Chapter 1
I was Layla Perry before this, but I can't remember how I died, that along with a few other things about my last life. I suppose those memories somehow got lost when I was isekai'd into the depths of this new mind. I can tell I'm not the one in control here, the other conscience, the other person, has complete control over this new body 24/7. From the few times I can see through her eyes, I can tell she's only still a baby. Well, I'm assuming it's a her, I can't quite understand the parents language.
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A Few Years Later
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I can understand most of the language now. I don't know if I'll be able to communicate with anyone, or even the girl's body whom I'm inhabiting, Sakura. The world seems to be this strange mix of modern and old Japan, the style, the clothes, the language, the buildings. I can see and feel some of the world around me through Sakura's senses. It's a weird feeling, feeing the world around me yet having no control over the body. There is this strange feeling within Sakura's body, one I know I didn't have while I was Layla. It doesn't feel like it's coming from flesh and bone, but it's still within Sakura. It has this weird, fuzzy, energy feeling to it. It kind of feels like when you would get shocked with static when you briefly touched metal but at the same time it feels more...calmer and it doesn't hurt.
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A Little While Later
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Sakura is about four and a half years old now, I can fully "see" through her eyes as well. Her name is fitting, like the Sakura blossoms, her hair is naturally pink. I noticed that quite a few different people have strange colors or shapes for their hair, so I suppose it's a bit more normal in this world. I learned that this strange feeling within Sakura is also called chakra, and apparently everyone hear has it, some more than others and they can use it to do coo and supernatural things. Those people become ninja and they help defend the village. I have also found that I can move this chakra around within Sakura's body. Sometimes when I get bored (which is often with no one to talk to) I circulate it through her chakra system and play around with it. Sakura was currently at a playground and I got bored watching her babble away with the other kids and toddlers so I decided to play around with the chakra more. I think...I think Sakura sensed it. She paused what she was doing and sort of looked around. She stopped so abruptly that I got concerned and immediately stopped messing around with it.
I didn't want to mess up her chakra network or something. And...and if I'm being completely honest, I was afraid, afraid that she would find out about me. I don't know how well she'd take my existence within her mind, let alone other people if she told them. This wasn't my life, or my body so I didn't want to mess it up for her.
Her mother, who was conveniently standing nearby, had asked her what was wrong. Sakura tried to describe it to her, but it was hard seeing as how she was only four. I think her mother knew something was up with her chakra system, so she told Sakura to tell her if something happened again. I didn't want to mess with it again. Many months went by and I sat in the back of Sakura's mind, to scared to mess something up for her.
It was lonely and quite frankly boring having no one to talk to and nothing to do but to watch a five year old play around and occasionally learn something from her parents. It was night, I got bored and a little too comfortable in her mind again. Maybe because Sakura was tired it also affected me, but I decided to throw caution to the wind. I was bored in her mind and decided to move the chakra around again and feel it. I moved it along her network, playing with it, experimenting with it, getting use to it's strange yet normal feeling, as if it was suppose to be there, and I guess it was after all suppose to be there. But it was a mistake to mess around again, a terrible mistake. Sakura had woke up crying for her parents. Her mother came in, concerned but tired as it was late at night.
"What's wrong Sakura?" She asked as she sat on the edge of the bed and pulled Sakura into her arms.
"The chakra thing is happening again, Mom! It feels weird!" Sakura responds, crying into Mebuki's shoulder. Mebuki comforted her for a while before putting her back into the bed.
"Does it hurt?" She asked gently.
"No, it just feels weird." Sakura replies quietly.
After putting her back to bed, Sakura's mom left. Through the cracks in the door I could teel that the hallway light was still on. The muffled voices of Sakura's parents could be hurt quietly talking about Sakura through the walls. Eventually, Sakura's dad came into her room and sat down on the edge of her bed.
"Hey, honey, your mom and I decided to set up a doctor's appointment in a couple days for you. How are you feeling now?" He asks gently, running a hand through Sakura's hair. Guilt and shame settled into me as I listened in, I didn't want to mess things up for Sakura.
"I'm okay, it didn't hurt, it just felt really weird." Sakura responded in a small voice.
"Alright, princess, that's good, if it happens again, tell us. But in the meantime try to get some sleep." He says before leaning in and pressing a kiss to Sakura's hair before pulling away. He went to Sakura's bedroom door, where her mom was standing. They said one last goodnight before leaving. The moment reminded me of my own childhood, and my own parents, further adding to my guilt and the bittersweet feeling in my chest. I shouldn't have messed around, it was a terrible mistake, I had to keep reminding myself that this wasn't my life anymore, my chance was over.
