Beta'd: 7/30/13

Word Count: 5,830 words

Sorry about not updating in awhile. Although I can't be leading to spew excuses, I've recently had my braces put in last week, so I was in pain for awhile before having the time to actually be comfortable enough to write. After adjusting to these things I hope I'll be updating this more regularly.

I'm also very happy that I've been getting reviews and that you guys like my OC so much or that you find this interesting. I hope I can entertain you guys as much as possible so let me know what you're thinking in the reviews or private messages. I've also been meaning to do some back tracking with Eri's history and how she came to grow up and become a shinobi. So between every two chapters there will be an intermission chapter about Eri's life told from her perspective.

I hope this satisfies you guys for now. Next will I'll be getting back to the main story with Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura and how they handle Eri's treasure hunt.

Enjoy!

Intermission 1

The

Eri Chronicles

Chapter 1: Onset

'Where…where am I? Why is it so dark?'

Incased in nothing but complete un-ending obscurity, I couldn't help but feel scared. I never liked the dark. I never wanted to truly be left alone in total bleakness; no one for me to latch onto, to shelter me from my fears with the mere physicality of their presence. Even if I never mentioned it aloud to my friends or family, I didn't want to be left alone. I was also just mostly afraid of what lurked within the dark, because you're never truly sure of what goes bump in the night.

However, despite my fears; something felt different about this preceding twilight. Now that I thought about it, the air around me felt… different. It was like it was heavier and more fluid for some reason. I also felt two warm sensations. The larger first one traveled throughout my surroundings while the second smaller one pulsated and coursed seamlessly through me.

'Just what is this stuff?'

I was racking my mind for answers.

I was curious and I had to know. Something was obviously wrong. At that moment, I tried moving ahead. Better to keep moving forward rather than stand still. If I was ever to get out of the dark, I had to move.

The first few steps were barely even steps at all though! Even if I couldn't see my legs, I could still feel them. But right now those two appendages were proving be as useful as using a plastic bag for an umbrella. Yes, it was that frustrating. After a couple more tries my legs finally grasped the method of stretching from front to back.

With that done I could finally move on, but such was life; I found another obstacle. No, I'm not being philosophical here; there was literally a wall standing in my way. It wasn't a very stiff wall, but what made it strong was that it just took in the impact of any of the number of my kicks.

I had no weapons so I just continued on, and on, and on. It wasn't until my world shook that I finally realized that this wasn't complete darkness. I was encased in something. What made my revelation even worse was that I found my body feeling naked! Trusting my sense of touch here, I'm going to say that I really was NAKED! I swore, whoever put me inside here was going to get an earful! Reigning in my emotions, I took a deep breath, in and out.

Just when my feelings were (if not slightly) at peace, the environment shook and trembled reminding me of my high school days. California was always known for its earthquakes, but when they did happen they were always three minutes at most. The quakes were also weak, something like 2.1 or 1.5. Yeah, really weak; but this, this time it wasn't.

I tried to grab onto something, but since it was dark I couldn't exactly spot anything to latch onto. There was also a fact that my surroundings were pushing and moving me. Why exactly would…that…

'Am I thinking this right? I really don't want this to be right. No, I must be in some type of kiddy play machine at some amusement park, right? But, that doesn't make sense. Oh my…I don't want to be right.'

It seemed that the universe just loved proving people wrong.

"それは女の子です!"

(It's a girl!)

Someone shouted out in astonishment.

With a light appearing at the end of the tunnel, I was blinded momentarily as the world blurred into multiple colors and shapes. Shutting my eyes I heard people speaking a foreign language. Japanese if I wasn't mistaken. I guess I had to thank my manga and anime obsession for that.

Anyway, I slowly cracked open my eyes to see people dressed in white. The room smelled of clean Clorox; y'know, that hospital smell. Watching the world around me, I saw that the room looked great, big, and… WHAM!

Ow! Okay, I did not expect that! The doctor smacked my naked rear end, as uncomfortable as that sounds. I tried holding in the pain, but seeing as how I was a baby….

