AN: So I caved and jumped on the fandom bandwagon and started a SI/OC fic. I regret nothing. This is largely inspired by Vixen Tail's Déjà vu no Jutsu (pending permission to use their amazing theory on the war-time Academy) and NinjaChipmunk's In Their Eyes (who inspired this idea in the first place)This has been rolling around in my brain for months and should I be more focused on my finals? Probably, but will this fester until I write at least some of it? Most definitely. So here we are. I want to keep this flowing and interesting so I welcome your feedback. Let me know what you think and where you think I can make improvements.

As of now I'm torn between making this a self-indulgent Minato/OC or Shikaku/OC fic (I blame you Vixen). Let me know who you think our lovely protagonist should end up with.

I currently don't have a Beta reader, so if anyone's interested let me know!

Her name was Kimie.

It took her 2 months to figure that out. At no fault of her own really, the first few weeks of her life were spent mostly sleeping. If she was awake, everything was either too loud or too jumbled to make anything out.

Thankfully, thankfully, she didn't remember much, if anything about her actual birth. One minute it was warm and dark and the next it was bright and loud and holy shit those fingers are cold! And that was it really. The next few weeks were a blur of colors, sounds and most importantly, sleep.

When she was 2 months old she could finally stay awake long enough to start making sense of the world around her. Of course by then she had already figured she had (somehow) reincarnated as a baby, the questions were where and when. She didn't really care much for the why, if God or Buddha or whoever wanted to screw with her then that was their problem, but if she was going to be stuck going through life -and god, puberty- again, then she damn well wanted to know what hand she'd been dealt with.

She wasn't in Kansas anymore. No, the tatami mats and kimonos screamed Asian-influence, Japanese probably because she swore that hyperactive orange blob- a sibling or cousin?-kept running around shouting "Sugoi!". So the question remained, had she reincarnated into an Asian country? Or a Japanese-inspired fictional one? She'd read too much fanfiction in her past life to scratch off that possibility. (She was still undecided on whether that was a good thing or not, because hey, reality defy super powers and adventure, but also -very likely pain and death).

Through observation and stubbornness she had figured out that the black-haired woman was her mother and damn she hoped that she got a generous dose of genetics from her because her mother was beautiful. She'd figured out her mother's name was Umeko, since it was always Umeko-sama this and Umeko-sama that and Umeko-sama please put down that knife you should be resting!

She had rosy lips and graceful cheekbones, like princess-level cheekbones, and sparkling green eyes that shone when her mother would read to her on the porch in the afternoon sun. And her hair, please let her have her hair because her mother had the silkiest black hair she'd ever seen. In her past life Kimie had thin, wispy brown hair that knotted easily and was absolutely useless for anything but a ponytail. She couldn't tell what color her hair was now, but she was praying it looked half as good as her mother's.

She seemed to be on the frail side though. Don't get her wrong, there was fire and determination in her eyes, but she was thin, the laugh lines on her face looking more like wrinkles, and when the other adults left the room she would hack into her sleeve and her eyes would cloud. (She was determined to ignore it - because she loved her new mother already - but Kimie once thought she saw blood on her mother's kimono sleeve, skillfully hidden in the red carnations).

There were a lot of other adults in her life, or at least she thought there were. There were always people, at least, but they changed so often and her eyesight was still too poor to determine if they were the same three people, or a great big group like she hoped. (She'd secretly always wanted a large family. Fate must be screwing with her because that's exactly what she got).

Her Aunt Natsuko was around a lot, she helped take care of her and her mom. Natsuko was a pretty middle-aged woman with dark brown hair with tasteful strands of greying and sharp brown eyes. Natsuko saw everything, there was no hiding from her. She heard every cough and sniffle Umeko or Kimie made and always had at least 6 handkerchiefs on her at all times (Kimie suspected she had a cousin or two running around somewhere, her Aunt's mothering skills were too good). She doted on Kimie and scolded Umeko every time she tried to cover up if she was feeling unwell. She knew it would come back to bite her someday but Kimie cheered on her Aunt's fierce awareness- it kept her mother healthy, if mildly annoyed.

