Chapter 7: Attention-seeking behaviour and DIY project: Fortress of Solitude

Summary: in which Calla's Gryffindor tendencies mean she attracts more attention than she avoids all the while planning ahead to avoid attracting future attention AKA DIY guide to creating your own Fortress of Solitude.

The apartment she had been assigned was drab, dull, boring and any other lacklustre descriptor Calla could think of. She was in a somewhat rundown building of flats, close to the red-light district and hers was just one among many, and it matched the outside of the building; rundown. Housing had been rebuilt so tenants were vacating the premises rapidly for better accommodation and it had thus been freed up newly graduated genin, like herself.

Her apartment consisted of one bedroom with enough space for a bed, dresser and a bit of free floorspace. It also had a bathroom, and the kitchen was connected to the dining area. The windows at least allowed a lot of light to come into the house. The light flickered, the fridge stank, the dining table wobbled. There were cracks in the wall and ceiling, and she was pretty sure there was mould in the in the ceiling corners; there had definitely been some under both the kitchen and bathroom sink and the shower. The toilet was disgusting.

Calla loved it.

It was her first own place; she had lived with the Dursleys, then the Weasleys or Grimmauld Place. This was hers, just hers. She could paint it all pink and no one would care.

Oh, this was brilliant. It was beyond perfect – not to mention everything the Dursleys would have hated. And there was no cupboard – another perk. But, most importantly, Konoha had nowhere near the strict regulations they had for renting back in UK (Sirius had rented a bachelor pad with James in his younger years, apparently); or maybe it was just different for shinobi. Calla could paint, set up traps or generally do anything to the apartment so long as it was inhabitable when she left.

It would be unrecognisable by the time she was finished.

Now, time to go shopping. While most new graduates would likely not have funds, Calla had been born a Potter, who could trace themselves back to the Peverells. And the Potters were known for their fighting spirit (thus whittling down her family name until she was the only one left) but also their inventiveness; so while some Lords had decidedly depleted the funds, they had also been dramatically increased by other ancestors. And she finally had something to spend that gold and those jewels on; making this her first home.

It was going to be amazing. But obviously she didn't want to raise any questions, so Calla would have to be a bit more sneaky then she usually was.

Ensui sighed when he spotted a small child 'sneakily' making her way into the bank; she had a hitai-ate. He had just returned from reporting back to the Hokage on the assassination mission he'd completed and part of him wanted nothing more then to go home and lay down, but it was the duty of every shinobi to investigate suspicious occurrences in Fire country if they noticed them. And it was hard not to notice this tiny girl.

The black-haired child wore worn clothing, some of it clearly intended for the male gender. Not much of a concern for shinobi, but it meant that she was likely an orphan and recently graduated. First paycheque usually went to new clothing and food. Her sandals were a bit too large as well; her sensei would tell her to correct that first thing. Nothing worse than losing your footing as a shinobi – while yes, if you were very lucky indeed, that could save you but more likely than not, it would impair you and most likely send you to an early grave.

Not that he had much hope in general for her or the rest of her class if she was an adequate example of their skillset. Her 'sneaking' was obvious enough, Ensui was sure one of his four-year-old cousins could have done better. She was basically screaming with her body language and furtive glances that she was up to something.

But then he spotted something that intrigued him – vibrant, green eyes. Just the way Shikaku had described the little girl training and correcting herself near Nara lands. Her hair was black like an Uchiha but on the messier side, her face thin from the sparsity of food Konoha had gone through after the Kyubi attack. There was a faint scar on her forehead and he had spotted another on her forearm when her sleeve fell down as she took to adjusting the forehead protector around her neck.

Although that food shortage should have changed by now. Should he investigate? … Hm, maybe mention to Shikaku as clan head at least. Just before he had to go on a mission so he couldn't be roped into extra work. Yes, that was a good plan as long as he made sure to undertake a bit of a longer mission next.

Well, nothing for it. He was obligated and now far too curious to drop it, may as well find out what their puzzle was up to now. Hopefully something else interesting; she was keeping their entire clan entertained with speculation on her training already. Ensui could probably get out of quite a few chores if he had further information on the girl – or, even better, more puzzling contradictions to entertain them.

