The village is… loud.

I knew this, I've experienced this, but sometimes it still surprises me. It kind of freaks me out too, but I can deal. Usually. I'm even getting used to all the people, the vibrations. I haven't passed out in three days!

My lips almost stretched into a smile but I caught it at the last minute. My grown-up face is on right now.

"Hello Toph-san, may I ask where you're heading?" An unfamiliar voice asked. I didn't flinch or jump or anything like that. He has chakra circulating a bit more around his eyes so I know he's safe. I've stopped questioning why they all seem to know me, all I know is that they're helpful and usually polite.

I pointed in the direction of the large source of chakra I'd been focusing on. It's been moving a lot though, "The Hokage," I told him.

He sighed and pushed my pointing arm to the right, "And why would you possibly want to see the Hokage?" he stopped pushing my arm when it was almost in the opposite direction.

"I can't see."

"Ah," he cleared his throat, "Sorry, figure of speech. Why do you want to speak to the Hokage?"

I blinked, "To get the people to stop following me," they've been getting annoying, and it's hard to focus with them always there.

The man's chakra suddenly started flowing faster and his muscles slightly tensed in response, "I see," he said, "Would you be alright with me escorting you?"

I shrugged, "Okay," I don't want to waste a lot of time on this anyways.

The man started to walk in the direction he pointed my arm towards, while I just stood there. He turned, "Well? Let's get moving then."

"Ah," I fumbled for a moment, "Okay." This man's a ninja, he most likely knows where the Hokage is… is the person with the most chakra, not the Hokage? I was told that our leader had to be the strongest.

He took my hand in his, and I felt his everything. It helps me focus.

"My name is Yon Uchiha by the way. If you don't mind, I'd like to ask some questions."

"Okay," good for him I guess, it's nice that he enjoys something so simple.

"So, can you tell me more about these people following you?"

"Yes."

Oh, I guess he's actually asking questions.

Thirty-six minutes later

Yon said goodbye when we got to the entrance of the building. He asked if I needed any more help but I said no. I should be able to do everything from here. I know exactly where the Hokage is. Turns out he wasn't in my range before, I should have thought of that before walking in circles following him for an hour.

I feel bad though, I'm pretty sure I was rude to Yon. I wasn't giving him my full attention while he was very polite. His eyes were just so weird. I at least answered his questions, he was really curious about the people following me. How many people were following me, what were they doing, and where they were, were just some of the questions he asked.

He was so nice, after he asked how I knew where they were he offered to let me visit his Clans compound. I might later, he said I could come whenever I wanted so I'm not too worried about missing out.

I did notice something odd in how a lot of people would stop and turn towards us. That was weird.

As soon as I stepped through the doors I could feel everyone and everything inside the building so I also knew the fastest way to get to the Hokage. There were a lot of what felt like ninjas here too so that's neat.

I started walking and realized I might have not thought of something pretty important.

"Hello, little girl. Are you lost?" the lady at the front desk asked. I think she's a civilian.

I didn't think people would talk to me, a little girl, who's blind.

Stupid.

I shook my head, "No mam, I need to speak to the Hokage."

She giggled lightly, "Oh I'm sure. Do you have an appointment set up?" I shook my head, "Then I'm afraid you won't be able to see him at this time. I'm sure I can give him a message if you'd like though."

I shook my head again, "That won't work, I'll talk to him myself," I started past her desk.

"Wait." I paused at her voice going from sweet to stern, "Lord third is a very busy man, especially right now. Any other time he might humor you but he doesn't have the time for children at this moment." She walked out from behind the desk and knelt in front of me, "If you'd like I might be able to help you. I don't see a lot of kids brave enough to come and ask for the Hokage himself so it must be something important. What is it? Is your cat stuck in a tree? Do you need help getting back to your compound? Wait, are you blind?"

I let my eyebrows furrow slightly, "First if a cat gets stuck in a tree then I wouldn't want it, because that cat is stupid. Second, no I don't think I'm going to the compound today. Third, yes."

The woman stood and sighed, "Okay listen, I wish I could help you but the Hokage isn't someone whom you can just waltz in and meet, he's too busy. Why don't I get someone to come and take you home? I'll even tell them to stop and get you some candy, how does that sound?"

I shook my head again. While candy is tempting -I only get it at the hospital- I'd rather just talk to the Hokage.

Just before the woman was about to speak to me, she paused and moved a finger to something in her ear. "Yes sir… I understand sir." She said looking at me. Taking her finger off of whatever is in her ear she walked back to her position behind the desk, "Okay Beifong-san, I've been advised to 'let you be', you may continue on your way. Please be respectful." With that, she sat back down.

I nodded and walked past her. I didn't get stopped any after that, of course, I made sure to avoid most of the people with a lot of chakra. Well, there were a lot of people with a lot of chakra but I tried to avoid the few that made those people feel like mice compared to that really big snake with two heads that lives in the tree next to the orphanage.

It's interesting for sure, nothing like normal snakes. Wonder why no one talks about it… I'm getting distracted.

I stopped in front of a set of large doors. They feel thick and chakra acts.. funny around the room. I can still feel the Hokage but now that I'm closer I can tell that the chakra around the room is vibrating and flowing weirdly.

I touched the door, and the chakra got a bit clearer. I felt… squigglies? Made from chakra. Strange. But I can't keep getting distracted. I took a deep breath to calm myself down, I didn't realize it until now but this is kind of scary.

I rubbed Roro's kunai through the waistband of my shorts and reminded myself why I had to do this. Okay, serious face now. This is the man whose supposed to be the strongest in our village. Just ask him to stop the people following you and it'll be fine.

I knocked on the door.

"Come in," an old, muffled voice called out.

I cracked open one of the doors and could instantly feel everything clearer. This was what I felt that day all those -four- months ago. The man with so much chakra it almost blotched everyone else's vibrations. I didn't know how so much could flow through anything without it getting damaged. I can't even match water without it getting mad at me, yet he can do this… and he's old too. He didn't feel old, well he was in the shape of an old man but he didn't feel old. His chakra felt lively and full of energy and there's justsomuch-.

"Hello, young lady. What brings you here?"

I blinked, and stopped 'hyper focusing', Ino says I do that a lot. That it's a bad habit and that I need to stop. I get what she means now.

I let the door close and walked in front of his desk, "You're the Hokage," shoot, that's not what I meant to say.

He chuckled, somehow it made him sound less old than he actually is, "Yes, I am the Hokage, however, you may address me as Lord Third or Hokage-sama if you wish. It's the proper title for someone in my position."

I tilted my head, "What's an improper title?"

He laughed at that, "A few children prefer Old-man or Oji-san to name a few. Truthfully I don't mind them at all."

"But they're improper." Wait, I think I'm losing track of this conversation.

