"Hey, Richi."

I woke up to Toph greeting me as per usual, using her nickname for me. I think it's hitting her that I'll be leaving in a few weeks cause she hasn't slept outside once this past month. I don't mind though, she had been climbing in my bed enough these past few years that I've gotten used to it. I'll… I'll miss her too.

Plus it makes it easier to calm her down from nightmares.

"Good morning, how did you sleep?" I stopped squeezing her into my chest -she makes the best cuddle bug- so she could 'look' at me. I know she only does it cause she knows I love her eyes. I called them beautiful once last year and now she takes every chance she can get to show them off. It never fails to make me smile.

It's a good thing too. They're like a paler version of an emerald I see those gaudy visiting nobles wear sometimes. I don't know why people think she's a bastard Hyuga, that rumor doesn't make sense for more than a few reasons.

"I slept well, your chest is bigger than it was last week," she squeezed me a bit tighter.

I felt my cheeks warm despite knowing it was an innocent comment. They need to stop growing so fast! I'm getting tired of adjusting my clothes!

…I'll need to talk to her about lady bits and when it's appropriate to talk about them sooner rather than later.

"-Will my chest grow too?" she asked, "I want it soft like yours."

That day is coming soon.

"It'll probably happen when you're older Toph, don't worry," I heard the birds chirp outside the window reminding me I need to get moving. "Okay, time to get up." My entire body protested wanting to move at all but I pushed through, I'd get used to it eventually.

Toph stood in the center of the room as I got ready. Didn't have to take anything off because Toph likes skin-to-skin contact so I sleep in the nude, it was strange at first but now I like it. I put on a rough, faded-to-hell shirt and a pair of patched trousers the same faded tannish color. I wrapped my chest too, of course. Don't need them getting in the way.

I miss dressing Toph in dresses. She always looks so cute in them, but she's all but demanded play clothes for training so that's what she gets. I guess we've both gotten a bit too rough for dresses.

A slightly-to-big white shirt and a pair of light-blue shorts reaching an inch above the knees is what she's wearing today.

"Richi your chakra is a little bit faster today." She told me, sitting in the chair as I started brushing her hair.

"Well, hopefully, that's a good thing." I know she isn't one to say anything without meaning so I just chalk up comments like that as another amazing thing about Toph. Kind of like how she always knows where everything is. She's been saying it more and more lately.

"Yes, it's getting less boring."

Most would take that as an insult but I took it in stride. "Glad I can be a little less boring then."

As I brushed the knots out of her hair I couldn't help but feel just a bit jealous of the inkiness of it, combined with her pale skin and sightless eyes she kind of reminded me of a doll. She'd only get more beautiful as she got older.

I sighed. Compared to my orange mane and tanned skin, well, it won't really be a contest in a few years

Thank kami she was saved from those bandits. If she hadn't been… A shutter ran through me.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, just thinking a bit. You're all set." She hopped up from the chair.

"You're leaving now?"

I pulled her into a hug, "Yeah, I got to go. But if all goes well I should have a surprise for you.

"Really?" her voice was a tad smothered by the hug.

"Yep! I put on a cheerful tone, "You'll like it!"

"Cool."

I pulled away first as always. I need to get going. "Alright Toph, I'll see you later. Be good okay?"

"Okay."

With that, I left the room. I'd eat with her if I had time but I like being earlier than all the other hopefuls and Toph needs a few minutes by herself to prepare for the day. She might not realize it herself but socializing takes a lot out of her, even more so these days.

Wishing Yuchi-san a good morning and grabbing some bread for myself -less food for me is more food for Toph, that's the deal- and headed out.

Walking through the village this early in the morning was usually relaxing. Greeting everyone getting their shops ready for the day is a joy and the Uchiha on their routes are always very kind if a bit stiff. Most of them anyways.

"Morning Riochi. How are you this morning?" An Uchiha I pass by most days waved at me.

I gave him a smile, "I'm doing wonderful, what about you Kagami? Are you well? I haven't seen you in a few days."

"Oh, I'm fine. Just came down with a bit of a cold, no worries." He smiled back making me blush a bit, he's very handsome even if he's like a decade older than me… A girl can dream.

"Ah, well take care of yourself, please. If you need to take another day off don't hesitate, I'm sure Izumi won't mind taking over a bit more."

He patted my head, making me squirm and my face heats up even more. "And miss you brightening my day? I appreciate your concern but I'm fine."

"Okay if you say so," I think he's teasing me on purpose…

"I do say so," he started to walk away, "And don't work too hard!"

"You too!" I called back and continued on my way, my steps just a bit lighter.

I walked passed Dinto-san's shop and felt an ache in my chest. I was set on becoming a seamstress and Dinto-san was excited too, but she understood. I'm pretty sure she already has a new apprentice. She is very skilled after all.