Luckily, the assassination and subsequent run home had still left him with quite a bit of chakra. Wrapping himself in the shadows to hide was one of the easiest but rather chakra-extensive techniques he knew – but one which made him a rather excellent assassin. Ensui entered the bank before her and then hid himself, watching as the girl followed after him.

First time in this bank, he mused, watching as the little girl walked curiously across the main hall, studiously reading every sign to ensure she queued by the right till. This was kind of adorable, the Nara mused, and he could kind of see why Shikaku had decided to have a little progeny. Other than his duty to the clan, of course. Shikamaru was just as cute with his dark eyes and Nara-hair in a pudgy toddler-body.

Her eyes were wide and childish, her hands tiny full of tiny scars and callouses, her drawn face only amplified her youth, and the child was still so tiny. If he couldn't read the glint in her eyes as she analysed each handler before deciding on one to approach, he would have fallen for it. Ensui channelled a minuscule amount of chakra to his ears so he could listen in on her conversation.

Huh.

Okay, so that was unexpected.

Ensui had been sent on assassination mission for smaller jewels. The bank employee was practically frothing at the mouth to get his hand on it. According to the little girl, this was the only thing left of her parents. Clever little child had glanced sideways – incidentally directly into a bright light, making her eyes water – before looking back at the employee she'd selected. Ensui could just imagine what she would look like from the front; trembling bottom lip, hands clasped in front of herself uncertainly, eyes large and wet and focussed on the man.

Oho, well done indeed.

While the Academy had certainly neglected the curriculum on being sneaky and not attracting attention to themselves, they had done very well on teaching her how to manipulate.

And she had chosen her target well; the man was clearly young, recently married (his wedding band was practically glistening and there was a wedding photograph on his desk badly hidden) and probably trying for a child. Well spotted, little girl, Ensui thought with badly hidden amusement as the banker practically tripped over himself to help her. He was still greedy, but likely would cut her a fair deal.

But curious that she had not just held onto the jewel (a ruby the size of his palm) until now but that it had not 'disappeared' or been otherwise confiscated by the orphanage, its workers, or the administration. The Nara held no illusions on how corrupt his government had become, so it was curious that it had not been seen, mentioned or taken at any point before today.

And where would her parents have gotten it. He didn't know about the clarity of the jewel, but even just by size, it should be worth a small fortune. From what the clan knew, her parents had been civilians. The mother had been researching to write a book (which had a different connotation then when mentioned in conjunction with Jiraiya) and the father had been a Samurai prior to joining Konoha. He had been part of a minor noble family, according to rumours, but no one had been able to pin down to which one he belonged.

Lucky.

Another puzzle. He would get out of doing so many chores!

He watched the little orphan haggle with the bank teller, manage to get a free bank account and half her money cash in hand, as well as a receipt for the rest to be added to her bank account by the end of the day.

Well done.

Letting the cloaking chakra drop, Ensui slouched and followed her out.

Should he keep on following her? He was curious about what she intended to do with the money, but…

Nah. He had more to the puzzle and it would be far more satisfying to solve himself than to get more obvious clues.

Shikaku had ascertained, and Ensui agreed, that she was not an infiltrator. Calla had enough witnesses to her growing up in Konoha to substantiate that, at least, but she could still have been obtained as a spy later on. There were simply too many curiosities surrounding her.

…

Such as where the hell a little girl in ratty clothes had managed to secure and hide away an entire bag full of money in the split second it took him to follow her out.

Seriously.

So, so many inconsistencies. The tiny child made no sense and Ensui had no idea where she could have possibly hidden it. There simply wasn't anywhere on her body she could've hidden it, yet it had disappeared from one moment to the next and there wasn't even a sealing scroll she could have placed it in (not to mention how expensive those were).

Yeah, enough material to make an intriguing puzzle but nothing which implicated her or made her suspicious enough to report; Ensui was sure Shikaku would agree with him there.

