"You can start anew at any given moment. Life is just the passage of time and it's up to you to pass it as you please."
―Charlotte Eriksson, You're Doing Just Fine

Chapter 2

After the realisation that I was now in the Naruto world, I started noticing things about my family that in hindsight would have given me a clue about where I was had I paid attention.

Both my parents wore their forehead protectors when they were about to go out and after almost a year in this life I finally found out my family's name.

It happened during grandfathers fourth visit. I was just toddling around the house and being a total menace to my poor mother when the front door opened and I was called to greet my grandfather.

The moment I saw him, I just wanted to groan.

Because guess who was wearing the Hokage robes?

You guessed right… Grandfather dear was.

Troublesome.

I starred at him for a moment and then decided that all the complicated thoughts would be held on for later.

Though I still had kept my bearings enough to decide to become grandpas' favourite.

I mean he was the Hokage.

Who wouldn't?

So, I ran to him. Gave him my most deathly puppy dog eyes and lifted my hands in the universal baby way that meant 'up'.

He laughed and said something that from what I could gather meant 'demanding little thing aren't you?'

In retaliation I pulled his beard.

Ah sweet baby revenge.

He stayed for an hour and then left. Probably to go back to battle his eternal rival.

Paperwork.

There was no fucking way I was becoming Hokage.

I would leave that to Naruto.

When I got back to my room I focused on the information that I gathered from the meeting.

My grandfather was Hokage. But the monument had four faces carved onto it.

Therefore, Minato was dead.

The kyuubi event had already happened.

I was born into the Sarutobi clan.

That was good that meant good genetics.

If all my family were ninja then I had more chakra than the average shinobi.

At least I thought so.

I would have to check it up later when I had the resources…

And I could actually read.

Damn you baby body.

Damn you.

And I was the Hokage's granddaughter.

Huge bonus.

That also meant that even if I showed myself to be a prodigy, which I had no doubt I would be regarded as I had no patience to hide my intelligence and I doubted that I could fool ninjas that were scrutinising me 24/7 anyway, there would be no Danzo demanding me to be inducted in Root.

Thank everything holy for that too.

Wait I was the Hokage's granddaughter. And I was pretty sure that other than Asuma, Hiruzen had one more child that was the parent of that brat Konohamaru.

I was pretty sure that I didn't have any siblings.

And Masato was my father, not Asuma.

That meant that I was born before Konohamaru, which led me to believe that I was very close to the Rookie 9 age.

That was good.

At least I had a good estimate of when I was born now.

I would have to start planning…

After I napped first.

My first birthday was when I found out the rest of the information that I needed.

I hadn't realised it was my birthday until the few guests had arrived.

I had just attributed my mother's overexciting babbling to one of her squealing moods.

That woman still surprised me with how she was like an overexcited bunny when it was just us and father and how refined and graceful she was in front of others.

Members of the clan came and went inside the house.

They picked me up gave their blessing, squeezed my cheeks and left.

Grandfather even came for a while and gave me a book and some toy kunai.

Well I had a feeling that someone was trying to influence me.

Note sarcasm please.

But it wasn't the presents nor the blatant attempt to influence me into becoming a child soldier that gave me the last clue of where I was in the timeline.

It was a woman with feral eyes and spikey hair that came in with a small child clinging to her and a massive dog following right behind her.

Inuzuka Tsume and baby Kiba, whom I later found out was four months older than me.

First objective achieved.

I toddled to them and Tsume let baby Kiba down.

And oh my God.

Wait should I say god in this universe?

Well food for thought.

Never mind, he was adorable.

Like cute as a button.

And he was shy too.

He was looking at the floor and holding on to his mother's pants, much to her amusement.

I threw propriety into the winds- ah the benefits of youth- and glomped Kiba much to his shock.

I took his hand and introduced myself.

'I' am Sorami', I said with as much enthusiasm as I could muster.

He blushed and muttered 'I am Kiba'.

My excitement at finding out where I was made much more talkative that I would be otherwise, as I took him by the hand and led him to a table to draw.

Little by little he seemed to have lost his shyness and he seemed to become the hyperactive kid I knew he'd be in the future.

By the end of the party we were both passed out on the couch, much to our parent's entertainment.

Note to self Kiba is a cuddler.

After that I continued developing in fast paces.

I finally managed to walk properly without falling on my ass every three steps.

I learned how to read while sitting on my mother's lap.

I put my all in to it, much to her surprise and I studied hard.

Through books I would be able to gather information about this world, so it was on the top of my priority list.

My father though was the one that taught me to write much to my surprise.

He wasn't home as often as mother was and I had a feeling that he was in Anbu.

But that didn't mean that I didn't love him.

He was a very intelligent and calm man that was a bit of an inner dork.

And his presence was very soothing to me.

He was a very good teacher but Japanese was a pain in the ass.

I mean katakana and hiragana. Ok cool but kanji.

Kanji could seriously go fuck itself.

I mean I was ready to tear my bloody hair out.

Needless to say, I threw a lot of temper tantrums during those lessons.

It really exasperated father.

Grandpa visited again and read me the book he bought me for my birthday.