"That may be true, but it's no less true that I'm an old man and an Oji-san to many. So I'm a bit lax on titles."

Okay, this conversation is confusing and now I don't know what to call him, "What do I call you then? You're old but you don't feel old, but you're not my Oji-san because I'm an orphan. I'm a child too so I'm allowed to be improper. There's too many options."

"Hmm," he held his chin in a thinking pose, "Let's see… I'm old, yes?" I nodded. "But you say I don't feel old?" I nodded again. "Interesting… how about you just call me Oji-san?"

I tilted my head again, "That won't work, I don't have an Oji-san."

I felt his lips quirk up, "Ah, but that's where you're mistaken. You're a child in my care, as is everyone in this village. So orphan you may be, I still consider you one of my children."

"Oh," I don't really get it but I'll just go with it, "Does everyone call you Oji-san then?"

"Not everyone, but a few."

"Okay then." Weird, but I'll go with it.

"Now," he clasped his hands together, "We've established who I am, why don't you do the same?"

My eyes widened, and I bowed, "Sorry, my name is Toph."

"Well met Toph. Now, why exactly have you come here today?"

I nearly frowned, but just managed to keep my serious face on. I keep getting distracted but in this case, he's really distracting so it's really hard to keep focus.

"Please tell the people to stop following me," I gave a quick bow to show respect like I was taught.

"Oh," he leaned back in his chair, "And what can you tell me about these people following you?"

I already knew how to answer this thanks to my Yon's questions. I need to say thank you to him for keeping me from looking like even more of an idiot, "There's four of them, there were six but the number went down to four a week ago. They're ninja. They switch out every day so I guess there's eight of them? Oh, and they won't leave me alone. It's annoying." There I think I answered that right…. I might be wrong though, he didn't expressly ask for what I answered with. Shoot, I should have asked for him to be more clear instead of trying to impress him.

"And how do you know this?"

I let out a small huff of frustration, I forgot that part. Yon was super interested in that too. I don't know why though, it's not that impressive. Nothing like Ino being so smart or Kizara's henge.

"I feel them… sir?" I added at the end. Being respectful is hard.

He chuckled, "No need to be so formal," his tone is weird, it sounds so light even with his deep voice, "Could you expand on that a bit more? I'm afraid I can't take much from that explanation alone."

I tilted my head, "What do you mean?"

"Try explaining what you 'feel' and how you feel them. The distance you feel them at. How do you make them out from everyone else?" he reached for something under his desk but caught himself and clasped his hands together again.

I thought about it, slowly, and ignored everything else. Like the ninja who just dropped a bunch of papers on the desk left of us or the other two ninja in a closet kissing and doing other… stuff two floors below us, or the bird who just fed a worm? I'm pretty sure that's a worm- wait. No. You were asked a question so focus on that.

"I feel them vibrate?" I slowly said, "The earth helps a lot though… Oh, and they were pretty far I guess? I don't know how far though." Hopefully, that was clear enough.

"Hmm, very good Toph. Let's try and break down these questions one step at a time, yes?"

I nodded, I think he means he's going to make it easier to answer questions thankfully. Most questions are hard because I don't know how to answer them.

"Now, when you say 'vibrate' what do you mean? Chakra? Or is it something else?"

"Everything."

He didn't answer for a few seconds, "…Everything?"

I nodded, "Yeah, everything vibrates."

"Please provide an example of something vibrating right now." His voice was still light and lively but I realized this was the first time he actually told me to do something.

"Umm…" I cringed internally, using 'um' is a sign that you aren't confident and can't get your thoughts together. Roro said that even if I'm flustered, I should be able to fake it more believably as long as I don't fall into that habit, "There's a boy walking through the doors of the building attached to this one," I blinked, "Wait, there's a lot of kids in that building- is that the academy? Oh! Kizara's there too, she's with a bunch of kids outside-" I stopped myself, I was getting too excited, too off-topic, "There's a mouse in the wall three rooms left of this one, two floors down -it's chasing a bug. There's ninja right there, there, and there," I pointed them out in the room, "there's a little creature-thing eating a worm under the ground just outside the building-" I was interrupted by Oji-san laughing.

It wasn't a full-belly laugh like Kizara does when I say or do certain things, but a quiet- subdued one just a little more than a chuckle.

He made a motion with his hand and the three appeared behind me, kneeling. "You felt these three?" he asked.

I nodded, "Yeah, but the mouse caught the bug." I tried to bring focus on the most interesting thing -that's not Kizara- I pointed out.

"A true story of triumph," he noted. "What does Raido here, in the middle, feel like?" I started to slowly lower myself into a kneeling position. Like the ninja.

"He has a lot of chakra, not as much as you or the one on the right, but more than the one on the left. It's flowing pretty fast too but it's vibrating a lot softer than most ninja in the building." I was in a weird, lunging position at this point.

"Is that all you can feel? You may rise."

I stood, "No."

He reached under his desk and brought out a… thing? I know some older people use them but don't know what they're called. He just sighed and set it down though.

"My apologies. Let me rephrase, is that all you can feel of Raido's chakra?"

I thought about it, then shrugged and poked him in the forehead. I didn't stop facing Oji-san though. I'm pretty sure that would be rude. When my finger touched his skin, I could feel his body. His muscles, his organs, his veins, everything. But I focused on his chakra. That's what Oji-san asked for.

"His chakra likes enhancing his muscles. It's flowing faster through them, it's vibrating faster too." I turned towards him for the first time, "You should go exercise. It's important to play with your chakra, especially when it wants to do something."

The man to the left of him coughed while the other turned away. Weird.

I dropped my arm and turned to face Oji-san again, "That's it."

The Hokage made a gesture with his hand and the three went back to their… hiding places? There're not really good at it if that's the case.

"Thank you Toph," he took a breath then asked, "Now how about you tell me about how the 'earth helps you? That's an awfully fascinating way to describe it."

I froze. In my excitement, I forgot that I'm not supposed to talk about that too much. I've been having a harder time focusing on stuff recently… I need to work on that. It doesn't matter. The Hokage has been… nice, right? He's the leader of the village so he can't be bad.

"Toph?" he brought my attention back to the now.

"Yes, sorry. The earth likes to play with my chakra. Water is super jealous though," I had to suppress a shiver. I'll be taking things a lot slower with water until it warms up to my chakra.

"Interesting… when did you start playing with nature? Why would water be jealous of the earth?" his hand reached to grab the old-person thing but stopped at the last second.

I scratched my cheek, "I don't know… I started trying to play with them… as soon as I could walk? I can't remember that far." The itch in my cheek transferred over to my nose, "I think water got jealous because I play with earth so much. I'm trying to make up for it though. The earth can't hog my chakra for itself. It's mine. I decide what it does" I know there's more that goes into it, but I'm not going to give any more details. I need to be smart-er than I have been.

