There was very little for Rei to do as a baby other than think. She thought she slept less than other babies though she couldn't be sure. It left a lot of free time… time that Rei wished she could spend doing something productive. Something to make her feel like she was moving closer to her goals.

Habits are hard to break and she was afraid lying around in a crib all day for years would make her lazy.

Thinking of the answer it wasn't long before it came to her; Chakra was a mix of spiritual and physical energy. Spiritual energy comes from studying, meditation and experience. In short the stronger and more disciplined the mind the stronger your spiritual energy should be. With little else to do Rei began to meditate for almost every single hour she was awake. It would lead to an imbalance to physical and spiritual energy in the short term but she hoped it would pay dividends by increasing her chakra capacity when she was older.

With nothing but long hours of meditation each day Rei's mind became very strong indeed.

000

Rei was somewhere around one year old when it happened.

The Kyuuby. The Nine Tailed Fox. Kurama.

Try as she might Rei had always been fuzzy about feeling chakra up to that point. She thought she could feel her chakra when she meditated but she wasn't completely sure. The Kyuuby was helpful enough to hammer into Rei's mind what chakra felt like. When it was thick and cloying in the air all over Konoha like an oily fog chakra quickly became something very concrete for the girl. Rei felt like the noxious malevolent chakra was choking her and she could believe the stories of how infants died just from the evil chakra of the beast alone.

It terrified Rei. It was panic inducing. The chakra was overwhelming for adults and for children it was many times worse. Some part of Rei's strengthening mind told her that she could either cry out in reaction to the feeling or curl up and – literally – die. Rei screamed and cried louder than she ever had before.

The Fox was death. Humans were not meant to confront such a thing.

Her mother Emiko burst into the room, breathing hard and panicked as her eyes sought Rei. Her mother's stomach was heavy with a very visible pregnancy as she quickly moved to the crib. Dressed in a robe that was barely decent Emiko scooped Rei up and ran out of the house.

Emiko pressed her daughter tight against her chest so much that Rei was having a hard time breathing. The baby girl could feel her mom's panic through her shaky breath and hard limbs and this in turn increased Rei's own fear. Her mother ran and it was disorienting being pressed against her chest and not being able to see anything around her. All around her Rei could her all kinds of sounds, panicked yelling, people running, what sounded like fires and explosions in the distance. It was chaos and Rei was helpless to do anything but pray that her mother could get them to safety.

In the end they made it. It was ill lit and utilitarian in the emergency shelters but Rei hardly noticed. Emiko cried as she held her daughter and Rei wrapped her pudgy arms around her mom's neck while her own tears fell. They held each other, mother and daughter, both looking for comfort and wanting to give it at the same time. The chakra of the Fox alone would have been bad enough but with everything else going on it was too much.

Deep in the back of her mind the melody of her goal sung to Rei. The monsters in this world could take on a thing like that and win. She didn't want to feel this afraid ever again.

Never having to fear a thing like that was a good enough reason to become S-Rank all by itself.

000

Two Years Old

"What does this one mean?" Rei asked, pointing with a chubby finger at a character she had never seen before.

They were sitting on a couch in the living room, Rei pressed up against the side of her mom as the woman held a children's book in her hands.

"That one means waterfall," said Emiko.

"Ohh I see. So then with this character and this one, this says the 'the boy runs to the yellow waterfall' right?"

"The boy ran to the yellow waterfall. Very good Rei," said her mom with a strained smile. It was enough to fool a regular child but Rei could see the tightness around her eyes.

Yamanaka was the worst clan she could have been born in except for possibly the Nara if she wanted to hide that there was something unusual about her. After careful consideration Rei decided not to hide how smart she truly was. Rei had no patience for spending years pretending she had the mind of a toddler and she doubted she could truly hide everything from a people as observant as the Yamanakas. Better to break all the bell curves and let them draw their own conclusions. What was the worst they could do? She was the Yamanaka heir. She wasn't afraid of disappearing into Root – if Danzo could get away with kidnapping clan heirs he would already rule Konoha – and she wasn't afraid of becoming a ninja early on. It would only help in her mission to become more powerful as quickly as she could.

However she could see it truly troubled Emiko. Her first child was abnormal, someone who picked up and understood social cues no child so young should be able to grasp. She could sit and study written characters for hours and remember most of them perfectly after seeing them only once. Rei made some allowances for the sake of her mother – she acted childishly because it was fun, she smiled a lot and was just a bit clingy, making sure to give plenty of hugs to dull the edge of having a child who picked up things at a rate no child should. Rei loved Yamanaka Emiko because Emiko loved her. No matter what, however, Rei couldn't and wouldn't be the normal child Emiko wished she would be.

Emiko looked outside the window to the position of the sun and the length of the shadows. "It's about time to go. We'll read more later. Put on your shoes we're taking a little trip," she said running her hand through Rei's hair affectionately.

"Ok," said Rei with a sunny smile, hopping off the couch and running to do as she was told.

They left the house hand in hand with Rei sticking close to her mother. Though she had what she considered an adult mind there was still something intimidating about being not even waist high compared to most people on the streets. As they progressed Rei relaxed and took the time to look around in wonder. The village of Konoha was always a sight to see.

The first time she had been taken outside of the Yamanaka compound Rei had realized something that was both disturbing and in a way liberating. All throughout the village of Konoha were interspersed the huge looming figures of Hashirama trees. They existed between buildings, in the middle of roads forcing them to go around, in the middle of the parks. Everywhere inside Konoha the huge trees stood, their branches reaching high into the sky and blocking the worst of the oppressive summer sun. Rope bridges linked them all in a criss crossing network overhead and one could regularly catch glimpses of ninjas using the trees as a quick means of travel. Detritus from the trees seemed to constantly fill the streets but it was much more charming than it was an annoyance. In a lot of ways Konoha was indistinguishable from the forest that surrounded it. The village was very much aptly named 'The Village Hidden in the Leaves'.

