I'll confess. I haven't actually read or watched much, if any, of the Naruto manga or anime in the past ten years before I got reincarnated. I remember the broad strokes of the plot, some really impressive youtube fight compilations, a few music videos, a handful of the movies, and the occasional three-in-the-morning wiki-bio-binge because I had an idea for a fanfic and couldn't sleep.

Still, there was a time in the now-distant past when I'd been a regular Naru-tard. I was old enough to remember when the manga first started coming out and the anime first started airing. I had shit taste at that age, like most teenagers, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that I could actually tolerate Uzumaki Naruto shouting every third line of dialog and making a mockery of tactics and strategy. I was also deep into a Naruto role-playing group at one point, which was a lot of fun because it had almost nothing to do with canon.

But I digress.

Like I said, I hadn't really taken a look at any of the source material in over two decades now, so I didn't remember specific datesfor a lot of events. I knew a general timeline, though, or at least could deduce one from memory. Kurama got released, Orochimaru went rogue, Root got officially shut down, and then the Uchiha massacre happened... I think, at least. Those last two might have swapped places, I wasn't sure.

The important thing to remember is that as much as I thought I knew a broad potential future, I was also aware of the butterfly effect I was having simply by existing. Also, even if I thought I knew when something was going to happen, there was dick-all I could do about it. My strategy thus far has been to keep my head down and avoid notice from the higher powers above me, of which there are very many.

What all of this means, is that when I was awoken by shouting in the streets before the sun had come up, I wasn't too surprised to learn that a shinobi clan member had committed mass murder against his own kin overnight.

Sagara banged noisily on the door of the tiny stockroom that doubled as my bedroom, clearly in a foul temper from being woken earlier than even our very early time to rise. A half-asleep voice demanded food as he heavily dropped foot after foot down the stairs and I coaxed myself out of a warm futon and into the morning chill. A quick wash of my face and I set to work casually whipping up a breakfast that put my early works in the kitchen to utter, humiliating, shame.

I had a choice between developing my cooking skills and learning fuuinjutsu last month.

For the sake of my taste buds and stomach, I'd reluctantly pushed my timetable back in order to have food that wasn't either too bland or seasoned nearly beyond edibility.

Sagara muttered something that could have been mistaken for the traditional thanks of receiving a meal as I placed a plate of fish, rice, and egg with a cup of green tea in front of him before sitting to serve myself.

"Ish better." The blacksmith rumbled, tapping his plate with the chopsticks for emphasis. A rare compliment from the stoic man.

"I learn fast." I replied with a shrug, stuffing my own face while he grunted in response. After a moment's silence, I sipped at my tea to clear my mouth. "What's the noise about?"

Sagara looked up at me, brown eyes skating over my brown hair and brown eyes before swallowing his mouthful of food. "Word to the wise, Kota; bunch of ninja end up dead inside the village, it betterneverbe any of your business and you're an idiot if you try to make it yours."

I gave the man a nod, having already sussed out that cosmic truth for myself, but I'd thought it would be weird if a random ten year old didn't express some curiosity over the uproar.

After a moment, Sagara spoke up again, mildly surprising me. "I'm gonna' get you started on ninja wire today." He grimaced and held up his meaty hands. "Hate the stuff. Never comes out quite right when I do it, hands are too big, wire's too delicate. Good enough for genin setting traps, but I can never get business from jounin who have a thing for it."

I nodded, my spirits buoying. While I didn't have anything against cleaning, after two months it got monotonous. "I'll do good."

Sagara grunted with a nod. "Ain't been stealing from the till, nothin' gone missing around the shop 'cept for those bits of scrap you pick up-" He snorted at my wince. "-and don't have to get on you much about slacking. Now I don't have to worry about you runnin' off, we'll see about getting some real work out of you."

"Wasn't gonna'." I shrugged, looking away awkwardly. "Way better here than the orphanage or the streets."

Another jerking nod. "Lots o' kids ain't even as smart as your dumb-ass." He grinned a bit, like a landslide down the face of a mountain cracking open a vein of pearly ore. "What you want that scrap for, anyway?"

I felt my face heat awkwardly under the attention and drummed my fingers on the table to bleed off the jitters. "I'm making a clock."

He blinked, his eyebrows raising as he paused for thought. In the meantime, he lifted his wooden plate and shoveled the rest of the food into his mouth. Setting down his chopsticks, he shrugged. "Long as you only take the worthless crap and do it on your own time, don't give a fuck what you're up to, boy." He stood, pausing, then tapped the table for emphasis about his next point. "Your own time and I don't have ta' talk to a ninja cause you did something stupid."

I thought about cracking a joke, but the gravity of his stare deflated my humor before it left my mouth. Instead, I nodded and picked my plate up to do likewise. It had taken a while to get used to fish for breakfast, but I'd grown to appreciate the taste.

"Good." Sagara scraped his chair back into place. "Dishes, then give the front a quick dust. After you're done, I'll start you on the wire. Then we'll break for lunch and after that I'll have you do a first batch while I mind the store."

