Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

The day had finally come, today was my first day at the academy, Minato was guiding me to it since I still had not explored the village, my developing child's brain was working on overdrive asking every and all questions that came to mind such was my excitement.

"What do they actually teach us?" I asked Minato, it must have been the 3rd time I had asked a similar question on our way to the academy, I knew it must be beginning to wear think but I couldn't help it. I was surprised I wasn't actually running rings around him as he walked.

"Well it's your first year so usually it would just be the basic; math, history, reading and writing and so on." he said and I suddenly understood what that meant, I would probably be spending my year learning subjects that I was already well versed in, he must have seen my face for he continued "Of course with us being at war currently those subjects will probably be pushed into your spare time and the things they'll actually be teaching you at school will be chakra control, the basics of taijutsu and maybe some low rank ninjutsu."

I was still a little disappointed, I felt like I had chakra control pretty much perfected and I knew I was beyond the basics of taijutsu. I was excited by the idea of learning ninjutsu though, Minato had shown one to me months ago and I was still blown away by the idea someone could just create a copy of themselves and if you were good enough even more than one copy.

I turned to ask Minato another question but before I opened my mouth I realised we had arrived, if the building proclaiming itself to be the academy hadn't given itself away the throng of children and parents stood outside did, I looked in askance at Minato for permission to go ahead and chuckling he gestured me onwards.

"I'll pick you up today but you'll have to make your way to and from the academy alone from today I have a mission starting tomorrow." He said

I paused in my rush to join the other students and looked back at him concerned, he saw my concern immediately and waved it away "Don't worry I shouldn't be on the front lines"

I nodded and reluctantly turned back to the academy where the Hokage who I hadn't seen since first entering the village was making his way to the front of the crowd, I found a space somewhere in the middle of the crowd so as not to draw attention next to someone with hair almost as white as mine though he was a little shorter. In fact… I now realised my hope of not drawing attention was a little optimistic since I stood at least half a foot over most of the other students, suddenly self conscious I at least tried to crouch a little, the kid stood next to me glanced in my direction for a moment but then dismissed me just as quickly as the Hokage began speaking.

"It is a privilege to see so many willing shinobi present even knowing our current situation, I look forward to seeing how your careers progress, how you develop your own will of fire and seeing you accomplish your own dreams and ambitions." He spoke with a voice that warranted respect but he smiled to everyone present, a smile that reached even to his eyes where they revealed the beginnings of crows feet. "That being said I will now hand you over to Gen Daichi who will give you your class number."

It was a short speech but it was perhaps all the time he could spare considering the war that was still raging, I was surprised he had personally come at all, I didn't have longer to consider it though as Gen stepped forward and began reading names followed by a number.

"Are you starting the academy late?" The kid next to me asked

I smiled and shook my head "I'm actually starting early, I'm just tall for my age, I'm actually only 4"

At this his eyes widened, it was really the only way to gauge his reaction to anything since the lower half of his face was hidden behind a mask, he quickly recovered though and huffed, "If you started late there's no need to lie about it, there's no way you're 4"

I raised my eyebrows but didn't get the opportunity to reply as he suddenly turned around as it appeared his name was called followed by the number 3, I was called a moment later and given the same number.

"Huh, looks like we'll be in the same class" I said "I'm Keiko" I introduced myself proffering my hand.

He seemed to take a moment before grasping my hand in return saying "I'm Hatake Kakashi, just call me Kakashi."

I nodded and there was no more time to exchange pleasantries as the students began filtering inside, each group of children following an adult holding a board with a number, ours seemed to be the smallest group containing only 10 or so children, most of them dressed in similar clothing, almost like a uniform, I suddenly felt self conscious for another reason, I hadn't considered buying any new clothes for the academy so I was still wearing only a pair of trousers with a rope belt and standing barefoot, worse than that these trousers were quite old and had become ragged at the bottom. Kakashi did not seem to mind but making eye contact with some of the other students in our group I could tell it definitely did not do me any favours. Kakashi saw this and my dilemma and huffed again beneath his mask.

"Don't worry about them, if you're not part of their clan they likely wouldn't talk to you anyway." He said.

