"Real sign of intelligence isn't knowledge, it's imagination."

Albert Einstein

Kurosawa Ayame.

Now an orphan and living on the outskirts of Konohagakure. Living this life and owning the name Ayame, nothing had changed. I was part of the now non-existent Kurosawa Clan, a clan that had declined after the First Shinobi War. This particular clan was small compared to the Uchihas and Senjus during the Warring States Period — the period where dead bodies can be seen like clothes in shopping malls. Surviving this period was enough of an achievement, so no one was surprised when the Kurosawa Clan decided to free their members and live inside the villages.

One of those members who chose to live under the roof of the Leaf was my Grandfather, along with my parents, who were engaged back then. They had appeared to be an average couple with above-average looks, but there was more to them than met the eye. Like any other clan, we had our rules and policies, and Kurosawa Clan once promoted marrying one's own bloodline to preserve their well-known asset.

Beauty.

Father and Mother were siblings, not a surprise after I learned that my Clan chose to marry someone with their own bloodline. I deeply thought about it, and I am not that astonished that our numbers slowly decreased. As a Kurosawa, I am glad to have no problems genetically, having some limbs missing is inconvenient after all. There's bound to be a problem in the genes with how they manage marriage.

Based on what Mother told me when I was an infant, Kurosawa Clan deals with seduction, spying, and assassination. A fact that was never a wonder, in tactical battles you could only use someone's beauty as such. Surprisingly, Mother was also adept at carrying assassination and was drafted to Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai (ANBU) along with my father who specializes in seduction, a truly weird combination.

Knowing that they were ANBU did not actually provide me all the information I needed after I was born, it was those three sculpted faces on the mountain that revealed where I was located. The mountain was like Mount Rushmore, since the faces were sculpted skillfully. The owner of the first face was Senju Hashirama, the First Hokage. The owner of the second face was Senju Tobirama, Hashirama's brother and the Second Hokage. The owner of the third and last face was Hiruzen Sarutobi, Tobirama's student.

Lo and behold, I was in the story I had watched and faithfully read, Naruto.

A story about a blond — overpowered — protagonist who loves to wear orange jumpsuits. In a nutshell, the main character practically defeated every antagonist and at the same time, found and fought his best friend, one of the villains.

It was part of my job to know what kind of entertainments 'in' and what kinds were 'out'. I stumbled upon Japanese entertainment by chance, where anime is really popular. Of course, with my curiosity, I decided to watch a few famous animes. My interest was piqued after watching Naruto, that I even read its manga. It was a short break from all the exhaustion that piled up while I was working. It was a small prize for my hard work.

In the canon, in the first part, four faces were sculpted on the mountain. The owner of the missing face was Namikaze Minato, Uzumaki Naruto's father. Just by looking at the face I immediately determined at what part of the timeline I was. Certainly, I was born before Minato became the Hokage; a part that was not that discussed in canon.

At the age of two and a half, both of my parents died in a mission. Others might think that being a Jonin means you are powerful enough to protect yourself. Apparently, the idea is far from being true. I do not know the specifics of my parent's death, but I know they were killed by some Iwa-nin on the borders. The management of the orphanage did not tell me the whole story since, from what I see, they do not have the information themselves. They were probably killed in action as ANBU, so even their bodies did not return.

I was inside the office of the shelter when they had delivered the news: Both of my parents died and their bodies were not retrieved. At that time, I did not know what to feel for they were not exactly my real parents, but the memories I experienced with them was still extremely vivid. After my rebirth, I knew everybody has to die at some point — but that did not stop me from mourning their passing.

In my previous life, I was a businesswoman who almost worked herself to death (Scratch that, I worked myself to death). I did everything I could do to make my business flourish, from personally visiting other companies to staying up all night, I had experienced it all. Unluckily by the age of 38, I obtained cancer of the blood most commonly known as Leukemia. I exhausted all my savings from the treatments and in the end, died because of the disease.

I didn't have a family and never decided to make one, so no one was there to mourn except for a few friends and my foster parents. I was in the prime of my youth where I dreamt high. I was only focused on my goals and dedicated my whole heart to it. Maybe it's because of my past that's why I have a distorted sense of 'family'. I was an infant when my biological mother left me to die in the sewers and a couple, who then and there, decided to adopt me when they passed by.

