I've returned to rewrite and continue this series. At first, I resisted. No! I cried. I can't become a fanfic writer for a weeb fandom again! But I stumbled upon a web version of a fully colored Naruto manga, got nostalgic and decided to re-read it, and here I am. Sinking into the weeb once again, like the true basement dweller I am. I hope I don't let you guys down.

My name is Ayato Hiromi.

That wasn't always my name, but that hardly matters now.

So you know, the classic thing. Truck-kun got me and now I'm awake again.

Hearing a lullaby, I came to. I couldn't understand the sounds, but I knew I had to do something. How could I just lay around, being rocked back and forth, and do nothing? I had to find out where I-

-but I succumbed to the comfort of sleep.

I was a healthy little baby girl named Hiromi, which I was told meant 'generous beauty'. Generous? I could do generous. Beauty? ...lmao ecks dee

I learned my parents were shinobi, and they expected me to be one as well. My mother had snow-white hair with dark eyes, and my father had curly blue hair with blue eyes. I had my father's eyes and my mother's hair, with a streak of blue.

Genetics are an interesting thing. Do you know your Punnett squares? Study hard kids. Don't end up like me. I mean-

As a newborn, I slept and cried a lot. I think. I don't remember a lot from before my eyes had opened. I was getting older, but I could only learn to crawl and babble like the little baby I was, shaking a rattle and hugging a stuffed tiger. I noticed my father was rarely home, and my mother was always on edge. What was she so afraid of?

The first word I'd ever said was, 'kaa-chan', which made her very happy. When I learned to talk fluently, I still didn't say much. I didn't want to be labeled as a prodigy.

"Kaa-chan?"

"Yes, Hiromi-chan?"

"Why is tou-chan never home?"

She paused, then went back to drying the dishes. "Your tou-chan is a shinobi. This is a time of war, so he must fight."

I nodded. "For everybody's safety?"

Kaa-chan smiled at me. "Correct. Would you like to be a kunoichi, Hiromi?"

I nodded and went back to my stuffed animals.

It was boring like this for a long time.

My mother was home all the time. She was constantly fretting over me and pampering me, which I wasn't complaining about, but it left me no time to do anything considered suspicious for a baby. I always demanded that she read to me, and when I was bored of that, I would draw ugly pictures, as one-year-olds do. She always hung them up though. There was a whole wall dedicated to my scribbles in crayon.

My father was never home. I honestly hadn't seen him for...almost a year now. Whenever I asked my mom about him, she always gushed about how strong he was and how we had nothing to worry about. Since I was a baby, I nodded and left it there.

Even when my mother was busy, I was still teaching myself to read and write. We had quite a few books, and scrolls about our village's history. After seeing terms like God of Shinobi and the Uchiha clan, it was pretty obvious I was in Konoha.

Sigh. Troublesome. The Nara clan was a better fit for a lazy bum like me than this nameless clan.

"Kaa-chan?" She turned and smiled, picking me up and bouncing me a bit. "What's wrong?"

"When will the war end?"

She had a pained looked in her brown eyes as she glanced away briefly, but tried to put on a smile for me. "Well, when Konoha wins, tou-chan can come home. That's all that matters."

So, two years passed like this. When I turned three, I was taught many different genjutsus, which seemed to be my mother's specialty before she had me and retired. She mentioned that my father was a kenjutsu master and was well respected among his companions.

High expectations were set for me from a young age.

Then there was another time in the woods where I discovered I'd inherited my father's unique bloodline limit. Not as cool as the Byakugan or Sharingan, but still unique. We were just strolling in the woods, with him teaching me about tracking and fighting in the foliage, when we were ambushed by some Kirigakure ninja. Just two.

Dad growled. "This is pretty deep within my border, don't you agree?"

One of them grinned, ignoring my dad. "We've got the upper hand. One shinobi and a child."

My father whipped out his katana and engaged them, while I stood there like the useless little girl that I was. And I could tell his ankle pains were slowing him down, a lot.

The brunette used a fireball jutsu, which tou-chan narrowly dodged. His clothes were lightly singed.

