Chapter 4
000
Three Years Old
Rei didn't sleep anymore.
She still needed rest. Her body would lay in bed at night motionless and breathing deep like a regular person. However her mind remained aware. Aware of her surroundings and most of all aware of her chakra.
It was probably a side effect of so much meditation and chakra control exercises at such an early age… or so Rei theorized. In her 'sleep' her mind would travel with her chakra riding the eddies and flows of it as it cycled through her chakra network. She could direct it after a fashion as she slept but more importantly she could feel it. The more time passed the more intimate and familiar Rei became with her chakra.
Perhaps the idea was a holdover from her previous life but Rei thought that the more she felt and observed her chakra every night the more she would come to understand it. The more she understood she theorized the more she would be able to do. It didn't seem to have any immediate benefits in the short term but in the long term Rei was willing to bet her deepening understanding of chakra would pay dividends.
It was logical to her really and it seemed a shame that most ninja were primarily concerned with forcing their chakra into destructive and useful techniques. Chakra was the very essence of life and it was much more wonderful and vast than a simple tool for war. It was both mind and body and the interface between the two. From her memories she knew chakra could even be used to affect and interact with your very soul. The potential for personal growth and understanding seemed limitless. An entire spiritual tradition could be founded on the study of chakra alone.
All that potential and these people could only think about using it for war? Barbarians. Every last one of them barbarians.
As she 'slept' Rei could hear muffled voices from downstairs. Gently she nudged her chakra towards her inner ear. Briefly curious about what was going on she enhanced her hearing enough to make out what the voices downstairs were saying.
"-ys about Shogi? There are other games out there. Go for instance. I think there's something very elegant and peaceful about a game of Go."
"Shogi is the most useful game for refining strategic thinking. Go on the other hand is simplistic by comparison. Very little useful strategy to be found there."
Ah, her dad and Shikaku-san. Now she knew what was going on and why they were being so loud… loud for shinobi anyway.
"Honestly the two of you have been arguing about the merits of Go and Shogi for fifteen years now," said a playful voice in a long suffering tone, "and we always end up playing cards at the end of it. Why don't you just break them out already Inoichi?"
Choza. It was just the three of them getting the old team together for drinks and a few games like they did from time to time. The three of them would always get rowdier around each other than you would expect from veteran ninja.
Rei only listened with half an ear from then on as she focused on resting and on what her chakra was naturally doing in her body. Throughout the night they never talked about anything exciting or interesting. Even though they let their guard down around each other they were still professionals and would never talk about anything sensitive in that volume where others might hear them. Walls in Konoha were not very thick and everyone had tricks for snooping on private conversations.
Rei had completely tuned them out until hearing her own name caught her attention.
"How are Rei-chan and Ino-chan?" she heard Shikaku ask.
"Good good. Healthy. We just started showing Ino the basics of holding a brush so she's at that stage where she gets ink all over everything while learning the basic strokes," Inoichi replied and Rei could hear the fondness in his voice.
"That's messy. She'll grow out of it," Shikaku replied with a grunt.
"What about Rei-chan? Is she as smart as your wife says she is? Emiko told my Chiharu all about it but she wasn't convinced that she wasn't exaggerating," said Choza.
There was a pause. "Yeah she is. It's scary sometimes how quickly she picks things up. Sometimes I even get the impression she tries to dumb down how smart she is so she doesn't make me or Emiko uncomfortable. She never has the patience to stick with it for very long though."
Choza let out a low whistle. "So she's one of those kids then?"
Another pause. "Yeah I think so. In my mind there is no doubt that she's a natural born genius. My little Rei-chan is like Hatake Kakashi and Uchiha Itachi," said her dad his voice an odd mix of pride and weariness.
"And Orochimaru," said Shikaku.
"Don't even joke about that!" said Choza sharply.
The conversation drifted to different topics after that and Rei was left to ponder what she had just heard. She had, intellectually, known that she would very soon be labeled with the moniker 'genius'. It was still surprising to hear it all the same and even more surprising to be spoken of in the same breath as Kakashi, Itachi and Orochimaru.
Labels had a lot more power in Konoha than they did in her previous world. Instead of being thought of as a bad things labels in the ninja world were treated as a decree from Heaven – there was an almost unconscious assumption that you knew everything about a person by the label they were given. It probably stemmed from the general culture of not questioning things unless there was a damned good reason to do so. It now made a lot more sense how an entire populace could turn their collective backs on a little boy if he was known to carry the label "demon."
