31-40

As Tomoka opened her eyes the first thing she saw was a pretty blue sky with white clouds. The fluffy things floated in the vast blue without a care in the world. Sometimes she wondered how comfy it would be to have a nap on them. She understood that clouds were just masses of condensated water but still, they looked so fluffy.

[Hey you, you are finally awake.]

That got a chuckle out of Tomoka. She recognized that line. An iconic meme that was still in use even after twenty years. She wondered if Kurama had read her memories or if it had been just a coincidence.

[What's so funny?] Looks to be the latter option. Tomoka spent some time explaining to Kurama about meme culture and that very meme. However, her mind was elsewhere as she did. Once she finished explaining an exhausted sigh escaped her lips.

"What am I even doing?" She felt tired, not physically tough, after all this is her mindscape. Grasslands going as far as the eye could see. With patches of different forests here and there. In the middle a gigantic lake with clear water. Floating about ten meters above the tranquil waters is a massive building.

Her mind's palace, the place that contained all her thoughts and memories. The Giant building looked like the love child between a stone castle and a wooden library. If one were to enter it they would find a maze of corridors and doors. She planned to fill the thing with Genjutsu traps for whoever tried to snoop around in her head. At the end of the maze a gigantic library containing thousands of books stood in all its glory.

[What do you mean]

"I almost died, Kurama. I almost died again"

[You looked fine, you even said you didn't care]

"Fake bravado, I was scared shitless. When I was using the static field jutsu I was in panic. I didn't want to die, so I went all out." Tomoka's mental body began deaging. From her usual twenty-five year old mental self to her four year old real self. The girl began sobbing softly in an attempt to hide it from the fox.

"It's so much fun here. I don't want it to end yet. I don't want to die" Rain began falling in the mindscape as the wind picked up speed. The usually calm lake had its waters disturbed by waves that grew bigger each moment that passed.

"I am an idiot, Kurama. I am only four years old! I could have died. Training and real combat is nothing alike. There was no need for me to go all out like that. What was I even thinking!"

As her rant continued Tomoka's tears flowed. Answering her unstable mind, the mindscape became more and more chaotic. Even the mind palace was creaking and groaning under the pressure.

Tomoka was really angry at herself. She had been a complete idiot, a dumbass, brain dead. She could have died. She repeated those words to herself over and over again. That is until a soft something curled around her. Warm and soft like the softest blanket she had ever come in contact with.

[I won't deny that you are an idiot. However, you won, you can learn from your mistakes and improve. It is okay to be scared of death, even I am scared of dying and I am effectively immortal. You are alive now and that's all that matters.]

Tomoka took a deep breath and tried to calm down. Opening her eyes again she saw one of Kurama's tails above her acting like a blanket while another worked as a pillow and mattress. The giant fox was looking elsewhere trying to exude disinterest in the current situation. Feeling a lot better and a little cheeky, Tomoka hugged Kurama's tail while rubbing her face on it.

"So soft" A content whisper scaped Tomoka's lips

[OI! what do you think you are…] Looking down Kurama saw the little four year old Tomoka cuddle up to his tail. Her soft breathing told him that Tomoka had fallen asleep again. A strange feeling he hadn't felt before bubbled up in his chest.

Deciding to allow it just this time a small smile appeared on the fox's face as he curled up to take a nap as well.

{I guess the twerp can be cute sometimes. Not that I will ever admit it}

Tomoka opened her eyes again. Pain shot through her pupils as they contracted rapidly due to the light. The next thing to assault her over sensitive senses was the strong smell of disinfectant and the annoying beeping of a machine.

"Ugh, this sucks. Guess I am in a hospital" With a groan Tomoka moved her sore body. Everything hurt, from her bones to her muscles, hell, even her very nerves hurt somehow. It felt as if all of the cells in her body were popping only to be rebuilt and pop again.

After a while the hypersensitivity subsided, though the soreness remained. Looking around, Tomoka saw a mostly empty room. To her left was a heart rate monitor, the source of the annoying beeping. To her right a big window let the early morning sunrays into her room.

Sighing Tomoka decided to check on her body. Last she knew she should have been burnt to an ugly child shaped coal. After moving this way and that as well as checking below her medical gown she came to the conclusion that she was fine.

The only thing that did catch her attention were the very faint scars in the shape of Lichtenberg figures all over her body. They were so faint she almost missed them. Releasing a sigh, Tomoka was thankful her body didn't just paint a bunch of black tattoo-like markings all over her body. Looking at her right arm that had those tattoo-like markings Tomoka couldn't help but smile wryly.

