I turned three to little fanfare. Yoshino measured me up against the wall, and I'd grown to one hundred and two centimeters, which is about three feet and four inches, in the measurement I still tended to think in. I was tall for my age, especially for a girl, and I wondered in passing if my abnormal chakra had anything to do with it. But my body's parents had both been tall, and no one seemed to consider it out of the ordinary, so I didn't say anything.

For my birthday, we all sat down in the living room, and my three family members presented me with a single big box.

When I removed the wrapping, I stopped and squinted at the glaringly pink outside. The words 'Princess Tea Party' shone back at me. In glitter. I looked up at the three of them and smiled. "Oh, thank you, guys. How fun!" I tried to make myself sound sincere. I really did.

They all stared back at me seriously, and then Shika started giggling.

He clapped his hands over his mouth, but it was too late, he'd already started a chain reaction.

Yoshino and Shikaku burst out laughing as well, so hard that Shikaku slid out of his chair, and Yoshino had to help him back into it, because he was too weak from laughter to carry his own weight.

"It's a pwank!" Shikamaru announced gleefully. "It was my idea!"

"You should have seen your face," Yoshino gasped, wiping tears away. "I think you actually turned a little green!"

I opened up the box to find blank journals, calligraphy materials, more practice shuriken and kunai, and a little note.

"We're so happy to have you as part of our family. Happy birthday.

P.S. - Taijutsu training at 4 o'clock on Thursday, at the Uchiha compound."

Shikaku smirked at me. "We know you a little better than that," he said, pointing at the pink box.

I couldn't keep the ecstatic grin off my face, and gave each of them a hug, making sure to squeeze Shika extra hard as punishment for his prank, till he flailed to get away. Secretly, though, I hoped that they didn't know me nearly as well as they thought they did.

Later, Shikaku took us out to train, using non-elemental clones to act as if he alone were a whole team of enemy ninja coming after Shika and I.

We threw shuriken at everything that moved or rustled, sprinting in zig-zags through the Nara forest. I tripped, and Shika skidded to a stop, throwing shuriken around us to give me time to get back up.

He actually managed to disrupt one clone, but the other "enemies" had already taken the opportunity to surround us.

Shika and I stood back to back as they attacked. We both managed to deflect some of their illusionary projectiles by hitting them with our own in mid-air, but it took less than a moment before both of us were hit.

Shikaku walked back to the house with us, discussing our performance. "You're both getting better," he pronounced, finally.

I sighed. "It doesn't seem like it, though."

He placed his hand on my head, mussing up my hair. "I wouldn't have let you start taijutsu training if you hadn't proven you could handle it," he said.

I thought over all the training I'd been doing, and my mood lifted a bit. "Yeah, I guess so." Over the last four months, after I'd learned the yin chakra trick to augment my mental faculties, my study rate had increased. It was not so much that it made me smarter, but when I was practicing my chakra manipulation or one of the rudimentary jutsu while boosting with yin chakra, I was so much more observant. I noticed which tiny little fluctuations in my actions or manipulation of chakra were causing the effect I wished, and which weren't. And from there, it was much easier for me to refine my technique.

I'd found, though, that too many successive use of yin boosting, as I'd taken to calling it, caused headaches. That worried me, and whenever I felt one coming on, I was careful to stop and relax. I could hold a yin boost for about forty-five seconds, and repeat the feat about ten times a day before the headaches came on. I found myself quickly running through my allowance of yin-boosting every day, and taking a nap more for the purpose of refreshing my brain than because I was sleepy.

"Can I go to training with Shiowi? I've been doing good too, wight?" Shikamaru said, tugging on his father's sleeve.

"Mahh..." Shikaku looked up at the sky. "Not till you're a little older. And you'll have to prove yourself first, just like Shiori-nee."

Shika frowned. "What do I have to do?"

"Beat me...at shogi, on my level ten difficulty."

Shika's mouth dropped open. "What? That's not...how am...?"

Shikaku didn't even try to hide the evil grin on his face. "That's what little boys get for telling their moms I said a certain bad word in front of them the other day..."

Shika gasped in outrage, and turned to me for aid.

I shrugged helplessly.

He scowled at Shikaku. "I'm gonna beat you soon. And then...and then! I'm gonna tell okaa-chan about that time I saw you peeing on the sakura tree!"

