AN: Happy 4th of July to any Americans celebrating out there today. Everyone else I hope this chapter makes your day better. I don't own Naruto.

Chapter 4

Lesson 4: When you're not blood related to anyone, you become related to them. Weirdness and all.

It's been a few weeks since my little episode and, despite that, I was beginning to adjust to the everyday life in Konoha. Just like every morning I wake up surrounded by softness and with a small wet tongue running itself along my cheeks. Groggily I make a swipe at the creature licking my face, only to miss and have my momentum swing me over into a mass of fur that was next to me on the bed. The mass moved and my nose twitched.

I opened my eyes and gave an abrupt yelp as Bull stuck out his tongue, slobbered half of my face, and unceremoniously rolled over, pushing me right off of the edge of the bed.

"Good morning, Ameko." Pakkun greeted as I groaned on the floor.

"Nyeeeehh..." I answered.

"What are you a cat?" Biscuit asked from my left.

I turned my head to him. "HHIIIIISSSSSSSSSS!"

"Now, now." I flipped over to see Kakashi in the doorway. "Don't antagonize each other. Ame-chan it's time to get up."

"Uuurgh." I groaned. "I tired. Let sleep."

Instead of answering, Kakashi opted to grab me by the ankle and drag me out of my room still dressed in my pajamas. He turned right and continued to drag me straight into the bathroom, where he picked me up off of the floor and plopped me, clothes and all, into the tub.

Again I gave a yelp of surprise as my skin met icy cold water. Kakashi was out of the door before I could heave the water at him. Bastard. I sighed to myself as I turned on the shower and stripped the now soaked clothes off of my body. 'It's never just a "good morning"' I thought to myself.

I tumbled out of the shower a few minutes later and put on the clothes that lay on the counter as well as the fabric mask to cover my face. Still sleepy, thanks to my astounding resistance to temperature change, I ambled into the kitchen and slumped into my chair at the table gracelessly.

"Morning, Kakashi-nii." I managed through my yawn. He tossed me an apple from the fridge that I didn't even bother to try and catch. When it hit me in the head, I cursed quietly at him and picked it up off of the floor.

"Why do you call me that?" He asked out of the blue.

I slipped down my mask and bit into the apple. "'Cause I'm stuck with you and you're too young to be my father."

"Just because you're stuck with me." He stated sitting down with his breakfast.

That instantly caught my attention. Reiteration? "Yes." I said, slowly.

"Really? Not because I annoy you, take care of you and train you into the ground every night?"

I looked down at my half eaten breakfast in slight embarrassment. "Maybe." I mumbled. "I'll stop if you don't want me to call you that."

"It's better than teme."

"I didn't mean it!"

"You shouldn't say things like that then."

"But I-" I stopped myself abruptly and looked up at him. His face was the perfect picture of complete composure. "Stop teasing me!"

"Maa, you should just get used to it."

"That was mean! You knew that I didn't mean it!" I said trying to keep my smile off my face. "You could have hurt my feelings!" I whined childishly.

He chuckled at that and ruffled my hair as I puffed out my cheeks in a pout. I heard a canine chortle to my left and there was Pakkun, laughing at me too.

"Not you too!"

Kakashi got up from the table and handed me my bag that contained my bento lunch and ninja supplies. I stared at him wondering when he had eaten and he said, "You'll get better at it. You'd better get going now, imouto. Class starts at eight."

Knowing that I had slept in some, I looked at the clock. Six minutes till eleven. Shit. "I'm LATE! AGAIN!"

This was becoming a regular occurrence in my life.

"Sorry I'm late. My alarm didn't go off this morning." Not a lie, but I didn't set my alarm either. Sensei just waved his hand to dismiss me.

"Just go to your seat." He said tiredly.

I walked over to my seat as Sasuke's fangirls glared at me again and took out some paper for notes. We were in the middle of a history lesson and it was actually quite interesting. We were going over the origins of the village and which clans were originally part of the village.

