"The reason I talk to myself is because I'm the only one whose answers I accept."

George Carlin

Life is a mainstream topic yet it is the most important one. People often go to church or consult others about its meaning, but so far only a portion of the world knows its value. It is a series of know-hows and how-tos, and up until now the masses refuse to understand the truth in front of their eyes. The answer is obvious.

Life is valuable because of death.

The stages are clear to someone who has reached the end of life: infancy, toddler years, pre-school, primary, intermediate, high school, university, jobs – the next stage depends on the particular individual. For Ayame, she was stuck with her job until death. Is there a possibility that this time, it would change? The girl barely glanced at the huge building in front of her as she watched Kakashi enter the gates and dismissed the thought.

To say the least, the place was packed. Ayame dimly recalled her primary days. This time she would experience the catastrophe again. It was a pain, but she knew better than to voice her thoughts out loud. Those around her might change moods and she was not ready to deal with the fury of their parents after school. Clicking her tongue, she listened to the bustling crowd and felt a weird sensation.

After being reborn, her thoughts on school changed. Ayame did not show any signs, but the growing dislike may overcome her, so she slowly shook her head.

Children from civilian backgrounds were happily discussing their futures while the clan kids were silent, probably hoping for the best. Kakashi noticed that the girl beside him disappeared. He slowly looked back and found the purple-haired child standing alone – not moving. She was mostly silent, but Kakashi hazily knew her line of thought.

The boy was so distracted that he failed to notice the two people behind him. It was Ayame's time to transfer her gaze on the silver-haired chibi. She saw a well-built man with high cheekbones and a large nose. Beside him was a dark-haired boy with unusually thick eyebrows that she had never seen before. She slowly made his way beside her brother and raised her head to look at the odd pair before them.

Both of them were wearing matching outfits with a terribly bright scarf around their necks. Their outfits were absurd to a certain extent. 'At least my eyes don't hurt because of their outfits,' she could not help but think. The two were obviously father and son. Ayame then glanced at Kakashi and realized he was thinking about his father, Sakumo, who was currently absent because of a last-minute mission.

"Is that your friend, Kakashi?" she asked and gave the bushy-browed boy a brief look. "Maybe you'll be classmates inside the academy."

Ayame called his name casually since Sakumo had given up forcing them to call each other onii-san and imouto, after realising it was impossible without anyone getting hurt.

"Ah, that's impossible," the well-built man with a moustache replied good-naturedly.

The Kurosawa girl heard Kakashi scoff and cross his arms. "Impossible," he responded with ridicule, which made Ayame raise her eyebrows slightly. "You see, this boy flunked the academy entrance exam."

The aforementioned boy failed epically at both ninjutsu and genjutsu. Although his talents at the two subjects were severely lacking, his prowess at taijutsu was one in a million. Ayame did not react to Kakashi's words in the slightest. The genius chibi was only telling the truth but it came out incredibly rude. It caused the boy in front of them to frown.

"He can't even do ninjutsu. What the heck is he thinking?" Kakashi clicked his tongue, a hint of derision in his tone.

"But you don't deny that he is your friend?" She felt the silver-haired boy beside him stiffen and Ayame smiled under the cloth covering her face.

Living with the Hatakes had given her access to their daily life. Surprisingly Might Duy, even with his lack of chakra, managed to become a chūnin. It went against what she learned from the canon but it made her wonder how he did it. The 'Eternal Genin' had unpredictably advanced a rank. From what Ayame heard from the White Fang, Sakumo had met Duy at the market.

The masked boy frowned and in some way, considered his sister's words. Kakashi's father befriended Guy's dad; that was the reason the two boys knew each other beforehand. Despite his father's urging to beware and treat the bushy-browed boy as his rival, he could not think of it as a possibility.

"I AM THANKFUL THAT MY ETERNAL RIVAL THINKS OF ME AS SUCH!" Might Guy suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs. The crowd of parents and children transferred their attention to them. "AND AGAIN ETERNAL RIVAL! THANK YOU FOR CHEERING ME ON!"

