Two weeks pass by in the blink of an eye. Some of the days I train by myself, focusing on the chakra strings and its control by climbing up trees. Sometimes I also help my mother to run some errands, and if she has free time, she teaches me about healing and poisons. By the end I know some basic healing vocabulary and some formulas for poisons and antidotes. I also follow closely as she heals, but she does not let me try it not even on small animals.

When those two weeks have passed my abilities have advanced a lot. My chakra string can reach up to two meters, though I can only use them with my index fingers for some reason. I blame my age; maybe even this is too much for a four-year-old. Though sometimes I'd like to counter that Itachi had known hell of a lot at this age, but then again, he was Itachi freaking Uchiha. So, I let it be.

I can climb trees for three meters before I fall off, and I can also hold onto it for a few seconds. Few times I practiced with kunai and shuriken, but with them I have not advanced at all – though there is a lot of advancing to do.

I get to see the horrors of war as well. Even though we are far from the frontlines, the pure screaming and the putrid smell of death would be enough to send a regular person reeling – honestly, I have no idea how my mother could bring a four-year-old to this place. I see death and I see pain and suffering. But it doesn't affect me at all. Meisa says I would make a perfect healer since I do not fear blood or the pain of others. But I know there is a much more sickening reason to that.

Kaachan helps me get back to the village and explains something about geography along the way, but I am still not any closer to figuring out what the current year is.

When we get back it is late night, and kaachan tells me to get to sleep – mentioning at the same time that the Academy would start the following day. She quickly makes some food that would last a few days. "There's good in the fridge as well. Ask Akari to make more once she's home. I don't know how long the war will last, but I probably won't be home for some time. Try not to pick unnecessary fights and take care of yourself."

I say nothing as kaachan turns around and walks out of the house. With a yawn I drag myself to the shower. Even though we cannot really waste water, I need the shower after swimming two weeks in filth.

»»-««

The following morning, I find myself on the courtyard of a brown school building. A few other kids are standing on the yard, but I don't bother joining them – everyone seems to have a friend already. I bite the insides of my cheek. Should I have tried to get friends before coming here? But I have never really ran into other kids… It's probably because I'm training all the time…

"Risu-chan. So, you really are starting."

I twirl around and burst into a wide smile when I recognize the redhead in front of me. "Akane-kun!"

The boy grimaces slightly. "Yeah. If you call me that here, I can never show my face around anymore. Name's Sasori."

I freeze.

"Sasori, eh…?" I succeed in pushing the words out of my mouth as I reprimand myself in my head. How could I have not remembered him? Now it seems so obvious… The next though is a realization about how I am old. Or would be old. Damn.

"So, will you tell me your name already?"

I groan. "But I… Eh… Damn. My name's Kuroyuri."

"Like the flower?"

"Yeah, like the flower that smells like crap," I mutter, glancing away.

"Love or curse?" Sasori asks, surprising me completely. "Which one do you think your parents were thinking about when they named you?"

"Huh?" I tilt my head.

"Language of flowers." He shrugs. "Kuroyuri means either love or curse."

"Oh…curse, I think." I roll my eyes. So, hanakotoba? Chibi-Sasori is cute as hell, that's for sure. "No one names their child after a flower that smells like shit and thinks about love."

Sasori gives me a thin smile. "Maybe. Well, I need to get to class. Good luck with your studies, Risu-chan."

I blink as the redhead leaves me. "Wait, what?"

I stare after him for a moment. "You ask my name and then don't even use it…"

Even though I may seem to be sulking on the outside, inside I am full of joy. I hate my name. And it seems like I have finally found out where I am on the timeline. I have met Sasori. But this means that I would be old compared to all the other Naruto characters… Which in turn means that my boyfriend would be some random dude who I don't even know. I mean, maybe that's for the better…

I snort at my own thoughts. Maybe I should forget thinking about that and just try to live this life to its fullest. Yes. That sounds much better.