My gosh, I still didn't even want to approach the fact. I did start crying; bawling to be more precise. Shutting my eyes at the pain, I tried to see through the forming tears. I knew doctors did that to force the new born to use their lungs, but it wasn't a mystery as to why they cried. Since my nerve endings were still new, this body had a lower threshold for pain. It was only through years of experience that people could eventually withstand it.

Watching the people around me, I was handed off to be cleaned and weighed. Calming down, I noticed that the room lacked a few machines while the nurse wrapped me into a blanket. She walked us back to the scene of my birth, where I saw a woman who glowed despite her exhausted appearance. As the nurse handed me to her, I only watched in fascination.

"おめでとう! それは健康な女の赤ちゃんです!" The nurse happily said to my supposed new mother.

(Congratulations! It's a healthy baby girl!)

My mother smiled in utter happiness, despite the way her ebony black hair stuck to the sides of her lightly tanned face. Her hazel brown orbs lit with joy as she held me in her arms, filling me with the same warmth I initially recognized when I awoke inside her womb. But this didn't make sense. Why would I be born again if I already had a mom, dad, and family?

I was still looking up at her, at the woman; which by the way was distinctly pretty and fair looking. I could only hope to inherit her facial structure. Okay, that sounded pretty vain of me…but, it'd still be nice though.

"彼女は美しい," she calmly said aloud.

(She's beautiful.)

She broke eye contact with me to look to her left. Following her line of vision, I saw a man with short, clean-cut brown hair and dark brown eyes. He stepped forward with a content smile on his face. Unlike my supposed mother, his face was marred with the first forming appearances of deep wrinkle lines. The man must work a hard job that placed him under a fair amount of stress. He looked from his wife to me as the smile only grew in size.

He said simply, "彼女があなたの髪や顔を持っています."

(She has your hair and face.)

She replied, "そして、あなたの目と肌の色."

(And your eye and skin color.)

I couldn't help but feel a little weird under all of the staring. Plus, I didn't even get a single word they were spewing. Judging from their tone I could only guess that they were both happy and overjoyed? I guessed that was right while watching the two adults converse further with appeased natures of sorts.

"私たちは彼女を何に名前を付ける必要がありますか?" he soothingly asked his wife while walking up to the bed so he could embrace her.

(What should we name her?)

"うーん.私は彼女の理由を持って名前を付けたい。私たちは、男の子を期待していた、彼女は私達の前に来た. その後、理由がなければならない," the mother ponderingly replied aloud.

(Hmm. I want her name to have reason. We were expecting a boy, but she came before us. There must be a reason then.)

The man's smile grew in length after hearing her speak.

He said,"理由だよね？それでは、どのように "えり" はどうですか? 彼女は私たち自身が気づいていないかもしれません理由でここにいるので, 彼女はきっと私たちに祝福されます."

(Reason, huh? Well then, how about "Eri"? She will surely be a blessing to us since she's here for even a reason we ourselves do not know.)

The woman glowed in awe and joy.

"恵理, 吉田恵理. それは完璧な名前だ."

(Eri, Yoshida Eri. That's a perfect name.)

With the couple staring down on me, it was only a matter of time before I was swept away to be taken to the pediatrics ward. Placed within an incubating room filled with other babies, I had some time to gather my thoughts. I knew that other people would be freaking out about this; heck, I knew I internally was, but drawing attention towards myself was that last thing I wanted to do as a newborn baby.

I tried thinking this through with some self control:

'Okay, first thing's first. I'm a newborn child to a Japanese couple in…Japan maybe? Wait, but I thought Japan was full of technological wonder and spraying toilets?'

Sure enough, scanning the room I found nothing that was technologically advanced. No, to be more precise, I found machines that could find home within a museum section that emphasized the 1940s or 50s. Of course, by the few glances I was allowed out a window, I could see that I clearly wasn't born in the city atmosphere, but even if these parts were the outskirts of Japan, they should still be up to date when dealing with a person's health. Strange…

My mind couldn't help but jump to one conclusion:

'I'm missing some information. There's definitely something that I'm not aware of.'

