After our whole fiasco, things ended quite well, believe it or not. The only thing different is that Baki now has to remind me on the daily not to wear my binder if it's a high intensity day.

And did I mention I pulled another time skip?

Oh well. I did.

What, you expect me to be consistent? That's the last thing that I am.

It's been a month since I got here.

A three week time skip. Very acceptable.

But seriously. I need to move this fuckin plot along. I've got big shit happening.

Lemme guess, you wanna know? Well, to put it simply, that chakra system of mine? It's almost fully formed. Only about a week left.

However, there is a downside. Having literal tiny roots in your body that are growing at an extreme rate hurts.

A lot.

Of course, I can still function, and of course I take Advil and I'm fine, but chakra as a whole in my body...

Man, trying to mold that shit? It's hard...

Think of keeping air in a ball. Not a ball that you'd play sports with. I mean a literal ball of air.

And I'm not even thinking of the rasengan. I'm saying for fucking clones.

That's right folks. I'm 19, and can't do an academy level jutsu. It's almost pitiful, really.

Baki still blames it on the fact my pathways aren't complete. They have yet to fully reach my feet, and my left hand fingertips haven't gotten done completely either.

Oh, and Kankuro is also assisting me. At first, I thought Baki and Gaara were nuts for the idea, but Kankuro's fighting style revolves soley on chakra manipulation. After all, he is a puppeteer.

Pretty smart, now that I think about it.

And of course, he's got his quirks. First of all, he never shuts up about joints and wood. His puppets are somewhat scratch made, or at least edited, but he could get into a five hour conversation about wood types.

Trust me, he's done it.

That and he loves to rustle my hair when I do something well. It's kinda like how Baki calls me champ. Sometimes he'll lift my stuff up with his chakra threads. It's pretty cool.

He hasn't told me about the paint yet. I'd assume it's just a cultural thing. Or the sun. The sun is fucking hot here. Everyone I've ever trained with here just says that I'll get over it with better chakra control. They better be right, because I sweat buckets out here.

"Shorty, get some of water, then we'll try again."

He calls me shorty. Not like he's much taller. Not my fault I'm 5'4. Puberty's a bitch.

"Kai, I think you need a bit of work on the visualizing portion of this. It's like I said, imagine creating a second you with half of your existing body."

"God, Kankuro. You make it seem easy." I chuckle.

"Kinda like I've been doing it my whole life, huh?"

"I have no clue how any of you managed to pass ninja school. I hardly passed my academic work back home... imagine if it included this..."

He fluffs my hair. "C'mon shortstack, let's get back. Try that meditation technique I taught ya."

I sit down on a mat, which, for context as to why I need water, is outdoors.

Breathe, Kai. Just do what he said. In seven, hold four, out eight. Repeat.

And here it is. The light I'm looking for. Blueish.

Now, just concentrate on making it into a second self...

The circle of blue sorta splits down the middle and makes itself a circle, while the other half does the same.

I open my eyes to hear a cheering Kankuro.

"Little red! You did it! You amazing little thing you did it!"

I'm a bit blown away by the celebration that I'm getting, and the new nickname, considering my hair isn't all that red, but why am I complaining? He's proud.

He runs to me and practically suffocates me with a hug.

Oh. Ohhh.

I know why he's so happy. It's a brotherly thing. Something tells me childhood Gaara was a bit distant. He's never done this, has he?

He shakes his head. "Sorry, that was too close, wasn't it?"

I hug him back. "There's no problem with hugs, Kankuro. Brotherly thing, I'm assuming?"

"You could say that..." he chuckles.

Maybe if we hadn't been hugging, I would've noticed the bird overhead. A large, owl bird.

You know exactly who that is. Hint; he's blonde, and has a speech tic.

"C'mon. I'm taking you out for dango. Plus, Gaara said to meet us later. Something about registering you officially."

"Registration?"

"Citizenship. And a headband. The whole getup. You're...kinda nonexistent in our system."

"Oh, that. "

Twenty minutes later, I'm sitting with Gaara, who's somewhat absentmindedly chewing on a dango stick.

"So, your citizenship?" He starts.

"Yeah, I've been told I need to sign a paper, maybe answer a few questions."

"You'd be right, then."

He slides a paper towards me with a wink, pointing toward a certain sector.

"You're kidding. Doesn't the hospital fill these out?"

"I'm a Kage. I can make excuses."

"You did all this... for me?" He must be nuts.

"It's nothing, really. I just told them there was a mistake on the papers. Like you said, you weren't born the way the papers tell you." He chuckles.

I'm tearing up.

"Thank you. Seriously. I can't thank you enough."

"It's my pleasure." He says, taking a bite from the stick, "you're Kai to us. It doesn't matter who says your not."

And then a bomb rang out. The explosion crackled against what I'd assume was the entire village, and our building shook.

Shitshitshitshitshit

I've only been here a month. This was supposed to take six months. I checked five times. My timing isn't wrong.

Theirs is.

Shit.

That means one thing. My existence alone changed the timeline indirectly. Now, that indirect influence will directly affect the timeline.

Simply put, I'm fucked. And I didn't know it.

I hear Gaara shout what I can assume is "get down" in Japanese.

That's another issue. The language barrier...

A wall of sand starts to rise up through the now broken roof. He's guarding the village, isn't he?

Another bomb rings out.

And when the dust settles, my worst fears are confirmed.

That's fucking Sasori, isn't it. I mean, I only know one man who parades around in a scorpion suit and poisons people for a living.

I'm assuming they're here for Gaara, considering his jinchuriki status. And then I realize Gaara's currently fighting Deidara in the sky, with one difference from canon. Kanji rp appears to be with him as well.

Extra manpower, always a good one.

And the second I come of my thoughts, time nearly stands still. I don't know what it was, but something hits me, and I start hyperventilating.

Shit.

Baki's left me to go help with the others, I'd assume, considering I can't see him anymore. It's just me, some civilians, and an s rank criminal hell bent on what I can assume is my death.

"Just who I'm looking for..."

He trails off. God, his voice is creepy.

"The jinchuriki..."

"Sir, you've got me mixed up. I'm not him."

"Then where is he?" Goddamit, how can a puppet be fucking scary?

"I don't know. Probably fighting or something!"

"I don't believe you... and I don't like being kept waiting by liars."

"I'm serious!" I yell.

"The imbalance of your chakra says different..."

Is he a sensor or something? I'd say no, but lord am in hot water...

"It's a genetic thing!" I explain.

"What have I said? I don't deal with liars, and I certainly don't waste my time."

The bombs stop ringing. It all goes dead for a single second.

"Deidara, our leader will be happy."

And then a piece of rubble falls and hits me.

That's one way to end a good day...

A/N:

I've since edited the hair color of Kai to be red, unlike the cover, which is why Sasori mistakes him and Gaara. The timeline change effects this as well. While it is common knowledge to a village if and who a jinchuriki is, the akatsuki are unaware he's been promoted to Kage. Thus far, as in my timeline, Gaara's only been Kage a few months, (he's fifteen instead of sixteen), it's easy to mistake two redheads, especially when it's a rare color, and the pics and data for said redheads are pretty limited.

As for the eye rings, Kai gets very little sleep, as has been mentioned before, he's an insomniac and a night owl. As for the chakra remark, sasori isn't a sensor, and he doesn't know the difference all too well.

If you have more plot holes to fill, I'll get em filled.