Heyo, welcome to chapter 3! Thanks to anyone who left a fav and/or follow, and thanks Guest for your review, I appreciate the kind words! In this chapter Yoku has aged and seems to have conquered her awkward body a bit. She's explored the village a bit, though until this chapter has not talked to anyone significant. Yoku has been attempting handsigns too, but she's a bit slow. I have begun my drawing of Yoku as she looks when she's around 13 and I'll probably make a drawing of her parents too. When they're done I'll link them here and on my profile.

Onto the chapter, at the start of which Yoku is five years old and Obito, Kakashi and Rin are six. In this chapter we get an analysis of Yoku's skills, and she ends up having her first taste of ramen as well as friendship.

Life as a kid had it's charms. For one, I could run around and explore all day. For two, being a kid was a great cover for eavesdropping. I was surprised by how much you could learn about a place just from gossip. I didn't usually get chased off because the adults just assumed me to be another silly immature child. I had proper clothes now, too-I usually wore a dark red shirt under a grey jacket, said jacket having the symbol of the Uzumaki clan on the back. I wore trousers the same dark red as my shirt, which had a few small pouches on it. I typically went around barefoot, but sometimes I wore the typical black shinobi sandals.

I could walk and run well, thank god. I made sure to do both often, partly for exercise and partly because there was little else to do besides reading. I'd contemplated striking up a conversation with some of the other kids running around Konoha, but I was a little too... nervous about it. I wasn't sure how to approach one of the characters I knew with knowledge of pretty much their whole lives in my head. The closest I'd gotten to it at that point was when I spotted the very person that was at the center of my overall goal-Obito Uchiha. Along with Rin and Kakashi, oddly enough.

I was walking through the village with Kushina, on the way to the new Ichiraku Ramen believe it or not. I'd never tried ramen and was very curious to see if I'd like it as much as Naruto. After some puppy-dog eyes and pouting (another advantage of being an adorable kid), Kushina relented to go get some with me.

I was holding her by the hand so that I wouldn't get lost in the sea of people walking past us. No wonder children did this all the time in the anime; the bustle of these large figures could be pretty intimidating. I was idly scanning my surroundings, when I spotted spiky onyx hair out of the corner of my eye. I knew there were a lot of kids who had spiky dark hair, but it just looked so damn familiar that my eyes were all but magnetized to it. When I saw the moping boy attached to that hair, I knew who it was pretty quickly.

'The hair, the ear protectors, the goggles over those onyx eyes... not to mention the jacket with the Uchiha crest on the back. No doubt about it, that's Obito.'

Said boy looked grumpy, a slight frown contorting his face as he kicked at the ground. He was standing at the edge of a small playground, looking at someone. When my eyes followed his gaze, I couldn't help but chuckle a bit. Kakashi Hatake was casually ignoring a stammering Rin, a tired look on his face-or eyes, since that's what I was used to looking at to judge his expression. Kakashi was wearing his mask along with the simple outfit of a navy shirt and pants, tied together with a green patterned scarf around his neck. Despite his mature personality, Kakashi was a pretty adorable kid.

Rin was wearing an outfit that looked a little old-fashioned. It made her look a bit like a china doll, the poofy pink and brown dress-thing combined with a bow and her pale face. She was making an attempt to converse with Kakashi, blushing like a tomato.

'Rin, you're wasting your time with him at the moment... What is it with the depressed kids attracting masses of fangirls anyway? I bet if they were just left alone for a while they'd be less depressed.'

I shook my head a little, and then turned it back to observe Obito. Perhaps he could sense me looking at him, but for whatever reason his eyes swerved my way. For a second, onyx met blue-grey. Then, my composure broke and I looked away nervously. From the corner of my eye I saw Obito's expression shift to one of confusion, before he shrugged and returned to glaring daggers at his rival.

In that second I looked at him, it was like a glimpse into his being. I could make out his internal emotions swirling within-jealousy, loneliness, hope-and most of all, an unwavering determination. It was then I realized something. All the people in this world, they weren't just characters-they were living, breathing beings, each with their own aspirations, dreams, personalities and ways of thinking. They were real.

Deep down, I felt an urge to go over to Obito and say hello, or introduce myself or something. But I was.. scared. I didn't know how to approach someone who I knew so well, yet perhaps not at all.

