As a general rule, the Nara clan sent it's children to the ninja academy at six years of age. It coincided with the age they usually started their chakra training and academy added as a good supplementary training. I, however, neither had any plans to wait another year nor to be seperated from Shikaku.

Both early admission in the academy and early graduation were normally discouraged by the Nara because they believed that children younger than ten weren't equipped to deal with realities of war and ninja life. My situation, though, was a bit different. My parents have always been aware of my higher maturity and having much more energy than an average Nara. Therefore, they didn't put up too much resistance when I requested to join the academy a year earlier.

Or that was what I thought. They could have a completely different complex reason that I couldn't make heads or tails of. They were geniuses after all.

On the first day of the academy, Shikaku and I decided not to stay together, but to be with our respective friends. Shikaku stayed with Chouza and Inoichi (he got along much better with them than I did at our combined clan gatherings and since, he was the heir, he basically had to keep up the alliances); while went to Kushina.

Kushina and I weren't exactly friends in the general sense of the word, she was too much of a brat for me too consider her an equal companion, but we had a sort of understanding with each other based on common grounds. She had taken a getting used to but eventually were abrasiveness and hyperactivity seemed to appear charming. Besides, there was still the novelty of being acquaintances with Naruto's mom. I had no difficulty in spotting where Naruto got his knuckleheadedness from.

Minato, though, was the exact opposite. I spotted him early, during the opening ceremony. The sunshine blonde was was a dead give away. He was among a group of children from the orphanage, looking very excited, his blue eyes shining with determination.

"Do you like that guy?" Kushina 'whispered' to me, loud enough to be heard two meters away.

I look at her annoyed, "I am five."

"So?" She challenged. "You were looking at him for a long time time and you had that sappy expression on your face, same one you have when grandma has when she's talking about grandpa."

"I did not." I retorted angrily.

"Did too." Came the childish reply.

"Will you shut up, tomato?" I hissed, regretting it instantly as Kushina went red with rage and pounced on me.

Ten minutes later we were seperate by an irate chunnin-sensei, and I was worse for the wear. Kushina had immense stamina and an effective brawler style, it could be a while when I'd be able to win physical fights against her.

Shikaku came to help me, looking amused. "Really, first day of the academy and you start a public brawl against the whirlpool princess. And mom and dad think you're mature?"

"Excuse me? I didn't start anything, your 'princess' did." I huffed.

"There are rumours that you were fighting over that blonde haired kid." Shikaku told me.

I raised my eyebrows at that. "Really Shika, I'm five."

"Well, you were staring at him." He teased, obviously amused at my discomfort. "Look he's coming here."

I looked around to see Minato still chatting with his friends. Shikaku was smirking when I turned back to scowl at him.

Aside from the rumours about my crush on Minato, academy was going well. Kushina and I made up, both of us apologizing to each other in the evening at Mito-sama's behest. I helped her learn kunai handling as I was already taught that by my father. Turned out that knowing how to properly hold a kunai didn't help a bit in getting the kunai to the targets, which were pretty far away. Even using all my strength I couldn't get them to more than three-fourths of the way. Even the orphans with only sub-par academy instructor were throwing better than me.

Thankfully, Kushina was almost as bad as me. She could throw hard enough, just not at the targets. Her kunai flew in all the directions, even the one opposite of the target. She shined in taijutsu, though. Her brawler style surprising and taking out her opponent before they had any chance to counter her. My area of expertise turned out to be academics and chakra studies, prompting Kushina to gift me with the nickname 'nerd'.

"This is so annoying. Why can't I hit the target?" I whined. "Shika, help me?"

"Troublesome." He mumbled, as he cloud watches, lying on the grass. "Aren't you supposed to be good at this?"

"Just because I'm good at some things doesn't mean I'm going to be good at everything." I huffed. "Now come here and tell me what I am doing wrong?"

Shikaku sighed as if I had asked him for a great sacrifice, and walked over to me. "Fine, show me." He yawned.

I did.

"Are you using chakra?" He asked.

"Chakra? For what?" I inquired.

"To reinforce your muscles."

"We're supposed to do that?" That was supposed to be pretty advanced for someone who's not a chakra prodigy, like Tsunade. Academy students were expected to do that?

"Not to the level you're thinking of. People do that subconsciously."

"No, they don't." I countered.

"I meant normal people who don't control every lick of chakra in their body all the time." He added.

"Oh."

"Yeah. Now, if you don't mind, I'm taking a nap."

The next day I asked Mito-sama to teach me how to reinforce my muscles. If I wasn't doing it subconsciously, I had to learn to do it intentionally. She was Tsunade's grandmother, she would know how to do that.

Turns out that she did, and even agreed to teach me, if I convinced my parents to let me be her apprentice.

"No." Nara Shota replied.

"But..."

"No."

"Otou-san.."

"No."

"At least, listen to me." I shouted in frustration.

"Mishika-chan, do you even understand the implications of this? It would make you a part of her family- both Uzumaki and Senju clan. Do you know how big of a target that will paint over your back?" My father asked, sounding frustrated.

"I'm willing to risk it." I replied.

"You don't know what you're talking about." I had rarely seen my father get angry. This was one of those rare times.

"You're right, I don't. However, that being a ninja would also pain a target on my back so would being the daughter of the Nara clan head. This apprenticeship would give me the tools to survive, even if it does make me a bigger target. I promise to work hard enough that the benifits would be much more than the disadvantages." I responded.

I watched as father stared impassively at me for almost a minute before sighing, and giving in.

I ran to the Senju compound with the signed contract papers.

I took me a few days to lear the chakra reinforcement technique, and the results were phenomenal. My kunai no longer stopped short if the targets but got embedded deeply into the wood. I wasn't perfectly accurate but accepted that it would come with time and practice. My strength lied in other areas.

For instance, taijutsu. I still didn't have enough control to use it on other children, but punching the ground to form cracks was usually intimidating enough for my opponent to surrender. I knew it wasn't good for my growth to avoid spars, but I wanted to wait until I got the technique down. I knew the other party would be using chakra, albeit subconsciously and with much less precision, and with me fighting without it I would be sure to lose.

I didn't know if it was me being petty, bit I definitely didn't want to lose to a bunch of children. The humiliation at the target practice had been more than enough.

Unfortunately, my stint of victories by intimidation didn't last. It was Minato who called my bluff by attacking me as soon as the spar started. He was skilled as well fast. I didn't stand a chance when all I could do was increase my speed by chakra and dodge faster. Soon, he had me pinned to the ground, face down with both arms behind my back. I had no choice but to surrender.

As if that wasn't bad enough, Kushina had to 'whisper', "So, how'd it feel to get pinned by him?"

"Oh my god. What is wrong with you, tomato?" I shouted.

Kushina wasted no time in attacking me, even resorting to using her teeth. I didn't hold back either. I might have chakra in a punch or two, but Kushina was tough, she could take it.

This time, Mito-sama made us clean the entire Senju compound.