She had a way for things to be hidden or undetected (see money and jewel) for years apparently. The jewel – either created, found or honestly inherited – which still begged the question how her family got their hands on it.

Troublesome.

He was definitely not following her now – he didn't want too many clues but more than that he didn't want to be involved in something troublesome which would require action from him; which it would if he saw a kekkai genkai, criminal activity or if she did anything to arouse further suspicion.

Better to return to Nara clan, inform Shikaku and let him decide on if he wanted to just puzzle out at home or if he thought they needed to actually do surveillance and threat assessment.

Ensui remembered a flash of the bright, glistening green eyes and swore under his breath, already aware he'd do his best to dissuade his clan head from the latter.

Very, very good manipulation lessons, indeed. There was a reason he didn't do child assassinations when he could avoid it and that Shikaku could always rely on him to babysit his son (not that it was much of a hardship with such a lazy toddler, but the principle stands).

Children were so troublesome, Ensui sighed to himself, before launching off the roof in direction of Nara lands.

He would definitely not be mentioning to his clan head that bright green eyes had focussed in on him and followed him as he left, before relaxing again. No way would he admit to being spotted by a freshly-graduated genin, no matter how cute.

Even if this reduced his future workload regarding clan chores, he deeply regretted following his impulses. So should have gone straight to his nap; dealing with the real world was always so much more troublesome.

Weird. At least the soul who had followed her in- and out of the bank was leaving. Maybe a shinobi security guard? Had she looked like a bank robber? Ha, that would be funny.

But that guy had definitely been a jonin (he wore the right vest) and had the same hairstyle and similar face to the shinobi who had watched her train in the forest. Related then. Coincidence?

Ah well. If there was one thing Calla could rely on it was that her Potter luck would make sure to slap her over the head with clues if it was important. She was sure it was nothing.

Okay, so she needed cleaning things, writing implements, paint for the walls – maybe pictures too? And some plants, groceries, a bed, clothes and so, so many other things.

This ought to be fun, especially considering how little time she had.

Ha, take that!

She'd put the items she bought into the bag Hermione had made for her, but used chakra to create an illusion over the bag to make it look like it was being put into a sealing scroll.

Calla had used a magic bag in front of so many shop assistants today and no one knew any better! She was so awesome!

Shisui paused for a second on his patrol – all Uchiha were mandated to patrol the village and were assigned a rotational schedule for the duration of their downtime; it was the reason Uchiha had slightly longer downtime between missions usually. A tiny flare of chakra – as used in jutsu – had caught his attention and it wouldn't be the first time a new genin thought he'd be clever by fooling civilians either with speed, kawarimi or illusions. This was the kind of small-time crime the Uchiha were here to stop; one of the reasons Konoha appealed so well to civilians was due to their police keeping shinobi in check.

He flared his Sharingan for a second before letting it disperse a mere second later. Apparently, someone had thought himself clever when they put fuinjutsu on cloth instead of paper. They probably hadn't realised the danger of half-unravelled seals yet. Oh well, nothing for the police to deal with. He had seen the cash in merchant's hand, so no reason to interfere.

Shisui left the tiny black-haired orphan behind and returned to his patrol without any further incidents, letting another passing patrol know about the child's shopping technique. Hiroto had snickered, then patted him on the back in thanks.

The three patrols assigned to the area let the little orphaned girl continue shopping, watching in barely hidden amusement, the pride on her face when she thought she'd snuck this past yet another merchant.

So adorable.

"Alright!" Still excited from all the amazing things she'd seen and bought, Calla spread her arms wide as she took in her apartment.

What to do first? Clean? She couldn't just paint over the mould… but a spell would take care of things right quick and since her childhood she had developed an aversion to scrubbing floors on her hands and knees… On the other hand, this was her home now, maybe it would be different?

Ah well, another day she would definitely give it a thorough clean by hand, but for now definitely magic.

Except she wanted this to be her safe haven – so she needed to probably work on her runic array first. Calla had been working on and off over the last year since the Academy's focus had turned more towards academics and had reduced the hours the students needed to run D-ranks in-village, but hadn't been able to finalise it until she had the dimensions of her place.