"While the main clans were the Senju and the Uchiha, the Hyuuga, Akimichi, Nara, Yamanaka, Aburame, and Inuzuka clans were also part of the village upon its creation. Other clans, like the Sarutobi and the Hatake clans have diminished in size as time went on, but they still remain part of the village's noble clans." Iruka-sensei was saying. I stopped writing for a second. He said Hatake? Did that mean that Kakashi had some actual background behind his family tree?

"Does each clan have a specialty or a bloodline?" Someone asked. Convinient. Who was that?

"Well the clans that I mentioned first still have prominent specialties and or bloodlines but because of the watering down of bloodline genes, both the Sarutobi and the Hatake haven't shown a user of their bloodline in decades." Interesting. Note taken.

Eventually though I got bored enough in class to start making origami creatures and objects out of my note paper. I was playing with the crane I had made when I suddenly got a weird urge to put it in my hand and concentrate on it. A weird electrical energy traveled down my arm and into my left hand and suddenly the crane moved. I concentrated harder, and soon the crane was floating above my palm and spinning, as if it were on an invisible pedestal.

As fascinated by my newfound power as I was, I quickly realized that I was using my chakra as I felt the drain on my energy and stopped immediately. It wasn't a good idea to be playing with the stuff until I knew what I was doing, and the ability to do that (at least in my mind) was freakish. I was not going to do that again unless I was told to. I hadn't been able to do anything like that during chakra training with Kakashi before, so now it was like something had just clicked.

That didn't stop me from playing with the feel of my chakra while it was inside my body still. When I first experienced it, well, it's almost impossible to describe the feeling to someone who doesn't have it. Like trying to explain color to the blind or sound to the deaf.

The feel of my chakra was like having an ice cold glass of lemonade on a hot day. The taste and feeling you get when the tart coldness hits your system, but at the same time it was warm and energized like raspberry pie that kept a bit of its sourness. It was thrilling like the feeling of adrenaline you get when you're on a rollercoaster yet so perfectly calm like the pitter patter of rain on a roof. Like the itch in your nose when you smell freshly cut grass and comparable to feel of just cleaned clothes on skin.

It was actually quite weird once I thought about it, but at the same time it felt comfortable under my skin. Like having one of those candle-lights that flickered like a flame but was still just a light bulb. I was soon snapped out of my thoughts as everyone in the room was getting up and lining up in the front of the room.

Shit, I missed what was happening.

I lined up behind a girl I identified as Hinata by the way she was slouched over and trying to make herself look small and I watched as Iruka-sensei wrote some signs on the board; dog seal, boar seal, and ram seal. In front of the class I saw a girl with pink hair and a red dress (definitely Sakura) form the signs and a poof of smoke later, turn into an exact replica of Iruka-sensei.

As this was my first experience with ninjutsu, I nearly choked on my spit.' What the fuck?' A poof of smoke erupted again and then the replica of Iruka-sensei was back to the jumping pink and red girl in the front of the class. 'What kind of trick was that?'

"That's the Transformation Jutsu." A drawling voice said to my right. 'Crap, I must have said that aloud.' I turned to see the boy from Shikaku and Yoshino's house standing right behind me in the line. It took me a second to connect his face to a name from the anime or just from my class, but when I did, I nearly laughed at the comparison between the anime and the boy before me. His hair really did look slightly comparable to a pineapple.

"You're Yoshino and Shikaku's son right? I never caught your name." I said politely.

"Shikamaru." He said. "You really did come from a civilian school didn't you."

I gave him a puzzled look. "Yeah, why?"

"I've only seen civilians react that way to such a simple ninja technique."

I flushed slightly at that. I guess I was more obvious that I thought. "So how exactly does it work?" I asked as the line moved up. "I've never done a ninjutsu before. I just got a good feel of my chakra a few days ago."

"It's a drag to explain something like that to the weird girl but I guess I could tell you." He complained rather than said. I couldn't help but be slightly offended by the unintended insult, but I let it slide since he was helping me. "You concentrate on who or what you want to transform into and then you use the hand seals to help you mould and shape your chakra. When you release it, a puff of chakra smoke should appear and then your appearance should change into what you wanted. It will only work if you keep concentration though."