I nodded, slightly mollified though still feeling vaguely like I had committed some kind of faux pas, we reached the classroom and filed in. The classrooms had an interesting design where each desk was tiered above the one in front, presumably to make sure everyone could see, Kakashi made his way up and sat somewhere about midway up and I followed suit sitting next to him, whether he welcomed this or not he didn't give any indication but stayed looking down towards the front of the class where a man in a Konoha headband had entered carrying a sheaf of papers, he waited until everyone had taken a seat before he began speaking.

"Those of you here have been selected as being prospective students advanced enough to be put in one of the more advanced classes, I've been told you can all read and write so you should have no problem taking this exam," saying this he came forward and started distributing a small pile of paper to every person in the class "This test will mostly focus on your reading and writing fluency, history, application of physics and Geography, you will have two hours from the time I sit down at the front of the class, anyone suspected of cheating will be automatically ejected into this years classes. When you have finished this exam there will be a follow up exam where we will test your fitness, stamina and taijutsu abilities. That is all. Begin." He finished taking a seat in front of a desk at the front of the room facing us.

I looked down at the exam and took a moment to quickly flip through the pages and grinned, though it wouldn't do to be overconfident the contents of this exam were, literally I guess, child's play, I already could read and write and had knowledge of physics remaining from my last life and everything remaining was not outside the knowledge that I gained reading the textbooks back at the orphanage.

Ready to take the exam I turned to page one and started writing.

I finished the exam with plenty of time to spare, I looked over my answers a second time to be sure I didn't mess any of the answers up and then used the remaining half hour to observe the group of children that were performing spars outside, many of them seemed to use the same style, a somewhat basic one that utilised quick open handed blows and flexibility on the defensive, unfortunately there was little I could take from such a style as it was almost the antithesis of mine.

Eventually the exam ended and the proctor recovered our tests before another adult came in and guided us outside.

"Your first task is to run laps around the grounds, I'll let you know when to stop, you start when I say 'go'" I was somewhat concerned as we took our place on a starting line that he hadn't given us any indication of how far we were supposed to run, how were we supposed to pace ourselves otherwise? I didn't have much time to think about it though for moments later he had us start.

With no idea of the pace to set I resolved to stay next to Kakashi who handily turned out to be the pack leader, he looked at me in acknowledgement before looking ahead again, for the first few laps I kept up fine but I rapidly began to learn that all of my training hadn't included stamina training like this, something which I resolved to fix in the future but didn't help for the moment.

After around 15 minutes I was taking deep breaths of air but I was still keeping up with Kakashi who seemed to be bothered by something as he kept looking in my direction. After another 5 minutes I realised I had begun to reach my limit and could no longer keep up with Kakashi and started to slow slightly though I didn't feel too bad as the rest of the field were long behind us by now, Kakashi surprisingly followed me as I slowed and eventually what seemed to bother him could not be contained anymore.

"Why are you handicapping yourself?" He asked, no more out of breath as he would be taking a brisk walk.

"What… do you mean?" I said between gulps of air

"You aren't using your chakra at all, why?" At my confused expression, he nearly tripped, "Wait, you do know how to access your chakra right?" I nodded "Well send it to your muscles to support them, it doesn't take much and at the moment the only thing your using to sustain them is the energy afforded by your blood, I've only ever heard of extremists training the way you are now."

I frowned to myself as I channeled additional slivers of chakra through my body to my legs and was astounded at the immediate impact, my burning chest alleviated, I was no longer taking in great gasps of air and my legs which felt like they were being pressed in some kind of vice suddenly felt as if they hadn't gone further than a few hundred meters. I grinned, somewhat in astonishment again of what chakra can do in this world, I had been running at a steady pace for going on 20 minutes and I suddenly felt as if I could go for another hour.

I looked to Kakashi and nodded my thanks to him which he ignored as he looked ahead and sped up again and I followed.

The exercise ended almost 45 minutes later, many of the students had dropped to a crawl and had been lapped by some of us one or two student had stopped resigning themselves around 40 minutes in, myself and Kakashi were both still out in front. The next task we were given was pull ups which we were told to continue doing until specified otherwise, this did not last as long as the laps of the grounds, after 5 minutes half had already given up and it seemed even Kakashi was beginning to struggle, for me though this was my element and I practiced doing these for sometimes 30 minutes a day anyway, that with the combination of chakra suffusing my muscles meant I wasn't even breaking a sweat.