Calla had no idea how she would have gone about explaining hiding half of someone else's apartment, or if they couldn't step on the floor, or any of the other many things which could occur if her runes weren't precise. While she could create an array by placing it in different corners of the apartment and linking them together, the more complicated, but also far more rewarding method was one rune in one place. But that meant she needed to do arithmetic calculations on which runes to use to encompass her apartment – and only her apartment.

But with one rune design only, it allowed for a lot more latitude on what she could incorporate in it and one of them needed to allow for the electricity to still run, for example. Calla also needed to ensure no one could see her use magic and a strong notice-me-not so odd things would either not be noticed in the first place or forgotten. Muggletum repellum would be far too noticeable, unfortunately, especially if people needed to get to apartments around hers.

And she wanted to make it like Grimmauld Place, only people she specifically keyed in would be allowed entry. Of course, then the runes also needed to account for anything like a flood or destruction.

Hmm… maybe a stasis array? Phew, that would be difficult. But it would be useful if she needed to go on longer missions. No – make the stasis runes separate, by the door, on account of whether there were any living beings in the apartment. Yes. That would work; and as long as she tweaked it a bit, it should not overlap into other apartments – and if it did, the notice-me-not should kick in for anything odd to do with her apartment.

But she'd need to use blood. And-

It was 4 am by the time Calla blinked dazedly, runic array finished in front of her. Her hands automatically grabbed for the glass of water she'd had beside her – only to find that she must have drank it some time ago. God, how did Hermione do this? Her best friend had always been able to have several concurrent projects and somehow work on them all. Calla had always been someone who focussed on one thing to the exclusion of all else and Hermione had insisted, with growing frequency as they grew older, that if she only learned to multi-task she wouldn't land herself in the infirmary so often with Quidditch injuries.

Stumbling upright, she made her way to the tap and drank the entire glass in one glass. The next glass she held in her hands as Calla started contemplatively at the large intricate design she'd sketched out on the table. It was late, her limbs heavy and she was so tired and probably should go to sleep, but there was more nagging at her.

The water in her hand looked relatively clear, but how could she tell? Calla still didn't know how advanced this world was; in some ways it had cheerfully skipped past issues her world had encountered and had to learn from and had instead somehow immediately implemented the ideal solution. This world was more advanced in some ways and yet backward in others. It couldn't be appropriately judged or assessed through simple comparison with earth, which made it all the more difficult.

And so her mind recalled the runes Hermione had devised to draw on their drink bottles for purifying water. It would only require a slight modification to work on running water; and the shower – she could make sure it would keep temperature. As for the fridge, well she could use a normal cupboard and runes to keep it at the right temperature – that was the normal solution in the wizarding world anyway. The light would be more difficult. She clearly needed it and too much magic – or runes in this case – would interfere especially as the runes would run continuously.

That was another issue; there was no ambient magic in this world, which means she would have to be the magical battery for her runic designs and not just power them but also recharge them.

Maybe if she tied them to her magical core but a failsafe where it would stop sucking power if she went below a quarter of her magic?

Yeah, Calla was not getting any sleep tonight or tomorrow probably. It's alright, she was a little older, she could handle it. Probably.

As it turned out, she could not handle it. Calla fell asleep a few hours later mid-project, slumped over on the floor and only woke up thanks to some shouting outside her window as people got drunk early. Scrambling quickly around the flat, she changed into clean clothes rapidly and tried – and failed – to bring her hair into some sort of order before running out quickly towards the Hokage tower. Calla had been ordered to fill out the paperwork with administration and get her photo taken.

"You are how old?"

"Ten," Calla repeated again.

"Look, kid, this is not the time for exaggerations. This is your official paperwork. Last chance, kid," the bored administrator said, fixing her with a stern gaze.

"I really am ten," she explained again. This was the third person she'd been passed onto and was now in front of the Hokage's office. "I didn't talk after the… attack," people got really upset at the mention of the Kyubi, so Calla had learned to refer to it obliquely, "and they just presumed, cause I'm kind of short."

