I considered just asking for the texts I wanted. Would it be so suspicious for me to be interested in basic medical ninjutsu and fuinjutsu? Maybe Oba-chan would take me to the Nara archives, or even the civilian library, willingly.

Then I remembered that I'd only turned one a few weeks ago, and considered what my reaction would have been if a one-year-old asked me for beginner medical, computer programming, or applied chemistry texts. Which is basically the level of what I wanted.

No…I wouldn't ask. Even if they let me, something like that would draw the kind of attention I didn't really want until I was strong enough to back up the hype. Danzo liked geniuses. And I was vulnerable.

So I either had to wait till I was older, or find a way to get what I wanted in secret. I figured I could legitimately ask for texts like those in another two years or so, maybe three, if I didn't want to attract too much attention.

Obviously, I wasn't going to wait. Not longer than I had to, to make a plan, prepare, and execute said plan, anyway. But I wouldn't rush unnecessarily, either. I still needed to learn more kanji, as my reading comprehension of Japanese wasn't high enough to understand medical texts, which would probably hold true for most of the things I really wanted to learn.

And I'd need time to do recon, and build up my physical strength more, as an outing of any kind still exhausted my little body, and even without anything extra tiring I slept about fifteen hours a day. I didn't have the skills necessary to get what I wanted on my own, anyway.

With a huff of frustration, I went back to my room, and took out my skill notebook again. No matter what, all shinobi worked off of similar building blocks. If I could build up that foundation early, I'd make my work easier in the future. With a deep sigh, I plopped my head onto my forearms and admitted that I might be getting ahead of myself, wishing to learn advanced things without a proper base skill set already in place.

I took up my pen, and began to make a rough schedule. I slept about fifteen hours a day, as I said. Another four of those were taken up by eating, bathing, and the daily maintenance that came with being alive. At least I didn't need to wear a diaper any more! Though in exchange, I was always scurrying away to the bathroom, because I had a minuscule bladder.

That left me with five free hours a day, with which to accomplish something. I'd already been working hard, but I liked schedules, even if I didn't always stick to them, so I wrote out my plan.

And for the next few months, I followed it. After breakfast, I'd go outside and play close to the house. Or, really, it was physical training disguised as play. I'd kick around a ball, or chase bugs, or even occasionally play with one of the other clan kids. It was surprisingly…fun. Disguising it as play seemed to make it play, even in my own mind.

After an hour of that, I'd stretch and go back inside for my first nap of the day. When I woke up, I'd eat again, then go back to my room or back outside for chakra exercises. I advanced to two pieces of paper at once, on varying parts of my body. It made it even harder if the places were asymmetrical, such as one piece on my forearm, and the other on my stomach. I tried to use up a good portion of my chakra every day, while staying away from absolute exhaustion, because my reserves seemed to grow more quickly when I did so.

An hour of that, and then I'd take my next nap. Then I'd work on my reading comprehension and my Japanese writing skill, sometimes with my aunt or uncle, and sometimes alone. Then I'd have a snack, and alternate going back outside to play, or doing more chakra exercises for about a half hour. Then, the third nap of the day. In my remaining hour and half, I spent time with the family, or playing with Shikamaru.

My schedule got disrupted often. Which wasn't surprising, because no one even knew I had a schedule, and if they did, I don't think they would have placed much importance on it. At first, it made me tense, as I thought about all the work I should be doing, the progress I should be making. And then, I let it go. Having fun in life was important, otherwise, when it came time to use all that training I'd been doing to protect what I cared about, I'd find that in fact, there was nothing I cared about.

After a couple months, I realized that I was being silly. "Oba-chan," I asked, "can we go to the library? I want to get some books."

And with only a few words of praise for me, Yoshino took me to the public library. I didn't go after any of the actually interesting books or scrolls, but this gave me the opportunity to check out the library for future reference. I picked out a few books in my reading level. There were actually a few informative picture books about the shinobi lifestyle, and one about which plants and animals around Konoha were either useful or should be avoided.

I was reading a book about famous ninja of the past, with Yoshino there to be my dictionary when I found a kanji I couldn't read, or a word I didn't know. I sighed and put the book away. "Oba-san's friends brought their babies," I said. "It's probably going to get too loud to keep reading."

Yoshino looked at me oddly, but sure enough, Shikaku and his friends burst through the door, the mother's carrying toddlers. It was my first time meeting Chouji and Ino. I guessed this was a playdate for the kids, while the adults would hang out and relax together. It had probably been a while since they got to do that, what with the stress of rebuilding after the Kyuubi attack, along with that of being new parents.

"How did you know?" Yoshino-oba asked me.

