As a shinobi in training, you get used to falling. From getting flattened on the ground, while practicing the climbing technique, to being sent flying across the training field, the feeling of air rushing past you as none of your limbs are in contact with the ground becomes quite familiar. So familiar in fact that most trainees learn how to not react to it after a short while.

Being the outstanding talent that she was, Yume had learnt months ago not to be fazed by the unexpected changes in her environment, and how to start analyzing everything that's happening around her in order not to miss something that might be key to her survival, when she finally discovers what was happening to her. She knew that she had screwed up badly, her father's last reminder echoing in her mind, but she pushed it to the back focusing more on survival at the moment, guilt for later.

All of this was of course done silently, with the same stoic expression that she always and forever will have.

So when a high pitched "ouch" was heard just as Yume's butt hit the ground, you can bet that it didn't come from her.

As she quickly tried to adjust herself into a more practical position, Yume felt something sliding from underneath her, and quickly hide in a nearby bush. On edge, heart beating fast, she reached for a kunai in her pouch, but was only met with air. Looking down quickly, she cursed her aunt Maki and Kimiko-sama for forcing her to abandon her shinobi gear today because "it wasn't proper to have on with mourning clothes". If only she had just listened to the voice in her mind that kept telling her it would be even more disrespectful to her parents not to abide by their teachings. Uchiha Akari and Senju Hideki always repeated that a shinobi should never be caught unprepared.

And now she was unprepared in the most dangerous situation she had ever faced.

Scanning her surroundings, she couldn't even get a single clue of where she was. Geography and topography lessons had been drilled into her head quite early on, and she should have been at least able to determine whether she was on a mountain or plain field, but she couldn't really tell. All around her, she saw thick bushes, and some trees huddled in groups of three and four, which made her think of a forest, except that she had never heard of a forest that had a stone sealing. Looking around, this place made her think of a cave, but she didn't think that caves were supposed to be this enormous, and have quite the luxurious vegetation in them.

Still she was only six and had never left the Senju territories before, so what did she know?

After the quick scan, her eyes once again focused on the bush the creature had rushed to, her hands close to each other, ready to make hand signs if needed. Even without weapons, she was still a master of taijutsu and ninjutsu.

Her eyes finally made contact with a pair of yellow irises with slit pupils. They were the only part of the creature that she could see, and what was even weirder was how close they were to the ground, making it impossible that this thing might have a human-like face.

After they both warily fixed each other for a good while, the creature seemed to relax more, and started moving forward, while Yume shakily kept her ground. Why wouldn't it be confident, since it had the benefit of being in its own territory and a better view of its opponent?

As it got out from the bush, Yume could finally see what she was dealing with. A purple colored snake, the size of her forearm. She didn't relax, but she felt more at ease. There were many snakes bigger than this one in the forest where she lived, and her father had already taught her how to deal with them. A Katon should be enough. Still, she had no idea from where the voice had come, and where the hell she was, so she was very much on edge.

Suddenly, the snake raised his front part from the ground, tilting his head a little bit to the side, and said: "How the hell was such a tiny human capable of getting this far in the Cave? You must really be some sort of a psychopath."

Yume was so shocked her hands lowered themselves on their own. She was just a child after all, and curiosity had won over, ever since she got the feeling that the snake didn't want to harm her. Yet.

In a small voice, she asked: "You can talk?".

The only animal she thought could talk was Baji, her dad's dog friend.

The snake shook a little and looked like it had been provoked: "Of course I can! Don't let my small size fool you, I'm not a baby anymore. I'm growing really fast, and in a short time I will be even bigger than the snakes you met while coming here!"

Yume looked him in the eye and answered calmly: "I haven't met any snakes while coming here."

"Huh? They must be slacking off! I will tell Hakuja Sennin on them, that will teach them to make fun of me. They always say I'm so short. Big meanies all of them, I tell yah. Anyway, you shouldn't have wondered this way. This is a restricted area, and the next test isn't here. I won't tell you where, since you need to find it on your own. You see, I know the rules, so you can't trick me into telling you anything. But if you make it worth my while… You see, I know quite a lot and.."

Seeing as the chatty snake was about to wander in a monologue she had no interest in, she chose to cut him off, and asked: "What test are you talking about? And where are we? And who is slacking off?"

The snake glared at her after being cut off and said: " What the hell do you mean where are we and what test? How did you come this far in the Ryushi Cave if you don't know? Are you trying to trick me?"

Yume looked at him seriously and honestly said: "I'm not. I did the hand signs for the summoning jutsu and somehow I landed here. I don't know anything else."