I doubt I'd have gotten a chance to anyway-Kushina kept pulling me along. Although she'd gained a little smile too, perhaps noticing when I was staring at Obito. Never the less I kept glancing at Obito, Rin and Kakashi until they were out of sight.

There actually wasn't much of a line at Ichiraku's, thankfully-it seemed to be a slow day. Entering the shop and sitting down, it felt weird to not be seeing it from some other perspective like when Naruto stopped by there in the anime. I was half expecting him to be sitting somewhere scarfing down twenty bowls of ramen, until the sight of a young Teuchi serving us snapped me back to the present. To my delight, the ramen tasted great. It reminded me of some Fusian noodles I used to eat a lot in my old life-the meat and vegetables added to it were a well-received bonus. It was no wonder Naruto was addicted to the stuff.

My mind gradually wandered from food to friendship, as I decided I'd go introduce myself to Obito if I saw him again.

A few days later, I made my first friend-but it wasn't Obito.

I was at the training field, throwing shuriken at a stationary log. I'd made frequent visits to the place since Father began to teach me about being a shinobi. I could now move fairly quickly, and I knew some basic taijutsu. I'd even managed to perform a little ninjutsu, after practicing chakra control and handsigns for a long time. I remembered the days I spent trying to walk on water or run up trees and the day I learned what my chakra nature was.

A four year old Yoku stood beside her father Torei, in front of a somewhat shallow lake surrounded by trees. Torei had told Yoku it was time to begin her shinobi training, after discovering she could control her chakra to some extent.

"Now Yoku, I want you to try and walk on the water of the lake. Concentrate some of your chakra at your feet, then keep it concentrated while you try to walk on the lake. This'll help you build up your chakra control. After you've managed to stay on the lake's surface without much difficulty, I'll show you another technique."

Yoku knew what he was talking about-she remembered team 7 doing such a thing in an anime episode. She gulped when she recalled how many times Naruto fell in the water before he got his chakra concentrated for long enough. Taking a deep breath, she focused her chakra and took a step.

For a few seconds she stood as if on solid ground.

'Holy shit... I'm just like Jesus!' Despite knowing water walking was commonly used by ninja, it still felt new and incredible to her. Unfortunately in her moment of elation she faltered in her concentration.

Splash!

Yoku abruptly fell into the icy water of the lake, the cold shocking her out of her stupor.

"Just keep trying until you get it, Yoku. It's not easy at first-heck, I fell in at least twelve times before I got it right!" Torei chuckled and continued to encourage his daughter as she continued her attempts

After a few more splashes, Yoku had gotten firmer control of her chakra and managed to stand on the water for a while before getting tired and sweaty.

"Well done! Are you ready for the next part, Yoku?" Torei asked the girl, who nodded with determination despite her exhaustion

The father-daughter pair walked to a small clearing, surrounded by trees with very large and thick trunks.

'I see... the tree-climbing exercise' thought Yoku, preparing herself for a more difficult challenge

"This time Yoku, you need to climb up a tree at a straight verticle angle, and you've got to run as far up as you can to land on a branch. Like the water walking, focus your chakra in your feet so you can stick to the trunk. But this time you have to concentrate on running up too, so be sure to stay balanced," Torei instructed and Yoku faced the tree, ready

Or so she thought. Two hours later she'd finally stopped falling off the tree, managing to get up to a branch around the middle. When her father called her down, Yoku wore a sheepish look. He said that she could come back and practice; she accepted.

'Intensely focusing on two things at once is hard. The video games made it seem so easy...' Yoku thought as she headed home to get some rest

Yep, chakra concentration wasn't easy. Eventually I managed to conquer the water and the damn climbing trees, but for a while they were the bane of my life. I still felt like setting them on fire sometimes.

But after I mastered the arts of tree-climbing and water-walking, I got to the more fun stuff-ninjutsu.

Yoku peered curiously at the piece of white paper Kushina held in front of her at a crouch. Up this close she could sense a faint buzz around it, cluing her in that it was a particular type of paper. Yoku had been waiting for this moment; she'd wanted to know her chakra nature since she began to train.