Pouting slightly at having to admit that she was short probably didn't help her cause, but she couldn't help it. Always too short, it wasn't fair. She couldn't even blame it on the Dursleys this time; unfortunate that they had to go through rationing as well with a lot of farmland destroyed and villagers responsible for food sourcing killed.

"Wait here, Kara-chan," well, at least she'd graduated from kid to her actual name. That was good, right?

Nodding to acknowledge the order (and she was under no illusion that it was anything else), Calla settled back in her seat.

"Excuse me, Hokage-sama, have you got a moment?"

"Ah, Toshi-san, of course, come in."

The man stepped in quickly, levelling the child with another warning glance before closing the door behind himself.

"A recent graduate, Kara-chan, claims the wrong age has been recorded."

"Kara-chan…?" The Sandaime furrowed his brow, trying to figure out why the name seemed familiar. Although teams had been drafted, he didn't usually remember children's name and, unless he knew the children personally somehow, usually merely signed off on their teacher's recommendation. They would know the children better than he could possibly glean from the paperwork, after all.

But the name Kara seemed familiar somehow.

"Aa. The civilian genius being promoted early. She pretended to be mute," Toshi reminded him.

"Ah, her," the Sandaime leaned back in his seat. "So not actually a genius just worked hard to catch up with her age group. Well, hard worker is a good quality to have in a Shinobi…"

The Hokage paused for a moment longer before focusing again on Toshi. Standing up to stretch himself slightly after long hours behind his desk, he accepted the paperwork as he stood by the window, looking at it under the last remainders of sunlight, flicking through and glancing at the file held on her.

"Anything in her file which supports or contravenes what she is saying about her age, Toshi-san?"

There was a slight flush on the man's cheek as he held out his hand for the paperwork, and quickly flicked to a page near the back, pointing out the testimonies gathered from neighbours.

"Ah," the Sandaime chuckled, "well, that is certainly embarrassing. Put Nakamura-san in a remedial history class we run for our diplomats, will you Toshi-san? He was a genin then, but this is still a potentially important mistake to make; and take note of who in the administration office signed off on this; they should also have flagged this mistake."

Pulling out his pipe, Sandaime drew in a deep breath of the tobacco.

"This clearly shows she is ten years old as she said. But also put another note in the file as she hasn't brought this to Abe-san's attention or the orphanage or anywhere else. It is her duty to correct any misunderstandings she may be aware of as much as it is ours to do our due diligence and not make such mistakes. It is rather frightening when our own shinobi don't realise what year our most recent war started in."

Another puff and pause. Toshi had not yet been dismissed so stayed as his Hokage contemplated the situation.

"Additionally," he finally added, "please advise Abe-san of the situation as soon as possible. He may wish to revise the teams as Kara-san is just about equal with her classmates considering her age, as opposed to two years ahead as was the presumption we were working under until now."

"As you say, Hokage-sama," Toshi took back the paperwork upon his dismissal, bowed and returned to the little girl waiting for him outside. This small snafu would generate so much extra paperwork, he thought to himself with a sigh as he closed the door to the Hokage's office behind him. And he had really hoped to get home early tonight and take Mieko out for a lovely dinner together.

And this little girl ran in, just under the deadline for the photographer, and screwed him over. Sometimes, he really regretted taking this promotion; yes, the money was great, but the frequent overtime, the hassles with self-important civilians thinking they were entitled to interrupt the Hokage at their leisure and the far-too-frequently bleeding ANBU dropping in, he was seriously reconsidering.

Alright, done!

And now she had an extra day to get her apartment up to snuff, go Calla! They'd told her off again, but apparently they'd fucked something up on their end as well, so yay for her (part of her was amused at the thought that this would have never happened to Percy, who didn't even miss any detail when reading about the appropriate density of cauldrons).

It had occurred to her, when she stopped by a flowershop run by the pretty Luna lookalike people (without pupils though, she still wasn't quite used to that, having had little exposure to clan people in her class) that she should also add in something to clear out toxins and poisons from the air. And something to the chopping board to get rid of toxins in the food in case someone tried to poison her.