"Well, hello everybody!" I suddenly hear a strong voice. I turn my gaze to a man that has arrived in the courtyard. He has a white cloth around his head like many other shinobi of Suna and is wearing a brown flak jacket and otherwise brown clothes. "My name is Kansuke. I will be the teacher of your class and you will address me as Kansuke-sensei. Now please follow me to your new classroom."

I glance around myself. Our class is small, maybe a dozen people. Most of them seem to be a few years older than me, but there are also some kids my age. In Konoha they would've never let kids this young to the Academy… At least during the manga. The war had to affect how kids are raised.

"Since we will be working closely together, I would like you all to state your names first. You there, you can start."

We sit in a small classroom. Its benches have been sorted in a style similar to that found in auditoriums and as such. With three rows of two desks that each seat two, the classroom is capable of seating twelve people. I sit alone in the highest row, close to the window, but all the other seats are taken, so there are eleven of us. Out the window I can see a training ground, with one class already training there. Most likely the class between me and Sasori, as I don't see the redhead outside.

"Kenzo," the first boy opens his mouth, and I turn back to the class. As the boys give their names, I eye them with disinterest. They all have the look of an anime side character about them: hair dark and skin just the average for Suna, eyes dark and clothing pretty much identical to each other. There is eight of them, and I do make a note of their names at the back of my head even though I feel like I will never need them. With eight boys, the amount of girls is merely three, with the other two sitting right in front of me.

"A-" Just as one of the girls opens her mouth, the door to the classroom flies open, and a bit ragged-looking girl bursts in.

"Sorry I'm late!"

She has round eyeglasses and big eyes, her dark purple hair in a fuzzy mess around her head. Her skin is the darkest I have yet to see in Suna. In her hands there is bag and a few books that haven't even been put in it. She is breathing heavily, as if she just ran a kilometer, and I would bet she just woke up. As her gaze flies over the room, it doesn't take her long to notice the empty seat next to me. A wide, real smile rises on her face as she makes her way over.

"Please continue." A sigh can be heard from Kansuke-sensei as he beckons the interrupted girl to continue.

"Ayaka." With straight posture and short, straight hair of blueish gray color she gives off a cool and cold vibe. Her voice is calm, and she didn't seem at all phased at the sudden interruption.

"Terumi." The girl next to Ayaka seems like her opposite. If Ayaka is winter, this girl is the summer. She has been throwing some wide grins around the room, her spiky orange hair pointing in every other direction like a haystack. It looks like she can barely sit still.

I glance at the girl next to me. She does announce her name right away, and quite loudly: "Nozomi!"

I am tempted to growl out my name, but that would only lead to a question to repeat it, and I'd rather not do that. "Kuroyuri."

No one reacts to the name in any special way, and I am relieved. Though that only means none of them recognizes the flower whose name I am borrowing.

The first lesson goes by as Kansuke-sensei explains the purpose of the Academy and the things we would be learning. He also explains how we would proceed: taking a series of tests would define whether we were ready to become shinobi or not. How he says these things with such a grave voice makes me think we need to kill someone.

We have practically no break and during the second lesson we start going through hand seals. The lunch break is 45 minutes long, and we can spend it outside. I decide to join Ayaka and Terumi. They did come off as slightly annoying during the lesson – with Terumi never calming down and Ayaka being way too calm. But when they let me join them and we talk for a moment, I adjust my opinion somewhat – I can tolerate them. Nozomi joins us as well.

In the afternoon we have another set of two hours that are spent with lessons on signs and chakra – which end up being boring as hell, since kaachan had already summarized everything nicely for me.

When the lessons are over, me, Ayaka, Terumi, and Nozomi take over the training ground at the school and throw some shuriken at the targets there. I turn out to be a lot better than the other three, which earns me quite a lot of initial admiration from them.

"How can you be so good, Kuro-chan?" Nozomi is the first to ask from me. They have quickly shortened my name to Kuro, which is actually a male name, but I totally prefer it to Kuroyuri.

I shrug with a smile. "I train a lot."