"Do you know what this is?" Kushina asked

"Mm-hm. Chakra paper. It'll show me what chakra nature I have right?" Yoku replied

"Yup. Here... just push a little of your chakra into it. If it crumples up, your nature is lighting, if it gets wet it means water, burning is fire, splitting is wind and turning to dirt is earth." Kushina smiled and handed the paper to Yoku

The girl did as Kushina asked and was mildly surprised to feel the paper become soggy in her hand. Water.

"Well, looks like you got water. That's a pretty good one-water's patient but eventually it grinds everything down. Make sure you learn how to mold the nature chakra properly, I can help you with it if you'd like."

Yoku grinned and replied with enthusiasm "Yeah! Let's go try it right now!"

"Okay, but I can't stay long. I've got to go see Minato later.." Kushina said with a blush, standing up

"You really like Minato, huh?" Yoku replied, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively in a way that Kushina found strange coming from a little kid

"Oh, hush! We've got a... special connection. Who knows, you might have one with someone yourself someday!" Kushina ruffled Yoku's hair playfully

"Hmph..." Yoku grumbled, but inside she contemplated her aunt's words

'Maybe... that would be nice...'

Since then I'd learned some basic water jutsu, nothing huge. My biggest annoyance was the handsigns-I could do them properly in the right order, but slowly. If I didn't fix that I'd be giving a lot of openings to enemies in the future.

After retrieving my shuriken, I practiced my handsigns, performing a jutsu.

"Water style: Water Bullet Jutsu!" a stream of water shot out of my mouth, small but cutting. I managed to make some gouges in the log with it, before I stopped due to strain.

I puffed and wiped my mouth, satisfied for the moment. Then I heard a loud, somewhat familiar voice somewhere near me.

"Hyaaaaaa!"

I turned my head to see the voice's owner-Might Guy. I'd recognize that bowl cut and energetic personality anywhere.

Guy was sparring-with Kakashi. The grey-haired prodigy dodged Guy's kicks with impressive speed, delivering a few of his own and throwing shuriken. Eventually Guy lay defeated on the ground, Kakashi standing above him with his arms folded.

"You'll never become a strong ninja if you keep fighting like that... you're weak." Kakashi's words ignited my temper-I threw a shuriken his way.

I'd aimed it not to harm him though-all it did was slice off a few strands of his fuzzy hair. But it got his attention.

"You'll never become a strong ninja with an attitude like that..." I said, glaring at him slightly

Kakashi's eyes narrowed at me, and I got the impression that he was frowning beneath his mask.

"What would you know about strength... you're probably worse than him." he growled

"I know more about it than you do... in the mental sense at least. You may have skill, but you won't get far in life if all you ever do is shut everyone out." I replied hotly

Kakashi's glare intensified.

"I've had enough of this." he said after a moment, walking away

I huffed in frustration briefly, before turning to Guy.

"Here, let me help you up," I said, pulling him to his feet

Guy gained anime-tears, and I suspected he was about to say one of his speeches-suffice to say I wasn't wrong.

"Thank you, oh pretty stranger! You have given me a boost of confidence in the wake of my defeat-you shall be my new friend and rival!" he declared passionately, doing his signature "Nice Guy" pose

Like he often did in the anime, Guy made me grin with his over-the-top yet noble way of acting.

"Uhh.. thanks! I'll come back and spar with you sometime if you like."

"Why wait? We could meet each other in battle right now!" he replied eagerly

"But... aren't you already a little dinged-up?" I asked, eyeing the cuts and bruises covering him

"Pain is just another motivation on the path of Youth! By fighting you now, we'll both get stronger faster!" Guy replied, already getting into a battle stance

I gave in, having some energy to spare and interested in seeing how Guy fought "Okay, okay... but if we do this again, it better be on fairer terms."

Guy was pretty tough-his speed and fast strikes were difficult to avoid. I could move quickly too, but he had a lot of stamina. I managed to hit him with shuriken a few times, and got in a few punches and kicks. Ultimately it was ninjutsu that won me the battle-it took me several tries to even do the jutsu because of how slowly I did the handsigns and how fast Guy was. In the end though, I got him with a less damaging version of the water bullet jutsu I'd performed earlier.

We parted ways on good terms, intending to meet and fight again. I'd found a good way of training my handsign speed, but even better... I'd found a friend.