She hadn't seen her father yet, but she knew she still had one. Every so often, when mom was looking particularly tired and Aunt Natsuko was feeling unusually snappish, her aunt would complain about how "Daiki-san better hurry up and get back", or something like that. So that meant daddy dearest was busy doing...something, and left his exhausted wife and newborn baby alone with the rest of the family. She tried not to hold it against him, ..ok so she tried for a few days and then gave in to infantile rage. It stung that she didn't have a face for her new otou-san. Kimie wished he would hurry up and show himself so she could barf on him for leaving and then bask in his paternal doting. She was two months old, there wasn't much else for her to do other than plot.

That orange blob from before? Turns out that was her cousin Nawaki, Aunt Natsuko's son. He was six years old and he was very familiar. She just couldn't place why. It's not like she had meet anyone like him before - and it turns out he wasn't so orange, more of a coppery-brown. He was loud and on a perpetual sugar high and she loved him. Ever since she saw him peering over the side of her crib, grab every one of her 56 stuffed animals (she had counted) and act out a horrendously funny puppet show for her, she knew "Nawa-nii" was going to be one of her favorite people.

The biggest shock of her new life so far was when she met her grandmother. Her grandmother, who looked like a princess right out of a painting, with her periwinkle kimono, bright red hair and violet eyes (in hindsight, that should have set off warning bells right there). Her grandmother who had a face full of laugh lines and held her like she was the most precious thing on earth. Kimie fell in love instantly. Sorry mom, but red hair. Damn she wanted some of that. A loose strand had fallen out of her grandmother's buns and Kimie gently grabbed it (or as gently as an uncoordinated 3 month old could). Her grandmother didn't try to pry her hair away from the curious infant, she only smiled and tickled her tummy until Kimie was left a giggling bundle of blankets. Then she looked up at her grandmother's face, saw the purple diamond on her forehead and everything hit her like freight train. Purple diamond, red hair, walked like a freaking princess. That's right, her grandmother was one Uzumaki Mito.

Error. has stopped working. Reboot in 3..2..1...

Holy shit, she got reborn into the Naruto-verse.

…

Holy shit, she was a Senju.

Nawaki had toddled over to see why she had suddenly gone quiet. Sorry in the middle of an existential crisis here. Their eyes locked, and Kimie screamed. She wailed and thrashed and startled her poor grandmother and cousin, who couldn't figure out what had upset her so much. They had no idea that Kimie had just looked at her favorite cousin, her precious Nawa-nii, and realized that in just a few years he would be blown beyond recognition in the Second Shinobi War.

oOoOoOoOoOo

'So I've been reincarnated into a world where climbing walls and breathing fire are entry level skills. Wonderful.' she thought to herself after her grandmother put her down for a nap after her meltdown.

It was plotting time. She estimated she had roughly 20 years in-universe of information, from the Third Shinobi War to the Fourth and she was damn well going to use it. The problem was, even if she knew where she was now, she didn't know when.

Given that Nawaki was still alive and not even a genin yet, she figured the Second War hadn't started yet. Or at least she hoped so. Kishimoto had given very little detail on the Second and Third Wars. All she knew about the Second War was Nawaki and Dan died, the Sanin got their monikers fighting Hanzo the Salamander in Ame, and Jiraiya trained the Ame orphans. She had no idea when any of these events happened or how long the war lasted. She knew Orochimaru defected sometime towards the end of the Third War, but she had no idea how long that War lasted, or what kinds of experiments he got up to in the meantime.

Then there was Danzo. She shuddered. Danzo was a different monster entirely. He was still respected in the village even in Naruto's time. Worse, he was probably in his prime right now. She had no idea how she was going to stop him, but she was damn well going to try.

