Disclaimer: I own precisely 0% of Naruto.

Chapter 1

My first vivid memory from this life is from a bit after my third birthday; in fact, the first Sunday after it. Everything before it is hazy–impressions, faces, all smudged and blurred by infantile amnesia.

I'd just started to recall bits and pieces of my past life, and it was driving me crazy. First of all, what did it mean for me to be reincarnated? I remembered nothing of any afterlife, but this was sure taking my atheist brain for a ride. Also, twenty-six years of English were warping my baby Japanese–yeah, out of all the places to get reborn in, I'd landed all the way across the world.

Unaware of what his young daughter was going through, otou-san had called me and my cute onii-chan to a field out back for 'training'. Being the children of the police chief had its drawbacks… otou-san had us doing body training, and even some loopy martial arts stances, as soon as we could walk. He was also strangely adamant on us, especially me, not leaving the house.

But although otou-san was really serious all the time, and he had the scariest glares, he was actually really kind. He sat with us at night and read us stories, even though he was tired from his job. He was teaching us kanji, and he even let me draw on the margins after I was done. If learning how to punch someone out would make him proud of me, then I was happy to oblige.

Once we got to the field, boxed lunches from mom in our hands, he acknowledged us with a nod, then said in a serious tone:

"Today we start chakra training. Watch carefully." And with that, he started moving his hands into weird positions, then inflated his mouth, like he was going to spit a lot of water. "Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu!"

A huge fireball came out. I gaped at the display. Otou-san was so, so awesome! I clapped. By my side, Itachi-nii had a look of intense concentration. I guess being five minutes older had gotten to his head, trying to act cool.

Otou-san turned to us, and I looked at him expectantly. Was he going to teach us how to shoot flames too? I could see myself, in a jacket just like his, spewing flames everywhere. Also, the applications! He didn't even look winded, so this was certainly breaking conservation of energy as I (kinda) knew it. Think of the potential!

"I'm going to start you on chakra control exercises. First, get into your horse stances." We did. "Now try to feel the energy in you. Chakra is a mix of the physical and spiritual energy in your bodies. Feel it circulate within you." I closed my eyes, furrowing my brows in concentration. "Now concentrate that energy within your abdomen. Good."

About an hour later, after Itachi-nii was secure he could do it, otou-san handed him a leaf. I was still working on it, but I felt I was close. I could feel my chakra moving and eddying all around, but it stubbornly refused to stay where I directed it.

"Concentrate your chakra on your forehead to stick the leaf to it." Onii-chan tried, and it promptly blew off. "You must focus it well, and balance how much you use. Remember, chakra is a mix of physical and spiritual energies. If your chakra is imbalanced, it won't work. Try again". Otou-san was always like this during training. He offered guidance and corrected our mistakes, but let us find exactly what worked on our own. I redoubled my efforts

By the time Itachi-nii could get a leaf to stick there for ten seconds, I had managed to wrangle the fiery energy coursing though me. I walked up to otou-san and received a leaf. I put it to my forehead, concentrating my chakra.

Pain! My forehead hurt. Cinders fell down before my eyes as I screamed out. Onii-chan looked alarmed at me. Otou-san scooped me up and took me inside the house, where okaa-san put her hand to my head. The pain quickly subsided, and I started sobbing into her shoulder.

My training clothes, the black bodysuit with the clan symbol on its back and the high collared shirt, similarly branded, had ash on them, and I was getting it all over mom. The sobbing subsided quickly–I was done with crying after my last run through life, and otou-san would be disappointed if his daughter became a crying mess over a simple burn. I got off with a "Thank you, okaa-san" and we went back to the yard.

Onii-chan squeezed my hand when otou-san wasn't looking, and I shot him a smile. Moments later, we went back to our leaves, me a bit gingerly.

It happened again. And again, and again, and again. I refused to cry, though. I wanted to train together with Itachi-nii, and I couldn't disappoint otou-san. What was I doing wrong? Itachi-nii hadn't burnt any. Was I disabled in some way? After a particularly bad one, which had burned so fast I didn't even feel it, otou-san told me to got back and rest.