After 10 minutes it was just me and Kakashi remaining and he was really beginning to struggle, honestly I was impressed, it seemed his build was more suited to speed than strength and to have gone on for so long past everyone else was remarkable. Eventually though at the 15 minute mark he gave up and I continued for another 5 before the proctor called off the test seeing as he saw I wasn't going to be tiring anytime soon. He then allowed us a half hour break before we were to take our final test where we would spar against each other.

I had forgotten to bring lunch that day so I found a shady tree to sit under and watched everyone else, I was joined by Kakashi after a few minutes though. He sat down next to me in the shade.

After a time of silence he asked "What family are you from?"

I smiled and said, "I don't know, I'm an orphan. My father might still be alive but I know my mother is dead."

Kakashi scrutinised me for a moment before quietly saying "Sorry."

I shook my head dismissing his apology "It's no problem, it's the way it has always been for me, if you let every circumstance of your birth define you there'd be no room for you to define yourself."

Kakashi nodded absentmindedly before opening his bento box, after getting halfway through however he realised I had no lunch. After a few, adorable, torn moments I admit I took some pleasure in watching him struggle through he offered me some of his Onigiri. I accepted them with thanks.

"Wow these are amazing," I said "Did you make these?"

Kakashi shook his head "My father made them, he's a good cook and one of the best ninja in the village!" He exclaimed in a rare moment of enthusiasm.

"One of the best? That's amazing, does he teach you at all?" I asked

"He did, but I practice on my own more often now. You'll have probably heard of him." He said proudly.

"I don't know, I only arrived here 8 months ago and I've not been able to explore the village much." I said grimacing.

"Oh? His name is Sakumo." He informed me.

My mind flashed back to the first day I had spent in the village to the ninja who had been speaking to Minato "I do know him! I met him when I first came to the village!" I said excitedly

"Really, he hasn't mentioned you. And you're pretty talented so he should have said something."

I brushed off Kakashi's suspicions saying "It was only once on the day I first came to the village, I haven't been into the village since then because of it being dangerous."

Kakashi frowned "Dangerous, wha-" but he got no further as the proctor blew his whistle indicating lunch was over and our group began to congregate on one side of the academy grounds where I had seen other students sparring earlier.

Watching the Clan children spar was interesting, there were 2 main clans, one all wore clothes with a red fan on them and the other wore pastel coloured clothes and were most remarkable for their eyes which were a light lavender, Kakashi explained to me this was due to an ability they were born with that allowed them to see all of the tenketsu - the points through which chakra traveled - in the body.

Both of the two clans both trained in different taijutsu styles it seemed, the ones with the red fans I was told were called Uchihas and had a style that dealt with opponents attacks by intercepting them or bypassing them altogether to deliver an unexpected hit, many of them however did not have the reaction times required for such a style so were almost hampered by it. The other clan, the Hyuga, had an extremely precise style that as far as I could tell used pressure points, presumably tenketsu, to debilitate their opponents with swift pointed strikes.

More Hyuga won their matches than Uchiha, the ones who lost stood dejectedly off to the side, eventually it was time for my match, the last of the day, which to my surprise and the visible surprise of Kakashi was between the both of us.

Standing opposite Kakashi I mentally reviewed what I knew of him, smart beyond his years, son to a renowned ninja and fast both mentally and physically, not much to go on but I felt as if I might still have the upper hand considering my well practiced fighting style as well as my strength and height advantage.

We both initiated the seal of confrontation at the proctor's mark and then too quickly we were told to begin.

Kakashi wasted no time, jumping up into the air he performed a somersault and brought one leg down with all his weight, I parried that aside as it fell with one arm as I readied to punch with the other, taking a step back with one leg in order to increase the force behind it. Unfortunately it was too slow, by the time I had punched Kakashi had already ducked awkwardly onto his back having seen it coming, he used his lower position and my over extension to put a foot to my abdomen and throw me backwards over himself. I landed on my feet though and managed to turn just in time to block another kick, this time a roundhouse, with both arms. He hopped back after the kick analysing me, I allowed him the time to as I readied myself. After a few seconds he made up his mind to rush me and ran forwards and I did the same and saw him as we came close to closing rear back a hand for a punch, I responded by jumping and bringing back my own punch, I realised then though that I would need to be faster than before in order to get my fist to kakashi before he dodged, I pushed a small amount of chakra into my arm to accelerate the movement and at the same time Kakashi punched so did I and our fists collided.