I was raised in a middle-class household and was educated, and my parents did not hide the fact that I was not their own. Nonetheless, I treated mom and dad as my family but the invisible wall that was separating us couldn't be more obvious. I rarely talked at home but in return, I excelled in my studies. After college, I paid what I owed to my dad and mom who, by that time, decided to retire.

I was at the peak of my profession at the age of 38; business was booming. I managed an entertainment company where everybody was at each other's throat and the media couldn't stop gossiping. It was a difficult ordeal, handling talents and fighting other entertainment companies at the same time it was an experience I do not want to repeat. Moreover, the mouth of the masses was a thing that was hard to stop and it became much worse when social media became a trend.

It seems the fortune teller had lied. My future was perfectly laid out, it was like a tv drama where all I need to do every time was to act pitiable.

I pursed my lips and focused on what I am doing since currently, I am deep inside the woods. Dangers lurked everywhere and if my mind wandered even just for a little bit, my life would be in peril.

Closing my eyes for a bit as I inhaled slowly, I can feel a familiar sensation under my stomach. I guided it through the various tenketsu on my body until it reached my hand where it gradually produced a physical form. My eyes narrowed as I see the familiar purple ball of energy.

Chakra.

Chakra is a form of energy that exists in all human beings, of course, it only applies in the Naruto universe. It is produced by chakra coils which are located near the dantian, under the stomach. Chakra can be formed when two types of energy are molded together. Those two specifically are spiritual and physical energy. Based on what I recall, spiritual is derived from the mind's consciousness and can be amplified in the course of continuous studying, meditation, and experience. Since I have the memories of my past life, the spiritual part was easy.

Physical energy, on the other hand, is gathered from each and every one of the body's cells and can be improved through training, stimulants, and exercise. This is where the problem lies, right now I am three-years-old. The exercises that I should take should be the ones that will not hinder my current body's growth. Lifting weights or putting them on my waist and arms are out of the question, however, the hidden weights on my feet will do.

I successfully produced chakra two months ago, an achievement I deliberately kept hidden from the watchful eyes of the orphan's designated caretakers. Now I am outside the orphanage, running around the forest to increase my stamina and promote my growth. I carefully tied my purple hair in a bun while the loose clothes, I stole from one of the caretakers, were used as a change while I train. Those adult's security is quite lax, that is the reason why I can run around the woods.

Adjusting the cloth that covered my face, my breathing became ragged as I increased my speed. Mother specifically instructed me to cover my face at all times; she told me it is to prevent the slavers from harboring bad intentions on my small body. Leaving such instructions for a two-year-old, I do not know if she knew what she was doing or maybe it was just on a whim. But I promised myself to follow my mother's wishes; she was right after all.

Slowing down a little and halting my footsteps after I raised my eyes to stare at the full moon. Namikaze Minato is still not famous, I realized after asking a few adults, and the Third Shinobi War appeared to be a little distant after finding out the situation. The leaves rustled as the wind blew, my hair fluttered while my gaze landed in front of me. 'I should go home.' I thought, realizing they might discover my missing presence in our sleeping quarters.

I have yet to see the other characters in this shounen anime, after all I am quite far from the center of Konoha. Thankfully, I could entertain myself by training my body and by watching clashes among little children. To be frank, I was well received in the orphanage, it's just that talking to others meant opening my mouth; so I do not try to create social interactions. I was at the age of three and yet I struggled to speak Japanese unlike my peers. I could only manage a few words when speaking to myself loudly, much more conversing to others. I place the blame on how a child's body develop and my over-occupied brain.

Since I was used to speaking and talking in English, learning to speak in Japanese in the span of three years with only the basics was hard.

I was always inside the shelter's library that only contained children's book. I was lucky I had read many books in my past life, so my sanity was still intact and never deteriorated in that of a child's. On the positive side, reading books for children helped me improve my Japanese.

Huffing and scraping the mud off my slippers on the stairs, that only had two steps, I quietly entered the orphanage. The quiet hallway greeted me after I passed through the door, not even bothering on using my stealth skills, I made my way to my room. After entering, four children were already there, two of them were loudly snoring while I could not be troubled by the other two.

I sat in the corner while I contemplated, the children at the orphanage will be sent to the Konohagakure Academy after reaching the age six, where they will train talents to become a ninja. While looking at the old walls decorated with mismatched wallpapers, I smirked as I mentally praised the higher ups of the Leaf on how skilled they are at brainwashing talents. Children can be easily controlled, after all making them believe that the will of fire burns in all of us is a piece of cake. And that's only the first step on making cold-blooded killers, to make them believe that it is alright killing people that do not share the same interests with you.

