I don't remember much from the time, not many people would from the time they were six. but that night, that night I clearly remember. Summer was here and a cool breeze woke me from a nap. Or what I assumed was a nap. It was strange, I fell asleep in my bed but awoke in a clearing. The cool dewey grass dampening my clothes. Going by how drenched my clothes were, It felt like we had been there a while. A sweet scent clung to the air and the breeze carried a few leaves whirling and dancing in the evening sky. The setting was unfamiliar, looking around my family were all there, asleep just as I was on the ground. We weren't alone. Two more groups were in this field. A group of adults and a small blonde, asleep just as the others were, and a red haired girl yelling at someone else, hands on her hips seemingly scolding her.

"Well crying about it wont help!"

The girl cried harder, rubbing her eyes now at the point of nearly sobbing.

After another quick glance nothing seemed suspicious, well in the way no one was hurt, seemingly only sleeping. I dusted myself off and waddled over.

"And besides- hey! It's about time you woke up!" The red-head smirked and folded her arms, acting incredibly high and mighty given the circumstance, she seemingly knew just as little as I did back then.

I turned to the young blonde sobbing on the floor, offering a hand. "Hey, i'm Mika what's up?"

She seemed startled at the gesture, even confused a little, and I felt a pang of pity for her.

"I-im Genny, and my family wont wake up".

Her teary eyes wandered over to the larger of the two groups. A tall man with cropped blonde hair lay beside a woman with dark hair, slim. but sharper features. Next to them lay another blonde girl, hair a little longer than hers, but she looked just like the one before me.

"Hey you're a twin? Thats pretty cool. Im sure they're just super sleepy! They'll wake up soon just like we did. Where the heck are we anyway"

"Thats what I said! So you need to quit being so loud!"

The red haired still arms folded butted back into the conversation, stern gaze turning to our new surroundings. It seems funny now, that even then the three of us were comfortable with each-other, Miley would be the loudmouth of the group, Genny the shy one and I was the quiet observant one. But back then we were naive, things were different.

I helped the blonde to her feet, also looking around for any signs of people, but it was late at night, the stars were out and there was a chill in the air. We were in some sort of field, three posts were off to the side of us, and to the right was some sort of stone with a flag. But no people.

No amount of shaking would wake any of our families up, causing Genny to go into an even deeper despair, which then in turn caused the red-head now named Miley to get even more annoyed. A dramatic sigh escaped me before I could catch it, we were in a pickle. But by the looks of it our families weren't gonna go anywhere.

"Lets take a quick look, there's gotta be someone around to help us, besides we aren't getting anywhere here"

Genny was a little hesitant but she didn't have a choice. The idea of doing something other than sitting around was enough to get Miley going, at that point she was practically dragging the young girl out the field. I turned once more to my own family, one last quick check, my gaze lingering a little longer over my younger brother before turning to the girls into the forest.

Hang on guys, we'll be back.

It didn't really take much time to find someone. Maybe it was our instincts kicking in, maybe it was just dumb luck but we found a paved path within a couple minutes, which led us to a young man on a bench, lounging in the evening moonlight, book across his face. At first I marvelled at the irony and was convinced that the universe was playing a game with us, causing the world to fall to a catatonic asleep except us.

It turned out he was just taking a nap. Miley was enough to startle the poor guy.

"Oh great, is everyone in this place asleep WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON"

The man stirred seemingly just as startled by our presence as we were. At least it seemed that way, I could only see one of his eyes, the rest of his face was covered by a mask and some sort of headband i'd never seen before.

"Uh, Hi there. Can I help you?"

Before Miley could be too rude I butted in.

"Actually you can, uh where exactly are we? I dunno what's going on but this isn't our home and our families won't wake up"

The mans brow furrowed, but it was harder to get a read on him, his hair covered even more of his expression as he got up off the bench, snapping his book shut. His one eye slowly scanning over the three of us.

"M'hmmm and where exactly are your parents?"

"This way let's go!" Miley had already turned and started walking back the way we came and yet again, another sigh escaped me, this was turning out to be a massive pain in the ass.

unexpectedly the man followed behind, keeping all three of us in view. I grabbed Gennys hand, giving a little squeeze. She'd turned from sobbing to a quiet sniffle, probably fuelled from the hope of finding an adult who could actually help us.

They were exactly where we left them, laying underneath the night sky. The man walked over to Mileys parents first, probably something to do with the fact she was being loud and well…. Miley. He made a weird gesture with his hands, and gently touching shoulders and one by one, they finally awoke.