"And how are you going to make it up?" he asked, "It can be hard to make up with someone you've neglected after all."

Remember he's the Hokage, not just a nice old man, "I'll start playing with it more."

"Hmm," Oji-san clicked his tongue and stood, "Say Toph… would you like to see a Jutsu?"

I perked up. My attention now focused solely on him and not on the girl that tripped while trying to jump over an obstacle that Kizara cleared easily, "Yes, please."

He gave a hardy laugh while walking out from behind his desk "Thought so. This is called the summoning Jutsu, it will allow you to meet a friend of mine." He bit his thumb.

I tilted my head in question as he slammed his hand on the ground. It was so quick I could just barely tell that there was even a change in his chakra at all. The only thing I really noticed was that the blood from his thumb spread out and made a lot of scribbles saturated in chakra. A lot like the ones that line this room.

With a burst of smoke, a… thing appeared and I froze. Its body was weird, yeah, but I was mainly focused on the chakra throughout its body. It's weird. It behaved differently from Oji-sans, more similar to the vibrations I can sometimes feel the trees make. Is it actually chakra? I can think on it later.

That isn't too important right now.

The important thing is that it has a lot of Chakra. More than Oji-san even.

"Hiruzen!" the furry thing barked, knocking me out of my trance, "You interrupted my nap!"

It can talk. It has a tail, hands for feet, is huge and covered in hair, and it can talk.

Neat.

"Hello, Enma. Nice to see you too," he didn't even flinch from the things barking.

Enma huffed, "Well then, why've you summoned me? Am I to presume it's to meet this one here?" he turned and loomed over me. I feel smaller than I ever have before… I don't usually feel small.

"Yes, I thought she'd like to meet you and vice versa. She's an interesting child." He sat back down.

I nearly puffed my chest out but then I remembered that being interesting is bad. I'm supposed to be a normal little girl… hopefully this is okay.

The thing- Enma sat down with its legs crossed in front of me and nodded its head. "My name is Enma, King of Monkeys."

I quickly mimicked how it sat down and nodded back, "My name is Toph, King of Mon-keys?" I don't know how to introduce myself so I finished with a question like a dummy. I think I might be flustered.

He barked out a laugh "I'm afraid you are far too small to be the Monkey King little girl. Regardless, well met young Toph."

Oji-san spoke up, "Toph, could you tell Enma here, what you were just explaining to me? About earth and water?"

I gulped, and when I tried to speak I found that the words died in my throat. What's happening?

"Eh? Little King don't lose your nerve now," he quickly hopped up and did a pose while balancing on one hand, "You must be brave! I am not so scary!" he sounded funny when he said that and combined with the pose it made my lips stretch into a small smile.

He's fun.

"That's very impressive," I told him honestly, after I said that there was a small beat of silence.

"Thank you for the praise Little King," Enma fluidly lowered himself into the sitting position again, "Now what's this about water and earth?"

I don't get what the big deal about it is, I mean there's a talking Monkey… King? I don't actually know what Enma is. There's a talking Enma that just did a funny pose! That's way more interesting than my drama.

"The earth likes playing with me, a lot. But it's being greedy and keeping my chakra to itself so now my chakra is more used to it than ever. So now water is jealous and doesn't want to play and got rough with me last time I tried. I don't want to leave it out, cause being left out is stupid. And I'm not stupid."

"Of that we might just agree," Enma grumbled, "May I hold your hand?"

I nodded, sort of happy that someone besides Ino is willing to listen to my issues. I'm sure Richi or Kizara would but Ino specifically asked about it and Richi is busy. I don't think Kizara would be too interested in drama.

That's what Ino called it.

When he took my hands into his, I let out a gasp. An. Actual. Gasp. I couldn't even control it before it snuck out.

Enma's body is different from humans of course. Denser bones and muscles, different structure, his nerves were different, and his joints were all weird too. I don't know where to even start with his tail.

I expected that.

I didn't expect the main difference was his chakra and how his body interacted with it. He had what felt like similar chakra to me or Oji-san, almost the same system and everything. But there was also something else mixed with it. It was the stuff that reminded me of the trees. Wait no. Of everything, even earth. The trees are similar to the earth? No. To everything? I don't know what to think.

It's like his body is soaked in the stuff, down to the bones.

What is this?

I felt my chakra just start getting excited when he quickly let go of my hands, "Heh, you're a bit too young for that, Little King." His voice broke me out of a trance I didn't know I was in.

"What are you talking about?" I tilt my head, chakra still calming and my body coming down from a burn I didn't know I was feeling.

He waved his hand, "Nothing you need to concern yourself with at the moment," He put his hands on his knees and leaned towards me, "Say, what made you start playing with the elements?"

I forced myself to not lean away, "I dunno… I started to play games with the earth cause the other kids are stupid."

He reared his head back and laughed, "Marvelous. And do you intend to make nice with all of them? Besides earth and water?"

I nodded, "Yep."

"And why not try and play with an element besides water if it is so jealous."

I had to think about my answer here. I think I've done a decent job at explaining without going into too much detail during this conversation but I still need to be careful, "Even with water being so difficult to play with it'd still be easier than playing with fire or wind. Winds really fast and gentle most of the time, and fire is… like wind but different. It's gentle but likes surprises most of the time." Plus the only time I've tried matching fire was with Roro, and we didn't do that for too long. "If I can't get my chakra to play with Water next there's no way I could play with the other two."

"Three."

I tilted my head, "Three?"

"Yes. There are five main elements. Fire, earth, water, wind, and lightning. Although from how you're explaining it. Lightning is far out of your reach at the moment."

"Oh… I'm going to play with lightning too then."

"Splendid," His face did something weird, lips pulled back to show all his teeth. "Would you allow me to grant you a gift, Little King?"

I shrugged my shoulders, "Sure."

I shivered at the sound of him breaking one of his fingers and pulling it off. There wasn't any blood though, he didn't flinch in pain either. His chakra pulsed and it immediately transformed into a.. bell? He held it out to me, "Ring this three times in a row if you ever want to play. I'm sure a few of our children would love to keep you company."

I reached out to take it, then paused. I'm pretty sure Roro said something about not taking anything from strangers without proper information. Ino likes repeating that to me multiple times a day actually, "What do you want?"

He wiggled the bell around a bit causing it to ring, it sounded funny, "No catches at all, it is merely a gift. You have my word."

I shrugged and took the bell. What's the harm?

He leaned back and looked at Oji-san, "I'll be taking my leave now, we can speak later tonight.. I seem to have very recently found myself rather busy."

Oji-san, who had been silent throughout the whole conversation, nodded, "As you will, Enma."

Enma nodded back, "And you, Hiruzen," he turned to me. "Oh, and Little King?" his voice lost the lightness I didn't know it had.