The label "genius" carried a lot of assumptions and expectations. She would be expected to outperform all her peers in every single area, be they ninja arts, shogi or calligraphy. Somehow in the ninja world being a "genius" meant that you were better than everyone else at everything. It was amusing thinking of world famous scientists back in her old world also being expected to be the best at boxing, track and field, ikebana and everything else under the sun.
People with a brain knew it was unrealistic but that didn't totally curve their collective cultural expectation of what a "genius" should be. If Rei fell behind in some area it would be assumed that it was because she "wasn't trying hard enough" or "she doesn't like it so she was being contrary". The pressure on a genius was massive and Rei suddenly had a lot more sympathy for Kakashi and especially Itachi. Perhaps even a bit for Orochimaru. Living with that sort of pressure would warp anyone.
Luckily for Rei she gave crap all about meeting people's expectations. She didn't crave the approval of her parents, her peers or her teachers. She didn't care for people's accolades. In the end she only cared about one thing: her goal. Become an S-Rank ninja. Leave the military dictatorship of Konohogakure no Sato behind and choose how to live her own life. That was her singular goal and everything else was only baggage.
In fact being labeled as a 'genius' would probably help her. In a lot of ways it could be argued that reputation was just as important as skill for her goals. If everyone knew her as a 'genius' people would think twice before coming after her.
Rei tried hard not to think about if she could really match up to the likes of Itachi and Orochimaru. Instead she let her thoughts be carried away by the blue river of chakra flowing through her body and mind. Those kinds of thoughts wouldn't help. Deepening her understanding of chakra would.
000
Punch, punch, kick. Punch, punch, kick.
Rei was in the back yard doggedly drilling the very, very basic taijutsu combinations she had been taught. At three years old she wouldn't be beating anyone up but this kind of exercise began to train a dizzying myriad of things that were important for a ninja. Most important among them was the ability to be self-disciplined and self-motivated.
Punch, punch, kick. Punch, punch, kick.
She'd had some martial arts training in her past life but she didn't dare try any of those moves even in private. People would inevitably ask where did you learn that? and she might not be able to deflect them with an evasive answer. No the best thing to do was to forget everything she knew and start fresh. Right now that meant drilling the same short tedious combo over and over again.
Punch, punch, kick. Punch, punch, kick.
Was it all a matter of effort? Did she have any real talent? She didn't know and it was too soon to tell. However even if she didn't have talent she could be like Rock Lee. He was completely talentless but once he found a good teacher he made something of himself. Then again she doubted she would be quite that bad. She remembered a quote from her old world. If you focus you will succeed. By focus they had meant complete focus, devoting everything you are and everything you have to a single goal. That is what she would have to do.
Punch, punch, kick. Punch, punch, k-
"Nee-chan! What you doing?" came a loud childish voice behind her.
Rei faltered mid kick, stumbled and almost fell. She barely got her feet under her in time and shuffled around a bit before she found her balance. Taking a deep breath Rei did her best to reign in her irritation at being interrupted.
"Ino," she began as she turned around "I'm training to become a ninja. What are you doing out here?"
Two year old Ino was adorable. With large bright blue eyes and platinum blonde hair she would have easily made the cover of some Scandinavian baby magazine back in her old world. She was dragging her favorite stuffed tanuki by the foot and was looking down at the ground while pointing her feet together.
"Nothin'" she said shyly. Then she stuck her thumb in her mouth.
Rei sighed. She'd never had a sibling in her past life and wasn't a hundred percent sure how to deal with Ino. Recently the toddler had taking to following her big sister everywhere she went. It was really cute and part of Rei really enjoyed being Ino's 'favorite person'. Still having a clingy two year old could make it awkward to practice. Rei needed to train and she couldn't afford to get distracted.
She walked up to Ino and ran a hand through her platinum locks. "Well your Nee-sama needs to practice Ino-chan. If you want you can sit in the shade and watch me. I'll be right here practicing like dad told me to, all right?"
Ino looked up at her big sister and nodded before going to sit on the porch. Rei made sure to stand as close as she could without risk of hitting her little sister.
She had told Ino a little white lie. Their father hadn't told Rei to practice. She was doing that all on her own but she thought Ino was less likely to interrupt if she though Rei was doing something her parents wanted her to do. In reality her parents rarely encouraged her to train. Rei found it odd but she didn't need people nagging her in order to make good use of her time.
She took her stance as she had been shown and began the drill over again. Punch, punch, kick. Punch, punch, kick.
Rei supposed she should count herself lucky that Ino stayed silent for a whole ten minutes before speaking up.
