Hello again! To answer a question let in a review, she is not being raised by the Nara clan because they don't know she exists yet. They will! The next chapter takes place in Konoha and includes Naras, but theres a reason I wanted her to grow up slightly separate from the other Naras at first. It might not get explained for a bit, but it will eventually make sense. Besides, if you were raised with a bunch of people who could use shadows, would you still idolize your mother for being able to fight with them?

Anyway, here's chapter two! Please let me know if you have any questions and criticisms!

Edited 10/13/19

Chapter 2

Weeks later, I was no closer to understanding the meaning of fighting with shadows, but I figured I'd get it sooner or later. It seemed to bothersome to try and put more research into it when the laughable idea of controlling shadows was apparently accepted among every adult in the house.

As it often is with life, just when I'd chosen to leave the topic alone, the answer fell in my lap, almost literally.

Instead of landing on my lap, the book fell on the grass just a few feet from where I was napping under my second favorite tree. The 'thump 'woke me up. Annoyed, I blinked myself into wakefulness and looked towards the noise. The book was innocuous enough. A history book, written in Japanese-obviously. Already awake, I decided to give it my best effort and try to read.

While conversational, I wasn't yet completely literate. Sue me- while being 28 in my past life, I had to learn a completely new language here and I was reveling in being lazy for once instead of the overachieving student I had once been. The book belonged to one of the children who had just tossed their school stuff on the ground near the tree. The book had slid out of their bag along with a pencil case and two notebooks. Well, with the treatment the book received, the students were clearly done studying, and no one would miss a single book. I sat up, still in the shade of the tree and began reading.

The book was written for first year students, only about 6 or 7 years olds, so the Japanese was still fairly simple, mostly katakana and hiragana. There wasn't anything more complex in the front of the book and very little towards the back. And while I could understand it, I was bemused. For one, I wasn't used to books that talked down to children anymore. I was used to college textbooks that assumed you understood everything and anything there was to know about the subject.

While I may have been misreading, the words were so simple, I think it was more culture shock then anything that got to me. The history here began so differently then any history lesson I had ever had in my first life. Clearly I might have to fall back on my theory -the one about being reborn in a different world might actually be on to something.

Not Harry Potter though which killed the whole my-mom-was-a-witch-who-could-use magic-that-looked-like-shadows-or-something-theory I had been working with.

It was so different, so interesting; I was enthralled with the text, unable to put it down, speeding through the pages like a girl possessed. Elemental nations and Daimyos and treatises and hidden villages.

And eventually my bemusement changed to horror. Because suddenly my mother fighting with shadows made sense. 'Because of course she can use shadows.' I thought hysterically, 'She has chakra and thats a totally acceptable thing in this world.'

Chakra. Like on a television show I'd seen when my undergrad roommate was netflix bingeing instead of studying. Right. But the more I read, the more the history matched up with the fictional show. Although I had already accepted reincarnation as a totally plausible thing, which was a point in Buddha's favor and a strike against basically every other religion, I still found myself desperately praying to take me back and plop me in the Harry Potter universe.

War. Hidden villages. Ninjas. I put down the book; there wasn't enough detail in a first year book to truly satisfy my knowledge but there didn't need to be; it explained enough for a general overview to begin to take shape in my head. I was in a city that was just barely inside of fire country. I was on the border of three different countries and far removed from the influence of any of the hidden villages. Where we lived ninja were only a bedtime story. One that I had heard and treated and as such.

While briefly going over all the hidden villages, the focus -'the propaganda' my adult mind supplied- of the twelfth through sixteenth chapters was on the Hidden Village of the Leaves, the only village in the Land of Fire. Which made sense. Although this was a border city, the city still fell within Fire country.

And some of the prominent families were mentioned. Uchiha, Hyuga, Akimichi—and its close allies Yamanaka and Nara. I vaguely remembered them from the show. The girl-or was it a boy?- with spiky hair could use shadows to freeze people. Or something. I let out a frustrated huff.

Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I'd regret not joining Kayla in a tv binge, but it was literally turning into my biggest regret. Medical school and a perfect GPA meant nothing compared to insider knowledge on my new life.

I knew next to nothing about the show, just that things got pretty shitty when some emo kid ran away. I knew there were plots against citizens from Kayla's ranting about her favorite characters innocence. She'd forced me to sit down and explained in detail why Itachi was innocent and a good guy all along. She'd made me pick a favorite character and I'd chosen the coolest looking guy, only to find out he had his own sad backstory because apparently nobody in this show was happy ever. She'd ranted and made me sit through her fan theories and because I was a good roommate I did. But now I didn't even know what was right and what was wrong anymore. I also vaguely recalled that there was a demon kid who destroyed the whole town.

OR saved it from being destroyed?

Hmm I wasn't sure about that one but anyway: The whole world had gone to shit. There was a giant war. And worst of all, I had no idea when I was. The history books didn't mention a giant fox or a demon kid killing people, but the books were old and outdated, used by child orphans. They could be a year out of date...or ten. Where was I in relation to the war I had seen? Regardless, for now, I couldn't change anything.

In the book, the other wars were mentioned. Bloody, divisive conflicts that had changed the landscape, politically and geographically. Between the other hidden villages. Yikes. That put me in an awkward position geographically. Not that I thought I would be attacked, but I hadn't really thought that in my first life either. And unfortunately the best way to stay alive seemed to be by...being strong enough to live? It didn't really tell me too much. Just that death and destruction struck until the righteous leaf village had stepped in.

The book had a section about ninja recruitment. A possibility, but unlikely, it explained. In much nicer terms it laid out the difficulty of entering ninja school: While the civilian cities and towns had been targeted last time; it was the reason there were so many primary school aged orphans around now. Civilians were an easy way to hurt the economy of the hidden villages and we (they?) were not strong enough to fight back. Ninja were like super hero's and super villains to civilians.

They existed and they were strong and if you wanted to be one? HAH!

Civilians who were not raised in a hidden village had little to no chance at becoming a ninja. Good luck even finding the village without an escort of ninja that you had to hire remotely. For civilians who lived in one of the hidden villages, you had a much better chance. These civilian families had to have done business with ninjas for years to be allowed to live in the villages and often had to travel for trade but still they weren't ninja either. They sacrificed everything, but still were second class citizens in the eyes of shinobi, not as cut out for the profession.

Their chances were dwarfed by those who came from families where shinobi was not a title but a way of life.

'And my mother fought with shadows.' The sudden thought calmed me; My mother had to have been part of a ninja family. While the caretakers hadn't realized she was a ninja… Please—using chakra was rare, ninja even less, but come on. A pretty woman just gets chased by 3 randoms without being suspicious, then manages to fight them all, gives you no details about her past, and nobody ever comes around trying to find out about her whereabouts? Only in this world would that be even semi-normal.

Especially when I now factored hidden villages into my world view. In fact, it almost definitely wasn't random… Holy shit was my mother assassinated? Or was it a random ninja fighting thing? My caretakers just thought my mom had been quick and strong but certainly not a ninja. After all, ninja weren't a dime a dozen...after all, why would a ninja be in a festival in a different city instead of their own village? And why would they be unable to save themselves from 3 ninja—sorry I meant three random drunks?

And as an orphan in a completely different city then the Hidden Village of the Leaves, I had no idea how to meet the Nara, or prove that I was one of them. If I was one of them. I kind of had pineapple hair going on already. Did other families use shadows too? I was going off of my weak already over 3 year old memories of a television show I had barely paid attention to.

Still, I had died once already- too weak to do anything but be surprised by death. Here though, in this second life, I was not weak. I had the advantage of my birth— Ninja gave birth to ninja; civilians had a much harder time competing with ninja breed genetics. I was strong enough to survive my birth, smart enough to not show off my knowledge. And already, bullheaded enough to know exactly what I wanted- I was going to live, get strong, survive a war, and become someone my okaa-san would be proud of. I was going to find a way to be a ninja.