"Be careful."

With that, he disappeared in a massive puff of smoke.

"You're very fluffy!" I called after him.

"I'm afraid he's gone for now, Toph," Oji-san stated.

"Oh." I stood and dropped my hands to my sides where it brushed Roro's Kunai.

Shoot.

I got distracted again.

"You made quite the impression on Enma, he usually doesn't take so quickly to non-Sarutobi members. Though he does have a bit of a soft spot when it comes to children."

"Oji-san, the people following me are getting annoying. Make them stop please." I blurted it out before I could get distracted again.

He paused then with a snap of his fingers and a quick burst of his chakra he lit the old man stick, "Do you know why they follow you, Toph?"

I nodded, "To annoy me."

He took a big huff, "No, you were very recently kidnapped," I flinched as his chakra nearly whipped into a frenzy but calmed not a second later, "You frequently injure yourself and at times, people around you," I went to speak up but he kept talking, "But most of all, it's because the world is a dangerous place. You need to understand that those ninja aren't there to hamper you, but keep watch over you since you have no one else to do so."

I faced down, I think Ino said this was how sad people look. She said I get the angle wrong though.

"They're annoying though, softy isn't even there anymore…" I get why he wants them there. I'm a child. I'm small and weak and stupid. But they're still distracting me. I brushed my hand over Roro's Kunai, I need to get not weak fast, and Roro says secrecy is safety so I can't really train with them watching me.

"I want to be strong, Oji-san," I raised my face and spoke with a clear voice, "I can't train properly with people watching me. They make me uncomfortable and are distracting."

He stared at me for a few seconds before sighing, taking a big breath of that old-man stick, and blowing out a cloud of smoke. "You're young, you don't need to train so hard."

"I'm not even training yet."

"It's dangerous. You're blind-"

"-I'm not the stupid kind of blind."

He paused at that, "The chances of you becoming a shinobi are slim, almost non-existent even. No one will want to train you, everyone will scorn you, look down upon you. Is that what you want? A life of hardships and mockery?"

I nodded, "I'm just a little girl, of course that's what I want," I took a second to think about the rest of what he said, "And it's fine if no one wants to teach me, people are stupid anyways." I finished.

He spent exactly fourteen seconds letting silence linger, not saying a word, just staring at me until finally, he took another huff from that stick- pipe.

It's a pipe.

"Very well." He tapped his pip on his desk -away from the stacks of paper- and put more stuff in it, "I apologize for inconveniencing you. Please train to your heart's content."

I couldn't help the smile that twitched onto my face, only dampen it a little, and bowed.

"Thank you Oji-san."

I wonder if he'd do the spark thing with his fingers again if I asked?

Later that day

I haven't felt four or even one person following me since I talked to Oji-san. I'm not going to stop feeling for them though. No, wait. I'll feel for anyone who's following me.

After walking in random directions for a little bit, I circled back around to the Hokage's building, or to be more accurate the smaller building attached to it. It's still big. Just not as big as the main building.

I'm sitting against a tree far enough away that I don't think they'll see me.

There's still a lot for me to do, to think over and take from the meeting with Oji-san and Enma. I felt the little bell in my pocket, the ball-thing that rings is taped to the bell part so I don't accidentally ring it. Good. I don't know if I want to ring it or not. Enma was super cool but I need to think about him too. He's a 'Monkey king'? Are there any more things like him? What was up with his body and that not-chakra mixed in with it? No. It's more like the regular chakra was mixed in with the rest. I wasn't able to tell much of anything with it before he pulled away though.

I need to think about this later, there's still time to do stuff. Like, feel out what the kids in the academy do all day. My time with Oji-san was pretty early in the morning. I left for the Hokage building immediately after Richi left so they should be in the middle of class.

A group of children are chasing a cat around. …Hold on, what? How is the cat out running them? They're going pretty fast. Is the cat using chakra? Is a cat better at chakra than me?

I shook my head. I keep getting too distracted. Focus.

There's a lot of kids in the academy, more than I thought there would be. I've memorized Kizara's chakra enough that I can make out her and a lot of other kids sitting in lessons. At least I'm pretty sure it's lessons. She's in one room out of many.

There's more kids outside. Some are fighting each other- they're not very good, some are throwing what feel like Kunai and star-shaped things at wood shaped in a circle. Some stick, but most bounce off. I only feel the impact on the wood though, not when they leave their hands.

That could be an issue.

There're also kids exercising and doing obstacles. I can't help but find the exercising… weak. Some are dropping from just a little and the sensei's aren't even getting onto them too hard! There's a lot that aren't even doing simple movements right.

So far I'm unimpressed with the academy.

I focus back on the fighting, or at least as much as I can with that kitten playing with the leaf that just fell from the tree. Its little pounce is cute…

I stood and faced the tree I was resting on. How hard could this be? I bowed to the tree, mimicking the boy who'd been winning all his matches so far and copied his stance.

Feet even with my shoulders, one slightly in front of the other, slightly leaning forward. Back straight-ish with knees slightly bent. My arms up and my hands loose. The girl he was facing had pretty close to the same stance.

I think I got it right.

When the match started, I mimicked his movements as best as I could against my opponent, Mr. Tree. I'll admit Mr. Tree has a strong defense, nearly too strong

Every move the boy made, every step, every jab or block, or dodge and weave. The boy got hit a few times by the girl he was facing but he was still better.

I copied his movements perfectly, or tried to at least.

I could feel what they were doing perfectly, the problem is that my body wouldn't do what I wanted it to. I tripped and lost my balance when it seemed like my legs got tangled together, and I lost my footing completely when he kicked super high. When my fists or kicks met the tree, there was a satisfying 'thunk' that would cause leaves to fall. But every time I landed one I'd lose my balance immediately after.

Sometimes, if it was a solid hit, I'd even push myself away from the Mr. Tree.

After the boy won, they both bowed again. The girl did well, or at least better than most that came before her.

I, however, did not do well. I lost. My cheeks felt warm, and I was suddenly very glad no one was near me.

This is harder than I thought.

I could feel the sensation of Roro fighting those two ninja, how fast she was, and how skilled she was. Me, hardly being able to keep up with them even with the earth's help.

I feel sick. I forgot that one of the most basic ninja rules is to be good at fighting.

"I'm not very good at it," I murmured to myself while lying on the ground, "Stupid." I thumped the back of my head against the ground.

I don't like being bad at stuff.

Lunch

I'm glad Ino said I could come and eat anytime. The orphanage is giving me less and less food. Or I'm getting bigger and just seems that way. Either way, I was hungry.

"Have you had a nice day so far?" Ino asked while I was stuffing my face with whatever kind of meat this was. It's pretty good, "Toph. Utensils, please. Mom would kick our butts if she saw you eating like that."

