"...Happy Birthday, dear Aimisouma! ...Happy Birthday to you!" My half-brother and sister-in-law sing.

I lean forward, a wish locked firmly in mind, and blow out the candles on top of the small cake. The seven small flames atop the white candles disappear into smoke. Kushina gives me an asphyxiatingly tight hug while Minato moves to cut the cake.

"I'm so glad I get to have you, Aimi-chan." The bubbly red-head whispers loudly.

I giggle, "I am, too. You guys are the best present I could ever ask for."

"Aww. Well, I guess that means we need to return your actual presents."

"Oh, Kushina-nee, you don't need to go through all that extra effort." With that, we both laugh, while Minato smirks at our dramatic antics.

"Are you sure?" She teases.

"I am sure."

"How sure?"

"Very."

"Alrighty then." She offers me a large red box. I eye the grinning Uzumaki suspiciously as I tear the wrapping paper apart. Underneath the paper, in a wooden box, is enough weapons for a small army. Not really, but close enough. Kunai, Shurikens, Spools of Ninja Wire, a Fūma Shuriken, and a whetstone. Everything a young kunoichi needs.

"THANK YOU!" I say, launching myself into her arms. After examining the ninja tools for a minute, Minato offers me his present. I unwrap the blue package, and find a scroll.

I unroll it to find it full of sealed objects. A backpack, bedroll, ninja storage pouches, mesh armor, first aid kit, the works.

They bought me all the supplies I'm going to need when I graduate. Is there a reason? I wonder...

I am pulled from my revelry when a knock sounds on the door.

"Looks like the boys are here early!" Kushina grins, going to get the door. Two boys stand in the doorway. I can remember how awkward they had both looked the first few times they'd knocked, but now they both look at ease.

"Uzumaki-san." The younger boy says formally, inclining his head in a shallow bow.

"Uchiha-sans." Kushina mimics the boy's formal tone. "Would you boys like to come in for cake?"

Itachi looked as if he would like to, but Shisui answered before he could. "No thank you, ma'am. We both ate not to long ago, and I don't want it to interfere with training."

"How about I pack some in a bento, so you guys can eat some afterwards."

"Yes, please." Itachi answers quickly. Him and his sweet tooth. I finish sealing away my supplies in the small pocket book that I carry around. Kushina quickly packs three simple bentos, and piles them into Shisui's waiting arms.

"Ya know, you don't have to train on your birthday." Kushina mumbles, as I move to leave with the Uchiha cousins.

"I am aware, but I enjoy training."

"Such a weird kid." She gripes.

"Had ta' learn it from somewhere." I mutter, and she sticks her tongue out at me. I laugh and wave as I walk out the door.

"Remember, be back by nine!" She calls out after us.

"I know!"

I had settled into a fairly standard routine after starting at the academy. School was from eight till three everyday. Then I'd go home and do any homework. If I didn't have any, Kushina would teach me about seals, and I'd help her make dinner. Which we usually ate at five.

At six, assuming Shisui was in the village, Itachi and Shisui would come over and enlist me to train with them. Sometimes when Shisui wasn't in Konoha, Minato or Fugaku would teach one or both of us. On these occasions, I preferred Minato's lessons. Fugaku was always more focused on Itachi, and often said mean things to him if I landed a hit.

Minato and Kushina still went on lots of missions. We are still at war. Kumo, Kiri, and Kusa formed an alliance after the pair of attacks over a year ago. Iwa had ceased hostilities after Minato stopped a thousand shinobi in one go during the Kannabi Bridge incident. While most attacks have been fruitless, it hasn't stopped them from trying to destroy Konoha. My home.

The young married couple tries to time their missions so that at least one of them is always home with me. Most of the time they succeed, but every now and then I have the apartment to myself. Mikoto has offered their guest bedroom if I ever wanted it, but I feel guilty imposing on them. Plus, I get to stay up late reading while they are gone.