After a few minutes of completely gathering myself, I came to the conclusion that I had no immediate memory of this sort of shortcoming. To be more precise, I couldn't remember how I had been placed within a woman's uterus. What had been mentioned before was completely disgusting, and I wished this was just a freaky dream.

But no, this was reality. That butt slap hadn't been some form of phantom pain, it had been a full skin on skin smack. But, if this was actually real, then why did this happen? There must be some kind of reason for my "birth", but what had exactly happened before I woke up….um, in there?

Hearing the coos and babbles that proceeded all around me, I tried ignoring some of the raging wails that continued to hinder my thought process. Funnily, I could remember my family, my heritage, and my usual day to day life. I was a grunt intern for the Pixar company while traveling back and forth between college life in SF. My family consisted of five people who all were weird and cohesive in a dysfunctional way. I had a little brother who was attending his last year of high school and an older sister who was dating a guy in the military. My mom and dad were legal immigrants from the Philippines, and my family home life was centered around Christian morals.

Okay, this was just oddly disturbing. I could even remember last week, but why couldn't I remember yesterday's events? Last week…Pixar was working on their next major motion film; all that paper work was definitely unforgettable, and I even remembered picking something up for my sister after that. My flashback ended there. If I couldn't recall anything after that, then I could only some up the worst case scenario.

I was slightly stammering for breath.

'Did…did I…die? I died and got a second chance?'

Cynical as I was, I was only cynical since I liked thinking realistically. Yes, I'd rather be optimistic; but pure optimism would be just like living in a fantasy. And reality could never be fantasy; that's what we had dreams for when we slept. I couldn't leave out the scenario of my death. I felt compelled to not only add it in, but keep it as the main possible theory.

'Man, it must've been a horrible death… On the bright side I remember no pain of it at all.'

Shaking off this desolate thought process I tried thinking about the here and now.

If I had a second chance, then there must've been a reason, but I'd save it for later. Right now I wondered how my parents were? I hoped they could deal with me, my last set barely understood me at all. I hoped that I could make them proud.

Carrying me within her arms, the nurse spoke more Japanese to my parents as my mother enwrapped me within more blankets. I was guessing that my mother had been finally released as I allowed to be taken home. Sitting in a wheelchair as she left; my new father pushed my mother out of the lobby with me in her arms. As the nurse waved goodbye while holding the door open, my new mother smiled at her, waving before turning back to me.

Squinting my eyes a new brighter light shone down upon us, I heard my mother say:

"私たちはすぐ家にいるよ、恵理ちゃん。それから、あなたはあなたの家族の残りの部分を満たすために買ってあげる！"

(We'll be home soon Eri-chan. And then you'll get to meet the rest of your family!)

My new mom, as weird as that sounds, was overjoyed as she held up my head.

"今それについて考えて, 蛍はせっかち取得する必要があります," my new dad mentioning something that sounded like a side note to my mother.

(Thinking about it now, Hotaru must be getting impatient.)

In reaction she smiled wearily, but focusing my full attention on the two, I somehow got the feeling that this had to do with my presence; that I would be put up against something rather ridiculous in the future. Please don't tell me that I have a weird older sibling. As much as I loved my first one, there were many moments when I'd question her sanity.

Honestly, who makes up fairytales about an English ghetto princess speaking U.S slang in a European accent?

Praying for the universe to be merciful, I only hoped that this second chance might be an improvement.

As we traveled through the city, my thoughts turned to my surroundings. Everything seemed much simpler here. Despite being in the countryside of Japan, I thought that things would be at least a little more technical – or perhaps that was just me. It wasn't like I had ever really traveled outside the states. Back in my first life I could only wish for it.

Anyway, with the ever moving backdrop we passed by a few open shops, some parks, food stands and some restaurants. Oh, I think we just passed by a marketplace a few seconds ago!

Confused and befuddled, I thought, 'Hmm….This is weird, where are all the gas stations and 24/7 convenience stores? Something else, all the buildings are rather…plain and simple when it comes to their architecture. This gives me a very feudal era Japan vibe.'