I paused and swallowed, but picked up the chopsticks like she told me to, "Why would she kick your butt?" I tilted my head.

She calmly swallowed her meat before she answered, "You're my friend, and as my friend your actions reflect on me," she yawned, "Personally, I don't really care but she can be a stickler so best act like a lady when she's around."

My head tilted even more, as I kept stuffing food in my mouth. She giggled, "You're curious about something?" I loudly gulped all the food that was in my mouth, "Geez, do they not feed you at the orphanage?"

I took a sip of juice before I answered, "I get food, it's never enough though." I felt her fist clench, "Also you're tired, why?" I asked.

"Gah! I keep telling Daddy we should just adopt you already but he keeps on being super vague about why we can't," this is news to me, "-Probably because of some political thing I'll learn about later but still, they aren't feeding you?! What the heck." She angrily stuffs a vegetable in her mouth and chews loudly.

I felt her mother round the corner, "Ino!" she barked, "Stop eating like you've no manners."

"But Mooom, they aren't feeding Toph."

Mrs. Hina put her hands to her hips, "Is this true Toph?"

I shook my head, "They feed me, I'm just hungry afterward."

The woman sighed, "Have you talked to your caretakers about it?" she sat down in the chair beside me, food in hand.

I shook my head, "No." I don't think it would help.

She placed more rice and veggies on my plate, "Be sure to speak to them about it whenever you get the chance," she dabbed my face with a cloth, "And don't eat so fast, you'll upset your stomach."

I eat slightly slower. I know I'm supposed to use manners. I've been taught how to be Proper and lady-like, but food is good.

I swallow what was in my mouth, Yes Mrs. Hina."

I felt her get up, and her tone changed to just a bit harsher, "Well, I'll let you two eat. Ino, your break is almost over. Don't dally."

"Yes Mother," Ino called out after her before turning to me, "So? We got off-topic there, but do you have a question?"

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. It's good Ino remembered for me, she's been doing that a lot lately.

"You yawned. Are you tired?" I ate a spoonful of rice.

She stretched her arms a little bit, "A little bit. With the academy coming up, us Heirs and Heiresses need to make a good showing." She yawned again, "So I've been staying up later than normal to study more."

Huh, that's probably why she's been less hyper than normal, "Why do you need to make a showing?"

She shook her head, "Nope, a good showing. And it's cause it's expected. That and I'm pretty sure there's gonna be more Clan Heirs and Heiresses in the same year than ever," I tilted my head, "It's a bunch of boring, political stuff you don't need to worry about."

"Neat," I finished my plate and stood, "I'm tired, let's take a nap." Everything's worse when I'm tired so this is important for Ino.

It definitely isn't because this food made me sleepy.

She shook her head, "Nooope, you heard my mom. You can use my bed if you want though."

I paused, my focus on the bug that flew at the window for a second. "It's harder sleeping alone, everything keeps moving so I like having something to focus on." I mean, it isn't that much harder to fall asleep but I've gotten used to sleeping with Richi.

Ino blinked, "Huh, that makes sense…" the chair scraped as she stood, "Okay, Daddy's home anyways, I wouldn't even try with mom. I'll be right back."

She fast walked to the room I felt Inoichi in while I swung my legs from the chair. She happily came back a few minutes later. "Daddy says it's fine!" she grabs my hand and starts pulling, "I convinced him to let us go play!"

Wait what? I tilted my head more than normal.

She giggles as we step outside, "Close Toph, but not like that." I feel her fingers gently angle my head into a less extreme tilt, "Just a little works for everything, you don't have to snap your neck when you have a question."

"I would not snap my neck," I'd have to be trying to kill myself. I would be no worse than the woman who's letting that man beat her in wrestling a few houses down. Seriously, it's like she's losing on purpose. That's an even dumber game than that stupid 'ninja' game the other kids have fun playing.

Ino scoffs, "You mean you wouldn't do it on purpose."

My mouth went dry, "Oh…" Every person I've felt get their neck snapped is dead now. I mean, I've only felt three, and those were done by Roro so maybe she's just good at it. I can't take the chance though.

I nodded, "I understand."

Ino stuck her chest out, "Good!"

My eyebrows scrunched up, I know I'm forgetting something… I yawned.

Oh.

"I thought we were going to nap."

Ino scratched her cheek, "Yeahhh, I knew Daddy wouldn't agree if it was only to nap. But don't worry," she squeezed my hand, "We can take a nap after."

Huh, "Okay then. I'll be back when we nap," I tried letting go of her hand to walk away only for her to squeeze a little tighter.

I let her pull me into a side hug, "Soo, I'm pretty sure he'll only let me go if you're there too."

I tilted my head just a little bit, carefully this time, and asked, "How do you know?" while slowly hugging her back.

I felt her grin at that, "Cause that's how I got him to agree."

I'm even more confused now.

"Alright girls, ready to go?" Inoichi asked, coming through the door.

"Yeah!" Ino jumped, "Let's go Toph!"

"Yeah," I weakly held my fist up.

"That's more like it!" she yelled as she tugged my arm.

I'm not excited.

A few minutes of walking.

I can feel a lot of kids playing in an open area up ahead, like, there's at least thirteen, maybe fourteen… there's twelve.

Ino is quiet for some reason. She hasn't let go of my hand thankfully, I've been better at not passing out around the village but it still happens, I definitely still get headaches. Having something -Ino- to focus on, helps.

"There's a lot of people at the park, we should do something else then come back later," I spoke, slightly tugging on Ino's arm.

Her body is loose and her other arm, swinging, "It's supposed to have lots of kids playing," she said with a smile, "How many could there be? Twenty? Thirty?"

My mouth fell open, "Umm, yes. There's too many to count actually," the park is sounding more and more horrible.

She puts a finger to her chin, "Hmm, that doesn't sound right… Okay so when would you want to come back?"

"Umm," darn it I need to stop doing that, "Tonight, when the sun goes down."

Ino giggles, "Alright well, we're almost there anyways so let's just scope it out first, to make sure it's safe for me to play in the dark ya know? Most people can't see well at night so I could trip and hurt myself."

I shook my head, "No, I'd guide you. You'd be fine."

"If you're guiding me then how would we play?"

Oh shoot, she has a point. I stop walking, she stops along with me. Inoichi, who had been walking a little behind us, stops too. "Ino I have something to tell you."

She fully turns towards me, "Hm?"

I clasp both her hands in mine, "I… I was lying about the number of kids at the park. I can count them."

I feel her eyes widen, "Oh no, really?" she takes her hand from me, turning away and covering her face, "S-so you were lying this whole time…"

I feel bad, I shouldn't have lied, "I'm sorry."

She immediately perks up and takes my hand in hers again, "You're forgiven. Let's go play."