I felt my stomach growl. Hopefully, Ton-san can spare some food again. Otherwise, today will be miserable.

Finally, after a bit more walking, I arrived at my destination. A small-ish unassuming building next to a small-ish unassuming lake. Kagami directed me to it after I explained my plight, it's one of the smaller ninja equipment suppliers but also notably puts out some of the highest quality products in the village.

Hell, usually an orphan with no background in the field at all wouldn't get a chance at all to be considered to be an apprentice to Ton-san. But I managed to convince him to give me a shot.

…After bowing outside his door for a week straight.

Even then I'm lucky he gave me a shot. It's still a small chance I'll make it though. The other kids have been learning far longer than I, but I'm doing everything I can to make up for it. Getting here earlier, heading out later, that sort of thing. Hiding the bleeding and burnt hands from Toph is difficult, that girl has a sixth… fifth sense or something.

I changed career paths as soon as Toph told me she was going to be a kunoichi. If it was any other kid I wouldn't have given it a second thought, children want to be ninja, it's just how things are. Most fail right after a year or two. But Toph isn't just a kid.

As much as I hate it, as much as I want her to be safe, she's made her choice.

And I'll try my best to help.

With Toph

"Man, this isn't fair."

"Stop being dumb and do twenty more," I paused for a second, "Please."

"You know, just cause you add 'please' to whatever you're saying doesn't make it any less demanding." Kizara is grumbling but even so, she started to slowly do the squat hops.

"You're twenty away from three-hundred. Do them… please." Being nice is hard.

"Well, it'd be a lot easier-" her legs almost give out but she catches herself, "- to do the rest if you weren't on my damn shoulders! You're enjoying this!"

"I'm enjoying this a lot." I corrected. Granted going up has gotten a lot slower but that's okay. "Ten more."

"You said that forty squats ago!"

"You said you could do some more when you got past One-hundred and fifty. You have to make it to Three-hundred now."

"Kami, what's up with you and multiples of five?"

"I like them." I hopped off right before she collapsed to the ground, huffing and groaning. "Good job Kizara." I gave her a few soft claps."

She just gave me a tired thumbs up.

"We're getting better so that's neat." I mean getting better isn't my only reason for doing this with her but it's still true. I want to get faster and stronger for sure. Ninja can kill not-ninja really easily, so yeah, training is a must. But so is learning. Right now, just like Kizara and even Ino, I'm stupid. I want to get not stupid.

I guess I like Kizara so she has to be strong too.

Half of it is probably cause I want to know stuff though. Part of the reason I like exercising with Kizara so much is cause I noticed that my body might be… weird. Or maybe her body's weird, I don't know. What I do know is that our bodies have been reacting way too differently this past month.

I figured out, or more like I realized something that was really obvious, that whenever I touch someone and focus that I don't only feel their chakra, but everything else in the body too. Bones, muscles, all the other gooey stuff. So within the last month, I've been able to feel Kizara's muscles getting better, tearing and recovering, her heart pumping more blood with each beat, her lungs getting more effective, and more tiny things I don't understand.

Her chakra is getting faster too, I think it might be related to her body getting better cause the faster her chakra gets the faster her body gets better. Or she's just a weirdo.

Completely different from my body though. Okay, not completely different but different enough to bother me. I don't really get sore like she does, and it takes longer for me to get tired. I think I'm strong? Stronger than I should be at least. I'm small, it's okay cause I'm only a little smaller than the others my age, but I'm still small. The point is I shouldn't be getting better faster than Kizara. She works super hard.

I think my chakra might be reacting differently than hers too? Well, everyone's chakra is different but I noticed that there's a pattern to how it works. It's nice. Mine is kind of breaking that pattern more each day and it's bothering me.

I was broken out of my thoughts by fingers snapping, "Hey squeaky, you're zoning out again." Kizara finally managed to get up.

I blinked. "Oh, thank you. Why do you keep calling me that."

"No problem, and cause when that cat came and let you pet it you let out the cutest squeak." She still sounded tired but I think she might have tried to use the same sound as Yuchi when I tried to sound more grown up that one time.

…Never again.

"Damn," she flopped to her back, "did you really have to get on my shoulders towards the end? That was brutal." She shimmied her shirt up a little past her chest with a little bit of difficulty because of how tired her arms are.

"Yes." I crawled over to her to sit on her stomach. Her core is more than strong enough to be fine with my weight at this point, "It's good for you." Also, I like feeling her fully when she's struggling like that, it's where things get the most interesting. It's still good for her though.

"Still sucked," she grumbled. "You ready?"

I cross my legs so I'm not touching the ground at all, I don't need any distractions for this, "Yes, close your eyes and breath." I placed one hand on her forehead and the other over her heart.