"Yes sir." I nodded, the respect always seeming to please the man and coming naturally to me. Anyone in a professional setting had always been 'sir' or 'ma'am' to me, even if they didn'tperfectlytranslate to the local dialect, I'd found something close enough to convey the intent that I was comfortable using. Even in the land of shinobi, I was still the good ole' southern boy somewhere deep down.

Dishes were clean, the shop was given a brisk dusting, and I made sure the jittery bell with loose screws was properly fixed again, vowing yet another time to figure out a way to fix the weak wood it was attached to. Even if I had to homebrew some kind of caulk to fix it.

After a lesson on making ninja wire, I came to the easy conclusion that making wire with a forge was one of the most impossibly tedious tasks imaginable.

Ninja wire, specifically, was the product of a mechanical rolling press, endless hours of hammering, and a systematic sanding to form this prismatic shape of cutting edges that feed into each other with an apparently contradictory smoothness.

Infinitely flexible, sharp beyond words, and taking an entire day for each spool.

Thankfully, the summary of the process and examples didn't take that long seeing as how Sagara had multiple spools in various stages of completion that he walked me through short examples of the refining process on each.

I decided then and there that I was putting fuuinjutsu off for another month and just sinking potential into Blacksmithing: Ninja Tools instead.

At least I could make the transition believable after doing it the hard way for two weeks. It would also give me a better idea of the synergistic capabilities between two or more similar disciplines. The first bit of potential I'd invested in blacksmithing felt like it had given me years of experience and understanding, and I was still benefiting from that small expenditure.

Knowing the exact way to strike ingots to develop the shape I needed, being able to identify flawed blades on sight... all of it was incredibly valuable and time-saving.

Dumping another 'point' into it would show what further investment was capable of as well as saving me yet more time and effort learning the trade I was going to be making a living from.

As much as I really wanted to get into fuuinjutsu, I needed to prioritize.

Sighing, I slid the pizzas I was making into the oven and went back out front to listlessly sit at the desk while lunch cooked and Sagara finished up in back, taking the opportunity to rest my sore and still-developing muscles. Maybe I should think about adding something to give me a better advantage there, too. Even if I wasn't a ninja, there wasn't any harm in being able to defend yourself or at least throw a punch.

Perhaps... what had it been? Prana Bindu? It had been quite a while since I'd read any ofDune, but if I could yoink a few fantastical martial arts skills... I wondered if I needed to take the general Bene Gesserit disciplines or if I should take them piece by piece instead... It was probably a question of depth over breadth, like if you chose a generalized 'physics' or specialized 'astrophysics' or something. I'd get a broader knowledge base from the widest disciplines, but deeper understanding from being specific.

Prana Bindu, then... assuming I could take that kind of knowledge at all.

Which probably means pushing fuuinjutsu another month down the line...

Regrettably, the Bene Gesserit skills would also leave less incriminating evidence around than practicing fuuinjutsu, even once I got my potential tech base started. I probably needed to sit down and chart my growth soon, as well. I should plan to be 'ready' in case key events go awry, like the Chunin Exams Invasion, even if it's just being able to hunker down and hide-

The bell rattled and my eyes snapped up, my lips pulling into a slightly-plastic service smile automatically. "Welcome to the store! How may I... help... you..."

So, living in Konoha, you come to recognize clans pretty instinctually by their color palette. It's as much for their safety as for the civilians. If everyone expects an Inuzuka to be wearing brown and tan rough looking clothing, then they can subvert that expectation and wear something else for undercover operations. Hyuuga wore white, Yamanaka usually added purple, the Nara tended to go for this weird reinforced-fishnet armor stuff, but it was a distinctive style at least. Living as a civilian in a ninja village, you also tended to recognize clan symbols, even for those of the population that couldn't read.

The Uchiha, by the way, preferred a mix of blue matched with either white or black and the classic stylized fan on either their back or shoulders.

"Hey-yo!" The adult Uchiha shinobi waved cheerfully as I trailed off in vague disbelief. "Your master around or is he out for the day?" Idly, he fingered his orange-lined coat as he looked around with a nostalgic expression.

"Right here, who's-" Sagara paused, stepping through the doorway, then grunted. "Ah, you. Haven't seen you in a while, brat. Thought you forgot all about where you used to buy your kunai." Sagara paused, huffing a laugh. "Or hoped, at least, remembering what you did to that poor steel."

The Uchiha dipped his head, flushing in embarrassment. "Mou... Sagara-san, c'mon, not in front of my baby cousin. Have a heart!"

I blinked, my eyes automatically following the motion of the ninja's hands as they trailed down to a younger Uchiha, probably about my age, wearing the traditional blue shirt, white shorts cutting off just above the knee, long flowing black hair that went down to her lower black and...

No fucking way.

It was the expression that did it, a kind of thoughtful resting-bitch-face frown that radiated being unimpressed with virtually everything around them. Absent was the glower I knew should have been there, the distanced and closed-off emotional limited emotional spectrum that I was more familiar with giving way to something not open or friendly, but passively accepting of the world around them instead of rigidly hostile and angry.

"-ooh, looks like you've got an admirer, Satsuki-chan!" The grown ninja teased his younger academy-age cousin, drawing a crimson stain on her cheeks as she shot me a quick narrow gaze before glaring at her family member.

