{ Disclaimer: I think it goes without saying that I do not own Naruto. Warning: Mild violence & language. }

/ Please do not repost this story on ffnet or any other website without my permission /

A/N:

A big thank you to The Wistful Bloom for being a really patient and wonderful beta-reader!

For all my old readers: thank you for everyone who followed, read and enjoyed RoaW! Unfortunately, I could not continue that version of the story. When I started RoaW, I was brand new to fanfiction. After being active more than a year on this site, I find that my writing style has evolved and so have my expectations. I did not want to continue writing something I found to be mediocre (at best) material, so here I am with a new (and hopefully improved) edition. I hope that the changes I made are noticeable and appreciated! I'll leave a longer author's note on my profile for anyone interested.

To everyone: Whilst I was writing my last fic, I put up with a lot of crap patiently and politely. Between the readers who harassed me to update sooner via numerous PMs, and the trolls who didn't even have the audacity to come off anon, I'm quite done with being polite. I know that even if this is a rewrite, my fic is extremely far from being the best one out there- However, if I get one more review that tells me that my fic is "utter shit" and "marysue garbage" without even having the decency to justify themselves or to tell me what I could do to improve- I will gladly tell them to go stick a cactus up their anus.

Happy reading (:

Ombre

"Reality is harsh to the feet of the shadows. But will you come?"

- C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce

.

Taking someone's life to protect another's. The irony of it all.

Ninjas certainly weren't as noble as books made them out to be. In the end, they were all the same, no matter what they would like others to believe. If Ren had known how brutal, cold,and cruel one had to be in order to thrive and survive, she might not have become a ninja at all.

Unfortunately, she did not have any choice on the matter anymore. The victims she had killed, the choices she regretted- they would always plague the darkest corners of her mind and come to haunt the forefront when she had too much time on her hands. She supposed she would rather feel the gut twisting feeling of guilt, than feel nothing at all. It proved she still had some humanity left, that she had not yet let the consequences of her actions eat her up whole.

Staring at the gray rubble of a wasteland that was the only remainder of the village, Ren did her best to swallow whatever bubbling remorse she felt. Remorse was for when she was alone, during the brief minutes before she managed to fall asleep. Remorse had no home on a battle field.

Besides, she had no time to wallow up in nostalgia. It wasn't about her anymore. It wasn't about them. She knew that now. There would always be a bigger picture, and Ren had to focus on that instead.

But still.

"It had to be done."

As usual, she agreed with him.

Prologue

.

Konohagakure, better known as the Hidden Leaf Village, was built deep in the woods of the Land of Fire. Civilians who didn't know where to look would most probably never find it, as they would have to know their way around the mountains and the dense foliage.

Konoha was a large village surrounded by tall walls, always full of life, overlooked by the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze. It was proud to hold the title of being the 'friendliest' of the five most powerful ninja villages, as this got them plenty of clientele- who partly contributed to the village's wealth.

Everything in this village was running smoothly: business was doing surprisingly well and the only thing merchants had to worry about was dehydration; the kids of Konoha were out of school and enjoying the lazy, cloudless days of summer. The people of this village were slowly recovering from the repercussions of the Third Shinobi World War, smiling more and getting used to not living in constant fear.

Eleven days into July, Hana and Shin Tanaka awaited the birth of their second child, Ren.

This family could be considered by most as 'normal'. The father, Shin, worked in the Konoha Intelligence Force and had been recently promoted to tokubetsu jounin. The mother, a civilian, was next in line to inherit her parents' weapon shop. Their eldest child, Tadashi, was six, and would be starting school at The Academy in September.

Hana and Shin, overjoyed by the birth of the newest addition to their growing family, didn't comment on the abnormal purple tufts of hair on their daughter's head nor the fact that their baby had odd pearly-grey eyes. That could be easily blamed on recessive genes.