I had already started to shrug when I paused and frowned. I always kept track of the people around me, ever since the Kyuubi attack. It was something I didn't even notice myself doing, any more. But this wasn't simply being aware of my surroundings. I hadn't heard or seen them. So how had I known they were coming, let alone bringing their children with them? My eyes widened, and I met Yoshino-oba's again. "I felt them?"

She seemed to be considering something, but I didn't know what. "We'll talk about this later, Shiori-chan." Then she hustled off to make our guests welcome, while the three fathers sat watching the three younger kids play, laughing among themselves.

"Won't be long before we've got ourselves another generation of the famous Ino-Shika-Cho team." Chouza said.

Shikaku nodded lazily. "It's a given."

"I'll bring Choji over often. They'll become great friends," Chouza said.

Inoichi noticed me listening. "Hmm…I'm sure Shiori-chan is excited for her own shinobi team," he said. "I'm sure some of the other members of our clans have kids your age as well. Don't worry, you won't be left out."

That irritated me. Just because I was a Nara, were they going to type-cast me? Was the Ino-Shika-Cho team really already set in stone for their children, in their minds? I wondered how much grades actually had to do with the team formations, in the canon "Naruto." Supposedly, the teams were supposed to be even in terms of skill, but were they really? Surely, the influential leaders of three of Konoha's clans had enough sway to influence where their children were put. And here they were, already trying to direct their children's friendships.

"No," I said clearly, staring right back at Inoichi. "I'm not going to be on an Ino-Shika-Cho team."

"Whaaat?" Chouza laughed heartily, leaning back and smacking his stomach. "Why not? Everyone knows we three clans make a great team. We've been allies since before Konoha was even founded."

Shikaku didn't seem much affected, but I noticed his eyes were trained intelligently on me, and Inoichi didn't even try to disguise his interest.

"I am more than my name," I said. "And more than the history of my parents. I will walk my own path."

"Mahh, if that's what you want…" Shikaku shrugged. But he was watching me. I didn't know if it was suspicion, exactly, but I'd revealed a bit too much of my personality. I'd said words I shouldn't, expressed views a bit too opinionated, and a bit too articulate, even for a genius.

Inoichi stared at me for a bit, turned contemplatively to the trio of infants, and then shared a look with Shikaku. I knew they had both noticed my emphasis, and I wondered if my words would change anything.

Chouza laughed again. "Spirited little thing, isn't she? Haven't seen a Nara like her since old lady Shikarin. Like a demon, she was!"

I turned away, trying to disguise my irritation, and slip back into the role of a child. Well, if they really were going to try and force yet another Ino-Shika-Cho team, I couldn't do anything. But I would be sure to show Shikamaru as he grew that there were other options, if he wanted them.

About a week after the get-together, I was outside playing when someone snuck up behind me. Or rather, they tried to sneak up behind me.

I was hunched over, channeling chakra toward my feet, when I felt a presence. They were close, and I hadn't heard them coming. I hadn't understood at first that my blind spot awareness was anything more than unconscious observation, until the get-together. I shouldn't have known who was outside the front door. In the intervening days, I'd tested it out a little, and realized that I was most likely an extremely weak chakra sensor.

But this was different than most of the times I sensed people. The person behind me felt almost as if they had thrown a muffling sheet over themselves, or were walking around in an astronaut suit. That doesn't make sense. But basically, they were muted. Muffled.

And creeping toward me from the cover of the trees overhead.

I was well away from the edge of the Nara forest, but there were still plenty of smaller trees everywhere. This was the village of the Leaf, after all. I stood up and stretched, then turned around casually, scanning for the presence. I couldn't see anyone.

I looked around on the ground level, and saw that I was alone. Often, other clan kids or Shikamaru would be outside around this time of day, but I'd moved away from them to more inconspicuously practice my chakra control. My heartbeat picked up speed. No witnesses.

I turned and walked back toward my house. I didn't run, because I didn't want to let whoever it was know that I was on to them. Had I done something to bring myself to Danzo's attention? Maybe, someone had noticed my chakra control exercises. I'd been stupid to do them outside! I clenched my fists in frustration. I'd been trying to keep secrets from my family, but in doing so, had left myself open to discovery from others.

I couldn't outrun a shinobi, but if I caught them off guard, a sudden burst of speed or a scream might save me. I looked straight ahead, but pushed out my senses as far as I could. I couldn't reach very far at all. Two meters before people grew hazy. Four before they winked out of my perception all together. I was slightly better with people I knew well, whose chakra I was attuned to.

Another presence flashed around in front of me. It was cutting off my path, though they remained hidden in a tree above.

I couldn't help my little jerk of surprise. Shit, shit, shit.

They, too, were muffled. And as shinobi, they would know from my jump that I knew they were there. I didn't have much time. How far was I from the house? How far from people?

