Chapter 5: Childhood Arc: Four

Disclaimer: Somehow, of all things, still don't own Naruto. Who knew?

A few months later, my small family sits down to dinner with two of my elder cousins, Gaku and Ashi. Aunt Kosshi, I have learned that this is the actual name of Proper-Inuzuka-san, has elected not to come join us.

"Kanabi bridge has been destroyed." Ashi says as she gives a piece of meat to Kimaru who is waiting under the table.

Ichi, Ni and San protest this. "Why does he get fed?"

I smirk. "Because his partner wants to feed him."

"That should speed up the war efforts then." Tou-san replies, pushing his lettuce around in his rice bowl. He'd come home injured the week before, a long gash on his right arm, and the medics hadn't cleared him for active duty yet.

And suddenly I remember the importance of Kanabi Bridge. "Who was there?" I ask, and all eyes at the table turn towards me.

"You know, pup, I haven't met another three year old who asked these sorts of questions." Cousin Ashi props her head up on the table with an elbow and looks at me almost with judgement, but I could find neither approval or disapproval in her eyes. "You're a weird one, Hana."

I frown. Time to nip this in the bud. "War is bad. It hurt, Tou-san." I cross my arms over my chest and stop eating. "I want to know if there're people I should thank."

Cousin Gaku throws back his head and laughs. "Now's not the time to be thankful yet, little fangless one. We've still got a long way to go."

Cousin Ashi leans back in her chair and tosses a piece of meat up for Kimaru to catch. "If you really want to thank someone, you could go thank Uchiha Obito-" and my heart catches in my mouth, because did he make it back alive this time? "-his name's going on the memorial stone, and I think he'd be the only one who'd want to listen to your thanks." And then my heart plummets into my stomach. Oh...no...nothing changed.

"Ashi." Kaa-san says and it's with a voice of steel. "Don't talk to my daughter about this." Death in action might still be a little too heavy a conversation for a three year old. If only they knew.

I tell Kaa-san that I'm going to the library the next morning, even though I am certainly not going to the library. She waves me off without a word, and I scurry off, the triplets in tow.

I step into the snack shop on the corner of the street outside the clan compound. "Baa-san?"

The old lady who manned the counter perked up in my presence. "Oh there you are, Hana-chan. You haven't stepped in all week, but those lemon candies that you like so much are right over there."

I humor her by buying a handful for the 'road to the library' before I ask her a question. "Baa-san, sorry to bother you, but where's the memorial stone?"

She falls silent for a moment, her world suddenly on freeze frame as if remembering someone from the distant past before she responds. "Is there something wrong at home, Hana-chan?"

I shake my head. "I just had someone I needed to thank, is all." She sighs and writes out the directions for me on the back of my receipt, with a little map to go with it. I look down, and suck in a deep breath. That's very far away. Still, I square my shoulders. It's the least I can do to thank him for confirming that I'm not in an alternate timeline. And for my still living parents.

A half hour's walk later brought me closer to the stone than ever. I stop at the edge of the clearing to catch my breath, and then dragged myself the rest of the way, the Triplets following like they always do.

I scan the list of names on the smooth black stone, picking out the Inuzuka ones most clearly before I come to nearly the end of the list. Uchiha Obito...Nohara Rin. So Kakashi had lost both of his teammates by this point. I straighten my shoulders. I'm only here for one thing anyway.

"Uchiha Obito-san." I bow forwards to the memorial stone. "Thank you." For my parents. For myself. Thank you. Then I lean forwards and place one of the lemon candies down beneath the stone. "I hope you like lemons."

I stand and motion for the Triplets to thank him as well. "Say thank you to Uchiha-san." They look at me with big dark eyes and bark in unison once. They don't understand why we're doing this, but they're loyal enough that if I think it's a good idea they won't question it until later.

There's a boy standing by the edge of the clearing when I turn to leave. White hair, wearing a mask, and standard shinobi gear, and his left eye is covered.

"Who are you and why are you here?" It's strange to think that Kakashi's only eleven. He's younger than me. Not that anyone can really tell.

"I'm Hana." I chirp brightly. "And I'm here to thank Uchiha Obito-san for protecting my parents."

"You're an Inuzuka." Oh, well, of course I am. The dogs aren't for show you know.

"Yes." I reply and continue walking past him. "Like I said, I'm Hana." He appears in front of me again in a blur of movement too fast for my eyes to follow. "How do you do that?" I ask, and he looks nonplussed.

"Do what?"

I blink at him, and he blinks back. Or well, the eye that I could see blinks back. "Teleport." I cross my arms over my chest. Someone mention chakra to me so I can conceivably talk about it. I need to know.

"It's a chakra technique." Yes, good, a mention of chakra. He narrows his eye at me. "Now tell me why you were here to make fun of Obito." He's prickly. I won't be able to ask him about chakra.

Ichi growls at him, and San and Ni scamper to hide behind me. "I wasn't here to make fun of Uchiha-san." I state and walk past him again. "I was here to thank him for being a hero. That's it." He lets me go, and the only thought I spare him is that I don't really ever want to meet him again before the canon timeline starts because at least Adult Kakashi is not such a hardheaded jerk.

