She should've known really. She was stupid to have thought this life would be better than her last. She should have known something was wrong, but she preferred to sit in her blissful ignorance.

Her first clue for what was amiss was the Edo-era-esque hut she was living in (because it wasn't a house, to say so would be an insult to everything she remembered).

But she brushed it off as it being an old building in a small town on the outskirts of Japan. It was a logical conclusion to come to given the language that was spoken (she already knew how to speak it but pretended to learn anyway). To think this place was anything but Japan would be stupid.

The hut she lived in was very humble, barely warm enough in the frigid coastal town it resided in. She didn't remember much of her early childhood days, probably because it was spent eating, pooping, and napping if she had to guess. In which case she didn't want to remember it anyway.

She had a mother, obviously, but she wasn't much of a mother. She only did the bare minimum to care for her. Though she had a sneaking suspicion that she was a prostitute or did some other work of ill repute. But whatever paid the bill was fine with her.

There was never any talk about a father. She was likely the product of a one-night stand or a failed marriage where he left/died. If she was being honest, she couldn't care less either way since he wasn't in her life right now. She didn't have much luck with fathers in her past life, she wouldn't be surprised if it followed her into this one.

Her second clue should've been the lifestyle she was forced to live.

The currency, Ryo?, the old-styled clothing, Kimono? Seriously? In a fishin' town?, and the food, which wasn't all that weird if only lacking in amount. But she brushed those off too. She supposed there could be some remote town on an island in northern Japan that wanted to preserve tradition, even if that meant using squat toilets.

The one clue that she couldn't brush off however―the one event she couldn't ignore―was slammed into her life when she was four.

She and her mother were sleeping when the first shouts were heard. Her mother groggily woke up and went to the door. One look outside and she came running back in, yelling at her to Get up! We gotta go! Now! She saw mother frantically open up the wooden flooring and pull out some cash and jewelry.

She started smelling smoke coming from the neighbouring huts and saw the fires raging from the windows. Were she a regular 4 year old, she would've been terrified. But she wasn't. However, she was confused.

Even if this was a remote town, wouldn't there be some kind of fire department? Or even just a neighbourhood watch to put the fire out? There was no need to grab your mother's pearls and skip town.

She got up from her futon and went to look outside for herself. She saw the villagers running about, children crying in the street and men with swords.

Men with swords?

"No, child! Come back!" she heard her mother yell. And before she could turn around, a foot collided with her stomach. The air left her lungs and she skidded backwards into the house. She heard her mother shriek and gather her body.

"Tch, nothing of value," claimed the owner of the foot after he stepped in and looked around the hut. He was one of those men with swords.

"What are you talking about? There's a woman and a child," said another walking in behind him.

"S-shinobi," she heard her mother whisper above her.

Shinobi? Did she hear that right?

And then she really looked at them. They weren't dressed in yukata like the other men, they were wearing cargo pants and modern-looking clothes. They had weapons and pouches all over their person. But what really stood out was the piece of metal on their foreheads. Two rows of two wavy lines. It was a hitai-ate, a fore-head protector.

She only knew one world that has that symbol, she realized with dawning horror. And it was the world of Naruto,

But that was impossible wasn't it? Even if reincarnation was, Naruto was fiction. Chakra was fiction, tailed beasts were fiction, shinobi were fiction.

And yet, there they stood, not two meters away.

"We can have fun with the old one now and save the young one for later," said the second man with a smile. The first one, still holding the sword, seemed to think about it.

"No," he claimed. "We'll sell the child." He started walking to them and with a quick yank, he pried her from her mother's grasp.

"N-no, no, no, p-please, don't. Here, ya' can have my money. Ya' can have e-everythin', please! Jus-just leave us alone," her mother begged with tears, holding out their meagre bag of coins.

"Everything?" said the second man with sadistic glee. "Then I'll have you as well." He stalked toward her mother.

"No!" she yelled as her mother whimpered and backed away. The shinobi holding her tightened his grip against her struggling.

"Quit squirming!" he ordered her. He turned around and walked toward the door. "Just make it fast," he called out over the sounds of her mother's struggles. He stepped out of the hut and started running to the woods.

As horrified and frightened as she was, she was glad she didn't have to watch that. And immediately, she felt guilty for being relieved. But what could she do? She was just a child. She was weak.

