Sep 17th, 2009. 0530 hours.

She had to keep in shape, chakra by itself could only do so much.

Her father coming down the stairs during her push-ups had become a routine by this point.

He'd stare for a moment, then wander into the kitchen where the coffee was still perking away and disappear there for a few minutes. By then she'd gone on to the pull-ups and then the sit-ups (core work was important) and then the flows of a exercise routine before fixing breakfast.

As soon as she had the funds, she was going to have to get a rice cooker and one of those electric hot water dispensers. Iruka Umino-sensei had shown her how to make "camp breakfasts" and surprisingly enough was a pretty good cook when it came to the basics, but a full meal was something she'd have to work out herselves.

Actually, that seemed to be a theme with Umino-sensei. He knew the basics very very well, and had a few more advanced techniques (yes, even with cooking) but didn't have in-depth knowledge about a lot of things. Medical techniques or fuuinjutsu for examples. There were techniques he knew or knew of but didn't teach because of one reason or another.

Still, she'd gotten used to rice as a staple in the diet and by now it had been a subjective four years total where she'd been eating a mostly Japanese-style menu.

Taylor nodded to her father, remaining quiet for now. The coffee had finished up, and she started heating water for her tea and some oatmeal via the microwave.

So far, so routine. At least she wasn't doing camp breakfasts, crafting a camp stove out of discarded cans and the like for long-term missions.

Her father put his coffee down, took a deep breath, and broke the routine. "Old Erwin got the leaf to stick."

Taylor blinked, then broke out in a smile. "He did? That's great!"

"He already turns up when you least expect him, I suspect if he learns the Spider-Man Jutsu he'll more than double that."

Taylor shrugged. If the old guy had the mental discipline to continue that, the chakra might extend his life. Certainly ninja life wasn't one where old age was normally the means of death, but the ones that lived a long time seemed to live a really long time.

No, from the histories she'd read - the usual cause of death was another ninja. So kind of like parahumans nowadays, if you didn't count Endbringers.

"It's called 'Tree Climbing' not 'Spider-Man' but okay," said Taylor as she stirred up the oatmeal. "Any parahumans can actually do that?"

"No idea," said Danny. "Wouldn't be surprised though."

"True," said Taylor.

"Lessons tonight around seven again?" asked Danny.

Taylor nodded. "That's the plan. Homework as soon as I get home from school. Then dinner, then teaching chakra basics, then my run and patrol. I..."

Danny blinked at the way that Taylor had just gone fully attentive and looking off towards the rear of their house. "Problem?"

"You might get your gun. We've got hostiles in back and a few moving around out front," said Taylor.

Danny Hebert just reached under the table and came out holding a handgun. He was still doing maintenance on his shotgun, as it had been gathering dust in the closet. Old Erwin had provided this as a loaner.

"They're there, they're gathering, and I'm picking them up as hostile," said Taylor shifting fully to Zenko.

Danny waited a few moments before speaking. "Just staying there? Maybe they're waiting us out or waiting for someone to arrive?" He crossed to the phone, set the gun down, and dialed out.

Taylor twitched. "Some are moving around but they're maintaining the distance."

"This is Danny," said her father over the phone. "Put out the word. One of the gangs may be trying for a recruitment drive."

"It's Thursday so I'll have to leave for school soon, but a gang would require they know that I'm Zenko," said Taylor.

"Maybe they're after me since I work at the Docks and everyone knows that the group being trained are at the Docks?" offered Danny as he hung up the phone.

"I suspect we'll see," said Taylor.

Danny hmmed in response.

"Oh, and this weekend I've got a meeting with the PRT," said Taylor. "Apparently they want to discuss the classes. Maybe they want to trial it and see if their agents can get in?"

"There just might be something to that," said Danny, though his voice indicated he didn't think it likely.

Elsewhere, someone used their power and "split timelines" just to be safe.

* Timeline 1 *

The gas grenades went through the window in front. Meanwhile Skull Team charged the rear door, slowed only slightly by the tinkertech "door knocker" that should reduce that entry to kindling.

His men blew up the door, entered the house and died as close to instantly as made little difference.

The smoke coming out the window changed colors and froze.

Thomas Calvert, the villain known as Coil, watching on his computer screen said something very impolite and hit the monitor to see if that got it working again. It didn't.

He went to voice communication instead. "Overwatch. Report."

"Boss, she's killing everyone! She's just appearing behind people, stabbing them with some little knives, and ARGHHH!"

Coil looked at the phone and pondered what this meant when he heard a voice speaking.

"Hello 'Boss', my name is Taylor Hebert but you already know that. You killed my father. I will find you. I will end you."

* Timeline 2 *

Coil considered what that flat emotionless voice had told him in the other timeline. He had believed her and he had cancelled that timeline immediately.

Okay, that method of recruitment was off the table. For now.

"Overwatch. Plans changing because of new information. Maintain surveillance. Call off the majority of the strike force and reassign to keep track of the students once they've all been identified."

* House *

"Okay, I don't get this, at all. They're scattering and moving out of range," said Taylor.

"What IS your range?" asked Danny.

