A/N: This chapter was struggled to write but I hope that you guys enjoy it.

Emma stared down at the bowl of stew in her hands before looking at the smiling Ishavalan people surrounding her. These people were kind, the blonde thought to herself, flickering her eyes at the kind old woman, who sat beside her. How many people would insist for someone, who came from the people that killed their countrymen, to stay with them for the night and eat their food? Not many people would do that.

Then again, wasn't she like that? Emma remembered her past life and how she always wanted to help the people around her, how she couldn't even bring herself to kill the man that murdered her only father figure. She made peace with Obito. Obito, who was the reason she didn't have parents in her first life. Then again, being angry would never solve her problem.

Perhaps, these people understood that too.

"How's the food?" The old woman asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.

Emma smiled. "It is very tasty! I've never tasted food this good in such a long time!"

One of the children snorted at her words while the old lady just blinked her eyes at her. What was surprising? It came from the people's kind heart, which in her opinion made it tasty. Sure, it didn't taste like those food from those fancy restaurants that Emma used to look at longingly. Yet, there was something in the food that reminded her of the times where she cooked food for her two brothers.

"So why did you come all this way by yourself?" One of the older women asked, rocking back and forth with the baby in her arms.

"I want to see Xing," Emma replied, swallowing down her porridge. "I want to see the world. I want to learn about the other cultures surrounding this country before trying to become the Furher."

Everyone stopped eating when she uttered her dream, which did not really surprise her. How many kids her age would make this claim? Not many that was for sure. No one at her age would think of climbing up the government but Emma wanted to make a change. This country was filled with too much blood shed, blood shed she knew could have been avoided.

How many kids died in the Ishalav war? How many orphans were created from the useless war? Too many to count. People hated one another because of things that were out of control. The previous war was started because a foolish soldier shot a kid. If this country had a better government, better control on their soldiers and did checks on them then none of this would have happened.

"Why do you want to go to the top?" The old woman asked calmly, shooting warning looks at her fellow countryman. "You could be something else. Why do you want that job?"

"I want to make this country better," Emma answered. "I want this country to be filled with kindness and love. I don't want people to keep fighting wars that are useless. The war didn't just cost lives but also money; money which could have been spent on schools and better hospitals. I want to help this country and the best way to help the country is to be the top dog."

The kids snickered at her words while the adults stared at her with sympathy. They thought she would not be able to do it. To them, they think she was dreaming but Emma did not dream. She would make her vision a reality. If Gaara could become Kazekage despite all the people he killed, then Emma could be the person that would lead them to a better future.

She would make this country great in other ways.

"It will not be easy, child," the old woman finally said, staring deep into her eyes. "The road you plan to walk on is a dangerous and risky road. You will be forced to do things that you don't want to do. You will be a dog to the military. Not only that but it may take years before you can reach the top. There may be people that will try to stop you; god knew there were soldiers that had been murdered because they refused to do the deed. You can be something else."

"I can be something else but it won't be the same," Emma pointed out. "I will be forced to do things that I don't want to do? I realize that and I will live with the guilt but, in the end I will move to a better future. I will be a dog for the military? I will act like one but I won't truly be like there. Stop me? Let them try because I won't give up. I don't care how long it takes but I will do whatever it takes to get there?"

"Even betray your loved ones."

"Especially my loved ones," Emma said evenly.

Edward and Alphonse would never forgive her if she did unforgivable facts but they would eventually forgive her. As long as this country become safe then they would forgive her. Well, actually that might be her younger brother. Her twin would not forgive her until she forced the facts on him. Yet even then, he would forgive her.

He would not trust her ever again but that was a different story.

"What made you want to walk this path?"

"I always knew I want to be a soldier, to be the top dog," Emma replied. "When my best friend lost her parents in the war, I knew right then and there that I will do anything to climb to the top. She lost her family members because of a stupid war. I want a country where no kid didn't have to experience that."

"What about your parents?" One of the kids asked.

Her parents? Her mother was dead and she was never ever going to come back again. She left her the job to protect her brothers, which Emma would fulfil to her dying breath. Her father? There was no knowing where that man went. Perhaps she would see him soon. No, she needed to see him. She wanted him to confirm that her brothers' idea was insane.

If she found him before her brothers went through with this crazy idea of theirs then it would be good.