I was breathing hard, my heart pounding so fast it was almost making me dizzy. Calm down. I had to figure out a way out of this. I angled my path to the side, between my two tree-stalkers, so that I was no longer walking right toward the one in front. I had no weapons on me. I didn't even own any. I couldn't run away faster than them. I could stick a leaf to pretty much anywhere on my body, and I had just started trying to teach myself to tree-walk. Nothing useful!

My pursuers rotated around me, and drew closer, once again cutting of my path forward and backward.

I reached down while walking and picked up a short, broken stick from the ground. It fit well in my tiny fist, just thick enough not to break if I jammed it like a kunai into…one of their eyes, maybe.

Then I turned slightly again and started running, straight toward my house. Yoshino-oba was inside, I knew. I screamed, as loud as I could. "Yoshino! Fire!" Hopefully, she heard me. And I'd heard sometime back in my old life that yelling, "Fire," was more effective than screaming for help, if you actually needed help.

Both presences flashed in front of me, and one slid out of the tree, most of their body hidden behind the trunk.

I turned again, slipping and catching myself with a hand on the ground, but I didn't stop running. "Yoshino! Help!" Stupid, stupid short stubby legs. Why couldn't I go any faster? Why didn't I carry a weapon?

Then, both presences flashed in front of me again, this time landing on the ground.

I skidded, moving another turn, almost losing my balance. But suddenly, it was Yoshino and Shikaku in front of me, flaring bright with familiarity, and the other presences were gone. I still ran a good few steps away before taking another look at them. They looked like my family, but I wasn't stopping for a possible henge trying to trick me. It might be a trick that they felt like my family, too.

I ran all the way back to the house without stopping, slamming into the back door and stumbling inside after making sure it was shut securely behind me. "Oba-chan," I called out, almost sobbing, "Oba-chan, where are y—"

I stopped, as I felt her behind me. I turned around.

She and Shikaku opened the sliding back door and stepped in.

I stepped backward, holding my little useless stick in my fist.

"Don't be scared, Shiori-chan," Yoshino said. "It's just us."

I shook my head. "Stay away!"

Her expression kind of sunk. "I'm sorry we scared you, baby. We didn't mean to."

"Well, only a little," Shikaku corrected, slumping against the wall in a way that was no doubt meant to be unthreatening.

She shot him a glare. "We really weren't trying to scare you like that, Shiori-chan. We just wanted to test your chakra-sensing ability. I promise. I noticed the signs the other day, and a surprise test like this is standard procedure for any unconfirmed sensors." She paused, reading my expression. "You can tell it's us, right? We only had our chakra masked, pulled in, before."

It did feel like them. But it hadn't felt like them, only a minute ago. Was that the weird space-suit-muffling sensation I'd gotten from them? "Pull it in again," I ordered. "Hide your chakra again."

Yoshino hesitated, but Shikaku did as I asked, and she followed suit. Their chakra seemed to shrink, almost, like they were folding it into themselves, hiding it away. Or like, most of the time, it was wafting off of them like a smell, and they'd just covered themselves in plastic wrap.

I relaxed a bit. Yes, that felt the same as the muffled signatures from earlier. And now that I concentrated, I could tell who they were, even past the chakra hiding technique. I needed to learn how to mask my own chakra signature like that. It would be useful for stealth missions.

Then, I started to cry. It seemed any strong emotion ended in tears with my tiny body, which I hated.

Yoshino reached down to hug me, and I resisted the urge to kick her in the shin. Because she had a terrible temper. Instead, I kicked Shikaku.

He hopped around on one leg, holding his shin and cursing, which made a giggle slip past my tears. I knew he'd allowed me to kick him, but it was still funny. And a little bit of revenge felt good.

They both relaxed when they heard my laughter, and I knew they thought the incident would be forgotten, washed away by new experiences. But I wasn't who they thought. And though I wouldn't hold a grudge, I also wouldn't forget. What type of society thought it was okay to terrify a child like that? I sighed. The type that also sent children into war, to kill and die for the village. The type I lived in.

Yoshino spent some time asking about my sensing ability, what I'd felt when they'd snuck up on me earlier, and doing little tests till I was exhausted.

I heard them talking as I fell asleep, Yoshino excited about me being a "natural chakra sensor," and Shikaku saying, "And battle instincts. Did you notice how she was holding the stick? She called, 'fire,' instead of 'help.' And…she called your name, Yoshino. Not 'Oba-chan.'"

I had nightmares about my brother, all alone now.

5/1/16: Tell me what you think, down below. I love to hear from you guys! Any thoughts on upcoming, pre-Academy story points? I've got some ideas but I want to know if there's anything you'd like to see.