"About a mile," admitted Taylor.

"Reconn, maybe?" guessed Danny. "Or were they even after you..."

Both Heberts looked up and around despite knowing that the "tak-tak-tak" noise wasn't actually a sound heard by the ears.

[Milestone Achieved. Encountered XXXX.]
[Ninja Academy: 1d6 Ninja Scrolls: 6.]

"Oh heck yeah," exclaimed Taylor. "Techniques I can study and try to master? Yes, please."

[Rolling. Scroll #1: Ball of Light Technique. Scroll #2: Monster Strength technique (requires medical jutsu raised to level 2 to utilize). Scroll #3: Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld. Scroll #3: Water Release: Water Prison. Scroll #4: Interrogation Genjutsu. Scroll #5: Earth Release: Earth and Stone Dragon. Scroll #6: Iryo: Mystical Palm Technique.]

"I already know the basics of Mystic Palm, so I hope this lets me get better at it," noted Taylor.

[As Taylor Hebert now has met the basic requirements for the rank Tokubetsu Jonin, she is no longer considered a beginner in the role of Ninja.]

[Taylor Hebert is now no longer restricted to Ninja point-buys.]

"Okay, that was expected just not so soon," remarked Taylor. "I'd really like to concentrate on the whole ninja motif before I go with some other sensei though."

"What were you hoping for?" asked Danny, eyeing the scrolls now on the table.

"From what I saw from Iruka's stories of the last Ninja War?" Taylor thought a moment before ticking things off on her fingers. "Barrier jutsu would be damn handy, being able to ward the house this morning would have been really good if they'd attacked. Improving my fuuinjutsu skills, as just what I've read about what they could do with that is pretty impressive. A contract with a summoning clan would also be really useful. Jiraiya had toads, but what I saw during my spars with him were really impressive."

"'Toads'?" asked Danny.

"Yeah, some no bigger than your hand, some as big as a horse," explained Taylor. "Able to talk and wield weapons too."

"But still 'toads'?" asked Danny.

"I asked," said Taylor. "Apparently Tsunade? She's the one I got some medic and dodging boulders training from. She does slugs."

"That sounds even worse," agreed Danny.

"They mentioned that there are monkeys and snakes and other creatures where a whole clan of them has a summoning contract that a ninja might be able to get," explained Taylor with a number of hand gestures. "I know the hand-signs, because I watched Jiraiya doing it, but without a contract I won't get anything."

"Ninja seem to be a bit eclectic in skills," noted Danny.

"Yeah, the ninja of that world do a lot of stuff. There's even courier ninja and cooking ninja," said Taylor. "Never met them, but some of the stories Iruka or Jiraiya would tell me had stuff like that in there."

"Oh?" asked Danny, deciding he wanted to hear more about these people her daughter had apparently spent years with.

"Yeah, and there's things like bloodlines, I've already got one," said Taylor, manifesting a length of chain. "Gift from one of my teachers. Umino speculated at one point that the fox stuff might have been a latent bloodline on my part, but they ended up going with an environmental cause as an explanation. Though Jiraiya, Tsunade, and that Hiruzen guy were all drinking pretty heavily while they discussed it."

"I thought they were dead. How did they get alcohol?" asked Danny.

"Ninja magic stuff or weird afterlife stuff, I guess," said Taylor with a shrug. "After awhile you stop questioning a lot of it."

* Bus #36, 0745 hours *

It was weird. On one level, the kids around her making noise and being rude were the same age as her.

Physically she was 13 going on 14. In her mind though, she was four years older than any of those around her.

It left her feeling a disconnect with the people around her. She was pretty sure ninja working in civilian areas felt something of the same even when they were trying to blend in.

Maybe it was the same with parahumans? How did they handle this sort of thing?

The bus trip was largely uneventful, which was good. It was therefore fast, which was also good, and arrived at Winslow on time. Which was kind of a mixed-feelings thing.

Someone swung a book at her head. She didn't even look to move just enough that it missed her.

Honestly, the Sense Hostile Intent thing had to be one of the most useful damn abilities in the ninja playbook.

As it was, most of the people on the bus weren't bothering her.

"Damn. Why won't you join the gymnastics team? We could really use someone like you on the team!"

Ah, that flash of hostile intent had been some kind of test?

"Just not interested, sorry," responded Taylor honestly.

* Winslow, 1145 hours *

* Sophia Hess *

"Why did you want me to remain quiet, I cut class for this."

"Watch," said Sophia.

"It's just Tay... what the hell?"

Sophia nodded and motioned Emma back behind a row of the gym lockers. "Yeah. When she was going to talk to you about camp? Now I'm wishing you'd heard her out."

Emma stared in the direction that Taylor had been in, her brain apparently trying to reboot.

"She shares Gym with me, I noticed she doesn't tire out, she holds back," stated Sophia, keeping her voice low. "Whatever she did on that nature camp thing you mentioned? She might be weak, but she's not bottom of the barrel weak."

"She's still a loser," said Emma finally. "We need to teach her her place is still beneath us."

Sophia glanced at her friend, then nodded. "Yeah. Sure. Just wanted you to know she's not going to be a pushover."