"My mother is dead," Emma finally answered. "My father abandoned me and my brothers when we were young. I guess that makes me an orphan."

She did not miss the surprise in the old woman's eyes. A little girl that was not angry at her father for leaving them alone? Not everyone was as calm as her when they spoke about their broken family. Yet, not many people remember a life that was worse than this. Not many could claim that they were tired of being angry.

"Where are your brothers?"

"With their teacher," Emma declared. "They are learning to become an alchemist, which is good because I know they will make this country better."

The old woman made no comment but Emma was not blind. She could see the woman did not believe her. Did she think her brothers will make this country worse? Her brothers, who were doing everything in their power to bring their mother back to life, would worsen this country? Never. They had more love to give then some people deserve.

God, how many times Alphonse forgave the kids that bullied him for being so smart? How many times had Edward made peace with people that made jokes about his height? The last bit was all her. She was certain if she hadn't threaten to never talk to him again then her brother would continue arguing with those silly kids. Still, her brothers loved the people here. They loved to protect everyone close to them and Emma knew one day that they would see to protect everyone close to them, would be to make this country better.

Well, she prayed they would see it that way.

"Why didn't you go with your brothers?" The old woman asked, handing her more food to eat. "And why didn't their master insist that you go with them? You are too young to be by yourself."

How many times had people ask her this question? Granny asked it. Winry certainly demanded to know her reasons for not going with them. The people in the town had questioned her too. Apparently, her protectiveness of her brothers lead everyone to believe that she could not leave them alone for one minute. Okay. It was true but they were on different paths. It was better for her to let go of them now then to let them go when it was even more difficult to leave.

"I love my brothers. I will do anything for them even kill for them," the old woman blinked her eyes while everyone stared at her wide-eyes. Emma looked at the fire. "But they are going in a different path from me. They are doing something that I can't accept. If I went with them then I know I will try to fight a fight that is just pointless; they never listen to me. I am also very protective of them…I am afraid if I went with them then they will get sick of me."

How many times had they argued about this stupid plan of theirs? How many times had she been forced to go to Winry's house because she could not handle how stupid they were? She knew at one point that if they kept fighting the way they did then they would say things that they couldn't take back. If she told Edward that he was the biggest shortest fool she met, that he was playing a game that he could never win then her brother would never forgive her.

She did not want to see his disappointment when he realized it could not be done.

"Get sick of you? They will never get sick of you," a teen said, grinning at her. Emma blinked her eyes at him but the teen just ignored her and wrapped his arms around another boy. "Me and my brother? We fight like dogs over the smallest of things. He is only a year younger then me but he acts like the mother hen. You think I am sick of him? No. It is normal for siblings to fight and it is normal for them to ignore. God knows how many times I ignore my brother's words."

"And how many times had it gotten you in trouble?"

"Three times."

The younger teen snorted. "Fifty."

"Three times."

"Fifty! Don't make me bring out the book!"

"You recorded it!"

Her lips twitch at the sight of the two brothers arguing. It almost reminded her of the times where she fought with Edward, only she threatened to give him only milk for his lunch. Her brother would then say he would give her all of his vegetables to eat. She pointed out she could ignore it but he could not ignore the milk if she made something spicy.

Her brother looked at her like she was an evil person.

"If you argue with your brother the way those two argue, then I have no doubt that they are missing you like crazy," the old woman informed her. Emma blinked her eyes, earning a large smile from the woman. "Those two may argue and they might go days without talking to each other, but they love each other like crazy. You know when I found the older boy, he was crying because he thought he lost his brother in the war. He wanted to go search for his brother. He wanted to kill the soldiers because he thought his brother was gone. If it weren't for the fact that he knew what his brother would have wanted then I am sure the boy would have gone through with his plan. Thankfully, they found each other when my group came to the desert. They have been inseparable since."

"Losing the people you love does that to you."

And wouldn't she know that all so well? Edward, Alphonse and her clung to each other because they were afraid to lose another person again. It was why Edward was so overprotective over her. When some boy made some stupid comment about how she looked weird for her whisker marks, Edward punched him.

She had been grateful but as she had yelled at her brother later; she could take care of herself.

"You truly are planning to leave them in the night? I thought this goes against everything you stand for!" Kurama asked as Emma scribed down a note in the tent that she had been provided with. She scowled at the fox for pointing out her dislike for leaving without a face-to-face goodbye. Still, what could she do? The old woman would probably insist of sending her there if she could do. Emma could not allow the woman to waste any more resources on her.