With the knowledge provided by the books, the calm acceptance of my caretakers suddenly made sense. Not perfect sense, but I suppose they really did think my mother had been a princess. While not common, chakra usage was an accepted part of society. People could achieve the same feats as ninja without the training but that was less common. Nobles in particular were more likely to have some training. 'Perhaps thats what they thought of my mother?

Strong enough to fight but not quite strong enough to live?' The thought annoyed me. I refused to think of my mother as weak. I grimaced, but decided all of this needed further study. 'But' I thought with a happy sigh, pushing the skimmed book towards the grass where it had landed and lying back on the grass, ' the best way for me to process all of this is to take a nap.'

~Line Break~

My 'plan' as stupid as it was, took a year and a half to bear any fruit. I relentlessly asked for stories from the caretakers, no longer content with just hearing about my mother; I wanted to know all the stories I had slept through before: the sage of the sixth paths, the daimyo and the beggar, the yondaime who had saved all of Fire country from a demon. And with the stories, previous gaps were filling in. I hadn't realized how many hints towards shinobi there had been before, unconsciously waiving them away because they didn't fit my perceived worldview.

Now I began to see where they fit in the tales I was told. I used the subtle mention of ninja to prompt stories and personal anecdotes from the women. Kira was happy to obliged, blushing when she mentioned 'meeting' with one before (my adult mind smirked realizing the implication, but my child face showed only innocent interest) but explained how rare it could be to see them in person. As protectors the Fire Country, they were too busy doing missions to interact with civilians.

Between what the caretakers thought about the ninja- and my god did they worship them from afar- and my own reading, I formed some small opinions. The caretakers were almost as bad about ninja as I was about my okaa-san and yet they still hadn't put two and two together because they still thought my okaa-san was a civilian who happened to be fast. Yea, okay. I just asked of stories and tried to put it all together in my head.

Unfortunately my very unstructured and unlikely plan couldn't progress until a bit of chancy luck (more like a ton of luck and a bit of fate), but like I said that only took a year and a half. At 3 and a half, I wasn't old enough to be wandering around unsupervised, but don't tell my caretakers that. The housemothers didn't care what I did or where I went as long as I came back uninjured and on time for meals.

Silently, they might have thought that I was looking for new places to nap, which wasn't a lie, but it also wasn't the whole truth, as I used my time awake to visually look around our city for ninja. True to the word of all the stories, there were never any ninja around, or if there were, I had just missed them because they were only passing through. They had no time for civilian children.

On one such occasion of being out of the orphanage, I was sleeping in a tree branch a few feet off the ground. While it had been hard to get used to sleeping in trees, it was worth it for the sheer fact that no one looked for me here and I could go for hours uninterrupted in my naps. It just took more effort to climb into the higher branches. But I was a sturdy kid and could handle a few falls. And then, one day while I was sleeping the branch SHOOK.

I sat up sleepily. "ne?"

The man crouching on the branch turned to look at me surprised but not quick enough to tell the 3 people following him to stop. Two of them joined him on the branch shaking it further and bringing more further into wakefulness. I cocked my head at the man looking at him with disinterested eyes. Sure I had been waiting to meet a ninja and ask questions, but I hadn't expected them to literally pop up in front of me. In the back of my head, I was convinced I was still dreaming.

The man cocked his head to one side staring back at me and drawing his companions eyes to me. While he had shot curly brown hair kept out of his face by a blue band with the leaf symbol engraved on it, the girls the branch had blue-black hair that was pin straight (My heart twisted with jealously at the hair that I would've killed for my in old life) and they kept their blue bands around their waists.

"Hello there" The man -'boy?'- I absentmindedly wondered how old he could be. 'Certainly not out of his teenage years yet. Jeez did I really wanna be a teenage killer?'

I wavered my determination to be a ninja, knowing that I was not interested in killing people. However I also knew that I would have to grow out my squeamishness. It was a pretty big concern of mine, but I figured they were going to try and indoctrinate us impressionable children and if it mean surviving a giant war, I was willing to jump right into that brainwashing session. It was quite bothersome to imagine living in this new world with my old morals.