Before thinking on her helplessness further, something more pressing demanded her attention; the fact that she was in Naruto. With chakra and tailed beasts and shinobi. And gods she was going to die.

Civilians weren't meant to survive; they were cannon fodder, a casualty, a statistic. And just when she hoped she had a second chance to live a normal life, away from impossible expectations and siblings' shadows. She should've known not to hope though. Hope got people killed. Hope got her killed.

No, she's done letting other people determine her future. She will survive in this worldーno she will thrive. And if she has to fight here too, then she will.

-:-

Kuriarare Kushimaru had been tasked to deal with a small band of mercenaries. Some Kiri squad gone rogue from the last war or something. He didn't really pay attention at the mission debrief, and could care less. They were a bunch of shit excuses for shinobi, pillaging fishing towns and they needed to go, that's all he really understood.

Kushimaru and his squad set up traps in the woods surrounding the village and were waiting in ambush nearby. When the first of his victims came out of the village, they all fell for the exploding tags, the pitfalls and barrages of senbon and kunai.

"Tsk," he clicked his tongue in annoyance. None of them were good enough for a fight if they fell for basic traps like these. At least make his time worth it if he was going to come all the way out here.

The second set of his victims was smarter after seeing what happened, and took to the trees. Of course Kushimaru was expecting that. He was itching for a good fight, and if this was the best he's going to see tonight, then might as well get in on the action himself.

So, instead of the ambush that was planned, he ordered his squad to go to the village and route all the hostiles to his location. That'll be more fun.

And he started his hunt. He weaved Nuibari around branches and bodies alike, making beautiful knots with the string on his sword. With a flex of a finger, whole persons were drawn to the treetops and left to suffer the ever-tightening wire. Choking and gasping were heard all around him, but to Kushimaru, it was a symphony on the grandest scale.

He saw one fool trying to rush him with a sword.

Really? Against one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist?

"Heh, useless." Kushimaru chuckled. He threw Nuibari at the other's heart, and in the same motion jumped to catch the needle on the other side. He heard the man trying to catch his breath, but it just left through the hole in his lung with a long hiss. He didn't plan on sewing bodies today, but he's already started so there's no point in stopping now.

So he threw his sword at his next victims' middles, alternating between each side of their sternum. He stabbed and punctured and skewered, and felt the growing weight of bodies line the wire behind him.

He couldn't help the snort that left his lips when there was no more movement around him. "Was that it?" he asked no one in particular. "What the shit? That was barely 20."

"Y-you also killed Tanaka-san," said some newbie as his squad came into view.

"Hmm?" Kushimaru looked back at the wire attached to his sword. And there was Tanaka-san in all his irrelevant glory, with a gaping hole on the right side of his torso.

"So I have," he said as he killed and added the newbie to his collection as well. He then jumped on to a branch and with practiced skill hung the bodies on it like a string of charms. Charms that bled over each other and cascaded down like a waterfall.

"Kill whatever's left and clean up," he ordered. He didn't have to look at his squad to know they were shitting themselves. What a bore, he thought as they walked through the forest sealing away the bodies.

He sat down to start cleaning Nuibari when he heard rustling in the bushes.

"Gah!" shouted one of the shinobi. Kushimaru watched as a little girl severed the man's tendon under his kneecap and ducked to the side once he fell forward face-first. She immediately turned the kunai and stabbed it in his back, right between the shoulder blade and spine. The shinobi's arm was effectively rendered immobile, or he could try to move and be in a great deal of pain.

Kushimaru let out a whistle as he got up and walked over. She looked startled when she heard him, like she wasn't aware there were more people. She turned around to face him, eyes wide and frantic. From the moonlight overhead and the faint glow of the fires, he made note of her silverーalmost translucentーirises; a rare trait in Water.

"Why'd you stop?" he asked. She flinched. "Finish him, if you can."

"C-captain!" The man protested, but Kushimaru paid him no mind. If a child can get the better of him, then he shouldn't be a shinobi. Distrust filled her, looking between him and the one on the ground, though she did seem to be considering it.

"I-if I can, will ya' teach me how to do that?" she asked pointing to the sewn bodies behind him. Well wasn't that interesting? She didn't look scared at all of the bloodied forest, of the webs tangled with bodies, and not of Kushimaru either, even with his mask and unique sword. She only seemed caught off guard by his presence.

