My toddler years weren't very interesting except that I finally got used to being Nara Mishika, daughter of Nara Himiko and Nara Shota and little sister and experimental subject of Nara Shikaku. I also slowly strengthened my grasp on japanese, both written and oral, something that wasn't one of my strong points in my past life. It was wonderful how plastic a child's brain was. Combining that with an already developed psyche, learning a new language was child's play, literally.

I was four years old when a major change was introduced to my routine, which by then included reading, playing with Shikaku, chakra training (still a secret), lessons with mother and physical excercise with Shikaku (which would probably progress to taijutsu training). Uzumaki Kushina had been brought to Konoha from her home island of Uzushio and she was in need of a playmate. As I was nearest to her age among the clan children, my father volunteered me for the task.

I was very excited to meet the toddler version of Naruto's mother but it turned out to be a major letdown. She was a whiny brat and didn't even come out of the room to greet me. I could sort of empathise with her. She had been sent away from her home and family to a strange village to a life of uncertainty and danger. Except that, unlike me, she was an actual 4 year old.

I gave it up as a dead duck when she didn't answer after 15 minutes of knocking and coaxing and resigned myself to return home, when Mito-sama, a lady who had enough grace in her pinky finger that I had in my whole body, who was Kushina's gaurdian, asked me to stay for tea.

I agreed without thinking about the implications and subsequently fumbled my way around the traditional Japanese tea ceremony. I was positive that I had made pretty big blunders, but Mito-sama was kind enough to ignore them, until the end that is.

"Mishika-chan, you should pay more attention to your tea ceremony lessons. They are as important for a kunoichi as chakra training, and definitely more important than unauthorised chakra training."

I was about to apologise for my atrocious manners during the ceremony when I caught the last part. "I'm not sure what you're talking about, Mito-sama." I am not proud to say that I froze.

She gave me an exacerbated look. "Uzumaki's are very good at chakra sensing. I can sense you circulating your chakra at this moment."

I quickly stopped the self made chakra control excercise which had become second nature for me, and tried to think of a plausible excuse.

"Oh, that is very good chakra control. Fairly impossible to achieve at four years of age." She remarked. "Especially for a Nara."

"What do you mean by that?" I bristled, apparently having developed a sense of pride for my clan, which I had been previously unaware of.

"Nara's do not start their children's chakra training until they are six. Which means you've been training on your own.  You've been fairly lucky till now but chakra training is dangerous. There's a reason it is not done without supervision."

"But.."

"Don't worry." She interupted me. "I won't tell your parents. I have a condition, though."

"What condition?" I asked warily.

"You have to come here every day to learn new chakra control excercises."

"What?"

"You have the best chakra control I've observed except for my granddaughter. It would be foolish to leave you to fumble on your own and potentially cripple yourself." Mito-sama stated, matter-of-factly.

And that was how I gained my first sensei.