My fist however met little resistance, to my horror as my fist hit Kakashi's I saw his knuckles splinter and then his arm buckle, broken.

The proctor called the match immediately and what little I could see of Kakashi's face drained itself of blood at the sight of his arm. I had just ruined his entire career. The guilt consumed me almost immediately and I stood rooted to the floor.

"... Keiko… Keiko!"

I came back to awareness at the proctor shouting my name and I turned to him

"Get Kakashi to the hospital, you did the damage so it's your responsibility, everyone return the day after tomorrow for your results"

I nodded silently, somewhat shocked the proctor wasn't more concerned and turned to Kakashi.

"Will you be OK to walk?" I asked

He rolled his eyes, still in obvious pain, "There's nothing wrong with my legs is there."

I nodded not wanting to anger him any further, I already felt guilty enough, and we departed for the hospital, Kakashi leading the way since I did not know where it was myself.

I had always hated hospitals and this was no exception, the white walls and shining floors only looked more alien in this setting. Getting the attention of someone at the reception desk proved difficult as there was no one manning the desk. After a few minutes of waiting during which we tried to flag down nurses who rushed past to other destinations eventually a blonde woman not wearing the usual nurse garb but instead dressed in a green haori with a grey blouse seemed to take pity upon seeing Kakashi's injury.

"How did you manage this, you don't look old enough to be academy students yet?" she demanded, I wilted under her gaze and replied that it was a sparring accident.

"Don't they teach you kids anything anymore?" she sighed and looked down at some papers she was holding before saying "Head to the 3rd floor, room 12A, I'll be there in 5" so saying she disappeared into the throng of bustling hospital workers.

"I am so sorry Kakashi"

We were waiting in the room the nurse had directed us to. It was, I think, supposed to have been an office once upon a time. Now however books lined the floor and vials and test tubes containing various substances sat on the desk and shelves, a strong smell of antiseptic clung to the room.

"Don't worry about it" he replied, he was holding his arm in such a way as he didn't have to look at it and I didn't blame him, there were fingers that looked like they were being held together only by tendons and both sides of his arm had splinters of bone sticking through the flesh.

I grew a little frustrated that he was just playing this off like it was a scratch, I'd noticed Kakashi was a play it cool kind of person but this was crazy "Don't worry about it? How are you not worried, what are you going to do?" I exclaimed

Kakashi looked at me bewildered "get it fixed, it's not like it's a mortal injury."

I looked at him for a loss for a moment and then decided he must be in shock. It makes sense, that much trauma and pain, the idea of losing his chance at a career he showed promise for.

We sat there for another few minutes in a silence punctuated only by the occasional sound of blood dripping from Kakashi onto the floor before the nurse from before came in.

"Alright, I've got a few minutes spare let's get this over with" she said brusquely

I stood up and said "This is Kakashi i accidentally broke his arm"

The nurse rolled her eyes "I'm tsunade and you must be captain obvious. Here bite down on this, we usually anesthetise for these kind of breaks but we're running low so you'll have to deal with the pain" she handed Kakashi a piece of rubber tubing and gestured him to lay his arm on the desk.

I was kind of bewildered, was she going to operate on his arm whilst he was still conscious, I wasn't even sure the arm was recoverable and had assumed there would be some amputation needed.

Tsunade placed her hands above his arm and her hands glowed a light blue, as if she was channeling chakra but the colour was slightly different and then it started.

Kakashi whimpered and bit down harshly on the rubber tubing as the shards of bone sticking out of his arm shot back in, a few moments later the lumps of what appeared to be broken bones pushing against his flesh disappeared and with a grinding snap his arm straightened out, at this Kakashi nearly collapsed and I stepped in to hold him up.

Tsunade then moved her hands to his mangled hand and the same process repeated itself, bones hanging by tendons drew in towards the hand, straightened themselves and the skin knit itself together. By the end Kakashi was whiter than when I broke his arm and visibly sweating.

Tsunade finished by placing his arm in a sling and telling him not to use it for 2 weeks before dismissing him. 2 weeks. For an injury I considered life altering. Once again I've been blindsided by the possibilities of chakra, once I started proper at the academy I decided I would make it my goal to learn everything I could about it.