"We'll see," he said vaguely.

It seemed that was enough for her as she turned around and picked up a stray kunai.

The shinobi was now turned on his other side and held up his good arm protectively in front of him. The girl leaned forward as she threw the kunai straight up above the man. His eyes followed the weapon, but failed to see her lunge at his injured side and press him to the floor. The kunai lodged in his back was pushed further in, and the bloodied point could be seen on the front.

In the same motion, she produced a senbon in her hands and attempted to jab it in the man's ear. But he suddenly jerked at the last moment and it went in his eye instead. The girl grimaced as the man screamed in agony and he threw her off of him. She landed in a heap near Kushimaru's feet. The nameless shinobi tried to clutch at his face, but that only seemed to hurt him more.

Kushimaru was surprised, to say the least, and people didn't surprise him often, if ever. Yet this seven-year-old-looking girl was able to. Ah, but he can't have that now can he? Or else all the other bastards will think they can pull one over him.

Before he thought of intervening, the girl stood up on her bare feet and walked over with a slight limp to the kunai she threw. The man was so caught up in pain and in his thrashing that he didn't even notice her approaching (that and he lost an eye). She waited until she saw an opening in his side and attempted to lunge again. Only this time he seemed to anticipate it and swung his good hand at her. He landed a solid punch to the base of her throat.

She fell back with a yelp and a whump. Her breathing became shallow and haggard. It seems like he did some damage to her this time and she was struggling to get up.

Kushimaru smiled beneath his mask. The girl was aiming for the liver, a vital spot. If she connected, the shinobi would've died in moments. She seemed to be familiar with human anatomy, and she knew what she was doing.

"Don't tell me you're done already?" he taunted. She moved her jaw in response but only coughed instead. Her hands gingerly went to touch the affected area. After a moment of staring down the man, she rose and picked up the kunai again. The man was still on his side, unable to get up from his injuries.

The girl may have had an advantage due to her ambush the first time and his underestimation of her the second time, but she has nothing now. He perceived her as a threat, and though he's in pain, he still has training and weapons. Regardless of who initiates it, she will die in the next attack.

And he'd just found an interesting child.

Perhaps she could be of value, if not for him then at least for the village.

With an amused sigh, he moved to stand between, and stared down at her. He smiled beneath his mask again. Even if she can't see it, he made sure it could be heard in his voice. "Tsk tsk tsk," he started. "You hindered an official Kirigakure mission and injured one of its shinobi. You could get executed for that." A serious offense, apparently. Nevermind that he commits it often. But she doesn't know that, and she's a civilian.

So he expected her to start begging for her life, or complain saying that he was the one that told her to fight him.

"Execution?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. "Like dat's gonna stop me." Imagine Kushimaru's surprise, again, when she didn't do either of that. He found himself doubled over in laughter. She was but a child; a child who knows nothing of living, and thinks nothing of dying. It was quite the irony.

"Aren't you scared?" he gathered himself from his mirth and asked. "It's death you know, there's no coming back," he spelled out. And to add emphasis, he pulled his sword out and pointed it at her. To his increasing entertainment, she snorted.

No one's ever snorted with Nuibari at their throats, least of all a child.

"You'd be surprised," she stated. "Death is overrated." And he was surprised, though not at whatever she meant, but at what she said, and the fact that she had the balls to say anything at all. He started cracking up again. He howled with glee. Kids these days. If all of them were like this, he might've let some live. Might.

"What's your name, brat?" he asked once he calmed down.

"Don know," she replied. "Neva needed it."

Well, wasn't that sad? A no-name civilian child wants to be a shinobi. Did she even know what that entailed? Regardless, whether it was deliberate or not, she was precise enough for his skillset. Quiet enough to wait in ambush, and resourceful enough to defend herself. And was the first child to catch his interest and willingly offer herself as tribute.

Oh what the hell? He could always just kill her if he didn't like her anymore."It's gonna be hard girl," he said, lowering his sword. "I will break you."

"If that's what it takes to survive," she replied after a beat.

"Heh, then that's what you'll give."

-:-

Suikami was a busy guy. He was the Chief Commanding Officer for all the active shinobi in Kirigakure. Sure, below him was a Commanding Officer for jounin, chunin and genin respectively, but he had the final say on their decisions; on all the important decisions of all the shinobi in the village. He was an extremely busy guy.