Because Kimie had already decided that she was going to fix things. She knew there were risks (so, so many risks) but she couldn't just sit and make friends with these people and then watch them die around her. Nawaki, Dan, Jiraiya, Minato, Kushina… She couldn't just watch their lives fall apart, not while knowing that she could've changed things. If God or Buddha or whatever decided to put her here, with all of her memories, then she was damn well going to use them.

She knew, intellectually, that by trying to change things so early she could irrevocably fuck up and make everything worse, but she also knew that there was so much she could change now. She could change everything! She could save Nawaki, she could keep Tsunade from leaving the Village, she could save Minato and Kushina, hell she might even be able to stop the Akatsuki from even forming. Ambitious? Yes, but go big or go home. If she was going to change things she was damn well going to be committed.

Step 1 of Kimie's Master Plan to Save the Universe (a working title), was to gather information. She needed to know as much as possible about her family, the Village, and if possible, anything about the other Shinobi villages. That was another thing Kishi had left out. She knew next to nothing about the other villages or what they were doing until the start of the Fourth War. That was a lot of unknowns. She was going to have her work cut out for her.

Kimie snuggled into her stuffed slug (it was bigger than she was, a gift from Tsunade no doubt) and drifted off to sleep. She had a lot to do, but for now she would enjoy what little of her second childhood she had. Things would start getting serious as soon as she started walking.

oOoOoOoOoOo

Tsunade was, for once, in a very good mood. Or at least she would be, if her teammates decided to hurry the fuck up! They'd been out of the village for 3 months on a recon mission out on the Western border of the Land of Fire. The smaller countries buffering the Lands of Fire, Wind and Earth had started creating their own shinobi villages and needed to be watched closely in case they became large enough to become a threat, or allied themselves with Suna or Iwa.

They'd been gone 3 months and now home and relaxation was just within reach, if Jiraiya and Orochimaru would stop fighting for two damn minutes! They should've been back hours ago but no, those idiots had to stop and beat each other senseless every 5 steps.

Tsunade grit her teeth and stomped ahead of the idiots. She was so close to home; an actual bed, a hot bath, her aunt's cooking… she could practically smell the chicken & sake and fresh anpan. And her family, kami she missed them. Well, her immediate family at least.

She had missed Nawaki's birthday while they were in Keigaku, a backwater village near the Kusa border. He was already six, in a few months he would be starting at the Academy. She just wanted to smother him in blankets and lock him in the compound, away from all the bloodshed of shinobi life. She wondered how much taller he'd be now, the brat was growing like a weed lately. She missed her new cousin Kimie as well. Tsunade hadn't seen her since she'd been born.

Her heart clenched, 'At least I was there for that.' she thought to herself.

Her Aunt Umeko had been a good shinobi once, a skilled chunin on her way to jonin when she ran into a team of Suna saboteurs in the First Shinobi War. Umeko had lost two teammates that day, and the poisons Suna used had ended her career for good. She was put in the Chunin Reserves, but the clincher was the poisons had rendered her lungs so weak it was tremendously difficult to have children.

Tsunade was only 17 but she was already being heralded as a medical prodigy. When Aunt Umeko announced her final pregnancy, Tsunade demanded that she be included on the medical team. She refused to be absent for it. After 14 hours of grueling labor- blood, tears, and panic when her cousin refused to breath at first- Senju Kimie was born. Everyone in the clan had wept that day.

Little Kimie was already turning into the clan darling, the long awaited addition to the Shodaime's family. Tsunade could already see herself spoiling her little cousin rotten, it was only fair since grandfather had spoiled her and he was no longer here to spoil Kimie. She wondered how big she'd grown since she'd left the village. She must be nearly 5 months old by now.

"Say that to my face you snake-bastard!" Jiraiya yelled, throwing a punch at Orochimaru's face, only to meet air.

"I just did, or is your hearing just as bad as everything else about you?" he sneered. Jiraiya fumed and went to punch him again.

