Rui-chan's back!

I apologize in advance if next week and the week after, I won't be able to update due to exams. But I'll try to work on the next chapters if I ever do get the free time.

fluffpenguin - Thank you so much for your the tips! I will keep them in mind and will watch out for the details with regards to my story~

Dark Rose Charm - Well, I would not say Kakashi is interested already. Probably just wondering about her identity, but we'll definitely cross that bridge. And yay for Rin! Nao will be slowly meeting our other beloved characters too~ More of her visions later on as well.

ukitakeitalialover041757 - Thank you so much! Please stay tuned for more~ ( * ^ * )

"Nao-chan, are you done yet?" Rin shouted from the hallway of the orphanage, calling out to her ruby red-haired friend.

Naoko scrambled to finish changing into her clothes, which consisted of a long, black turtleneck and gray pants that had bandages wrapped around her left thigh. The child had long realized that if she wanted to fit the part of being a kunoichi, then she needed to change her appearance foremost. When she was done, she stepped out of the room that she shared with the other young girls from the orphanage.

"I'm done, I'm done—" Rin dragged her out the door of the facility as soon as those words left her mouth.

She could hear the brunette girl laughing cheerfully as they ran, narrowly missing the other citizens of Konoha who were walking around the street early in the morning.

"Hurry, Nao! We're going to be late to the academy."

How Naoko managed to hear that despite the wind buzzing in her ears, she did not know. But she just followed behind Rin while she was still being dragged along by the said girl.

They made their way to the ninja academy, huffing and puffing. Their eyes glistened with excitement for another day at school. But this time, the two of them had one another as company throughout the whole day. Meaning, the day would be at least more tolerable for the both of them.

"Anyway, I wanted you to meet someone. He's my friend and in the same class as us," Rin said as she and Naoko walked down the large hallways of the academy.

There were a lot of kids the same age as them walking, running and fooling around. Naoko hadn't really noticed it before since she was too absorbed with herself, but some of the kids felt a lot like her, atmosphere-wise. Most of the kids' eyes looked gloomy, despite the smiles that they tried so hard to put on their faces. Their expressions reminded her of herself, whenever she looks at the mirror when she's alone.

"Nao-chan?"

Naoko felt a tug on her arm and saw her brunette friend looking at her with a concerned expression. The former shook her head and smiled, reassuring her before they entered their assigned classroom.

Once the two of them settled down in their seats, Rin turned to Naoko who now had a solemn expression on. She was worried that her friend was brooding about something all alone, and she wanted to help her in any way she can.

"Is something wrong, Nao-chan?" The red-haired five year-old glanced at Rin.

She hesitated for a bit, before she finally decided to speak up, "Do you know why almost everyone has such expressions on their faces?"

Her question seemed to confuse and startle Rin all at the same time. The brunette's brown orbs darted all over the place. Naoko could see how beads of sweat started to form on her forehead, indicating that she was becoming nervous.

"You don't have to speak up, if it's hard to talk about," the Higanbana heiress belatedly said, upon sensing the tensed atmosphere. She laughed awkwardly as if it could alleviate the silence that ensued between them.

"Well, you know how there was a war right? It just ended a few years ago, but people are still hung up about it." Rin fiddled with her fingers nervously, and that action did not go unnoticed by the Higanbana's heiress.

"Plus, there are still skirmishes here and there happening outside the village. Everyone's worrying about their loved ones."

Naoko got the message that her friend was trying to get across. Everyone in the village who has loved ones fighting in the front lines were anxious about their well-being. They were afraid that they would not be able to welcome them. And if they did, their resting places could be the last place where they welcome them back.

She knew the feeling of losing her most important people all too well. It was like someone had carved a hole in her heart and left it to bleed. That was how heartbreaking it was. It would take a long time before the pain lessens. And a long, long time before the gaping hole in her heart heals completely. Even then, her heart might also not be able to recover.

"Yo, Rin!" A cheerful, boyish voice called out loudly, which snapped Naoko back from her thoughts.