Obviously I was feeling very worried; however, what gave me goosebumps was the fact that everything looked vaguely familiar. But how could that be possible? I'd never been to Japan! Trying my best to not appear frightened in front of my new parents, I looked up at them.

That was when I noticed my father's expression. His mouth slightly tipped down at the ends. It wasn't noticeable to others, but I could sense from his aura(?) that he was feeling slightly distressed and angry. It was almost like he was disappointed in something; there was a hint of sadness thrown in too.

Despite the short time I had been with my father, I could tell that he was a relatively easygoing and calm person. But that was just a generalization drawn from the way he spoke. From a personal level, the man was pretty much a mystery.

Though, if something was able to rattle him like that, then what was it? I followed his trail of sight, past the vendors, past the crowd, and there it was. Out in the park were a few little kids, mostly boys and one or two girls. I couldn't tell really, what with the new body and all; I was lucky enough to be awake.

Getting back on track, the kids were running and shouting with smiles on their chubby faces. Why would dad be bothered by this? I was pretty sure that there was someone there watching the little ducklings.

My thoughts wandered, 'maybe I missed something?' I looked again. There was nothing out of the ordinary the tykes; that was, until I saw what they were holding.

The kids were throwing paper shuriken and cardboard kunais while trying to act impressive by making a few cool stances with hands meshed together in some formation.

My line of vision was cut off when dad steered mom and I around a sharp corner. I wasn't allowed a second look, but much to my dismay, I already had a few ideas as to where my exact location might be.

'Please, please; let me be wrong. I'm okay with being wrong this one time! Really, I am! Just please, please!'

Yup, I was frantic and paranoid.

Things weren't going according to plan, but since when did that ever really happen? Okay, let's make a list here. First off, I was reborn as a baby with all of my memories to a couple that spoke Japanese. Second, I had no immediate memory of how I came to end from California to a pregnant woman's…yeah. Third, the technology I saw at the hospital could match the age of knick knacks within a nostalgia store. The fourth, final, and most disturbing fact was children holding makeshift copy play weapons of kunai and shuriken battling with each other.

"ホームスイートホーム。帰ったんだ、恵理ち."

(Home sweet home. We're here now Eri-chi.)

It took me a little while to realize that she was talking down at me as I continued to stare at her. This didn't annoy her one bit though; instead, she just smiled widely at me before looking straight. Following her gaze, I saw a massive two story wooden house with a balcony on the second floor. Potted plants and curtains were apparently at every windowsill, and the front door was a traditional Japanese sliding door.

Letting my mind wander once again, I thought, 'I wonder how they lock their door?'

"それは彼女の新しい家に慣れるために彼女はしばらく時間がかかるかもしれないように見えます。" Again my dad said something incoherent.

(Looks like it might take her a while to get used to her new home.)

My mom just smiled further while confidently saying in her soft spoken nature that I've come to notice, "その後、我々は両手を広げて彼女を歓迎します。"

(Then we'll welcome her with open arms.)

My father smiled lovingly at her before pushing the wheelchair forward. As they opened the sliding door, I saw a second double door. I guess that was how they kept intruders out. Anyway, my mother, with help from my father, stood with me in tow while exchanging her shoes with indoor house slippers. My father folded the wheelchair before doing the same with his own shoes. Unlocking the door, my parents announced their presence.

Immediately after, I heard two pairs of footsteps climbing down the stairs. One was light and fast, as if the person was…excited? The other pair was slower, tempered evenly with a little more weight added to each step.

Appearing at the bottom of the steps was a little girl with the same shade of ebony black hair as mine, and lighter brown eyes. Behind her was a young woman who just smiled at us before nodding. The little girl was very hyper and slightly chatty; she also seemed slightly annoyed by something. With mom trying to calm down who seemed to be my older sister, my dad nodded and smiled to what was the babysitter as she upped and left.

"ああ、とてもかわいいです！恵理！ねえ、恵理！お母さん、どうして恵理は私に向かって見ていないのだろうか？" the girl gushed and shouted in my direction.

(Oh, she's so cute! Eri! Hey, Eri! Okaa-san, why won't she look towards me?)

