, smiled in a rather strained way. "Yes, Sakumo. It's bad."

Kumade sighed. Apparently, this Chuunin Exam was a thing where preteens beat each other up to get a promotion. Her brother had made it through the first two stages, and now they were at the final one: the exhibition matches.

"Why's it bad? It's not dangerous for her. Only Konoha genin are allowed to participate, right?"

"Well, yeah…" Juro glanced at the annoyed child. "But isn't she… I dunno, a bit young for this?"

"But she's smart." Sakumo shrugged. "I don't see what your problem is."

"It's fine," reassured Kumade. "I want to support my brother, anyway."

She'd gotten to know Mayu and Juro quite well in the past few weeks. The genin team had been training non-stop for the exams, and they'd often used the spacious and isolated Hatake Compound to practice. Kumade quite liked their company, even if they had a tendency to baby her.

"Fine," growled Juro. "If she gets nightmares, don't blame me."

The three genin suddenly stiffened and fell into attention as their teacher approached. The beautiful and powerful Utatane Koharu glanced at her three students. "You're next," she said to Sakumo. "You don't want to be late."

Sakumo paled and hurried to the side of the arena. Koharu turned to her remaining genin and Kumade. "You three should head to the stands if you want a good view."

After bowing sharply, Mayu and Juro ran to the stands. Kumade followed them, after politely greeting her brother's teacher. To be honest, she wasn't exactly sure what to think of the older woman. Koharu was polite enough, but she was also firm in a way that somehow got on her nerves. Oh well.

Thoughts about Koharu were soon forgotten as Kumade watched her brother fight. With a sort of horrified fasciation, Kumade watched Sakumo quickly defeat his Akimichi opponent by using a powerful lightning-charged attack.

"Are you ok?" asked Mayu, noticing Kumade's tightly clenched fists.

She laughed nervously. "Just worried for my brother." Why are they doing this? It's.. savage. She winced. I really hope nobody dies.

Thankfully, nobody did.

Juro was knocked out in the first round by an Aburame, while Mayu lost in the second round to a clanless kunoichi. Sakumo, much to Kumade's relief and amazement, managed to win the whole tournament.

"Isn't your big brother the best?" he crowed.

"I'm just glad you're safe," she mumbled, hugging her older brother. The tournament had reminded her that Sakumo would actually be fighting and risking his life as a ninja.

His eyes softened as he hugged her back. "Me too. It'd be bad if I got hurt. I'm too cool for that." Then, he pouted. "But you aren't going to congratulate me or anything?

"Congrats," Kumade replied belatedly. "Now let's go home."

Their father returned two days after Sakumo's promotion to chuunin. After he arrived, they had a small celebration. (Frankly, Kumade didn't think it was worthy of being called a celebration. It was too somber for that.)

"I'm proud of you, Sakumo." Shizu smiled at his son. "Though I'm sorry that I missed your exams." He cleared his throat as he placed a package on the table. "Sakumo, this is for you. From now one, you have my permission to use the Hatake kenjutsu on the field."

Sakumo bowed his head, uncharacteristically formal. "Thank you, father." Carefully, he unsheathed the tanto, revealing a gleaming white blade.

Kumade resisted the urge to whistle. The Hatake kenjutsu style was jealously guarded—tradition held that a student couldn't use it in battle until they were deemed worthy by their teacher. A great honor indeed.

"I won't let you down," murmured Sakumo.

Fondly, Shizu messed his son's hair. "I know you won't."

Hatake Shizu died exactly one week later. A simple scouting mission turned into an all-out battle that left him and his team dead. No one took responsibility for the attack, but it was a clear sign of the increased tension between the villages.

Kumade cared about none of this as she cried at her father's wake. Shizu had been slightly distant, but he'd loved and cared for her all the same. She hadn't always approved of his decisions concerning her and her brother, but that did not affect her affection for her second father in the slightest.

Sakumo stood silently beside her as people approached to offer their condolences. Both of his teammates, though extremely uncomfortable, had attended. One of Sakumo's younger friends from the Academy, a boy by the name of Jiraiya, had also attended. Other than that, the rest of the mourners were friends of their father.

The last person to approach was Sakumo's sensei—and their new guardian. With no living relatives, Sakumo (and by extension, Kumade) were to be under the care of Koharu until Sakumo turned fifteen or reached jounin. The gesture was more symbolic than literal. The two Hatake children would still be living in their compound alone, but the responsibility for their wellbeing fell to Utatane Koharu.

"It's time to go, children." Koharu's voice held genuine sympathy and understanding, though her tone was unyielding.

Sakumo followed his teacher without a backwards glance, but Kumade couldn't help but look back.

Her brother tugged on her arm, leaving Kumade no choice but to follow.

AN: Kumade is Sakumo's younger sister by seven years, making her roughly five years older than Minato and his peers. She will not become a ninja in any way, shape, or form. She will also not be useless.

This story is fairly slow building, and I plan to look at both the civilian and political sides of Konoha. There won't be too much action, as Kumade is a civilian, but there will be some.

(Honestly, I'm just testing the waters with this chapter. Please tell me what you think!) Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it!