A little over a year and a half has passed since Konan was adopted and Danzo was expelled from the village. The two elders were arrested and tried for treason. They haven't been seen in public since that day and I haven't heard anything from Tsunade or the others about them. The village has changed a lot compared to the story I once knew. The village is peaceful overall but knowing how this world works I'm sure something else is happening. It was at this point in the original that the Uchiha clan would end. So far they have been thriving and Minato has lessened the pressure the clan's felt. The refugees from the Mist Village have found their own way to live here and have made a pretty seamless transition to living here.

Today was my first day in the academy. Tsunade and Tsuna had walked me here to see me off for my first day. Tsuna has grown a lot in this time and she's approaching her sixth birthday. Inside the entrance for the academy I didn't recognize many of the people here. I wasn't sure how I felt about that. There were two Uchihas in the class but I have never heard of them before today. The only reason I knew who they were was because of the crest they wore on their back. I guess that makes sense considering what happened in the other timeline.

There weren't any other kids who were from clans. I was kind of disappointed since I doubt those two Uchihas have awakened their sharingan. Tsunade had told me to have fun and took Tsuna to go walk around the town. She took today off from her work as she wanted to be sure to drop me off this morning. I could tell that she's really enjoying being a parent. The classroom I walked into had seating like a lecture hall. I took a seat in the middle rows on one of the sides. I didn't want to sit in the back of the class as I wanted to make some friends here. I needed to talk with more people as I rarely left the Senju Compound. I found out recently I had gotten the reputation in the village of having poor health. This led to some weird rumors about me as others assumed that was my reason for staying inside.

Some people speculated that I had a terminal illness. Others said that I was a fake that the village wanted to use as propaganda in case war broke out. When I did leave the compound I was hardly recognized so I didn't have much problem wandering around. Tsunade is still called princess by a lot of people. I really hope that I don't get called prince or something similar when people finally do recognize me. I wonder if that will happen when roll call is done here. People started to filter into the classroom and a girl entered the row I was sitting in.

"Hello, my name is Akaba. It's nice to meet you" She said taking the seat next to me.

"Likewise. My name is Tobi." I said returning her greeting. Before I could start anything resembling a conversation she had opened a book and was waiting for the class to start. I looked around and it seemed like there were already groups of different children formed. Our instructor walked into the room and to my surprise it was Iruka Umino who introduced himself. This was going to be his first class as an instructor. He started roll call listing off each name on the class roster.

"Satou Akari?"

"Here" A plain looking student in the front row raised his hand.

"Hina Cross?"

"Here" A girl from the back row had called out

"Akaba Miyamoto?"

"Present" The girl sitting next to me said as she dropped her book.

Iruka called a few more names before mine

"Tobi Senju?"

"Here" I said raising my hand. The room got quiet once my name was called as all of the background noise disappeared. I looked behind me wondering if there was something there but there wasn't. The girl next to me dropped her book as she stared at me. For some reason her face was in panic.

"Is there something weird about my name?" I asked her since she was still staring at me. Iruka took the chance to continue calling out names.

"No, uh, I mean... No there isn't anything strange about it." She had a hard time trying to get her words out. Then she quietly asked me "Are you from that Senju Clan? The one related to the first and second?"

"Yeah. That would be where I'm from is that why people were looking at me weird?"

"Well they say the heir to the Senju Clan is a sick boy who can't leave his bed. That he's so weak that he's never been outside. Are you sure you're the same person?" She asked as she was eyeing me.

"Oh that? I was sick when I was younger. I got better because of my aunt since she's pretty good with that stuff." I told her trying to gloss over pretty much all of it. Class resumed and for the most part it was an overview of what to expect since it was our first day. The first year of class was mostly learning the academic side with a lesser focus on preparation to be a shinobi. The village was no longer at war so they let up on the aggressive training measures of the past. The last thing that happened during the day was a speech by Minato about the will of fire. He didn't treat me any differently from the other kids which I was happy about. If he had then he would have created a rift between the rest of the class and I. I'm sure the two Uchiha boys aren't going to create one anyways with their obsessive desire to be the best or their curse. I really hope those two don't become a problem I'd rather be friends with their clan than enemies. Hopefully they'll feel the same way. I'm all for having a rival since it would be fun but I don't want or need to be the best.