Little did they know, their daughter had the soul of a twenty-two year old. Little did they know, this twenty-two year old was from an alternate universe, in which Konoha was a fictional village in a manga series. Little did they know that the twenty-two year old, now known as Ren, would retain knowledge of her past life and would use it to willingly change the fate of all: without realizing the consequences.

That, however, could not be blamed on recessive genes.

I. The Beginning

And like a phoenix, from the ashes, she will rise again.

.

For a long time, Ren believed she was stuck in a dream. All she saw were vivid colors that blurred together at the edges and all she heard was cooing and laughter that soon turned into familiar music. All she knew was that she was surrounded by love and affection. Her vision was blurry, her thoughts hazy, but the one thing that was clear was the love that cocooned her. She felt it so strongly around her that it might as well have been tangible.

It took her several long weeks before she realized that her dream felt frighteningly real, and maybe several more days to notice that the reason why everything was so big was because she was seeing things in the perspective of a mere baby.

A baby! There was no other explanation as to why she constantly sported a linen diaper (insert cringe) and why she was missing teeth.

Ren took time to adjust to her new body, to say the least. She felt horribly constricted and hated the fact that she couldn't walk, or talk, or understand anything going on around her. She picked up on the fact that these strange giant people taking care of her were speaking a foreign language, and even though she couldn't understand what in the world they were saying, she perceived their emotions. Maybe it was easier to perceive emotions when you were just a baby. Maybe not.

This lack of comprehension didn't really bother her at first, because they still fed her when she was hungry, washed her when she was dirty, and constantly pampered her. She was living the sweet life and wasn't about to complain (even though breastfeeding was very much awkward and weird).

.

At four, Ren thought she knew her dream world as well as the lines on her hands.

Her dream was based off the manga series Naruto, which explained the weird hair colors people had and the strange things she sometimes witnessed; people vanishing into thin air, her mother twirling knives, her brother practicing weird hand signals (known as seals).

She didn't really know if this was normal for everyone, but she had a very easy time recognizing chakra signatures. It was hard to put into words, but everyone's chakra just felt different. She associated everyone's chakra with an image so it would be easier to identify them if need be. Her brother, for instance, was a smooth white pebble whilst her mother was a bright red apple. Furthermore, she didn't know if the two things were connected, but she could sense people's emotions as well. Strong emotions, like anger and love, were the easiest to perceive. She could discern other emotions, but it was easier trying to 'read' someone she was familiar with, like her father, than some stranger on the street.

This 'ability' she had was one of the reasons Ren didn't like large, crowded places like the market. Too many different chakras got overwhelming at times, which caused Ren to seek out the peacefulness of quiet areas. Overall, though, Ren thought it was a neat trick. It made her the family champion at hide-and-seek, after all.

By now she was able to comprehend and speak the basics of the common language and understand vaguely how this society worked.

People like her father, ninjas, acted like the military force and protected the village. Her brother was training to become one as well, and Ren guessed she would probably follow in their footsteps, even if given the choice not to.

There were different ninja ranks- a hierarchy. Her mother had explained it to her a number of times so Ren was sure she knew how the organizational system functioned. If the village was a circus, the Hokage would be the ringleader, the jounins would be the guys that stuck their heads in the lion's mouth, the chuunins the tightrope walkers, and the genin the jugglers. Or something of the sort.

Ren didn't really (want to) worry about politics. She was now a toddler, and wanted to live it to the fullest! She forced her mother to take her to every park, store, and public building. She really liked exploring the village and when she had seen most of it, decided what places she liked and didn't like. She stayed away from parks because those were boring and filled with kids that were physically her age but had the mental capacity of a primitive monkey. She liked the Konoha Library and the Dango Shop best, and visited these places several times a week. There was also the forests and the fields, but those were mostly off-limits, belonging to farmers or clans.

She probably visited the Konoha Library most often, as it had an extensive collection of dusty books and annotated scrolls that held answers to various questions she had. She couldn't read very well but couldn't help but beg her mother to borrow books, preferably with a lot of pictures, about chakra and battle strategies. She really liked those battle strategies books.

