AN: I'm posting this before I give into the urge to delete it. It's been really difficult getting back into writing, and this was written during a seven hour layover. I'm currently visiting my paternal grandmother, so I'll have time to update again, I'm outlining the next chapter, shooting for 5,000 words.
Leaves of grass
If she were to compare her past Academy years to her current one. She would say there is little distinction, but then again there are brilliant segues that give her pause. Occasionally causing her to stop and observe with keen eyes. (Naruto's perception of human behavior is something to balk at. In these rare moments she puts it to use.)
Her beginning years of the Academy are a blur, her first two years are filled with napping in the midst of lessons. Wiping the drool from her mouth when she's called on to answer questions, leaving her sensei flabbergasted when she answers their questions correctly, and yet being praised for her supposed brilliance—"An absolute credit to her father and mother!" or "I can't expect anything less from Hokage-sama's daughter!"
Despite her status as the Hokage's daughter, Minato has demanded that Naruto be treated the same as her classmates. But favoritism is inevitable, especially amongst those children of clans, aristocracy, businessmen or bureaucrats.
To have once been an observer from the outside in—in her former life as a village pariah and "clanless" orphan—it gives her morbid fascination to now be on the receiving end of praise. Before she can say that she would have enjoyed the attention, reveled in it as the obnoxious little shit that she was (is). Now however, she finds herself internally cringing at the way she's simpered over by some of her sensei. These are the very soldiers that are the backbone of Konoha, the weapons that are wielded at the Leaf's defense, here they reduce themselves to common idolaters. But perhaps she is being too hard on them, in her past life these very soldiers would scorn her existence, perhaps this is simply human nature in all its fallible glory.
Kurama takes these moments of rumination in stride, but occasionally takes it upon himself to mock her: "Idiot child, it appears you have finally come to the conclusion I made eons ago. All ningen are cannon fodder. Ants at the feet of greater beings such as myself."
Er… Naruto would not go that far.
Anyhow:
The less said about the academy the better. She has former knowledge from what she bothered to learn from her stint in the Academy in her former life, and the knowledge her parents have instilled (which is a lot) in her for the last eight years of her life.
The Academy is not a point of interest. Graduating early and leaving it confines is a gateway to accomplishing greater goals. Attending is simply a means to an end, but being around her friends and family is the only thing that matters for the present.
(The Academy may not be a point of interest for Naruto but for Uchiha Itachi and Inuzuka Hana it is. Like Naruto it is a gateway for them, but form them it offers stepping stones to greater horizons.)
I've got a plan (I've got an atlas in my hand)
"Okaa-san I'm leaving home," Itachi calls as he slips on his sandals.
Mikoto calls out an affirmative sound.
His mother worries for him.
(Even with extensive counseling, sometimes Itachi awakens from the midst of sleeping hyperventilating, black eyes melding into the crimson of the sharingan, spinning death. Phantom images of white and black skin, mocking amber eyes, the carnage of battle and the stench of copper from blood left in its wake.
He awakens from these dreams with clenched fists, his chakra signature fluctuating wildly, harkening his mother from her own slumber to race to his side.
At times he grows weary from sleeping, and so he avoids it and takes to meditating instead. The burgeoning stress lines on his young face attest to this)
His brother craves his attention constantly.
(When Sasuke took his first steps, his path was to Itachi. His chubby hands reaching for Itachi as he laughed in delight, taking clumsy steps as Naruto and Shisui cheered him on. Amongst Sasuke's first words included "Nii-chan." Sasuke adores his brother and the feeling is reciprocated.)
He does his best to please them.
The Academy is a place of great interest, but the more he excels there, the more he craves a challenge. When Itachi showed an interest in medical ninjutsu—which is an understatement considering the large medical texts and scrolls he lugs around and reads for fun—strings were pulled to place him in the Iryo-nin program. With clan standing and favoritism from the Hokage, Itachi becomes the youngest person to enter the medic nin program.
In the morning Itachi finds himself ensconced in the Acadamy where he sits beside a sleeping Naruto, diligently doing his assigned work and prods the blond awake when needed. The afternoons find Itachi trekking to Konoha's hospital, and attending classes with individuals four to five years his senior.