Glancing at the little girl, I noticed that she resembled my new mother more than I did. Slowly looking her over, I guessed that she was about seven years old.

Funny, that was how far ahead my last sister was. Okay, that still felt weird. Honestly, I was just trying to slowly adapt to this new life. I also don't want to even fully acknowledge the fact that this world could be…

Unknown to me as I was silently mulling things over, my mother walked upstairs and down a hall with my sister following closely behind. My new sister sounded very talkative and excited at the new concept of a younger sibling.

My new mother was calm and kind, my new father was laid-back yet serious, my new older sister was energetic and active…Somehow this was resembling my old life more and more. The only thing missing was a little brother who tortured me to no end.

Entering a new room, I saw that it was a baby's nursery with bright colors decorated with soft baby toys, felt cotton pillows, and blankets. There was a station for some diaper changing, as well as a rocking chair in the corner next to a window that illuminated the room.

Mom was about to say something with a smile, but she noticed the floor littered with books and wooden weapons. In reaction, mom frowned slightly. She looked over to my older sister who seemed to enjoy the idea of a younger sibling.

Mom scolded her.

"蛍！あなたは 恵理ちゃんの部屋であなたの事を残してはいけません。これは、赤ちゃんの保育所です。蛍は、アカデミーからの宿題を片付けてください。"

(Hotaru! You shouldn't leave your things here in Eri-chan's room. This is a baby's nursery. Hotaru, please put away your homework from the academy.)

My older sister seemed slightly annoyed, but was also remorseful like any child would be. She gathered her books and wooden weapons as I stared at the pictures that covered the hardbound texts. One picture showed leaves and a fire while another was two figures in a fighting stance, facing off against the other. The last picture caught my attention. It displayed three stone carved heads that stemmed out from a mountain side.

Even though it looked like a real life model, I was able to recognize it immediately.

Those three heads were of the first, second, and third Hokages; it was the Hokage monument. Following my older sister's depleting figure out the door, I could only blink a few times out of my dumb stupor.

My mother sighed to herself before looking down at me with a smile. She walked over to the rocking chair as we settled into a soft motion of going back and forth. Sleep began to over take me; but as much as I tried to fight it off, I couldn't help but welcome the new sensation. I wanted rest and it had been a very eventful few days. I could think about things later, but I had to accept my new fate.

I had been reborn into a new family and body within the perimeter of Konoha before the fourth hokage was announced. I had been dropped into a shinobi ruled world.

I had been here in the Yoshida household for about five months, and honestly it was, at first, an alien experience. Embarrassing as it was, it took me a while to pick up my new name. I'd been named Yoshida Eri and my older sister's name was Hotaru. I'd also learned that my father was actually in the trading business, so he was always gone for months on end. He sent money home through messages while mom replied to help him in his endeavors.

I also learned that my sister attended the academy; y'know, the one to train kids how to become shinobi. Well, it seemed that whenever Hotaru did her homework from the academy, dad always gave her this kind of disapproving stare. I could also feel that he was upset. It was probably because she chose to follow such a profession.

I guess that was why Hotaru has made it a habit to do her homework in my nursery. She seemed to like the attention I gave her, so in return she read to me. She took me out of the crib to explain concepts and how chakra worked. She used to tell me about weapons, seeing no harm in explaining them to me, but ever since mom found her with me in her lap in front of a weapons book with diagrams…Well, let's just say that Hotaru stuck to explaining what chakra is and what it can do.

This world was truly fascinating. Ever since my first life ended when I was twenty years old, I'd been thinking about the things we could accomplish with chakra. The kind of technological breakthroughs that could be made with an unlimited power source; the possibilities were unfathomable.

But, what I've also noticed about chakra was that I was more aware of it than the next person. That comforting sensation that I felt when inside my mother's womb: it was her chakra. My father's disapproving, worried feelings whenever he spotted a child trying to duplicate a fighting shinobi: it was his chakra. Hotaru's overwhelming joy when I stretched out for her to lift me: yeah, chakra.

This "sensitivity" granted me an awareness to also discern people's emotions. I wasn't much practiced since I was barely even half a year old, but using the information I learned from my psychology classes, along with being able to adequately read faces, helped me make a rough estimation when it came to emotion and intent.