However the trees had not been there in that story she had half-read, half-known from hearsay in her past life. It meant that what she had read had not been perfect. What she had read about how Konoha looked had been wrong.

It had been wrong.

What else had the story been wrong about? What else was it right about? Rei no longer had the advantage of assuming she knew how everything was going to play out. Everything was thrown into doubt. Was there even a Madara? Was there going to be a Sand-Sound war? Was there even a Naruto in this world?

She didn't know. It was at the same time both frightening and liberating.

You don't have to feel responsible if you don't know.

They walked for about twenty minutes until they came upon a set of ornate but functional wooden gates. Rei looked up to read the plaque above the door. It read "Nara Clan".

A young dark haired man greeted them at the gate and bowed deeply. "Yamanaka-san, a pleasure to see you. Would you like to come in?" he asked politely but you could tell his sincerity was not faked. As a general rule the Yamanaka and Nara considered each other close friends and Emiko was well known and liked. Warm greetings between the two came almost on reflex.

"Hello Uryo-kun. I would love to but I'm afraid I can't today. I only came by to pick up some medicine. Toshoka-san said it would be ready around this time. Do you think you could do me the favor of going to see if she has it ready?" said her mom with a warm smile.

"Of course Yamanaka-san. I'll find out right away," said the young Nara before running off.

Half an hour later they were back home entering Rei's room on the second floor of their two story house. Inside Rei instantly saw Yua, an elderly aunt who helped Emiko look after the kids when she needed the help. Yua was sitting on a chair holding a tiny bundle in her arms.

"Hello Yua. I got the medicine," said her mother moving to the side of the old woman.

"Oh good," she said in a voice that was scratchy from age, "Ino-chan's cough hasn't gotten any better. It was starting to worry me."

Rei felt an uncomfortable twist in her stomach when she heard that. She stayed quiet and stood in a corner as she watched her mother unwrap Ino from the bundle she had been wrapped up on. Coughs from a too-tiny body broke the silence. Emiko made soft soothing and cooing sounds as she began to rub the salve she had gotten from the Naras on Ino's chest. Ino squirmed and coughed but thankfully didn't cry. The squirming baby tended to do a lot more of than Rei would have liked.

"Nara-san said the medicine should make her sleepy. I'll put her to bed now. You can go if you want Yua I'll be staying home for the rest of the day," said her mom.

"Yes, I think I'll have a bit of a nap myself. I'll get out of your hair," the old woman said.

"Nonsense, you're always welcome here," said Emiko with a smile. Rei concurred. Yua was nice to have around.

The old woman got to her feet and went over to say hi to Rei before leaving to return to her own home. Her mom was already putting Ino in her crib and Rei could see the little girl was already asleep. Thankfully the coughs seemed to have stopped.

"Come on Rei," Emiko whispered after tucking the baby in "let's go downstairs and you can help me with dinner."

Rei shook her head. "I'll be down in a little bit. I just want to stay with Ino for a while."

Her mother had that crinkling look of worry around her eyes. "Are you sure?"

Rei nodded.

Emiko let out a little sigh. "Well I suppose that's all right. Don't take too long and don't wake up your sister."

"I won't," Rei promised with a big impish smile.

Emiko made an exasperated noise, smiled warmly at Rei, mussed her hair and headed downstairs.

When she was gone Rei let out a tired sigh that sounded much too old for a child her size. Rei loved her mother. She loved her dad too. They were adults though and she had the mind of an adult. It somehow made it easier. They weren't that dangerous to her plans on an emotional level. While she cared for them she didn't feel responsible for them.

Rei turned to look at the little bundle sleeping peacefully and smelling faintly of medicine. Almost on their own her feet took her to the side of the crib.

There she was. Yamanaka Ino. One of the 'Rookie 9'. Not critical to the story as far as she could remember but certainly part of the main cast. Pretty, confident, bossy Ino. Someone Rei couldn't remember if she had become a strong ninja or not which probably meant she hadn't really stood out.

That girl was dangerous. Because from the moment she had seen her the day her parents brought her home Rei had fallen completely in love. Ino was only seven months old and Rei already knew would take a bullet for her with hardly a second thought. She had known that for a long time now.

"What am I going to do? Are you going to hate me Ino?" Rei whispered as she reached through the bars and held Ino's tiny hand. In her sleep Ino's hand tightened around her fingers in reflex.

Ino would grow up in Konoha and she would be helpless against their indoctrination. Will of Fire. Fight and die for Konoha, it is your duty and anyone who shrinks that duty is trash. Not even worthy of life. Despised by everyone. Follow the Hokage, follow your orders, that is the only way you will be worth anything.

Rei hated it. It clashed horribly with her sensibilities. And she hated that Ino would grow up being fed that propaganda.

Could Rei do something to stop it, mitigate it? She had considered that and knew the answer was mostly no. Rei could try to instill some independent thought in Ino but anything that went directly against Konoha doctrine would be a terrible idea. That kind of thing brought scrutiny. In the end anything that overt would be a failure.

She could try to help but in the end there was nothing she could do but watch this helpless little bundle she loved be brainwashed like all the others. The thought burned.

Even if it would hurt Rei would still leave when she was strong enough. This life was fascinating. There were so many things she could do that no one would have even dreamed of in her past life. She wasn't going to waste it all by dying in some war for some dictator she didn't know or care about.

Rei would do everything she could for Ino until the time came. Then she would leave and never look back.

000

AN: How do you like it so far? Leave me a review.