"Obito-ji-san! Shut it!" She spat, slugging the-the-

"Call me nii-san, Satsuki-chan!" The grown man begged comically. "Your cuz is still young and cool!"

'Satsuki' opened her mouth to respond-

A hand came down on my shoulder, rebooting my brain in the process. "Food's going to burn, Kota. See to it."

"Y-yes sir!" I stammered, still engulfed in a blank field of shock and...what the ever-loving-fuck?!

Uchiha. Obito.

Assumptions had been made. They were obviously in error.

I took a deep breath and forced myself to go through the motions of extracting the pies I'd put on previously. Theywerejust getting crispy, so I'd had good timing. The cheese I'd had to substitute looked like it had melted well enough. I'd probably have to fine-tune both it and the dough, but thankfully tomatoes and spices were easily available. Wheat was a bit pricey, though, mostly being imported from the Land of Grass. Rice was a more popular staple and... well, you could make dough out of rice flour, it was just a bit tricky to use in this kind of recipe.

Pulling out a knife, I also resolved to make myself a cutting wheel sometime soon if I kept this up-

"Hnh."

I blinked, turning to look where the still slightly-blushing female Uchiha stood awkwardly. I gave her a nod before turning my attention back to the food. "Hey."

A moment of silence passed between us.

"Sorry," she sighed, a motion at the corner of my eye and a ruffle of cloth indicating a shrug. "About my cousin, Obito. He... likes to play jokes."

"Mmh... I was being rude, anyway, staring." I admitted, brushing it off. "Just... don't get many ninja police in here, caught me by surprise."

Satsuki made a noise of understanding... or curious skepticism, one of the two. "He's just here to ask the shopkeeper if he's seen anything strange. Academy is canceled so dad said I needed to make the rounds with Obito-ji to keep out from under foot. Everyone in the clan is busy investigating, what with the Hyuuga clan getting massacred last night. He sent me in to check if you had-are you alright?"

I choked on my own spit, turning to cough before staring at Satsuki in surprise. "It was the Hyuuga?"

She blinked, cocking her head before nodding. "Yeah, hadn't you heard?"

I shook my head. "No, ah... Sagara-san says we shouldn't stick our heads into ninja business."

Satsuki frowned and looked away awkwardly, but nodded. "Probably smart." Her nose twitched and her eyes drifted towards the pies resting on the counter. "What're those?"

"Thing I made." I said after a moment's disbelief. I wanted to ask for details, but... should I? The Hyuuga had imploded instead of the Uchiha? Was the coup attempt still going forward? What thefuckwas going on?! No, wait... hadn't Obito as 'Madara' been part of the force behind the planned coup? To punish his own clan for the way they treated him and their perpetuation of the cycle of violence? Ugh...

Satsuki leaning over to look at the still-steaming food on the stone cooking dishes drew me from my inner turmoil. "Cheese... over bread? With red sauce between them?"

I shook myself. "It's tomato sauce with seasoning." I paused, then decided that my foreknowledge was a matter for another time, literally, and drew the knife along a generous portion before grabbing a wooden plate and carefully drawing it out. "I'm calling it pizza. Want a slice? Be careful, though, it's hot and cheese-burns suck."

Satsuki flicked her dark eyes between myself and the pizza, before nodding carefully and accepting it. As I went back to cutting up the rest to serving portions, I watched her blow on it from the corner of my eye before taking a testing bite and chewing it carefully. After a moment, her eyes widened and she swallowed, immediately diving in for a second bite only to rear back and stick out her tongue to blow air across it.

I chuckled, grabbing a glass and pouring some water for her. God, what I wouldn't do for a coke... "Here, I did say it was hot."

She shot me a look that combined embarrassment and irritation before taking the glass and sighing at the feel of cool water on her near-burn. "So... what did actually happen with the Hyuuga?" I asked as she ate, blowing on my own slice of pizza.

Satsuki chewed through another bite slowly, her eyes looking to the remainder of the pie we'd been eating from and I rolled my eyes. "Fine, you can have half. The other one's for the old man, though." I thumbed over my shoulder. "That's his lunch and he gets pissed if he goes hungry."

The Uchiha girl took a sip of water before nodding, her cheeks red at having been caught staring. "I don't know much, just that this kid who graduated the academy early... two years ago, I think, he was part of the branch house and killed all of the elders from the main house last night. There's something about some seal in the family that made him do it or something, but he didn't kill any of the kids from the main house, so we don't know if he really went crazy or what. The Uchiha investigating it think he's left the village anyway, gone full missing-ninja."

Well... that narrowed things down, at least.

I served up another slice as I continued to pump Satsuki for information.

Potential Spent:

Metaphysical Physiology: Unique Mutation (Kota)

Metaphysical Cosmology: Reincarnation Cycles

Metaphysical Physiology: Reincarnation (Aberrant)

Metaphysical Physiology: Respiration of the Soul

Metaphysical Cosmology: Akashic Records

Blacksmithing

Cognitive Performance Enhancement

Mechanical Computers

Horology

Cooking