There was still plenty of time for the rest of the day so I took my time walking back. I was thinking about what kind of present to get Tsuna for her birthday as I walked through the town. I didn't really have a destination in mind. Eventually I wound up looking for flowers in a shop. I had bumped into a little blond girl who was trying to help her parents out. I apologized before going back to looking around the shop. I was curious to see if I could make the flowers I saw here but I didn't want to be rude. I ended up buying a few of them to bring home to try for myself.

A lot has changed here in the past year and a half. Konan had become a lot more comfortable with living here. I spent a lot of time watching her but we never really interacted much. She still seemed cold and aloof to others besides Tsuna and Tsunade. I walked by her on my way to my room. She carried a few of the plants I had bought which was nice of her. Other than what was needed we didn't bother talking. We parted ways when it was time for my training. We remodeled a bit of the backyard of the compound to have a training area for all members of the clan. Koko was my teacher today but it wasn't always like that. After Danzo's Rebellion some of his root members were forgiven and pledged their service to the village. One of them was entrusted to our clan due to his abilities. Yamato was hired to be a shinobi for the Senju Clan under the orders from the fourth. Tsunade then had him as a teacher for Tsuna and I.

Tsuna has been labeled a genius in many different ways. First she got her chakra control from her mother which shocked all of us. She overtook me a long time ago in that department. Not to mention she can use wood style which she had been copying from watching me try it. I managed to complete the quest I had to teach Tsuna a while ago. Since then I would spend some time to teach Tsuna a little of what I could do. She was much further ahead in some regards than I was but it helped me to think about what I was doing more. Changing my perspective to teaching instead of learning allowed me to get a little better in controlling my chakra. I had started the leaf exercise over a year ago and I just barely completed it recently.

In the training field Koko was training with her pokemon. Her Zorua had evolved and its illusions were on par with jonin level ninjas. Once it evolved its speed had reached another level and it stunned most of the clan's guards. I could barely keep up with the two as they constantly used illusions and clones to clash with each other. I couldn't believe how much she's grown with her pokemon. Noticing me in the area they stopped.

"You're here Tobi. How was the first day of the academy? Did you make any friends?" She asked as she's become more of a friend to me than a guard.

"It was fine. Some people looked at me differently when they heard that I was part of the Senju Clan. I guess we really do have a bit of a reputation."

"It's only fair as the clan has regained some of its lost glory. Some people will be jealous, some will be upset and others won't care. Just do what you always do and don't let it bother you."

"I know. I was hoping to make friends who wanted to be friends with me not because I'm a Senju. I don't think that's going to happen anymore as a lot of them are from civilian backgrounds. I only recognized two kids that wore clan crests and they were both from the Uchiha."

"In that case you might not have much competition there. That's a shame I guess I'll just have to be more serious here to make sure you don't slack off on your training." She said with a smile as she sheathed her sword on her back.

"Today's lesson will be a little different. Yamato will be here in a moment to tell you what you're doing."

"Works for me. Also should we have our friends spar a little bit?" I said as I let Arcanine out of his ball. He's grown a little bit bigger than the average Arcanine as he's now over seven feet tall compared to average of six. Koko's Zoroark had appeared to her side asking for her permission. After she nodded the two ran away from our sides to have their fun. These two have been fighting non stop since I caught him as a Growlithe. They were still going when Yamato showed up. He took one look at the two in the background and then moved towards us.

"Koko, have you told him what he will be doing today?"

"No I left that for you. Once you got here I had something to do for Tsunade so I have to leave."