"IF YOU TWO DON'T SHUT UP AND KEEP WALKING I SWEAR I'LL TEAR OUT YOUR ENTRAILS AND STRANGLE YOU WITH THEM!" Tsunade screeched, the ground cracking beneath her. Jiraiya and Orochimaru shook in fear.

"Y-Yes Tsuande-chan/san."

Tsunade just huffed and stomped off leaving two terrified jonin behind her.

"What's her problem?" Jiraiya stage-whispered.

"I can hear you Jiraiya!"

"Then answer the question!" he hollered back, then ducked the torso sized boulder Tsunade chucked at his head.

"Maa feeling suicidal today Jiraiya? Tsunade-san is eager to be home and see her family."

"Ohhh" Jiraiya drawled. The metaphorical lightbulb went off. "Doesn't she have a new baby cousin or something?" Orochimaru nodded.

"From what I've heard, yes."

"Hmmm" Jiraiya tapped his chin. He had that look on his face he got whenever he had a particularly stupid idea. "Hey Tsunade!" he called out.

"What?" she snapped at him.

"Can we meet this new cousin of yours?" he asked. Tsunade turned around dumbfounded. He wanted to what? Orochimaru was looking at Jiraiya as well with a mixed expression of horror and bafflement.

"You want to what? Why?" she asked.

"Well," Jiraiya began, "we've met Nawaki already, and everyone else in your immediate family. Why not meet this one?"

Tsunade narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously, but she couldn't figure out what he wanted out of this. "I guess so," she started slowly "but I don't see why you care."

Jiraiya grinned "Well we're a team right? That's like a mini-family, so we should know everyone's actual family because they're like extended family ya know? Plus it's our jobs as super cool jonins to train the next generation right? Maybe one of us will have what's-their-name on our genin teams."

Both looked at him, stunned. Jiraiya had actually made sense. Orochimaru softley "kai"-ed but nope, no genjutsu and somehow the world wasn't ending.

"They're a she, and her name's Kimie. I guess that makes a weird amount of sense. Do you want to come too?" she directed the last part to Orochimaru.

'No not really' he thought to himself but outloud replied "I don't see any reason not to."

If he didn't, Tsunade would get insulted, and if she got insulted she'd get violent and it's been three months he just wanted to barricade himself in his labs but he couldn't do that if Tsunade drop-kicked him into the hospital for sort-of insulting her baby cousin.

'You can live with a few more hours with them.' he tried telling himself. 'It's only a few hours.'

"That settles it then!" Jiraiya shouted. "Next stop, the Senju clan compound!" He sprinted past Tsunade towards the village.

"Wha- Jiraiya wait up!" Tsunade yelled as she chased after him, leaving Orochimaru no choice but to follow. Sometimes he really hated his teammates.

"Tadaima!" Tsunade called out as she entered main house.

"Welcome back Tsunade-hime" two of the servants greeted her, bowing.

"Do you know where Umeko-baa-san and Kimie are?" she asked them as she handed one her traveling bag. Behind her Jiraiya did the same but Orochimaru waved them off. He didn't want them accidently breaking anything.

"Umeko-sama is with Kimie-hime in the south garden."

"Great. Come on guys let's go." she said. The boys followed her through the house, with Jiraiya gaping at everything.

"I still can't get over how big your place is Tsunade-chan."

"Mmhmm"

"And that your grandfather really built this himself."

"Did you think he grew the house out of the ground?" Jiraiya's eyes went wide.

"He could do that!?"

Tsunade face-palmed "No genius." Jiraiya looked crushed. Orochimaru snickered into his sleeve. Honestly why did she put up with them?

oOoOoOoOoOo

Something was going to happen today. She didn't know how, but she could feel it. When she'd woken up that morning, she could a feel a tension for lack of a better word in the air. Was this some early form of chakra awareness? Because she hadn't figured out what chakra even was yet. She thought it was supposed to be this bubbling mass of energy in the pit of her stomach but so far she couldn't feel anything. Nada. Zip.