To say they where pissed was an understatement. My parents, especially my father. He was always pretty passive, but the look on his face, and more confusingly at the time the look he was shooting at Kakashi was almost deathly, although the guy simply shrugged it off with little concern. Still, it was confusing to me at the time.

We were brought to the Hokage's office, Kakashi carefully dancing around our nosey questions, us ignoring our parents requests to be quiet and follow along. As we walked through the village it had an odd sense of familiarity toward it. I'd never been here before and yet I felt so… comfortable?

It was an odd feeling, but my curiosity over-peaked the unusual feelings as we wound our way through the village. I'd never been somewhere like this and was so enthralled by the surroundings, buildings were built around and into the biggest trees i'd ever seen. Although closed shops and homes spread across streets the place felt so alive. Canals were woven throughout the village and dozens of little alleyways were just begging to be explored. There was a small part of me that was desperate to just run around and search every inch of this place. I took it all in, fascinated and confused, but led on by Kakashi nonchalantly waking ahead. We eventually wound our way toward the Hokage tower, where we sat and waited.. and waited… and waited.

I was gently shaken awake by Kakashi, whom I'd apparently fallen asleep on whilst waiting for the adults deliberating in the office. And whilst I was incredibly embarrassed at the time, he didn't seem to mind. Even so he's is a very hard man to read, so even if it bothered him I don't think i'd be able to tell.

Miley grabbed my hand in one and Genny's in the other, who clung to her twin Alice, since she'd woken up.

At this point I was still half awake, even then i've needed ten minutes to fully wake up. Minimum. I did try however rubbing my eyes with my free hand, though unable to stop the yawn from escaping.

A warm smile crept on the man sitting behind the desk as we entered the room, he had a kind look about him as he leant back in his chair, chuckling and taking a puff on his pipe.

"Im sorry we kept you waiting so long, you all must be very tired."

His gaze landed on me. His tone was as warm and kind as his appearance, and I immediately felt at ease. He seemed nice.

There was a brief silence in the room as I realised everyone's gaze was on me…

"Hm oh nah, I uh… i'm always like this sorry" I stifled another yawn.

"Ugh how did you get to be so lazy!" Her hand, still holding mine went naturally toward her hips. Seems to be a habit. But I will admit, she has a certain charm about her for sure.

"And how did you get to be so bossy"

Three seconds is all it took of silence before we both burst out in a fit of giggles.

The Hokage coughed, trying to get us back on track in our conversation, although a glimmer in his eye gave away the fact he appeared amused by our antics. "As I'm sure you are well aware, this is not your home. You are currently in the village hidden in the Leaves. Unfortunately, we have no idea how you all came to be here, and thus, have no idea how to get you all home. Therefore you will be staying with us until we figure out just what is going on."

I glanced over at my parents. My mother was clinging to my little brother with a worried look at all of us, my father was glaring daggers at a group of men in the corner, in particular a darker haired man with a scar across his face. The three men had a similar gaze to the Hokage. Warm and familiar. comforting.

Okay, village. Staying here. No problem. I really couldn't understand why my parents looked so… concerned. Mileys parents looked conflicted at best and the twins parents looked even angrier than mine.

But everyone here is so nice, what's the big deal.

Once more I peeked over at the three new men in the room, whom Im assuming arrived while I passed out in the hallway. The dark haired man met my gaze and briefly smiled. Out of the corner of my eye I felt daggers from my dad. This was getting seriously weird.

"As I was saying we have no idea how to get you home, so you will be staying with us here in the village. Now, as we don't know how long you will be staying with us, how would you feel about going to school here."

The man took another puff of his pipe, leaning forward focused entirely on us four, on how we reacted.

"We have a school here in the village. We also… have the academy which you could join should you wish"

"the academy how's that different, why have two schools?" For the first time, Alice spoke. Despite being identical she had a slightly lower tone to her voice, more calculated and controlled, but still, curiosity peeked through.

The man nodded thoughtfully "yes, you see, this is a ninja village, and the academy is where we train future ninja. However, know this, the path is a difficult and most perilous one. A dangerous one. As such I will give you some time to think this through-

"I would like to join the academy please"

The mans gaze snapped to me.

"Mika think about this, you could get yourself killed!" My mothers face erupted with panic, my father seemingly to stunned to speak.

"I understand but… ever since we got here, this place has felt so, I dunno familiar and I want to protect it. I want to be here"

A warm but firm hand squeezed my own in response.

"I would like to enrol too please sir"

"M-me too please." Genny piped up, looking between us and the man, seemingly swayed by the idea.

"Well now I can't let my little sister outdo me can I"

And that was it. We all shared a look, the decision was made and there was no going back, this is what we wanted, it felt so right.