"Alright I'll take over. Tobi, today I will be having you try to climb a tree. So first thing you need to do is…" Yamato continued his explanation as he made a few hand signs. He slammed his hands into the ground to grow a tree around forty feet tall. "Now I'll show you an example of how this works."

He slowly started to walk up the tree perpendicularly pointing out that he had chakra in his feet to allow him to do this. He walked up to the top finished his lecture and then walked down without any misstep.

"All I saw you do was show off that you're better at both of those things than I am." I said as I was upset that I can barely make a five foot tree. The average height of an eight year old is between forty eight to fifty two inches. I could just barely make a tree larger than I am. My first attempt at trying to walk on the tree ended in failure. My chakra couldn't grab hold of the tree so I ran up a few feet and landed on my back. I spent the rest of the day doing this. I didn't get more than five steps before falling.

My days went by just like this for a few weeks. The only thing to note was that at night Tsuna would have nightmares in her sleep. When I asked about them she wouldn't talk about them but she'd often shake in her sleep. In those cases I'd hug her to make sure she knew I was there. Often times that would make her calm down a little. I brought it up to Tsunade hoping she might know what's happening with her but she didn't give me a follow up.

Mako has probably changed the most in the past year. He managed to do something a little weird with the pokemon he captured. First he caught a Spinarak which he evolved pretty easily. He had it round up a few dozen other spinaraks to follow its lead as he took them to hide in the woods around the compound. His Araidos uses the spinaraks to keep watch of the clan's grounds. Somehow they've become smart enough under his Ariados's guidance to be able to send messages when intruders happen to wander in. Recently Tsunade has been sending him on a lot more missions. She has been without a guard a lot recently and will often take trips for training here and there.

Inside of the rift we have mapped out everything before the trials and Shizune and Koko have begun getting involved with the adventurers club. Everyone pooled enough money together to build a large house on the outside of the village near the cliff the rift is at. We set it up so we could be far away from town to use it discreetly while also being near the rift for easy access. We now leave copies of everything inside since that is the safest place for our clan. We still haven't brought Yamato inside but he knows about it. Tsunade wants to use it as a reward for him later where we will present him a pokemon that would suit him. The best recommendation right now for him is a Treecko.

Our first taijutsu sparring class was the most fun I had in a long time. My boredom with the academy had subsided a bit as I found someone to look forward to seeing. His name was Takashi and he was the son of small store owner in the town. He asked Iruka to spar me as soon as the class started. I had no reason to refuse so I quickly got up and walked to the ring.

We both made our seals of confrontation as Iruka had instructed us to do. Takashi decided that he'd make use of his bigger frame to come at me. I'm on the shorter and weaker side of our age's average since I slept for four years. Tsunade said I'm almost where I should be but I don't really mind. As long as I can do what I want to do I'm happy. Takashi's punch wasn't as heavy as I expected it to be. Sparring with many different jonins from the clan made his speed slow in my eyes. I dodged his first punch as it was clumsy. I circled around him where he decided to throw a few more wild punches at me. I dodged them as well trying to figure out if this was the extent he could fight to.

In my split second of wandering thoughts he launched a kick towards me that I was late reacting to. I couldn't dodge in time so the kick landed on my arm. I jumped back and I could hear the roar of the other students around us. Takashi must have felt it too as he had more spirit in his eyes. He launched himself forward again throwing more punches but this time I wanted to counter them. His first punched was easily dodged by leaning a little to my right. With that moment I lifted my left leg to send a kick to his side. Takashi caught it before I could connect.

"Gotcha" He said confidently with his grip on my leg.

"Are you sure about that?" I said with a smile before using my leg being held as a pivot. My other leg came from his blindside towards his head. I didn't kick him with everything I had as we were sparring. The kick connect with the side of his head and he let go of my leg. His body was off balance and he stepped back a few times before falling over. Iruka called the match after that before the rest of the class got excited.

"Now form the seal of reconciliation" Iruka told us as Takashi got back onto his feet.

"I can still go." Takashi said with a bit of anger in his voice.