The next day, I made another friend. Can you guess who? It was mostly thanks to the prompting of my pushy aunt, who'd become all-too eager for me to make more friends after I told her about Guy when she was home with Minato. He and Kushina were sitting at the round wooden table in the living room, Minato eating some kind of stir-fry and Kushina reading.

Kushina looked up from the book in her hand after my explanation "He sounds pretty nice, not to mention he should be a good sparring partner for you. Was he that boy you were looking at the other day?"

"No.. I haven't seen him around.." I answered, shuffling my feet a little

"Well if you do, go say hello! You'll never make more friends if you don't, y'know?" Kushina smiled at my display of shyness

"That's something I'm familiar with... I don't know if Kushina and I would be here if it wasn't for the rescue. I wasn't really sure how to approach her before that..." Minato said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head

"Oh come on, did I really scare you that much?" Kushina teased

"You didn't scare me, Kushina... I was just a little shy." Kushina smiled and took Minato's hand, causing them both to blush

'Awww, those two are such a nice couple...'

"Uh... hey, Yoku, why don't you go explore the village for a bit? Maybe talk to that boy if you see him?" Kushina suggested

"Ohhh... okay, aunt Kushina. If you and Minato wanted some alone time you could've just asked!" I winked at her with a grin and made my way outside, leaving behind the two flustered near-adults

I walked idly through the village, observing all the shops and people around me. I'd decided to try and whistle too-it was something I'd never managed to accomplish in my old life. It was when I was focusing on making my "Whistle" not sound like just blowing wet air, when I bumped into someone turning a corner. I stumbled back a bit and apologized.

"Sorry-" we both said it at the same time, and I lifted my head to see the person lurking in the corners of my thoughts; Obito

"Heh... deja vu," I said with a sheepish grin, then immediately wanted to slap myself

'Deja vu? How's he supposed to know what that means?'

"Huh?" he asked, looking back at me with bewilderment

"Ah... Deja vu. It translates to 'Already seen'. It's something you say if you encounter something familiar: like if one day I tripped on a branch, and then years later tripped on another branch in the same way, I'd say 'Deja vu'. I said it now because I saw you a few days ago." I explained, rambling a little

"Ohhh... I think I saw you too. I thought someone was looking at me. So, uh... Deja who?" he attempted, and I smiled at his mispronunciation

"Not 'Deja who', Obito. Deja vu."

"Deja-wait, how do you know my name?" he asked, frowning in confusion

I coughed and made something up "I've heard people talking about you."

This wasn't entirely untrue; I'd heard some of the Uchiha make remarks about Obito. They called him a weakling and said that he'd never awaken his sharingan-to them he was essentially the runt of the litter. He was just a kid, for Pete's sake.

"Oh.. yeah... they didn't say nice things, did they?" he said bitterly

I decided to cheer him up "No... but frankly, they were just being jerks. Everyone has the potential to be great if they try. You just need a strong will and people to care about."

Obito's face shifted to a look of hesitant hope.

"Really...?"

"Of course... just look at The First Hokage Hashirama and Madara as examples. When they fought at The Valley of The End, Hashirama won not only because he had skill, but because he had a strong desire to protect his village. Hashirama had all those people supporting him and they gave him the determination to beat his former friend. Madara was alone, his desire for power the only thing backing him up. In the end, Hashirama's will was stronger than Madara's." I finished, hoping he took it all in

Apparently he did, because his eyes lit up with excitement.

"Then... I want to end up like The First Hokage! I'll get stronger, then I'll be able to protect everyone and they'll finally acknowledge me!" Obito said passionately, causing me to grin

"Well Obito, I think you'll achieve your goal someday. I bet you have The Will of Fire within you too, like the Hokage!" Obito looked surprised for a few seconds, then smiled

Despite how much I was enjoying our conversation, I had to head off and train. I'd be entering the Academy in two weeks after all. With reluctance I said:

"Hey, sorry for keeping you standing here so long. I'll get out of your hair." I began to turn away, but Obito would have none of it

"Wait! Where are you heading?"

"To the training field. I'm gonna enter the Academy soon so I have to be prepared," I replied as I looked back at him

"I could come and spar with you! I'm trying to train for the Academy as well." Obito donned a cheesy grin and I felt myself relent

"Sure, that sounds like a good idea! Let's go..." We began to jog to the training field, a bright smile on my face the whole way.