Might Duy smiled at his son and bid farewell after a few moments of silence. Kakashi was dumbstruck by Guy's words. The silver-haired genius never aimed to make the other boy feel negative or upset. What he wanted to tell Might Guy was that his efforts would never be enough. But he never expected the other to still feel enthusiastic.

Ayame bobbed her head to the right as she watched the figures of the father and son disappear into the crowd.

"You know, Ayame-chan, when I first saw you I thought your eyes were stunning," Shiranui Genma drawled out with newfound interest.

Ayame spared him no attention and continued to eat her packed lunch. "If I must tell you, Shiranui-senpai, your peers are currently glaring daggers at me. I'm afraid I will be dead by the end of the week if you continue to bond with your kōhais." The Kurosawa girl wanted to hear none of Genma's nonsense since it was giving her headache.

It was the end of the month, the fourth week after Ayame entered the academy. She was seated in a circle with her acquaintances in the academy. The group consisted of Hatake Kakashi, Yūhi Kurenai, Sarutobi Asuma and Morino Ibiki. Most of them were in the same class except Kurenai, who was in the room beside them. The Kurosawa child was thankful to find another girl who could last against the group of rowdy boys, but nevertheless regretted that the red-eyed girl was not her classmate.

Kurenai could only accompany them during lunch since their schedules largely differed. Kurenai's class was mostly composed of children that came from shinobi parents and civilian kids with no background while Kakashi and Ayame belonged to the group that was mostly composed of clan kids and a few intelligent civilians. Ayame's schedule was also aligned with the other clan children that were her upper class-men. If she had to guess, the clan kids and civilian-born children were prevented from interacting due to some of the clans' prejudice.

Conversely, Shiranui Genma was a few years older than them and had taken quite a liking to their group. He entered the Academy 2 years ago with his friend Namiashi Raidō, who was also sitting alongside them with a calm face. Genma's physical appearance, in simple terms, was handsome. In fact, he had gathered a large fan-base inside Konoha Academy. He had not even hit puberty and yet, women of various ages were fond of him. They even assaulted Ayame every time she was alone because Genma voiced his interest in her.

Though Ayame was not bothered by their incessant chattering whenever she happened to pass by, it was nevertheless troublesome since she was alone most of the time after lunch.

Kakashi and the others found the idea of skipping school fun. Being an adult inside a child's body, the thought of skipping now felt like an arduous task, so she rejected Asuma's invitation and stayed in the Academy. The fan-girls thought it was their chance to teach her a lesson, so every now and then they would try to rile her up through insults.

For the former businesswoman, the jeers were nothing and fighting with them meant stooping to their level. Ayame would not even fight back, given that young children were entitled to their belief. It would be a difficult task to correct them once they went astray.

Furthermore, the idea of a 38-year-old former entrepreneur fighting with children way younger than her was making her shudder. She could use the psychological trick that she had often used on her former workers to intimidate them. Perhaps she could persuade them with the skills she mastered by convincing other companies to invest in them.

Ayame realized it would be better if she just ignored the fan-girls – adults were just at an arm's reach. If she was harmed, she could scream out loud. Screaming for help would be a little bit out of character but effective nonetheless.

Genma was indifferent and flipped the senbon in his mouth. "But Ayame-chaaaan, don't you think it's too unfair on my kōhais if we refused to bond with you? On the other hand," he bit the needle in his mouth and continued, "most of the people that have the intent to kill you are Kakashi's fangirls. What's the harm in adding my admirers?"

It was not surprising that Kakashi had also managed to form his 'fan-club' in the Academy. The only problem was most of them were crazed fangirls that would assault any girl that would come near him – even his foster sister was not excluded. They also claimed that the chibi was so cool and handsome that it made Ayame look at them with annoyance. They could praise him all day long and she could not care less, but they had started to piss her off with their lies and rubbish.