Ultimately, my chakra-hypersensitivity granted me more knowledge on where chakra was located, leading to me having more control – cause in all honesty, the chances of me ignoring the opportunity to test out chakra were slim to none.

Within the first month of boredom during my stay within the Yoshida household, I'd begun to wonder if I could control chakra – even if it was at the most basic, borderline grasp. I pushed and pulled it within my body during the few times I was allowed privacy. Mostly it took place at night before I fell asleep.

The third month contained my attempts at channeling chakra outside of my body. I would just let the chakra flow into my palms or feet before letting it travel out of my hand. Once or twice I was tempted to create some type of constructed mass or ball of energy, to let it glow before dispelling it. However, the times I did try ended in some chakra exhaustion. This caused my infantile body to nearly faint on the spot, but luckily since I practiced at night, mom took my exhaustion for sleep.

It was in between the fourth and fifth months that I finally held some small reign over controlling my chakra. I began experimenting, sticking my hands or feet to either the floor or wall. This attempt failed though, so I immediately transferred my efforts to sticking pieces of paper to my palms or body. I was so happy when I finally reached this goal that I began going crazy with the technique.

I ended up getting caught. And "how," you might ask? I covered myself in Hotaru's homework handouts from the academy.

Since my face was slightly obscured by a worksheet before my eyes, I saw out of my peripheral vision that mom and Hotaru were shocked to find their little baby covered in paper. Their mouths were hanging open, but it seemed that mom was the first to blink out of her dumbstruck expression. With Hotaru not too far behind – I heard her exclaiming and questioning the older Yoshida. Though, it was more for the reason that Hotaru was going to get in trouble since I was using her homework as a "play thing". Luckily for the little academy student, I had small reserves since I was still a baby – so about two minutes later she had her slightly crumpled worksheets back. Mom, on the other hand, just eyed me analytically before resuming her cheerfully calm disposition.

There were times when I felt that mom had been a ninja, or was at least trained in some way. Since dad wasn't home most of the time, mom was the only one who could've let Hotaru pursue a shinobi career. She seemed more understanding and flexible than dad, so I got the sense that she knew my true potential. I also sensed that Hotaru knew this as well.

It seemed that dad was the only one out of the loop. I just hoped he could handle this when he got wind of it.

Dad had been home for a few months and it had been officially over a year since my arrival. I'd come to understand the spoken word since mom and Hotaru had been helping me, and I'd noticed that dad and mom had done it again.

By "it," I meant that we had another member to add to the family. My room had been moved to Hotaru's, despite much of her protests about it, while our new coming sibling got my old nursery.

I could walk by myself and speak a few one-word sentences. That learning process seemed so new to me, still. I knew a larger amount of words in Japanese then, but I only uttered a few at a time to avoid suspicion of being a genius. Though, I had a sneaking suspicion that mom and Hotaru already knew since I read for most of the day when I wasn't playing with either of them.

It was May twenty second when my little brother was born, and dad seemed to beam with joy then. I knew I could tell since his chakra was just practically oozing it. It was probably because he wanted a successor in the trading business and market, while also not being the only male in a female dominant family.

Well, that made sense. I didn't really think Hotaru would want to run a trading company anyway; she was training to be a shinobi. Me, well, I didn't want to get stuck in business. I could pursue a career in art or even become a medic at the hospital.

Right then, I didn't really know; but more importantly, did I want to even mess with the storyline?

I already knew I was born way before the Kyuubi even pillaged Konoha, and since it was a time of relative peace then, I would be able to do something about Kakashi and his team. But, did I even want to risk that?

End

Intermission 1: Onset

I hope you guys enjoyed this, and please leave a review on your initial thoughts of this chapter.

Also if you guys have any questions about anything, just leave a review of private message me.

There's also been some wanderings of mine on whether I should have Eri paired with someone, but I don't know on whether I should pursue it or not cause romance can either improve a story or down grade it.

Well, till next week, Bye! I try and update every Sunday, just to tell you guys.