"Tobi has already won the match the moment you fell down. Make the seal and let the next group go Takashi. There will be plenty more times for you to spar." Iruka said trying to please his student. Takashi and I both made the seals and left the ring. I walked to his side where he seemed upset.

"I didn't think there would be anybody in this class who had an instinct for fighting already. That was a lot of fun Takashi, thanks." I said. I didn't want to stick around incase he was a bit of a sore loser so I left before he could answer. I'd probably be in the same situation if someone got the upper hand on me after I challenged someone.

"I'll win next time. Until then don't lose to anyone else" He said with a smile on his face.

"No problem. You do the same." I sat down in the corner watching the rest of the fights. I was a little disappointed. If I was a few years older I could have been in Itachi's class or Kabuto's class for the academy. I'm not sure if he'd be in the academy but I knew he would only be a few years older than me. If I was a few years younger I'd be with most of the cast from my memories. Unfortunately I was stuck in a class of extras. I didn't know a single name when I went over the class roster. If I was lucky maybe I could find someone who would interest me. If there isn't then class would be boring for the next few years. None of the other spars held my interest. A few girls had promise but weren't used to hitting others at this point. Some of the guys had the opposite problem. They were closer to brawls than any sort of actual martial arts. I was called out by three more people to fight but I refused them all which Iruka allowed.

The rest of the academy wasn't that big of a deal for me. In academics I was towards the top. In Taijutsu I was first for now since I've been receiving training for about two years now. Once the other start to do this as well I'm sure they will easily surpass me and I'll drop down to an average rank. In ninjutsu there were already people better than me since I'm still having control problems. This affected my reputation in class more than I thought it would. Akaba told me it was weird that I was so good in everything else but not that great at control. It was kind of expected that a kid from a clan would have it mastered to a good extent already. I didn't let it discourage me but I decided from now on I might as well try to fix that problem. I didn't want to lose to anyone in the class. Thinking about people passing me by and leaving me behind gave me the motivation to finally tackle the issue of my poor control.

My clones were just as impressive as Naruto's was before he learned the shadow clone jutsu. Which means I wasn't proud of it. My transformation jutsu wasn't much better either. I spent the next week at home trying to figure out my problem with no progress. Trying to climb the tree in the practice ground was just as painful as the first day I tried. Laying underneath the tree I stared up into the sky wondering how I could solve this. I've learned a few new jutsus of lower rank just fine and my capacity is above average for my age now. If only I can have just average chakra control I could be able to pass and become a genin. It's not that I wanted to become one now but I wanted to know I had the choice.

I asked everyone I could for advice. Koko just told me to do what feels right when I mold and move my chakra. Doing that only led me to believe that no matter what I do it will only feel off. Mako told me to concentrate harder and use only what I needed. He was an efficient shinobi so I wasn't surprised by his advice but it ended up in failure. Just in case I asked Tsuna how she does it and it just showed the difference between us.

"Well when I do a jutsu like the wood one you showed me I just think about it and then it works. I mean I just gather it up there and do this and then that and there you go." Tsuna said as she used her wood style to make a fifteen foot tall tree in front of me. I couldn't understand her explanation but I knew she had great control. Just when I thought it couldn't get worse she walked up the tree and told me that she just learned this by watching me. If she wasn't so innocent, adorable or funny I'd hate her. I was jealous of her but my pride in her outweighed those ugly feelings. Since Yamato was teaching me this past week I had already heard his answer. I only had two left and wasn't sure who to ask first.

Konan was sitting in her room when I went to ask her about it. Her appearance was much different than in the show. The biggest change was that she had long hair that she often styled differently instead of the short haircut that I knew. She also didn't have the trademark flower in her hair. After I knocked and entered she put the scrolls she was reading down. I really didn't want to ask her for help but I'd rather use all my resources available. My desire to get stronger won out over the potential threat she was. I sat across from her and she gave me her undivided attention.

"It's rare for you to come here." She said as she finished rolling up her scroll.