"Maybe you should mind your own business and stop bothering us," Kurenai demanded as she noisily smashed her lunch box on the ground. She smiled menacingly. She was tired of being the only one with the guts and willpower to repel the senbon-eating boy – everyone could see that. Even Asuma, who was beside her, gave Genma an intimidating look. But she had no choice but to save her only girl-friend since most of the boys were not bothered.

Asuma made sure to add some advice. "Kurenai-chan's right, you should also try and avoid coming back here."

"Look."

Everyone directed their attention to Raidō who spoke for the first time. He was silent all the time so Kurenai could only direct her ire at Genma. Ayame had appreciated Raido's silence and mentally noted him as an acquaintance.

"I apologize for Genma-kun's pushiness. However, we have a little problem with our age group." Raidō's eyes land on the other side of the playground where his classmates were. The group guessed they were the reason they continued to stick with them like a leech.

Kakashi, finished with his lunch, finally decided to intervene. "Your problem is your problem. You don't have to drag us into it." The boy hated people that could not solve their own problems, especially those who would ask for help even if they could do it themselves.

Ibiki nodded and pointed his chopsticks at Genma. "You need to solve your problems yourselves."

"But maybe we should listen first," Kurenai recommended, her eyes waiting for Ayame's disapproval. She sighed when Ayame showed no sign and carefully observed her two upperclassmen.

"You should really decide what you want, Kurenai-chan," the silver-haired boy advised her with sarcasm.

Asuma immediately replied, "Maybe we should actually listen to them."

"You too, Asuma-kun."

The group was silent. Everybody was contemplating on whether they should listen to the boys or not. Ayame had no opinion on the predicament but she knew the group would soon have no choice on the matter but to agree. After all, Shiranui Genma and Namiashi Raidō would never leave their group unless they got they wanted.

"We should listen," she announced. Ayame was aware that their lunch break would end soon so they needed to make an abrupt decision. In the worst case scenario, they would abandon the two boys. It was easy since they were children. Choices were available.

Genma removed the senbon in his mouth and spoke, "The truth is we have limited options in choosing our circle of friends. When you narrow it down, the only group left is this one."

In a nutshell, the two could only bother their group given that they did not have much choice.

Ayame could now see the problem. In their year, clan kids tended to stick together. Since Genma and Raidō were technically civilians because they still needed to graduate, they could not join the group of children who have ninja parents. Even if they had shinobi parents, they could not bond with children with the same familial background. It was because of Genma's fangirls who were surprisingly flexible. The boy could not find a group that he could be friends with because most of the girls in his year have a crush on him. It was a pain in the ass, and Shiranui Genma would choose his kōhais over being flooded by his over-affectionate fans.

The group heard the academy instructor call their section and prepared to leave. Kurenai told them that they should continue discussing tomorrow to which Kakashi replied that Ayame and himself could not because during weekends they train at home. The Kurosawa girl then added that she would tell Kurenai her decision while Kakashi would tell Ibiki. Genma and Raidō were satisfied and left.

Kurenai and Asuma went back first. Ayame found herself alone with Ibiki after Kakashi dashed inside the building. They glanced at each other but neither of them spoke. Morino Ibiki knew Ayame was not fond of talking but he was never the one to initiate a conversation unless necessary. They were not that close either, even though they were in the same group. They had never talked. The boy decided to enter the Academy first, leaving the purple-haired girl by herself.

Ayame's light grey eyes observed the surroundings to a group that was happily playing to another. She saw Guy's figure dashing around the academy grounds upside down, using his hands instead of his feet. Might Guy was reconsidered and placed in the same section with Yūhi Kurenai. Kurenai had complained about the boy's enthusiasm so many times that Kakashi could only snort.

Ayame faintly recalled these minor things in the canon and she had tried her best to remember the major arcs.

Ayame sighed and followed Ibiki's fading figure as he entered the academy doors.

"What did you just say?! You and Kakashi are advancing another grade?!" Yūhi Kurenai was not the type of girl that easily lost composure, but after hearing what her Ayame told them she could not help but react strongly.