Obito and I faced each other in a battle stance, ready.

"Don't go easy on me, okay? Hit me with everything you've got!" he exclaimed; I nodded

We charged, attacking with taijutsu. I quickly pushed Obito backwards-he began to strafe and throw shuriken. I got a few scratches but was mostly unharmed. When I saw him grind to a halt and move his hands, I did the same.

'Time to test my new jutsu...'

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Obito finished his jutsu first, shooting a rather small ball of fire my way.

"Water Style: Starch Syrup Trap!"

A thin stream of very sticky fluid came out of my mouth, which was pretty revolting to me the first few times I used it. Nonetheless, the jutsu hit it's target-the fluid engulfed the fireball and impacted Obito with a loud splat.

He skidded on it and slipped, making disgusted noises as he tried to free himself. He eventually gave up with a sigh, already exhausted from performing his ninjutsu.

"Okay... you win."

I barely heard what he said, falling flat on my face from over-exertion.

'Ugh... so this is what using up a bunch of your chakra feels like.'

"Yaay..." I mumbled half-heartedly

Obito got out of the syrup trap with a bit of struggling and walked over to me slowly.

"...you okay?"

"Yeah..just..tired... gimme a sec..." I puffed, and forced myself into a sitting position

"I may have won but... you did a pretty good job going against me when I was trying my hardest to beat you." I complimented, smiling tiredly

"Th-thanks! You were good yourself-maybe you could teach me some moves sometime." Obito said with a grin

"You know, I like the sound of that. I'm not sparring with Guy tomorrow, want to come and fight here again in the afternoon?" I asked; Obito answered with an enthusiastic nod

"One more thing, before I gotta go home and rest..." I decided to make use of Killer B's signature fist bump; I held mine in front of me shakily.

"Huh?" Obito quirked an eyebrow in confusion

"Bump your fist against mine and I'll tell you my name. I feel like a dunce for forgetting about it!" Obito sat down in front of me and obliged

"Hey there, my name's Yoku Uzumaki. Nice to meet you!" I smiled at him in a friendly manner

"Uhm... you already know my name, it's Obito Uchiha. Nice.. nice to meet you too!" he returned my smile

"You know, this fist-bump signifies something else as well.." I continued, and he gave me a querying look

"What?"

"That we're friends, dummy!" I exclaimed with a slight laugh

"Oh.. thanks!" Obito gave me a grin brighter than his previous ones, and I felt happiness well up within me

"No problem... well, see you tomorrow!" we disconnected our fists and I got to my feet with a groan. I stumbled and almost fell over, but Obito grabbed my shoulder to steady me

"You better go get some rest... bye!" he said, letting me go and walking off to make his way to the Uchiha compound.

It took me a while to get home. Physically I felt pretty bad, but within I was glowing. I'd made my next step in making this world a better place-Obito was now my friend. Plus for me, it was a bit of a dream come true. The sun was setting when I opened the door to my house and just about collapsed. I sat down on one of the chairs in the living room with a huff and saw Mother come in from the bathroom. She looked at me and gasped.

"Yoku, are you alright? It looks like you over-exerted yourself!"

"Yeah. I had a spar with someone. I used my new ninjutsu and it kinda burned me out."

"Well, be careful not to do it again... you know what happens if you run out of chakra, don't you?" I nodded with an 'Mm-hm'

Mother got me a plate of sashimi from the fridge, telling me to get clean and get some sleep. Soon enough I was in bed, Mother having kissed me goodnight.

The feeling of warmth was still within me, like a glowing ember. I fell asleep to thoughts of training and belonging.

Two weeks later I entered the Academy, ready for my rigorous education to start. Little did I know that I was going to face something much worse than schoolwork soon after.

Bam, end of chapter 3. Boy, this chapter is loooong... double the normal length! I had to cram all these nice scenes together at once before I started with the Academy stuff. Yoku now has two friends, and is improving her shinobi skills too. Her main skills as she grows will be speed, Kunai/shuriken throwing/combat, ninjutsu and perhaps some genjutsu. She may even have a kekkei-genkai. Also... dun dun dunnn! What could possibly be worse than schoolwork? You'll find out in the next less bright and happy chapter. Leave a review, fav or follow if you want, I welcome critiques. Plus they give me a boost :P