First day pt 2

Having finished the alphabet and its surrounding words, Hinote closed the book and leaned back, closing her eyes to let them rest for a few moments. 'Interesting. It's interesting when you're studying even the simplest of books what information you can absorb. Whoever designed this book - and more specifically the art in it was quite a genius, or this took many revisions.'  There were numerous things she could praise about the book - but her highest praise is that they didn't just show the object or 'word' in the drawings, but also the surroundings.

An apple was on a tree, a fish was in a lake, and things of this nature. 'It's not just teaching you the first letter of each word to correlate them, but it's also teaching you about the object itself. A Kunai in the hand of a Shinobi, a Shuriken being thrown at a target, the Iwagakure symbol being on a menacing man, the Konohagakure one on a friendly kid... It's all rather ingenious. I really can't praise it enough - of course, the manipulation of children is abhorrent but... honestly, it's not as bad as I'd expect, and one can't throw stones in a glass house, it's not like back in Japan - or any country really, we didn't do similar things.' 

With a smirk on her face, she opened her eyes and jumped out of her chair. 'Alright, time to go to the park to play and 'work out', heh.' Taking a moment to slow down her thoughts, once more her body shuddered, and her brain fogged over. 'I have to get used to that, and speed up the process at some point.' With quick steps, she left her house and out into the afternoon sun bearing down upon the Sarutobi compound. 'Now let's see the games kids play firsthand!' 

----

Okay, honestly - she probably should have figured it would just be the same games kids play, but just slightly different. Hide and Seek? Find the Ninja. Tag? Catch the Ninja. Hop Scotch? Well, that was Hop Scotch still. 

The rules were slightly different, and the sheer stamina the kids had was different, but in the end - it was pretty much the same. "Gotcha!" Slapping who she was pretty sure was her 2nd Cousin on the back, she darted off into the trees.

"Aah! Not again, I'm gonna getcha!" 

With a smirk on her face Hinote the second she broke view began to climb a tree, scrambling up it like the little monkey that she was. 'Of course, thinking climbing a tree will stop a Sarutobi child is stupid, but it's fine, just a game!' She had found out through these surprisingly fun games that even though she had 'fogged' her mind over, the other aspects stayed, even though they were dulled a little. She still has superb dexterity/balance, the control of her body was insane, and well, stamina and speed in spades. 'Poor parents. Good thing even the civilians in the Sarutobi clan have more stamina, or else they'd probably never have kids.' Focusing on the game again, she let out a little snicker at her cousin as he started to climb her tree having found her, before walking across a branch and jumping into the next tree. "Awww! C'mon!"

"You can keep up! Just be careful." 'Not that it matters if you fall, your mom is watching us like a hawk and I remember seeing her in a flak jacket.'  For a few more trees she continued to play cat and mouse before finally letting herself be caught. "Aww darn it! I'm gonna get you back!"

With bubbly glee-filled laughter, her fellow Sarutobi clansman scrambled down the tree before running away. 'Aah, I don't get how any of my fellow reincarnators could hate playing with kids. A bunch of sourpusses! This is the best time of your life.' 

With a smile on her face, she scrambled down the tree. 

-Later-

As the sun set, Hinote slowly scrambled one last time across the monkey bars, before leaping off of them into the sand. 'Wooh! Finally tired. Chakra really must take far more physical stamina than anyone back home could have thought. No way any Shinobi could get tired otherwise.' Arms stretched above her head, a sigh escaped from her lips, and a moment later she began to prance away from the park and towards her house. 'Auntie should be giving me the meals for the next few days tomorrow, so I can finish the food off. Poor kid, I can't believe the toddler Hinote managed to live a couple of months like this, kids here truly are different when it comes down to it. Still child abuse though.' Letting out a small sigh at the misery toddler her had to go through, her thoughts grew darker and darker before she shook her head. 'Enough! None of that now.' 

Taking a moment to calm herself, she focused on something else to keep the darkness away - more specifically, what she had learned from all of her playing at the park. 'My stamina is off the charts. I suspect that when actual training starts they'll quickly move past things like push-ups and crunches and go to something else. More than likely the Taijutsu Style they use is meant to target Shinobi in a way to exhaust them. If not, I could probably do 'regular human' training all day if I did it right, and had enough food. Which... actually, maybe they would do that for a month or so. After all, passive chakra reinforcement probably works off your 'base', and active chakra reinforcement like Sasuke did definitely does. Let alone Shunshin or something like Lightning Armor, but they certainly should have exercises or a fighting style that acts as one that I've never heard of. However, the question remains if my body is 'normal', a two-person colliding issue, or a reincarnation-type deal.' 

Making a turn, she'd continue her walk back home, yet continued on in her thoughts. 'However, what I'm more curious about is my body's statistics. I definitely kept what I noted earlier, but I didn't expect how agile I actually am, my grip strength, or the sheer endurance my muscles could do for something like hanging. Is that a Sarutobi being connected to monkeys thing? It's hard to say, old me never tested it out, and no one else played long enough to get too exhausted. What's interesting is while I definitely wouldn't call it super speed, it's definitely faster than I could have ever expected. I'm pretty sure I could get sub 10 minutes on a mile. (1.6 km) Which for a literal toddler with no training, is definitely insane. Hell, in modern-day quite a large majority of people can't even get a sub 10-minute mile, let alone consistently or multiple of them!' 

Having reached her house, she stopped her introspection and swiftly entered inside. 'No point in locking the door when surrounded by Shinobi. If they want in, they'll get in.' As her eyes almost instantly adjusted, she reached out and flicked a switch, and a hum pervaded the room before the lights flickered on. 'Alright, food! I'm starved.' With a happy skip to her step, she practically dove through the living room, across her kitchen, and into the refrigerator. 

-Bedtime-

Gently putting her book aside, Hinote let out a happy sigh. 'Today was good. I learned a lot, exercised, and had fun for the first time in a long while...' Eyes fogged over slightly, she stared blankly at the wall, memories of being stuck in a hospital bed overwhelming her, yet with a sharp breath she snapped out of it. 'But, everything is looking better! No more sickness, Imouto will have all the money in the world, and I have an entire world to explore and a super large clan to make my family! On top of that, I'm a reincarnation, so I clearly will have some kind of 'Golden Finger', who cares what Yoruichi said!' A steadying breath evened out her turbulent emotions once more. 'Of course, I'm also going to have to deal with the blood, sweat, and tears of Shinobi training. Murder, death, gore, and all the vicissitudes of Shinobi life and the oncoming third war. But... another chance at life? Who wouldn't grasp it by its horns and do all they could?' 

A smile rested on her face as she gently closed her eyes. 'Yes, a second chance sounds nice. Maybe I'll even make it into my 30s this time.'  Her mind faded, and sleep took her into its gentle embrace, the first day of her merged consciousness finally coming to an end. 

'Today was a good day. Let's hope tomorrow is as well.'