The snake titled its head sizing up Yume once again. She could feel his curiosity grow when he finally made eye contact with her again. She had a sinking feeling that her eyes were about to be the subject of the discussion once more.

Great, even a talking snake thinks I'm weird.

Right on cue, the snake said: "You have weird eyes for a human. I mean, I have never seen a human before, my mother won't let me just yet, but I heard descriptions. Tell me, are there other humans like you? It would be cool if I can tell the others something they don't know!"

She shook her head: "No, I seem to be the only one who has Rinnegans."

The snakes seemed to open slightly wider as he exclaimed: "Rinnegans. It can't be! They stopped existing after the Rikudo Sennin! Are you trying to trick me again? It's not funny, you know. I don't like it when I'm made fun of. If I was bigger, I would eat you for making fun of me."

Yume didn't answer him, she just looked at him pointedly, while considering her options. She wanted to go back home, so she needed to start looking for a way out of this cave. Also, the chatty one mentioned that there are other snakes bigger than him nearby so she needed to be prepared.

Being done with this useless discussion, she started to turn around and leave when the chatty little snake shouted behind her: "Wait up!"

She barely turned to glance back at him as he rambled on: "You're not lying to me are you? Cause if you aren't, we need to go find the Sennin right now. This is huge. But, if you are lying to me, the Sennin will throw you to the others to eat."

Yume gave him a cold glance and said while she started walking the other way: "Don't want to."

The little snake was taken aback and hurried behind her: "What do you mean? Are you mad at me? Is it because I called your eyes weird? You humans are so sensitive! Weird is good, you know. Everybody calls me weird because I'm a snake who talks a lot, but I'm still awesome. You should be proud to be weird. And by the way, I should be the one who is mad. You're the one who fell on me while I was trying to sneak out and almost killed me. But I don't hold a grudge, so don't worry about it."

Yume halted and turned to look at the snake who had caught up with her: "Sorry about that. You said you were trying to sneak out? Since you were heading the other way, does that mean that the exit is that way to?"

The sneak shook its head: "I think so. It should be. I don't really know, because the main exit is guarded so I can't run away from there. Someone told me that there is another exit on the south side where we were, but I couldn't find it. And after that you appeared out of thin air and tried to kill me. And here we are, that's all I know."

Yume scrutinized him for any sign of deception, but couldn't find any. Then again, who the hell knew what signs of deception were in snakes. Her training didn't cover this.

She sighed, a little bit over her head for a kid her age, and said: "So what do we do know?"

The snake answered: "I told you: Let's go see the Hakuja Sennin. I don't think that it's a coincidence that someone with rinnegans ended up here, in the Ryuchi caves, home of the great snakes. The Sage will know what to do. Plus, due to your special status, I think you can skip the trials this once."

Yume deadpanned: "Don't want to."

The snake was outraged: "Why the hell not? Do you think that we welcome just anyone? Be careful little human, or I will stop being nice."

Yume raised an eyebrow: "You realize that you are smaller than me, don't you?"

"YOU!"

She cut him off before he could finish: "I don't want to because I have no reason to trust I am safe. You have an interest in my eyes, what tells me you won't harm me to get to them? Papa and Mama warned me about this. And I still don't know where I am, how I landed here, or how to go back home. The safer option is not to go with."

The snake seemed to calm down after her explanation : "Well, it's not like you have that many choices either. You can stay here and starve to death. You can try to find your way on your own, but you will probably die since you don't even know what the Ryuchi Caves are. OR you can follow me and meet the Sannin. And about your eyes, I don't think that you should be this weary from use. Us snakes are too proud to stoop down to stealing eyes, no matter how special, and they won't fit us anyway. The worst we can do is try to influence you into using them to mess around with the toads a little bit."

Yume was intrigued: "Toads? Talking toads like you?"

He puffed his chest and said: "They talk, but us snakes are way better and way cooler. Anyway our story with them is quite long. I will tell you on the way if you choose to come with me."

Yume was silent for a while. She wanted to hear the story of the snakes and the toads, and frankly her tired little mind couldn't think of any other option than the ones the snake laid out. She knew that her poor parents were probably very disappointed in the choices she was making this far, but she just couldn't help herself.

As soon as she nodded, the little snake rushed to her and climbed up her body until his little form settled nicely on her left shoulder. They made eye contact and he said in a chirpy way: "I'm Kenji, by the way."

She answered him shortly: "Senju Yume."

He happily continued: "You're not very talkative, are you? Anyway, start walking that way, I will guide you."

Yume nodded and started following his directions. On their way, the snake didn't stop talking: "Well, anyway, what were we talking about? Oh right, the toads. Well, if you don't know about the snakes of the Ryuchi cave, then you certainly don't know about the toads of Mount Myoboku."