"Are you sure, you're absolutely certain this is what you want, being a ninja isn't easy you know"

I glanced over at Kakashi, he was seemingly uninterested at first, looked like he just wanted to go home and to be honest, I couldn't blame him he'd been dragged into this mess and it was super late. But there was a serious undertone to his words. A heaviness I couldn't quite pinpoint at the time.

"Nothing worthwhile ever is easy right?"

Wether it was instincts or he was being more open with his expressions, I could tell he was amused as his eyes met mine and gave a brief but warm smile.

The three men over in the other corner of the room had a similar look of not quite pride but, reassurance?

At the time I hadn't realised it, but they probably where all amused we had it.

"To think the will of fire wound its way back to you even now. Very well then, you all seem set here, you will need these." He reached into his desk and pulled out a scroll, unravelling it and making a similar gesture to the one Kakashi had used earlier to wake our families, giving us four small material drawstring pouches.

"use these to buy your provisions for the academy. You will be staying with these three clans, the Nara, Akimichi and Yamanaka. Their children are also soon going to be starting at the academy, and I am sure they will be happy to show you what you will need and where to find it".

"Of course, Lord Hokage"

The dark haired man nodded, he had a deep raspy voice and honestly, I found him a little intimidating. But hey, he looked cool.

"Good, well then, you all must be very tired. You will be starting the academy on Monday so use the next few days to buy supplies and get some rest, walk around the village, get used to your surroundings and get to know each other. Welcome to the hidden Leaf village!"

He smiled and nodded, seemingly dismissing us all, we bowed, learning that that was a respectable thing to do here and soon where on our way.

Years passed, almost in the blink of an eye. I chose to sit toward the back of the class, sulking. Naruto was nowhere to be found.

Dammit Iruka sensei, you know shadow clone is his worst jutsu, how the heck could you be so mean.

There was some pretty strong chakra flare ups last night, but to be honest, I was way too depressed to care. After all these years of training, to be the best I can possibly be. Heck to try and be best in this class, just to prove to my parents just how much I belong here (which apparently is incredibly uncharacteristic of my family) and yet, I couldn't bring myself to feel any sort of joy or pride.

Not since I hadn't been able to contact Naruto. Ever since the test he wanted to be alone. It was weird. Back when I first got to the village, it was him seemingly in desperate need of a friend. And whilst at first, I will admit he was annoying, his infectious enthusiasm and pure joy grew on me, it was almost impossible not to like him. Somewhere in-between, we'd become inseparable, best friends, not having him there was almost like not having a part of me here.

I glanced over the room, at the entire class who'd passed. Even at my cousin who was as usual, sleeping. Completely on the contrary to Naruto, Shikamaru was as laid back as you could get. But he was smart. Smart enough to not show it too, only me, Choji and the other girls knew fully how smart he was and even then…

Hinata and i shared a worried look, another classmate whom I grew close with, she was shy for sure, but damn could she fight. Admittedly taijutsu was not my strongest suit but she's so much stronger than people give her credit for. Kicked my ass every time we sparred. When it came to Naruto though… well she was smitten. But she had a good heart, enough to make her a close friend that I will defend to the end of the earth.

We were both worried, until I felt it barreling down the hall. "Hey check it out i'm a ninja!"

Wait what, he did it, he actually did it. Pride didn't even come close. I leant back in my seat, mood and stress lifting outta me. "Hey Mika check it out i'm a ninja now!"

I swooped him into the biggest bear hug I could manage " well done you did it! You gotta tell me all bout it later, kay"

His smile faded and he leaned in a little closer, hand covering his mouth trying to be sly, whispering "I can't, Iruka sensei told me not to but what I can say is… IT WAS AWESOME!"

I couldn't help the giggle escape me, it was just so… Naruto.

A sharp warm chakra signal snapped me out of my mood briefly. His dark moody eyes meeting mine, giving a slight nod and sitting in-front of the empty row in front of me. Of course, all the girls immediately dive-bombed that spot. In particular two girls yelling about who got here first, it sounded like Ino and Sakura, I dunno they were both being annoying.

Actually scrap that, all the girls were being annoying. They always were.

I didn't notice it at first. It was hard to pick out amongst the growing excitement of the girls ogling and arguing over Saskue, but a foreign charka entered the room. And not through the door…

Naruto was here, now I could relax. He'd turned his attention towards Sakura, so I took a deep breath and focused.

It was up and around. The back… no…On the ceiling?

Wait what

Yeah, it was on the ceiling. Nothing there. At a glance, at least nothing was there. Was this another test?