Letting her body fall again on the soft bed she began thinking about her actions. Why did she need to act in the first place? In cannon, Hinata was saved by her father. Yeah that led to a bunch of problems due to political bullshit but it's not her problem.

There is also the fact that she rushed things too much. She didn't need to beat Kumo-nin, buying time for someone else to come would have been the smart move. Lastly but also very important is the fact that she didn't use her air jutsus. Using wind bullets would have been very useful.

All in all, the adrenaline had blinded her. The fear of death had blinded her. In conclusion, she needed more training, but above that, she needed experience. She might be smart, inventive, and skilled. However, that did not remove the fact that this had been the very first time she had ever participated in a life and death battle.

That brought another point to Tomoka's mind. Raising her right hand to look at it she wondered about what she had done. She had taken a life and yet she felt calm. Her expectations and reality were worlds apart at the moment.

Tomoka wasn't dumb, she knew that being a shinobi would involve killing, a lot of it in fact. She expected to feel remorse or some such after her first kill and yet she was calm. There was no remorse, there was no guilt. There was no satisfaction either so at least she knew she wasn't a psycho.

The man might have had a family, ambitions and whatever else but she didn't care. For her, that guy was the same as every other person out there in the streets she did not know. Another face lost in the sea of people. All of them could die for all she cared and she wouldn't even look twice.

'I wonder if I am still human. I wonder if it is normal for a human to think like this. For that matter, what does it even mean to be human?' A philosophical question that had no real answer. Is a human defined by their genetic code? Or by their social interactions? Both? or perhaps something else.

[Who cares if you are. Humans are gross anyway. You are you and that is what matters, isn't it?] Kurama felt irritated when he heard Tomoka's words. For him, it didn't matter. So what if Tomoka is no longer a human? He isn't a human either. He would rather have Tomoka go back to her slightly crazy self than this depressed version of her.

'You know what? You are right, I am not even from this world so at this point, who cares? I will just do whatever the fuck I want as I have been doing for a while now. Though I still need to improve a lot to not end up dead. Thanks Kurama' Having said that, Tomoka closed her eyes with a smile on her face.

[My pleasure, now could you come in here. There is a weird thingy floating here and I don't know what it is]

'A what now?' The smile that had formed on Tomokas face cramped up instantly.

A little worried Tomoka entered her mindscape. What she found was a wry looking Kurama sitting in front of the central lake.

"So what thingy are you talking about? I don't see anything out of order" As she said that Tomoka felt a foreboding feeling. Like there was indeed something that wasn't supposed to be there.

[look up and tell me what is that] Using one of his tails Kurama pointed upwards.

In the sky above a bizarre image was painted. A white sphere floated in the sky with lightning constantly zapping the air around it. The circumference of the sphere is defined by a strange distortion of light, akin to that of a black hole's event horizon.

What made it even weirder would be the perception the two had of the sphere. Tomoka somehow knew the thing was barely a single centimeter in diameter, yet it fell massive in the sky above.

"What that fuck is that, and what the fuck is it doing here, and why the fuck didn't you tell me before?" Tomoka glared at Kurama, this was important. This place is the equivalent to her soul. Whatever happens here will drastically affect her.

[Well, to answer your first two questions, no idea. As for the last one. Since it didn't do anything I thought it would be better to calm you down first] Kurama was a bit sheepish about it.

"Whatever, what is important right now is figuring out what is that" With a sigh Tomoka concentrated back into the anomaly in her mindscape.

Seeing the red lightning gave her a feeling of familiarity but she couldn't figure out why. After a while she decided to experiment a bit. First she tried to move the sphere through her will. Nothing, the thing didn't budge. As a matter of fact, it felt as if it was firmly lodged in place inside her mindscape.

The next thing she attempted was to use her chakra to inspect it. As it flew towards the sphere she felt it pulling on her chakra. The force quickly tore some away from her control and devoured it, expanding for a moment. The next instant a red lightning bolt struck her.

She expected to feel pain and the usual numb feeling of having electricity run through the body. Instead she felt her perception speed up for a moment. It was but an instant, nothing more than a fraction of a second in real time.

[Tomoka are you alright?] Seeing her being struck by lightning again made Kurama worry.

"Yeah, I am fine." Not paying much attention to Kurama, Tomoka went back into her thoughts.

Alongside the increase in perception some information flew into her mind. Just a tiny piece, a name: Speed-force. As soon as her mind caught up and understood the name she froze. There was no way for something like that to appear here.

The speed force is meant to be a fundamental force of existence in the DC world. However, she is in the Naruto world, that thing should not be here! Not to mention that knowing what the speed force is from her comic knowledge Tomoka knows it is overpowered.