"Oh, no wonder we never see you around if you train all the time," Terumi laughs. I don't yet know if she is a bit mean or just straightforward. "You should spend more time with people, you know."

"Yeah, I know." I rub the back of my head.

Nozomi jumps to hug me tightly. "Well, nor you have three friends, so don't let us down and spend some time with us!" She smiles brightly, and I force a laugh.

Let go of me, let go! I bite down the urge to push Nozomi away, and smile at her. "Fine, fine."

As Nozomi finally lets go of me, I glance at the Academy building. "Do you know if the older students have more lessons? Because I don't think anyone else got out yet."

"Hmm… That's true…" Terumi ponders, and Ayaka nods.

"They have one more lesson."

"Why? Do you have someone you like?~" Nozomi pokes at my side with her elbow, making me frown slightly at her.

"No? I was just wondering. Do you guys want to continue training, or should we go and do something else?"

Ayaka glances towards the village center. "What would you say to some green tea?"

"Sure!" Nozomi and Terumi brighten up right away, but I hesitate.

"I don't have my money with me…" That is kind of a lie. I have no money to begin with.

Ayaka glances at me. "I'll pay. Consider it a gift for becoming my friend."

"What?" Terumi laughs. "You never gave me that gift!"

"Fine," Ayaka rolls her eyes. "I'll pay for all of us. But only one set of tea and dango."

The owner of the tea shop looks somewhat surprised when three six-year-olds and one four-year-old march into her shop but a least she doesn't decline selling to us. I admire the dangos for a long moment, until Ayaka gives me a questioning look: "Is this your first time?"

"Ah, well," I startle. "Hmm… yeah…"

"You must be poor then," Terumi points out with her mouth full. Nozomi slaps her on the head and makes her wince. I look at them blankly for a moment and chow down on my food. I have eaten dango once before when I had visited Japan in my previous life. I don't remember their taste at all anymore, but I am sure they hadn't been this good.

After we have eaten, we sit and chat for a little bit before heading to our homes. When I get there, I realize Akari is not there, and bit disappointed, I head for our room. I could at least save the food and eat it later, even though my stomach feels quite empty after eating only dango and green tea.

For a moment I just lay on my bed, wondering what I should do. For some reason I don't feel like training right now. I glance at my bag. It has some old and used books I got from the school in it. Hesitantly, I take them out and open one. I can't read very well yet, so I could practice that at least…

I get bored of the reading quickly and decide to go training after all, since night is still far away. There are numerous small and big training grounds littered across the village. I prefer the one at its edge, quite far from the village entrance, as it is close to the cliffs and there is rarely anyone there.

Practicing with kunai, I try my best to better my aim. When I glance around myself almost half an hour later, I nearly scream out loud. Barely five meters away from me, leaning onto a rock, is sitting a certain redhead. He seems to be reading something, but when I let out a short squeak, he raises his gaze to me.

"That took long," Sasori states.

"When did you get here?!"

The boy looks blankly at me. "27 minutes and 31 seconds ago."

I almost blush in embarrassment. Why did not notice him? "And you just decided to sit there and not say anything?!"

"I didn't want to bother you," Sasori explains and lowers his gaze to the book in his hands. His eyes do not move at all, so it looks like he isn't even reading for real.

I sigh and throw my kunai once, but when I go to retrieve it from the ground one meter to the right of the target, I start wondering if something is wrong. The air around him feels a bit discomforting. But on the other hand, this is only the third time we have met, and all those times had been short. I just don't know him that well yet. But still…

I shake my head and walk back to the line I have drawn on the ground to use as the place where I would throw my kunai from.

I turn to the target and raise my kunai, only to lower it right away.

"Why did you come here?" I ask as I turn to Sasori. He glances at me. He has turned a few pages – too much for him to have read in the time that has passed. I should know, I used to read way too much in my previous life.

"I did not know this was reserved for you," he states but as I look at him with an unimpressed gaze, he sighs. "This was the only quiet enough training ground where nobody else would show up."