"I'd have to be pretty thick to not have the drill down by now." her breath got slower and her body relaxed as much as it could.

"Well that's good because you're fairly thin," I'm really glad she's not as stupid as I thought at first.

"That's not-" she sighed, "Forget it, I'll tackle that later. Let's start."

"Okay."

With that, I focused.

I found out I can feel other people's chakra a lot better if I touch their head and right above their heart. Skin-to-skin is great too.

And for this, I need to feel as clearly as possible.

Every vain, muscle, and bone in her body I can feel. Along with a lot of… wires? I'll have to ask Ino later. That's new. Most of all, I feel her chakra vibrating and flowing throughout her body. I can feel the network nearly as if it was my own.

The first few times we did this I passed out.

I map out her body and coax a little bit of my chakra into hers to urge it to speed up a little. I got the idea from the "diagnosis" thing that doctors do, I've felt it enough that it'd be pretty lame if I couldn't do something like it. I had to practice a lot before I even attempted it on her.

Trying to make her chakra interact with her muscles more, and just generally go faster was- is difficult. But just like with animals, the more you coax it, gently, the more it'll respond well to petting.

Kizara, for all she tries, isn't good at playing with chakra. I mean, she's better than most kids, but most kids are stupid so that's not really something to be proud of. So to make her better -cause I don't want her to die- I decided to try and help her out. Plus figuring out how her chakra interacts with her body is fun.

I think that the more chakra is played with, the more it exercises, the more it wants to be played with. That's why it gets faster, first: cause it likes moving and wants to do stuff, it doesn't like being boring. And second: Cause if your chakra is flowing faster, the owner of the chakra probably needs it to flow faster. That's the only explanation I can think of as to why Kizara's chakra is getting less boring the harder we work ourselves.

It's like a muscle. Much easier explanation.

But Kizara isn't good at playing with chakra, she has a hard time even noticing it -she's getting better- And while it was getting more and more active without what I'm doing, the progress was too slow for me. The faster it gets, the faster she gets stronger, and the stronger she gets, the faster her chakra is. It's a loop. Though all of it equals: Kizara doesn't die.

So I've been… helping it along. Basically messaging it with my own chakra to encourage it to go faster. It also helps Kizara with being more aware of her own chakra too. She's been getting a lot better at it.

The only problem with this is that Kizara says it hurts. A lot. And it's really hard to do. I have to copy the vibrations of her chakra and then just barely inch into flowing faster. I know I won't mess up, but that's only cause I put a lot of effort into being precise -I learned that word from Ino- and gentle. We decided we'd be doing this every day until she could do something like it on her own without my help.

After about thirty minutes of me making her chakra exercise I got up to stretch, the earth jumped to play with my chakra like always. Focusing like that is tiring. Kizara just laid there for a moment after I got up. I don't rush her, she's focusing. That's a good thing.

After around a minute she stretches on the ground with a big yawn, "Dang, that always makes me tired," she says in a sleepy voice. It makes me tired too, "But hey!" she suddenly hops up and hugs me, I'm beginning to feel my chakra more!"

I smile a little as she picks me up and twirls me around, "Your chakra's getting more and more active so I think that makes sense," I tell her when she puts me down.

"I think so too." She calmed down some but I can still hear the excitement in her voice. "This is so cool. I might be able to do a hinge properly now."

"Why don't you try it?" I tilt my head to make sure she knows it's a question.

"Ah well," she puts her hands behind her head, "Sensei says that we shouldn't try any Jutsu by ourselves at the level we're at. He says we could be developing bad habits without realizing it."

"That's stupid," I can't imagine why a sensei is discouraging students not to practice. That doesn't make any sense, "Do it."

"But sensei said-"

I interrupt her, "We're surrounded by trees, it's fine. And you aren't alone, I'm here." I also want to feel a Jutsu being done.

"Huh, Never thought about it like that… Okay, let's go!" she makes a sign with her fingers and starts to focus. I can feel her chakra start to get more active again, but this time it's weird. It's starting to vibrate in a different pattern than normal, the vibrations that make Kizara; Kizara, are still there but now it's like a new pattern is being mixed in. No, not mixed. It's still her chakra but… different. It's really weird.

I heard a poof of smoke and coughed a little. I hope that doesn't happen every time.

When I felt it I gasped. Kizara is still Kizara. Her vibrations are still the same. It's just everything else is different. She's a different shape, different weight, different height, and there's a layer of chakra covering her form. The same form as mine…

That's neat.

"Ha! It's pretty rare that you get all speechless." Hearing my own voice coming from somewhere that's not my mouth is kind of, no, is REALLY confusing.

"I think I did it right. Do you feel anything out of place?" She, me, I? Whatever. Not me. Kizara asked while looking at my- her hands.

"N-no, you are a perfect copy of myself." I took a deep breath to calm down. This is to learn, not be amazed and confused at the same time.

