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[b][h1][u]Akane Yuki[/u][/h1]
[h2]Arc 1 - Rebirth: Year 1[/h2][/b]
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[b]November 13th, Year 0 ANB[/b]

Being cognizant of your second birth was not something that Therese Grace had ever considered. Rather, having a second birth at all was not something Therese Grace had considered. She had been aware of the fact that some religions subscribed to the concept of reincarnation, but she had thought the point was to not remember your past life.

The birth itself was surreal, but aside from a guy drawing some sort of tattoo on her back—a cultural thing perhaps, she wondered—it was as far as she could tell about the same as what would have happened in her old life. Then again, her senses were still getting used to a life outside the womb, and she was still disoriented, seeing the world from a newborn's perspective, so she could not say she was fully cognizant the whole way through.

But it was not as if she was complaining. Indeed, remembering her past life was exactly the reason she agreed to the deal offered by the entity known as 'Kami'. There was no afterlife, she said. Only the next life, and yet despite the sameness of the 'soul' without memory, Therese would not think that 'her next life' was truly hers. It was someone else's, who happened to share the same soul of hers. Ultimately, the subjective experience and the memory made were what defined 'the self'. Someone who was her in soul, but had none of her memory might as well be someone else entirely.

At least, that was her train of thought when she accepted the deal to be reborn in a new world that Kami said was 'imperilled'. Kami described it as a world that most resembles feudal Japan with modern touches here and there, the biggest difference, however, is the existence of chakra which enables people of various mystical feats. 

Nevertheless, she accepted the deal, and since they did not have enough time to discuss the detail of this new world, left it to Kami to decide her place of birth.

And that was how Therese Grace was reborn as Akane Yuki.
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[b]January, Year 1 ANB[/b]

Being a baby was an odd experience, in Akane's opinion. If she has to liken it to any of her previous experiences in her first life, it was like when one was bedridden with sickness, where you have periods of lucidity before you tire and sleep again. Only this time, rather than being bedridden for a few days, it was her daily routine for the last three months or so, and for the foreseeable future.

Still, being a child again was not all bad. Children were said to learn language faster than adults, for one. Between that particular advantage and her own mental capacity that remained from her past life, she was able to grasp the language of her new world quickly. Of course, she was far from being fluent, but she could sort of follow the conversation.

She was born in the village in the Land of Water called Kirigakure. Apropos to its name, it was a humid location with mist covering the area most of the time. Her family was a ninja clan called the Yuki clan, who apparently had a special bloodline to use ice techniques.
Speaking of, they were ninja, but from what little Akane could gather, 'ninjas' here were more akin to mages, able to bend the elements and whatnot.

This was, evidently the chakra Kami mentioned.

Akane had heard the term chakra, from her previous life of course, but she was quite certain back then only people who believed in the occult thought they had actual mystical property. Here, chakra as a mystical force was part of the reality, something that Akane had come to realize early on.

Ever since she was born, she had always been aware of an odd sensation, both within her and around her. While she cannot precisely put a finger on the phenomenon, it was as if one were to suddenly hear an odd sound they had never heard before, or smell a lingering fragrance of something that wasn't there usually. In short, it was a sensation that was utterly foreign to her.

With nothing else to do, she spends her days mostly trying to feel the foreign sensation. Eventually, she honed her senses enough to tell that what she sensed around her actually came from people around her, like her family. Eventually, as Taiki, her older brother, was practising, she realized the energy was used to manifest the mystical properties she had heard were the byproduct of chakra. In her brother's case, it was to materialize several ice spears. That was when she realized what she was sensing was chakra.

Speaking of her family...they were...odd to say the least.

It was not as if they didn't care for her, or each other, but for her parents...there was always this sense of fatality that she could sense, it was like they live expecting to die any day, and every time they look at Taiki and Akane, there was this sense of guilt. It was especially prevalent with her mother.

Her father, Reiji Yuki was barely home these days. From what she gathered, he was a jounin—a high-ranking ninja—and so, he was often sent on missions. Apparently, he had been allowed to remain home while Akane's mother, Hikari Yuki, was still recovering, but after the first month, he was barely home.

Her brother was nice, though. He was five years older than her and was currently training to be a shinobi, but he still had that idealistic strike one would find charming in a kid. Child soldier was a grim reality but at this point, Akane had gathered that was simply the course of things in this new world.
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[b]13th of November, Year 1 ANB[/b]

After a year of being born in the new world, Akane had somewhat acclimatized to her new life. Being a baby, her range of activities was limited, but at least as a one-year-old, she was now not completely bedridden, able to crawl—and walk, though very unsteadily—as well as string some very rudimentary words together.