Her parents knew that children were curious and creative creatures, but were still left scratching their heads when they found Ren flipping through medical encyclopedias and clumsily drawing what seemed to be the chakra circulatory system. Her strange behavior wouldn't have been as shocking if they had known what was exactly going on in her head.

"You're kidding me," exclaimed Tadashi, flabbergasted. "You're the one who stole my kunai?"

Ren looked up at him, mustering the best innocent look she could. His eyebrows had disappeared behind his bandana and his tone was almost bordering in amazement.

"I just found them lying around," she shrugged, trying to act nonchalant even though she was pretty proud of herself.

"You didn't use them did you?" he said, eying her suspiciously. He remembered the last time she had decided to play with sharp objects ... and frankly it wasn't an experience he wanted to witness again.

Despite her delicately formed face and wide eyes, Tadashi knew his sister well and wasn't fooled by her tricks- or her innocent appearance.

"Why would I? Mom said I wasn't allowed to." The rising corners of her mouth betrayed her and Tadashi shook his head, raising his eyes up to the sky silently wondering what the hell Ren had been doing with his relatively new kunai set. Scratch that- he didn't want to know.

Mom worried that Ren would hurt herself if she used real kunai and shuriken, because of that one accident that had happened when she was three. Two years had passed however, and Ren had been patiently observing Tadashi from the sidelines in the backyard to know the basics of 'how to correctly throw a kunai'. She had carefully taken note of the correct foot placements and wrist movements. Observation was important, but then came understanding and practicing.

All she had wanted to do was see if she could also aim a kunai properly. Every ninja she knew could properly aim a kunai in their sleep, and seeing as she was to become one as well, she didn't see the point of waiting two or three more years until they taught her at school.

Stealing Tadashi's set of kunai hadn't been that hard. He had a bad habit, along with her mother, to leave things laying about. The tricky part had been to smuggle the weapons out of the house and to bring them to a small clearing behind trees by the lake without anyone noticing.

The real kunai had been heavier than she had expected them to be, and she had missed her target by a foot the first time she had given it a shot, which had been extremely frustrating. She stayed an hour longer than she had originally planned, and Tadashi had ended up noticing her absence from the house.

"Did you kill anyone?"

"Nope!"

"Shame... It would have been nice if you had gotten an Uchiha." Tadashi sighed in defeat, earning a giggle from his sister. She had never understood why her brother hated that particular clan so much, but she found his bitterness entertaining. "Better luck next time! Come on, let's get you cleaned up, you got some dirt on your skirt."

"Okay."

"What were you doing with these, anyway?"

"Nothing."

Tadashi shot her a knowing look, before leaning over and patting the top of her head.

What a sneaky one, she was, he thought; feeling proud that his mischievous personality had finally rubbed off on her.

"I can't believe we're late! Why did I even wait for you?!" Ren panted, taking a moment to fix her hair that had fallen from her bun from when she was running.

"Relax Ren-Ren, I'll bring you to your classroom..." Tadashi looked at the list of students pinned up on the bulletin board, looking for each of their names, his right hand wiping away some of the sweat that had formed on his brow.

"Yeah, please do. My sensei will take one look at you and understand why I was late," huffed Ren, cheeks still rosy.

"Ah! You have Daikoku-sensei! He sneezes when you tickle him and his face gets really red when you get him angry enough."

"... Why did you tickle him?" Ren's eyebrows were drawn slightly together as she followed her brother down the long hallway.

"Ask me another day, okay? The story's rather long and unfortunately for you, we're running a bit late... Well, here we are." Tadashi cleared his throat and adjusted his bandana before bursting into the classroom, wearing his trademark grin. If he could have thrown confetti and played some music, Ren was sure he would have. Tadashi had always had a flair for the dramatics.

"Daikoku-sensei! Long time no see! I'd give you a hug, but I was in a bit of a rush this morning and I didn't shower."