"Yes!" I- no, Kizara cheered. Throwing her hands up in victory. "Now I'm farther than like half of my class! Heck, I bet I can even do the clone and substitute Jutsu with some practice too!"

I tilt my head and she stops cheering somewhat, expecting a question. "Were you having trouble before?"

She rubs the back of her head and laughs a little, "Well, yeah. I mean like I always do well in just about everything else though "But before we started doing this, my chakra exercises were going horribly. I couldn't even feel the stuff…" she trailed off. "I'm pretty good at taijutsu though!" she added hurriedly, "Both instructors say I have a real knack for it!"

I nodded, "That's nice, good for you." My body seemed to relax a little at that. "We can start doing the…" I realized that I don't have a name for it yet, "Chakra petting more if you want."

"Eh, thanks but nah," she released the Jutsu -thankfully- with a puff of something that made me cough, "If I rely on you too much that'll be a problem, we're doing more than enough as it is."

"Oh, okay." I like the chakra petting… "I'm hungry."

"Yeah same, we should get back. It's getting dark."

"Okay." I decide to trust her because I can't tell right now, the place we've started training at is quiet and surrounded by trees so no voices for me to hear, it's also been cool all day.

I start to walk in the direction of the orphanage, with Kizara rushing to link arms with mine. "Soo, good day?" she asks.

"Yes."

At the orphanage

Me and Kizara ate dinner and went our separate ways, she gave me some of her meat. It was nice. When I got to our room I must have smelt bad because Richi immediately rushed me to the bath.

Water is still frustratingly slippery to play with.

"How did your training go Toph?" Richi asked after scrubbing my body for a few minutes.

"It went well. My arms and legs felt like jelly for a few minutes but they're fine now, Kizara can do a hinge now too." She hummed in response. "How was your day?"

Her hands are less firm than they usually are, more clumsy as she washed my hair. She must have worked hard.

"It was wonderful, difficult, but wonderful all the same. I finally managed to get you your gift." Wait, what?

"Finally?" I tilt my head.

She giggles, "Yes finally. It's taken a bit of effort but it's no big deal. I know it'll be worth it. I'm pouring now." I close my eyes as she pours water on my head.

"Oh… thanks."

"You're welcome."

A few minutes later

After I'm cleaned, we head back to our room and Richi pulls out a package. "Okay Toph," she sounds excited, "I don't know why they wrapped it, the fact that they have wrapping paper with their Clan symbol on it is kind of cute… but anyways open please," she places the package in my hands.

I can't feel anywhere to open it. It's all just smooth paper.

"You're supposed to tear the paper," Richi seems even more excited now.

"Won't that ruin it?" That seems counter-productive.

"Don't worry about it, it's supposed to be ruined," That's weird, I don't think I like it but Richi seems to want me to so I will.

I slowly and carefully rip the paper into one large, curly strip, only to find a box.

"Thank you for the box, I love it." I don't what I'll do with it, but I'll keep it with me always.

At that Richi laughed, "Never change Toph. No, the gift is what's inside the box. You can still keep the box if you'd like though."

"Oh. That's okay. You can keep it." I opened the box and reached inside.

I totally did not let out a small squeak when I touched a familiar softness touched my hand. "I know you were pretty down when you found out that it was gone and I can't exactly make you another one right now," Richi began, "I figured I'd try my best to find it after a few friends of mine mentioned evidence getting lost in a closet or something."

"How… why?" I'd dropped the box and pulled out the blanket that I thought was lost when I was taken, pulling out the blanket I held it to my chest and sniffed it. It smelt new, like it had been cleaned thoroughly. Probably for the best when I think about it, it had probably been soaked in Toshi's blood.

"Well, I kind of begged a couple of Uchiha's to find it for me, a lot. And then when they said no I begged another. At first, he said it'd be too much effort but when I explained the situation he was all for it. They even washed it and everything, "Richi pulled me into a hug, "As for why… I didn't get you a birthday present remember? Can't have that, can we?"

I didn't mind that at all. I wasn't expecting a gift anyways.

"T-thank you," I mumbled into the blanket.

"You're welcome," the blanket doesn't smell like Richi anymore.

"It wasn't a problem."

She started to take off her clothes so I do the same and climb into bed after her.

"Hey, Richi." I throw the blanket over the both of us. It's too small, but I don't think she minds.

"Yes?" She pulls me into her chest and I hug her in return.

"Thanks."

The next day

I'm at Ino's house. She's been coming to pick me up most days of the week, either with Inoichi or some other adult. I didn't even go the first week, just closed the door on her and didn't think much about it, but she was persistent. She was… a lot at first, but she got better within the first week.