I frown. That explanation would make sense if he wanted to study, but it seems like he is not reading the book in his hands. Well, I guess whatever he is up to is none of my business. With a sigh I turn back to my training, but I am unable to completely ignore the presence of the clearly distressed boy.

"So, what happened?" I ask as I throw my kunai again.

"What do you mean?"

"The air around you." I gesture towards him as I walk over the target. The kunai is almost in the middle. The other one is in the ground in front of it. "It's too heavy. You're stressed about something. And you try to act like you're reading that book even though you really haven't read a word."

As I walk back, Sasori is watching me quietly. "Did you know that you're way too clever for a four-year-old?"

I laugh nervously and turn around, raising the first kunai. There is a moment of heavy silence.

"I was just thinking about what you said," Sasori starts, and I throw the kunai, "when we parted ways the first time we met."

I freeze. The kunai flies meters off the target. "Oh."

I throw the second one. It sinks right into the middle of the target. So, his parents had died? Damn war. "You know, I don't even know my father's name," I say as I once again go gather the kunai. "I never spent any time with him. I wonder if I had… Maybe I would've cared a bit more about his death. Can't know it anymore."

I truly wonder. I don't feel like I would have cared even if I had known him better.

"Hm." Sasori closes his unread book and stands up. "Do you have a kunai for me?"

I tilt my head a bit and offer him the other of my two kunai. He takes it with a nod and heads to stand in front of the target next to mine.

"Do you have other family?" he asks as he throws the kunai. I mimic his actions.

"Mother and sister. Kaachan is away at the frontlines and Akari is also away a lot since she's a genin. I pretty much live alone at the moment." I shrug.

Silence falls between us as the day begins turning to dusk.

»»-««

Most of the things we learn in the school are stuff I have been trying to learn myself, but thanks to all the guidance, I am finally able to progress in them. When it comes to accuracy, despite my several misses, I am still the best in our class – though few of the boys come pretty close.

"He is the cutest," Nozomi is saying a certain lunchbreak with a serious nod when I join her and the two other girls. I look at them for a moment, but they just keep nodding.

"Who?" I can't help but finally ask.

"Sasori," Terumi leans in to whisper to me. "The redhead two years above us."

"Hmm?" I raise my eyebrows thoughtfully. I don't bother looking behind myself where I noticed the boy earlier when I came out of the school building. As there is no real cafeteria, we usually spend our lunch break at the tables outside. Some people eat in the class as well.

"What?" Nozomi shrieks at me. "Are you blind? He's like…like…"

Ayaka slaps Nozomi on the head. A sudden silence fills the table, and I ponder the issue. Well, Sasori is cute. Damn cute. Okay, the cutest since all the other boys were the normal anime side character style: brown hair and black eyes and all in all boring as hell. Those genes must be quite strong in the village.

Suddenly I realize just how uneasy the silence is, and I blink at the three girls who all stare at their foods with too intense gazes. I hear a few steps behind myself.

"Risu-chan."

I turn my head.

"Can you come eat with me? I am growing tired of listening to Karura."

I glance towards the brunette left alone at one table. The Karura? I wonder how old she is… It feels almost impossible for her to be our age, but maybe… Sasori is like 20 years older than Naruto and the others. Oh. Then it most likely could be Gaara's mother.

I frown. Hell yeah I want to join him if that means I could leave these idiotic girls, but… "But I was-"

I groan as someone kicks me under the table. "Fine."

I follow Sasori to an empty table on the schoolyard. I have way too good visual contact to my friends. Two of them are giving me thumbs up with crazy looks and one is smiling brightly. I sigh deeply. And we are supposed to be four years old… Or the three girls I think are six years old, but all the same. We aren't even supposed to be capable of selective attention and kids our age should be just learning to play together. No one our age should be thinking about getting together with someone. Damn Narutoverse. This whole world is crazy. I'm starting to feel less special by the day as I realize everyone is supposed to be clever even at this age.

"You having fun in school?" Sasori asks as he lays down his lunch. I furrow my brows at the cold meat stew in front of me.

