"It is evening now. Everyone here is permitted to go home. Except the usual correspondents of our meetings." All the kids under chunin rank left along with the mothers who had left their ninja life. As Ayako was about to take her leave, the Hokage stopped her, "Ayako, we will continue with your session first."

Ayako nodded and made her way back inside again, standing next to her two friends. Kurenai gave her an encouraging smile and she returned her the same decency.

"Then, let us start." commanded the Hokage as he beckoned forward.

For a second, she felt like a sacrificial peace in a ritual as she felt the eyes of everyone around her.

Inoichi stepped forward and started the memory pull jutsu, placing his hands atop her head, "I am ready." Ayako nodded in approval and he started.

She felt the wind leave her breath, she coughed for a whole minute as Kurenai rushed to give her water. "Thank you" she breathed out as her vision started blurring until finally, she could only see black before she felt her body flying around in a void. She opened her eyes in that no gravity zone and willed herself despite the ache to turn upright and start floating towards a screen. She pressed play

"Ayako, shouldn't we try this out?" a boy of about her age came running to her.

"What is it, Koshi?" A girl of about 8 years screamed in delight as he caught up to her pace.

"I got it while rummaging through father's office." He replied as he looked at her with great affection.

"What does it say? Also, didn't father tell you to stop snooping around, huh? I am younger but I feel like I am older honestly.." she sighed, stopping in her spot.

The two started running again. And Ayako quickly ran after them, trying to catch up with tears running down her face.

They were in a field and they were playing around, she concluded. 'No... it's not a field. It's.. a garden..' Her own voice interrupted. With that knowledge, she turned around and came to face a small house.

"Yeah well, they do say curiosity is required to become a scientist right?" He took a seat on the neatly laid out mat. "Come take a look at this. I think it's father's newest invention."

"Latest invention?" Ayako scrunched her nose, "It looks old. Must have been discarded, Koshi."

"I don't think so... it was in one of the scary rooms in his office." He replied while checking the device.

"Well.... father should honestly stop taking you to his office." She pouted, "He never takes me with him."

"You are still young-" He suddenly stopped speaking, making her look at what got his attention. It was a writing on the device.

Ayako stood up, "ooooooo what's that??" she asked.

"It says, "Jump into a fictional universe."" He started laughing unable to read the next sentence. "Why would father and his colleagues waste their time on this? It's not like the dimension hopping is a real thing." he wiped a tear from laughing.

"But what if it is though?? " Ayako nervously bit her lips.

"Don't tell me you actually believe in this?" He scoffed at her as she took the device from his hands.

She then opened the box, "Oh? There's a sort of manual here. It says, 'Proceed with caution: Choose fictional world you would live to enter and at what timeline... ooooo, they have Naruto here, Koshi."

He took the device from her hands. "Mother and father won't be back till evening. Want to test it out?"

"It could be real!" She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Yeah? Well I'm gonna prove to you that it can't."

She nodded her head, "B-But.." she gripped the hem of his shirt.

"What is it, Ayako?" He asked, concerned about her stutter.

"I want to be the one to try-"

"NO! It's too dangerous. What if something goes wrong?" He caught her hand.

"But it won't! Please Koshiiiiii"

"No! I told you, it could be dangerous."

"How dangerous could it be?? I want to be the one to try it. Or are you afraid that I will be proven right and the machine will actually work?"

"Ayako-"

"I will tell father about everything you have done behind his back in his office!" She huffed, crossing her arms and sitting on the floor, throwing a tantrum.

"Don't be childish-"

"Please...? My lovellyyy older brother..?" she looked at him with crocodile tears and he could not defend against it anymore..

He sighed as he handed her the device, "Alright. But mark my words, it won't work."

She stuck her tongue out at him and followed the instructions on the manual to set her journey. "What time do you think I should pop in at?"

"Pop in?" he chuckled at her choice of words, "Uhmm..maybe when the main cast are young, like a year or so..?"

"YES! How smart you are, Koshi. Then I can charm Shisui into falling in love with me and save the world!" She gave him a hug.

"No, you idiot! Stop being delusional. It is not going to work. And even if it did, I thought you liked Gaara?"

"Don't talk about the past right now, Koshi." She told him when he mentioned Gaara. "you forgot Izuna." She added in sneakily.

"yeah how can I forget your tears when they all die."

She hit him in the hand, "We don't talk about that!" She then stood up, "Anyways, I am done with the set-up. Bye!"

"Let's see." He checked the settings, "Yep, looks alright."

Ayako, without any notice, turned the device on and was immediately covered in a puff of smoke.

"Wai-Ayako!" Koshi yelled after the smoke shielded her from his view.

The world started spinning for Ayako and then she fainted. When she awoke, she was in a hospital. A nurse came in, "hello child." She smiled sweetly, making Ayako comfortable and she immediately greeted the nurse as well.

"So, what's your name darling?" The nurse asked her.

"Ayako."

"And last name?" She asked, her hand writing down information on a file.

"huh... last name?" Ayako searched her head but couldn't find it at all. She closed her eyes and tried it again. But she just couldn't.

"It's fine if you don't know dear."

Ayako nodded her head slowly at the nurse's kind words.