Which made her panic because a Senju with no chakra? The Shodaime's granddaughter no less? That was a death sentence plain and simple. She'd be kidnapped in a heartbeat and granddaughter or not, if she had no chakra then she wasn't an asset and she held no delusions that Konoha would go to great lengths to rescue her. Not if it put actual, valuable, ninja on the line. So she really needed to figure out this whole chakra thing and fast. But it was so frustrating. Being a baby sucked. She couldn't talk or walk or feed herself and ugh diapers. Needless to say she hadn't been a very cooperative baby the past few weeks.

Nawaki had started the Academy and it only reminded her of where she was and what she would need to learn to survive and protect her precious people. She loved her new family, with all of her distant aunts, uncles and cousins- even if they tended to kiss-up to mom and Aunt Natsuko. She had finally met her father, Daiki, and Uncle Itama too. Both had been out on border patrol near Earth Country. From the hushed whispers and nervous looks tossed around, she had a sinking suspicion that war was on the horizon.

When she figured that little tidbit out she'd thrown another tantrum, freaking out her new father who ended up running around the whole mansion trying to find someone who could help calm her down. It was an acceptable punishment for being gone so long she decided, on top of puking on him during their first meeting of course.

Mito couldn't stop laughing, between Daiki's stunned horror, Umeko's panic, Natsuko's groan of resignation and Kimie's cheeky "I'm innocent I don't know what your talking about" grin- oh yes she'd seen right through that- she ended up doubled over clutching her aching side. When she was handed Kimie after she'd been cleaned up Mito looked down at her youngest grandchild and smirked.

"I know exactly what you did young lady." Kimie unashamedly looked the picture of innocence. Big round eyes and her head tilted in an unspoken question, oh her granddaughter was good.

"He deserved it though, the least he could have done was send a letter." Aha! There it was. Now Kimie was smirking, glowing in her grandmother's approval.

"Next time, you should get him alone and then start crying." she said, a mischievous gleam in her eyes, because Mito was an Uzumaki and Uzumakis loved pranks. Kimie smiled up at her grandmother and clapped her hands cheerfully. Mito laughed more, it would seem they had another prankster in the family.

Kimie was starting to freak out. She had been on edge all day, that something skirting on the edge of her senses. It didn't feel bad per se, but she knew something was going to happen today. The more normal the day went on, the more paranoid she became.

After lunch- thank god she was on bottles now- her mother took her out to the gardens behind the manor. They had a favorite spot beneath a peach tree that overlooked a koi pond. Kimie loved to dip her hands in the water and startle the koi. Better, if she stayed still long enough, they would swim up and investigate, nibbling on her chubby fingers. Umeko found it hilarious that her daughter could be perfectly still one minute, and trying to wreak havoc the next. She gave the poor maid Hidea a panic attack when she managed to crawl her way into a cabinet and stay hidden for three hours. She'd also terrified Daiki when she almost rolled off the back porch. She was a natural little troublemaker. Umeko, like her mother-in-law, suspected Kimie was pranking her father on purpose. Most of the clan had a running bet on when Daiki would realize his 5-month old daughter was playing him like a fiddle. She currently had 20,000 yen riding on him staying oblivious until Kimie could talk.

Right now, Umeko was content to drink her tea and watch her daughter terrorize the koi while her husband suffered through a clan meeting.

"Umeko-baa-san! I'm home!" Tsunade called out from the house, startling Kimie. Her mother lunged and caught her by the scruff of her kimono before she fell into the pond, all without spilling a drop of tea.

'That kind of composure is just unfair' Kimie grumbled to herself. She turned to find out who had the audacity to startle her into the pond, when she found herself plucked up and smothered in a hug.

"Look at you! You've grown so big Kimie-chan!" Kimie looked up and burst into a gummy smile. Tsunade was here at last. She made grabby motions with her hands and Tsunade grinned and lifted her closer so she could clumsily pat Tsunade's face and rub their noses together.