He was no taller than them—probably the same height. He had jet black, spiky hair and dark black eyes. The boy was wearing navy blue garb and was sporting goggles with orange lenses on his head.

"Obito-kun!" Rin squeaked in mild surprise. Naoko could almost hear the delight in her voice upon seeing the boy standing on the aisle near their seats.

She watched the interaction between the two, as they chatted animatedly and forgetting her presence for a moment. And the young heiress wondered what their relationship was.

"I made a new friend, by the way." Rin grinned widely at Obito, as she shifted her attention to Naoko.

"This is Higanbana Naoko," the brunette introduced, then continued. "Naoko, this is Uchiha Obito. He's my friend."

Naoko nodded her head, and offered a small smile at the raven-haired boy who smiled brightly at her. Somehow, it seemed as if she was momentarily blinded by the way he smiled at her. It was as if he was sparkling.

'He's totally the polar opposite of Kakashi,' she thought to herself, upon remembering her fellow student.

"I don't think I've seen you around here. Are you new?" Obito asked, as he sat down on the seat beside Rin, while the latter's eyes nervously flitted between the young Uchiha and young Higanbana.

The brunette girl had long noticed how Naoko shifted uncomfortably. She knew that Naoko's past was a touchy subject, and she do admit that Obito wasn't exactly the type to pick up on a hint or body language.

"Obito-kun," Rin whispered as she gently nudged her other friend's side using her elbow, before subtly glancing at the red-haired girl.

"Well, I came to Konoha a month ago. I was living in a village in the outskirts before. But it so happened to be attacked, so..." Naoko trailed off, smiling widely at Obito whose expression suddenly turned apologetic and guilty.

"I'm sor—" She cut him off with a shake of her head.

"Don't be. I mean, I told you on my own will so it doesn't really matter." Naoko said, the smile still gracing her lips but it didn't reach her eyes this time.

Their chat ended at that, when their teacher entered the class and started his lesson. All throughout the remainder of the day, Naoko kept quiet—only answering when she was being talked to or asked questions by either Rin or Obito.

"I'm off to training. See you tomorrow, Obito," Naoko waved at Obito as she smiled. "I'll see you later Rin." The said girl gave her a hug, then waved at her after letting go.

"See you, Nao-chan!" Both Obito and Rin said in unison, while they watched Naoko trudge to the opposite direction of their route.

"Rin," Obito started, as soon as their newfound friend's small form got lost in the crowd of kids and their parents.

Rin looked at him, bright brown eyes glistening with concern upon hearing the slightly dispirited undertone in his voice. She kind of guessed what it was that was bothering Obito, so she did not reply but waited for him to speak instead.

"Nao's back looked so sad and lonely, don't you think?" Rin internally agreed with his statement, but just looked on at the direction where the red-haired Higanbana disappeared to.

"Even though she was smiling and talking to us normally earlier, I could tell that there are a lot of things that's bothering her."

'Okay, this is new,' Rin thought, as she smiled secretively at the way her raven-haired friend talked about Naoko.

"Do you think she'd tell us her story if we ask her?"

Silence hung in the air as the both of them simultaneously thought of the same answer to Obito's question. But Rin decided to respond this time, putting into words what the both of them were thinking.

"We should wait until she's ready to tell us—is what I think. I'm sure you understand that too." Rin smiled then grab hold of Obito's arm and tugged at it.

"Let's go!" And the two had set off to their destination, which was the nearby park, in order to practice what they had learned in the academy.

Naoko was making her way to the usual training grounds that she and Minato meets at for the past month. She passed through the throngs of people in the market, and nearly bumping to a woman. The said woman stumbled a bit, her fiery red hair swishing and nearly hitting Naoko on the face. The child sputtered, as some strands actually landed on her lips.

"I'm sorry!" The woman bent down so that they were eye-level. She held Naoko by her tiny shoulders, as she made sure that the young girl was not hurt in any way.

Naoko, on the other hand, stared at the woman's features. Her brows were slightly furrowed with worry, and her skin was fair—almost like a porcelain. Her eyes were a beautiful shade of purple, glistening in the afternoon sunlight. And her hair—her hair that was almost the same shade as hers, but darker. Almost like her mother's.