I looked at him and I felt angry at myself. Why couldn't I do this? I had done all the training with Itachi-nii, I was better than him on calligraphy and theory, and I could even beat him in a spar one out of five times. I couldn't let this defeat me. I nodded and went inside for the last time today, and headed to my and onii-chan's room. I sat on my bed, and I circulated the chakra inside me, concentrating it on my gut.

Okaa-san called us to dinner some time after that. She and otou-san were clearly deeply in love. The way they kept glancing at each other, the little brushes and the trusting silences… even though they rarely kissed, I'd known teenage couples less entranced with each other. Me and Itachi-nii sat between them, and I felt the tension of the day drain from me.

We ate happily. Okaa-san had made her special stew today, the one she made on birthdays and when auntie Kushina visited us. After that, me and onii-chan washed the dishes carefully. Although okaa-san wasn't police like otou-san, he'd told us he'd never beat her in a spar, and we were inclined to agree. Okaa-san was scary when she was mad.

Then it was time to go to bed. Otou-san read us about the Warring States period, about the bitter fight of our ancestors for survival. Tonight, he told us a scary story about a little girl and little boy who got captured by eye-thiefs. In the end, however, Tajima-sama led a squad and rescued them.

"That", he said, "is why we must be united as a clan. Even now, the clan is what protects all of us. Good night." He left a light on, which I used to train my calligraphy before going to sleep.

I woke up early the next day. I'd been a heavy sleeper in my last life, but since being reborn I hadn't needed more than six hours a night. I generally used this time to study–I had to keep up with Itachi-nii after all, and this was my best subject.

Today, I planned something a little different: I wanted to brush up on my algebra. I had none of my books (may my dead tree friends rest in peace), so I wanted to get all I could remember on groups, rings, analysis and such down while I still remembered.

I was finishing a proof sketch for the Cauchy-Kovalevskaya theorem, a personal favorite (I had written a report on it for a complex analysis class) when I overheard some noise. I rolled up my scroll while I heard footsteps approach the room, which turned out to be otou-san. He signaled me out of the room and into the kitchen. Once we got there, he sat with me and said:

"Hinote. Since you seem to have some trouble with the leaf exercise, I'm dispensing you from chakra training until we can get that looked at. You understand?"

I nodded. But what was I to do with my newfound free time? I got up and walked up to okaa-san.

"Okaa-san, can you teach me shurikenjutsu while onii-chan is having lessons?" Okaa-san's aim was no joke. I'd seen her hit mosquitoes out of the air with thrown chopsticks.

She looked down at me, smiling. "Why of course, Hinote-chan. We can use the back of the yard." Something about her smile made me feel I might prefer flash burning leaves to what she had planned.

Since I was up and about already, I decided to work on the one chakra control exercise I could do, in hopes it might help with my problems. I went out to the yard and stayed in the horse stance until Itachi-nii came to get me for breakfast.

We had nattō rice, which I liked. Its smell reminded me of expensive cheeses which were a rare treat on my past life, since I lived on a student budget. Itachi-nii, on the other hand, didn't seem to care much for it. He still ate it like a champ, however. He always did.

After we were finished eating, otou-san had us doing stretches and other light exercise, so as not to upset our stomachs. After spending months abed in my past life, I'd developed a taste for exercise. The fact that this body was so flexible (and, for a three year old, freakishly strong) didn't hurt either.

We then did some endurance training, making laps around a course otou-san had marked for us, followed by drilling punches and kicks. Itachi-nii was really good at this–a couple more years and I could swear he'd be correcting otou-san's stance.

"Hino-nee, move your right hip down a bit." Such a caring onii-chan. I hadn't much cared for my siblings in my past life, especially after they'd stood with my parents on the marriage issue, but Itachi-nii was a real brother. "Hino-nee! Stop spacing out, we're doing high kicks now."

Once we'd thoroughly exhausted ourselves, Itachi-nii started chakra training, while I headed to the back, to find out what okaa-san had in store for me. This part of the yard was forested, unlike the clearing we had used with otou-san.

"Okaa-san? Are you here?" No answer. I headed a bit further in, paying attention to the surrounding trees. It was what saved me, as a glint of metal and a soft whistling in the air was all the warning I had to dodge the training kunai.