Yume cut him off: "Actually, I do. From the stories about the Sage of six paths."

Kenji was outraged: "No wonder my species doesn't like yours! You humans choose to respect those disgusting things and forget about us, the Great Snakes. How outrageous! Here, take a left. Anyway, as I was saying, we snakes don't get along well with the toads. Both of our species have lived on this earth even before shinobi came to exist. It wasn't always peaceful, but the Senin says that we didn't have that big of an enmity. Take another left. But things started changing when the toads made contact with the humans. You see, we were always against teaching our art to them randomly, but the toads had a different idea. They thought that they had some moral duty to get us all involved in the humans' fights. That's when the sage of six paths came in. Anyway, if you already know the story, I will spare you the details. In summary, after that the toads became allies of the humans and great friends, while we were left to the side. Some humans come to try and learn from us, but our selection methods are quite harsh, so we earned even more of a bad reputation. The toads also started gloating and ….hey! Why are you slowing down?"

That was a stupid quiestion if Yume had ever heard one.

You see what is even more scary than a talking small snake, is a gigantic one. Gigantic might also be an understatement since Yume could tell that it was the size of around ten adults.

Kenji had guided her towards a side of the cave that looked like a room, with a throne in the middle. On the throne sat a large albino snake, many times the size of a human, wrapped in thick coils. It wore a turban with two pointed edges and a red orb on top along with an orange headdress. It also wore a chain with a green orb around its neck and smoked, using a long cigarette holder.

When they entered its domain, the snake was already fixing them, a lazy knowing smile on its lips. Yume gulped and chose to stop a few feet away from the throne. Kenji however slithered away from her, and started talking to the white snake: "Senin, look at what I found, sneaking around in our cave! You will not believe it, but this human claims to have Rinnegans. It's a good thing that I caught her while patrolling."

The white snake tore her eyes from Yume and threw him a disinterested glance and started in a clearly feminin voice: "I knew that she was here the moment she was thrown in. Just like I know everything in this cave, and like I know that you were trying to sneak out again. And don't try to deny it, your mother has already been informed."

Kenji shrieked: "Why? How? I haven't done anything yet, so why did you tell my mother?"

The white snake ignored him and turned to look at Yume once again. She sized her up and down for a while, and Yume did the same, before their eyes locked: "So, it is true. The Rinnegans seem to have appeared again. How interesting."

Yume didn't answer her, and after a prolonged silence, the snake smiled viciously and said: "So tell me, Rinnegan wielder, why should I teach you our art?"

Yume answered her immediately: "Don't want to learn anything from you. Came here by mistake. Can you tell me how to go back home? Kenji thinks that you know the way out."

The snake was clearly not expecting this answer because it frowned: "How the hell does one come to the Ryushi cave by mistake? People spend their lifetimes looking for this place."

Yume deadpanned once again: "I did the Kuchiyose no jutsu, without proper guidance. And I somehow ended up here."

The snake was taken aback once again: "So you reverse summoned yourself here? Interesting."

Yume was a bit peeved: "Why do you keep saying "Interesting"?"

The snake let out a mocking laugh, and started smoking once again: "I forget that humans your size have the same mental faculties as small Kenji here. You caught me in a good mood, so I will explain a few things to you: When a human executes the summoning technique, without having signed a blood contract before, they get sent into the domain of the summon that suits them best. It means that your personality and skill are fit to work with the snakes of our cave. Moreover, the fact that you landed so near Kenji means that the two of you would make a good team."

Yume internally admitted that it was interesting, but she didn't let any of it show, to not give the smug snake more satisfaction. Something about this old senin just brushed her in the wrong way.

Choosing to go back to the important things, she asked once again: "So, do you or don't you know how to get out of here? And are you going to tell me?"

The snake ignored her: "Let's not talk about this for now. And it's not like you have anything to go back to. My crystal told me that you just came back from the funeral of the last loving relative you had. What's the rush?"

Kenji, who had stayed silent for a while, chose this moment to interject: "Hey, that's not a very nice thing to say."

Ignoring the way Yume's nails dug into the skin of her palms, the old snake chose to continue: "Let's talk about those eyes for a while. Those eyes hold great power. I can teach you how to use that power. For a price of course. But think about it, isn't any price worth the possibility of getting your revenge on those who hurt you? With my teachings, you will be able to do many things. Many great things. You will be able to create the world you want."

Yume stared at her, and didn't lose a second to say: "Don't want to. Need to go back home."

The big snake frowned: "And why is that? What's so important to you back home?"