Today was the first day this month Minato was home, and he is leaving again tomorrow. Kushina and I miss him a lot when he is gone. My nightmares always get worse when he is away. As if they are waiting for his absence to remind me of every terrible thing that could happen to him. However, I no longer screamed when they came. I would simply jolt awake. If I couldn't sleep afterwards, I would flip on my bedside lamp and look at the family photo hung in the frame. It was a photo that was taken on my sixth birthday, with Minato and Kushina hugging me from either side, our cheeks pressed together, looking at the camera.

Sometimes I would read the book Jiraiya had given me the same day that photo was taken. The now worn copy of 'The Tales of an Utterly Gutsy Shinobi' sat on a shelf on the nightstand. On occasion, when the night terrors were particularly awful, I would go and crawl into bed with whomever was home. And, If no one was home, I'd just curl up on the sofa reading one of Minato's history books. Those usually put me straight to sleep.

But, the nightmares come with less and less frequency.

"Have you had a good birthday, Aimi-san?" Itachi asks, ever formal.

"Yeah, Niisan and Neesan are really cool. They gave me a bunch of ninja tools!"

"That is cool. You'll have to practice a lot to show them that you appreciate them." Shisui remarks.

I hum an affirmation, walking side by side with the boys.

As we walk, the sounds of yelling reaches me ears. Shisui tenses for a moment, but relaxes a second later.

"JUST TAKE IT BACK ALREADY!" A voice I recognize yells from inside of the training ground next to the apartment complex.

"NO! IT WAS A GIFT! A second familiar voice shouts back.

"WELL, I DO NOT NEED IT!"

"JUST ACCEPT IT, IDIOT!

"NO, OBITO! IT IS YOURS AND IT SHOULD BE WITH YOU! TAKE IT BACK!"

"NEVER! I CAN'T HAVE YOU BEATING ME AT BEING THE BEST LOOKING CYCLOPS!" Wow. Is Rin not here? She usually intervenes by now. Oh look, Obito is trying to punch him. Kakashi side steps the attack.

"T-

"WILL BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP!" A feminine voice cuts through the boys yelling.

"Sorry, Rin." Both Kakashi and Obito say in unison.

"Hey! Are you guys okay?" I call out from the gate.

"Oh, we are fine. Are you guys here to use the field?"

"Yeah, but we can go to another." I say, not wanting to disturb the disgruntled preteens.

"It's okay. They boys made a deal that every time they yell at each other they have to buy me dinner. We were on our way out." Rin says kindly. I think she is my favorite of my brothers students. She doesn't yell at everything, like Obito does, which tends to hurt my attentive ears. She also acknowledges my presence, unlike Kakashi. He tends to ignore me all together. He does that with most people, though.

Sometimes, she will heal my cuts and bruises that I get from training, so I don't have to explain them to my overprotective big brother.

Obito mutters to himself about the dinner deal was a 'bad idea.' I strongly suspect that he had agreed to it to spend more time with the medic. The 12 year old Uchiha no longer wears goggles on his head, the headwear had constantly shifted his eyepatch. Instead, he started to wear his forehead protector crooked, like Kakashi does.

I wave to Team Minato as they leave, Rin pulling them along towards whatever restaurant she wanted.

I turn to my friends, and smile. "So, Shisui-senpai, what do you want us to do today?" I ask cheerily.


"Alright. That is enough." Shisui calls from the center of the training grounds. After having stretched, and practiced throwing weapons, Shisui had us run laps, which is what we've been doing for the last forty-five minutes. Itachi looks rather winded. He doesn't have the greatest stamina, but recovers quickly. I have great endurance, but recuperate from fatigue much slower.

"Ok, you two, what do you want to learn today?" The genin grins at us. "Taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu, or kenjutsu?"

"I chose yesterday." Itachi says, "and it's your birthday." He adds, knowing my indecisiveness.

"Uh...how about...ninjutsu?" I suggest, sounding unsure of myself.

"Ninjutsu it is!" Shisui exclaims happily. "Hmm. What do I want to show you guys?"

"Shisui-senpai, can you show us the how to do the shadow clone jutsu?" I ask.

After a moment of consideration, he says "I don't know. It's a b-rank technique, not something for academy students to be learning."

"Please?" I ask, widening my eyes, giving a pleading look.