"I am sorry to interrupt but how is she-oh" a woman with black hair and red eyes walked in.

The nurse greeted her, "Hello, Yuhi-san. She just woke up." The nurse turned to her, "Ayako, this is the kind ninja who brought you in."

"Hi Ayako. My name is Kurenai Yuhi. How are you feeling?"

"I am doing fine, thank you for bringing me in Yuhi-san."

"How old are you?" The nurse asked her and she spoke before thinking, "9"

"I will go file out your patient data." The nurse left after that, leaving the two of them alone.

"The Hokage will be coming soon, I don't want you to feel scared of him alright?" Kurenai said as she took a seat next to her bed.

"The Hokage?" she questioned, "What is a hokage?"

"Huh? You don't know what a hokage is? He's the ruler of the Hidden Lead Village."

"The hidden what?" she asked again, feeling very dumb when Kurenai spoke as if the words she was using was common sense.

"Oh.... where are you from, Ayako?" She shifted the conversation.

"Me?" Ayako closed her eyes again, "Let me think.." she suddenly winced in pain. "I am so sorry I don't..."

The Hokage entered alongside the nurse, "It seems she is awake." He spoke and sat when Kurenai offered her a seat.

Kurenai spoke up, "I think she might be suffering from memory loss..." her voice was filled with pity.

The nurse handed her a file, "Yes. Here are the reports from the various tests we took. She is suffering from memory loss and also seems to have no chakra running through her."

Kurenai was shocked, "What does that mean? No chakra?? How could that be..? She asked the nurse.

"I am not sure how, Yuhi-san. But the Hyuga who checked said she had none."

"I mean... yes, the chakra running through her might have been too little to be seen, right? Maybe that's the case...?"

"No, Yuhi-san. There's no coils."

That silenced the whole room.

"Interesting." The hokage spoke up. "Ayako? Is that your name dear?" He asked her.

She nodded.

"Are you 9 years old?" He asked her again.

"Yes, sir." She nodded. And he chuckled.

"It doesn't seem like you are from around here" He then turned to Kurenai, "Calling me sir... could imply her lack of knowledge regarding ninja villages or her absence from being part of one."

"Do you mean that she is from the outskirts...? But people in outskirt know of the ninja villages too, Lord Hokage."

"It might seem peculiar but there are some rare cases of people from different villages being ignorant about the different ninja villages and surviving by themselves with no contact to the outside world of the ninjas. Or at least.. for most of the civilians. Maybe not for the seniors or, kids like Ayako here."

"What about the lack of chakra coils? Is that something you have heard of, to happen?"

"No, it isn't, Kurenai. Seems to me like we've got an interesting citizen."

"Citizen? Lord Hokage are you planning-"

"Yes, we will have to shelter her. At least until her memory comes back and then she can decide what she wants to do. She's just 9 years old." He responded. 'Plus, she probably doesn't know about the nine-tails, so...' He continued, "I already have an apartment open for her, I will give you the key. I want you to go drop her off there."

"As you command, Lord Hokage."

That was how Ayako found herself residing in the apartment next to the young blonde ninja.

The present Ayako felt the scene shifting again and she was transported an alleyway, wondering why her younger self was running so fast, she followed after her in her ghost-like self.

The Hyugas estate came into view however that was not where her younger self was going. Instead, the young Ayako made her way to where Hiashi was standing a little further away from the estate, and yelled at him, "Lady Hinata is in trouble." That much was enough for Hiashi to dismiss himself from whatever he was occupied with and run to the direction the young girl had pointed towards.

However, contrary to the young Ayako's hope to save Hizashi which she wasn't aware of until now, Hiashi was too late to come in earlier than the canon timing, rendering the canon events to take place as is.

Before she could leave the scene, she was ordered to stop and come inside the Hyuga household, Hiashi sat in front of her as they both were served tea.

"I am thankful for your information which enabled me to save Hinata. However, none of the guards saw you walking through the attempted kidnapping scene, so my question is how did you know where to be?"

"I... I had a feeling that something would happen to her."

"That's quite a bad lie, don't you think so?" He asked her as she sipped from the warm cup of green tea.

"It wasn't my intention to make it sound like a lie.."

"Are you part of their team?" He narrowed his eyes at her.

"Wh-What do you mean? You can't accuse me of that. I have never. Not even once in my memory stepped foot outside of the village."

"Then-" Hiashi was about to continue his interrogation when suddenly Ayako's head hit the table as she fell unconscious.

After a rough scolding by Hinami over his torture of a poor young girl suffering from memory loss, Hiashi sheltered the girl in his house for the day, setting up a make-shift bed in Hinata's room which was heavily guarded after the events of the night.

This was how she became quite close to the Hyugas.

Suddenly, the scenes blurred again and she fell to the ground and with dried up tears in her eyes, welcomed the darkness in the present Hokage's room where they were all gathered.

Immediately after that, Inoichi fell to the ground as well and was helped by the others, he was provided with water when he exclaimed with delight, "I think that was a success just now."

Ayako was already made to lean on the desk there, with some fanning her and sprinkling water on her.

Inoichi told them, "She won't wake up that early. It's better she rests today."

"I will take her in tonight then." Hiashi voiced out, and the others voiced out their agreement.