"Didn't I also have a moto that says rules were meant to be broken?" Emma asked sarcastically to the fox as she tied on the pale orange ribbon that Alphonse had given her for her last birthday. She did not need to hear it from the fox of all people. Staying here was doing no good in her journey of life. To be a good leader, she would need to see the world. She need to think what was better for the people here and letting them travel a desert because they were worried for her was not an option.

She could get there faster than them.

"When you say those words, I truly believe that you have not change one bit. You have not forgotten who you are," Kurama said.

Emma froze at his words. What did he mean she forgot who she was? She was Emma Elric and Naruto Uzumaki. Did he think because she was no longer reckless that she forgot who she was? The memories of the dead did not let her forget of the person she had been. The loneliness she felt from her past life had not faded. Her love for life had never changed. Her desire to protect her loves one had never faded from her heart.

The only difference now was that she was no longer a naïve fool. Naruto thought that the world problems could be solved when the war was over. She believed when her teammate came back then they could start a relationship. Foolish Naruto never thought about the fact what her teammate did would never be forgiven. Her foolish self would never think of the consequence of her teammate's action.

She would never think just how toxic her relationship with Sasuke and Sakura had been.

"And what made you think about it?" Kurama asked.

Her two brothers of course. She imagined if her brothers had a team like her and how she felt if they were treated the way she had been. It pissed her off thinking about the amount of abuse they would go through. Being hit for every small comment? That was just plain old abuse. Having their emotions manipulated so they could do what their friend wanted? No way, she would accept it.

If Winry had hit Edward in the chest till the point he died, Emma would think her brothers were crazy for loving her.

Maybe, Gaara and Shikamaru were right when he said that she was a fool at times.

Emma shook her head and slipped on her shoes before quietly zipping her tent up. She licked her dried lips, wrapped her hair with her pink scarf and stared out at the scene in front of her. So many tents. All of them filled with people, who lost their homes and families because of the stupid war.

It was all the government fault.

Where was the money going? Emma thought, clenching her hands into a fist. What the hell was the Furher thinking? The memory of the furious boy flooded into her mind and she felt her temper rising to new heights. The money should go to orphanage. It should go to the people who were innocent. It should not be spent on the military. It should be spent on hospitals.

This country was sick, Emma thought, looking at the ruins. It was filled with disease and she was going to get rid of the source. Once she find the source, Emma swore of the men fallen that she would rid the world of it.

She was going to rid the world of it.

With that thought, Emma placed her bag down, opened it and pull out a scroll. Biting her lips into her thumb, she placed a drop of blood into the scroll and took out the art tools that Winry gotten her for her birthday.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" She yelled, smiling widely as her clones appeared. Nodding her head, she ordered them to begin painting the ruins.

When she had been Naruto, she had painted the monuments to get attention. She had been a girl starved for attention. She had been selfish and greedy for her desire for it. Not once she thought of using her talents to help people. Naruto never thought of a better way to channel her talents of the art.

Emma was different.

With that thought, she closed her eyes and begin to paint the ruins with the images of these wonderful people. They might not think much of their kindness. These people would think it was ordinary but to Emma, it was not. She wanted these people to be remembered.

She wanted them to know that she was grateful for their kindness. Emma longed for them to know that they were worth more then what the government thought. She wanted them to know that the world was still filled with kindness.

What better way then to do it by painting it?

"One day Naruto, you will need to harden your heart," Kurama warned her as she helped her clones paint it. "There will be people that will take advantage of your heart. You might think you have change but there are certain aspects that haven't changed about you."

"Harden my heart? I have been betrayed by the person I thought I loved!" Emma snapped. "I know betrayal but I won't let it affect the way I see the world. The world is still kind and these people proved it to me."

She would not let the past cloud her judgement.

It took her a day to reach Xing, which was a lot longer then she anticipated.

Of course, she did not consider about her desire for food.

The capital of Xing was everything and nothing Emma imagined. The people looked similar to each other with their dark hair and eyes yet, there was a difference between them and the people of her country. Where there was a sense of wariness in her country, there was a sense of carefreeness in the people. Sure, some of them looked like they would harm her but it felt like she could breath.

"Oh? A child foreigner! And an exotic one at that!"

