The right environment and company can allow even a person inexperienced with the "normal" world to adapt and grow. Everything surrounding Uzumaki gave her these endless possibilities and it would bring even more in the future.
Like the foundation of a tree, its roots spread through the soil seeking nutrients and stability for its blossoming. Amaya too was seeking her change and began to put it into practice with what was within her reach, through small gestures:
Helping Hatake with his studies for the Genin Graduation exam he wanted, as well as apologizing and starting over with the one she had once nearly taken the life of, driven by her personal fear of having returned to the laboratory, Yumi.
However, proportional to the desire for growth, threats always existed against any developing life form.
Ichiro's unrestrained hatred and Takafumi's repulsion turned out to be related to more than Uzumaki had considered, directly involving the brothers' feelings for their mother the one the redhead had once attacked.
Without even having time to fully deal with the situation involving her teammate, Amaya was assigned to an escort mission and forced to face another dark part of humanity: human trafficking.
As a target alongside her teammates, Uzumaki chose to endure alone rather than force one of the two boys to be beaten like her, she knew individually she could handle it, after all, her distressing experiences in the lab were countless.
However, human greed and unpredictability can never be fully measured.
Takafumi was killed before her eyes and Shisui's; her brother's Mangekyou awakening and the reactivation of her own Sharingan occurring.
Even amidst the whirlwind of thoughts and emotions overwhelming her, Uzumaki could coldly define her actions and choices and with that, voluntarily embracing a part of herself she vehemently feared for being capable of.
That was the first bloodbath the redhead had intentionally caused. There was no satisfaction or relief upon ending it, only the inner disturbance from the agonizing screams of the one she let burn alive in the end.
And the feeling of guilt over Shisui's condition upon returning to Konoha wasn't unique to Uzumaki, but shared by the Uchiha, frustrated with himself for not protecting his sister and their friend.
They both suffered proportionally in their own ways, but still supported each other in that moment.
However, once a crack appears, the containment of what it holds is never complete again – and this applied to Uzumaki's mental state when she saw Ichiro trying to target her brother to get to her.
Amaya would come to learn the name for her 'apathetic' state, once used during the extermination of the smugglers, as the Uchiha clan's Curse of Hatred. She was almost consumed by the urge to retaliate against those boys who hurt Shisui, but he himself held her back.
Time, added with clarifications from others, was necessary that same day to stop the blind hatred of the Uchiha who had attacked her multiple times before, and likewise for the redhead to consider the matter settled in any future fight between them.
And just as threats can aim to prevent growth, difficulties also play a role in forcing new understandings.
An unusual request to fulfill a promise made by a wife to her husband, unexpectedly passed to Amaya by one of her saviors a request that would be the last one Sakumo ever made to anyone before his suicide.
It was a new experience in the redhead's life, a new kind of suffering from losing someone – not taken by others, but lost to their own inner demons fed by others' judgment.
But it was also the starting point that would lead to the relationship between Uzumaki and the younger Hatake to solidify and evolve. Of course, the path to that point wasn't subtle or free of perseverance, but it would be the first step from which there was no return.
The return of stability was a slow process, but it eventually arrived for those around the redhead as well.
Kakashi joined Team 7, to which Uzumaki and her brother belonged. The team's future focused on the Chunin Exam their sensei soon recommended them for.
And just as the relationships among her teammates changed, a particular one did for the redhead too: The realization, together with her friends, about the MinaKushi couple; her family accepting them as her parents, and the elders accepting her as their daughter.
Highs and lows needed to be experienced to understand certain things, and Amaya was no exception, pushing herself beyond her limits in training to compensate for her "failure" on the mission that resulted in her teammate's death.
However, with the right support and guidance from Shikaku, whose mindset could best understand the girl at that moment, the situation was resolved and steered towards a less harmful path.
And with the Chunin Exam, the talents of others could be freely displayed, promoting a general change in the adverse opinions many still held. Just as it improved the relationship between the two boys in Team 7.
'Venus' was chosen as Amaya's nickname by her brother and Hatake alluding to their feelings and experiences with the redhead herself. It also served to create one of the only moments in her life where Uzumaki didn't know the answer to something.
The third stage of the Chunin Exam featured a match between the Uchiha and Hatake prodigies in the semifinal and between the siblings as the final round a memorable day none of those involved would forget.
Gathering with her family and receiving congratulations for her achievements, Amaya also met an important figure to Minato and who would later be important to her too, Jiraiya.
Everything in that moment was of a welcoming warmth.
That is, at least, until her body shuddered unconsciously as two individuals passed by and quickly vanished from her sight her creators had discovered her identity and were aiming for her once more.
However, even if they wanted to, they could do nothing for now after all, they would only suffer losses with little chance of success if they acted rashly.
And so, the chessboard reserved for the dispute between creators and creation had its first move finally made. The past of the one once called 122 would finally begin to be revealed.