This was—unsurprisingly considered advanced development for her age—and the words ‘genius’ and ‘prodigy’ had been thrown around by the occasional guests her family received. Most of them were fellow members of the Yuki clan.

They introduced themselves to Akane out of formality, but the truth was that Akane had figured that out before any words were exchanged. Not out of superhuman deduction or anything, but rather through how their chakra felt similar to Akane and her family.
Akane then closed her eyes as she extended her senses.

Sensing chakra was most of Akane’s pastime during her early days when she could not do much. Over time, the accuracy of her sense grew. She was now able to sense chakra in a radius of 1 Km around her. And if she focuses, she could gain even more detail from the individual chakra she sensed.

For people whose chakra she sensed often, like her parents and brother, Akane could easily pick it up whenever they were in her range of sensory ability—for example, her brother had just entered the range of her 1 Km radius—For others, she was not able to distinguish them yet, she was able to obtain a general feel and notice similarities.

She was able to do more than just lie around and sense chakra nowadays, though she often kept up with the practice because it felt relaxing. She imagined this was what meditation felt like.

"...What? We talked about  ▅▅▅▅. And the whole clan is  ▅▅▅▅"

"I know. The clan is ▅▅▅▅  ▅▅▅▅ but if it's only the four of us, then ▅▅▅▅"

Akane was stirred from her meditation as she heard her parents arguing.

[i]'Damn. I don't quite understand fully,'[/i] Akane cursed.

While advanced for her age, language was still a language barrier. While she was able to follow most of the conversation, some of the context was missing.

"You know if we do it the ▅▅▅▅ will ▅▅▅ us," her mother said.

"And then what? What's the  ▅▅▅▅ that we just wait until we  ▅▅▅▅? That even if we  ▅▅▅▅ live like  ▅▅▅▅?" her father argued back immediately.

...It looked as if her father was dissatisfied with their living condition. Not a surprise to Akane. 

Akane couldn't fully understand her circumstances quite yet, but she knew that something was amiss. She didn't know the average standard of living in this world, so she cannot know for sure, but she did have the impression that her family and her neighbourhood—no, perhaps the entire island were pretty good as far as amenities and standard of living.

And yet, not a single person she had seen since her second birth seemed happy with living here. Like her mother, most of them carried with them this sense of fatality. The only exceptions were people wearing masks embroidered with the symbol of Kirigakure. Through her own observation and chakra-sensing practice, she had long figured out that those people were guards. Not guarding them, no...but to watch them as a prison guard might. 

Sometimes, when her brother took her on a walk, she'd seen him look wistfully at the island in the distance. This island...despite its apparent standard of living...was a prison. A gilded cage. Her family and all those who lived here were its captive, for reasons that were beyond Akane's comprehension currently.

"...You're ▅▅▅▅! Even if the ▅▅▅▅ ▅▅▅▅ can ▅▅▅▅ the Mizukage will ▅▅▅▅," her mother shouted.

Mizukage? Shadow water? Shadowy water? Who or rather what was that?

"Even so, I—"

Her Father stopped in the middle of the sentence. He then sighed, "We'll continue this later. Taiki is ▅▅▅▅."

From what she could sense of her brother's chakra and the context, that last word was...what, close? Approaching?

Regardless, her brother arrived not long after, before being promptly asked to take Akane for a walk. Doubtless so they could speak more freely.

Taiki dutifully picked up his sister and took her for a walk, and as the case with many of their walks, he stopped at the shores of the island.

"Did Mother and Father fight?" he asked.

"Un," Still unable to fully form a sentence, Akane simply tried her best to convey a confirmation through a nod.

"Hah. You ▅▅▅▅ understand that? You ▅▅▅▅ are a smart girl, huh, Akane?" Taiki laughed. He then continued, "▅▅▅▅ how can they do that? On your birthday, ▅▅▅▅. Well, I can guess..."

He then stopped talking, the familiar wistful look passing across his face as he looked at the island in the distance.

"Yeah. Our ▅▅▅▅ is...not ▅▅▅▅. But I'll change it, ▅▅▅▅. I'll be Mizukage and ▅▅▅▅ ▅▅▅▅!" Taiki declared. He then turned to Akane and gave her a smile, "So you don't have to ▅▅▅▅."

...Though not fully understanding it completely—such as what the Mizukage her brother wants to be is—Akane understood that it was an attempt to reassure her. And that her brother wanted to change the current circumstances that had us trapped in this gilded cage.

Akane had not understood it fully, but...then and there, she promised—to herself, if nothing else—that she too, would do her best for it.