I felt my shoulders untense.

"Hey Toph, remind me to go over 'lying' with you later."

"Why?"

She shrugged, "No reason, I just need a refresher is all. Could always get better at it."

I nod, "Okay."

Ino makes her refreshers fun anyways.

Three minutes later

Four more kids with adults arrived before we got there. I think they joined the rest in playing tag.

"All right girls, you go play. I'll be close by if you need anything," He said while walking in the direction of a group of adults near a bench.

Ino leaned and spoke lowly in my ear, "Relax, none of them will pick on you. If they do I'll pick on them worse," I nodded, "So you don't need to deal with it, okay?"

I dug my toes in the dirt, "I'm completely relaxed," I said even as I felt my shoulders untense, "And okay, what if they pick on you?"

Ino started guiding me toward the other kids, "They won't pick on me," she said with confidence, "And you're relaxed? That's great!" she suddenly shouted, some of the other kids looked at us, "Hey, can we play with you guys?"

A boy nodded, "Hey Ino, sure!" Why he was so excited I don't know, it could be he likes being around Ino. I know I like being around Ino. He was bigger than the rest though, a little older maybe, "We're playing tag right now." Wait how does Ino know him?

"Cool, this is Toph," she gestured to where I was hidden slightly behind her, "She's really nice!"

A girl, small but taller than me, spoke up, "Oh she's so cute!" while another one asked, "Is she a Hyuga? Mommy told me they have weird eyes like that."

Ino smiled but it was weird, her face felt off, "She's not a Hyuga, and her eyes are pretty, not weird, got it?"

The girl shrank back a little, "Yeah, sorry…"

She turned to the smaller girl, "And I know right?" she put her arm around my shoulders, "And she's my friend," she said it like she's proud of it, as she should be.

Another boy asked, "Why doesn't she have shoes? She's walking around with you so she should have some shoes right?"

Ino's cheek twitched, "She doesn't like shoes, and shoes or not, she's my friend. Let's start playing already."

"Wait! How old is she? She's smaller than everyone here."

Ino growled, "She's five, let's play!"

The bigger boy spoke up, "Err, sure." He poked a boy beside him and yelled, "You're it!" causing everyone to scatter.

Everyone except me. Even Ino ran off. I don't know why though.

The boy ran up and poked my arm, "It." He ran off too.

I turned towards where I knew Ino was and tilted my head carefully and she jogged back to me.

"I thought you knew how to play tag?" she said.

I shook my head, "I've felt other kids play it but I don't know the rules."

A few other kids gathered around, "Hey, what's the hold up?"

Ino waved the girl off, "Nothing, Toph just had a question. She's really fast so you better start running," the group ran off.

"Sorry?" I sort of questioned.

Ino quickly shook her head, "Don't worry, I should've explained the rules." She took my wrist and placed my hand on her shoulder, "I'm 'it' now cause you tagged me, you don't want whoever's 'it' to touch you in anyway, or else you're 'it'."

"What's the problem with being 'it?" I ask.

"Whoever's 'it' is losing the game."

My eyebrows shoot up, "So you're losing the game?" Ino's not a loser, this is not okay.

She laughs, "Yeah but don't worry I'll just tag someone else. I'll give you a head start but there's no teams so we have to try to tag each other or else it wouldn't be fair."

I've felt how slow the other kids are, how little chakra they have, "This isn't fair though."

She shrugs and whispers, "Yeah but they don't know that. Now let's beat all these losers."

I nodded and walked off. I don't like the thought of Ino being a loser but she won't be one for long so it's okay.

Ino ran the other way and was already chasing someone, these kids are slower than I thought. I'd be embarrassed if I was that slow.

Oh, she tagged someone.

After a few minutes of kids tagging each other, some more, some less, a boy who hadn't been caught yet was tagged.

And it feels like he's running straight for me, ignoring the other kids surrounding him on the way. I stop walking and wait. Does he want to say something or tag me? Why is he ignoring everyone else?

Once he got close enough to touch me I twist out of his way while he keeps going, missing me. He turns and keeps swiping at me but I'm not a loser compared to these kids so I don't let him touch me.

I don't really know what to do with my hands so I let them dangle at my sides as he keeps missing for a few minutes. Eventually, the other kids came to watch.

They're super close right now so why doesn't he go after them?

"This isn't fair, she's cheating!" the boy shouted.

I turned my head to Ino as he kept trying and tilted my head. I don't actually know if I'm cheating or not. She shook hers so I guess I'm not.

The boy finally stopped, and shouted so loud it hurt my ears, "This is stupid!" he sniffled, was he crying too? "Let's play a different game!"

"How are you doing that?" the biggest boy asked, I think he directed it towards me cause he's facing my direction. I don't want to talk to him though.

I shrugged and mumbled, "I'm just not getting tagged."

"I want to play a different game!" the loser yelled as he got up, "This is stupid!" he's in my personal space now. I don't like that.

Ino pushed her way through the group of kids, "Hey, just because you suck doesn't mean she's cheating." She stepped between me and the boy.

A girl spoke up, "Uhh, let's just play a different game. Tag's no fun anyways…" she was one of the ones that had been caught a lot.

"Fine." Ino said, "Let's play hide and seek." she paused for a second, "On teams."

After some groaning and moaning, we -Ino- decide that me and her are on a team.

"You know how to play hide and seek?" Ino asked after we counted.

I nodded, I know the rules to this one. People hid while another person looked for them. "Seems boring though, they're not good at hiding at all."

Ino laughs "I don't think anyone's good at hiding if you're the one looking. You know where they are?"

"Yeah."

"Then let's go seek."

Literally five minutes later.

"It's okay Toph, those kids are lame anyway," Ino said as we walked to Inoichi.

I nod, "Yeah."

The bigger boy told me I couldn't play when we found them all, when Ino asked why he said it was because I was cheating, that there was no way we could have found him in that tree. He said Ino could stay and keep playing though.

"You could've kept playing with your friends if you wanted," Ino stops midstep, turns around, and starts guiding me to a piece of wood attached to a lone tree by some rope. It was kind of… secluded? Is that the word?

She huffs, "Those losers weren't my friends, I don't even know most of their names."

I tilted my head, "Why did they know you?"

Ino shrugs, "Hop on," she gestures to the swing and starts pushing when I literally hop on, I'm too short to just sit, "I'm the Yamanaka Heiress. Most of their parents know that so they want their kids to be friends with me."

"That's annoying," She's only pushing a little on my back.

"It can be, yeah."

"Why are you friends with me then?"

I feel her eyebrows lift, "What?"

I guess I should explain more, "I don't have parents, so why are we friends?" I'm just curious, I'm not going to let Ino go whatever her answer is. She's mine.