Turns out it was the Tales of a Gutsy Ninja.

How cliché was that?

Like really?

Turns out it was a really fun book.

Maybe I should read Icha Icha when I'm older if Jiraiya was such a good writer.

I could be Kakashi 2.0.

Eh I would revisit that though later in life.

By the time I was two I was able to speak in complete sentences and I could read a bit. Not much mind you but it was progress.

It was around that time that I finally decided to look for my chakra.

Despite my curiosity I didn't try it before because I was afraid that I was too young and that I would somehow screw up and end up with chakra exhaustion.

But I thought it was time.

I decided to take a page out of all the fanfics I read in my previous life.

Most of the original characters that got reincarnated in Naruto meditated to find their chakra.

So that was what I did.

It took me five days to actually meditate and not (a) fall asleep or (b) lose focus and start thinking about random stuff.

It took me another day of meditating to actually detect my chakra.

It felt like it was flowing through me.

It was weird but also familiar feeling it.

Like a warm breeze that I couldn't get a hold of.

I had lived a life without it so it took me some time to get used to it.

But it wasn't difficult to get accustomed to it.

In all actuality it was very relaxing just sitting around and feeling my chakra.

After that it wasn't so rare for me to do that in order to relax.

It also seemed that the moment I took notice of my chakra I became subconsciously aware of it at all times and I started being more sensitive to other people's chakra as well.

I had a feeling it had something to do with the fact that I was reborn and that the lack of chakra and memories of any familiar feeling in my past life made me much more sensitive to this somewhat foreign energy whether it was inside of or outside of me.

The moment I took notice of its existence and actually felt I became hyperaware of it.

Why it didn't happen before?

I guess that it was probably natural for my new body to draw on it subconsciously without me noticing it, so I didn't feel any differently until I actually seeked my chakra.

Not that I was complaining.

Chakra sensing was a huge bonus.

And it helped me win in hide and seek too.

Furthermore, exploring my chakra gave me the courage to try some chakra control exercises.

I tried the leaf one at first but with paper. As it was a much easier to find resource.

It took two weeks, a lot of swearing, a lot of spectacular failures and a mild chakra exhaustion that made me sleep for a day and my mother to worry endlessly but in the end, I prevailed. I actually succeeded when I decided to try to direct my chakra instead of trying to control it as I was doing till then.

I managed to stick a piece of paper on my forehead.

Later on, I would continue to stick on me everything I could find.

I didn't even dare to think to try tree walking.

I would probably die of chakra exhaustion.

And I liked myself very much alive thank you very much.

At three my reading progress had come far from what it was at the beginning.

I could read basic story books on my own and my writing while not as good as my reading was advanced for my age.

It was around that time that mother also started me on basic stretches every morning before breakfast.

It wasn't anything difficult just basic exercises to improve flexibility, though little by little the became a little more physically demanding.

It was around that age that I met my uncle for the first time.

Well at least when I was conscious.

He was there for my birth.

Why he didn't visit me before that age?

Well that was a combination of mission overload after the nine tails attack and Asuma's natural avoidance of children.

He deemed that at three years old I was intelligent enough not to pee on him and annoy him with crying all the time.

He came in the house for dinner one day and we were introduced to each other.

'Yo kiddo' he said in a bored tone. 'I am your uncle Asuma'.

My response to that?

'I am Sorami'. I paused. 'And you stink of smoke'.

He cracked a smile and laughed then.

'I think we are going to get along great brat'.

After that we became very fond of each other.

He even visited once a week.

He was like the cool uncle type that everyone wanted to have.

Laid back and with a nice sense of humour.

And he spoke to me like the intelligent being he knew I was.

He got brownie points for that.

Suffice to say I adored my uncle and I swore that the Jashin dude would die before he got the chance to even look at Asuma.

That was a promise.

Time passed on and I reached five years old.

At that age I was finally able to read and write properly.

And I took advantage of the fact whole heartedly.

I read everything I could get my hands on.

From history to children's stories to folklore, I even raided my grandfather's library under his watchful eye.

I had gathered the reputation of a bookworm from my clan.

Though they also took note of my advanced intelligence.

And thus, the Sarutobi prodigy was born.

Not that I had a problem with that at least my family talked to me like if not an adult at least an intelligent minor.

The lack of baby talk was very relieving.

And it wasn't like I wanted to graduate early. It would be much better to cultivate my skill as much as I could before going into action and also being into the same class as the rookie nine was the best place to influence the plot.

I also got to see Kiba a couple more times through the years as Tsume and my mother turned out to be rather good friends.

He was still an adorable ball of fluff.

And one of the best teddies during nap time.

I was also deemed old enough to go outside on my own.

Parenting in this world was a bewildering matter at least in ninja clans.

I mean who would let a five-year-old outside on its own?

Or the fact that I very often found weapons around the house.

In a house with a toddler.

Anyway.

Not that I really believed that I was on my own.

I was the Hokage's granddaughter and heiress of the Sarutobi Clan.

I would have been surprised if there weren't any Anbu following me around.

And there was as I could detect their chakra following me around.