I knew I needed to protect my dad, but I didn't know how. This was the first time I'd ever seen anything violent. I lived in the heart of Konoha, where it was most sheltered from the war. My three-year-old instincts told me to rush forward and bite the green-haired one's arm.

"Ow! The little bitch!" He flung me off easily.

Water element. Those two words flew through my head. It was like I was in a trance. Like those times when your mind has no clue what you're doing, but your body remembered.

"Suiton: Wild Water Wave!" The water that burst out of my mouth blasted the opponents away, but as Newtons' third law tells us,...what's that? That's right! Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. I too was blasted back, but I, unfortunately, slammed into a tree. Tou-chan's eyes widened. "Hiromi!"

I passed out.

When I came to, I was in my room, and not at the hospital. I blinked and then sat up quickly. "Nani the frick?"

I struggled out of bed and butt-scooted down the stairs, then stopped when I heard my parents arguing in hushed tones.

"-too much for her to bear!"

"Hideki, she deserves to know. She's clearly a prodigy-"

"My mother had the same!" Tou-chan's voice was wavering. "She was murdered by her own village!"

"Because they were retarded, darling. Hiromi-chan will be peachy." That's where I got my sarcasm from…

"Sorano, I'm not joking. It's too much stress. Prodigy or not, if the Hokage finds out, she'll be sent to the damn front lines! She's a child!"

"Hideki. I'm saying we should just tell her, so she can learn to defend herself with it. She won't be using it anytime soon."

"...Fine."

I loudly thumped down the rest of the steps, yawning. "Good morning."

"Hiromi!" Mom was surprised. "You're awake!"

I walked over to them, where tou-chan set me on his lap. "Let's talk about what you did to save us in the woods, before you passed out."

"Your tou-san say you used a water technique," Mom started. "But your chakra element is lightning, like your father."

"I'm guessing you felt the power after you bit him?" Tou-chan glanced down at me. I nodded. He sighed. "So that's it..."

"Your grandmother had your kekkei genkai as well," Mom explained. "Through one of your five senses, you can copy your opponent's techniques. Now, don't go thinking this is super epic, like the Sharingan. You can't remember it forever, but you have a short time to use any of their element's techniques afterward. It seemed like all the chakra exercises and the kunai aiming helped, since your father said you channeled up a huge jet-powered stream of water and hit the two opponents straight in the chest."

"Your sense would be taste." Tou-chan seemed pained. "Your grandmother had hearing."

"Do you have it, tou-chan?" I looked up at him innocently.

"I have the sense of touch," he explained. "That's why I chose to be a kenjutsu master."

"Even other kekkei genkais?"

"But not dojutsus..." Kaa-chan thought for a moment, then shrugged. "Or it could happen. Maybe you can get Byakugan after you bite a piece of their arm off."

I started. "Yuck!" The whole 'taste to use their jutsus' thing was stressing me out. And I'm supposed to keep this a secret?

I'll never use it anyways. I'll be safe, even in this time of war, as long as I stay in Konoha…..

Wait, Third Shinobi World War?

I was seriously reconsidering my choice to be like my father. Protect the village? Houses can be rebuilt. Shouldn't we evacuate everyone instead?

Then my father died.

Spine disease or something. After a week in the hospital, even though he smiled that sunny smile at me, promised me he'd be fine, told me jokes, he fucking died.

Funeral was huge. Apparently he'd made a big impression on people.

Mom and I picked lilies. They were his favorite flower. Everyone had white ones, but I had gotten a blue one. Blue was our favorite color. It was our thing.

Mom went first, then me, then his teammates, then some strangers. It looked like the entire village gathered here on this dark and cloudy day.

After that, mom barely talked to me. She kept up a strong facade for me and the village, but she got thinner and thinner, and it seemed she only ate when her friends forced her. I knew she had depression, but she shut me out, and I had no idea how to help her.

I thought maybe if the war ends, she'll be happy again.

I took to training by myself, even though I was only three, I had to practice ninjutsu since I couldn't use genjutsu by myself. I needed to get stronger

I also found out I sucked at ninjutsu. Probably the whole thing with me being reborn, therefore having twice as much spiritual energy than I had physical energy, and ninjutsu used physical eneruhjkl;,'..

