Chapter Two - It Begins

I wake to the sounds of crying. Women, children, babies, I'm pretty sure I even caught one big, mean-looking ninja shedding some tears.

I appear to be in a hospital, surrounded by other victims of the Nine-Tails attack. My mother is nowhere within my sensory range.

'S-she really did die. I can't believe it. Without a family in both my lives. Is it wrong to hope that I wouldn't be alone? Could that bastard not have just set my birth back one day, after the attack? Then Mother would have lived!' Thoughts race through my mind as I begin to cry without even knowing.

I don't know if I have a father. Even if he's still alive, there's little chance of him being found. Assuming he was even around to start with. There wasn't anyone with Mother and me in the alley I was born in. Which I can recall with perfect clarity due to my bloodline ability, and examine details that I missed during the moment. This works very well with my spacial awareness. Everything that is caught in my sphere is recorded in my memory. It's this that allowed me to realize a few infuriating details about my birth.

My mother, a civilian, was murdered. She didn't die as a byproduct of the Nine-Tails attack, she had wounds that were too clean and too precise to be anything that would have occurred from someone escaping towards the shelters.

I don't have enough information to be able to tell anything about the attacker. All I can do is hope that I'll later learn more and be able to find a lead. This person, no, this monster took away my chance at a family in this life. If I find them, I'll make them regret their choice. I won't stoop to their level, I won't kill them. But I'll find some way to get revenge for mother.

As the days went on, I was taken to an orphanage and named Ayo. Due to the catastrophe that had just befallen the village, there were a lot of new orphans. Enough so that the village was forced to expand the orphanage dramatically. The one year and under age group already had more than 15 kids within the first week after the attack. More were almost certain to be found.

I need to find a way to improve as much as I can, as fast as I can. Even though there's only so much I can do with my body, I can at least figure out as much as I can about my mental abilities and plan as much as possible. I can't let myself be at the mercy of this world ever again.

I've made more progress than I expected over the past year. Most of which I couldn't have done without my enhanced mind. I'm very pleased with how well my mind functions. It's amazing really.

My memory is perfect, every sense, every bit of detail, even things I may have missed during the moment (few as those may be due to increased thought speed) are recorded, and can be reviewed almost instantly. My semantic memory works similarly. Any knowledge I gain is stored and instantly accessible, even linked to the memory of learning it.

This allowed me to learn the spoken language in two weeks, even though my body's lack of motor skills did not allow me to speak beyond very simple words.

I somehow managed to babble enough to convince the matron of the orphanage to read to me and I learned the written language in another two weeks.

I spent the remainder of the year trying to work out the spacial side of my abilities. I can now sense a range of half a mile passively and can double that with an application of chakra.

The matron and other staff at the orphanage can't decide whether or not I'm a genius or some kind of demon brought to life by the Nine-Tails. Most people tend to think the latter. I make no effort to hide my intelligence and mindset much more mature than my age. I need every advantage I can get, and if being seen as a genius or demon makes people keep me at a distance and leave me alone to train then I'll be happy.

To that end, I've finally been left unsupervised by the staff. It's finally time to get started on gaining power.

There's only so much I can do at my current age. I can only train and exercise for so long before exhaustion sets in. My body is too young and pushing further has a high risk of permanent injury.

Thankfully the orphanage has several books on child care and development. If I hadn't read those, I likely would have caused myself harm or stunted my growth, effectively eliminating any chance I would have had of gaining the power I desire.

The books also let me realize that I'm already ahead of the average child in this world. Compared to my past world, people here are around twice as strong on average. I'm currently three times stronger than a one-year-old from my past life. I can only believe that this is a result of chakra.

Chakra functions differently in civilians and ninja. From the ninja that I've been able to observe in my sensory range, a ninja's chakra is always in motion, flowing from the core throughout the body, limited by the eight gates. Every action that a ninja makes is accompanied by the movement of their chakra. A small rush of energy follows their actions. A rush that can be increased for additional strength. A civilian's chakra is almost stagnant in comparison. It flows through the body at a slow, steady pace. While it seems to still aid the body, it's nowhere near the same level as a ninja. I must have awakened my chakra when I was learning to control it and develop my mental abilities.

I've also managed to increase my ability to control chakra. I've copied the way the ninja use chakra to boost their strength and have been able to boost mine by approximately 25% with active chakra usage. While practicing this, I also came up with an idea for how Tsunade's strength technique works. She's known for having near-perfect chakra control, which leads me to believe she's using the same general method as everyone else. I think she just controls exactly where and how the chakra surges. Instead of just flooding a limb with chakra, she directs it to the precise areas to achieve greater power. I've yet to have any measurable success with this method.

Even with all that I've achieved, it's still not enough. I've decided that I will change the future of this world. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I used the power I'm gaining for only myself. Even if the life of a ninja is full of bloodshed, I still want to be one who protects. One who sheds blood only when necessary, and to protect others.

The first step I take on this goal is doing whatever I can to stop the Hyuga Affair. Hinata is traumatized and loses her confidence, while Neji loses his father. I can't let this happen to my future potential friends and comrades. I don't know what I'll be able to do at three-years-old, but I'll do everything I can.

Damn. The Will of Fire really does exist…

For now, more training.