Tsunade had been one of her favorite characters. How could she not love a mountain-breaking, fear-inspiring badass? She hadn't agreed with Tsunade's decision to leave the Leaf, but she respected her strength and her attempts to reconnect with Jiraiya and treat Naruto like an annoying but lovable grandson. And now she was her cousin. Tsunade freaking Senju was her cousin. And she finally got to meet her! Today could not get any better.

"Well isn't she a cute little ankle-biter." Scratch that. It got better. There, peering over Tsunade's shoulder and poking her cheek, was Jiraiya. Tsunade slapped his hand away.

"Quit poking her." she snapped.

"What? Look at those cheeks! They demand to be squished." he protested. Kimie giggled and reached out to him. Jiraiya grinned back.

"See? She gets it. Now come here you little pudgeball." he said as he snatched her from Tsunade. She pouted and crossed her arms, how dare he steal her cousin. Kimie yanked on his hair in retaliation, she was not a pudge-ball thank you, she just hadn't outgrown her baby fat yet. Jiraiya grinned and lifted her above his head. Kimie squealed happily and wiggled in his grip.

"Jiraiya I swear if you drop her I'll punch you through a tree or five." Tsunade growled at him. Jiraiya kept lifting her up and down, blowing raspberries on her tummy when she came back down. Kimie squealed in delight.

"Calm down Tsunade-chan, she's not going to break. She's gonna be a big strong ninja like her cousin aren't cha Kimi-chan?" Kimie giggled and planted a sloppy kiss on his forehead. 'You got that right!' She glanced over at Tsunade and inwardly smirked at the flush on her cheeks. 'Oh yeah, I'm matchmaking the shit out of this.' Dan was nice and all, but like hell she was passing up a chance to get Tsunade and Jiraiya together. She giggled some more and ramped up the baby cuteness while Jiraiya continued to coo at her. For a pervert, he was surprisingly good with kids and Tsunade wasn't blind to it. She would deny it to her grave but it was a tiny bit attractive to see him so at ease with her baby cousin. Change her hair to white, and she could easily picture Kimie as his own daughter and that image wasn't going to leave her head anytime soon.

Underneath the tree, Umeko continued to drink her tea and watch the unfolding events with a well-trained eye. Now she might be mistaken, but she knew that look in her daughter's eyes, it was the same look she gave Daiki before she broke something or wandered off. She was up to something. Then she saw Jiraiya blowing raspberries and Tsunade blush and fidget. 'Ah I see'.

'What a cunning little girl I have.' she thought to herself, smiling beneath her teacup. 'Jiraiya-kun's not a bad match for Tsunade. He may have no clan, but he's a skilled shinobi. The Elders will have complaints but if Tsunade sets her mind on something, there's no changing it.' Umeko leaned back against the tree and settled down to watch her 5-month-old daughter manipulate her 17-year-old niece.

"She's not going to amount to anything if you spoil her like that Jiraiya." Kimie, who had been happily inspecting Jiraiya's face marks -seriously how did those even work- and hair -there's no way it's that soft, what witchcraft is this- immediately stopped what she was doing and looked around to find the speaker.

'Oh you did not just say that. Say that to my face asshole.'

"She's a baby Orochimaru. She can't even walk yet." Kimie froze. 'Did he just say…' Orochimaru crept up behind Jiraiya and sneered down at her. She stared at him horrified.

'Holy shit that's Orochimaru. Holy shit- Abort, ABORT! Get away. Get away NOW!' she screamed at the top of her lungs and yanked on Jiraiya's hair. 'Get me out of here now!" Both boys were taken aback by the sheer volume and pitch she was achieving, Orochimaru choosing to duck away covering his ears and poor Jiraiya holding her at arm's length. Tsunade ran over and snatched her from his arms, trying to comfort her before surrendering her to her aunt. Umeko cooed and stroked Kimie's hair trying to calm her down but she only grabbed her mother's kimono in a vice grip and sobbed. She didn't want to be anywhere near that traitorous snake.

