A/N: Hello readers! Sorry for the long wait! Here's the new chappie! OMG, 297 favs, 366 follows and 62 Reviews... I think i'm in heaven! Thank you so much, dearest readers!

Now to my dearest Guest readers-

a reader: hah, good one. loved reading your story.

Thank you very much. I'm so glad you're liking this story so far!

rambles: From the anime, it's seen that Yoshino holds a more active role in the relationship. Often encouraging her boys to be more active with the world around them, not that won't get there eventually but she often encourages them to act upon it sooner. I imagine this was somehow similar to how yoshino got together with her husband. So i kind of imagine the same but just role reversal? Shikaku having to hold a more active role with Chi, because other-wise she's gonna be oblivious and its going to go nowhere As of right now, chi doesn't really take him seriously he is a kid after all and even if she is aware they are related if only distantly she still hlds him to value as her old man and he can't possibly have feelings for her or it will fade away because chi can't imagine anyone other than Yoshino with the man that was once her father.

I can imagine the adults all getting together and talking about the mini adventures written and not yet written that the trio chi had and laughing their ass off.
Chi getting more innovative over how to avoid the menaces and her father introducing her to shogi and go and she being so overwhelmed that she doesn't let the piece of the king go and her father makes it into a necklace. (later years she becomes well known because of that piece...but that's years later...)
Got carried away.

wow, you certainly have some brilliant ideas! Mind if I use a few of them? I kinda used one of them in this chapter, though just the half of it. Hope you don't mind!

Guest: HOW ADORABLEEEEE

This is really cute! I really like how you make a devil shikaku, he's a toddler yet already so evil!
Your idea writing this is very creative!

Thank you very, very much. You flatter me, really. I don't think it's that special, it's just a spur of the moment think, the idea stuck to my head like a leech, unless I write it down and update it too. Now to think of it, this really do happens to me a lot. Ugh, i'm soo gullible! sulks in a corner*

Guest: Can't wait to your next update. I'm so looking forward to read what happens next.

Hope you like this chapter then.

Thank you all so much for your lovely reviews! Your review truly makes my day, and inspires me to keep writing and not to abandon this fic mid-way. So keep reviewing!

*TIME SKIP*

(Age-Four Years)

"We'll protect them all- our friends….. Our Village….. And even the Children!"

"Then why are you doing this, Naruto?"

"Shikamaru, I must protect the most important thing that we must leave for the future."

"The most important….thing?"

"Yes. We must protect the village to remain the one that the children can be proud of and believe in!"

She woke up in cold sweat, her breathing uneven. She let a hand run through her dark hair, wishing she could just lie back down on the bed and go back to sleep. But she knew it was a lost cause. She didn't think she would be able to go back to sleep now. Naruto's words rang in her mind, haunting her. It wasn't that bad, at least not this time. At least, they weren't accusing her of breaking her promise and abandoning her friends, which they accuse her of in every nightmare she has. She knew she shouldn't think like this, she knew her comrades well enough to know that they would never accuse her of something like this –but she can't help it, Dammit! Four Years, it has been fucking four years and she hadn't been able to do anything at all! What was the point of going back to past if she can't change a damn thing?

She knew she had to be patient, but it's just that…. It has been so long since she has last since any of her comrades, she was afraid that she would forget them eventually- and she didn't want that, at all. She was already starting to forget some minor details that usually anyone won't even notice, but she was a Nara, and Naras always notice everything to their tiniest detail. She was starting to forget the fragrance of the flowers from Ino's Clan's shop, as well as Choji's Mom's cooking; Sakura's food pills –did they used to taste horrible or was it just her imagination?; Sai's books –what did he used to read, anyways? She couldn't remember; Hinata's healing balms- what kind of herbs did she use in them? She remembered distantly how she had explained it to him at some point; why Kiba used to argue with Shino –she didn't remember. There were many other things that she was starting to forget, but she didn't want to forget, Dammit! Her memories were the only thing she had of her friends. She didn't want to lose them too.

