List One
Childhood memories are often either obfuscated, non-existent, or inaccurate, and mine are no different. Yet, I can still paint a general picture of my youth and tell a few stories to help you understand me. Though I don't recall the moment that I realized I had been reborn, I am pretty sure that I correctly remember some of my self-imposed guidelines and goals. The following lists are in no particular order, and items are only numbered for the sake of convenience.
Guidelines
1: Do Not Assume That I Already Know – I had memories and knowledge from my previous world, but even now I cannot be certain that every true, verifiable fact from there is also the same here. In some cases, this rule has served me well, but in others it has crippled me and caused me to doubt myself unnecessarily. Plus, I haven't always kept it very well, but convincing yourself that you are utterly ignorant when your brain insists that you know many things is excruciatingly tricky.
For example: weather systems here behave differently than they did in my previous world. I am not sure why, but I believe the presence of nature chakra and its behavior, as well as any environmental changes caused by active use of chakra by humans and summons, may be the reason for this difference. However, I didn't begin to even guess at this difference until I began to travel with my parents' merchant caravan.
2: Act Natural – Notice that I do not say to act "normal". I cannot remember a time, even in my previous life, where I felt entirely "normal". Normal is a very relative term, and really, I feel that being completely normal is an utterly bland and unattainable state for any person. Having no abnormalities is abnormal, so having no abnormalities would therefore make a person non-normal.
I have found that if you act like your behavior or situation is natural, others may think you are odd, but when they will often answer their own questions and come to conclusions that they feel are reasonable, rather than incessantly inquire about your sanity and health (unless they already know you and have an idea of what is normal for you). And if they are unable to reach a reasonable conclusion on their own, they will generally assume you are a bit touched in the head and steer clear. Though, there are exceptions to every rule, and some strangers will question you anyway. In my experience, suchpeople are generally either exceptionally perceptive or exceedingly obtuse.
3: Laugh or Cry (Lest You Break) – Sometimes a person's options are limited, and while I personally prefer to laugh, there are times when tears are warranted, though this is one of the harder guidelines for me to follow – and even more so as I get older. I tend to ignore my own, personal problems until they blow up in my face. Though I think it is important to deal with your problems quickly and seek help when you need it, I often have trouble doing so, especially in this life. The Shinobi Rules have their place, but there is a difference between the spirit of the law and the letter of the law. In at least the last ten - fifteen years or so, the letter of the law has been followed more closely than the spirit of the law. In a society where the rules such as "Shinobi do not show their tears" exist, there is definitely a stigma against needing psychological help, though I have been trying to push for change in this area.
4: Just Keep Swimming – This is actually a reference to some movies from my previous life. The movies' main characters are all sea creatures, hence "swimming". The character who is famous for this line often gets into dangerous or troublesome situations, but she doesn't give up or give in to panic (well, most of the time – everyone has their moments). There are many different ways that this saying could be adapted to better suit this world, but I prefer the original saying despite being the only one to understand the reference.
Although I don't really remember my exact thoughts and behaviors from when I first realized that I had been reborn here, I do recall that it was a struggle. Even today I have unanswered questions about my rebirth and what it means for me and this world. But I can't dwell on such thoughts. Whenever I do, it's… well, it's not pretty. I get into a funk and it can take something drastic to snap me out of it. So, yeah. Keep Calm, Just Keep Swimming, and Go with the Flow, and all that (those are some common catch phrases from my previous world).
5: This Too Shall Pass – I once heard that a famous leader in my old world often reminded himself of this because both troubles and blessings will not last forever. Treasure the good times while you have them, and remember that the hard times will eventually pass as well. It's an attitude that carried over from my past life more than a guideline, I guess. Sometimes this attitude is detrimental, though, since good times/things are often tinged with sadness as they are expected to be fleeting.
I believe that this guideline goes well with the Shinobi Rule, "A shinobi must prepare before it is too late." Use the good times to fortify yourself for the hard times, and prepare for the good times as you slough through the rough spots.
Goals
1: Be Physically Fit and Capable – I think it is easier to keep in shape than it is to get in shape. I don't think I was ever very athletically gifted in my previous life, though I was not utterly helpless. In this life, I soon realized that I had a lot of energy and I was encouraged to use it.
My guardians in this life were much more relaxed in their approach to supervision of children. Once I could walk, they didn't mind if I ran amok in town so long as my cousin and older brother were with me too. I found this approach alarming at first, but after a few such excursions I began to realize that everyone in town unobtrusively looked out for all of the children. Within moments of a child's cry of distress or pain, an inquisitive adult would look outside and/or approach us, depending on how severe the situation appeared to be. There were several groups of children in town, and we tended to be informally grouped according to our neighborhoods, but there were a few children who broke the mold and joined a different group.
My point is that this was an ongoing goal that was easy opportunity-wise, though somewhat difficult effort-wise. Getting used to spending so much time exercising and socializing was difficult. I tend to be a bit of an introvert, and need quiet, solitary time to "recharge" so to speak. Instead of running around town with my fellow children, I could opt to help my aunt in our family's shop, but that came with its own brand of socializing too, though it was a bit less taxing on my energy levels. As a result of not having enough time to recharge, I… well, I was a bit more of a brat as a child than I would like to admit. I definitely had my cranky, snappy, or tantrum-filled moments that I would like to forget. In hindsight though, such moments probably helped keep people from getting too suspicious about my abnormal rate of mental development.