Anyway, the kid gave me a cautious wave but a goofy smile that made his whole face brighten up. I simply stared back, then looked at the girls who stared back at me waiting for a reaction. Realizing the whole situation was becoming unbearably awkward and that I had somehow managed to fuck this up, without even saying a word, I decided to do what I do best in this life.

I rolled over on my branch and shut my eyes determined to go back to sleep. The boy burst out laughing; I ignored him and the quick Japanese that flew out of his mouth the girls. "A mini Nara-san! She could be Kiko's little sister!" his laugh was infectious and the girls chucked along with him. "Ah little Nara-san, sorry to bother you!"

I could feel the branch shake as he stood up to move along with the girls. I lazily tilted my head slightly to watch them off, blinking slowly at their retreating backs. The brunette turned back to see me looking and waved cheerfully. I gave a slight incline of my head, wondering how I would handle the next chance life gave me after messing this one up.

Of course I didn't realize that Kiko, the girl he had mentioned, was a Nara. And was in fact the brunette ninjas girlfriend at the time. How could I possibly know that the reaction I had had was so funny to him that he just had to tell his girlfriend, cracking up in laughter. And by chance that the head of the clan would be just a few feet away sleeping in the shade with his son. A head who had over heard the story and was smart enough to put together his sisters death on a mission in the same city a few years ago and a mysterious Nara-like child.

Of course I didn't know any of this. I wouldn't know for many years. I would never bother to ask.

But my plan had relied on a shit ton of luck and a little bit of fate.

Which was why when Shikaku and his team came to the village orphanage just a few weeks later, it was because I apparently hadn't messed that meeting up. If I had changed anything, been more un-Nara-like, Kai might have never mentioned me to his girlfriend. And then my whole plan would have never worked. But I'm getting distracted. Because you see, at a little over three and a half years old, while napping in the shade of my favorite tree, the shade grew slightly stronger. I opened my eyes blearily to see a man with dark hair, a darker complexion then most of the other people I would see in town, a man with a beard and spiky hair. A man who kind of looked…just….like…me.

I tilted my head to look at him while he did the same to look down at me. He had companions with him, a large man, who almost looked comically round, and a man with such platinum blonde hair that it seemed fake even in this world of pink, purple and blue hair. I quickly dismissed them turning my gaze sleepily back to the spiky haired crouched down next to me, but still didn't say a word. I reciprocated the silence, instead deciding to map his face. There were thick scars on his face. I eyed them wondering again (for the millionth time really) if the safest way to survive this world was to be a ninja. I eyed his dark spiky hair, just like mine. I usually put mine up as well as it was easier to manage this way. He had the same wide dark eyes as me, but his were sharper and more thoughtful.

I realized he wasn't dark so much as tanned, but still everything about him seemed to be just slightly more intense then the skin tones I was used to in the orphanage. Tanned skin, dark hair, dark eyes, striking features, but if I wasn't so interested in his similar looks to me, I probably would've never noticed him. He stood out but, at the same time was completely unremarkable, scars and all. Forgettable. What a dichotomy.

"Hmm" At my introspective noise he smiled at me. I blinked. His whole face had changed in an instant. Rather than quiet intelligence, there was now a wry sort of humor.

"I need to speak to the head caretaker. Can you show me the way?" His voice was a low lazy drawl. I blinked again. I wasn't really making myself out to be bright here, but I didn't really know what was going on.

In my study of the man, I had seen his ninja tools and the leaf band. I knew he was a shinobi and I didn't want to mess up my second chance, but honestly I was baffled. 'Could I really be lucky enough to have two groups of ninja just stumble on me sleeping?'

I nodded in agreement and slowly I stood and lead them towards where I knew Ameiko would be. I dragged my feet, not sure how the house mother was going to take this.