She shook her head to clear it from all the depressing thoughts as she pulled off her blankets and got down from the bed. The cold sweat was making her feel sticky and gross. So she walked towards the bathroom, intending on washing off the sweat on her face and hands. Rubbing her eyes out of their sleepiness, she walked towards the sink and turned on the tap. She splashed the cool water on her face, and sighed in relief. The Land of Fire may not be as hot as the deserts of Suna, but there's a reason why it is called the 'Land of Fire'. The climate is usually warm and humid, unlike the hot and dry weather of Suna, and hence it makes you perspire like crazy. If you ask her, then she'd say that the climate in the Land of Fire is much more troublesome that the Land of Wind. They actually know what to expect from their weather- just the same old dryness and lack of water. Here the Weather changes in a snap of finger, as if it is having mood swings. It is just so unpredictable. One minute the sun would torture everyone with it's scorching heat, and the next clouds would rumble and would rain lightly.

Maybe it's a good thing that it's unpredictable. Predictable things are boring anyways.

Wiping her face and hands with a towel, Chieko made her way back into the room. She was about to lie back down on her bed, to maybe read a book or something –because she really didn't have any more courage to face more nightmares tonight- she halted when she caught the eye of her reflection in a full length mirror at a corner of her room. Frowning, she made her way towards it.

Light amber eyes stared back at her, with a chubby, oval face and pale pink lips that went well with her very fair skin. Her dark hair, that contrasted heavily with her pale skin tone, tumbled down her back. She was quite short, being a four year old child, and was wearing a loose shirt that fell to her knees –which she had stolen from her cousin Yuuta, his clothes are so darn soft and fluffy!- and she wore black shorts under it, whose ends were peeking out from under the huge shirt. What caught her eye were the black lines itched on her skin all over her body, on her flesh, and no, they were not the Shadows the Nara Clan was famous for.

Impossible!

She took a sharp intake of breath, as she eyed the black lines, which weren't black lines at all. They were runes, itched in such small letters that they looked like black lines from some distance. Her eyes followed their path, and found them hiding beneath her large shirt. With trembling hands, she gripped the hem of the shirt, trying to calm her erratic heart-beat with rational thoughts.

Before she could chicken out from the present task, she pulled the loose shirt up, and stumbled back it shock.

N-No way! This can't be-

On her pale skin, black runes appeared in an organized manner, looking strangely beautiful in the dim light of night-lamps. A few runes were glowing, but other than that, the rest of them seemed normal, as if they haven't be activated at all –which was a big, fat lie. The array of runes was intriguing, however, she couldn't help but cringe at it. Because for all the beauty and uniqueness they displayed, she knew exactly what this thing costed to her. And that thought alone made her stumble back in shock, as it hit her what that thing really is.

-the time travel seal?!

Yes, it is the same seal that she had been working on for Years in her previous life, the seal that killed her, the seal that ended her up in here as Chieko Nara. But the seal was supposed to have vanished after it's use, so pray tell, why the hell was it still here? Did she mis-calculated? Has the seal malfunctioned somehow? Then what the hell was wrong with it?

(He should've expected it. There's a reason why there were no records of any time travelers who had travelled safely through the time with a Seal. It had been too good to be true, anyways.)

Whatever it is, she'll need to find it out soon and correct it, because she was bound to get busy sooner or later. And once she started changing things, she really didn't want the Universe to implode on her just because her seal was destabilized.

The thing is, this seal was the only thing that made it possible for her to travel back in time. And that means, that this seal is the sole reason of her existence. This seal is her center, the reason her soul can exist in this time, otherwise according to multiple theories of time that she had scraped through the remains of Uzushio and Konoha and other villages, her soul would be erased from existence. We don't want that now, do we? She'll have to take a look at this seal and stabilize it again, or else there might be dire consequences.

In just a matter of seconds, her mundane days became quite interesting. She sighed wearily. She'd have to cut some time from her daily naps and cloud watching, she guessed.

How Troublesome.

Chieko stared at the shogi board, flabgasted. How the heck did this punk managed to beat her? She was so sure that she was gonna win! She had trapped him into a corner and her victory was almost certain. How the fuck has this bastard managed to defeat her?

Staring up at the opponent before her, she scowled at the smug look on his face. "I want a rematch!" she snarled at him. No way in hell was he walking out victorious today! She won't quit until she won against him.

Shikaku opened his mouth to retort, but was cut off by Inoichi's whine. "No!" Inoichi shouted as he stomped towards them and whined like the brat he was "You have been going on at it for hours! We have been through twenty matches by now! Don't you two have anything else to do that either laze around or play boring board games?"