In an instant Tomoka felt excited and tried to call forth the speed force once more. In the flash comics it was just a matter of wanting to use it. However, nothing happens. No, something did happen but it was underwhelming.

She could feel her perception accelerating once more, however it was negligible. The difference between having it and not was like a beach having an extra grain of sand or not. This brought a frown to Tomoka's face. She could feel the speed force follow her will, however, something was interfering.

Looking up she saw the small sphere for a while. Suddenly understanding struck her. That sphere was in fact a form of portal. Through it the speed force flowed into her. However, the opening is too small for anything significant to go through. When the portal took her chakra it used it to increase in size for a moment allowing more of the speed force to flow through.

Wanting to confirm her theory, Tomoka sent a large amount of chakra towards the portal. Around sixty percent of her chakra flew towards the portal. In a moment the chakra was swiftly absorbed causing the portal to rapidly expand.

[What the hell are you doing!?]

"Experimenting" Once again disregarding Kurama, Tomoka observed the changes. The lightning around the portal increased in intensity and she could feel it sufusing into her body, mind and soul. If she wills it, it would do her bidding and provide her with its power. However, it did not last.

As soon as it expanded it contracted once more. The entire thing lasted but a single moment. With this Tomoka understood a few things about this speed force of hers.

Through experimentation Tomoka realized a few things about her connection with the speed force. For starters, made a few theories of what happened during her confrontation with the Kumo-nin.

"Running the numbers it is impossible for me to replicate what happened before with my current amount of chakra. Not to mention that the portal was not here before. However, the feeling it gives me is that of familiarity. Perhaps the portal had been blockaded by something before and an even smaller amount of speed force had been constantly leaking.

Following this line of thought, it could be possible that the speed force had backed up, like a dam containing water. Then when the blockade was broken all that backed up speed force rushed into me. Now that the way is open properly only the right amount will flow even if I increase the size of the portal. What do you think Kurama"

[I don't know much about all that scientific mumbo jumbo but it makes sense I guess] To tell the truth, Kurama wasn't all that interested in the whys of the matter.

"Well, it doesn't matter. I will still need to train with it and figure out what I can do with it as well as the most efficient way of using it. But before that" With a smile Tomoka began concentrating. Pushing her will into her mindscape she began reshaping it.

From the ground a massive black tower rose into the sky. At its top four curved spires extended towards the portal as if grabbing it. This tower was built for no other reason than aesthetics. In the end it looked similar to Sauron's eye tower from Lord of the rings.

Satisfied with her work, Tomoka decided to go back to reality. Slowly she opened her eyes once more just in time to see a pair of black orbs gaze towards her from the room's door. In an instant that lasted an eternity the expression of the girl at the door shifted. Surprice, relief, worry, anger, many emotions were displayed one after the other and back.

"TOMOKA!" Not being able to contain her emotions anymore, Nozomi launched herself towards her best friend. The poor girl had been worried sick for the last twenty-four hours. It had been a rollercoaster of emotions for her.

Tomoka on the other hand felt a little conflicted. Seeing Nozomi worry so much for her was heartwarming but at the same time it made her feel guilty. Not knowing what to say she decided to stay quiet instead while hugging her dear friend.

For some time quiet sobs could be heard in the room as Nozomi let go of all the stress the situation had set on her. Tomoka for her part was softly brushing Nozomi's hair. After a little while longer the crying girl finally calmed down.

As they separated Tomoka was now able to see Nozomi's face again. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying. Her eyebrows twisted into a frown while her cheeks were puffed up into a pout. It was more than obvious that Nozomi was angry.

"Tomoka you idiot! Idiot! idiot! idiot!!!" Now that her worry and fears were gone it was time for Nozomi's anger. She smashed her small fists on top of Tomoka's head. Even though she was angry she still measured her strikes as not to hurt her friend.

"Sorry! Hey, stop that!" Even though Tomoka was fine and could have dodged the strikes she decided not to. She indeed deserved what was happening to her for being too brash. Not to mention that they didn't hurt all that much anyway.

"Promise me you won't do something like this again or I won't stop!"

"I promise!" As soon as she said that Tomoka was hugged again. A soft giggle escaped her lips as she reciprocated the hug.

"You also have to promise to stay with me forever" Those words came out of Nozomi's lips as but a murmure. However, due to their close proximity that was enough.

"Yeah, I promise" The wording was a bit odd but Tomoka didn't mind it. Nozomi was just a four year old kid, who knew what was going through her mind at the moment.

"Forever and ever" Nozomi's hug became tighter as if Tomoka would disappear if she let go.