But I had to become a ninja, so I could protect my mother, so she wouldn't end up like dad. I refused to entertain the idea that I'd become an orphan so soon after being born.

When I turned four, I was sent off to the academy. I knew normal registration ages were five or six, but this was a time of war, so we needed new shinobi. And fast.

Child soldiers, sent out to the front lines to sacrifice their lives for the bigger picture. Which is what my dad did. Fuck that with a capital F, I thought, but this was the best way for me to help end the war...and try to get my mom back.

My first day at the academy started out with attendance. I had plopped down next to an Aburame and was ready to sleep through class when a certain name was called.

"Hatake Kakashi."

"Present."

I jerked awake, wildly swinging my head around. Kakashi-sensei, with his signature mask, was sitting all the way in the back, looking like the prodigy he was.

His posture...it just radiated cocky dickhead. Yikes. I feel you, Obito.

Then some unimportant people like me were called, and then...drumroll...

"Nohara Rin."

"Present!"

I saw Rin, in all her five-year-old cuteness, sitting a row in front of me. Omigosh she's still so kawaii—stop it you weeb!

"Uchiha Obito."

"Right here!" He shouted, raising his hand.

So, Uchiha Obito, Hatake Kakashi, and kawaii chibi Nohara Rin.

Namikaze Minato's Team Seven.

Nghhhhnjifklmr;,

The lesson went on, and I paid attention to none of it. I'd be using none of it anyways. Nobody cares about the best angle to throw a kunai or shuriken. In battle, if we took time to apply these complex strategies, we'd die. Or get lethally injured. Like daddy had

Then came the practical lessons.

When Kakashi's turn came, naturally, all the guys glared at him as all the girls, well, fangirled. "KYAA, KAKASHI-KUN, DO YOUR BEST!" We lowkey in a war but ai.

Then when he performed perfectly like the genius he was, the girls screamed even louder.

Cue jealous glares and Obito in denial that Rin could not possibly like Kakashi.

These people are driving me crazy. Obito looked really angry at Kakashi for being awesome.

So after the practical exercises were over, we went back to class and learned about basic medicine. Mom seemed to be a medic before, since there were so many herbs in the garden and many scrolls about the specific herbs that'd put you to sleep, soothe pain, and make you throw up and roll off a cliff.

I memorized them.

Yes, I am a genius! Thank you so much for saying so! : ^ )

Taking out my notebook for once, I asked many questions and received all the answers I needed. I nodded and thanked him, pretending I understood the words gushing out of his mouth. Foxglove leaves cause confusion, depression, nausea, drowsiness, stomach pain…

Wowsies.

As I stepped out the door, ready to go home, I started walking, when a little voice called out to me.

"W-wait!" I stopped and looked around, wondering who it was.

Chibi Rin caught up to me, panting heavily. "I'm...I'm Rin!" She bounced up and down, overflowing with energy. "Nohara Rin! What's your name?"

"I'm...Hiromi. Ayato Hiromi." I said quietly. Should I be her friend…?

"You asked so many questions when they taught about herbs! And you seemed to know a lot...do you want to be a medic?"

"No," I replied honestly. "I want to fight."

"Wow...you're so cool!" Rin smiled. "Wanna be friends?"

I wasn't sure whether to trust her or not. I was sure she was a sweet girl, but she was just a baby girl. And I'm...fuck if I know what kind of demonic basement dwelling species I am.

But Rin just...looked so kind and sweet. Like all citizens abiding by the Law of Chibis.

"Sure." What could I possibly do to a sweet angel like this?

She beamed. "Yay! Maybe you could teach me a little about herbs?"

I nodded slowly. "But we'd have to go to your house. My kaa-chan doesn't like visitors."

Rin giggled cutely. "Okay...does tomorrow work? You need to ask your kaa-chan, right?"

"That's fine by me." Can she fake one more smile for me?

"Bye, Hiro-chan!" She waved and ran off. I turned my head and saw Obito crouching behind a wall, stalking us—well, spying on Rin, his first love.

Yay.

I ignored him and just headed home. Engaging with one canon character a day was enough.