I focused on the spot in the corner. It was so damn familiar. Warm. It felt warm, like the glow of a fire. Like the softest most comforting hug you'd ever felt. Then it hit me, i'd felt this before. Even with the swarm of chakras peeking through this was the old man, no doubt about it. I smiled and before I could wave my attention was pulled elsewhere.

Seemingly Naruto and Sasuke were… kissing?

Well this is amusing

Shock and horror, from both boys in front of me and the crowd of girls. I wonder how the Jonin and Hokage are looking right now.

Good luck to whoever gets them as a sensei.

My amusement rather quickly turned to annoyance. It's not often I get angry, not often at all.

There was the time I met Naruto, flung out on the street by a vendor. It was the first time I'd seen any sort of negativity in this village. They all stared at this little boy with pure hatred and I couldn't stand it, even when I offered to help him up and he looked confused, from that moment we've been best friends. More like siblings really.

There was that awful, awful night where so many chakras disappeared. And Sasuke was left alone. There was the time where I met Rock Lee, and the others where bullying and berating him.

Then there was that time….

There have been a few times and looking at it now, most of those times where from when my friends were being hurt. Emotionally or otherwise. But there was always a good reason, and when I loose it, I really loose my cool.

Which is why when the first punch was thrown at Naruto, I saw red.

Immediately I forgot we were being watched. My body sprung forward, I started grabbing and throwing each girl one by one into an empty seat in the classroom with precision, and venom.

I could hear Miley hissing in the back, and briefly out of the corner of my eye see her mosey on in between Choji and Shikamaru.

"I am NOT getting involved in that, best to sit this one out" out of the corner of my eye, I saw her give shikamaru a squeeze on the shoulder as she sat down.

My anger turning into slight amusement at this point I carried on grabbing and flinging the girls one by one. Ino magically escaped my grasp and decided to slide on the bench next to Shikamaru.

Good choice.

"ALRIGHT IDIOTS IF YOU'RE GONNA BE DUMB IM GONNA TREAT YOU LIKE YOU'RE DUMB. NOBODY THROWS ANOTHER PUNCH. AND SO HELP ME IF ONE OF YOU GETS UP AND STARTS ANOTHER FIGHT IM GONNA THROW YOU OUT THE ROOM NEXT. . "

I threw the last of the girls down, apparently Sakura who'd won next place to Sasuke.

Nobody moved.

Good.

"Ok, come here" I motioned for Naruto to sit next to her, leaning on the desk behind me. He sighed and leaned back dramatically as I started clearing my chakra and pumping it into him. Although he probably didn't need it, whatever weird chakra that was inside him seemed to heal him quickly enough throughout the years I'd known him.

The Hokage wouldn't tell me what it was, but promised me he would be okay. Although he always looked so sad when talking about it.

But I trusted him, and Naruto seemed ok. Well, 'Naruto okay'

The room sat in silence until Iruka sensei arrived, who rightly so seemed shocked, suspicious, and amused at the same time. Pretty funny to watch the man go through so many emotions all at once.

"Ok well, i'm not sure what's going on but you all seem to be behaving, so i'm not going to ask any questions. now…."

"Well well, it seems we've been caught."

The Hokage seemed amused by the scene of the classroom. A warm smile spread across his face as the girl looked directly up at them all.

"Ho- how on earth is that even possible"

The hokage smiled and turned to the group slightly. Not everyone of course was shocked. Ibiki already knew of the girls skills, he had been training her for quite some time. The man had a rare smile on his face, not unlike the Hokage's. All four girls had certainly come a long way in the last six years, but Mika had desperately advanced through her training.

She seemed to have incredibly sharp chakra senses. Whilst the sensory team would snatch her up in an instant, he had been keen to let her progress naturally to a genin, chunin and of course jonin, never doubting the girls' ability but after all they've gone through in the past year, this was best. Being around her friends was best for her.

And of course, training under the watchful eye of Ibiki has been helpful. So of course, he too was well aware of her capabilities.

"Don't underestimate her. She's sharp"

"And quick too"

Guy piped in, another smiling face amongst the shocked crowd "after all she can keep up with my students and they've been genin for an entire year, one could say they're even rivals. Interesting to see how they'll do, eh Kakashi?"

The man seemingly uninterested turned to Guy.

"Hm? Oh, sure I guess"

He seemed distracted, but distant. This would probably be like most other teams he was given. Sure he'd had some history with the girl but that was six years ago. A lot can change in that time. He barely knew her, and by his training methods, they probably wouldn't pass. Probably.

"Well even so, there are multiple talented candidates this year… you certainly have your hands full."

As the Hokage turned back to the classroom, Naruto and Sasuke were…Kissing. And Mika started throwing other students round the room. The girl certainly had a temper.

"Good luck, you're going to need it".