"I guess. It's kind of boring but I already made friends which is new." I roll my eyes. "I apparently spend too much time on training."

"You do," Sasori states without wasting a second. "You're only four years old, so there's no need to hurry your training."

"Hmm…" I mumble and with little concentration I succeed in rising the lid of my lunch box with one chakra string. With a victorious smile I bite down on the cold food.

"I forgot to ask you last night, but where were you the last two weeks?" Sasori asks and makes me glance at him with a cunning smile.

"Oh? Did you miss me?"

He gives me a deadpan look. "I was just trying to converse with you."

"But you noticed my absence," I smirk, and he shrugs. I chuckle. "I was at the Medical Unit. I did say kaachan is there, right? I went with her because she didn't want to leave me alone."

"Medical Unit?" Sasori raises his eyebrows a little at me. "So, you basically took already part in the war?"

"Well…" I frown. "It's not like I had to fight or even heal anything… Mostly I just trained my chakra control. I can already do some tree climbing, and then I learned to do the Chakra Threads by myself… For some reason I can only use my index fingers to do it, though…"

Sasori is looking at me in complete silence, and I wince. "Ah, sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?"

"Because I'm just annoying you with my stupid blabbering."

"No, you're not." The redhead shrugs. "I asked you myself, and I don't mind listening to you."

I blink in confusion as Sasori goes quiet and continues eating. I tilt my head at him but mimic him quickly to finish my food.

"So, why did you not want to sit with Karura?" I find myself asking before I can stop myself. Sasori looks at me and then glances at the direction he left the girl in. "Is she that annoying?"

"No." He shrugs. "She's nice enough but she talks way too much and only about things no one cares about. I don't like listening to her."

But you don't mind listening to me? I blink at him. Karura must be pretty dull.

"Are you planning on joining the Puppet Brigade?" Sasori asks me suddenly, and I sigh.

"Everybody keeps asking me that. Yeah, I can use chakra threads, but I don't know. I don't think it would suit me, since I'd rather just jump into the action myself."

"Well, that doesn't stop you from using puppets. Maybe as a backup plan… There must be ways to incorporate them into a more proactive fighting style as well."

I think about the words for a moment, and nod. "That doesn't sound too bad. I'll have to consider it. I don't know anyone who could help me though…"

"I could teach you."

"Really? You use puppets?" I blink trying to act as clueless as possible. I feel like a damn manipulator.

Sasori gives me a short nod as the school bell suddenly rings. "Let's meet at your training place after my class ends, if you want to."

"Sure!" I grin and hurry after my friends.

"So…" Nozomi wiggles her eyebrows when we finally get to the class.

"How do you know each other?" Terumi turns to me eagerly. Even Ayaka's eyes are shining with excitement. I grimace.

"We just met one day." I shrug. "How else can I explain it? No, I don't know if we're even friends, but we do know each other."

"Hmm… You're so sad, Kuro-chan." Ayaka shakes her head slightly. "He's the best around here. Don't act like that."

I squint at her in annoyance. What the hell? Can't we seriously just be normal kids for a moment? "Act like what?"

Ayaka look surprised, and Terumi and Nozomi wince back for some reason. "Ah, nothing," she shakes her head. "Sorry."

She turns around and leaves me wondering what had happened. Surely showing a little bit of annoyance couldn't scare them like that.

When the lessons are over, I head to my own little training ground. It is a small area near the border of the village, where high cliffs climb towards the sky. Some larger stones and stunted bushes decorate the area. Someone has attached a few targets to the rocks.

I lay down my bag and get three kunai out. After thinking for a moment, I leave two in the ground and throw one into the ground a few meters in front of me. I raise my right index finger and feel something akin to an itch travel through me as my chakra flows from my finger to the kunai. I succeed in raising it from the ground and start moving it around. It's hard getting used to moving the knife around but finally I succeed in even throwing it. It flies meters off the target, but it flies.