It was mostly the same person from what I could gather and I had a feeling that they knew that I knew that they were there. Not that there was any sign of that. But it was just a feeling.

This was how I got familiarized with the village.

Which probably shouldn't be called a village as it was the size of a small city.

It was during an afternoon when I came home from a walk that my parents asked me the question.

Did I want to become a ninja?

My respect for them rose then in new heights, as they gave me a choice and didn't force me into doing anything I didn't want to do. They also asked me the question in an age that I could probably understand what they meant.

Not that I was supposed to understand that I would have to murder people and lead a life of killing but at least I knew what a ninja was.

Grandfather was the one to explain it to me earlier that year.

He gave me the idealistic but also simplistic version by saying that a shinobi's duty was to protect the village and its people.

He also noted that as the Hokage his job was to protect and lead everyone.

I didn't make my parents wait for long.

I answered with a determined yes.

My parents smiled at my answer then.

Though I couldn't help but notice that there was a bit of sadness in their faces as well.

It was good to see that they cared.

It was decided that I would start learning basic ninja skills then.

And to my surprise it was uncle Asuma that would be the one teaching me.

Usually he didn't bother with things that he didn't have to.

I wanted to laugh evilly then.

I had him wrapped around my little finger.

One step closer to world domination.

Ahem. Kidding.

Anyhow, I continued with my morning stretches with mother but the rest of my shinobi education was taken by my uncle.

He was actually a very good teacher.

Though I think he got sadistic pleasure from torturing me through exercise.

I mean he made me run laps in one of the clan's training grounds, while he sat down and enjoyed a drink.

The bastard.

In addition to that he made me do sit ups, push ups and all these muscle building exercises that led to me want to collapse from exhaustion.

Every muscle in my body hurt.

I even found out that I could ache at places I'd never thought of before.

Like my armpits.

Like what.

After two months of doing that the sadist showed me some basic katas.

It was decided that it would be better to focus on speed and hitting hard in places that would hurt, as I was still very short.

I quite liked those lessons.

There was something about the repetitive moments that calmed me and strangely enough reminded me of dancing.

When I had the basics down he instructed me into finding my chakra.

I thought it best to pretend I didn't know how.

After an hour of 'searching' I found it and I described it to my uncle.

I also decided that I should tell him about being able to feel the chakra of the people around me.

Needless to say, he was surprised.

He added hide and seek ninja style in my schedule then.

He would hide and conceal his chakra and I would have to find him. It was fun and I could tell that I had impressed me with my skill.

I absorbed the praise like a sponge.

I liked being complimented.

Sue me.

And then he made me do chakra control exercises.

He was once again amazed when I got the leaf sticking exercise in an hour and I did feel like a cheat a bit but I did work my ass off to accomplish that so the feelings didn't stay for that long.

Generally, my schedule was packed.

I did the morning stretches with my mother. Then I had to do the physical conditioning programme that Asuma gave me.

After that it was writing with father.

Then chakra control and katas with Asuma.

At the end of each day I would more or less pass out.

It was at the end of the year that my programme was disturbed.

My uncle got in a big fight with grandfather and much to my dismay decided to leave and become one of the Twelve Guardian Ninja.

It was pointless to say that I didn't throw the biggest tantrum as of yet the moment he came to tell us the news.

My child's mind prompted me to react as any other my age could.

I cried and screamed and clang to Asuma like a koala.

It was easy to see that my reaction distressed him but I didn't care I loved my uncle and I didn't want him to leave.

Regardless of the fact that I knew that he would be back in at least six years' time.

He tried to soothe me and after an hour I was calm enough to listen to him.

I made him promise that he'd be back and that he would teach more stuff the moment he stepped a foot in the village.

He smiled, gave me a kiss on the forehead and then left.

I was depressed for a week after that and then mother called me to the living room one day and told me that they had hired a tutor for me. As she wouldn't be able to as she started going on missions again.

I wasn't happy at all.

And then Ebisu was introduced.

I was not impressed.

I was not impressed at all.

For the first days of our lessons I admit that I was acting like a complete brat.

But my best description for him was pompous wanker and I missed Asuma a lot.

But I knew that if I wanted to become a badass ninja I would have to let me teach me so I put my grievances aside and became a bit more civilized towards him.

As time moved on it wasn't as difficult as it used to be to tolerate Ebisu and his haughty ways.

He was a very good and thorough teacher.

And the basics that he taught me were the foundation of all shinobi skills, so even if he wasn't as cool as Asuma we managed to develop a respectful partnership.

He even started me on tree walking.

And he also helped me find some beginners medical and anatomy books, after I explained to him that I had an interest in knowing some basic medical skills and that the anatomy books would help me with my fighting style.

I would go for quick movements and brutal aiming in vulnerable spots.

He was very supportive to my goal.

As were my parents.

Mother's eyes shone vindictively when I told her about it.

I decided to stay ignorant as to why.

It would be better for my mental health.

Months passed and I turned six.

It was time to join the academy.

Oh joy.

A/N: Chapter 2 is finally done.

Hope you enjoy.

xoxo