And then it was raining weapons. Kunai, shuriken, senbon, shuriken again, a pine cone (?), more senbon. I started getting little nicks from the weapons. They weren't really sharp enough to break skin, but it still smarted. I picked up one of the kunai, trying to locate my attacker.

There! I threw the kunai at a blur of movement, then tried to retreat out of range. A bunch of shuriken stopped me, though, so I grabbed a couple and began watching again.

This lasted for half an hour until I, too tired to dodge or deflect another throw, took a blunt shuriken to the stomach and fell sitting on the ground. Okaa-san materialized next to me, not even winded.

"Good warmup, Hinote-chan! Take a minute catch your breath. Then we're doing target practice." I widened my eyes. This was the warmup?

I'd have been covered in bruises by the lunch time had okaa-san not made sure to thoroughly heal me. We'd alternated between target practice and dodging runs for the whole morning, and I'd taken more weapons to the face than I'd ever expected to see in one day.

Afternoon saw us doing strategy training, which today meant a strange variation of chess called Shōgi. Otou-san had explained to us that there were lessons in the game, and Itachi-nii had sagely nodded. All I could see was otou-san wanted to beat us at it repeatedly.

We also got to play each other, though, and it was a fair matchup. I had greater mental age, and was used to analytical thinking; Itachi-nii, on the other hand, seemed to always know what I was thinking. Was I so easy to read?

At night, we ate dinner together. We had some stew leftover, and noodles with roasted vegetables on top. Me and Itachi-nii went to our room, where I went back to my algebra and he started reading a book.

The rest of the week went much like that, except otou-san had work and so okaa-san led the training. She'd used some strange technique that let her be in two places at once, which made me a bit jealous. If I could do that I could do my chores and study math at the same time! I asked her to teach me, but she made a troubled face and said I needed to master my chakra first.

It really wasn't fair.

On a bright note, auntie Kushina came visiting, so I got to doodle and do calligraphy with her. Itachi-nii wasn't as excited, though. Boys. Okaa-san shooed us from the living room by four, though, so I guess she wanted to talk about serious things. That, or she wanted to discuss Minato-kun. Like I didn't know what "moving in together" meant.

By week's end, otou-san said he'd found someone to examine me, so I should be up early on the next day. Well, I mostly did that every day, already, so it wasn't a problem.

I rose on the day with a smile. Otou-san would find out what my problem was and I could go back to chakra training. I was very excited to learn the clone technique, as well as the fireball.

That was going through my mind again and again when I heard them approaching my room, and I had to keep myself from bouncing up and down on the bed. It wouldn't do to wake up onii-chan. A couple moments later otou-san came in, accompanied by a red eyed ojii-san. I simultaneously recognized those eyes from otou-san's stories, but also from a drawing, back in another life.

It was all I could do not to go apoplectic as two things hit me: first, I was in the Naruto universe–a fictional universe. That just did a number to my already battered metaphysics–and second, otou-san had never brought another member of the clan to see us. I stared at them, dumbstruck. Otou-san saw me up and nodded approvingly:

"Good, you were awake. Now come, Hinote. Let Kenkō-san have a look at your chakra network." I shoved the surprise and panic down and followed them to another room, leaving the cute sleeping Itachi behind. Otou-san stayed outside while me and Kenkō-san entered.

He bent down to my height, then put a two fingers to my forehead and two to my sternum, his eerie Sharingan always focused on me. I felt a weird sensation like an electric current running through me. He scowled, then repeated the procedure. He got up and exited the room.

"It is as I feared, Fugaku-sama. The child is impaired." I couldn't hear further, both because they were walking away and because I seemed to have developed vertigo. As he feared? So there was something wrong with me after all. Was it incurable? Again? In my mind, I heard echoes of another diagnosis. A white room, a world away, a lifetime ago. What would happen to me? Then the dark room started spinning and the walls were folding and then the floor was falling onto me. Then darkness.

A/N: This one came out a bit longer than expected, due to a rewrite shuffling some bits which were planned for chapter 2 into it. Still, about 2.5k words. Pretty good.

Reviews are welcome!