Yume didn't have to think about it for long. It's true that she didn't have her parents anymore. And it's even more true that she hated her immediate family, just as much as they hated her. But she wasn't alone in this world. She still had Hashirama-sama and her friend Tobirama. Those two took her in, and chose to become her friends when everyone turned their backs on her. They had now become her family. And Papa said that you always protect your family. She needed to go back to the Senju compound, and always be by their side, otherwise they too would slip out of her hands.

She looked the big snake in the eye and said: "None of you business. I just need to go back. I don't want anything to do with this. I'm strong, and once I join the training, I will become stronger. I don't want to change the world, I just need to be strong enough to protect my family. So, I don't want the power of these eyes. I just want to go back home."

The Hakuja Senin had lived for a long time, and knew how to read humans. Out of this tiny human girl, she sensed nothing but honesty and determination. It was a novel experience. She didn't go out much, so the only humans she met in the last decades were all individuals twisted enough to survive the rigorous selection process of her cave.

Still, now that she had seen the Rinnegans with her own eyes, she couldn't just let them go. She knew that the toad of mount Myobuku were also aware of their existence, and it wouldn't take long for them to manifest themselves and offer their help to this human girl. And of course she would accept it, because those damned toads always knew what to say.

And that was inacceptable.

Over the years, the toads, while inferior in their skill to the snakes, had gained a greater influence and respect from both animals and humans, because of their relationship with the very first wielder of the Rinnegans. The Hakuja Senin had been young back then, and had made the tactical mistake of choosing to not involve herself in the battle against the Jubi. Ever since then, the reputation of the inhabitants of the cave took a great hit, because they stood to the side while the future of Earth was being decided on the most epic of battles.

But not this time. Since the Rinnegans appeared once again, she knew that history was about to be rewritten, and this time, the Snakes of the Ryuchi cave will be the heros. All the signs pointed to that, since this girl had a natural affinity to the snakes, which rarely happened, on top of having the legendary Rinnegans

The biggest problem was that she didn't know how to communicate with this weird little human. Clearly power wasn't good enough of an incentive to make her choose to deal with them and only them. Then again she was still only a naive child. After a few years of bitter struggle within the human world, Hakuja Senin was sure that she would come back to her on her knees. So she chose to bid her time.

Smiling sinesteryly once again, she started: "Very well. Since you want to go back home, I will make you a deal. I will send you back to your home, but you have to sign a contract with us."

Yume deadpanned once again: "Don't want to."

Growing irritated, the big snake bellowed: "Impudent! Do you know what great honor I'm giving you? Do you think anyone can sign a contract with one great snake, let alone one that binds all the inhabitants of the cave! Show some respect."

Yume cringed a little. She was still very much scared of this great snake, despite the harmless tone their conversation had taken. She knew that she was overstepping some boundaries, but caution was of the essence: "Why do you want me to sign a contract with you?"

The great snake, reassured that the resistance of the child was crumbling , went back to her smoking and mysteriously answered: "To keep a line of communication going. Or, in simpler terms: finders keepers. In any case, whether or not you chose to follow my teachings regarding the Rinnegans, or even sage training, the snakes will still be your allies for now. They will fight with, and help you in the shinobi world. I'm sure that you are aware of how valuable a summon is to a shinobi. So you really have nothing to lose."

With her world, a tiny explosion sound came from in front of Yume, , and after the smoke dispersed, a big scroll appeared and unfurled in front of the stunned girl. The paper was divided into many sections, most of them blank, with the expectations of two that had some words written in a script Yume didn't recognise and two bloody fingerprints underneath each one.

Kenji, who had stayed silent during the exchange, slithered in front of Yume, who was looking at the scroll undecided, and said: "Sign it. This is a great honor that only two people had before. And if you do, I, Kenji-sama, agree to be your principal summon."

YUme looked at him unimpressed: "If I sign, I think that I want a more impressive principal summon."

He outrageously yelled: "How dare you? I will have you know, I'm a direct descendant of Hakuja Senin. Both my parents are almost just as big as she is. Once I grow up, I too will be very big. You would be very lucky to be able to summon me then."

Yume wasn't convinced, and she was about to start bickering with him, when a mocking chuckle was heard: "It's not the time for this nonsense. Sign it child. Once you do, the jutsu will activate itself automatically, and you will be sent to your home."

Yume looked back at the big snake on the throne, and then at the paper. She truly had no other choice, anyway. Dropping to her knees, she cut the tip of her thumb and used it to write her name on the third empty space, and ended the thing by leaving her fingerprint at the bottom.

This time she wasn't taken by surprise when the paper disappeared with a bang, and a tiny pool of chakra gathered itself at her feet.