Shikaku turned his head towards Inoichi and lazily raised his brows and said "What do you want us to do? Play dollhouse again?" Four years old and he's already sassing others. Kami, children do grow up fast, don't they? And to think, just some years ago he had been treating her like his toy. Granted, he still used her sometimes as his cuddly teddy-bear, but now he was less annoying and more bearable. And a damn good shogi partner –the only reason why she overlooks all his annoying habits, coz dude, you really can't get a better shogi partner than Shikaku. The brat, more often than not, can be quite smart and competitive when it comes to shogi, and now there's some sort of rivalry going on between Chieko and shikaku. The score up until now was 59 to 44, in her favor, but who's counting anyways? Oh right, she is.

Inoichi flushed at Shikaku's comment and argued back "That was just that one time!"

"There, there," she said soothingly as she patted Inoichi's shoulder, and then turned towards Shikaku and said in a fierce voice "Now, rematch!"

Shikaku watched her in amusement, while Inoichi just groaned at their antics. He turned to Choza, who was busy eating his chips. "Some help would be great, Choza-kun!" he said sarcastically to the red haired Akimichi, and then asked "Don't you want to play too?"

Choza shrugged as he popped another potato chip into his mouth and said "You know Chi-chan won't let anyone play anything else until she beats Shikaku-kun by the end of the day." Inoichi opened his mouth to complain, but was cut-off by Choza's comment, "and don't even think of snatching the shogi board away. You do remember what happened the last time when you did that, right?"

Inoichi shuddered when he remembered that horrible incident. He had been one of his worse moods and snatched away the shogi board while Shikaku and Chieko were playing shogi. Both the Naras had been pissed at him, -especially Chi-chan- and let's just say, it did not end well for him. After all, Hell hath no fury like a Woman scorned.

That's why, Inoichi decided to not interrupt them and sulked in a corner, all the while both Naras played shogiand continued to one up each other.

And Choza? Well, he was all too happy with his bag of Chips.

Takashi didn't know when had things gotten so wrong. One moment everything was perfect- his wife investing herself a little too much in her daughter's love life, while his daughter being hell bent on avoiding the Nara, Yamanaka and Akimichi heirs who usually followed her around like persistent puppies; and then the next moment his daughter walked up to him with a solemn look on her face and regarded him with a piercing look, one that had him tense. Why did he have a feeling that he won't like what she's gonna say next?

"Tou-san," She said with a determined look in her eyes, her fists clenched by her side. "I want to be a shinobi."

She didn't say 'Ninja', like children her age said. Not even 'Kunoichi', like he would expect from his brilliant child. No, instead, she said she wants to be a Shinobi. And she looks serious too. Damn, his adorable little Princess sure knows her stuff.

To be honest, a part of him truly wished that she would just choose to stay a civilian, so as he could keep her innocence and away from all the harm and danger. But a larger part of him observed how much of a Genius his child is. His adorable daughter started to lay traps when she was just a year old, and her aim was pretty good –he had seen her pinning the three heirs by their collars to a wall once with some wooden shuriken, oh his daughter is so amazing!- And once she had even created a seal subconsciously when she was three years old –although it turned out to be an explosion seal, and detonated as soon as Takashi escaped with his wife and child, however, their house unfortunately had exploded into ruins, but that's irrelevant. What matters is the fact that despite being utterly lazy like any other Nara, one cannot ignore the Genius that his daughter was. She was different than any other Nara. Sure, she was lazy, and often would spend her time cloud watching than helping out in any chores, but whenever it comes to anything Ninja related, his daughter was always eager to do it –like meditation, taijutsu stretches, chakra control etc. To be truthful, his daughter was more than ready to join the Ninja Academy.

But still, it won't hurt him to ask her one last time. Maybe she'll change her opinion? What? Don't look at him like that, he's a father alright. What kind of father would want his cute little Princess to be harmed?

Takashi, crouched down before his daughter and looked straight in her amber eyes. "Are you sure?" He asked her seriously, staring intently at her.

She nodded and said "Yes."

He narrowed his eyes and couldn't help but ask "Why do you want to be a Shinobi?" What was motivating his daughter to do her very best?

She looked at him with her piercing amber eyes, and he almost felt like he was looking into the eyes of a war veteran. Strange, how can his daughter have such haunted eyes? He had noticed it before too, but he hadn't asked her of it. He just wanted her to know that he'll be there for her, but he didn't want to overwhelm her. So he decoded that she'll come to him and tell him the truth whenever she wants. He was sure she'll tell him one day. Eventually.