"All the better, actually," said Emma.

Sophia smiled, but honestly was thinking that Emma maybe possibly could be just a bit cuckoo for cocoa puffs.

She was really going to have to do some de-stressing on tonight's patrol though.

That was the way things went as they went along their day, repeat of previous days other than Emma knowing that her ex-friend wasn't a beanpole under those baggy clothes.

Lunch though, Sophia wanted a change of subject. "What about that new cape? Zenko?"

"What about her? Another one of those little PR freaks, right?" responded Emma.

"Not really," said Madison, surprising the other two as she normally didn't outright contradict Emma. "Best guess I've seen is she's a really lucky Case 53, probably her powers are a bunch of low power stuff as opposed to one thing she does well. Minor Brute, minor Mover, minor Master with those little fox critters she can send out. Not very powerful, but also not a one-trick pony like some of them."

"You're the cape expert," said Sophia, sharing a wink with Emma as they both knew better. "So what's her deal?"

"Likely? She's just dealing the hand she was dealt," said Madison, her spoon toying with the Mystery Pudding that was supposed to be chocolate and tasted like plasterboard. "Not everyone with powers gets something awesome. There's a guy in Toronto whose power is he can basically eat anything."

"He can even eat this cafeteria food? That doesn't sound awesome but maybe useful," noted Emma, sounding a bit amused.

"Yeah," said Madison. "Munch Man is pretty lame as far as powers go, but he'll never starve since he can digest anything as well. Last thing I saw about him he was training for bomb disposal."

"Oh, yeah, I could see that," admitted Sophia. Lame power, but he could eat hazardous materials without suffering? Bombs and that kind of thing? That might useful but VERY niche/situational. It's not like this guy could grab villains' guns and eat them or something.

Madison shrugged and continued to poke at her pudding. "So, basically, if Zenko IS a Cape 53 she's got a tattoo of that omega symbol on her somewhere and won't remember her past. Grab bag capes usually have one good power and little stuff otherwise. So she'd be a Master with those foxes being her spies. She's admitted using them to scout out a large area when she's out patrolling, so she can see through their eyes or something. So that's useful - one of the guys on the forum I was reading was pointing out she can find trouble and know ahead of time if she can handle it or not."

Sophia nodded, thinking this sounded damn handy. She varied her patrol routes but something could be happening a street or two over and she'd miss it unless they made a lot of noise.

Madison flicked screens on her phone and then reversed it so the screen was facing Sophia. "See this is the group Munch Man is in. Each of them has powers that are really not very good but they still show up for some disaster relief stuff."

"Their name is the 'League Of Backup Heroes'?" asked Sophia. "Seriously?"

"What would you expect with a cape named 'Munch Man'?" asked Emma.

"Other than think maybe Zenko is at least a couple of notches above these guys," admitted Sophia. "What's this girl's powers? The one next to Munchable there on the right."

Madison turned the phone around to look, then flipped it back. "Color Queen. Her power is she can change the color of objects."

"The statue is something?" asked Emma, looking over the photo.

"Rock Girl. Self-petrification. She can turn herself to stone for a specified period. Can't move while she's stone though - sort of like being asleep for the specified time."

Emma glanced at Sophia as she sat back. "Okay. Maybe some of the local capes aren't as lame as those guys. Doesn't make them any less lame, just that the bottom is further down than I thought it was."

* Warehouse #14, Docks. 1920 hours *

* Taylor *

They were coming along about as well as could be expected.

Except Old Erwin. He was scary when he was focused and seemed to pick up on a lot of things really fast.

Chakra was a mix of spiritual and physical energy that was not quite entirely within the normal purvue of everyday physics. It was an extension of underlying dimensions or something. Iruka hadn't been entirely clear, but to be fair he was a teacher who normally dealt with children a fair bit younger than she was. He had at one point confessed that the math involved was way above his level of understanding.

Jiraiya understood a bit more, but his focus was more getting it to work and doing things with it - not the how and why of the underlying principles of how the multiverse worked.

Again, to be fair, they were ninja. Not scientists or philosophers by focus or profession. As Iruka had put it - our world had a lot of cars and cellphones. Not everyone who owned or operated one knew the mechanics and programming of either.

Taylor knew enough about the physical and spiritual energy and how she'd been trained to know how to get them started. If it worked out, this would be damn handy.

Then Zephron, one of her father's workers/friend, got his own leaf to stick.

[Milestone Achieved: Make Like A Leaf (Bring two students up to Beginning Student level)]

Taylor glanced at her father as the roulette wheel noise sounded, though she did note that Erwin acted like he heard something as well.

"I really want to focus on my existing skills and not try anything new," grumped Taylor to herself as the noise went on.

[Defer roll to Ally? Y/N]

"Uh, yeah, if I can do that," muttered Taylor.

[Current Ally list: Daniel Francisci Hebert]

"Dad?" asked Taylor.

[Sending Query. Daniel Fransisci Hebert accepts. Continuing roll.]

"I've got something to take care of," said Danny Hebert, stepping quickly out the door.