"Nn, forever and ever" At this point Tomoka wasn't paying that much attention. She was just agreeing so that Nozomi would calm down.

"It's a promise, If you break it I will hate you forever" Letting go Nozomi said those words with a serious tone.

Before Tomoka could reply her attention was brought to the open door to her room. Standing there were her parents and whom she assumed to be her assigned doctor. At that moment she realized that she had fucked up. Nozomi was one thing but pasifying her parents was a whole other problem.

[Good luck surviving this one. you will need it] Said Kurama with a jovial voice that hid a snicker.

'Yeah, I will need it'

'I pray to thy lord up above, aid me in the battles to come. Thine lost sheep prays for guidance in the challe-'

"TOMOKA!" In an instant Himiko flew through the room at light speed with tears in her eyes. This scene was a carbon copy of what just happened with Nozomi. The only difference being that instead of a cute four year old landing on top of Tomoka it was a full ass grown adult.

"OOF" Unlike Nozomi, who escaped with the ability of a ninja in training, Tomoka received the full weight of her mother up front. She could have escaped like Nozomi but she knew better than that.

"My sweet baby girl, you had your mother all worried! I will never, ever let you out of my sight ever again!" Now that the poor girl had survived having the full weight of her mother slamming against her it was time for the second ordeal.

With the full strength of a jounin Himiko hugged Tomoka. With her head in Himiko's breasts Tomoka was unable to breath but that wasn't the worst part. The thing that was truly troublesome was the increasing pressure Tomoka felt on her spine.

'So this is how I go huh. Not through combat or old age, but from the love of my own mother. Kurama, it was a pleasure to have met you even if our time together was short'

[Oi, aren't you exaggerating?]

*POP*

"What was that?" The sudden sound had distracted Himiko. Looking down she saw her dear daughter on death's door with a weirdly bent spine. Not really, but the image was close enough.

"Uhm Himiko-san please calm down" The doctor didn't know what to do. He was sure that a child's spine should not make a popping sound. Not to mention what he had just seen. Himiko had used the body flicker jutsu to jump towards her daughter. In the end he had no time to react before all of the above happened.

"Leave it be. When she gets like that, there is no stopping her" With a sigh Nagi could do nothing more but wryly smile as he saw Himiko rubbing her cheek with Tomoka's. He knew full well what would happen later on.

A few minutes later Himiko finally calmed down. Tomoka on the other hand looked like a dead fish. Her eyes hollow from being handled roughly by her mother. However, she knew that the worst part of the ordeal was yet to come.

"Tomoka~" With a sing-song voice Himiko called her daughter. Tomoka, hearing this, wanted to flee. Her instincts were screaming danger at the top of their lungs and yet there was no escape. With slow measured movements Tomoka turned her head to look towards her mother. What she saw next froze her blood.

Himiko sat there with a calm expression, no tense muscles could be found in her body. A serene motherly smile adorned her face. With these facts one would think that Tomoka's reaction was exaggerated. However, Himiko's eyes told a completely different story.

Eyes that looked at Tomoka with the righteous anger only a mother could hold. Eyes that looked at the poor girl with a predatory gleam. Eyes that promised suffering like no other. Those scary eyes combined with Himiko's otherwise calm demeanor made even Kurama afraid.

[I pray to thy lord up above, aid me in the battles to come. Thine lost sheep prays for guidance in the challe-]

Before the fox had a chance to finish his prayer it happened. Himiko moved with grace in such a way that her movements looked calm and measured. However, the sheer speed of the angry mother's actions made it impossible for even the fastests of shinobi to escape.

"Little Tomoka made her poor mother very worried~. She will be a good girl and accept her punishment right~" Those words were spoken as Himiko held Tomoka gently. However, to everyone present it looked like Tomoka was in a choke hold that would snap her neck if she dared give the wrong answer.

"Y-yes! I will!" Tomoka's nervousness had led her to shout that in an instant.

"Good~. We will have lots of fun together~. To-mo-ka~" After saying that Himiko left the room that had become eerily silent. The only sound that could be heard was that of the cold sweat dripping from everyone present.

Everyone had their own thoughts about the situation. The doctor couldn't help but wonder about what he had just witnessed. Nagi was lost in memories of the past where he had been in a similar situation as his poor daughter. As for Nozomi…

"Mothers are scary" and she was completely right about that one.

A while later everyone said their piece and left Tomoka alone. The doctor had said that she would need to remain there for the day just in case. Nagi had scolded her after hugging her. In the end Tomoka was left alone to do whatever.