My back nearly hits her in the face, "Hmm, I dunno. If no one pushed you to do it why are we friends?"

"Because you aren't stupid." I immediately answer.

"Then there ya go," her voice got quiet, "Most other kids are pretty stupid, huh."

"Yep." I agreed. It makes sense. "Ino?"

"Yes?"

"What is this?"

She misses the push, and my back hits her in the face, "You've never been on a swing before?" she asks while holding her nose.

"Nope."

"Well… It's a swing," She says lamely but suddenly gets more excited, "You want to go higher?"

I tentatively nod.

"Okay!" the next push is a lot harder, and the one after that is harder still.

This is different from Ninja's carrying me, I made a game of trying to predict how big their jumps would be to help distract me from the fact that I was scared.

This time I have nothing, and all that's keeping me from falling is an old rope.

Eventually, I heard Ino laughing. And when the rope didn't break for a few minutes, I let myself relax a little and couldn't stop myself from laughing with her. It's nice that she's having fun.

Even the wind is happy. It's letting me feel a little more than normal. Not much more of course, and it's only enough that I can feel a few inches from my skin but it's still noticeable.

Eventually, Ino stops pushing, and the swing slows enough that I could hop off even if my legs were a little wobbly.

"My turn!" Ino says as she jumps on the swing, "Wait, can you still feel me?"

I start pushing, "Yeah, through the tree."

Ino swings her legs, "You're really cool, you know that right?"

I shrug, it's not that impressive but I agree anyways, "Yeah, it's just through the earth though so it's no big deal."

"It's still really cool though," Oh? It seems that her legs swinging like that is helping her go higher, "Hey I'm gonna jump!"

What?

At the peak of her swing, I suddenly can't feel her anymore and it feels like my heart is trying to crawl up my throat, In response my chakra works with the earth to make my range even bigger and look for Ino's unique chakra. It finds Kizara, Richi, even Oji-san but no Ino.

Then Ino lands on the ground, and I can feel her again so I calm down, my chakra calms down, and the small headache I've had since we stepped out of Ino's house is a bit worse.

"That was fun! I went so high-" Ino's cut herself off, "Your nose is bleeding, are you okay!?" She quickly got close to check on me.

I lick my lips and taste blood, it's pretty familiar at this point so it'd be weird if I didn't know what it tasted like.

"It's fine," I wipe it off with the back of my hand, "it's only my nose," I hop on the swing. "My turn."

Inoichi appeared. One moment he was on the other side of the clearing, the next he was here. I didn't feel his body even twitch. "Did something happen? Are you two okay?"

Inoichi checked Ino over without letting either of us reply, then did the same to me.

"Toph, why is your nose bleeding?" I felt him do the "analysis" Jutsu that nurses do.

"I couldn't feel Ino for a second, it's fine," why is he worried about me? Ino's his daughter.

"I, uh, jumped off the swing." Ino supplied.

Inoichi stopped looking over me sadly, his chakra gets really interesting when he's using it, "Well, everything seems okay. Would you two like to go home?"

Ino nods, "I think that's for the best, you wanna go Toph?"

I shook my head, "It's my turn."

Ino looks at her dad, "It's fine, I'll just be close by if anything happens," he says before walking away.

Ino starts to push me and I swing my legs like she did, but it doesn't work as well, "Push me harder please," she's only giving me light taps compared to earlier.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"Okay then," the next push is much harder and before long I'm going just as high as Ino was.

I want to jump, if Ino can do it, I can do it right? I mean, Ino can do a lot of things I can't so I could be wrong.

At the peak of the swing, I let go just like Ino did.

I felt nothing as I went higher and higher, wait no, that's wrong. I feel a tingling on my skin and stomach. I don't feel the earth though. Which is weird cause I've always felt the earth, it's just something that's always there. Even when I was in water, I felt the earth a little bit.

Right now I'm surrounded by nothing but wind, and as much as my chakra is trying to copy it, is trying to play with it right now. It can't. Even with me directing it, something I'm not trying right now, the wind is just too fast.

So yeah, besides everyone's chakra nearby, nothing. And even then, there isn't any detail to their chakra, to Ino's chakra. There aren't any vibrations.

It's nice.

And then I start to fall.

My body twists until I slam face first into the ground. Then I feel everything again at once.

"Toph! Are you okay?" Ino asks for the second time today. I groan, not from hitting the ground, that didn't hurt but feeling everything after feeling nothing is terrible. I give her a thumbs up anyways.

Ino's speaking is just background noise as I get my bearings again, I feel bad for not listening to her but my brain feels like mush.

"Your turn," I interrupt.

We only switch three more times after that.

At Ino's house

Finally, we're taking a nap.

Me and Ino are sharing her bed, it's a lot comfier than mine too. I wrapped myself around Ino's body so I could feel the interesting way her chakra flows again, her heart's beating pretty fast though.

"Toph?" Ino's voice is quiet, and she's stiff as a board for some reason.

"Yes, Ino?" I snuggle deeper into the pillow.

"Why are you naked?" her voice sounds weird.

"We're in a bed." For someone so smart she can have some really simple questions.

Ino's tense muscles are slowly relaxing, "So you sleep naked." It doesn't sound like a question so I'm not sure if I should answer or not. I decide to just go for it.

"Yeah."

"Why do you sleep naked!?" she whisper yells.

"Why don't you sleep naked?" I don't know what the big deal is.

"Because!" she pauses, "Because, I- oh, forget it I'm too tired for this."

I'm not though, I have my own questions.

"Hey, Ino?" I get her attention.

"Yeah?"

"Next time can we play what I want to play?" The swing was fun, and it gave me ideas, but the kids were stupid.

"Sure." She turns so that she's facing me, "As long as it's not more training, I'll tell you when I'm ready for that."

"Okay."

We're both silent for a bit after that.

"Hey, Ino?"

"Yes Toph?" she sounds a lot more sleepy this time.

"What does secluded mean again?"

She yawns, "It's like if you're away from other people. Private or closed off. Now please let me sleep, I'm tired."

"Okay."

I knew I was right.

Later that night

I had to apologize to Kizara for being super late for training, she said it was okay because she was late too. She got really quiet when I asked why though. We still had a good session anyway. She's getting a lot stronger, nearly as strong as me actually. I'm proud.

I also told Richi when it came time to sleep that I'd be going outside for a while. She was okay with it, I know she knows that I sneak out.

And I didn't lie. I'm outside. I'm not in the garden though.

It took a while to get back to the lake, I'm lucky I don't forget where anything is otherwise I'd have gotten lost a while ago.

Currently, I'm standing where I can just feel the water hitting my toes. Not enough to feel anything from it at the level I'm at right now.

I have to play with water.

I have to play with air, fire, earth, wind, and whatever lightning is. Whatever Enma did to make me realize trees feel different than other things but the same at once. I need to feel it all.