Ren was suddenly regretting her choice of letting her brother accompany her, since it was hard to miss the collective disgust and surprise the class was aiming in her direction. Unlike her brother, she didn't like being in the spotlight. She didn't like being talked about, she didn't like people staring at her.

"Oh.. Hello Tadashi. As much as I appreciate your enthusiasm this early in the morning, you're not in my class this year."

Daikoku-sensei looked like he was in his thirties and as Ren gave him a quick look-over, she couldn't find anything remarkable about his features. Nothing about him made you stop for a second glance and for that Ren envied him. A face that could easily blend in the crowd and not be remembered was ideal for a ninja. A good ninja.
Although she supposed there would always be that odd one, that craved to singularize himself by wearing flashy (or barely enough) clothing. Maybe it was a strategy of theirs to destabilize their opponent. Then again, maybe not.

"And it pains you as well, I'm sure. I actually just came by to drop off my baby sister, Ren. She's very sneaky this one; steals my-"

Ren pulled him backwards, interrupting him, before pushing him out the door.

"You're embarrassing me," she whispered at him."And you forgot your lunch at home."

"Oh crap! I knew I had-"

She closed the door in his face, before turning around and laughing nervously.

"Please excuse us."

"Don't worry about it," said Daikoku Funeno, looking at the girl in front of him with a creased brow.

Handling 24 kids each year was hard enough, but adding a Tanaka kid in the mix guaranteed a horrible headache, back pains, and the constant paranoia of being pranked. If his sister was anything like her brother, Daikoku would be forced to ask for a raise. Besides, he already had enough to look forward to with the Uzumaki kid. He didn't want to die of heart failure.

"We were just going to start introductions. Why don't you start? Tell us a bit about yourself."

"Oh, uh, all right." Ren turned to face 23 pair of unfamiliar eyes and smiled tentatively at them, earning no response. "I'm Ren Tanaka. I like reading and cooking and want to become one of the smartest ninjas ever!"

I was never really good with improvisation, she thought, inwardly cringing at how not genuine the words sounded. The teacher didn't seem to notice, just nodded his head before checking her name off a list.

"Ren Tanaka? All right, why don't you go take a seat. Hm... Go sit next to Uchiha. Sasuke, raise your hand."

Her eyes widened when she spotted said boy. He looked so... small.

Just my luck, she thought, doing her best not to freak out as she marched up the rows of desks, to where Sasuke Uchiha had raised his hand reluctantly. Ignoring the glares from numerous girls around her, she went to sit down next to him.

Well. She hadn't expected her first day at school to start off this way, that was for sure.

"How's school?"

Ren looked up from the drawing she was working on, letting out a small huff.

"It's boring! I hate school."

School had been a bit of a disappointment for Ren. She had expected a great place, there to make her smarter and stronger and faster. Instead, it was full of loud idiots arguing over stolen crayons and boys. Even the material they taught wasn't interesting. Ren didn't want to waste a year learning about the founding fathers of Konoha or about the shinobi rules. She wanted to become a shinobi- go on missions, learn jutsus, all that stuff. They hadn't even started to learn about chakra! Not to mention the fact that they wouldn't even be using real shuriken and kunai until next year.

"You hate school?" her mother repeated, surprised.

"We can't even use real weapons yet! We have to practice with cardboard and wooden ones. And I bet once we do get real weapons, they'll be blunt," she pouted.

Hana Tanaka sighed, looking down at her daughter questionably.

Maybe they should have enrolled her at The Academy sooner. She had just wanted to make sure that Ren had had enough time to actually be a kid, because she remembered the time of war- when children grew up too fast and the light in their eyes died out. She didn't want that for her children. She wanted them to be happy, carefree, and run around with other kids their age... except that Ren had never been like the other children. She refused to play and even talk with the other kids, preferring to read books much too complicated for someone her age to even understand. Hana knew that it was normal for Ren to be interested in the ninja world- all children were more or less- but Ren had always acted more mature than Tadashi, who was six years her senior. Shin called her gifted, but that explanation did nothing to cease her worrying. Gifted children were, after all, sought after and used. She had seen her friends made into soldiers before they even had time to live and the end result had always been the same. Sure, the war had ended... but it didn't change the fact that 'geniuses' were exploited.