But, just as she felt the ground slip underneath her, Kenji cried out: "Wait for me!" and slithered as fast as he could to attach himself to her.

The falling sensation came back again, but this time Yume landed butt first in the pebble clearing at the back of her house. Or what now used to be her house.

The snake, tightly wound around her arm, unfurled himself and started crawling around, while staying close enough to Yume: "I did it!I did it! I finally got out!"

Yume stood up shakily, and looked at him unimpressed: "What was that about?"

He turned around, extended the upper part of his body and smugly replied: " My mother won't let me go out of the cave until I grow up more, but I've had enough! I want to see the world! And now she can't say anything because I'm your summon. So I can go anywhere with you! The other guys are going to be so jealous."

Yume raised an eyebrow: "You're not my summon. I need a bigger stronger summon. Not you."

Kenji was irritated: "Stop saying that. I will grow bigger in no time, and you will regret these words. I will have you know that...Wait, something is coming our way!"

Yume had heard the rushing footsteps too, so she quickly extended her right arm and said: "Quick, hide in my sleeve."

Kenji did as ordered, and barely made it in time before Tobirama and Hashirama appeared from the side of the house and rushed towards them. Without saying a word, Hashirama took Yume into a big, crushing hug.

The poor girl felt her face heat up at an incredible speed, and her tinier arms barely had the reach to tentatively and awkwardly pat him in the back, once the shock was gone. Once he had his fill, he pulled back and scrutinized her with an intensity that made her blush even more, as he said: "Yume-chan, we've been so worried about you. I thought that you had run away, or worse been kidnapped. Where were you? What happened?"

Yume was too frustrated to know what to say, and quizzically looked back at Tobirama, who was looking away clearly displeased and his arms crossed. Feeling her gaze on him, he huffed: "You just vanished into thin air! For almost two hours. I didn't want to get you into trouble with the clan, but I needed someone to help me look, so I asked him."

Yume couldn't help the tiny fond smile growing on her lips. Her best friend always had a way of saying the best things in the worst way possible. She was truly grateful that he had kept her secret, otherwise, she didn't know how she would explain what happened to the clan.

Remembering that she still hadn't answered the older brother, she gave them her best sincere look and said: "I just need some time to myself. I swear, I'm fine and nothing bad happened. But I can't tell you more. Please, just don't ask."

Yume chose to keep what happened a secret for now. Even she had a hard time believing it, and she was there! The only proof that she hadn't dreamt it was the tiny body wrapped around her forearm. But true or not, she didn't want to talk about it. If her father had still been there, then she would have of course told him, but he was not. Yume knew that she should keep her secret for now, even from her closest friends. She didn't know what the clan was planning for her, so she should let herself have some leeway.

But that wasn't taking into account Tobirama, who dropped his hands to his side and angrily glared at her: "No, you don't get to do that. You have to tell us the truth! Especially if what I fear is true and the Uchiha somehow managed to breach our defences! You need to explain, so that we can report to Father."

Yume was dumbstruck: "I was .. I don't….I...What do the Uchiha have to do with this?"

Tobirama was deadly serious when he asked: "Didn't they try to make contact with you, now that your father is gone?"

Yume wanted to throw up. She knew that his assumptions were logical, and she knew that she shouldn't fault him for trying to look out for himself and mainly the clan. But she just felt so hurt that he would accuse her of having secret contact with the enemy. He was accusing her of treason!

BUt before she could think of something to defend herself, an angry Hashirama glared at his brother: "Tobirama! Do I need to punch some sense into you too?"

Both the younger kids were taken aback when he took a step forward and faced his younger brother while taking Yume's hand into his own: "I will not have you accuse her like this! Yume is a Senju. If she says that nothing important happened, then nothing important happened. You wouldn't doubt the others if the same thing happened, so I do not allow you to doubt her. This discussion is over."

Yume felt herself blushing for the second time in less than five minutes, from the intimate gesture. Her heart started beating faster at his words. A warm feeling spread in her chest, and now she was sure that she had made the right choice by choosing to come back. Hashirama's friendship was definitely worth coming back to.

And Tobirama too. Being a jerk was just his default setting, and she was sure that he would apologise once he had cooled off.

Sensing that he was losing the argument, Tobirma angrily turned around and started walking back to the house: "Suit yourselves. Now let's go back to packing. Mother will be here anytime."

Yume turned to look at Hashirama just in time to catch his serious expression morph into a fond small, with a small shaking of his head. Sensing her eyes on him, he turned to her with a big, slightly sad smile and said: "Don't worry about it. You can tell us about what happened when you feel like it. And I can almost guarantee that Tobirama won't tell on you. Now let's finish packing. You're coming to your new home."