Asuma, on the other hand, was not that shocked since he knew the two were bound to leave them. Seeing how decisive and quick-witted the girl was and how talented Kakashi was in everything, it was easy to understand. The siblings were out of their league – advancing another grade was an easy matter. Nevertheless, he was still surprised since it had only been a month since they entered the academy.

Ibiki and Raidō widened their eyes a little. Genma's reaction was quite extreme; he screamed with an 'HAAAAAA?!' after hearing the news. After the group had accepted Genma and Raidō, the two became quite comfortable with the team.

The group were alone in the Konoha playground. It was afternoon and most of the children their age had gone home, others were visiting friends. Ayame was forced by Kurenai to meet on the weekend. She was dragged out of the house by Asuma. Kakashi was only present because he was without a training partner and Sakumo was yet to return.

"Apparently, the tests Ayame and I took at the end of the month were to identify which children were eligible to advance," Kakashi helpfully supplied while Kurenai was choking the Kurosawa girl. "Kyoko-sensei gave us an advanced test. From the looks of it, they carefully observed each academy student, and decided which children pass."

Kurenai finally freed Ayame from her clutches and heaved a deep sigh. "I finally found a friend who's not noisy and now you're leaving me?" She gave Ayame a disappointed look and continued, "If the results were not obvious I would definitely disagree. But even I, from the other section, have heard you were doing incredibly."

"Incredibly?" Ibiki asked.

Genma flipped the senbon in his mouth. "Now that I think about it, I heard Ayame and Kakashi are the top students in your batch. I heard they perfected every exam, defeated everyone in taijutsu and have an excellent aptitude for ninjutsu. Don't tell me..."

"What is it?" Ayame gave Genma a questioning stare. It also piqued Kakashi's interest, so he turned to look.

"You and Kakashi are not human?"

"That's the best you can come up with?" The silver-haired boy continued to play with his wooden sword.

Asuma sighed loudly, "Genma-senpai, you really arrive at strange conclusions."

The tests were created by the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama, to identify the children who can immediately help during the war. Since Konohagakure was newly founded, the village's power was lacking even with the aid of large clans. As a final option, they decided to rely on the academy to produce as many graduate as possible to add to the fighting force.

There was even a change of rules during the war. In peacetime, Academy students should graduate aged 11 at least. But when there was war, it was reduced to 9 years old and could be much lower if a talent could become a shinobi fast.

Ayame was already an adult. She had already taken subjects like arithmetic in her previous life. She would be ashamed of herself if she could not do elementary math. The only subjects that she had expended effort to were taijutsu and ninjutsu. With the help of the narcissist Kakashi, she managed to easily defeat all the kunoichi in her year.

Kakashi halted his movements and faced the group. "Anyway, we are not that perfect."

"Can't believe that came from you," Ibiki scoffed. He grabbed some dirt and threw it on Kakashi who quickly dodged.

Ayame brushed the invisible dust from her mask and clothes. "Kakashi really hates even the thought of tempura," she told them out of the blue which earned a glare from Kakashi.

"Eh?" Asuma's jaw dropped. "But last time the tempura was not that awful, was it?"

"Well, I'm certain it's not because of my cooking," Ayame flaunted. She smirked behind her mask.

Since Ayame dealt with most of the household chores, every time she cooked she avoided cooking what Sakumo and Kakashi disliked. Sakumo was not that fond of eggs but he loved stir-fried vegetables while Kakashi hated tempura and preferred anything with eggplants or fish.

Raidō stopped nibbling his crackers and raised his head. "Huh," he spoke absentmindedly, "I did not know that you could cook."

Genma raised his eyebrow. "You've been eating her cooking for the past week and yet you still don't know?"

Kurenai rolled her red eyes and muttered, "Glutton."

Raidō did not plan to hide it but ever since they started offering him lunches, he could not stop eating. Until now he never figured out who was cooking their lunch and shamelessly ate everything. After a week, the group decided to stop the boy from his relentless binge eating. To prevent withdrawal symptoms, they gave him bland crackers to satiate his hunger.