Soon Sakura fell asleep. There was this strange, fuzzy feeling in her head before I fell asleep to. I felt grass beneath me, my fingers twitched at the feeling. Wait...my fingers? I twitched y hand ad slowly moved it to my chest. I had complete control! I abruptly sat up and looked around. I noticed I was in my old body, but it looked like I was completely black, or covered in some sort of black paint or dark shadow, I had no color to me. I looked around I was in a field of some sort. I slowly stood up, still in shock. The field and the trees on the edge of the field were in color, I was the only thing that wasn't.
"Who are you?" A voice asked behind me. I spin around to face the person and I see...Sakura. Five year old Sakura, completely separate from me, standing there on her own. She was wearing her pajamas that she went to bed in, the last time I was in her mind.
"I-" I start, but the words wouldn't come out. The world went dark around us, Sakura let out a surprised noise.
We woke up, I was back in her mind. The field and trees that surrounded us were gone, now replaced with the bedroom Sakura had fallen asleep it. I t was morning and Mebuki was knocking on Sakura's door telling her to wake up. It was a dream, it was all a dream. I realized as Sakura climbed out of bed. Somehow, I was my own person in her dreams and could talk, well started to try to talk at least. It was just so real, could it be what was called a lucid dream? I briefly heard about those in my past life as Layla.
"What a weird dream." Sakura murmured as she walked down the stairs. Internally, I froze, did she remember the dream, was it a shared dream between the two of us?
A few days later before we left the house for Sakura's doctor appointment, Sakura's parents told her something. The doctor who would be looking her over had something called a kekkei genkai, a bloodline ability related to chakra. This user came from a clan in the village, they were called the Hyuuga. The doctor would have these pale looking eyes that might look like he was blind or something, but in reality he was perfectly fine. In fact, he could apparently see chakra. Her parents told her to act respectfully towards the man. The three of them went to the hospital, signed in and waited. Eventually they were called and led to a doctor's room.
I was a little nervous, what if I was some sort of anomaly in Sakura's chakra? What if he could see me? What if they thought she was a freak or something because of me? I didn't care as much if they got rid of me, I just hoped my existence and the discovery of it didn't negatively impact Sakura's life, I had grown quite fond of the pink haired kid.
We sat in the patient's room waiting for the doctor to come in. Apparently his name was Hyuuga Ketaru. I think Sakura sensed my nerves, I could feel the poor kid's uneasiness.
"Dad, what if there is something wrong with me?" She asked quietly, looking down at the floor nervous. Her parents seemed surprised by the sudden question, if not a little nervous themselves. They seemed to realize Sakura was oddly aware of the situation for a five year old.
"Don't worry Honey, nothing is wrong with you, and nothing will be." He said firmly but with a gentle smile. There was a knock on the door. A man with pale eyes that had no pupils walked in, he had long dark hair and wore a bandana that covered his forehead. Sakura looked up at him with wide eyes.
"Hello there, you are the Harunos, correct?" He asked as he took a seat and pulled out a clipboard.
"Yes, we are, we came in because of our daughter, she seems to be having these strange moments where her chakra is acting up, we aren't too sure what it is though, it doesn't seem to be hurting her either." Kizashi, her father tells him. Ketaru's brow furrows in thought.
"I see, it stated that on the appointment form too. Has this happened more than once?" Ketaru asked them.
"Yes, a few times, Sakura told us about a week or so ago when she was on the playground, then again at night a few days ago, she told us this has happened a few times before but not as obvious as the one a few days ago when she was in bed." Her dad replies to him, Mebuki nods along.
"She could just have a abnormal amount of chakra and is just feeling it for the first time. Do you know of any relatives that went on to become ninjas or chakra users?" He asked Sakura's parents. My interest was piqued at that, could a past member of Sakura potentially have a similar situation to ours? Or was it really just a larger chakra signature for them?
"My uncle, Sakura's great uncle, did wield chakra defensively, he was never a full fledged ninja though. And I never heard about him having incidents like these." Sakura's father answered.
"Well since you weren't born from a clan it could be that your uncle was just born with an abnormally large chakra signature, and that anomaly could have been passed down to your daughter. So she might just need to learn how to use it." He responds evenly. Maybe Sakura's great uncle was the reason I was here, maybe it was some sort of trait that was able to make it so another persn could be in someone's mind, but I wasn't too sure. A part of me hoped that's all the doctor would write me off as.