She had taken over when the previous head had left for some reason or another early this year, and yet even with all her new duties she still enjoyed working in the kitchen. I led the men to the room. They followed me quietly the blonde and round man grinning at each other stupidly. I idly wondered why, but realized I didn't care enough to ask. I had other questions to ask. I walked unhurriedly even though some of the children stared at the ninja.

Ameiko was surprised, to say the least. Her first reaction was to try and stutter a few words in introduction before dropping into a sharp bow. Quickly pulling me towards her, she whispered to me, still in shock, "Where did you find shinobi? Do they need anything? Were you respectful? Oh lord" she suddenly looked distressed, "Please tell me you greeted them politely. I know you can be lazy but please please please tell me you listened to all the manners I have been trying to teach you."

I thought back to my lackluster reaction and internally winced. I hadn't shown any of the manners I had been taught. Still...

I honored the freakout with a shrug. While I didn't actively seek to be more then slightly disrespectful in this new life, I enjoyed the freedom of not caring. While in my past life I had always been respectful and attentive, there was something liberating in not caring what people thought of you. I considered all my fucks to give already spent in my past life.

The shrug had earned a chuckle from the spiky man.

'Pineapple head' I thought, then distracted myself by wondering how to say pineapple in Japanese. It was hard getting used to childhood and my new scattered brain could be super distracting, making me seem very absentminded sometimes.

"Ma, ma'am, if you're the head caretaker, I'd like to speak to you, please." Ameiko blushed at the man's slow drawl, rising from her crouch next to me and gave another, slight bow.

"Hai! Please, follow me, I have a small office where we can speak!" I eyed the man as he followed her to her office. The other two ninja stayed in the kitchen with me. The other children in here snuck out, but peaked in the doorway curious.

The blonde guy crouched and smiled at me. It wasn't the stupid grin he'd flashed his friend before but instead a genuine smile that made me feel warm inside.

"Hi there! My name is Inochi-san, may I have yours?" I was surprised to be acknowledged, but he had been polite and I was interested in making a good impression...this time anyway. I had massively fucked up the woods meeting.

"Kageko" I spoke softly, as usual, although perhaps I was a little nervous to be speaking to two ninja. They were, after all, murderers. I would have wanted nothing to do with them in my old life. And yet the blonde man was so friendly. Could you fake a smile that warm?

"Ah bright child. What a pretty name. Must be because you're such a pretty girl!" He gave a soft chuckle. "You know…I have a daughter too. She's about your age actually. Do you have many friends your age?" I lazily noted that the man was very good with children. He smiled just so, kept his voice calm and friendly and didn't speak overly formal as to make me more comfortable.

"Ahhh It's not supposed to be pretty." I rubbed my hand against the back of my head. "Kageko is because I'm the brightness from my mother. And my mother liked shadows. Or something." I said it matter-of-factly. I had been hearing the same thing since I was able to understand Japanese as a bed time story. It was simply a fact by now.

….Or I had thought it was. The blonde mans face looked surprised then he quickly straightened back into his smile. "Ah, your mother and... shadow?" He waited for me to elaborate.

I blinked again unsure of what to say. While intuitively I should know that he couldn't possibly know my story, somehow growing up hearing it my whole life made me feel some kind of awkward explaining what I had begun to take as fact. After my initial questioning of it a year prior, I had come to accept it as a reality of my new life.

I felt odd explaining it out loud however. "You know…Ahh. They told me she fought with shadows." I explained slowly but my face was doubtful with a slight blush beginning to creep up on it. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe shinobi didn't have shadow powers or whatever with chakra. Nothing had been specifically said about the Nara clan in any book; they seemed secretive as any of the clans I supposed.

As an aside, the only clan that had their family just bragged about was the Uchiha, which made me think they must be good, otherwise, why lose the advantage of a surprise?

Or even worse, maybe the caretakers were right. My mom was just a civilian in the wrong place at the wrong time. After all, I was basing my second life on a fucking television show, what did I know?

And yet, the blonde man seemed to just take in my explanation like it was nothing odd. He smiled at me again, then, still keeping his voice as low and calm as when he asked my name, he dropped a bomb. "Kageko-chan, how would you feel about going on a trip? You can have a new place to live… a new family. A brother even."