Seeing no end to Kimie's tantrum, Umeko excused them both, wishing Jiraiya and Orochimaru a good day and assuring Tsunade she'd see her at dinner. She went back into the house and went to the only place that always cheered her little girl up- Mito-sama's personal study. She didn't need to knock, Mito was already there at the door, having heard Kimie's cries from the garden.

"Bring her here." she said, gesturing for Kimie. Umeko handed her to her mother-in-law and followed her into the study. She poured some tea for Mito and herself while Mito tried to calm Kimie down.

"Now what has got her so upset this time?" she asked with a knowing look. Except for that tantrum at their first meeting, Mito had known no other time that Kimie had cried without a good reason. It was one of several traits that pointed to her granddaughter being smarter than she appeared. She only cried when adults were arguing or one of her cousins was bullying another. Even if it didn't involve her, especially if it didn't involve her. Kimie had a nasty habit of punishing the cousins that picked on her in childish jealousy (she was a member of the Main family after all) by wandering off, getting her 'babysitters' into trouble when Daiki, Umeko or heaven forbid Natsuko realized they'd lost her. Or by throwing mud or smashed food in their hair when no one was looking. But if she saw one of her cousins getting picked on by another, she would burst into tears, drawing any nearby adult until she would point at the offending group. After the first few times, the adults of the clan started realizing that Kimie was sounding the alarm on behalf of one of her more timid cousins. Fortunately, only her older cousins seemed to have figure this out as well, and were (unfortunately) more discreet in their bullying. They knew not to try anything in Kimie's presence, although that was surprisingly difficult with how often she escaped and wandered. She would be a true terror once she started walking.

So what had set her off this time?

"I'm not sure Okaa-sama. Tsunade is back and she brought her teammates with her." she paused and thought. "She was fine with Tsunade and adored Jiraiya but when Orochimaru approached her she started screaming." Mito raise a manicured brow and looked down at her granddaughter thoughtfully. Could it be?

Mito, like many Uzumaki, was a skilled sensor-nin. She was so skilled that she could detect a person's emotions through their chakra. Neither of her sons or elder grandchildren had shown any signs of inheriting this particular talent, although Itama and Tsunade were both decent sensors in their own right. Kimie had shown signs of basic sensing as well, she was too good at finding her troublemaking cousins to be anything else, but this, this might be more. Mito narrowed her eyes in thought. If Kimie had inherited her sensing ability, she doubted it was mature enough yet to distinguish emotions nor was Kimie herself mature enough to understand what she was perceiving, However, what was most likely was that Kimie had developed a… character sense of sorts. She wasn't able to distinguish or understand individual emotions, but she good sense if a person had good/bad intentions.

If she was correct in her assessment of Kimie's possible skills, this didn't bode well for Orochimaru. There had always been something… off about him. But it was all speculation at this point. Kimie hadn't even shown signs of a developed chakra network yet. There was some formation, but nothing yet that would guarantee her a career as a ninja (and what a blow to the clan that would be. She was a little concerned, both her children and grandchildren had shown signs by now but she wasn't too worried. Kimie had always gone at her own pace). It might be that her granddaughter simply had good intuition, or just a natural aversion to Orochimaru's admittedly frightening appearance. There were too many variables to make any decisive moves now, but she would be keeping an eye on him.

While Mito was pondering her possible sensoring abilities, Kimie was freaking out.

'Oh shit oh shit now I've done it. She's onto me. It's all over. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.' She just had to react to Orochimaru didn't she? She couldn't just gurgle at him like a normal baby, noooo. Now her grandma was looking at her way too sharply for her comfort. She knew she should've dumbed things down.

"I think Kimie was just stressed by meeting such strong people today." her grandmother finally replied. Her mother raised a brow and gave Mito a questioning look.