"Alright, thanks for the tip." I thanked him. "What do we have to transform into?"

"Most people just choose to turn into Iruka-sensei since we've seen him the most, but really this is just a test to see if you can do the jutsu. You can transform into anyone you want to."

I thought about it. Well, I guess I could try and just hope for the best. Pretty soon, I was next and I looked at the board; dog, boar, ram.

I concentrated my chakra and the image of Iruka-sensei, did the hand signs, and I pushed my chakra to the outside of my body, where it clung to me like glue. I looked at my hands and body and found myself in the chunin vest and everything. This was cool. I looked up and saw Iruka-sensei smiling down at me.

Wait, smiling down...

"Maa, I'm still short." I complained.

"It's still very good for a first try. You have very good chakra control." He said. "Next time, project your chakra upwards as well as around you. That way you can still fake the look."

"Eh? So the chakra upwards would just be an image?" He nodded. "Lame. How can I see if my eyes are in your stomach?" I asked as the transformation dropped.

"You'll still be able to see, Ameko-chan. This technique actually turns you into whoever or whatever you choose without harming the body. It may feel funny for a while, but you'll get used to it. Just remember to keep your concentration up."

"Alright. Whatever you say." I said skepticallly. There had to be more to it than that, but I'd ask later.

I ate lunch up on the roof of the Academy, using my awesome preexisting ninja skills to scrabble up the building. I slipped down my mask and dug happily into my bento that consisted of teriyaki and fried tempura. No one would bother me here. I ate quickly though, not taking any chances, practicing the art of inhaling food quickly, and slipped my mask back up afterwards. I had to admit, the thing was growing on me. It used to look and feel kinda stupid, but now all it did was make me feel awesome.

I actually finished with extra time left at lunch so I jumped down from the roof, not straight from the top of course, and ran over to the sparring ring. There was Sasuke, crushing some idiot kid who wanted to impress his crush or something, but I completely ignored him and the scowl he sent me and wandered my way past them to the obstacle course.

My strength had never really been in fighting, but in fleeing and deception and trickery. So my first order of business to improve upon, was my agility. It was time to unleash my inner parkour master. I set the stopwatch behind me and then waited for the random start alarm.

BEEP!

I took off sprinting towards the first obstacle, the agility steps, and cleared them. Then I went around the bend of the track and onto the tires, then past them to the monkey bar like rings. I cleared those quickly enough and then came the climbing rope. Using what little arm strength I had left I pulled myself up to the wall climb. It took me five tries to get up and over the thing and then came the biggest problem I have ever faced since coming to the Narutoverse.

It was a thirty foot drop.

There were no ladders down. Nor any ropes or steps. The obstacles behind me were one way and the only way for me to get off, was down that drop. Sure there was padding on the bottom, probably enough to be comparable to the haystacks in Assassin's Creed, but this wasn't a game, and the only way down was to jump. I glanced at the timer, as the precious seconds ticked by, and then to the drop that I had seen before starting the course and then went on the course anyway. Not my brightest choice there.

"Ameko!" I whirled around to see Iruka-sensei yelling at me from the ground. "What are you doing up there?!"

"Training!" I yelled back. "But I'm stuck!"

"Don't worry! Sasuke's coming to get you!" Wait, what? I turned to see the Uchiha making it through the obstacle course like a pro and coming closer by the second. Shit.

"If he even attempts to touch me, I'll jump!" I screamed recklessly. "I'm doing this by myself!"

"Don't be reckless! You don't have the training for this!"

Sasuke reached me. "Don't do anything stupid and step away from the edge." He said.

I glared at him. Then I scooted backwards towards the edge. "I'm jumping whether you come at me or not, Uchiha." I challenged.

"I'm warning you, Hatake." He spat back. "You can't do this. Back away before you kill yourself."

"Like hell you can stop me!" I said as I stuffed my fear into my stomach. Fuck him and all those people who say I can't. I can do this. I looked over the edge for a brief second, then I bent my knees and jumped, backwards.