Shikaku's eyes widened. "Shikamaru, there's no need to-"

Shika didn't stop to listen, sticking his tongue out and then racing ahead to the house, scowling the whole way.

Shikaku watched him go, then turned to me. "You don't think he'd actually tell Yoshino about that, do you?" He sounded worried, but I could see a little spark of amusement in the twitch of his lips.

"Well, if Shika doesn't, then I will!" I stuck my tongue out at him, and raced after my adopted brother.

I waited for Thursday afternoon with so little patience it was almost nonexistent. I tried to spend some of my eager energy on training, but it made me even more anxious to start learning something new. I'd mastered fixed position leaf floating-where the hand moved but the leaf stayed floating stationary, as well as using chakra to balance a kunai unnaturally on different parts of my body, and swirling water within a glass. My chakra strings had improved, and though I had difficulty getting them to any significant length, I had started to attempt simple lock picking with chakra as my tools, which was my own modification of the exercise.

I was committed to not moving on to more advanced exercises or new jutsu till I'd truly mastered the ones I was learning, but I chafed under the boredom of my own restrictions.

On Thursday, Shikaku walked me to the entrance of Fugaku Uchiha's house, nodding lazily to the Uchiha clan members who watched us with carefully stoic faces as we passed. A servant met us, and led us around to the side of the house, where a gate opened onto a large backyard that obviously doubled as a training area.

Itachi was waiting there, doing a slow kata.

Shikaku nodded to me. "Well, I'll let you get to it, then..."

It was only after he'd walked away that I realized we hadn't made a plan for someone to pick me back up. With the ninja presence all around, children weren't usually in danger, and the presence of chakra made us less susceptible to accidental injury, so parents didn't act as protectively as I still expected. In a lot of ways, I appreciated that. But I knew Danzo existed, and I also knew there was still nothing I could do to escape him, if he happened to come after me. Maybe I could get one of the Uchiha to walk me home, if Shikaku didn't come back in time.

I sighed, and walked toward Itachi.

He straightened out of his kata, and gave me a respectful bow. "Nara-kun. It is my pleasure to meet you again."

I bowed. "Likewise, Uchiha-kun."

The edge of his mouth quirked up. "Not Uchiha-senpai, I see?"

I saw no hint of actual irritation on his face, so I smirked back at him.

"Maybe you will change your mind about that, when you cannot walk tomorrow," he said stoically, though his mouth still hid a smile.

I laughed. "We'll see."

Despite his threat, Itachi started off the first day with some light cardio and not-so-light stretches, gauging my physical capacity. Then he made me tumble to the ground over and over, making sure I knew the basics of dispersing my impact and getting back to my feet as quickly as possible.

He finished the session by making sure I knew how to make a fist and throw a solid punch, then had me copy him as he bent his knees and shuffled around, his feet never quite leaving the ground. He told me that until I had passable footwork, I'd never be able to hit anyone, being so tiny.

Near the end of our session, Fugaku Uchika came out onto the huge back porch, watching silently for a few moments. He waved for us to continue, and Itachi went serious under his gaze, no more little smiles or conversation about anything beside my efforts.

I focused hard, letting just a little extra yin chakra filter through to my brain, so that I could ensure I captured and replicated his movements properly.

When we were done, Itachi and I bowed to each other, and he turned to his father expectantly.

Fugaku nodded curtesy to his son. "Continue with your own training. I will walk Nara-san home. It would be a shame if she were to become lost." He turned to me, staring hard for a moment, then walked off at full speed, obviously expecting me to follow him.

I did, doing my best to keep up without running. "Thank you for accompanying me, Uchiha-sama," I said, when we'd been walking for a few minutes.

"Hn."

Was that where Sasuke got his rude speech habits from?

"The jounin commander seems to think you have some talent," he said suddenly.

I didn't know what I was expected to say to that, so I stayed silent, concentrating on not tripping as I power-walked beside him. I probably looked ridiculous, little arms and legs swinging to their full extent, like a tiny marching soldier.

"My son has duties to his clan. If time proves that you are talentless, or lazy," he said, stretching the word out with disdain, "I assure you, you will not continue to take up his attention." He stopped and turned dark eyes on me, not so different from Shikaku's.

I bowed to him. "I will not waste Itachi-senpai's time," I said.