"-I'm pretty sure those 'wires' might have been the nervous system. Maybe?" Me and Ino were reading from a book, well, Ino was. I was listening. She put the book down, "The rundown of the nervous system is that's pretty much electrical wiring in your body. It has three primary functions: Sensory, Integrative, and Motor. Those wires transmit signals to your brain from the rest of your body and vice versa. With your brain being the control hub that's sending and receiving signals- and I lost you."

Throughout her explanation, I had been tilting my head farther and farther. Ino says that other people respond well to body language -whatever that means- and that if I am confused or have a question I should tilt my head.

"Okay!" she clasped her hands together "Sorry about that, sometimes I forget you aren't as educated as I am. Let's see… okay yeah… Yeah! So you know how the Hokage sends ninja to act as couriers right?" I nodded, "Well, think of your brain as the Hokage for the rest of your body, it needs to monitor everything so it sends electrical signals -the Ninja- through the wires -nerves-to the rest of your body then they report back to the brain. These signals have orders for the rest of your body. Hold up your hand," I did so, "See that's an example, your brain sent the message to your arm and it moved."

"…Oh." Was all I could say. I might understand it? I'm not sure though.

"It's not limited to movement either -those are an example of motor functions by the way- it's also responsible for sensations: Touch, smell, taste, and hearing. Reaction speed, coordination, pain, and a whole lot of other stuff."

"Oh…" this might be worse than what she tried to explain what she was taught about facial expressions, she's not even reading from the book anymore, "You're smart Ino, how do you know all of this?"

"Ah," she puffed out her chest, "Daddy and the teachers teach me almost every day, I've started reading a lot on my own too."

"Huh, you're a lot smarter than the other kids I'm around." Some of them still have a hard time with basic math. I mean they're younger than me… but still.

"Well, I have to be. I'm the Heiress to the Yamanaka Clan. Even if I wasn't the Heiress we have to know all about the body to use our techniques competently. The nervous system in particular."

I… I might be more stupid than I thought.

"Am I stupid?" I ask her outright. She's the smartest person close to my age I know so she'd know or not. I don't really get why I asked, I already know the answer.

Ino gasped and quickly grabbed my hands, "No! Why would you ask that? Have people been calling you stupid? You can tell me if they are. I'll kick their butts!"

I shook my head, they do call me stupid but they always whisper it now. Plus I don't care about them. "No. I'm having trouble understanding this stuff, and you know more than me. I don't get this stuff so I'm stupid right?" I tilt my head.

"No!" she cleared her throat when I flinched and spoke a bit quieter, "No, you aren't stupid Toph. Just cause you don't understand something right off the back doesn't mean you're dumb."

I tilt my head even more, "But-"

"No buts!" she interrupted, "I've been learning this stuff literally my whole life. I don't count. You're not dumb so stop saying you are!"

Is she getting angry? I don't really know how to respond to that. I'm pretty sure I'm still stupid but I think this helped me feel better? I'll think about it when I'm alone.

She stood up, "Sorry about that," her voice sounded happy again and not angry. She stood up, trying to drag me along with her, "C'mon Toph, Let's go play! My other friends are probably at the park."

"Can we just train instead?" I said, my voice coming out a little smaller than I expected.

"You can do that later, you need to socialize more."

I shook my head, "I'd rather train." I still haven't even found a lake, I need to get better at playing with water.

Ino stopped and turned to face me, "Okay think about it like this. As a ninja you'll need to get along with your comrades to carry out missions properly. If you never learn how -don't give me that look, I know you need to learn- you'll be at a disadvantage down the line."

I crossed my arms, "I get along with everyone I meet very well, people that don't like me are just stupid, and most of the time their chakra is really boring."

Ino sighs, "I know that Toph, but what about me? I was stupid at first too?"

I blinked, "You don't count, you've been learning that stuff your entire life."

She lets a small chuckle, "I don't think that applies here. Why don't you want to come and play?"

I crossed my arms, "I just don't, not with people I don't know."

"Tha-" she pauses, "Okay, let's go outside and train then. Show me what you usually do."

I smile, "Okay," and let her drag me outside." I think I remember her saying she's been doing light exercise? Let's do that.

Twenty-three minutes later

"This. Is. Hell!" Ino wheezed out on the ground. "How… Why would you do this to me!?"

We just got through one-hundred squats, push-ups, crunches, and we found a tree to do pull-ups with, and one lap around her Clan's property. Pretty simple stuff. "It's not that bad…"

"Not that bad? We haven't even taken a break! You do this every day?!" she slowly rises from the ground.

"No, I remember you saying you do light exercise so I thought this would be okay. Me and Kizara do different stuff."

"You call this light? You're five!" Her chakra is flowing a lot faster than normal.

"Yes. I'm five, Kizara's nine, and you're six." For someone so smart she says the most obvious things sometimes. I held out my hand and she took it.