2: Be Able to Use Both Hands Interchangeably – I would just write, "Be Ambidextrous," but I was once informed that often ambidextrous people will use different hands for different tasks, and will not necessarily be able to use both hands with an equal amount of skill in all tasks. In my past life, I had always figured that having such a talent would be useful and regretted not achieving this when I was young. Despite my best efforts to attain this goal, old habits die hard, even after you've been reborn. Though training has allowed me to be capable with either hand while fighting, I still prefer to use my right hand for mundane tasks, so this goal was only partially attained.
3: Learn As Much As Possible – Being without any access to formal education in this world before entering The Academy in Konoha, I had many questions that I needed answered in order to follow the first of my guidelines. My family tended to be well-traveled, and had an eclectic selection of knowledge to share. My cousin, my brother, and I learned writing and basic math from my aunt in the evenings and when the weather was not conducive to outdoor activities.
I cannot adequately express the magnitude of my relief when I discovered that though some methods were unfamiliar to me, the basic principles of math seemed to be the same here. I don't know what I would've done if number system in this world was not base ten. Learning the characters for writing was a headache and a half, and I am constantly grateful that children's brains are better at learning new things than adults' brains.
4: Help Mom and Dad When I am Old Enough – I didn't realize that I was in a reality that resembled a fictional world from my previous life until I was about five or six years old, but even then this goal remained. I was never a fighter in my previous life, believe it or not. I think the most physically aggressive I got with anybody other than my brother (and even then it was rare) was in sports, and even then I had to work at being aggressive.
Though I entertained thoughts of joining my country's military when I was young, I ended up pursuing a different career. By the time I was old enough to enter my country's military, I didn't think I could live up to the physical, mental, or emotional demands such a career would entail. As such, I did not consider becoming a shinobi until just shortly before I enrolled at The Academy. Instead, I wanted to help my new mom and dad with running their business as soon as I could. Not only was expected of me by society (though Mom and Dad assured me that they would be fine if I wanted to do something else), but I found their business intriguing.
Mom and Auntie's family had run the tea shop in town for generations. We call it a tea shop, even though it's more of a general store that carries a bunch of tea. Apparently, we used to only sell tea, but had diversified at some point when the townspeople had begun grumbling about how they couldn't live on tea alone and needed other supplies.
Our region of Fire Country is known for its tea leaves, and before international trade become more common, our town acted as bit of a tourist-trap for tea enthusiasts. The shop had catered to tourists, but as teas from other countries gained popularity, our town's tourist industry began to wane. Therefore, the shop started to cater more to the townspeople, carrying teas from around the continent, but the decrease in trade from tourists caused many local business to relocate or go bankrupt when they failed to adapt.
Trade caravans and merchants became rarer, and our store was one of the few that still managed to regularly order goods from such sources. The townspeople recognized this, and began asking us to include one thing or another in our orders (we would be reimbursed for the price of the item and get paid a small fee for our services as well).
This became so common that my grandfather (who was in charge of the shop at the time) decided to diversify and expand our inventory to include the more common items. Over time, our shop became what it is today – a general store with a large stock of tea (though everyone still calls it a tea shop).
My family's merchant caravan was actually run by my dad originally. He had just started out as a merchant when my grandfather began to diversify his stock. In order to encourage business and make his name in the mercantile business, Dad offered Grandfather some great prices for general goods and in exchange had received any surplus tea leaves acquired by our store. Many of the local tea farmers would barter goods for tea leaves, or would barter for foreign varieties. Sometimes our store would end up with an excess of local varieties as the local demand for our tea continued to decrease. This was a win-win for Grandfather and a win for Dad. Anyway, through his dealings with Grandfather, Dad came to know Mom, made a dorky first impression, finally won her over with his consistently respectful and polite manners, and they would up getting married. After that, my auntie ran the shop with the help of Grandfather and us kids while Mom and Dad were working with the caravan.
Yeah…I kind of got carried away with that last point. As you can tell, I found the story of our family business fascinating, and I was really looking forward to helping out with it. It didn't hurt that helping out in the shop gave me a chance to learn more about the workings of this world, and I felt that travelling with the caravan was sure to grant me even more insight. If only I knew how much I would discover, I may not have been so eager to learn.
Author's Note: Sorry this took so long to get out. On the up side: It's roughly twice as long as it was when I first wrote it! I was just going to look it over and then upload it and I ended up adding a lot. Questions? Comments? Constructive Criticism? Feel free to PM or Review! :) If you're like me and have trouble knowing what to say beyond something bland and generic, don't worry, that's cool too. Whatever you do or do not want to say is fine, so long as you are polite. :) Feel free to message me or review with things that you want to see/learn about! I've got a lot of stuff in my head for this story that I haven't written down, and may never make their way into the story. Let me know what you want, and I'll see about working it into the story! Just know that I don't write smut or slash, and romance won't be the main focus of this story. Sure, people will get crushes, go on dates, get together, and so on, but the focus is on the people and events and not the romance if that makes sense. Anywho, hope you enjoyed reading this! (and if you didn't please feel free to politely tell me why! :) I am just a beginner at creative writing and appreciate feedback!)