The other day was just like the usual, everybody was in class, except of Naruto and Iruka greeted us just the same. I was really thinking about Naruto. Just where was he? Shikamaru told me that he was there with them, when he went outside to play. But then why didn't he show up for class?

"Alright, guys, has anyone seen Naruto?" Iruka-sensei asked.

"Nope." a boy answered and smiled with a shrug. "Haven't seen him." but then Shikamaru stood up.

"I saw him this morning heading into the back hills." what the… It was true that Shikamaru came in later than I did that morning, he overslept and I didn't want to wait for him, maybe I should have waited for him.

"Pipe down Shikamaru!" a boy snapped.

"Shut it, or you'll get it!" I growled from my seat, behind my brother and the boy looked at me angrily.

"What are you doing?" another boy chirped in.

"Into the back hills?" Iruka questioned.

"He went looking for corpses." my brother told him. "Didn't he, Hibachi?" what. "Your pranks have gotten annoying and so have you." oh, so Shikamaru was stepping up for Naruto. Way to go, brother!

"Stay here and study!" Iruka commanded and ran off. Well, that was weird. But wait a minute.

"Corpses?!" I asked.

"My father said there were some enemy spies found yesterday." Hibachi explained. Fuck. I had to find Kakashi and tell him. I ran away.

"Hey, where are you going?" I heard Ino shouting after me, but I didn't turn back.

Oh fuck. Where was Kakashi?! I was running out of the Academy, trying to get an idea where to find him. The memorial stone was a sure spot. So I took off, heading to the memorial stone, and really hoping that I could find him there. As I was running my mind decided to be active once again and I remembered something about star wars, they could use the force to sprint faster, well, chakra worked the same way, so I focused my chakra on my feet and I began running faster and faster. By the time I reached the cemetery, I found nobody there, but I ran up to the memorial stone, nobody. I shouted his name, hoping that he was around, but he was nowhere. So, I turned back and began running to his apartment. Fuck it! The one time I really needed him and he wasn't around! Gaaah, Kakashi! I was getting tired by the minute, but I wasn't caring, I had to find Kakashi! I reached his apartment and I began pounding on the door, but nobody answered. What other options did I have? The Hokage Tower. I ran again, faster and faster. I was running on the streets when I saw my brother and Choji, but right next to them stood Kakashi. They were talking about something. I ran to them.

"Kakashi!" I called.

"I know." he took off and I turned to my brother.

"I told him everything." he told me. I nodded and then everything began spinning around me, I heard some distant noises, like somebody was calling for me, but then all I saw was blackness.

My head throbbed as I opened my eyes, and I smelled antiseptics, I growled as I looked around to see only white. Gosh, was I in a hospital? But the fuck happened?!

"You really shouldn't play with chakra exhaustion, Shikanai." I heard my father's tone and I turned to him, but I only groaned in response. "You're lucky Shikamaru and Choji got you here." he told me. Shikamaru and Choji? Oh, right, I remembered them being there.

"What happened to Naruto?" I asked weakly.

"He's alright." he told me and I smiled, then I let myself drift off to sleep.


Days, weeks, and months passed by, and then we were nine-year-old children, we were older, and Iruka-sensei was kinder, Kakashi was showing up less and less as time went by, Naruto got friendlier, Shikamaru became a troublemaker, and I became obsessed with the Yondaime's notebook. I liked being a nine-year-old child, sometimes I went out with Shikamaru to watch clouds, other times I went with Ino to buy some clothes, other times I was eating with Naruto at Ichiraku's. Sometimes I got angry stares from Sasuke since I was better than him in taijutsu.

One day, Kakashi appeared and saluted me, I greeted him and before I knew it, we were at his apartment.

"Huh?" I turned to him, but he looked pissed off.

"You didn't tell me." he growled and I gulped.

"Wha-"

"I became a jonin sensei!" he threw his hands in the air.

"Oh." he was really angry, but he took a moment to calm himself down.

"I'm not suited for this." he stated.

"You're not." I confirmed and he gave me a look. "But you'll be." I smiled.

"No." he gave me an eye-smile. "I won't pass anyone." I chuckled.

"Just wait for a few years." I told him and he tilted his head. "You'll see." I smiled a toothy grin, he only rolled his lone eye and sighed.

So, years passed and I was ten before I knew it, but I was still the worst girl in class, Naruto was the worst boy, but Shikamaru wasn't far from him. Most civilians dropped out by that time and Naruto was getting impatient with graduating, he still had two years, but he wanted to try his luck. So he tried his luck that year. He failed. And he tried next year. He failed. And then it came, that fateful year.

We were finally twelve-years-old.

The entire year went by with many sparring sessions, many times we had to practice the jutsu Iruka told us to do. I was really bored, but then I realized, if the teams remained the same as they were in the anime, that would entail I'd end in a filler team and no filler team passed in the anime. Heck. Perfect… Gaaaaah!


Finally! Reborn Arc complete. So as I stated in the last chapter's AN I'll change the chapters' names. I wanted to state that up till this point in time, the story was linear, not big things happening, so I'll make a note, that states, that this first big Arc (which consists of three Arcs) can be skipped. After all, the action, the twists, the big stuff are just at their beginning, the next Arc - Teams are Formed: Start of the Doomed Path - which starts with the team forming.

I still don't own Naruto.

And we get Kakashi as a sensei and Shikanai growing up. Btw you might ask why is that sometimes she has loads of chakra other times not as much. Whelp, in the first episodes of Naruto Kakashi got chakra exhaustion from the Sharingan just for a little bit of a battle, later on he barely got them that easily, so yeah, maybe if you don't use them for a long time if you do then you get exhausted, so that's what I'm going with. Even though she uses her reserves she never uses them for a long period and yeah.

Have a nice read, hope you like it!