The woman's eyes glint in recognition shortly after. As if she was suddenly reminded by something. But her thoughts were interrupted by the young girl before her, whom she was still holding by the shoulders.

"I'm sorry, but I have to go! Sorry for bumping into you, miss." Naoko bowed out of courtesy, before rushing off to her destination.

The woman with the red hair was left standing in the midst of Konoha's marketplace, wondering who on earth was the kid she just saw. It had been a long time when she had last seen someone who almost has the same shade of hair as hers—if not the same, then a shade lighter at least.

Naoko still cannot get over her meeting with the woman from the market earlier. Even during training, her mind would eventually wander to the said woman, just like how her nightmares would haunt her at night.

Something about the woman she had bumped into was awfully familiar, but she just couldn't quite point a finger as to what it was. The familiarity and connection that she had felt earlier actually sent shivers down her spine.

"Nao, do you still want to continue? We could do this on another day. You might get hurt if we continue this," Minato's voice pulled her back to reality. Then, she saw a pair of eyes glaring holes on her head. Her pale, red orbs met stormy grey ones.

"What," she mouthed, confusion making its way on her face as she stared at the boy who was staring back at her.

They were a few meters away from each other, doing different training menus since Minato had just figured out that there was actually a huge gap between her and Kakashi when he had used her as a sandbag in their earlier sparring. To say that her body ached because of that, was an understatement. And half of the reason why it ended up like that was because she was spacing in the middle of exchanging blows with her peer.

"If you're going to be like this during training, then go home." Kakashi coldly said, as he resumed doing his second set of calisthenics.

"It wasn't like I wanted to be distracted either," Naoko muttered under her breath, as she started practicing her stances halfheartedly. The matter she was mulling over, completely forgotten due to Kakashi's harsh words.

Minato observed both his students, as he stood under a tree with crossed arms. Naoko seemed more dazed than usual, and the bags under her eyes made him worry if she was getting enough sleep. There was one time that he and Inori happened to report back to the Third at the same time, with regards to how Naoko is currently faring. And apparently, their student happens to often have had nightmares or dreams which would wake her up from her sleep.

As for Kakashi, well, he was usually indifferent when it comes to other people. Unless he were to see someone acquainted to him or the people he has relations to, slacking off or making light of something. Minato found his seriousness inspiring though and something to admire him for.

A sigh could only escape past his lips as uneasiness took over his thoughts.

'It seems I still need to learn more when it comes to being a teacher,' Minato thought glumly as he resumed watching the kids.

"Kakashi," someone called out to the silver-haired boy.

It was about two hours after training had started. The three occupants of the training ground looked up, just to see a man who had the same hair color and style as Kakashi's. He had a kind smile on his visage as he approached the said boy.

"Ah, Sakumo-san," Naoko heard their teacher greeting the surprise guest.

She had stopped half-way from practicing her taijutsu moves, and watched the three-way interaction between her teacher, her peer, and her peer's father. She could clearly see the resemblance between him and Kakashi, except for the fact that she could not see half of her peer's face which she thought was a waste. His dad was handsome after all.

"Dad," she heard Kakashi call out, as he approached his father. Naoko noted how his eyes shone in glee upon seeing him. It freaked her out a little, especially since for the two days she had been with him during their training, this was the only time that he had shown a different expression aside from annoyance—towards her, to be specific.

'It must have been quite a while since Kakashi saw him,' the girl thought as soon as she took in Sakumo's appearance upon a closer look.

His uniform was pretty much stained with mud and soot. His face had a few scratches and nicks here and there. His hair was unkempt and there were bags under his eyes. Naoko immediately knew that he had just came back from a mission, and went off to see Kakashi as soon as he arrived back to Konoha.

There was a pang in young Naoko's chest and she held a hand over the area where it was hurting. She must have been turning green with envy at the sight of Kakashi reuniting with his father right now. There was never a day that she did not miss her family.