(He has found his vocation early, and while it is expected he will excel in ninjutu, genjutsu, taijutsu, and eventually master the sharingan. There is nothing to say he cannot dominate the medical nin field. The greatest Iryo-nin in Konoha is a Senju, the Uchiha clan readily supports their heir if it means he eventually usurps the legendary Senju Tsunade as Konoha's greatest medic nin.)
The Iryo-program is usual offered to genin at least one year out of the Academy, and with some field experience. While some rudimentary knowledge of medical chakra is encouraged amongst the general shinobi population; Konoha's hospital offers crash course lectures for shinobi. The Iryo-nin program is a separate entity for those ninja solely interested in iryo ninjutsu, with in depth knowledge of the chakra system, tenketsu, and anatomy physiology. Here they are taught to heal, but in that knowledge there is the power to kill. These techniques are about precision; an incision from a chakra scalpel can end a life as well as save one.
This fascinates Itachi—along with the lot of these in depth techniques being immune to the sharingan's gaze—this is the challenge Itachi craves.
Itachi's favorite word is peace.
Since witnessing the death of his father he has become a pacifist, and dreams some day of peace encompassing the ninja world. However, that's a long term goal, in the meantime he is content with learning to protect those precious to him. Inevitably he will be called to duty and wielded as a weapon to defend Konoha, but with the many abilities he will acquire in killing he will also have the means to save lives.
He will not be alone in the Iryo-nin courses, eventually Inuzuka Hana will join him; she plans to become a veterinarian for her clan's ninken. But for now he is fawned upon by the kunoichi in his afternoon classes, and is quite content to continue his studies for he will certainly graduate the academy early, but continue in the medic nin program when not training with his future teammates or away on missions.
In between:
She has a difficult choice to make.
(It's not regarding the timeline. Fuck all where that is concerned.
Her whole sojourn back to the past is to save her precious people. Hyuuga Neji just so happens to be next on her list.
But now she has even more incentive:
Is she willing to let a child suffer from an archaic tradition that dates back to Otsutsuki Hamura, a tradition whose purpose has become a twisted semblance of a power structure based on probability of birth, leaving members of a family downtrodden and a select few wielders of their fates?
Naruto remembers her resolve:
Once upon a time there was a boy who lived happily with his parents, then he was branded, his father was sacrificed without explanation. He defied expectations and overcame his station in life, but he grew up to be jaded, withdrawn and cruel. Once upon a time there was a girl, she lived happily with her parents, then she was kidnapped, her father's head was called for, but his twin took his place and was sacrificed instead. Her mother died, and she suddenly found her crushed beneath expectations, and she grew up to be meek, withdrawn and kind. Once upon a time this boy and girl that grew up in opposite ends of the spectrum of their clan, met in mock battle and nearly fought to the death. Once upon a time this boy and girl united and dreamed of changing the Hyuuga clan.
Once upon a time this man and woman grew up and died young fighting for what they believed in.
Naruto will be damned if she lets Neji and Hinata's sacrifices get taken for granted.
In her former life, Neji was a boy who annoyed her with his prattling on fate and predetermined destinies—(Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto creates her own fucking destiny, believe it!) Then he became a man she respected, and person she was proud to call her friend.
In this lifetime Naruto has yet to meet Hinata, but Neji has become family to her, Hizashi-oji-san is a parental figure to her, a brother to Kushina, and a friend to Minato.
Will she allow Hyuuga Hizashi to die? Will she allow Neji—a child that has become a younger sibling to her—lose his father as Itachi and Sasuke lost theirs? Will she allow the passage of time take place to simply preserve the time line?
She cannot interfere with clan traditions, the family structure in the Hyuuga clan is something only a Hyuuga can change. She will not take that future victory from Neji and Hinata, but perhaps she can be the precursor that helps bring about this change.
This gives her the motivation to prevail.)
Changing the time line is not the dilemma.
It's the method of going about it. Does she choose the direct approach or indirect approach?
She learned her lesson when she hesitated, when she thought she alone could carry on the burdens of the so called "chosen one."
(Intense discussions with Kurama regarding the passage of time and whether history is set in stone have given Naruto some insight to what consequences her decisions will garner. If an event is set in stone then there are many paths that diverge from it, it all depends on the choices made. Neji being branded with the cage-bird seal was inevitable, but the paths that emerge from this event have yet to become concrete.