Emma felt her eyebrows twitched as she stared at the vendor, who did not bother to stop ogling her whisker marks. She did not understand completely what the man said but she understood bits. There were bits in his words which hinted of his plans for her.

She stared at the man, folded her arms against her chest and continued walking.

If the man made one move on her then Emma would show him what she was. A child she might look but she had the memories of her past life. She knew how to defend herself. She had her chakra and alchemy to protect her. If all else fails, she knew the exact parts where to hit him.

For now, she would need to play the part of the innocent foreigner.

Shaking her head, Emma continued moving forward.Brush. She blinked her eyes, looked up to see dark curious eyes staring at her and said her apologizes. Be polite was what her mother would tell her. She stopped walking once she realized someone was staring at her.

Turning her body around, she looked at the boy, who could not be any older then her. By his side was a girl, who flickered her eyes at him and then at her. Why was he staring at her? She asked herself, touching her cheeks. Was her whisker marks that weird? The people in the desert never stared at her.

She shook her head and shrugged her shoulder, flipping her long hair away.

"You think he is another reincarnated soul?" Kurama asked her as she continued walking through the streets.

Emma snorted. Another reincarnated soul? Perhaps but he looked nothing like the people in her previous life. It might be foolish of her but reincarnated souls looked like their past life. Sure she looked like her parents but there were bits of her that still bled through from her past life.

"Maybe but I never met him before," Emma finally answered. "I think he is staring at me because I stand out in a crowd of dark-hair people."

"Yeah, you look like a weirdo."

Emma felt her eyebrows twitched at his words but made no comment. She placed her hands into her hips and continued walking through the streets, ignoring the stares that she was receiving. She smiled at the people, who stared at her and whispered to each other.

In some ways, she remember Naruto's life but unlike the past, Emma knew these were not the stares of people who wanted her dead.

These were people that were curious.

She stopped walking once she heard footsteps. Who was following her? Was it the boy? Or was it that creepy vendor? She licked her lips, flickered her eyes to the streets and spotted a dark alleyway. If she was an ordinary girl, it would be stupid for her to go there.

In the books, girls that looked like her would get raped and stolen.

Emma was not those girls.

Smiling at the people around her, she dashed towards the alley. Turning her body around, she kicked the person that was following her.

Crash.

It was the creep that followed her, Emma thought angrily, staring at the man slumped against the wall. She wanted to cut his balls out but it was wrong. It would only satisfy her but it would not make him learn. Killing him would be an option. The world would be better without people like him.

Yet the man might have a family that needed him.

"Wow, she really hit him hard!"

Emma blinked her eyes and scanned the alley to find the source of the voice. She felt her lips twitched when she realized it was the boy from before. The girl was no longer with him, she noticed dimly, tilting her head at him. He had a smile and his eyes were closed as he stared at her.

"You know she can hear you?" Emma retorted. "Why are you following me? Did you have some insane idea of saving me?"

"So you do know our language! I thought you did though your tongue is more old style," the boy stated, jumping down. He tilted his head, stared at the fallen man and then to her. "And why would I save you? You look like you can protect yourself."

"Then why did you follow me?"

The boy shrugged his shoulder. "You look interesting. People from Amestris rarely come here especially a kid like you! Why did you come here?"

Interesting? And how would he know where she was from? Wait, she was stupid for thinking that last questions. Still what part of her was interesting? Was it her foreign looks? Maybe. If he thought she was going to go with him and have some kind of perverted fun then the idiot had another thing coming.

"I want to see and understand other people's culture! I thought the first culture to see was here."

"Has the people of Amestris finally came around to learning our language?"

Emma blinked her eyes. "What? I don't know. I don't think so."

"Then how do you know the old way of speaking?"

The blonde felt her lips twitched and replied. "I taught myself."

The boy flickered his eyes at her and then to his whisker marks. "Work for me."

"What?" She yelled.

The boy grinned. "You have no money don't you? Your clothes indicate that you have nothing on you and even if you did, it would not be enough to help you. You are a good fighter and from your senses, I can tell that you will be a great bodyguard."

"Bodyguard? Why the hell would I protect you? And how the hell do you know my language?"

"I'm a prince and I will become Emperor one day."

And that was the story of how Emma met the annoying Ling.

A/N: I know the meeting between them was not something great but this came into my head and it refused to go out of my mind. Please tell me what you think about this chapter.