'That was so exhausting I think I will go back to sleep'

[I don't think you will be able to, look]

At the door to her room stood a serious looking man. By his side a beautiful and frail looking woman held a kid no older than Tomoka in her arms. All three of them had one thing that made Tomoka instantly recognize them, or rather, their clan. Their irises were purplish white with no pupil.

"Greetings, my name is Hiashi Hyuga. Thank you for saving my daughter" The serious looking man gave Tomoka a slight bow. However, his actions looked stiff and forced. Looking closely Tomoka was able to figure out why. The woman next to Hiashi had a no-nonsense aura about her.

"I am Himari Hyuga, thank you for saving little Hinata" Like her husband Himari gave her thanks and a small bow. However, unlike her husband her actions were fluid and heartfelt.

"I-I um, I am Hinata Hyuga, t-thank you for saving me" Like her parents Hinata bowed towards Tomoka, unlike them though her bow was quite deep.

Not being able to control herself after seeing the overabundant cuteness flowing from Hinata, Tomoka stood up on her bed and approached the shy kid. A moment later she was patting Hinata's head with a soft smile.

"It's fine, I did what I felt was right" Now that Tomoka had managed to calm all the inner turmoil she had felt, she was glad that she did what she did.

"E-even so, you got hurt because of m-me" Hinata's cheeks were a bit flushed from embarrassment. She felt responsible for Tomoka's injuries, even though she hadn't seen them. Hinata was sure that Tomoka got hurt, otherwise why would she be in a hospital?

"It was nothing, I am completely fine, see?" Saying that, Tomoka jumped off the bed onto the cold floor. Jumping a few times while moving her arms, Tomoka was trying her best to prove to Hinata that she was fine.

Since Tomoka was now on the floor, Himari placed Hinata on the floor as well. Hinata timidly approached Tomoka while looking her all over to see if she was really alright. After a while she couldn't find anything wrong with Tomoka so she gave up.

Seeing Hinata act like that woke the cheeky side of Tomoka so she decided to mess with Hinata a bit for fun. A few plans flew through her mind before settling on one that she was sure would be pretty fun.

"You know, this situation reminds me of those fairy tale stories. A knight in shiny armor saving the princess. Normally the princess rewards the knight with a kiss on the cheek" Saying that Tomoka placed a finger on her cheek as if thinking while half turning.

Looking at Hinata from the corner of her eye Tomoka saw how her cheeks turned a bright red as she began to stutter. Chuckling a little she decided to continue teasing the poor girl. Tomoka was having way too much fun at the moment.

"Oh in some of them they would even marry and have a happy family together" With that Hinata became so red she looked like a ripe tomato and Tomoka could have sworn she saw steam being released from her face.

"Oh well, those are fairy tales anyway, how about we become friends instead?!" Tomoka had her fill of messing with Hinata so she decided to give the poor girl a break. In reality, she did want to be friends with Hinata. The girl is cute and kind hearted, Tomoka couldn't think of a reason for not becoming her friend.

"Friend?" Hinata asked and Tomoka saw a bit of disappointment from the girl. However, it had come and gone so quickly she thought it had been her imagination.

"You really want to be my f-friend?" Hinata was having a hard time believing that Tomoka wanted to be her friend. She felt inadequate compared to Tomoka and so she felt that Tomoka wouldn't want someone like her to be her friend.

"Yeah, I actually don't have many friends so I would love it if you became my friend" Even though Tomoka looked confident and outgoing she was nervous and afraid of rejection. Having Nozomi had helped a lot with her socializing skills and social nervousness but that didn't mean she was fully cured just yet.

"I-In that case, l-let's be friends" Saying that with a shy nod Hinata felt very happy. She had finally made her very first friend.

A week has gone by since Tomoka left the hospital. During this week she had been thoroughly "punished" by her mother. Day after day she was used as a dress up doll and spoiled rotten. One would think the second part is not a punishment but…

"It's because Tomoka is always serious. I never got to spoil my cute daughter!" That's what Himiko said while hugging Tomoka as if she was a teddy bear. These treatments would have continued if not for an important event. Today is Tomoka's first day at the academy.

All kids aspiring to be shinobi enter the academy at the age of four. This is because four years old is the best age to start learning about and using chakra. Younger than that and the kid might harm themselves with their chakra. Older and their growth will be stunted.

However, don't be confused. In the first years of the academy they learn at most how to feel their chakra by opening their meridians. Other than that are normal classes like history, mathematics and such. That is how we come to the current situation.

'Kurama, please kill me. I can't take this anymore'

[You are exaggerating. It's not that bad]

'You don't understand! This is boring as all hell! I can solve whole matrixes for quantum superposition needed to open a hole in the fabric of reality! I don't need to learn addition, subtraction, multiplication and division! I ALREADY KNOW THOSE DAMNIT!'