Genma could already feel his head hurting while he observed his friend bite his cracker little by little.

In Ayame's case, the Hatakes was used to her cooking at home so when it came to lunchboxes, she was required to prepare it every day. She had no qualms. To share her burden, Kurenai volunteered to bring the rice and Asuma claimed to be the one who was in charge of drinks. Ibiki was the one who would do the washing.

With the addition of Genma and Raidō, there was the contribution of raw vegetables.

"Yeah, I don't like tempura. What of it?" Kakashi could not understand why people like the taste of it. For him, it was horrible – much worse than eating a bitter dango. "At least I can do kenjutsu, idiot."

The Kurosawa girl's eye twitched. Before entering the academy, Sakumo tried his best to train her in kenjutsu, the Hatake Clan's specialty, but no matter how hard Ayame tried, the sword in her hand had not felt like an extension of her arm. The White Fang dropped the matter altogether when Kakashi started harassing her because of her lack of talent. So when Kakashi was training his kenjutsu, she would train her chakra control and secretly practice her medic ninjutsu.

It was a good thing that their truce would last for a year or Ayame would really beat the hell out of Kakashi.

Kurenai saw that she was irritated and was amused at how the siblings could aggravate each other in such a short time. Every one of them knew how collected Ayame was and how Kakashi could fight in a verbal battle without breaking a sweat. But the two of them were like opposite poles.

"Well, we all have that one subject we are weak at." Kurenai patted her shoulder for comfort.

Kakashi held the base of the wooden sword tighter and threw it between Kurenai and his foster sister. "Sadly, I'm not weak at anything."

"HEY!" Kurenai and Asuma shouted in unison as they followed the direction of the sword.

It was about to hit Ayame's face when she easily grabbed the hilt of the sword with her left hand and threw it back. "Jack of all trades, master of none," Ayame replied as if implying something.

"Do you want to fight?" the silver-haired chibi said with furrowed brows.

"Do I?"

Ibiki fell into deep thought and realized they should stop the Saturday meetings; the two siblings loved to fight outside the academy after all.

"So…" Kurenai felt awkward. She appreciated bonding with the younger girl but Ayame had grabbed her without warning and dragged her to Konoha's marketplace. "Where are we going?"

"Ramen Ichiraku," the purple-haired girl answered, "The owner gave me four stubs for free ramen since they've only been opened for a year. Thought it was a nice deal and agreed in exchange for my place in line at the dango shop."

The dango shop across the Hatake house usually had a long line. Ayame had no problem lining up since her house was close. She would have willingly given her place in line for the man, even without a stub. But free food should not be rejected so she accepted the ramen. In any case, Ramen Ichiraku had given her a deep impression after she watched the series.

"You already asked Kakashi, didn't you? Why did you have to drag me along too?" Kurenai was not unwilling and she did not dislike ramen, she just always had a hard time finishing a bowl of it. She knew Ayame did not like wasting food and if the girl saw her unfinished bowl, she would probably look at her with contempt.

"I gave one to Kakashi and Sakumo-san, now I have two. So I thought of you," Ayame informed her without much concern as she adjusted the mask on her face. She felt uncomfortable; the edges of the metal weights Sakumo had given her four months ago were scraping her skin.

The White Fang, after he took her in, immediately noticed the hidden weights on her feet. It was regular iron that she used in the Academy (rather she never removed it). It helped her train her growing muscles. At first, Sakumo asked some questions on where she obtained it, but she successfully deflected them. Instead, the silver-haired jōnin suggested that she should replace it with regular shinobi weights.

Kurenai noticed that the purple-haired girl fell into deep thought. She kept quiet and waited until Ayame had finished thinking.

"We're here," Ayame whispered. She didn't even need to lift the pieces of cloth that were hanging in front of the shop. With the words Rāmen Ichiraku syllable by syllable on each sign, it gave an impression of being hospitable.