"Yeah, obviously but this is advanced stuff for kids our age. We just ran, like, a lot. And there are hills and rocks and stuff. Plus the pace you were going is ridiculous and my body feels like jelly."

I only barely acknowledge her talking, too focused on her chakra and the way it's interacting with her body. It's different from Kizara's or mine. I notice that her chakra, while it's flowing in the same network as everyone else, it has a lot more build-up in her head. It's also vibrating a lot more around her muscles than Kizara's did at first.

"Hey Toph," a calmed down Ino got my attention, Whatcha thinking about?"

I blink, it feels like I hadn't for a few minutes, "Your chakra flows differently than other people." There's something more to it but I'm not sure…

"What do you mean?" she tilts her head.

"There's a lot more build-up right here," I touch her forehead with the hand that's not holding hers, "Everything else is normal. You're chakra coaxing your muscles more than most other kids but that's not weird."

"Huh… You mind if I tell Daddy that?"

"No." Why would I mind at all?

She squeals and hugs me "Thanks! You're so cool!"

"We still have more to do."

She immediately stops hugging me, "Can we make a deal?" she sounds pretty serious.

"Okay?"

"Give me a month before we train again, please?"

I tilt my head, "Sure?"

"Okay, sweet!" with that she takes my hand and drags me in the direction of the main building.

We still haven't finished though...

A few hours later

Kizara said that she's really tired today, she said something about the Sensei making her push her chakra control exercises to the max? I probably need to start learning those exercises too. I still have so much to learn. But before any of that, I need to find some water. Which brought me to the situation I'm currently in.

"Kid, I get you like exploring but this is like the eleventh time I've had to pick you up."

She gently picked me up. Again. She's definitely one of the ninja following me, I figured that out around a week ago. She's not doing a very good job at hiding though. I guess she and the three others got lazy? I don't know. It's kind of annoying even if it helps sometimes.

"Eighth," I say over her shoulder. I'm pretty sure she won't kill me, I mean she hasn't yet, plus I'm on her back so it might be more difficult for her if she decides to.

"That's what I said. The Uchiha helped you out the extra three."

"You didn't say that," I adjust my grip around her neck in preparation. I could tell by the way her muscles tensed just a little and her chakra flowed a bit faster that this was going to be a big jump.

"Eh, same difference," she shrugged the best she could while making a "normal" jump in the last second. I untightened around her neck.

"Heh, you're a pretty cool kid you know that?" her chakra went back to normal too.

"Yes." I'm the coolest. Probably. There may be one or two kids who need more blankets than me. "We aren't going in the right direction."

"We are," she landed on the ground, "we just aren't going to the orphanage quite yet."

When my feet touched the ground my chakra immediately started playing with the earth in the same frustrating eagerness children have when they don't see each other for a few hours.

I mean, I like that the earth is getting more and more playful, I don't like that it's getting more difficult to even attempt to play with the others. It's frustrating. My chakra is mine. Not the earth's or anyone else's but mine. I should be able to tell it what to do and play with whatever I want.

Not letting others play is what losers do.

"Yo Toph, you okay?" the female Ninja -I still don't know her name- asked, snapping me out of my thoughts."

"Yes, sorry," Now that I'm not in my head I noticed that my senses through the earth got really… fuzzy right ahead of us. I've never felt anything like it.

"What's… that?"

She took my hand and led me into the fuzziness.

"You know you could have just asked where a lake is right? I, or even the Uchiha would have been happy to help," I jumped when my feet touched the water. "Just between you and me, they might seem scary and stuck up but most are as soft as can be so don't hesitate to ask okay? They love this village too."

I nodded, barely paying attention as we went further into the water, to the point where it was up to my chest. My clothes are wet but this is neat so I don't care. I've never had this much surrounding me before. The ground below is like a weird mix between water and earth. Basically mud but with a lot more water. It feels softer on my feet too.

My chakra is kind of freaking out. I can't really blame it cause everything's shifting constantly. The vibrations aren't like the earth's constant pulse, or even the tub, where I can sort of prepare for how the vibrations will move. No. everything is shifting everywhere at once. I can feel it with my whole body too. It's… too much. My body doesn't hurt though. Instead, everything feels numb. I haven't even started trying to help my chakra copy the water- "Yoink!" I barely felt it when the girl pulled me out of the water and into her arms.

"You okay kid?" She paused then jumped out of the water to set me down, "Oh shit, nope. Damn, I'm going to get into so much trouble," she rambled to herself, she said some other things too but it just came out as garbled noise.

Soon though, after I don't know how much time, I could feel the earth. Like it was hugging me and trying to make everything better. As I felt it more and more, everything started to come back to me. First I could hear the girl cursing a lot. And I mean a LOT. I don't think I've heard most of those words before. When I tried breathing through my nose I started coughing and could taste what I'm pretty sure was blood.