I made to leave but was stopped by Tsunade, "Wait a minute, you've got some explaining to do." She said holding me back by my hair.

I turned back to Tsunade, "I really am sorry, I didn't plan for it to happen, it's honestly the first time I've been in a spare with someone my age"

Tsunade waved her hand "I don't care about that, why are you styling yourself after Jiraiya?"

'Who's Jiraiya?' I thought "I don't know what you mean I didn't really even think I had a style." I joked

Tsunade seemed to lose her patience, "don't give me that I'm talking about this makeup" she reached out and rubbed my temple, then paused in confusion.

"I'm not sure what you're looking for but I was born with those as far as I'm aware" I said, inching towards the door whilst she was distracted

Suddenly her expression cleared "Kid, who are your parents?"

"I'm an orphan, I don't know who they are." I had made it to the door handle

Anger passed across her features briefly before she nodded "Never mind, I'm busy, get going." so saying she pushed me out though I yelped on my way. It really felt like she had stuck me with a needle.

"That bastard" Tsunade seethed "I can't believe he could be so irresponsible." She was pacing her office with a piece of paper in her hand but paused when someone knocked on the door and came in.

"Tsunade- " A nurse began but was interrupted by Tsunade

"I'm running an errand Miku, I'll be back later today." Tsunade said as she brushed past Miku on the way out of the door.

The hokage was overlooking reports from the main front of the war when Tsunade walked in.

"Tsunade, to what do I owe the pleasure?" he said taking his eyes away from an updated map of the front.

"Is Jiraiya on his way back yet?" Tsunade asked, wasting no time

"I'm afraid I haven't had any correspondence at all from Jiraiya, you know how hard it is to get information out or Rain country." The hokage responded suspecting he already knew what this was about, he reached under his desk and surreptitiously activated the privacy seals for his office. "Would you like to tell me what this is about?"

"That idiot he-..." she cut herself off mid sentence and took up pacing, eventually she turned back to the Hokage "I just had an academy student in my hospital with a mane of white hair and red lines on his face, sound familiar? I took a blood sample to be sure and it came back positive, he's begotten a child and just left it. That child thinks he's an orphan, that he's alone! When I get a hold of him, well, I'll beat him senseless first, but then I'll make him take responsibility. I can't believe-" Tsunade stopped herself because she realised her sensei wasn't showing any indication of surprise, she pointed at him accusingly, "You knew!"

"I knew" He confirmed with a nod

"Then why doesn't he know he has a father, that he's not an orphan?" Tsunade demanded

"At this current time we are unable to be 100% sure about his allegiance. He says he came from a destroyed orphanage on the border with Kumo but we have the records from that orphanage and he is not present among their number. He shows abilities and a maturity far beyond his years and signs of possible abuse and prior training. Given all this I have chosen to keep his lineage a secret though Jiraiya will be informed on his return depending on the child's status at that time however he still may not be allowed to tell him." The hokage explained

"That child? He's as innocent as a duck, I could tell as soon as I met him there wasn't a malicious bone in his body" Tsunade protested.

Hiruzen shook his head "I cannot make decisions based on first impressions Tsunade, we have been observing him for 8 months and have judged he is trustworthy enough to be allowed to attend the academy and explore the village. We will see where it goes from here."

Tsunade looked at her teacher and realised that he wasn't going to change his mind on this so she shook her head and turned to leave.

"And Tsunade" Tsunade turned almost at the door "This is at least a grade A secret, I don't want anyone finding out about this that doesn't already"

Tsunade shrugged and held the paper with the test results aloft as she incinerated it with a quick fire jutsu before leaving.

Walking out of the hospital Kakashi turned to me and, walking backwards, asked "Do you want to come to my house for dinner?"

"Are you sure? You don't seem too upset considering I broke your arm. And regardless of how you feel your Dad might not be too happy with me" I replied.

"You worry about the stupidest things, we're ninja, I was bound to get a broken bone… or two, sooner or later." Kakashi complained "Besides you said you haven't seen my dad in 8 months, I'm sure he'll be wondering how you are."