She held out her right hand which she had clenched in a fist for some time. Her grip loosened, and he raised his brow when he saw a shogi piece in her small hands. It was the piece of 'King'.

She glanced down at the shogi piece and said in a soft tone. "I just want to protect the King."

Takashi took a sharp intake of breath. Such big words by such a little girl. Does his daughter even know what she is talking about? Who does she think this King is? The Fire Daimyo? The Hokage? The shinobi of the Leaf Village? Maybe she just heard it from somewhere and decided to test it out on her father. But when he looked in her eyes, the sincerity in them made him think again. Maybe… just maybe his daughter do know what she's saying. It's a wide stretch, but then again, his daughter is a Genius. He really shouldn't be surprised by her antics by now, should he?

He smiled softly at her and ruffled her hair, making her look back up at him. "I think," He drawled out in his raspy voice as his daughter stared at him in curiosity. "-you will be a fine shinobi one day." He then stood up and placed his hands in his pockets and muttered "I'll get you enrolled in the Ninja Academy."

The warm smile on his daughter's face was worth it, really.

Chieko had taken to Nara clan's Jutsus like a duck to water. The amazing speed at which she learned –or relearned, to be truthful- the Nara Clan's fighting style sure did turn heads of many Clan members. Shikaku would have been bothered by her rising popularity, but the boy was way too lazy to care less. Her father just wanted to teach her a bit about Nara Clan's fighting style before she joined the academy, however, he was astounded when his daughter performed the taijutsu katas swiftly, and even learned the hand-signs for the basic Shadow jutsu in one night. However, if you ask Chieko, she'd say that it was nothing. Maybe she should have downed her abilities a bit, but she was getting impatient –she had waited four years till she could finally do something about her plans, and now that she has finally gotten a chance, the only thing restricting her were her age and small chakra reserves, and the fact that she'll freak people out –especially her parents- if she started showing what she can really do. So she decided to take one step at a time.

So, while she knew Nara Clan's fighting style by heart, she decided that she didn't want to be restricted by it only. In her previous life, she may have had her intelligence and strategic mind, but in the fighting area she was severely lacking, what with having only Nara clan's Jutsus, with some wind Jutsus as backup. She decided that she won't be restricted by her own weaknesses this time. She'll overcome them and strive to be better than she had been before. She'll incorporate fighting styles of her friends too, and mix it up with her own. That way she'll have another way to remember her friends, because clearly her memory is turning out to be quite incompatible these days.

So, she discussed this with her father, and he suggested her to use a weapon that suits to her the most, and now here they were, in a weapon shop, trying to find a perfect weapon for her but to no avail.

"This is so troublesome!" she groaned as she scratched her cheek and then looked up at her father who was staring at her in amusement. Tch, sadist. He always loves to see her in misery. She scowled at him and said "There are just so many weapons here that I can't decide at all!" Where's Tenten when you need her? ...Right, she's dead.

Takashi rolled his eyes and yawned lazily "Well, you won't find one standing here and complaining all day."

She glared at her father and stomped away, making the man's lips to twitch upwards in a smile. Aw, his daughter looks so cute when she gets angry.

She browsed the weapons lazily, scanning them with her eyes, when suddenly her eyes landed on a very familiar weapon. She inhaled a sharp breath and stumbled forward as she stared at it. It was a Giant fan, that stood in a corner of the shop, lying next to various other fans. The fan was larger than her hundred centimetres height, and she had no doubrt that she would not even be able to even hold it properly. But the fan, with the three purple moons painted over it, reminded her so much of her beloved, that she couldn't help but let out a sob. Her hands trembled as she touched the fan, and a feeling akin to nostalgia and guilt erupted from the depths of her heart.

"What is it? You planning on giving up too?" the blonde Kunoichi smirked at him as she slammed the hilt of her fan down on the ground.

'Temari…..' Tears rolled down her pale cheeks and she choked out a sob as she slid down on the ground and clutched to the fan tightly, as her vision was assaulted by various memories of the spunky blonde woman she loved so much.

Takashi had been startled to find his daughter bawling out, clutching a fan tightly between her little hands, and he somehow ended up trying to calm her down from her wailing, and to pry out the fan from her hands so it doesn't hurt her with it's sharp edges. However, in the end he just had to buy the blasted thing since his daughter refused to part with the Giant fan. What a drag.