[Yhea, and look where that matrix thingy got you.]

'Point taken but still! not to mention that being here is pretty cool.'

That's right, Tomoka is currently in math class trying her best to not doze off… or display her advanced mind. Matters became worse when she looked around the room before sighing. Nozomi wasn't here, Hinata wasn't here either. Nozomi unfortunately landed in a different class room. As for Hinata, she is homeschooled since she is the clan heiress.

'Now that I think about it, I already met Hinata and we became good friends. Might as well try and meet the others'

[Sounds interesting. If you meet Naruto we could talk with my yang self, see how he is doing]

'I just hope he isn't as dumb as I expect him to be.'

Like that the rest of the school day went by. No class was worth Tomoka's time, Afterall, she was well versed in pretty much all subjects taught except for history. Which, in Tomoka's words was "A whole bunch of bullshit about the will of fire and cocksucking of Hashirama"

"Freedome!" Tomoka screamed at the top of her lungs as she left the academy. Not wanting to waste anymore time she dashed towards the library, a new fire had been lit in her heart. During the last week she had spent the little free time she had in building her own version of the shadow clone jutsu. Unfortunately, it didn't work out.

The shadow clone, unlike her original jutsus, is complex. As a matter of fact, her original jutsus are very flawed. Without the proper knowledge about tenketsu points and natural chakra flow in the body she could do nothing more than try things and see what sticks.

Now she was planning on learning all of that in Konoha's public library. She had told her mother about her plans this morning so she didn't expect much trouble with that. Well, she did leave a note saying that…

After a few minutes of walking she finally reached her destination. Walking inside she approached the receptionist wanting to ask about the rules and such. After all, she couldn't expect the same rules as back on earth. Fortunately, that was an unneeded worry as the rules were about the same.

No taking books out of the library, you break it, you pay it, no making noise, the works. Of course it hadn't been as simple as that. For starters, the receptionist thought she was a lost child and it took a while for Tomoka to reassure her that that was not the case. However, as soon as she managed, someone Tomoka knew well entered the library.

"To-mo-ka~chan. Leaving a note hidden under the desk won't do" Tomoka froze, she didn't expect her mother to find the note actually. Cold sweat fell from the child's back as the angry mother walked towards her.

"I-I can explain" Stuttering out of nervousness, Tomoka unconsciously took a step back.

"If you wanted to come to the library you could have told me" The dangerous aura of Himiko disappeared in an instant as she pouted while pulling on Tomoka's cheeks.

"I geth ith, leth go" It took a full minute for Himiko to let go of Tomoka's cheeks. She couldn't help it, Her daughter's cheeks are so soft and cute she can't help but want to pinch them more.

'Really, she acts more like a child than me'

[I think it's endearing]

Time passed by as Tomoka read book after book in the library at an astonishing speed. The little girl had gotten so into reading she had forgotten she was sitting on her mother's lap. This little hiccup led to Himiko once again reaffirming her belief that her cute troublemaker is a genius. The proud mother enjoyed spending her time pating her cute daughter's soft and fluffy hair.

Tomoka on the other hand was reading, analyzing, understanding, cataloging and storing every single word and minute detail she got from the books into her mental library. The process was tedious and yet she enjoyed every second of it. As what some would call a huge nerd, she loved gaining new information, even if said info would seem useless at the time.

Her subjects of study this time were the many, many biology books and medicine books. From chakra pathways to medicinal plants, she had read and memorized as much as she could. Her mind buzzed with theories she had concocted as she went. However, as the saying goes: "all good things must come to an end"

"Tomoka honey, it's time to go home, it's getting late" Himiko shook Tomoka a little to get her attention. Looking outside one could see the sky with a beautiful gradient of black to orange.

"Don't wanna!" Tomoka was too into her reading to care about the impending night. In her past life she had spent days straight attached to her computer doing research. She was willing to continue reading for the entire night and continue the next day as well. However, Himiko would not let her.

"It wasn't a question, I was just informing you" With a gentle smile and steely eyes Himiko took the troublesome kid under her arm like a sack of potatoes. Of course Tomoka was unwilling to give up just yet. She grabbed the desk with all her might, unwilling to let go. But who is Tomoka's mother? An experienced jounin there was no way for the little kid to win this fight.

With an amused smile Himiko placed her index finger on Tomoka's nape and delivered a slight shock. This was enough for the kid to yelp in surprise and let go of the desk while angrily glaring at her mother.