"Oh thank kami, can you talk? You didn't get brain damage did you?" I heard her voice suddenly come from right next to me.

Then I felt pain.

My body contorted, muscles spasming so much I thought my bones were going to break. I let out a silent scream as my breath was forced out of my lungs.

"Shit. Shit! Can I take her to the fucking hospital now!?" she yelled out. I tried to pay attention or focus on something but my brain isn't working.

"Fuck you guys!" she yelled after a moment. I felt her start doing what the ninja at the hospital do. The "diagnosis" thing.

"It seems like your body is fine at least, a small amount of internal bleeding but that nothing concerning if we get it fast enough," she moved her hands to each side of my head, "Damn it, wish I was better at this shit." Probably talking to herself more than me right now and then she goes on, and on.

"I'm fine," I say after a minute of her ranting to herself.

She stops ranting and just… looks at me I guess? "You had blood dripping from your freaking eyes, that'd be the opposite of fine."

I try to sit up but found that I couldn't move, "It's okay, the same thing happened with the earth at first." That was a lie, I can at least walk on the ground without bleeding. "It just needs to get used to me, I haven't ever played with water and it's shy."

She picks me up and holds me in her arms, "What kind of explanation-?" she cuts herself off, "You know what? Doesn't matter, you're going to the hospital." She forms a hand sign -for the hinge?- and transforms into someone shorter and with more hair.

"Do we have to?" I definitely did not whine.

"Yes. Again, blood from the face, so to the hospital we go. I'm not adept at healing and you need someone more competent than me to look you over." She starts jumping faster than usual."

"I go there too much."

"I fucking agree."

That night

Hell no.

Hell no, am I going to be part of an organization that's down for sitting on their asses and letting that happen. A little bit of pain? Yeah, that's fine. Pain's good for children, it was good for me.

But she was clearly dying. Dying in a way that would have sucked, pretty much torturing herself and they wanted me to let it happen just so they could fucking observe? Yeah, the kids a freak but so are a lot of people. Fuck them and fuck Danzo for corrupting the Anbu throughout the years.

And the worst part about it is the kid said that she's been through that before. That she just had to get used to it. I mean, I've been watching her for a while. Some poison messed me up for a bit so I've been on medical leave for a while. Thank goodness I got the dose, my squad would have definitely been killed twice over from any that could put me down.

Anyways, I believe I started observing her a little after those pulses of chakra started up. Could she have been talking about before that? Because I didn't witness anything that extreme. Yeah, it had gotten bad but… nothing like that.

And they wanted me to sit there and fucking watch.

I landed on one of the many large branches that are in between the entrance to the Anbu headquarters and the village. I sighed, "Come out now, Kami you guys suck at your jobs."

Six figures appeared, surrounding me. Two had the standard animal masks for all Anbu, the other four had blank, featureless masks. Root. Not that it's common knowledge, I'm just one of the few that are privy to that information.

"So, you guys here to kill me? Wait, don't answer. I'm gonna go with yes." They drew their weapons at once, "Man, it's a shame you're a fucking traitor Bear, I'm going to enjoy making your death as painful as possible." I direct the words at the man I honestly thought of as a… Not a friend per se but at least a friendly acquaintance, however, at this point I know I'm just talking to the void, these drones don't feel anything, "Hell, I might even cum from it. Kami knows I've been scratching that itch myself eh Rat? You were never any good in the sack."

"Surender, Snake. You will be studied regardless, however, it would be preferable if you were brought alive."

I laugh, I laugh hard, like doubling over and shit, "Shit, for a bunch soulless fucks, you guys got jokes!" I push the snake mask that's been a part of me for the last four years to the side. Snake doesn't feel anger or emotion. She isn't allowed to. So this is all me. I glare at Bear even as I'm chuckling, "Oh shit, you're serious," I fain surprise, "You guys actually think you can kilt me."

I twist and slip around the tanto of the seventh bastard -huh, Monkey. Wasn't expecting that- attacking me from above. Slipping out a Kunai and nicking her neck, her spinal column, as she was passing. She hit the branch I was standing on then slowly slid off, landing beneath us with a thump.

"Damn, you guys suck," I toss the kunai over my shoulder where it falls and stabs Monkey in the brain. Putting her out of her misery, can she even be miserable? Way too quick a death for a traitor. "Alright then," I draw my tanto, and I know on a quiet night like this they can hear the clicking of mandibles and thousands of legs shuffling at once. I casually hold the blade in a loose grip, "I need to report to my Hokage soon, so let's make this quick."

With a puff of smoke, a giant, menacing, dark blue centipede I lovingly refer to as Mochi curled around my body, blocking the senbon likely aiming for my vital areas. She's great cause on the off chance I do die, she'll reverse summon my body so that the babies of the nest can devour it.