So that's his game I chuckled inwardly, still don't believe me eh Kakashi, "In that case, sure I'd love to come. I don't really have anything better to wear than this though"

"Won't be a problem" he said grabbing my arm and tugging me away.

Kakashi's home was a simple affair, though deceptively large, he had pulled me through the door without ceremony before calling into the house "I'm home, I brought a friend"

"Oh?" Sakumo's head appeared in the hallway "Ah Ko isn't it? I haven't seen you in a while, will you be joining us for dinner?"

"If it's not too much trouble" I replied

"Nonsense, you know it's rare for Kakashi to find a friend, I remember…" Suddenly he saw kakashi's arm "What happened to your arm?"

I closed my eyes resigned "I'm afraid I broke it in a spar, I'm very sorry"

Sakumo was quiet for a few moments before he burst out into laughter "That will do it, Kakashi doesn't really like anyone that he can run rings around in a spar."

Kakashi crossed his arms "I am stood right here"

"Of course, sorry about that," Sakumo placated, "How about you set the table and I'll dish up dinner" he disappeared back into the kitchen "I hope you like unagi!" He called as he went.

Kakashi grimaced "sorry about that he's a bit… exuberant. Let's go set up for dinner"

I followed trying to hold in my laughter.

The food was amazing, the eel had been thoroughly deboned and served on a bed of rice, it fell apart in the mouth and had been covered in a tangy sweet sauce.

"That was amazing Sakumo!" I exclaimed, laying down my chopsticks, I grinned somewhat nervously realising I hadn't really said anything since we had begun eating.

"Well you won't be getting my recipe, it's a family secret" he joked smiling "Now tell me about this spar, its not often Kakashi Takes a loss especially to someone his own age"

I glance at Kakashi who took the prompt "There's not much to tell, to start with I was faster than Ko so whilst I thought he had the strength advantage I thought I could avoid his blows without too much trouble. Unfortunately though he didn't start off at full speed and during our 3rd engagement I launched a punch directly into his thinking I had time to land it on his shoulder before his followed through. I miscalculated" I shuddered, that was an understatement.

"And it broke your arm?" Sakumo asked

"Worse, it mangled it, my fingers were barely hanging on and I had multiple compound fractures in my arm" Kakashi's face paled a little at the memory even in the warm glow of his family's house.

Sakumo frowned "May I see your hands Ko?"

I shrugged and offered my hands over the table, Sakumo nodded looking at them "I see"

"What is it?" Kakashi asked

"Well let's put it this way, here's my hand," He placed his hand next to mine, "next to his, do you see any difference other than the size."

Kakashi looked for a moment before shaking his head

"Exactly. I've been a ninja for a long time, I've had time to grow my calluses through hard work and back breaking effort, I've fought in wars and Ko's hand with the exception of size look quite similar" He looked at me "Tell me Ko, how many hours a day do you spend punching training stumps without any hand protection"

"It used to be nearly 5 hours but I've reduced it lately" I replied abashed.

"I see, probably a good thing too. And you've never had a spar with another person your age have you?"

"No"

"Well your problem is you don't know your own strength" Sakumo laughed "That's easily fixed though, we'll head into the back yard and I'll show you."

I nodded, thinking back he was right, I had trained myself to hit inanimate objects with all of my strength without flinching, doing the same to an ordinary person in my old world might have been OK, but in this new one where I had the strength to lift trees? Perhaps not. We stood up but the moment we did there was a knock at the door.

"You kids go ahead, I'll see who it is" Sakumo said

Kakashi guided me outside into what I would call a state of the art training field, there were ranges for target practice, equipment for sword dueling, weight of every size and type and training stumps that seem to have been equipped with little wooden arms.

"Is this where you train?" I asked impressed

Kakashi nodded "I'm usually doing speed practice though."

"What does that involve?"

Kakashi pointed to a large pile of pebbles at one side of the field, "Basically my dad throws those stones at me and I try to dodge them."

"Oh, are you any good"

Kakashi seemed to drive back some memory behind his eyes "Not yet" he said at length.

At this point we could hear voices coming back through the house with Sakumo's hearty laughter ringing through at intervals, eventually they reached the back door and Minato revealed himself next to Kakashi's dad. My stomach sank. I was supposed to wait for Minato at the academy.

Luckily Minato didn't seem too put out I did wonder about something though.

