A/N: Naruto does not belong to me. This story is the product of having an over active imagination.

After we finished discussing the minutiae of our plan of action, I decided to go back to the waking world.

"How do I go back to the physical plane?"

Maya pointed towards a door I had not noticed.

As I reached the door, I turned back with my hand on the handle. I cheekily saluted my past self as I turned the handle to open the door.

With an exhale I opened my eyes. My muscles were not complaining, so I gathered I was not inside my mind for more than half an hour. I stretched and got up.

Going to the bathroom, I gripped the sink as I stared at the mirror, trying to take in my new look. My new eyes were really spectacular, an unreal green that shone like cut emeralds. My face had the expected baby fat but my bone structure looked promising. I was going to grow up beautiful. Lastly, my eyes went to my hair, bangs cut across my brow, a bubblegum pink that still threw me. As I looked closer, I could discern the different shades of rose, coral and blush present in my hair, which made my hair less uniform in colour, to my pleasure. The only problematic thing I could see was the length of my hair. It almost reached my hips. Though I supposed I could always wrap it up in a bun while training.

If we are not careful, we might be shoehorned into honey trap missions.

I paled at the comment made by Maya.

We really need to develop skills which would make us needed somewhere else.

Agreed. Honestly, fuuinjutsu would be the best option.

I made a hum of assent, as I went about completing my morning ablutions, already subconsciously used to my new body, so there was no awkward moment. Thank god it was still a female one, as I did not need body dysphoria on top of all the problems being in a violent and militaristic world of ninjas.

As I dressed myself in the nearest shirt and pants I could find (I was thanking all the gods I could name that my personality had transferred over to my child self, since all the clothes in the wardrobe were practical and sturdy), I thought back over the entire situation.

As I ruminated over the discussions I had had,I started feeling a growing sense of dissatisfaction about our decision. I felt we had not made much headway with making an actual plan. While I was more of a thinker, I always did better with very specific plans, rather than vague outlines of one.

Right now, darling, you are not in a position to make any concrete plans. You know how we were when we were young. Our thirst for knowledge, and our drive to be better, came much later, after we took our head out of our ass. Similarly, here, you were content with being the top of the class.

I grimaced, having come to the same conclusion after reviewing my memories.

Yeah, you're right, I guess. We do need to push ourselves more.

In this world, complacency will get you killed. I, for one, have no intention of dying once more before our time.

Yes, yes. I get it alright! I mentally grumbled.

"Sakura! Breakfast!"

The shout from downstairs jolted me out of my thoughts. I took one last look in the mirror, and went downstairs.

Upon seeing the Haruno couple sitting at the table, I had a brief moment of disorientation, where a part of me saw them as strangers, while the rest of me recognized them as my parents. Shaking the feeling off, I took a seat at the table, and helped myself to the food.

"Did you sleep alright, dear?" my mother asked. She had wheat-blond hair with green eyes she shared with me. Looking at her, I could immediately identify her as a ninja, as she had more defined muscles than my father, not to mention the senbon holding her hair up in a bun. "I heard you move a lot in your sleep last night. Did you have a nightmare?"

I smiled at her, warmed by the obvious concern in her eyes. "Don't worry, Kaa-san. I didn't have a nightmare. I guess I was just restless last night." Probably because I was regaining the memories of a whole another life.

My father folded up the newspaper he had been reading, and smiled at me. His hair, a more subdued hue of pink than mine, was styled in a five-point star. His laugh-lines crinkled up as he smiled, and said, "It is the first day of your break. Do you have any plans?"

I looked towards my mom, and asked, "We are continuing with Taijutsu training, right?" At her nod, I answered my dad, "Nothing concrete yet, Tou-san. I do want to go to the library though. I want to broaden my training. Kaa-san, can we start chakra exercises?"

Mom had a pensive expression on her face, but replied, "We can consult the iryo-nin about your chakra. If they say your chakra has been stabilized, I'll start teaching you. Okay?"

"Yeah, alright, Kaa-san."

"Don't forget that you have kenjutsu practice in the evening," My dad reminded me.

I nodded.

Dad laid down his chopsticks as he finished eating. "Before I leave for work, there's something you need to know. In a week's time, we will be leaving for the Land of Iron, to your grandparents' house."

I tilted my head, intrigued. As far as I was aware, I had not met my grandparents yet.

"Any particular reason why? We have never gone before, all of us."

"They wish to meet you. They last saw you when you were two. We never made that journey with you again as it had proved very harmful for your health. Being in a chakra-rich environment helped stabilize your chakra, and in Iron, almost no one uses chakra. We almost lost you then. Now that you are recovered enough to be able to travel and stay in Iron, we can take you."

I had no idea that my chakra imbalance had been so severe. I suppressed a shiver, and asked, "How long are we staying there?"