The brief sensation of falling that I got was both exhilarating and terrifying at the same time, but my mind reacted quickly as I instinctively flipped around to land on my feet. I felt my chakra rush to my legs as I did everything in my power, within those few seconds, to cushion my fall.

Just before I hit the padding, an unidentified flying object barreled into me and I missed the padding. Instead, I rolled to away painfully as the object tumbled after me.

"What do you think you're doing?" The UFO yelled. Eh? I looked up to see Naruto glaring at me. "It took me days to set up that trap! Don't ruin it!"

Well, so much for the heroic impression.

I sorely got up into a sitting position and then began rubbing my backside, who fortunately or unfortunately enough, absorbed most of the falling impact. Then Naruto seemed to have noticed that I was hurt somewhat.

"Hey, uh, you ok?"

"HATAKE AMEKO!" I flinched as Iruka-sensei came running up to us. "What did you think you were doing, jumping off like that?!"

"That was pretty stupid." I glanced to my right and saw Sasuke smirking at me. Bastard.

"Wait a second! How did you escape my trap if you jumped down?!" Naruto yelled.

"Escape Jutsu. It's simple really." Sasuke said back. Ugh, they were gonna make my head hurt.

"What do you have to say for yourself?!" Sensei yelled, hands on his hips, glaring at me.

Both Naruto and Sasuke froze at the sound of Iruka yelling again and looked at me as I rubbed my poor injured buttocks. I looked at them miserably and then summed up my situation with one word.

"Ouch." I said simply. I then got up and dragged my feet towards the classroom, leaving them in speechless silence.

I just turned into the classroom, inwardly cursing at my luck, and ignored them.

With class back in session, I sat gingerly on my sore behind as Iruka-sensei began an entire lesson on the proper way to land and jump from a high place to how to land safely without hurting oneself. I had to sit tied up in the front of the classroom as he stressed the importance of thinking the jump through and how to break one's fall.

All the while, Sasuke seemed to enjoy my pain. Bitch. Watch out, 'cause one of these days, I'm gonna shave that duck ass off your head and then paint your room pink with glittery words. Then I'll give your address to your fangirls and steal all your tomatoes and replace them with sugary filled one way tickets to diabetes.

I would swear revenge, but I swore off revenge, so I swear... Trickery! Which is much more fun and a lot safer than revenge is, in my opinion.

Weirdness of mine aside, Iruka-sensei assured me that Kakashi would know about my recklessness and I would be punished. I told him that I probably wouldn't be punished. So he dragged me home after class (up the stairs, across the dirt roads, everything), and dumped me at my lazy adopted brother's feet and explained the situation. I could hear the triumphant tone in his voice.

The only thing Kakashi said was...

"Maa, that is a problem." Then he pulled me inside by the rope and then shut the door in Iruka's face. The instant the door shut I burst into laughter. I was literally rolling on the floor laughing my ass off. No lecture, no promises of a beating, and absolutely no punishment planned out. He just acknowledged that there was a problem and then did absolutely nothing about it.

"And I thought I was the best at understatements." I smiled underneath my mask. "That was the best euphemism I've heard in a long time."

He looked at me. "Why did you jump from the top of that course? Heading straight into danger isn't like you."

I pulled out the switchblade I had found in my pack earlier out of my compression socks and cut away the rope. Kakashi just pulled one part of the rope and it practically fell off of me. Well, that was easy.

"Falling is actually one of my bigger fears." I answered as I dusted myself off. "And the quickest and most efficient way to get rid of irrational fear is to bitch-slap it in the face."

Kakashi face palmed and then straightened. "Language, Ameko."

I pouted slightly, turning away and he placed his hands on my shoulders. I blinked in surprise as he turned me to face him again.

"Wha-?" He pulled my chin up to meet his eyes.

"Don't be reckless, okay? You worry me when you do stuff like that." He said seriously. I flushed and looked away, embarrassed.

"Okay." I mumbled. Then another thought hit me. "When did you say your next mission was?" I asked. He had stayed in the village to take care of me, as per Hokage's orders, but he was a Jounin. He was a valuable part of the village's income. He couldn't spend too much time just staying in the village.