The horrible feeling did not go away—at least not until she felt a familiar hand gently settling itself on top of her head. Slowly, she looked up and saw Minato smiling at her. His eyes had a soft look in them and she felt relief wash over her immediately.

"And who do we have here?" Sakumo asked, after his and Kakashi's brief talk about his recent mission. Kakashi looked at her blankly, watching her every action.

"Hello. I'm Higanbana Naoko," the young girl bowed her head with a small smile, then locked eyes with the older Hatake. She saw his eyes widen slightly, before a smile slowly took over his lips. It was a kind smile, which she liked.

"It's nice meeting you, Naoko-chan. You can call me Uncle Sakumo," he kneeled on the grass and ruffled her hair. Naoko pouted slightly at that. Kakashi stared at her, an eyebrow raised. She saw it in her peripheral vision, but decided to ignore it.

"Thank you for looking after Kakashi. I hope he's not troubling you."

An all-too innocent grin crept up on the girl's lips as she side-glanced at Kakashi who was just beside his father. And upon seeing that, the silver-haired boy couldn't help but shudder at the sight. He knew that whatever she was planning was nowhere as innocent as her smile.

"Well," she started, assuming a thinking pose. Kakashi instantly went rigid at that.

An idea suddenly popped up in her mind before she continued, "He actually said something pretty mean to me, uncle." Naoko scratched her cheek, acting as if she suddenly felt bad about letting the cat out of the bag. She could see how Kakashi's eyes widened, and she swore that she heard her teacher snickering inaudibly beside her.

'How childish of Minato-sensei,' she thought. Despite that, she was grateful that he didn't say anything about what she said being untrue.

"Oh, did he really?" Sakumo's eyes narrowed slightly, before he looked at Kakashi pointedly as if saying we'll talk about this later. The young Higanbana was now snickering internally.

"Yes. He told me that I should go home if I was too distracted during training," Naoko said, her eyes filling up with fake tears. Minato snorted at that, his hand retracting from her head.

"I had a nightmare last night you see, so I wasn't able to sleep properly. I didn't mean to slack off or anything. And I finished my training today properly." The girl sniffled, as she looked down and fiddled with her fingers.

The sight of the little girl crying made Sakumo soften before he rose to his full height and turned to his son who was now shaking his head at his father.

"She's lying, dad! I swear!" Kakashi said, in his defense as he carefully took a step back from his father. He shot Naoko a dirty look, who watched him with a satisfied smirk as she clasped her hands behind her back.

"Kakashi," Sakumo called, his tone turning dangerously low as he went towards his son who was still shaking his head defensively.

"How many times have I told you to play nicely with the other kids?" He said, as he gave the younger Hatake a noogie, while he held him in a choke-hold.

"I'm sorry, dad! Seriously!" Kakashi cried out, and it was like music to the young Higanbana's ears. She watched with a wide smile, while Kakashi is being punished by his father. And Minato just chuckled beside her.

[A/N]: *whispers* Dropping an update for you lovely people. I hope y'all liked it. *wink wink*

Anyway, I'll be diverging from the plot a little from now on. 'Coz I wanted to try out writing something, so that it would fit the situation I'm planning to do to the story. Some characters might be a little OOC as well, so do excuse me for that but I'll do my best to write them as accurately as possible. (๑´ㅂ'๑)

I also know that Kakashi's dad, Sakumo, died either when Kakashi was still in the academy or shortly after he became a genin. He fell into depression and died of suicide. And since there was no clear timeline and ages mentioned, lemme explore!

And of course, lemme ask if you have figured out that woman whom Nao-chan bumped into~ If you know, then please shhhh. Hihihi.

By the way, I'm doing maths for their ages and the years in between as well, so I'm kind of having a hard time. If you have any idea regarding that aspect, do tell me. Thanks! ヽ(●´ε｀●)ノ

Aside from that, the story's going to take some time progressing especially since they're still kids and I want to show how they progress. Although I might do little time-skips here and there. *laughs*

Thank you so much for the love and support for this story! Stay tuned for the next chapter~ ヾ(´∀｀)ﾉ