I can see his resistance deteriorate the longer I look at him. "Sure, why not?"


Namikaze Minato


I stand in a tree watching my sister's training. She acknowledged me earlier with a glance and a nod.

Her hearing is quite extraordinary. No matter how silent one is, she can still hear a person's heartbeat from half a mile. That range seems to only increase with time. No wonder her mother used to get headaches.

Right now, she holds her hands in a seal, and looks like she is straining to do a clone technique. Odd. She mastered the regular bunshin a few months ago.

I observe the session for a few minutes longer before leaving to go to a meeting with the hokage. I walk to the tower, drinking in the scents and sounds of the village. No place like home.

When I make it to the large tower, I greet the secretary. "Hello, Uzumi-san. I have an appointment with the Hokage."

"Hello Namikaze-san. You are right on time. He is waiting for you."

"Thank you, Uzumi-san."

"Ah, Minato-san," Hiruzen says around his pipe. "Come, sit." I obediently walk to the chair in front of his desk. We make small talk for a minute or two before the Third finally broaches the subject we are here to discuss. "How is Aimisouma-chan doing?"

"Quite well. She is a bit obsessed with training, but that is not abnormal."

"Indeed. You were quite fixated on training at her age, were you not?"

"I was." I sigh, "Her schedule hasn't changed much from the last time we spoke. She is still ranked second in all of her classes."

"Any sign of that changing?"

"It's not impossible, but it is improbable. The cumulative nature of the grades makes her half a point behind Uchiha Itachi. I think that having a half of a point taken off for spelling aggravates her."

Sarutobi laughs at that. "How are you doing at learning her family jutsus?"

"Her family scroll sealing technique is fairly simple, once you start using the right kind of chakra. I was reading one a book about the theory behind the jutsu, and it is based on Yin-Yang release. Once you start using either, it's quite efficient. Otherwise you end up more chakra that the technique is worth."

"Can Aimisouma-chan use Yin-Yang release?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama. I have reason to believe that it is her affinity."

"Interesting. I had assumed that her affinity was earth, with her utilizing several jutsus at such a young age."

"I had thought so as well, but when I had her use an affinity test paper," I inform the Third, pulling a small square of rice paper from my pocket. "This was the result."

The Hokage accepts the proffered paper, examining the peculiar results displayed. The previously plain tan paper, with a black and white yin-yang symbol resting at the center.

"Fascinating. Did you have her retest, just to make sure it wasn't a fluke?"

"Twelve times, Hokage-sama."

"I have never heard of any person having an affinity to something other than one of the five elements."

"Neither have I. I tried to research it, but nothing was to be found."

"Indeed. I suppose that could also explains her ability to create barriers. Did you find out anything else about her family techniques?"

"A few things, here and there. I did learn about how she can seal a living person into a scroll." That piqued the Hokage's interest. "It is the same concept as the scroll technique, but uses significantly more chakra. It requires you to use the same amount of available chakra that the person you are sealing has."

"Then that technique would not be advisable for containing a bijū. In fact, it could be risky to use it if you were unsure of your adversaries chakra levels."

"You are correct. If Obito hadn't been so low on chakra during the Kannabi Bridge mission, she might not have had enough chakra to preform the jutsu. A scroll goes into great detail about the fact that if you are sealing a person, and fall short on chakra, it is fatal."

"I believe it would be for the best to list it as a forbidden jutsu."

"I agree, Hokage-sama."


AN:

1 year time skip (Just in case you were confused. )

Thank you guys so much for all of the encouragement! It really helped me while I was feeling so blue.

Y'all are friggin' amazing!

Someone PM'ed me and asked for everyone's ages, so see below.

Itachi and Aimisouma: 7 years old. Itachi is a couple months older.

Shisui: 9 years old.

Team Minato & their age group: 12 (11-13 ... depends on the person.)

Minato, Kushina, and Mikoto: 21

Fugaku: 26

Someone once asked me how Aimisouma will rate power-wise, and I keep forgetting to say anything. (Spoilers. ;D)

~~ Aurelia Azyton ~~