"How did you know I was here?" I asked

"Well, er, I guess Sakumo is the only other ninja you had met so I just assumed this would be the place you'd be?" Minato replied, phrasing it like a question.

"Uh huh" I said skeptically

"It's true, what you think I can't track down a kid your age on my own?"

I stared at him with one eyebrow raised

"Sakumo help me he's being mean." Minato cried throwing his arms around Sakumo.

I let out a chuckle at that and so, surprisingly, did Kakashi. I decided seeing Sakumo so discomfited by having Minato around his neck was worth me dropping it.

"I was just going to teach Ko a little restraint" Sakumo said "He had a spar with my son earlier and threw a punch hard enough to result in multiple breaks."

Minato grew serious, his expression darkening slightly "Really? I thought I told you about not going out to hurt your comrades"

"Calm down Minato," Sakumo said, clapping him on the back "No harm done and it sounds like it was really an accident. You see Ko has never had to fight someone his age and he's been punching nothing but a tree stump for 8 months, we've just got to teach him to tone it down a little. Come over here Ko."

I walked over to where Sakumo indicated just in front of a large thick tree.

"OK now I want you to punch that tree as hard as you can." Sakumo said, I looked at him to check if he was sure and he nodded encouragingly.

I punched the tree and immediately knew something was wrong. Though my feet were planted I was still pushed backwards, the soil being pushed up in little troughs, and my arm felt like I had just punched solid iron, If I hadn't trained for the last 8 months I'm sure at the very least my knuckles would be broken, as it was my eyes watered at the pain.

Sakumo laughed seeing my shocked face "That, Ko, is one of the trees planted around Konoho by the first Hokage, it's pretty tough and nothing short of the sharpest axe is even going to make a dent, what happens instead is the energy is redirected back in the direction it came, all you need to do i just punch it soft enough that you don't feel any pain, don't worry whether you're punching too soft we'll let you know."

I nodded and began by delivering a punch so slow it almost felt in slow motion and built up from there, over the next half hour Sakumo indicated each time whether I could punch harder and eventually I reached a point where each punch resulted in a solid thump and I realised I was feeling some jarring in my arm. I tested a few more punches at just below that point before Sakumo nodded.

"You seem to have gotten the trick of it, just make sure next time you're in a spar that's all the strength you use, it's all you need for a friendly match. It'll be hard at first building up speed without increasing the strength of your punch but it will become second nature very quickly. Attacking an enemy in the field is different, feel free to punch through their abdomen but not a fellow Konoha Shinobi."

Minato chose that moment to speak up, "Well I think that's enough for one day. Kakashi would you mind showing Ko back to where he lives, he lives in the house next to mine" Kakashi nodded and we walked back through the house after I offered my thanks to Sakumo.

"Think your son will be OK?" Minato asked "I'm sorry by the way, I should have been keeping an eye on him when he was training I could have stopped this before it happened."

Sakumo dismissed his apology with a shake of his head, "No need to apologise, Kakashi has broken bones before, no harm done. The real question is who is that boy Minato, when I last saw him you told me he was an orphan and I took you at your word but seeing him now I know that can't be right, to say nothing of his shinobi capabilities - I couldn't break another kids hand and arm with a punch when I was 4 - his looks give him away too much."

Minato looked uncomfortable "I can't tell you anything Sakumo, you need to speak to the Hokage about this"

Sakumo looked at Minato for a few moments before taking a breath, "I suppose you're right. I hate village politics, this is why I never took the clan's seat on the council"

"We only have the best interests of the village at heart Sakumo" Minato said.

"Of course you do" Sakumo replied.

After that the conversation fell into silence, both men looking absentmindedly at the small indent Ko had left on the tree. At length Minato said his goodbyes and Sakumo waved him off. Sakumo could already tell who the child's father was, he didn't need Minato to tell him but seeing his reaction to his questions only confirmed it.

After Minato left Sakumo walked back to the tree and his eyes widened before he let out a choked laugh, "That kid is going to be some monster when he grows up." he said running his hands along the back of the tree and up the fissure of split wood that zig-zagged up the trunk and out of sight.

AN: Well I tried for 10,000 words but it seems that's a bit much doing it in my spare time. Still the second longest chapter so far. Hope you enjoy. See you in the next chapter.