With a chuckle Himiko began walking back home, not letting go of her child. It didn't take long for the two to reach home. The rest of the night was spent in peace as Tomoka decided to chill with her mom… by competing with her in kunai throwing, not the smartest of ideas as Tomoka was thoroughly and mercilessly demolished.

"Mom! no fair, you should go easier on me! I am only four!" Tomoka pouted while glaring angrily towards her mother, who in response began pinching her cheeks. This led to an impromptu game of tag as Tomoka chased Himiko around the house.

Hours later Tomoka was laying on her bed while thinking about her day. She felt slightly odd and conflicted about her behavior. It felt natural at the moment, but now that she calmly analized it she couldn't help but cringe a little at her childish behavior.

'It's weird I am a grown adult inside and yet here I am acting like a kid' Tomoka sighed, trying to let some of her frustration out.

[I don't see the problem, you are a kid right now so it would be stranger if you didn't act like one]

That statement or rather, the first part of it brought a few ideas to Tomoka's mind. What if her behavior has more to do with her body than her mind. She is in fact a child right now. Her body is still maturing, even her brain is not fully matured yet. This might be the reason why her behavior is so childish at times.

'Kurama you are a genius!' Tomoka couldn't help but compliment her fox friend. If her theory is right then acting childish is not her fault nor something to be worried about. However, confirming the theory is pretty much impossible. Not that she cares, in her mind this theory is as good as a confirmed fact.

[I know I am] Kurama had no idea what he said or did for Tomoka to suddenly praise him but he would not look a gifted horse in the mouth.

With a smile, a full stomach after a delicious diner, an peace of mind Tomoka fell asleep dreading the torture that would be going to school the next day. Overall, Tomoka could say with a hundred percent certainty that she is enjoying her second chance at life.

A week has gone by since Tomoka started going to the academy. The sheer boredom frustration from attending the academy was slowly driving the girl insane. She had learnt far more inside the library than in the academy. She told her mother she could do what the clan kids did and skip school until the last three years which are the ones that matter in her opinion. However, that didn't go all too well.

Himiko would not budge no matter what. She insisted that Tomoka needed to go so she could make more friends and be a social person. At that Tomoka had a lapse of judgment and said: "Fuck being social". This was the first time Tomoka cursed out loud in front of her mother. The result was horrendous.

All of that brings us to what is happening right now. Tomoka is currently banging her head against a tree in frustration. She had tried to enjoy her time at the academy but it was impossible for her. All of her classmates were dumber than dumb, she couldn't blame them, they were kids after all but still.

Worst of all is that the dumbass kids would not stop messing with her! ONE EVEN SPRAYED FUCKING GLUE ON HER HAIR! Remembering that brought a new surge of anger and frustration. The next impact of her head against the tree broke the bark apart as some blood started leaking from her forehead.

[You should stop doing this, it's become a habit, an unhealthy one mind you]

That's right, this wasn't the first time Tomoka banged her head against random trees in frustration. Throughout the last week at least eight trees have suffered her wrath. It wasn't as if Tomoka didn't try to find a solution. The problem was that the most viable one stubbornly refused to work.

'If I could use the shadow clone jutsu I wouldn't have to go through all of this bullshit' Angered again this time she punched the tree with all of her strength. The poor thing cracked in protest under the powerful strike.

Of course Tomoka had tried everything she could to make the stupid jutsu work, but no matter what it refused to give in. Annoyed to hell and back Tomoka began spamming the shadow clone jutsu while adding whatever random modification she thought. This of course was a very poor choice of action.

"Mother fucker!" Tomoka screamed at the top of her lungs as once again the jutsu failed catastrophically due to her random modifications. The end result, as had been so many times before, was an explosion. If not for her abnormally tough body Tomoka would be quite hurt by now.

"You know what!? Fuck it! Who needs yang chakra in their jutsus! NOT ME!" This time in a fit of impulse with a bit of madness Tomoka waved hands while removing all components involving yang chakra and replacing them with her own moves involving yin chakra.

As she moved her hands her mind worked on advance calculations while molding the chakra needed. The end result was approaching fast as Tomoka's anger, frustration and focus reached their peak.

"Yin release: Phantom clone technic" In a moment of enlightenment the name came to her as she spoke it. Moments later a black cloud covered Tomoka's surroundings for a moment as the jutsu came into effect.

An instant later the black smog disappeared revealing Tomoka standing besides a perfect copy of herself. However, the copy eerie and cold. Its eyes' sclera was completely black while its hair shone in an icy blue color, the complete opposite of Tomoka.

"Looks like we made it" The copy said in a monotone lacking any emotion. In a way it felt lifeless and creepy, yet Tomoka felt absolutely delighted. It works! Who cares if it looks different, as long as it works similarly to the shadow clone it can use henge jutsu and fix that little problem.