"Alright, I understand that, but can you please just look over her anyways?" Mebuki, her mother asks Ketaru. Ketaru nodded before making a sign of some sort with his hands. I felt this brief wave, a flash of energy of some sort from Ketaru and inwardly flinched back at its suddenness, Sakura did too outwardly. Her parents, however, didn't seem to notice a thing. Ketaru's eyes narrowed in suspicion, he must've picked up on Sakura's reaction. Veins seemed to bulge out from the corners of Ketaru's eyes. This must've been his bloodline ability at work, I thought. Sakura stared up at the man curiously as he inspected her. Inwardly I shifted nervously under the man's gaze. After a few moments the man relaxed a little and the viens seemed to go away.
"Her chakra core and system seem very large for her age, that might be what she is feeling. Those little "episodes" she's been having, you said she isn't feeling any pain, right?" He asked, relaxing back in his chair.
"Yes, she said she wasn't in pain, just felt weird." Her mom responded.
"Okay, that's a good sign. Sakura, can you please describe this weird feeling for me?" He asked Sakura, looking directly at her.
"Well it feels kinda like something is moving inside me. It feels cool, yet fuzzy and different tan if it was coming from like my skin or flesh inside me." She says with a quiet and shy voice. Her dad gave her a gentle yet encouraging smile, Sakura gave a beaming smile back.
"Well it seems like because her body, being civilian-born, isn't use to dealing with such energy, so it's trying to find a way of expelling it. She does have quite a lot, an even abnormal amount especially for someone her age, it could even rival a can kid's chakra if not a tad bit more." Ketaru explains, Sakura's parents nod along in understanding. "This hasn't really happened before, so if something happens that isn't normal or it gets worse you'd need to come back for another appointment. I suggest finding a way to help her deal with all that extra chakra. I propose that you put her in the Ninja Academy, it would be helpful to her and the whole village." He suggests, looking at Sakura's parents. I was a little surprised by the suggestion but I suppose it made sense. Sakura would probably be the first ninja in the Haruno family in generations, if not ever.
"We'll consider it." Kizashi says gravely, something about his expression said he wasn't too keen on the idea though. Ketaru nods in response.
"Well if there is anything besides her little episodes then I suppose that is it, once again, I think it is good idea to put her in the Academy, she has a impressively big chakra core." Ketaru states as he finishes scribbling a few things on the paper on the clipboard before putting it to the side and looking at Sakura's parents.
"Thank you, and yes, that is all, we'll keep an eye on her condition." Her mother replies. All three adults rise from their chairs, Sakura follows suit.
"Well then goodbye, if you do decide to put her in the Academy I'm sure she'll do well." He says as Sakura's parents start to leave the room, Mebuki was holding Sakura's hand and leading her out. Everyone said their formal goodbyes and went their separate ways. As the parents and child walked out of the hospital I let out a sigh of relief in her head. I hadn't been found out, and my meddling might have been what helped her chakra grow, or maybe that was just my general existence, or it could have been Kizashi's uncle's genes that had been passed down. There were a lot of unknowns about this whole isekai, reborn thing. I noticed that Sakura's parents both seemed to be in a solemn mood with serious expressions. Sakura seemed to pick up on it too, she appeared to often pick up on my moods lately, I wondered if I would ever be able to talk to her, probably not, she didn't seem to realize these emotions weren't her own.
"Mom, dad, do you not want me to go to the Ninja Academy?" Sakura asks quietly. They look down at her surprised, they were alway surprised when Sakura picked up on their moods when most five years old's would have just carried on oblivious.
"It's not that we think you can't do it or something, we're just concerned, we're just traders, Sakura, civilian traders, you'll most likely be in a class full of clan kids that will be a bit more advanced because they have connections to ninja, most of whom their parents are directly ninja and can specifically help them in their studies. Being a ninja is a dangerous path, you could get hurt or worse." Mebuki gently says to her. I felt my spirits and Sakura's dampening a little at that, but my mind kept circling back to what the doctor said.
"But Dr. Ketaru said I have a really big chakra thing, right? That should definitely help, right?" Sakura asked with big hopeful eyes as they walked from the hospital. Her dad sighs as they walk on.
Your mom and I will talk about it, princess." Her dad says as they walk hand in hand with Sakura on their way home.