So when Kushimaru walked in to report his mission with a child in tow, Suikami knew that meant more work for him. "What's her name?" he asked with a resigned sigh.

"Hmm?" Kushimaru replied.

"If she's going to be your student, I need a name."

"What makes you think she's my student?"

"Why else is there a child in my office?" He shot back.

"Well?" Suikami pressed when the swordsman gave no answer. "Her name, Kushimaru, now."

A beat.

And then another.

The bastard was probably waiting for the girl to introduce herself, while she, for her Sensei.

She spared a glance at him before turning back to Suikami. "I don'tー"

"Tsukisa," Kushimaru stated. "Her name is Tsukisa."

The girl gaped at her sensei with thinly veiled awe. 'Pierce' seriously? She was an orphan then, only he would think of such a ridiculous name. And orphans like her don't last very long in Kiri.

"Tsukisa...what?" Suikami sighed. He was starting to get fed up.

"What?"

"Oh for crying out loud Kushimaru!" He banged his hands on his desk. "She's your student! We can't have a nameless child running around with a legendary sword!" he yelled pointing at him. "She needs a surname!" The girl was visibly startled, but the bastard just watched him through the slits on his mask.

"For the love ofー! You know what?" Suikami didn't even care anymore. He had other things to do, more important than one shinobi and his ward. "Kuriarare," he said, writing it down on a citizen registration form. "Kuriarare Tsukisa."

"What," Kushimaru seethed.

"I don't have time for this," he said, taking out another form to fill. "How old are you kid?"

"I'll be five next month," Tsukisa answered.

"What?!" Kushimaru rounded on her. "I thought you were eight or something!"

The girl shrugged. "Guess I'm tall for my age."

Ugh, what a mess. They can't even throw her in the academy for observation. Such a young and untrained child would definitely warrant attention if they did. Even more so if they find out she's to be a student of Kushimaru's since the bastard refused to teach any other children. And her chakra is almost non-existent, even for a civilian child; she's not gonna learn much there. This is going to be a headache to report to the Mizukage.

The pair spent some more time in Suikami's office, filling out the proper documents for her stay. After confirming the death of Tsukisa's mother, Kuriarare Kushimaru became her legal guardian.

"Don't get her killed after making me start all this paperwork," Suikami warned. "You're dismissed."

-:-

Tsukisa knew she was going to crash soon, physically and mentally. For one, her body was four-years-old, it's been more than 24 hours since she last slept. Her sensei gave her some ration bars last night on the way to Kirigakure, but obviously that wasn't enough for an already underweight child. For another, she wasn't in Japan anymore. For as long as she was self-aware in this world, thinking it was the countryside in Japan made sense. Japan made it easier.

Except it didn't. And now she had to deal with it.

Normally, when she's clueless in an unfamiliar situation or place, she would stay in the background and collect information. Knowledge is power after all. A riskier option would be to have the favour of a powerful person and hope they don't screw her over. And yes, she said not to hope, 'cause that's what caught her unprepared. But now that she knows where she is, and has a clue about her situation, hope might not be all that bad.

She looked up at her new sensei walking in front of her. She can't say there was a lot about him from the anime, only bits from the Fourth War. He would die between now, whenever now was, and the start of the story's plot.

Seems like she still has information to collect, if only to be prepared and because she knows such information exists. She didn't care enough to try and fix the plot or save important characters. Her knowledge is hazy, (it's been more than 30 years after all) and the main cast are a country away, if they're even born.

So no, she didn't care about them (she can't even see them). Once she's strong enough to survive on her own, she would live this second life the way she couldn't live her first. She's gonna party it up, fall in love, get married, and settle down in the countryside.

But for now, she would focus on surviving. And in this world, that meant strength.

Kushimaru rounded a corner and walked up to a house in the shinobi district. And by district she means circular houses strewn together in the woods. The house itself was pretty nice, inside and out. It wasn't the best thing she's ever seen, but it was comfortable looking and better than her last living situation.

"Just do what I say and don't ask questions, alright?" he asked as they stepped in.

"Okay," replied Tsukisa.

"Good, we'll start training now."

On second thought, maybe hope is a little overrated too.