"So what can you do? Can you use jutsus?" Tomoka was excited as she closely inspected her creation. The reverse Tomoka on the other hand stood still while thinking.

"Let me try" With that said the clone waved hand signs as it used the henge jutsu. The next moment a bizarre thing happened. The clone seemed to blur for a moment before it became normal again. However, now it looks identical to Tomoka.

"That wasn't the normal henge was it" Tomoka inspected the clone closely. Even though it now looked like a perfect copy of herself, the creepy and cold aura remained.

"No, though I did try. I feel like it works the same but is different" The clone answered once again in its monotone voice.

"Interesting, okay let's run some tests and see what I created" Tomoka said with an evil grin on her face.

"This is going to be very fun"

Maniacal laughter could be heard inside a forest in Konoha. Tomoka's laughter had an odd mixture of glee and madness mixed in it. After thoroughly testing of her new jutsu, she came to one simple conclusion: it was awesome.

From her notes one could easily see the pros and cons of this new jutsu. For starters, and perhaps more important, the clone has a permanent connection with the user. This connection made it so they could share information through thoughts alone at the cost of some chakra.

The second pro would be that the clones were effectively immune to physical harm. As long as an attack held no chakra it would simply phase through the clone harmlessly. However, these also led to a con. The clones were effectively unable to affect the world around them, at least for the most part.

As they are made mostly of yin chakra they couldn't affect the world around them with ease unlike their shadow counterparts. They could still affect their surroundings with their meager reserves of yang chakra though. The usage of that minuscule amount of yang chakra allowed them to at most push or pull something for a moment.

After extensive testing Tomoka came to the conclusion that her clones could at most punch or kick someone once every minute or so. Overall, they were better at ranged attacks, and intel gathering, she concluded. It didn't matter though, she was over the moon at her success.

"With this I can send a clone to the academy and be done with it!" her maniacal cackling continued to ring through the forest for a while.

[I can't wait for you to get caught. It will be hilarious!] Kurama fully expected Tomoka's plan to backfire on her as so many had done before. He enjoyed seeing Tomoka struggling against her mother.

"Ha ha, very funny. This time I won't fail! I refuse to!" With newfound determination Tomoka set a few plans into motion. Said plans had been derailed once she discovered her inability to use the shadow clone jutsu. Now however, she could use her phantom clones to do a similar thing.

Originally, she wanted to send shadow clones out there to look for a suitable cave or some such to build her secret lab. Afterwards, she would have them build said lab while she stayed inside Konoha. Now though, she could put the first part into motion but not the second one. Her clones are completely useless when it comes to continuous or precise manipulation of their surroundings.

'Doesn't matter, once I find a suitable place I will think of a solution' Finished with that thought Tomoka made five new clones and gave them her orders. Moments later the clones left to accomplish their mission.

With that out of the way Tomoka decided to finally go do that which she had purposely avoided. A necessary mission albeit one she disliked with a passion. With a heavy sigh Tomoka began walking around Konoha's less traveled paths as these were the locations her target would probably use.

[Are you finally going to go find him?] Kurama asked with mixed emotions. On one hand he was excited to see Tomoka struggle. On the other… he was worried for himself or rather his other self.

'Yeah, now that my plans are back on track I don't see any reason to push this event away anymore. As much as I dislike Naruto, meeting him might change things for the better, who knows' That's right, it was finally time for Tomoka to meet Naruto.

Time flew by as she continued looking at unpopular parks while traveling through less used streets. As she did she received a message from one of her clones. Her mother suspected nothing, it seems that the clone had managed to fool her and take Tomoka's place.

With that out of the way the little girl continued searching for the blond boy. Unfortunately for her, or lucky depending on how you see it, she couldn't find Naruto. Afterall, she couldn't go asking around for him nor did she have any info of where he would normally go.

With a heavy sigh Tomoka decided to rest for a bit, she had been walking for hours and a few more the sun would set. With nothing better to do she decided to sit on one of the benches and rest. However, it was at that moment that she noticed something.

A blond boy walked to one of the empty swings. He looked grim and dirty, his clothes barely holding on. On his face a pair of sad blue eyes looked at the ground while on his cheeks whiskers-like marks made themselves known.

Seeing those whiskers-like marks made Tomoka wonder for a moment. Why didn't she have any? Afterall, she was also Kurama's jinchuuriki. These thought came as her last attempt at pushing her meeting with the boy away.

'Whatever, here goes nothing' With that though Tomoka stood up and walked towards the swings.