He looked at me strangely.

"I didn't. I'm taking a week long B-rank in a few weeks." He admitted. "Why do you ask?"

"You'll be going away." I said shyly, suddenly aware of how childish I sounded. "I just wanted to know when."

"It won't take very long. Just seven days at most." He assured me. "For now though," He turned and eye smiled at me. "We'll begin evasion and tracking training with the pack after dinner."

I froze in horror for a second before trying to bolt out the door. A firm hand grabbed the back of my shirt and pulled me back. I knew that I wouldn't be left off the hook that easily. Pack training was always the most grueling.

The change was gradual but as the days rolled by I found myself making stranger and stranger excuses for being late. Instead of directly antagonizing people I would just piss them off by ignoring them. I became more relaxed and less jumpy while still honing my reaction speeds and peripheral awareness. I took up reading again, expertly dodging obstacles and conversations with greater ease. I began smiling more with my eyes than with my face.

Anything and everything that Kakashi held in his demeanor was slowly rubbing off on me. I didn't know whether it was just me becoming more used to being in this world or if it was the fact that I had little sibling syndrome, where I was emulating my 'older sibling' subconsciously.

It wasn't that obvious to me, but when I was called to the Hokage's office one day. The change made itself absolutely clear. But that wasn't the only thing.

"Morning, Hokage-sama." I greeted once I was through the door. The old man looked at me surprised as he turned away from the Anbu he was speaking to. I spared the Anbu a glance as I recognized his mask but focused most of my attention on the Hokage. "You wanted to speak with me?"

"Yes," He said, slowly. "How have you been? It's been a while since I spoke to you."

"Well," I started. "I think I'm adjusting well enough. Homework isn't bad. Training is progressing smoother. I'm still getting used to the rather random absences of Kakashi but that's not too bad." I rolled out. "Nothing unusual."

"How are you feeling though? Is everything... alright?" He asked.

"I'm fine." I said. "Is that strange?" I asked.

"No," He paused. "But your attitude seems different than last time we met."

"Maa, I-" I stopped myself before I finished my thought. "I guess you're right." I said in realization. "Kakashi's been rubbing off on me."

"So you're coping well enough with the change from civilian life?" He asked. I nodded.

"Everything seems so much sharper and clearer now. I don't think my paranoia as a civilian could have held a candle to the anal habits of being a ninja. But I am wondering," I said. "What did you call me here for? I don't believe you called me just to have a conversation on my coping issues."

The old man's eyes widened before he burst out in surprised laughter. "You truly are becoming one of us." He said. "I was going to ask you if you had begun your plans for changing the future."

I very clearly gaped at him. Of course it would make sense that he would ask me now. I was almost fully adjusted to the life here, and now would be the perfect time to begin making my moves.

"N-not yet no. But it is a good time to start." I admitted. "I was wondering if I could get supplementary training in hiding and spying tactics before graduation. It would be a good time to begin preparing for what's coming up. I need to be proficient enough in it to observe people jounin level or higher without them noticing."

"Well I can do that for you if," He stressed. "You come to me regularly to discuss your preparations."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "I still won't tell you anything." I said firmly.

"Nor am I expecting you to." He replied as he leaned forward slightly. "But you need allies to help you put them together no?" I had considered that. I guess that I could begin that phase in my half-baked plan.

"How many people know about me knowing a future?" I asked gingerly.

"Just me, Anbu Neko here Morino Ibiki, and Kakashi."

I took a deep breath and put a knuckle to my chin as I contemplated who would be useful before canon-start. "Bring Nara Shikaku into our confidence as well as Yamanaka Inoichi, and Gekko Hayate."

"Done." He said. "Anything else?"

"Bring Jiraya back to the village for the Chunin Exams. And," I considered, then stated recklessly. "Get me in contact with Uchiha Itachi."

AN: Wow. Everything's beginning to come together as we come closer to the start of the series. I hope everyone enjoys this. Feedback is appreciated. The next chapter will be Graduation!