and what "gender-swapping hell mode" truly was.
The hardest-hit area of awkwardness was, without a doubt, using the bathroom.
On the second morning after transmigrating, Pakura was woken up by a pressing urge to urinate. Dazed, she climbed out of bed and headed straight for the latrine in the courtyard. She stood at the entrance, staring at the squat toilet clearly designed for women, and froze for a full five minutes.
It was as if two little people were fighting in her head.
One little person shouted at the top of its lungs, "What are you standing there for! Hurry up! I can't hold it anymore!"
The other little person crossed its arms and retorted righteously, "No! You're a man! How can you stand... oh wait, how can you use the bathroom like this!"
"What time is it that you're still being picky! Can a living person really let themselves die from holding their pee?"
"But I'm a man! A man!"
The two little people argued incessantly. Pakura's face turned red from holding it, and her lower abdomen felt waves of cramping pain. Finally, bodily instinct triumphed over logic. Blushing, she followed the original owner's habits and completed this "arduous task."
When she came out of the latrine, Pakura felt like her life had turned grey.
If the awkwardness of using the bathroom was barely bearable, then the experience of bathing was simply a disaster.
Water was precious in the Hidden Sand Village. The original Pakura was used to heating water for a satisfying bath every three days. On the evening of the second day after transmigrating, Pakura looked at the steaming water in the wooden tub, hesitated for a full half-hour, and then slowly, reluctantly took off her Ninja outfit.
As the hot water flowed down her skin, washing away her fatigue and the desert sand, the feeling was so comfortable to the bone that Pakura couldn't help but let out a sigh. But the next second, her hand accidentally brushed against the softness of her chest.
That sensation was so foreign that it sent a jolt through her whole body, as if she'd been struck by lightning, and her entire being froze.
Immediately after, she jumped up as if she'd received an electric shock. Her foot slipped, and with a "thud," she fell hard onto the smooth floor.
"Ouch—"
Pakura grimaced in pain, her head throbbing from hitting the floor. Lying there, she looked up at the wooden beams on the ceiling, wanting to cry but having no tears.
What kind of mess is this! Getting knocked silly just from taking a bath? Back when he played basketball, he'd taken falls ten times worse than this without even making a sound. How did changing into a different body make him so fragile?
However, the true nightmare was yet to come.
On the morning of the third day after transmigrating, Pakura was woken up by a familiar aching pain.
It wasn't a sharp pain, but a dense, continuous one spreading from deep within her lower abdomen, carrying a heavy, dragging soreness. Frowning, she clutched her stomach and sat up, her mind a complete blank.
Wait, this feeling... why does it seem a bit familiar?
Pakura froze for three seconds, then her eyes widened suddenly, and her face turned deathly pale in an instant.
She remembered! Back in university, when the girls got their periods, they looked exactly this miserable!
No—
A desperate wail erupted from Pakura's heart.
She was a pure man, how could she be dealing with this!
But her body wouldn't lie. That heavy, bloated feeling became more and more obvious, and even her legs began to feel weak. She hurriedly pulled back the covers and, as expected, saw a scene that made her want to die on the spot.
Pakura almost used Scorch Release to evaporate herself right then and there.
She rummaged through the room, turning the original owner's things upside down, but couldn't find anything even remotely like a sanitary pad. It made sense; the original Pakura was a Ninja focused entirely on missions, and she probably carried these things in her Ninja tool pouch. But when she transmigrated, the tool pouch was still hanging on the mission board at the village entrance; she hadn't had time to get it.
What should she do?
Pakura clutched her stomach, cold sweat dripping from her forehead in pain. She couldn't just make do with gauze, could she? That would be too ridiculous!
After agonizing for a long time, Pakura gritted her teeth, changed into a loose robe, haphazardly wrapped herself with some cloth strips, and then lowered her head, sneaking out the door like a thief.
The commercial street in the Hidden Sand Village wasn't very busy; after all, with the heavy wind and sand, people didn't like to go out unless necessary. Pakura ducked her head, burying her face as much as possible in her collar, and walked quickly toward a small shop selling daily necessities.
She had even rehearsed her lines a hundred times in her head, thinking about how to speak without looking too pathetic.
As it turned out, just as she reached the shop entrance, she heard a familiar voice.
"Senior Pakura?"
Pakura's body stiffened. She slowly turned her head and saw two teenagers wearing Hidden Sand Ninja uniforms. They were juniors from the same squad who had previously practiced Scorch Release with the original owner for a few days.
The two boys looked at her with innocent smiles. One of them even pointed at her stomach: "Senior, your face doesn't look too good. Are you feeling unwell somewhere?"
Pakura's face instantly turned as red as a cooked shrimp, even the tips of her ears were burning. She wished she could find a hole to crawl into. She stammered for a long time, unable to get out a single complete sentence.
The other boy was more clever. He looked at her, then at the nearby daily necessities shop, and clapped his hands in a sudden realization: "Oh! I get it! Senior is here to buy *that*, right?"
The words "that" were spoken particularly loudly, causing several passing villagers to look over.
Pakura was so embarrassed she could have dug out a three-bedroom apartment with her toes.
She nodded stiffly, almost squeezing the words through her teeth: "Um, yes."
"I knew it!" The boy smiled even more happily. "When my sister came to buy it last time, she was just like this! Don't be shy, Senior, we understand!"
Understand? Understand your head!
Pakura roared in her heart, but her face could only manage a smile that looked worse than crying.
She practically fled into the shop, grabbed a random package, threw down some money, and ran back out, not even waiting for the owner to give her change.
After racing all the way home, the moment she closed the door, Pakura leaned against it and slowly slid to the floor. Clutching her still-aching stomach and looking at the package of sanitary pads in her hand—stamped with the Hidden Sand Village symbol—she wanted to cry but had no tears.
The afterglow of the setting sun filtered through the window, spilling onto her fiery red hair and coating it in a golden halo.
Pakura slumped on the floor, staring at the ceiling, and let out a sigh from the depths of her soul.
"Life... really can't go on like this!"
The wind outside was still blowing, carrying the scent of yellow sand. Pakura looked at her slender wrists and felt the waves of bloating pain from her lower abdomen, suddenly feeling a bit lost.
In his previous life, Ali was just an ordinary corporate slave, squeezing onto subways, working overtime, and eating takeout every day. His biggest dream was to save enough money to go traveling. Who would have thought that upon waking up, he would have transmigrated into the Naruto World and become a female Ninja who was about to be betrayed.
The road ahead was long and filled with hidden dangers.
This body, although a bit troublesome, at least had the foundation of a Kage-level powerhouse.
Two years was enough time for her to do many things.
At the very least, she couldn't die at the border in a muddled way like the original owner.
Pakura took a deep breath and slowly stood up, a flash of determination in her eyes.
"Forget it, since I'm here, I might as well make the best of it." She brushed the dust off herself and quirked the corner of her mouth at her reflection in the mirror. "So what if I've become a woman? So what if I have to face this crap? I... This lady is now Scorch Release Pakura, who am I afraid of!"