The red-eyed girl followed her inside. The place was silent; only the sound of banging pans and sizzling ingredients could be heard. There was chomping and loud munching that made Kurenai turn to look at the counter, where a teenager under 15 was noisily eating with gusto. She observed the teen that had a slender but feminine build and red hair.

Ayame glanced at the counter. With one look, she knew the one slurping was Uzumaki Kushina. The young lady was known by the name Akai Chishio no Habanero (赤い血潮のハバネロ) or Red-Hot Habanero. In her younger years, she proclaimed that she would be the first female Hokage that made the other kids laugh and mock her. She – being hot-headed as she was – retaliated with her red hair flying wildly, causing her to be called by that nickname.

"Isn't she eating too loudly?" Kurenai whispered. The girl was bothered by how the Uzumaki loudly slurped and ate without any sign of gracefulness. She was raised in a too feminine household for Ayame's taste. That was why when she was around Yūhi Kurenai, she could not help but be careful of her movements.

Ayame decided to warn her friend. "Try not to criticize her next time when you're around her." Without even closing her eyes, she could imagine Kushina's flying red hair and her angry face, coupled with the bijū inside her. Goosebumps appeared on her skin.

"Huh, are you afraid or something?"

Right then and there, Ayame wanted to smack the future genjutsu master on the face, even if it means making her an enemy. She was not afraid of her; rather the powerhouse chakra monster inside her. "Have you ever heard of the Red-Hot Habanero?"

Kurenai furrowed her brows as she sat beside the red-haired lady. Ayame sat next to her without missing a beat. "Ah, you mean the Red-Hot Habanero? The scary old lady they say that will terrify you in your dreams. The –" she stopped speaking and realized what the younger girl meant, "—you mean I am sitting beside the Akai Chishio no Habanero?!"

"Hoy, I can hear you, 'ttebane. I'm not scary and more importantly –" Kushina paused and silently placed her finished bowl on the counter as she faced Kurenai, "—I'm not old."

In Kurenai's surprise, the Uzumaki admitted to being the Red-Hot Habanero a little too willingly. Seeing that the red-head was not an old lady shocked her even more. It was not a secret that the name Akai Chishio no Habanero spread like wildfire. Parents used it to scare their children when they did bad things. It even spread to the point where other countries treated the owner of the nickname as a horrifying ghost with ugly features.

The young girls knew it was false after seeing the lady herself. Uzumaki Kushina was in her teens – obviously – and she was a beauty. Her waist-length hair was flowing as if it was alive and her violet eyes were shining. Branding her ugly was insulting everyone who had average looks and calling her old meant that Ayame and Kurenai were older than they appeared to be.

Teuchi finally noticed the arrival of the two children and welcomed them with a laugh. "Ayame-chan, you're finally here! Is that your friend?" His slit of an eye darted from the Kurosawa girl to Kurenai.

"Eh? Teuchi-san, you know these two?" Kushina's eyes widened a little as she glanced between the two parties. She had not forgotten how the child with red-eyes called her old. But Teuchi was a good judge of character, and it meant that the two outspoken children were not that bad.

"Not really," the old man replied. "I only know Ayame-chan. She was the one I told you that gave me her place in line at the dango shop."

A flash of recognition passed before the Uzumaki's eyes. She glanced at the purple-haired girl. One look at her movements and Kushina knew that Ayame was a student in the academy. Ayame, on the other hand, could feel the red-head's eyes and decided to let it be. The lady was obviously a jōnin with her wearing the standard flak jacket.

Kushina smiled at the two girls. "Nice to meet you two, 'ttebane! I'm Uzumaki Kushina!" Kurenai could not help but cringe at her energetic voice.

"Nice to meet you, I am Yūhi Kurenai."

After Kurenai's introduction, the purple-haired girl followed. "I'm Kurosawa Ayame."

From Ayame's blurry memories, she realized that the enthusiastic Uzumaki would die in the future. A strange emotion enveloped her heart as she averted her eyes from the future mother of Uzumaki Naruto.