This was her first time in this world where she had survived over two years, no way was she letting anyone kill her again, at least not with something she could so easily prevent.

Ha! Her flat would be indestructible and the most secure hiding place in this entire dimension by the time she was finished with it. Part of her still really wished she could put it under Fidelius but that would create problems with paying rent to the landlady for a non-existent flat and the Hokage would raise hell if he ever sent someone out to get her and no one could find. Yeah, no, not worth it.

Besides, it wasn't like anyone could break her runes; the languages and their written form had never even existed in this dimension, not to mention they didn't have any magic to create counter-runes or overpower her wards.

Foolproof.

Or at least she bloody well hoped it was after all this work.

Calla really needed somewhere she could sleep safely, and she was tired of interrupted sleep at the orphanage where she had to worry about being abducted and her brain kept jerking her awake at every little noise (and as an old building and being full of children, there were a lot of those at all hours).

If Konoha was the most peaceful and they had child experimentation and abductions, what did that say about the other hidden villages?

Calla had chosen a red sofa, a reminder of happier times relaxing with her friends in the Gryffindor common room but painted the walls a dark yellow with splotches of orange throughout. Her bedroom had also been magically painted, but in blue this time (white reminded her too much of the infirmary). In a moment of optimism, Calla had selected a rather long single bed (she was going to grow taller this time, damnit!) and purchased an array of child bedding for it.

Growing up with the Dursleys, she'd never gotten to enjoy having puppy prints on her bed, and, well, now that she looked like a child, there was nothing wrong with indulging, right? There may or may not also be a stag, wolf and black dog plush animals on her bed.

If Voldemort could see her now, Death personified, sleeping in a puppy patterned bed with plush toys, he'd have a mental breakdown. It would definitely be hilarious – for her at least.

There were so many things she'd missed out on, growing up, and she hadn't realised that there was a part of her she had never gotten a chance to indulge, which was grabbing this opportunity with both hands. Calla had been flushed and embarrassed as she put the onesies she'd bought carefully folded into the wardrobe. Hopefully they wouldn't really be visible.

Besides, her home was now incredibly secure. No one ever had to know if she indulged in wandering around in her onesies at home to relax.

Dripping more blood onto the runes she'd carefully carved into the wall by the living room window, Calla called on her magic and activated her protections. After her main wards were up and running, she activated the stasis one by her front door, the cleansing one placed on the spout (placed there using a magic knife to cut into the metal) and the final one in the shower.

Already the gaps in the wall had healed, the air was fresher and the mould was vanishing. Perfect.

Oh! Maybe a water absorption rune in the bathroom to stop excess moisture? Oh, and how about proofing her windows so they couldn't be destroyed? And maybe a see through on the door so she could see who was there?

Calla didn't get to sleep that night either. The next day dawned just as she finally collapsed in her bed, wearing silk pyjamas.

She'd overheard Malfoy bragging one day and had been curious about trying it – well now was her chance and he would never ever be able to find out and mock her for it! Ha! Take that, Malfoy! Potter wins again!

A part of her wondered if she should be concerned about her recent bouts of childishness but shrugged it off. Tomorrow, she'd be assigned to a team it left her with little time to train until then.

The Death powers she was aware of were the obvious ones – Calla can't die. Nor does she need a wand anymore, willpower, practice, and intention are enough these days.

To hide, all she needs to do is imagine herself invisible; like under her cloak only better – not traceable through sound or smell. The obvious problem was that it only covered her. Naturally, she could still call on the cloak and pass it to someone, but it would only keep them from being seen.

Calla would never tell anyone that she had tried out her cloak; first on a rock, then a strongly scented flower. This also involved a longer amount of time than she wanted to admit to crawling through the dirt, sniffing around to see if it was still detectable; unfortunately, it was.

Obviously, she could call on the dead, but unlike the ring it didn't cause them pain. They couldn't lie and they had to obey her, from what she understood, though so far none of them appeared to have tried to go against her. No one else could see them anyway, what was the point?

