Hello this is my first fic so please, constructive criticism is always welcome! The character is named Hakaru and it will be in his interest to get near to the top of the ladder so to speak. How? You'll find out, but regardless thank you for reading! Pairings are undecided, and will be mainly following canon! So without further ado, Naruto universe is owned by Kishimoto and oc is obviously mine hehe. Enjoy!

One needed to be aware of the dangers. The dangers of reincarnation to be exact. If you know of it, then you'd know it wouldn't be fully realized till you saw your little hands in front of you. Almost as if you became a mini version of yourself after you remember dying specific way. Other clues that point to the fact that you have been reincarnated include your mother and father speaking a different language, the headbands from a very famous anime on the medics around you, and the shinobi walking the streets of where you now lived. You don't realize that last part till later though.

Now to be fair it was an even bigger shock to my parents when I didn't scream or cry immediately. And it was an even bigger shock to a one civilian and one shinobi mother and father that their child was a bit of a prodigy when it came to chakra. While my mother, or should I say Okaasan had a worried look about her when her 3 year old started doing leaf sticking exercises, my Otousan was as proud as can be. It didn't help that my mother had maroon hair, not as dark as an uzumaki, but red enough while my father had light blonde. My own hair took after my mother, and it was a staunch reminder that I was in a world where anime genetics were at play…But one thing that made me smile, was that my father was wearing a Konoha headband.

Yet one thing struck me. What time was I in? What could I possibly do in this world besides going as far as I can in a shinobi lifestyle…

What was my purpose going to be?

In my past life, I had a rather successful life as far as age went. Being an opportunistic sort of person, in university I was involved in as much as I could before my death…which was something I was still trying to reconcile with. I was in Germany and died in an accident at a young age of 23…yet here I was living some sort of heaven/hell life. Yet in all that time in my original life I still watched anime from my teen years and Naruto took the cake. So in a world of darkness and backstabbing, what was my goal…I shook my little three year old head. It wouldn't do to think of such a thing till I learn about this world first hand instead of reading/watching all about it on a wiki page and episodes.

First to unlock my chakra, check. Then to start molding it and growing my reserves, which was in progress. The leaf exercises and physical exercises helped, especially when father was around. From my memory Kakashi and Itachi both graduated the academy somewhere at age 6…I had some work to do.

It was sometimes humorous, in my head I'd picture a 4 and a half year old kid taking running laps around his apartment seriously while his mother worried about him tripping. But this was necessary to know what my purpose was as getting to the academy and starting a ninja life was essential to figuring what I'd do. Though, a big surprise came when mother took me to the book store.

Now that I was old enough, I could hold my mother's hand as we walked down the streets. This gave me time to take in my surroundings, and let me tell you Konoha was a lot bigger than I imagined. Otherwise it was just because of my being little…I will have to compare when I'm older!

As we turned around a corner, I got my first real glimpse of the Hokage monument. "This is…oh dear god." I thought, as I continued to look people were just starting to work on the Fourth Hokage's face, "That means Obito will…I need to survive…my father's a special jonin…he might fight it too…" before I could snap out of my thoughts my mother noticed my distress.

"Hakaru, is everything alright? Do you wanna get some candy on the way back? Or maybe a new book?" She smiled as she bent down to my level. I noticed that she was standing in front of the book store already, but I couldn't help but look at her.

My mother was a very beautiful woman, with her red hair and a calming smile. The red hair was a rare sight in Konoha though, and sometimes she'd get stares for it. Sometimes I wondered if she emigrated from Suna, but I didn't ask. All I could think about was if I lost her.

It would be unimaginable.

So I did what any other child might do, I closed the distance between us and hugged her tight. "Promise to never leave me okaa-san" I whispered, letting a few tears escape. My mother took it in stride, and had a soft look on her face. "Are you having nightmares again?" She asked, pulling back from the hug and looking into my eyes. She wiped a tear or two from my cheeks before I nodded. It was a useful excuse, but true all the same. The way that car crash happened in my first life was just too memorable…

So we ended up passing by the candy store after we got our books respectively. I wanted a book on chakra control to further my understanding and my mother bought a recipe book. It almost made me laugh because well…I had ran my father's bakery in my past life for a short while.

So imagine if a chocolate croissant or other pastries were introduced…I have to keep that in mind if I ever need money big time. Especially with a shinobi life, starting a business could be relatively easy…and could be used to get information. So it went, a half a year passed and it was spent introducing my family to morning croissants, working my chakra, and practicing basic Taijutsu. One thing I learned was I was good at throwing kunai and senbon, but my taijutsu needed a lot of work. When I landed a handful of kunai near the center of the target board I was so happy I forgot that one almost hit my father. Speaking of which, when I did bother my father too much I would bribe him with the baked goods that he came to love so much. When my mother asked me how I came up with the recipes I just smiled and told her it was my little secret.

One thing always stood at the forefront of my mind. Minato only spent a year as Hokage, So when half a year came by, I bothered my father a lot more for instructions…