"We'll stay there for two weeks. The whole trip will probably be a month long, a week to reach Iron, two weeks to stay, and a week to travel back."

"Why would we need a week to travel to Iron?"

"We will be accompanied by a few other people as well as a handful of carts. The main house has requested we bring a lot of things from Konoha. I will need to hire a team of ninjas for this," Dad mused thoughtfully.

"I'll put in a request at the Tower. It will probably be a B-rank, just for the size and duration of the caravan," said Mom, as she accepted a kiss from her husband as he got up to leave.

He ruffled my bangs as he passed me. I mock-scowled at him. My father laughed at that as he left.

It was just the two of us then. We finished the breakfast in silence, and I helped Mom clean up the table. As she started washing the dishes in the sink, she asked me, "Will you be going to the library now, or after lunch? If you are going in the afternoon, we can continue yesterday's session now."

I started drying the bowls she had passed me as I thought over her question. I remembered that that we had been working on my dodging the day before. It would be nice to be in a cool library after working in the sun. I said as much to her.

My mother nodded her head and said, "Go and change into your gear. We'll go to our usual grounds." She shooed me up the stairs.

I went to my room and started changing. I put on a mesh undershirt, over which I threw on a blue top made out of some canvas-like material. I paired those with black shinobi pants, and tugged on fingerless gloves. All of the clothes choices were automatic, almost muscle memory. I tied my weapons pouches to my thighs, and twisted my hair into a bun.

I met my mother in the entrance and she scanned me for a second, which I remembered she had a habit of doing, checking if I had put on everything correctly.

She was in a similar outfit to mine, except for her shoes, which were a standard toe-less shinobi sandals, as opposed to my close-toed boots. She smiled at me and we left, her locking the door.

We made our way through the marketplace, where the shops had just opened, and there were not many people around. I gazed around, taking it all in, everything seeming familiar and alien at the same time. I could see the ninjas travelling over the rooftops, and could smell the sweetness of dango coming from several shops.

The training grounds my mom led me to were located quite far away, near the base of the Hokage monument, which gave me déjà vu for a moment.

We entered the clearing, and Mom turned to me, "stretch and then laps. Let's increase them to 100 today."

I felt faint for a moment, but then recalled doing 80 laps the week before. The physical capabilities of people in this world blew my mind. At a glare from Mom, I started stretching.

After I finished the laps, breathing heavily, my mom handed me some water. As I caught my breath, she unsealed a veritable hoard of weapons from a scroll.

She pointed to the middle of the clearing. "Go there and start your katas. I will be throwing these at you and you will not let a single one touch you. Every time you get hit, that's another lap added to your cool-down run. If you stop your katas anytime in between, those laps will be along the village walls, understood?"

I gulped but nodded wordlessly. She had a steely look in her eyes that said I'll add more laps if you argue.

I started on my katas, keeping my senses open for any thrown weapons. I was especially nervous, because I had noticed more than kunai and shuriken in the heap of pointy things. Like short swords and hammers.

Whistling air on my right made me twist into a backward bend to avoid the thrown kunai, and I smoothly transitioned into the next position. Shifting slightly to the right, I avoided the shuriken from behind me.

Next kata. Shift.

Duck. Spin. Next kat—

Hit.

"One extra lap!"

Fuck. And it continued.

Tilt. Duck.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see something big coming from my left. Cursing, I dropped into a split. A double-bladed axe went sailing over my head. My eye ticked.

And thus the saga continued. By the end of our session, I had 10 laps added to my original 5, which I now had to complete along the village walls.

My mother was a sadist.

After I had somehow completed my laps, wishing I was dead half-way through, I went home, showered, ate, and made my way to the shinobi library, which was beside the shinobi academy.

I heaved a sigh of relief as the cool air hit me as I escaped the summer sun. Looking around, I could see that it had four sections, the first being for academy students, the second meant for genin, and so on. There were tables in each section, some of which were occupied. Though she could see that the academy section was completely empty, which made sense as it was the first day of break. No student would want to come to the library when break had just started. Even the Chuunin at the reception desk was surprised when I told him which section I wanted to go in.

I was surprised at the lack of obvious security in the library. Ninjas struck me as ones who would hoard knowledge, not spread it. Then I saw the seals on the shelves, and assumed they were the security.

I hummed as I perused the shelves, at the moment just looking at the different subjects available to students. There were books on history, politics, chakra, etc. I was pleased by the breadth of the knowledge in front of me, even if I knew that it was just surface level information. It would still build a good foundation for my training.

I took out a few books which caught my eye. Spying a thick book wedged into the far corner of the shelf in front of me, I took it out. Fuuinjutsu: Level 1. I was thrilled. I added it to my pile of books and placed them on a nearby table.

Deciding to read the book on sealing last, I picked up a book on chakra properties and started reading.

A/N: Please Review!