"She's met many of the clan already, and more in one day than she's has now."

"Yes," Mito agreed, "but they are clan. Family. We all carry a similar chakra signature that marks us as such. Today she has met two jonin-level shinobi with no relation to us at all. Kimie has not been exposed to such strong shinobi outside of the family before."

Kimie blinked. This was not where she thought this conversation was going. She was right of course, because even if the compound was crawling with ANBU, they kept their chakra masked so as to not disturb the Senju clan. They all knew they were there of course, but it was an appreciated courtesy nonetheless.

"I have a theory that Kimie may be developing into a sensor-nin."

Umeko and Kimie raised their brows at that.

"I don't know for certain," Mito continued, "Kimie's chakra network is not developed enough, but I do believe she is sensitive enough that the foreign chakras she encountered today startled her. Clearly Orochimaru's more than Jiraiya's but I believe a combination of both is what caused her outburst today."

Umeko opened her mouth only to close it again and ponder. After a moment she asked,

"Then what do you suppose we do?"

"I suggest taking her into the Village." Umeko's brows shot up in surprise and Kimie gaped. Out in the Village? She'd get to explore Konoha!? Mito chuckled at Umeko's reaction.

"In short trips to start. It might do her some good to get accustomed to new chakra signatures. Slowly of course, and I would suggest starting by the Academy. The children, while energetic, shouldn't bother her too much. It's best she get adjusted now, before it becomes a hindrance."

Umeko nodded. That did sound like a good idea. Typically, high ranking clan children did not leave their compounds until they were older, they weren't even formally introduced to the other clans until their 4th birthday (a tradition from the Warring States Era, when there was no guarantee a child would live that long), however it wasn't unheard of. If she brought her around town and got her adjusted before she turned 1, it shouldn't be an issue.

Kimie liked this plan. A lot. She was dying to get out more. Sure, she hadn't explored all of the compound yet but she had the distinct feeling that she'd have ample opportunities later. She never saw any kids below Academy age leave all that often. Here was a chance to get out and see the Village her new grandfather had created. She'd get to meet people outside her clan! She didn't care the reasoning, (although she filed away Mito's comments on her chakra and sensing-ability for later) but she was damn well grateful for it. If obaa-san hadn't already her favorite family member (besides mom), she was now.

After finishing their tea, Umeko gathered up Kimie and returned to their rooms to get ready for dinner. There would be a lot to talk about.

A/N: Whew, finally done. This ended up longer than expected but I'm pretty happy with it. I want to cover some of Kimie's early years into full chapters, next up with be toddler hood and her big 4th birthday bash.

As you can see Kimie's a bit of an odd one. She knows what's going on and wants to change things, but she's going to go with the flow for now, until she gets her bearings. She still doesn't know when the wars take place and for how long. She also isn't sure how to use her chakra yet.

I know I called this a SI but she's really more of an OC with knowledge of the Naruto storyline. I won't go into her past all that much but it'll pop up occasionally like a skill here or there or a weird connection she'll make to her old life's pop culture. It won't be anything major like "oh I already know that martial art" or "I have such a great memory!" (spoiler she doesn't) but her past clearly shapes her personality at the start. She's sarcastic and troublesome but playful and fully invested now in living this new life.

I hope you don't hate her yet, I know by putting her in the Senju clan there's a really heavy chance of her ending up OverPoweredTM but I'm going to try really hard to temper it. I'll be relying on you all to help keep me in check ok?

See you all soon

~Pomorama

Up next:

"Ew Ew ewww not the eyeball arm!"

"Why are you surprised? There's too many ANBU not to mess with them"

"You wouldn't know where a two year old got her hands on explosive tags would you?" "It was grandma's idea I swear"

"Kimi-chan I need to go to school!" "Noooo don't go. Be a baker-ninja instead"

"If she heard Kimie-hime one more time she was going to throw a kunai at someone"

"...Nice aim."