The second step was easy to predict, it is to train them of course. It was like the entertainment industry, where you scout and filter talents. As a veteran, just by seeing their skills and talking to them once, I knew who would rise to fame and who would be in the headlines of a tabloid because of a scandal. I had encountered all sorts of people, you need keen eyes to see who has good intentions or not.

Subsequently, those who do not have an aptitude to be a ninja were advised to study in a commoner's school. They will learn math, science, literature and etcetera. From then on orphans will live a normal life, create a family then die peacefully. Unlike those orphans who successfully became Genins, some of them died after getting killed on their first C-rank mission from what I've heard.

The days continued, my everyday routine is to run in the morning and practice stances, katas, and forms. Then I will eat lunch and will stay inside the library for a while until dinner, after eating I would wait for the people to sleep and I will jog, practice stances, katas, and forms. After eight months inside the orphanage, I could say that I am satisfied with my improvement.

I am observant and watched my shinobi parents train outside. They usually place me near them and was allowed to roam freely when I could crawl because, from what they said, I was obedient. It was not hard on my part seeing as they deliberately slowed down their movement for me to see. Maybe they think I was entertained so they did that on purpose.

Perhaps they had a different reason, but only god knew.

On the topic of learning how to control chakra, I am progressing quite fast in my opinion. In any case, I do not have anyone to compare my skills with so accurately gauging it is not possible. By chance, while I was in an infancy state and could move about, I stumbled into our house's secret passage where an astonishing number of scrolls were hidden. Medical information was written in all of them, and it had taken me months to understand it. It was of no big deal given that when I was managing my business, I needed to comprehend a folder full of numbers at once. Missing a single digit could be the end of my company so I was a quick thinker. Being pressured is a part of my life, I was used to cramming information in my brain ever since I stepped into college.

Gaining understanding in medicine was not that hard this time since I had read some medical books in my past life. But the consequences had shown its face just after I crammed the knowledge in my brain, my small body decided to shut down and sleep continuously for hours. On the contrary, my parents were not that fond of me sleeping all day, though it is the only way to understand those scrolls rapidly. As a punishment I was forced to interact with my neighbors after that. Fortunately, my vocal chords were not that competent yet and I could only gurgle words, greeting other people was even more impossible.

"Ayame-chaaaaan!"

I had the urge to hide in a matter of second as a brown haired boy came running my way, his large eyes formed slits because he was grinning stupidly. Since his height that did not exceed a meter, I was unexpectedly towered by his figure after he stopped before me. The boy's hand was constantly waving in front of my face as if I could not see him enough.

I rolled my eyes while I observed his dirtied face, dust and soil covered his clothes while he gave me a beaming smile. I studied the place I happen to end up with, I tried to find a clean seat where I could rest. I saw a stone bench at the corner of my sight, no one was bothered to use it since children do not like sitting — they love to play around.

The boy followed me like a puppy as I began to onto the stone bench, suddenly, two hands appeared on my waist supporting my body. It lifted me and I successfully sat atop the seat. I murmured a 'thank you' and exhaled.

My lips formed a line as I glance at the boy. "Toshiyuki-kun?" I replied coldly.

Despite my desire to call him by his surname, I cannot do it since he was found in a dark alley and did not know who his parents were. It was an ordinary scenario for the orphanage; for most of the children do not have family names. The first time I arrived here, Toshiyuki was the one who welcomed me with enthusiasm. The other children were also enthusiastic but did not dare to approach a newcomer who's suspiciously wearing a cloth over her face.

"Ano…" Toshiyuki trailed off while scratching the back of his head, his messy hair swayed as he raised his head in an instant after looking down for so long. "Why don't you play with us?"

"Grateful for the offer—" I said with my limited vocabulary as I crossed my arms and continued, his eyes sparkled with hope, "—but no."

Toshiyuki's hope was extinguished in an instant before he tried to negotiate with me. "But you haven't played with us since you came here, Ayame-chan!"

All he said was the truth, I've never tried to talk to anyone nor play with anyone. Being 38 years old in this totally unfamiliar world was already hard enough. Forcing me to converse with children is raising the difficulty by another notch. Sighing deep inside, I tried to talk my way out of it.

"Toshiyuki-kun. I cannot, please." My words were short but they delivered my thoughts fairly well.