Hence forth there is a way to thwart Hinata's abduction and Hizashi's death.)
If Naruto takes the direct approach she'll bring unneeded attention to herself. She can just imagine the fallout that would follow if she found a way unravel the caged bird seal. The political repercussions would be dire and she could imagine the paperwork her father would have to endure. She shudders, no one deserves that.
The indirect approach is more appealing, but requires approaching her fellow jinchuriki. At the next bijuu powwow she'll asks Killer Bee if he's heard about any future alliances between Konoha and Cloud from his brother A, and if he wants to finally meet up. If things go accordingly, Bee will be meeting an eight year old child instead of a young woman.
I've got a plan (I've got an atlas in my hand)
If it is a gradual development Naruto fails to notice it. Blood line limits have a strange way of manifesting, some appear at birth, some through rigorous training, and others through life threatening danger.
In this case rigorous training can be culprit—well at first glance. For Naruto there are many possibilities, one too many to ponder.
(Later when she reflects on it, she's going to be put out it didn't come with a more awesome entrance.
Kurama on the other hand will roll his eyes and snort in mockery.)
She supposes this day can be called ordinary. She's on the roof of her family's flat, within the green house. Her father joins her, giving himself a well-deserved break (read: shirking his duties) from the mountains of paper work on his desk, leaving two shadow clones to fulfill his duties in the meantime. It's a rare moment of family tranquility that is seldom seen since Naruto started the Academy, Minato became Hokage and Kushina decided to become a jonin-sensei. Unfortunately Kushina is not there to commemorate in the shared peace, she's with her genin team freezing their asses off as they escort a merchant to Yuki no Kuni.
Minato and Naruto are harvesting ripe vegetables and planting new flowers that Minato had imported in from Kawa no Kuni. Naruto's currently gathering bell peppers—a vegetable her mother had imported from yonder western lands—and tomatoes; this year's small crop of tomatoes are underdeveloped and struggling to grow. Naruto puts down her basket, drops down to her knees to look beneath the tomato plant's leaves. Searching for a telltale sign red, she finds none, and touches one of the green tomatoes. "Okaa-san can cook with anything, she'll find something to make with these," Naruto mutters to herself, and as she goes to pull the tomato from its perch she finds it green hue changing to ripe red.
Since her rebirth she has been sensitive to nature chakra, it thrives all around her. But now, within her hand it thrums with life, akin to when the Rikudo Sennin inundated her with creation chakra. Before her eyes the struggling tomato plant grows ripe and healthy, drawing on her chakra to give it the necessary nutrients to thrive. Naruto watches fascinated, by now she has let go of the small fruit. But then her eyes widen in shock as the plant continues to grow, it's vines breaking its pot, the fruit it bears becomes enormous, it's trunk shooting upward, branches stretching outward, straining against the roof of the greenhouse. The glass groans against the bursting vegetation, the roof creaks ominously, and tiny fissures appears in the glass before finally breaking.
Naruto begins to move from the impending danger, only to find herself grabbed by strong arms, she lets out a small grunt upon impact. Her father spirits her away to an adjacent roof top, he sets her down and they watch with keen fascination as the greenhouse roof comes down as the tomato tree shoots upward and seems to come to a growing halt. The tree stands at four meters, leaning precariously off their flat's roof.
Below in the street onlookers gawk and attempt to dodge glass debris, they shout and murmur at the spectacle outside the Hokage's family home.
"Holy shit-ow!" Minato cuffs the back of Naruto's head, she rubs it and gives him an irritated glare.
"Language Naruto," Minato chides absently, and looks upon the wreckage of the green house with calculatingly eyes. Surveying the damage and subsequent tomato tree. He looks back down at her, and raises a brow, "Well isn't this interesting? Your mother is going to so mad that her prize winning flowers were crushed."
That is an understatement of the century.
It appears Naruto has the Mokuton, as extraordinary as it is for a Senju trait to manifest in his daughter, right now Minato can only think of the future headaches this is going to give him.
Naruto on the other hand feels hysterical laughter bubble forth. Sasuke is going to love a giant tomato for snack time.