Hana shook her head, clearing her thoughts by focusing on the sketch Ren was in the middle of finishing. A tulip.

"Have you made any friends yet?"

Ren paused, pursing her chapped lips and frowning a bit.

"No, not really. I don't like any of them."

"Surely, there's someone you might like. Have you tried talking to them?"

"No."

"Then there you go. Try talking to each of them, at least once? Maybe they won't be as bad as you think."

"Doubt it."

"Ren."

"Okay! Fine I'll talk to them."

Ren found this whole thing to be ridiculous. She didn't want to talk to any of them. They were all stupid. And loud. And some of them were just plain mean.

Her mother had really seemed to want her to make friends though, so here she was, going to try to find someone interesting enough to help her train... or something as useful.

She understood it would look suspicious if she didn't even make the effort to make friends. She had been doing her best to blend in with the crowd but felt like she stood out more than Naruto's future trademark orange jumpsuit. She knew her family found her a bit strange and it was only a matter of time before others thought so as well. They would think she was a freak and try to have her checked... and then... and then maybe even look around her brain a little. Ren shuddered at the thought... If they uncovered her big secret they would... Well frankly, she didn't really want it to come to that.

Her memories of the real world were precious pieces of information. Information that people would kill to have, she was sure. So it was her job to keep those thoughts locked away, safe from others.

She had to make friends. Or at least make pretend-friends.

Ren was good at pretending. She was, after all, pretending to be a mere child; even if she did appear to be smarter than the others. So pretending to be friends with someone couldn't be that hard, right? But if Ren was going to have a pretend friend, she wanted a good one.

Sasuke would have been a good candidate, because not only would have befriending an Uchiha mean annoying her brother, but he would have made a good sparring partner (he was undefeated so far in taijutsu). The only thing was... befriending Sasuke would not only require too much effort, it would also unleash the fury of her female classmates on her. Trying to be the Uchiha's friend was just asking for trouble. And she hated complications. She really did.

She was also intrigued by the Hyuugas. They were known for their special taijutsu style, but she hadn't seen any scrolls or passages in books about it, which made sense because Hyuugas weren't likely to share their secrets and traditions with anyone- unless that meant killing them off afterwards.

The only Hyuuga in her year was the fragile Hinata girl, who stayed quiet and followed other, louder girls around. She doubted that Hinata would be able to teach her anything useful at this point. During sparring lessons, the girl often lost.

Ren thought it was very selfish of her- picking her friends out like that... But she was just following the saying 'choose your friends wisely'. Besides, if everything followed the original plot, there would be a huge war coming and Ren wasn't sure if she was willing to sacrifice the time before that happened to play tag or make flower crowns. She couldn't afford to play around when she knew something this big was coming. That would be more selfish. She had to be strong and protect others. That's why she was stuck in this dream, wasn't it? To change things and make them better?

But who else could she befriend? No one was as strong or fast or smart as she wanted them -

She paused, her eyes settling on the figure to the right of her.

Shikamaru rubbed the back of his head, straightening up and expecting to see Daikoku-sensei reprimand him again for falling asleep. Instead, blinking lazily, his eyes sight adjusted and focused on the purple-haired girl in front of him. He frowned, on the defensive. He didn't appreciate it when people woke him up from his nap and much less when they poked him in the head. Hard.

"Hi."

What did she want? Stupid, troublesome girls. His eye twitched and he wished she would just take the hint and leave him so he could go back to sleep.

"I'm Ren."

...

"I want you to be my friend."

...

Damn it, why wasn't he responding normally, she thought. She felt a wave of negative emotion roll off of him but she had a hard time distinguishing the different feelings he was emitting. Annoyance? Confusion?

"Look, we need to be friends."