Today I realized I'm getting complacent -I think that's the word- with where I'm at. With just the earth. I haven't been trying as hard to feel more of the others.

Today I realized why I can't get lazy.

Monkey king Enma is scary. He had so much chakra, so much weird chakra that it almost made Oji-san look… not small, but normal. I don't care how nice he is, he's a monster. He taught me that monsters can be nice.

But I know monsters can also be mean. He could get mean and I wouldn't be able to do anything. He could kill Kizara, or Ino, or Richi and there wouldn't be anything I could do. If something like him exists, there's definitely more monsters out there. Maybe stronger than him and I don't know if they'll be nice too.

He's not what made me realize though.

When I let go of the swing and felt nothing, it felt nice. Like really nice. It felt like for the first time ever my brain got a break.

It was also scary.

I couldn't feel anything. I mean, I felt wind a little bit, but that was basically nothing, no vibrations. I was no better than a stupid blind person, defenseless and weak. I couldn't feel the vibrations of Ino, Kizara, or Richi.

I don't like that. At. All.

So I'll get better.

I take a breath, in and out, and held Roro's kunai. I haven't forgotten what happened the last time I was here. I step into the water and start pushing my chakra to copy the vibrations, and just like before it was overwhelming. It felt like a jumbled mess with no pattern to follow, that was just nonsense. I know it isn't though.

I expected this.

Stopping when the water was up to my ankles I focus harder. If I don't have my whole body submerged it shouldn't get really bad like last time. I think the problem last time was I wasn't ready for vibrations to come from everywhere at once. I'm used to the only input coming from whatever's touching the ground and Water is already overwhelming enough as it is so it surprised me a bit.

I step out of the water to let earth soothe me and slowly feel better. I wonder if Water will do that for me?

I repeat this a few more times, and still no luck. Still nonsense. I don't understand what I'm doing wrong, why Water doesn't want to play. I know Water is the next step into feeling the others, I can feel it in my gut. I can do it, I just have to figure out how. I can't get my chakra to react fast enough to everything. All the fishes swimming around, the plants swaying, the currents sweeping, it's too much. My brain can't handle all the shifts.

Oh.

I'm dumb.

I force myself to relax with a breath and notice I've been tense the whole time.

My brain can't react fast enough, it doesn't have the ability yet. It's too slow. But one thing I've learned by feeling Kizara's body and how her chakra reacts to mine, or really to everything around it is that most people aren't like me. They don't personally take control over their chakra and direct it themselves. Why? I don't know. But right now I'm going to do what they do, let go, and let my chakra react.

I step back into the water.

It's hard to let go. Especially for this. Water already hurt me before so I have to stop myself from taking control three times before I get it right. I've been directing it, without knowing even, for so long that the feeling isn't natural. It feels weird.

My brain will have to catch up soon.

I keep taking deep breaths, still holding Roro's Kunai. I calm myself and just observe. The horrible feeling of metal in my hand helps.

It's still overwhelming, there's still nonsense, but my chakra is reacting to it. Slowly.

I step out of the water and lick my lips, tasting blood.

I can work with this.

-Toph's last visit to the hospital-

"Toph, please stop maiming yourself. If you want attention I promise you the entire staff is more than willing to play with you," Ms. Annette calmly stated as she healed my broken finger.

"Annette-san, you sound tired. You should sleep more."

She finished up, "Well, I'm afraid that isn't possible at the moment. I'm assigned to you for the night."

"Why?"

"Oh I don't know," her voice grew pained, "Maybe because you keep hurting yourself, you pester the new medical staff- how you even know to single out the new guys I don't know-, you've tried to escape twice-"

"-I did escape-"

"-you jumped out a window."

"Still counts."

She sighed and calmly said, "It would have counted if it hadn't been in the middle of the day and you hadn't landed on a passing Akimichi."

"He broke my fall so it's fine." He was soft like a boob, it was pretty great.

"You broke that boy's collarbone, he just so happened to be a Clan Heir so we were almost in hot water," she slumped in the chair next to my bed.

"It's fine, he only cried for a few minutes."

"He screamed for thirty minutes, you just didn't hear anything past the first two because we took you away."

"Crying's for babies, the pain was good for him."

I felt her rub her temples, "Kami what the hell," she mumbled to herself. "Okay, I'm not going to touch that. Will you go to sleep? Please?"

"Will you unstrap me?"

"Will you be good?"

"I'm always good."

"Then that's a no." I think she closed her eyes? It's hard to feel little things like that through the bed frame.

I don't know why they keep doing this, but it's super annoying. They've been adding more and more straps ever since the first time I visited. I have straps on my arms, legs, and my joints like my knees, elbows, and shoulders. My neck and chest too. I think it's… what's that word that the new guy used… excessive? Yeah. That's it.

I bit my lip.

"Ann-san, my lip is bleeding."

She let out a loud puff of air, "Damn it," and reached one hand over to heal my bleeding lip. I tried my best to feel every step of the way.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

She ran a hand over her face. I think tomorrow I can leave, I've been here two days and have only seen Richi three times. It's been horrible. Ino came by with Inoichi-san so that was cool I guess, but it's mainly been horrible. The smell is still the worst.

"Annette-san can you hold my hand?" I felt her take my hand in hers and squeezed it.

I bit my lip again, "Annette-san, my lips bleeding again.

Internally, -I learned that word from Ino- chakra is easy to control. However, I'm still not great at pushing and manipulating chakra outside my body like how ninja can. I'm getting better at it, my chakra petting with Kizara wouldn't work if I wasn't, but it's not enough. The more I understand, the more people around me won't die.

Plus, Annette's not even touching me when she heals me. I have to touch Kizara to play with her chakra so there's still way more to learn, probably.

As she healed me, I paid extra attention to the process of her pushing out her chakra. It's like it builds up around those points I noticed everyone has and just bursts. Of course, that's not exactly what happens but I don't know the right words to describe it. Ino says I need to work on my vocabulary…

She finished in a few seconds but that was enough for me to understand that I still have no idea how to get better at it. Maybe through hand signs like Kizara?

All for tomorrow when I have time.

"Annette-san, I'll sleep now."

"Oh, thank kami."

AN: Damn, this was a monster to write. Would have been out faster but ya know how it is.

Money. Money is how it is and it sucks.

But yeah, it's still picking up. Tophs still learning and unknowingly being a nuisance. Should have added more detail here and there but I just wanted to get this out quickly and got lazy.

Was gonna have a Hiruzen or Ino PoV this chapter but figured I'd wait on it. Fun fact Ino is smarter than y'all think.

Reviews and interaction feed me.

Special thanks to my new-ish Beta RedKing96. He helped me clear my brain of intrusive ideas enough to get this out faster

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