"Nee-chan, I'm thirsty. Can you gwet me some juice?"
Rei didn't stop but kept right on punching. "Why don't you ask mom?" she asked while huffing for breath.
"I want you to do it," she whined.
Rei made an annoyed sound in her throat and stopped. Maybe it wouldn't be bad to take a break. She was already sweaty, breathing hard and her side hurt. Even with chakra doing more than ten minutes of hard non-stop physical activity as a three year old was pushing it. Besides she had only recently begun doing the taijutsu. She would need time to build up her stamina.
"Fine. But then it's time for your nap. Deal?"
Ino stuck her thumb in her mouth and simply nodded.
Rei led the way back into the house with Ino following behind like a lost puppy. She was halfway to the kitchen when Ino slipped her smaller hand into hers.
I'm so screwed thought Rei dramatically.
Rei loved her new mother and father but because of her adult mind she built some emotional walls between them. She had no such protection against Ino and the little girl had slipped past every one of her defenses. Rei would not abandon her plan for anyone but it would tear her up inside to leave her little sister behind.
Maybe I can take her with me? It seemed an unlikely plan. Too many things that were out of her control would have to go right for that to happen. However that didn't mean she wouldn't be on the lookout for the possibility.
It would all depend on what Ino wanted really.
They reached the kitchen and Ino let go of her hand. Opening the refrigerator and pulling out the jug of juice was the easy part. The hard part for a three year old was getting up on the counter so she could reach the cabinets and pull out Ino's spill proof cup.
At least they talked about this sort of thing in front of me so I have a legit excuse ready if they catch me thought Rei as she reached up and placed her hands over the lip of the counter.
Using her chakra she stuck her hands to the counter and enhancing her muscles she jumped and pulled herself up on the counter fairly easily. Ino watched her with wide eyes amazed that her sister could get all the way up there on her own so easily. It was simply amazing to her two year old mind.
Rei quickly and efficiently pulled out cups for Ino and herself and filled them up with juice. She jumped down off the counter with a little flourish and presented the spill proof cup to Ino like fancy waiter showing off an expensive bottle of wine.
"Your drink as requested miss," said Rei in a faux noble accent.
Ino giggled and took the sippy-cup from her sister. "You're silly," she said.
"Well I try," replied Rei with a wink.
As Ino drank her juice Rei put everything back in place and drank from her own regular cup. They stood in the kitchen as Ino started babbling about her stuffed tanuki called Tanuki-chan and all the different things they'd done together the day before. Rei listened with an indulgent smile while adding her own commentary here and there to make Ino laugh. It was simple memories like those with Ino that would stick out the most when she thought back to this point in her life years later.
When they finished Rei put their cups in the sink before saying, "All right you got your juice. It's time for your nap."
Thankfully Ino didn't protest – it was about fifty/fifty if she would – and Rei led her by the hand upstairs to their shared room. As they entered Rei eyed the two twin sized beds pushed to either side of the room. In reality there were enough rooms in the house for each of them to have their own but Konoha culture said it was better for young children to share a room. Sometimes it was annoying but usually Rei didn't mind.
Especially when Ino would slip into her bed and curl up with her at night. It was a guilty pleasure of hers.
Quickly and efficiently Rei put her to bed as the two of them were used to the ritual by now. Their mother was the one to do it most of the time but it wasn't that unusual for Rei to be the one taking care of her sister. In Konoha it was less 'how old are you' and more 'what can we reasonably trust you with'.
Rei bent down and quickly kissed her sister on the forehead. "Sleep well little one."
The older girl could tell her sister was tempted to ask her to stay but instead she just hugged Tanuki-chan. "M'kay g'night."
Rei thought about correcting her that it wasn't really night time but instead she just slipped out of the room and quietly headed back downstairs.
As she was walking it occurred to her that she didn't remember what became of Ino in the story. Rei never quite got to the end and Ino was such a minor character later on she simply couldn't remember what happened to her after the fight with Hidan. It bothered her. It bothered her a lot. For all she knew Ino could have died along with Neji, Shikaku and so many others.
There were too many unknowns. The sad truth was that eventually her sister would probably end up dying fighting for Konohagakure even if she survived the war. It was practically how every ninja was destined to go. Used hard and dead before thirty.
This world is so fucked up.
It was an endless spiral of death and more death. In an economy entirely dependent on violence how could there ever be any real peace? A 'Darwinian Society' at its finest. There was nothing Rei could do about it though. So she went out back and continued doing the only thing she really could do.
Punch, punch, kick. Punch, punch, kick.
