This talk of chakra started to confuse me. I can recognise some aspects of it, but it was so far away. You know when something is hanging right in front of your nose but you can't seem to get it? That was how I felt. It didn't help that my parents kept me in the house most of the time. Everything never really clicked until a visitor came to my house.
"Miyako-chan! Come and see your aunty!" My mother's voice came from the other side of the house. I let out a breath and started to toddle across the smooth wooden floorboards. I really missed my previous motor skills from my previous life. I used to be able to jump hurdles really well…at least in middle school. Now, I could barely manage a walk without wobbling.
It took a while, but I found my way to the doorway where my mother was standing right in front. Behind her was a woman who I assumed was my aunty. She looked younger than my mother — possibly by a few years, but no more than a decade. Hmm...
"Is this your Miyako?" my aunt gushed, leaning down to my level and caressing my hair. I must say, that was one of the things I missed about being a child, having my hair petted.
"Well," My mother smiled teasingly, "She's Kazuki's as well." I glanced up to see my mother lift me into her arms. "Miya-chan, meet your aunty Kaoru-oba-san. She's the matriarch of the Hayashi clan."
Hang on—clan? Japanese setting…chakra…clans…wars… Gosh, I felt really stupid at the moment. I wasn't just reborn into any old world, but the world of my sister's favourite animanga series. Naruto. What did I ever do to deserve this? I internally groaned. Naruto was a brutal manga that I wasted the whole of my freshman year on. This was pathetic. Maybe I'll just wake up sometime and realise that this was a dream? Yes, that would be good. But through so many fanfictions, I know that it will never happen. Lovely, I'm stuck here in a world of dangerous ninjas where assassination seems to be the norm. My parents were correct — I wouldn't last a day out there with the abilities that I had now.
I think that my limited knowledge would help…somehow. A year of being stuck in a baby's body can take quite a large toll on your mentality and memory recall abilities. Pretty soon, I might not remember anything of my past life at all. How depressing. Oh well, back to the situation on hand...
"May-tree-ark?" I questioned. I knew what a matriarch was, but who in their right mind would say that to an almost one-year-old child and expect them to understand? If I just carried on, they might get the gist that something wasn't right and ship me off to special prodigy school or something like that. So I couldn't have just accepted that. Ha.
My mother seemed to have fallen for my act as she grinned.
"Little Miya-chan doesn't know what a matriarch is?"
I shook my head.
"A matriarch is a woman who is the head woman of a clan," My aunty said slowly to help me 'absorb' the knowledge. I nodded my head in 'understanding'.
"Kaoru ba-chan strong!" I grinned. My aunty pressed her hands to her cheek and squealed.
"Awww! Really? Does little Miya-chan think so?" I could see her blushing and spinning around in circles. She's our clan head? Yikes. I guess she's similar to Naruto's mother in the sense of personality. What was her name again? I think that it started with a K… Nevermind… From the corner of my eye, I could see my mother shaking her head and anime sweat-dropping.
I motioned for my mother to let me down and I waddled back to my father's study to play with the toy kunai that I left there at some point. Once my mother was out of sight, I grabbed the nearest book on my father's shelf and attempted to read. I didn't understand many of the words, but there was a diagram of a human body. Frowning, I flipped the book upside down and shook it. As per usual, sheets of paper flew out of the book. There were notes to grab the groceries, errand notes, mission notices, but one note stood out particularly to me. It was not written in Japanese, but in English. The piece of paper was tattered and torn in some places, but the writing in the middle was particularly untouched. My English was getting rusty, but I guess that living in a Japanese world for a year really takes a toll on you.
"I…am…Theodore…" I murmured. On the other side, there was a note saying 'Do not forget.'
I quickly looked around, making sure that my mother didn't hear me. I heard no footsteps, so I guess that sh—
"Miyako! What are you doing?"
I forgot…we're a part of a clan. Oh joy, my mother is a ninja.
I instantly dropped the note that was in my hands and turned around, not to see my mother's angry face, but a worried expression in its place. My aunt appeared behind her, puzzled.
"I thought the Eigo language was lost?"
Eigo — English! So the English language was apparent in this universe. I could reveal the fact that I knew English now, but it may be a bit too early. But do you know what this means? I could 'learn' English from my father's books. My mother sighed.
"It's a long story — I'll tell you another time. This is bad news." She then turned to me. "Miyako Hayashi, how did you learn so quickly?"
I shrugged. My mother narrowed her eyes.
"Don't tell me…"
It's been barely a year. I'm going to be disowned and kicked out of this village, or worse, executed. Every other character in fanfictions tended to survive at least until academy age, from memory. It's been nice knowing you all bu—
"…you're a prodigy!"
No. No. No. Dear mother, I am most certainly NOT a prodigy. I am NOT going to be shipped off to some academy to become a war machine, nor have my childhood taken away from me. No siree!
My mother frowned. "Maybe not, prodigies don't tend to develop characteristics at this age. It's probably just beginner's luck."
I breathed a sigh of relief. Even though she said that, I couldn't help but notice the fact that her eyebrows were furrowed and that her hands still rested on her hips. She wasn't through with this, I could tell.
They didn't leave me alone for the rest of the day and I found myself having a nap in my mother's lap. When I woke up, I found myself in my cot with my blanket around me. The moonlight shone through the window as I rolled over, again and again until I reached the edge of the crib. I leapt out and waddled to my father, who had just come home from work and was now seated at the kotatsu. Giving him a baby hug, I toddled to my mother and ate dinner with them. After that, I went to sleep. Being a baby is actually really stressful.
A/N: Thank you all very much for reading the introduction chapter. As you can see, the chapters are growing larger. Actual Naruto characters will appear very soon, possibly in the next chapter. Thank you to those who added this story to their alerts and to Helen Teng for favouriting.