He nodded. "See that you do not." He turned and started walking again, leaving me straining to keep up. He left me at the entrance to the Nara section of the village, with a perfunctory, "Come again for training on Sunday. Same time."

I was sweaty and dirty, a little bemused, and just wanted to take a bath when I got home, but as soon as I walked into the house, Shika jumped up from the shogi table and ran over to give me a hug.

His face was blotchy and his eyes were a little red. "Glad you'we home," he mumbled.

"What's wrong, Shika?" I frowned. "Did you get hurt?"

"Nothing's wrong," he said. "Will you play shogi with me? I'm twaining to get better, but it's hawd to play against myself."

"Sure I will. Just give me a while to get cleaned up first."

He nodded, and went back to the shogi table.

I turned, and saw that Yoshino was watching us from the kitchen. I joined her there, and asked in a low voice, "Did something happen?"

She sighed, attacking the flour she was kneading with aggressive strength. "He wanted to go with you. He tried to sneak out and follow you and Shikaku this afternoon, but he got caught. He took it pretty hard, and then started crying because he'd 'never get good enough at shogi.' Do you know what that's about?"

"Shikaku-oji said he couldn't start training in taijutsu until Shika could beat him on level-ten difficulty," I murmured, dismayed.

"He really looks up to you... Oh!" seeing the look on my face, she knelt down and pulled me into a hug. "It's okay, Shiori-chan. This isn't your fault. People can't always do everything together, and that's okay. As long as you're there for him when you can be, and protect him with the Will of Fire, you're doing what you should be."

I nodded stiffly, though her words didn't completely assuage my guilt. Shika was my best friend in this new life, even if he was only a toddler. He wasn't one those kids who whined and cried all the time, so I knew he must have been seriously upset. I took a quick bath and changed into clean clothes, and then returned to the living room.

Shika moved to reset the pieces, but I stopped him. "It's okay, I'll just take over from here. After all, sometimes the battle's already started by the time you get there. Real life doesn't start from equal."

"Huh," he said, and nodded.

After we played for a while, I said, "Do you want to hear about my training today?"

He nodded, not taking his eyes off the board.

I relayed the training session to him, being as goofy as possible as I exaggerated my own mistakes, and how silly it was when Itachi tripped me. Which he'd done over and over, to emphasize the need for proper fall and footwork training.

By the end, Shika was giggling, but he sobered again. "I twied to sneak out and go with you, but I'm not good at stealth yet."

I hesitated awkwardly. "You'll get to start taijutsu soon, too, you know. You're not even three yet."

He frowned. "But by then, you'll be good alweady! You won't want to play ninja or twain with me any more when I'm just a stupid baby who doesn't know how to do taijutsu! Hamawi from down the street said so, and then Tatami said his older bwother never played with him any more after he joined the Academy and now-"

Ah. "No!" I said, knocking already bruised thighs into the table as I stood abruptly. "That's not going to happen with you and me, Shika. Hamari is a stupid idiot who doesn't know what she's talking about. And I'm not like Tatami's older brother. It's okay if I get better at you for a little bit in taijutsu. You're better than me at shogi! And you don't want to stop playing with me just because I almost never win against you, right?"

His eyes widened, and he shook his head slowly. "No. I still want to play with you. Even if I can beat you at shogi. So...you'll still want to play with me, even if you do get way better at taijutsu? And you won't tell me I can't play with you and the other kids because I'm more little and small than you?"

"Promise," I said, holding out my hand with my pinky extended.

He looked at my hand in confusion.

"It's the promise-seal," I said, making it up on the spot, when I realized I didn't know if pinky-promises were a thing in this world. "It's like the seal of confrontation or reconciliation. We wind our pinky fingers together, and if you make a promise with the seal, you can never break it, or you lose your honor."

His eyes widened. He stuck out his own pinky, and wrapped it around my own. "I won't stop playing with you, even if you are bad at some things and I'm good."

I repeated the words back to him, and he beamed back at me. I hoped my version of Shikamaru never lost his ability to care so hard.

4/12/18: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm running up on the deadline for releasing the third book in my published GameLit/LitRPG series, Gods of Myth and Midnight. This story will have to go on hiatus for a couple months as I rush to get it published, since I need money to live. I will be back after that with more chapters. Thanks, as always, to those of you who've left a review, favorited, or followed this story.