I jumped off the bench and walked away from him, and despite my expectations, the boy did not follow me and instead continued to watch me from a distance. Toshiyuki is already five years old, next school year, the staff will recommend him to attend the Academy and train to be a ninja. It's a logical decision, for he has the right qualifications. Though, I worry he won't survive being kind hearted and all.

'I need to go to the Academy as soon as possible.' I pondered as I found myself entering the forest again. 'I need to know the situation immediately. Only then I can plan and control things.'

Respectfully bowing and guiding the man wearing a customary hat and haori with a red, full-length kimono that was tied with a white sash, the caretaker could not help but feel a little nervous even though it was not their first time meeting. The pipe the man was holding in front of him would release smoke once in awhile.

"Welcome, Hokage-sama." The caretaker respectfully bowed, his smile was a little tight for he did not know what reason why the Hokage had arrived unexpectedly. Beside the Hokage were two Jonins wearing flak jackets, their aura was imposing making the caretaker have a sudden urge to bow down and worship.

The Jonin woman beside the Hokage glanced at the caretaker which caused him to shiver, while the other was man with striking silver hair who smiled warmly at him. Narrowing his eyes for a while, he felt that the silver-haired man was familiar.

'Isn't he the famous Konoha's White Fang?!' The caretaker widened his eyes and forced himself to calm down. 'Hatake Sakumo is here! I must ask for his signature after this!' He thought forgetting the one the White Fang is guarding has a higher military achievement.

The man tried his best to think of a reason for the appearance of the person who had the highest position in Leaf Village. Thinking hard, he thought that the last action they did that could probably attract the attention of the Hokage was the application forms they recently sent. They had just given the application of the orphans who are qualified to enter the Academy, one of them was the four-year-old Kurosawa Ayame, a genius they had never seen before. At the age of four, even though a child needed to be five or six years old to enter, they took a gamble and added her on the list. In any case, she acts as if she was already an adult so age did not matter.

The girl performed brilliantly and stays inside the orphanage's library on most days. The only negative side with her brilliance was how she refused to talk as well as join the other children. The nuns and caretakers inside the orphanage were starting to worry about the child. This kind of attitude will not gain her any friend and it might not take very long before she became a social outcast.

Ayame, in a nutshell, is popular among the adults in the orphanage. She followed the rules and was always calm, she never got into any kinds of fight and was always respectful. The staff was fond of her, she was easy to talk to. The only problem with her was that she was too young and cannot deliver her thoughts clearly. Her words were often composed of short three-word sentences when she needs to say something long. In any case, she could fluently speak the basics.

He debated if the girl was shy because she could not communicate or maybe there was another reason. 'Maybe she prefers to talk to older people.' The man concluded.

"Do not be nervous, I am only here to check on the children," the Hokage smiled as wrinkles appeared beside his eyes.

With the Hokage's reply, the caretaker breathed a sigh of relief. He guided the Hokage to the other side of the orphanage, where the children loved to gather after lunch time. The orphans were happily playing outside, some were full of dirt while others were rolling on the ground. But there is a child who stood out from the crowd. A girl with long purple hair was standing apart from the group of children.

The caretaker saw the Hokage's eye narrow while the White Fang, who was beside him, followed his gaze. The other Jonin remained indifferent and continued to observe the place. The Hokage moved forward as the caretaker nervously followed. He does not know what the Hokage wants, but he hoped he was just really visiting. After all, they were treating these children justly.

It's not the first time the Hokage visited but even them, the commoners, can feel the man's powerful strength just by standing beside him. The Hokage must be very busy, but he still visited the orphanage on the outskirts of Konoha. 'Maybe he needs something.' The caretaker mused.

The purple haired child saw them approaching. The caretaker secretly signaled her some hand signs and the child responded by having a flicker in her eyes. He could finally breathe a sigh of relief, it would be a large problem if the child showed misconduct because she does not know the man before her. Not that they have a problem handling her because she's a good child, on the contrary, she would be the least likely to cause mischief.

"Can I help you?" The man nodded, satisfied about the girl's respectful voice.

He cleared his throat to attract the attention of the guests and introduced the two parties. "Hokage-sama, this is one of our orphans," he said a little too stiffly that made his face turn red. "Ayame-chan, quick! Introduce yourself!" The caretaker whispered, and the child only blinked twice.

He thought that maybe he startled her and felt guilty for scaring the child.

Ayame, after careful deliberation faced the guests and spoke, "Good afternoon, my name is Kurosawa Ayame."