"I need some help in learning how to control my chakra but I don't know what I'm doing wrong. It's bothering me a lot and I'm starting to get frustrated by it."

"I'm sure you've asked a lot of people before me and their answers didn't help either." I nodded as she knew I wouldn't come see her to just talk with the two of us.

"Have you tried taking a break and taking a step back?"

"No I haven't. Until I started the academy I never really thought too much on improving my control. Now that I see people passing me by in class it's bothering me. I don't like being left behind by others." I spoke the honest truth. I don't like being passed by like this. It makes me feel like I won't be needed by others or worse that I won't be able to survive against some of the strong shinobi that I know. Konan showed a rare look on her face before responding to me.

"Yeah I know how that feels. Tobi, you should try taking some time to put your mind towards other things before tackling this again. If you take your mind off of this maybe you can come back to it and tackle it from a different angle. If you rush head first into this the way you are you'll just be blinded by yourself." Konan had gathered some chakra and released her paper jutsu. "When I gather my chakra I focus more on what I want to do and then will my chakra to do it. I'm not sure how others do it but this is what I've gotten comfortable doing. My control comes from my will which I'm proud of. Whether this helps you or not I'm not sure."

I stayed quiet as I thought about her words. It was a little different than what I've been told and it might work if I try thinking about it the way she said. She let me sit in her room as I stayed lost in thought. Occasionally she'd smile while reading her scroll that she had unrolled from earlier. I spent a lot more time in her room than I thought and I made my way to leave. There wasn't anymore time today to train and I wasn't going into the rift today. On my way out Konan called out to me. "I'm glad you stopped by. I know you're still having trouble accepting me but I want you to know I think of you as my family. I hope someday you might feel the same."

With that said I left her room without responding. Somewhere deep down I was hoping that would be true. A time where we wouldn't have to be enemies would be great. I laid in bed that night thinking about everything from today. I didn't make any progress at all but I didn't feel that it was useless. Tomorrow would be another day.

The next person to ask about my chakra control was Tsunade. She was the only person left that I wanted to ask. Shizune was too busy doing most of the work Tsunade was supposed to do. It wasn't until after breakfast finished that I had a chance to ask her.

"Auntie do you know why I'm having trouble with my chakra control? I just can't seem to get it right."

"Everyone one gets it at their own point in time." She said as her expression said that I was being too impatient. "There's no need to rush to get stronger Tobi. You have time so relax and it might come to you easier."

Tsunade thought I was overworking myself as I have never once missed my training. I never missed my training since I wanted to survive in this world. I know how ugly it will be in the future and I wanted to survive. The scar on my chest was still there from that day. It served as a constant reminder that there are plenty of things that I can't see coming. While my body has recovered to about average for my age my time spent training was definitely above average. I wasn't sure how I compared to the children in other clans though.

"It's really bothering me. I know I shouldn't compare myself to others but it's frustrating seeing so many other people that will pass me by soon." I said hoping she'd know what I was doing wrong.

"Alright I'll see if I can help you." She said as she pat my head. "Let's head out to the training area and see how you're doing."

She had me gather my chakra. I made a hand seal and gathered the chakra I could. Tsunade just stared at me for a bit before telling me to stop. She had a perplexed look on her face. It was like she saw something unexpected but wasn't sure if she was right.

"Is something wrong?"

"It's nothing that you're doing. I'm just curious about something. Hold on a second" She said as she performed the summoning jutsu. A large blue and white slug appeared next to her.

"I just summoned Katsuyu to be an extra pair of eyes for me. Now try again and let's see if she can confirm my suspicion." I gathered chakra once again. After another minute Tsunade told me it was enough. She talked with Katsuyu for a bit before letting me know that it might be time to learn summoning jutsu for myself.

"Tobi for now your chakra problems won't go away. I have an idea of what your problem is but I need to do some preparations to help you out." Tsunade said as she sent Katsuyu back. "I need to make some preparations for this so just give me some time as I need to find you a proper teacher for this."