He continued to stare at her, looking like a deer in headlights. Ren didn't understand why though. She had been very clear of her intentions so there wasn't much to comprehend. Children usually liked the straight-to-the-point-speeches, but he seemed a bit brain-dead. Maybe she should have been more subtle, but growing up with Tadashi as her brother hadn't made her any the more understated. Maybe she should work on that. Note taken.

A part of her knew she was being childish and that this wasn't the proper way to make friends, but that's who she was now- a child. She had learned to accept and embrace this, even if it frustrated her more times than not.

She had almost given up to go and find another potential new friend (less lazy, more reactive) but she ceased those thoughts when she heard him sigh in defeat.

"I'm Shikamaru."

He knew it was probably best to just go with the flow. Resisting the current always took more energy and sometimes was futile anyway. His mom was the perfect example that women should not be objected, especially when they were determined.

He didn't know much about this Ren girl, apart that she had a psycho brother who was almost worse than Naruto.

There was something calming about her eyes. Maybe it was their color. Reminded him of clouds in the early morning and late afternoons. He hoped she liked clouds and wasn't like the other hyperactive students.

"Great! You're going to be a great friend!" She beamed at him, happy of her day's accomplishment.

She heard him sigh one more time, before sealing their new friendship with a tentative smile.

She frowned in concentration, trying to figure out exactly what he was up to. She had lost four times in a row today and was getting more and more frustrated. She knew the key was to stay calm because if not, she wouldn't be able to think properly. It was unnerving though, having an opponent that seemed to anticipate your every move.

Ren was glad she had chosen someone so smart to be her friend.

"How is it you win all the time?"

Shikamaru sighed, rubbing his forehead with his fingers.

"Your strategy is too obvious."

"Excuse me?" Ren was offended.

"You play the way you're expected to. Makes it predictable. Although they're good strategies, they've all been used before."

"Oh." Ren frowned again, trying to process what he had just said. It was true that she had been reading those "How to play shogi" manuals, and had picked up a couple things from there. "Well what strategy do you use then?"

She watched him shake his head before raising an eyebrow at her. "Why would I tell you? You don't reveal your strategy to your opponent."

"I don't think that you'll lose anything by telling me," huffed Ren, pulling her hair back up in a bun. "You would still beat me."

She didn't know if this is what six year olds usually did for fun, but she ended up enjoying the time she spent with Shikamaru during the first few weeks of school. During recess and lunch breaks they always found a quiet place under the trees , where she would end up talking most of the time. During weekends, they sometimes met up by her spot next to the lake . Sometimes they played shogi, which she found very challenging as well as humbling, because he always beat her -even if it did take up to two hours.

The first few times they had hung out together, she wondered if he even listened to what she had to say. He always seemed to doze off or block her out and Ren felt like she was talking to a sleeping deer most of the time. She assumed that having a sleeping smart friend was better than having a loud, obnoxious, stupid one- so she didn't once complain.

Girls in her class found it weird that she spent so much time with a boy that wasn't as talented or good looking as Sasuke or Hasuo Yomohiro. It was apparently required to fawn over those two to be considered 'normal', which Ren found quite disturbing. Six year old girls weren't supposed to be that interested in boys, were they? Yet here they were, following the poor boys around, making them sandwiches and love notes.

One particularly annoying girl, named Ami, also had purple hair, and made it her life long mission to make sure everyone knew that she was the better than Ren. Although Ren never spoke to Ami, she heard Ami whisper some nasty things to her group of friends when she passed them. It's not like I wanted you as a friend, Ren thought darkly, glaring back at them whenever she could. Glaring so much hurt her eyes, so she eventually stopped, choosing to ignore them all together, which, to her satisfaction, irritated them more.

Apart from that gang of girls, Ren didn't have a problem with her other classmates. She had tried to make casual conversation with them during meals and in between classes, but things just got quickly awkward. What interested her seemed boring to others, and vice-versa. She didn't find the jokes they laughed at amusing, just like they didn't understand her dry humor. There was no common ground.