I trudge back home while sucking on another one of the candies. Now how do I broach the topic of chakra without telling Tou-san and Kaa-san where I've gone? Just up ahead a team of chunin leapt over a roof and towards the Hokage Tower.

I make a valiant effort to not smack myself in the face. They were probably just waiting for me to ask how ninja did magic tricks. Chakra use is literally everywhere, and I've been out and about in the world for over a year now.

San barks. "Why are you injuring yourself?"

I turn a bemused glance at him. "I was being silly."

"No, Hana not silly." Ni bumps my hand and I pat him on the head a few times. "Hana always smart."

I laugh for the first time in a long long time. "I can be silly." Ichi bumps my other hand and I pat him a few times too.

"Yes." He says, "Hana can be silly." And I growl at him, he yips and I chase him all the way home. He takes it easy on me and his younger brothers though, and slows to an easy lope by the time we reach the edge of the compound. I tackle him on the front porch and we all roll around with growls and yips and happy giggles.

"Tou-san" I whisper and tug on his sleeve when he'd finished washing up after dinner.

He looks down at me, still dripping soap suds and raises an eyebrow. "What's the matter, Blossom?" He had been going through different variations of nicknames after Kaa-san had caught him calling me Flower, and burst out into stomach aching laughter. Tou-san, for all his snappiness at times, is surprisingly sensitive.

"How do ninja do magic?"

He smiles at me. "I was wondering when you would ask about chakra." So I was being dumb. I should have just asked. Tou-san dries his hands on a dishtowel and sits down in a kitchen chair. "There are two types of energy that make up chakra, physical and spiritual energy."

I nod. "Do I have chakra?"

Tou-san laughs and ruffles my hair. "Of course you do, Bud. You've been using chakra since you were old enough to talk, and probably before." That...was unexpected.

"I have?" I blink several times. I had felt no different in this life than I had in my previous one.

"Well, you talk to the dogs. That's a pretty specialized form of chakra already. The concentration of chakra in your ears to better understand their language." Now that I thought about it, I did just chalk talking to the dogs as part of the new genetic makeup I had, not to do with chakra. "Of course being an Inuzuka means that you understand them better." Tou-san shrugs. "If I concentrated, their barking is louder, not clearer."

"But I don't feel magic." I say, because I am at a loss at how to explain to my father that I remembered a previous life without chakra, and that I had never even noticed using chakra in this life.

"Well, you'll learn more about chakra if you decide to go to the academy, but it really can't hurt to meditate for a bit. Chakra's pumped around the body like blood, and like blood, it is replenished in your core." Tou-san slides off the chair and sits down on the floor with me. "Let's do a meditation exercise."

"Un." I nod.

"Close your eyes and breath. Just think about breathing alright. In, one, two, three, four. Out, one, two, three, four." I felt...something as I breathed. There is a warmth spreading through my limbs that I didn't notice before. I willed it to move around. It sort of responded, slowly like molasses or syrup sliding about.

I open my eyes. "It's all warm and fuzzy." I leap forwards and throw my arms around Tou-san's neck. "Thank you, Tou-san." I feel him smile, his day old stubble digging into my cheek.

"You found it the first time around." He pats me on the back. "Good job. I knew you could do it."

Kaa-san appears in the doorway, as Tou-san twirls me around the kitchen. "What are you two so excited about?"

I run towards her. "I found chakra, Kaa-san." I wrap my arms around her legs and giggle uproariously. "It's warm and fuzzy."

"Didn't you always have it?"

I frown up at her. "Didn't know it was magic."

Kaa-san pats me on the head. "The clan wanted to push for you to go to the academy since you were concentrating chakra in your ears." The thought brings me up short, but Kaa-san continues. "So whaddya say, Little Nose, do you want to go?"

I look up at her, and nod once. "I want to learn." What I would really do after Academy I could figure out then.

"Well, I'm not letting you end up like that Hatake kid, graduating at five and everything." Kaa-san looks across the room at Tou-san. "What do you think, Kai, letting enter after her fourth birthday."

Tou-san considers it, and then pins me with a stern glance. "You'll be smart enough to graduate in a year or two, Hana, but don't push it. You don't want to end up on the front lines and face enemies far too big for you." He sets his hands on my shoulders and looks me in the eye. "I know you're bored at home, and that you've read half the library by now. You are good. Don't let them bait you into pushing too far too fast."

I nod.

"Graduate in two or three years, Sprout. The war'll be over by then, and your missions won't be as dangerous either way. Promise me that, and we'll let you go early." What Tou-san is saying made sense.

I held out a pinky. "I promise." He smiles and loops his own pinky through mine. "I'll hold you too it."

A.N. As the war isn't over yet, and won't be until a month after Hana's fourth birthday, Kaito is understandably concerned about Hana, whom he sees as his exceptionally bright daughter being pushed to become another genius to throw onto the front lines. Konoha produces and breaks many of its geniuses, even though the most infamous example, Itachi, has not yet come about.

Special shout out to CarlyPanda and Shy911 for leaving a review. I'm happy to know you like it!

Thank you everyone who favorited and followed. I'm glad to see that you're excited about my little project.

Let's keep moving forwards.

~Tavina