Fucker's won't make me another experiment.

I kept my glare on Bear as Mochi curled tighter around my body until I was out of my attacker's line of sight.

Replacing myself with a clone made of thousands of small centipede summons, I sink into the tree. Mochi's smart enough to know I set a trap so she uncurls and hisses, again, menacingly -she's so fucking cute- and uncurles.

The clone dashes at one of the blank masks and meets his blade with its own, two more converge to take advantage of the, quite frankly, large opening that was its back. When their blades met flush, however, it quickly melted into a sea of centipedes. One was fast enough to get away, the other two were restrained and crushed under the weight of the babies, already being eaten alive.

Two down.

I slither inside the tree to beside the blank mask that was below me, a man. Before he can react I pop my arms out and snap his neck. The others are already converging on me. Well, Bear is. Rat is fighting with Mochi, the other is… shit! I partially step out of the tree to meet Bear's blade with my own.

"Mochi, mist please." I calmly call out. She chitters once and soon poison is spreading through the air. Their masks have respirators inside so it won't affect the humans but the beetles that were closing me are dropping dead. This essentially takes the most dangerous out of the fight, the Aburame. Yes, he'll have more weapons at his disposal than his bugs, but the danger he posed is gone. Now he'll have to get up close and personal.

Directing my attention to the enemy in front of me I step fully out of the tree I was in, pushing Bear back in doing so. He might be more physically imposing, but it wasn't purely a bluff when I said they couldn't kill me. I'm superior to them in almost every way.

Bear broke off, jumping back. Rat is already dead with half his head melted in from Mochi's acid, and the Aburame is trying and failing to get away from her as she gives chase. Kunai and shuriken bouncing off of her all the while.

She's quite fast for something so large.

I lower my tanto, holding it in a grip that any Kenjutsu user would say is 'much too casual, and relax my body. I shrilly whistle to let Mochi know to stop playing with her food.

"Let's see…" I think out loud as I evade Bear's attacks, only actually blocking when necessary, "How do I want to kill you?" I slide under a violent swing and plant my fist in Bear's kidney causing him to stumble back, "Or hey, better idea. What if I keep you alive for a bit? I'm sure my Hokage would love to meet the real you." I grab his head and slammed his face into my knee into his mask, breaking it.

Ceramic shards lodged into his face, I see the actual Bear for the first time. Emotionless, unfeeling, soulless. That spoils what little pleasure I would have taken out of torturing him to death.

He lunges for my stomach, but I block it with my own. I manipulate the blades into sliding up until I'm meeting his eyes.

Yeah, there's nothing there.

I open my mouth, and a centipede slightly larger than a baby quickly crawls out and sprays venom into his empty fucking eyes.

He stumbles back in pain, dropping his weapon because, well, I'm pretty sure venom in the eyes sucks. Especially from "That" baby. She beat and devoured all of her siblings put into the pot with her, along with the spiders, scorpions, and snakes… she's a badass.

Thinking about it, looking at the fucker writhing on the ground, I guess I should probably bring him to Lord Third. What happened here tonight could probably be warped into a very annoying misunderstanding if I show up without evidence of my innocence. I'm not exactly the most trustworthy person in his eyes. For good reason, but still.

Looking around I see my friends helping themselves to all the bodies but the blank mask behind me, and Bear. Honestly, his betrayal hurts more than I'm willing to admit. I'll get over it though, I always have.

I sigh and with four quick slices from my blade, Bear's limbs are cleanly severed. I use a variation of the fireball jutsu to cauterize the wounds. Now I just have to get him and one of the blanks- Oh! I almost forgot.

I kneeled down to Bear and pried open his mouth, taking a Kunai and cutting off his tongue I said, "Can't have that seal activating now can we?" and stashed the tongue, along with the other root into a storage seal. I wish I could do the same to Bear but I need him alive.

Picking him up and slinging his body over my shoulder, I yelled out to Mochi, "Yo, once you're done with your food all of you can head home. I'll see you guys later." I know she's happy as hell right now, their clan hates the Aburame.

"Man, hopefully, it's not some faux pass to bring a bloody body to the Hokages office." That actually gave me pause for a few seconds until I shrugged and started heading to the Hokages office. I'm sure he won't mind, it's not like I can trust anyone else right now.

The real question is if I can get across the village without being spotted.

AN: Goddamn, I swear I have a decent excuse for like the first month and a half, then it was just a lack of motivation that caused me to not update.

There's a good reason Snake knows so much, she's not just a Marie Sue. I actually don't feel good about her fight at all. Like it was just hard for me to write for some reason.

Cool shit next chapter with Toph next chapter, I promise! It was supposed to happen this chapter but I kind of messed up and did the thing with Snake instead. Comments and interactions feed me and would be much appreciated.