Still- even if she didn't talk to her other classmates, she couldn't help but observe the characters that she recognized from the manga, like Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. She couldn't help but wonder if they would grow up the way she remembered they did. Maybe she should try and guide them in the right direction? Ren shook her head, dismissing the idea as quickly as it had come. Trying to change the plot from this early on would most probably have drastic consequences later on, and she needed that knowledge to help her survive.

(But wasn't befriending Shikamaru probably going to change the story? Wasn't her mere presence going to change things?)

She didn't want to change anything. Trying to change things for the better could end up backfiring and just making everything worse. Besides, she couldn't change the big events even if she desired to more than anything. Realistically, a 6 year old girl who knew no jutsu could not prevent the Uchiha massacre from happening. At least not without incredible luck, which was something only heroes possessed- and Ren knew she was anything but a hero.

Now that she thought of it, Ren didn't interact with anyone but Shikamaru, and occasionally Shikamaru's friend Chouji Akimichi. She didn't really know how Shikamaru had become friends with Chouji, but now those two were inseparable. Chouji followed them around everywhere, but Ren didn't mind that much anymore. He was quiet as well, and was even a bit adorable at times. Ren never felt any negative emotions coming from him, which gave her a sense of peace.

Today the students were learning the twelve basic hand seals, and Ren was thinking of joining Shikamaru in his afternoon nap.

This had been one of the first things her brother had taught her, so she didn't feel the excitement the other students were feeling. She briefly wondered if anyone was as bored as she was. Surely the kids coming from the big clans had already learned this stuff.

She was right. The Aburame boy, although going at a slow pace, did not once fumble through the motions. Ino Yamanaka didn't seem to have that much trouble either. Sasuke, the show-off he was, was concentrating on performing the hand seals at the fastest pace he could- earning admiring glances and sighs from girls in his proximity. This seemed to ignite something inside Naruto, who tried doing the same. His clumsy attempts were laughed at by Unagi, who was sitting next to him.

Personally, Ren didn't understand why Unagi was laughing. The only seals he had managed to master were the really easy ones, that didn't require any finger crossing. Anybody could do the boar and snake seals. She didn't expect him to be anywhere near Sasuke's level anytime soon. But that was to be expected, wasn't it? Kids that didn't come from ninja families usually had a harder time learning the material taught at school. It was a fact.

There were, of course, exceptions. Hasuo was a prime example. He was good at taijutsu from what she had seen so far, and had beat Shino in their sparring match last week.

Sparring had actually been the only exciting thing they did. Before The Academy, she had never gone against anyone apart from her brother and she had looked forward to spar someone that wouldn't hold back with her.

They were all taught the traditional shinobi sparring method and some of the standard Konoha offensive and defensive stances. After practicing for only two months, Ren was a little surprised to notice that the students in her class had actually progressed. The change was subtle but still noticeable: they were more confident in their footing, even if their hits and dodges remained sloppy.

Ren, who had watched her brother train since she was a baby, knew that they all had a lot of work to do before they got to his level- and Tadashi wasn't even a genin yet! She couldn't even begin to imagine what she would have to do to get to her father's level. The thought was as motivating as it was depressing.

She blamed her slow progress on the body she had. It hadn't lost its baby fat yet, which hindered her speed. Her limbs were too short so she had a harder time landing a punch and a kick. Her fingers were pudgy, which had been the source of many problems in her past. Overall, she really disliked her body. She didn't want to be small and feeble. She didn't want her stupid purple hair. She never admitted her dissatisfaction out loud, because what good would that do? Instead, she trained harder, working on flexibility and endurance, since strength wasn't exactly one of her fortes.

At the end of the day, however, she wasn't satisfied. She wanted to be better. She wanted her hard work to show.

What she needed was a sort of personal trainer, someone far more experienced than Tadashi to guide her. Unfortunately for her, her father (the only experienced ninja she knew) was way too busy to help her out during the weekends.

"Why don't I try to ask around for you?" he suggested instead.

Ren had agreed eagerly, not quite knowing what she had just signed up for.