The most interesting new development in this world was that she could see souls. For example, she knew that there were currently twenty-three people alive inside this building, herself excluded. Calla could pinpoint where they were, but not what was around them. There was also no way for her to tell who they were unless she reached out and touched her soul. So far, she hadn't tried this on a living person as she wasn't sure if she would kill them by doing so. Each soul was marked, in a way, by there most emotional moments – their happiest, their grief-stricken ones as well as the ones in which they were blindingly angry, full of hatred, utterly in love or filled with regret.

It showed her who they are, what is important to them, what they have done.

Without ever attempting it, she knew, inherently, that if she willed it, she could kill people with just a touch. But she couldn't call on a soul, or find a soul, if it was among the living, not unless she was already familiar with it. For example, if she was looking for it, she could find Abe-sensei or Kondo-sensei any time inside Konoha, because all it required was to focus on all the souls, she could see at all times anyway and find the one she was looking for among them (easier said than done when there were so many in one place, of course, as was the case with a city like Konoha).

During their graduation test, they had all been put under a genjutsu and were then told to write up a mission report of what they'd seen, completely with drawing.

Calla really should have listened more to Dean when he'd explained to a fascinated Hermione how he was drawing people. Abe-sensei had told her that he couldn't distinguish between her drawing and that of a toddler's and told her to practise or she would have to allow a mind walk by the Yamanaka in important missions if she failed in her drawing skill.

Something she really ought to avoid at all cost. Her mind was now not inside Hogwarts anymore, but rather it had been inside the train station after the war. Now it was just plunged in darkness. From what she could father, the train station had been a projection by her subconscious because she had not been ready to see and understand.

Calla really didn't think she was any more ready now, but there was nothing but a void where her mind should be – no touch, sight, sound or taste. You were robbed of all your senses and it should be terrifying. There was no time, no change, no way to move forward or backward, no escape.

Except Calla grew up in a dark cupboard underneath the stairs. And the void in her mind? That wasn't attacking, it was protecting, comforting; it was herself, everything she was laid bare in the only way no one would ever be able to see.

Yep, she was fairly certain that if a mind walker went in, they wouldn't get out without help, and she wasn't entirely certain they would be sane by the end of it. Reality and perception of time passing wasn't the same, especially with the speed at which thoughts travelled. They could be in there for only a few moments and yet it may be an eternity for them.

Yes, something else she really had no idea how to explain should it ever come up. So Calla definitely needed to improve her drawing skills, among many others.

Of course, part of the graduation test involved jutsu; small ones for starting a campfire, drawing water out of the air, creating an airpocket around your face (E-rank, you only needed to demonstrate one of your choosing). Then some D-rank ones; the Kawarimi was mandatory, then you could either do a clone or henge. Additional ones got you bonus points.

Then the fight against the instructor – two fights; one where they remained on the defensive and ones where the instructor retaliated and you needed to land a hit on them.

There was also an obstacle course, paper test and options for showing additional skills. Calla had been so focused on catching up, she had no time to develop additional skills; as her class consisted of orphans and civilians, there were few who had taken the initiative to learn beyond the curriculum, so at least she wasn't alone in her plight.

So much for impressing her new teacher; the last few days had been squandered away without improving or adding to her existing skills (although a part of her objected to calling it that – making her home safe was never time squandered!). Well, that was certainly going to go over well with them.

Calla wondered whom they would place her in a team with.

Author's Notes:

Alright, current votes are:
Shisui: 9
Itachi: 14 (big, big jump after the last jump o.O)
Kakashi: 11

You can vote on my profile page if that's easier than leaving a review.

As for where she goes after graduation:
Root:1
Team: 2
Genin corps: 5

I apologise, I had intended not to update again so quickly (so, so much procrastination!) and I said this chapter would be after the Academy... but well, this kind of wrote itself instead? I had intended to get around to it, but it just kind of hasn't happened yet.

That means you can still vote. Where Calla goes after graduation is not settled.

Romance is also still up in the air. Vote and let me know. Hope this chapter at least clarified some of the questions on her powers :)