I try to pick the kunai back with a chakra string, but I am too far away. Determined, I inch closer, trying to pick it from as far away as possible. I finally reach it from a bit over two meters away and can return to my previous place to repeat my throw. Slowly the kunai starts hitting closer and closer to the target, finally even hitting it.

"You seem to be doing it more with your mind than your hands."

I startle, my kunai dropping to the ground. "What- How long have you been there?!"

I stare at Sasori who is sitting on one of the rocks almost right next to me, and he smiles shortly. "You should really work on your perception. Every single time I've come talk to you, you only notice me after I open my mouth."

"Ah…" I mumble but can't really argue with him. Sasori is right. "I guess."

I raise my finger to the kunai hanging on the edge of the target. And sigh as I need to venture closer to it. With a little less than three meters to go, I can pick it up. Some sweat is running down my back.

"Can I try that as well?" Sasori asks suddenly when I have thrown the kunai at the target a few times. I glance at him and nod. He jumps down from the rock, and I sit down next to it. Sasori pulls the kunai off the target easily from the ten or so meters away and makes me pout. But his throw misses even more than my first one. The kunai hits the ground a few meters in front of the target.

"The timing of your release needs to be really precise, or it will go flying to any direction when you fling it towards the target," I chirp from atop the rock, but I feel like Sasori is not listening to me. He seems quite focused. Swinging back and forth, I raise my both index fingers and bring the other two kunai to me. I wonder what I could do with them…

I jump off the rock and step next to Sasori. "Try not to hit me," I ask as I raise the two kunai into the air and fling them towards the target with chakra threads. . The other hits its border and the other the rock dozen centimeters below it. I smirk. I can already do this almost as well as by hand.

"You should try it with your other fingers," Sasori points out without even glancing towards me.

"But I can't-"

"You will never be able to if you never try."

"Ah, fair point," I sigh. I guess I must try…

First, I pull both kunai back to me and sit down, concentrating my chakra on my other fingers. I can feel it on all my fingers just beneath the skin, but I can't get it to go any further. Sighing, I decide to focus on only my thumbs. Suddenly the chakra breaks away from under the skin, and I blink. I decide to add my index fingers into the mix and soon I have four chakra threads.

A feeling of success fills me, and I focus on my middle fingers next. I can feel sweat running down my spine and see black spots dancing in my eyes, but then the chakra flies off of them as well. I decide to be content with training with the six chakra threads for now, and realize I really am doing it more with my mind than my hands. Maybe it had to do with how I started training: I never really moved my fingers around but only thought about moving the leaf back at the Medical Unit.

I throw one kunai to the target and raise six threads towards it. Every one of them reaches to the same point, about three meters in front of me. Soon four threads join them as my chakra loosens from my ring and little fingers, but it looks like three meters is as far as I can reach for now. I let the threads disappear with a content smile.

"I could bring you some simple puppet tomorrow if you want to," Sasori offers, interrupting my inner dance of triumph. I look at him with excitement.

"Really? That'd be nice!"

My sight dims for a moment and soon I find myself sitting on the ground.

"Are you alright?" Sasori wanders closer and I blink, exhaustion weighing on my limbs.

"Yeah…just exhausted."

He offers his hand to me. "Come on. I'll walk you home."

"I can walk on my own." I yawn and let him help me up before turning to gather my kunai with chakra threads, then grabbing my bag the same way. I pull them all to me, placing the kunai into the bag and throwing it on my shoulder.

"You better. I really don't want to carry you," Sasori states blankly. "But I'd rather not find you passed out in some gutter either."

I roll my eyes as we head off. "Okay."

Akari comes to meet us when we get to our door. She looks like she has just gotten off a mission and has just arrived home. "Hey there. Who's this boyfriend of yours?"

I yawn. "Neechan, this is Sasori. Sasori-kun, that's my sister Akari."

"Nice to meet you." Akari smiles brightly while Sasori settles for a nod.

"Don't oversleep," he states before walking off. I shake my head and drag myself inside, plopping onto my bed quickly and falling asleep right away.