'Woah was he trying to ease me into getting adopted? This was…unexpectedly easy' Not that I was trying to complicate things. Ninja probably didn't have time to waste making trips to an orphanage, so you make one trip pick your kid and go I supposed. And I was willing to get adopted. Would probably make the later indoctrination easier to stomach if I had family ties.

"But you said you have a daughter. Do you have a son too?" I again tilted my head. It was a habit I would probably need to grow out of but for now, I thought it was damn adorable and made me think of an overgrown puppy.

The round man gave a hearty guffaw. "As smart as Shik, she is" His friendly baritone made the blonde man grin back at him.

"Ah Kageko-chan, you wouldn't live with me. Shikaku, the man speaking to the caretaker would be taking you in."He changed my name to honorifics without asking me, but considering I constantly forgot to use them, I wasn't going to complain.

I paused. 'Why?' Not able to come up with a definite answer I echoed my thoughts aloud.

"Because you're family." His lazy drawl startled me into turning towards him. Ameiko was beaming at me from behind him. His face again had a wry twist of a smile, even though his eyes look sad. I couldn't read his face too well however, not as well as I cold the housemothers or the other orphans- or even his own companions faces-it still gave me pause.

I wanted to say yes. This would get my foot in the door. I could join a village, find out about my mom, get strong and live this through this war. And maybe one day retire peacefully for eh rest of my days...But...in the mean time...I needed to know.

I needed to know. I was excited to meet someone who looked like me; someone who seemed to think like me too if our earlier silence was right. But, I had never minded growing up in the orphanage. I just despaired at eventually dying in a war with no chance at fighting. And for that I needed to know.

"Do you…fight with shadows like okaa-san?" 'Are you family too?' Was my silent question.

His face changed from a wry grin to an almost savage smirk. He knelt down so we were at eye level and he seemed to get what I was asking.

"I was better then her growing up." My face must have been disbelieving because the smirk grew even more pronounced.

"Really. Your okaa-san was my nee-san. We practiced together growing up. You're definitely a Nara. You look just like her, a little bit tinier then I remember but... the same face. You were born to use the shadows just like her. And..." He hesitated for a second before continuing. "Even if you didn't want to learn anything about shadows..." He faltered but pushed on.

"You should be with us. Family sticks with family. It'd be troublesome otherwise"

Just like her. That was all I needed to hear. All I'd really paid attention to. Although I had noticed that he was willing to not force me into a career of child labor and murder. I appreciated that.

"Okay." The other two ninja looked surprised.

"Kageko-chan you decided so quickly?" Ameiko was even more surprised then the two ninja. Maybe even a bit hurt. I internally winced but tried to explain my thoughts to her.

"Hai oba-chan. I want to be like my okaa-san. To be able to fight with shadows. It sounds...cool" The word didn't quite encompass what I thought of the magic of this world, but I had a limited vocabulary.

"Besides, I'm sure okaa-san would've wanted me to learn to be quick and strong like her." Okay so I still hadn't quite grown out my hero worship of my late mother but the women seemed bad ass. I couldn't help the feeling.

"And… Maybe I should meet my family? If okaa-san was alive…" I lost my train of thought. As an orphan living in a television universe I felt connected to my okaa-san for so many different reasons, not the least of which was because she literally gave me life-Some reason might definitely include that she had literally died to let me live-and could honestly say that besides just training with them…

I wanted to be around the people my mother cared for. "Her precious people."

I hadn't meant to say that part aloud. Whoops. This was awkward. Like a lifetime movie quote level awkward.

The pineapple head just grinned again and then crouched lower, motioning for me to climb on his shoulders. I paused reflecting on the fact that leaving now meant taking nothing. But as an orphan, I had nothing to take, not really. Except I wasn't an orphan anymore… I was a Nara. I was going to have a last name for the first time in my new life. And how often would a chance like this come along?

'Apparently twice' my snarky inner monologue quipped.

And so, I climbed up his back and never looked back.