Three years...
Three years since the village found out Naruto was the Nine-Tails jinchuriki. Three years since Danzo opened his fucking mouth and ruined everything.
«Danzo Shimura has formally disclosed the identity of the Kyūbi jinchuriki to the village council. The information is spreading through the civilian population rapidly.»
Speculation: political leverage, public fear, or simply cruelty. I calculate a 67% probability of multiple motives.»
I'd sat there, block in my tiny hand, feeling something hot and angry build in my chest.
That bastard. That one-eyed, arm-collecting, root-growing bastard.
He'd just condemned a three-year-old kid to a lifetime of hatred.
---
But I couldn't do anything about it then. I was three. I was nobody. I was an orphan with good chakra control and a voice in my head.
So I did the only thing I could.
I trained.
---
= Year 4 – Transformation Jutsu =
The night I learned the Transformation Technique, the orphanage was dead quiet. The other kids were asleep. Nonō had turned in early, exhausted from paperwork. I waited until the clock hit midnight, then sat up in my futon.
JARVIS. Walk me through it again.
«Hand seals: Dog, Boar, Tiger. Chakra focus: constant flow, even distribution. Mental image: visualize the target form with absolute clarity. Any deviation will produce obvious discrepancies.»
I'd been practicing the seals for weeks. My fingers weren't as fast as I wanted, but they worked. Dog. Boar. Tiger.
The chakra pooled in my gut, spread through my arms. I pictured myself older. Taller. A generic face, nothing special, nothing memorable. Just… not me.
«You are adding a mustache.»
I wasn't... okay, maybe I was a little.
It's funny.
«It is a mustache. On a six-year-old's mental image of an adult. The result will be comical.»
I sighed, cleared my mind, and tried again.
Dog. Boar. Tiger. My skin tingled. I felt my bones shift, my face stretch
And suddenly I was looking at a grown man's hands. Big. Calloused. Definitely not toddler hands.
I scrambled out of bed, nearly tripping over the futon, and stumbled to the small mirror on the wall.
A stranger stared back. Mid-twenties, brown hair, forgettable face. And a mustache. A terrible, patchy, why-did-I-add-this mustache.
«I informed you.»
I stared at my reflection for a full ten seconds before the chakra gave out and I poofed back into a six-year-old.
My legs gave out. I sat on the floor, breathing hard, grinning like an idiot.
I did it.
«You maintained the transformation for twelve seconds. The mustache was a mistake.»
The mustache was art.
«It was a war crime.»
I lay back on the floor, still grinning. Twelve seconds. That was enough. Enough to slip out of the orphanage. Enough to move through the village without anyone recognizing me.
JARVIS. How long until I can hold it longer?
«With consistent practice, you should reach five minutes within six months.»
Five minutes is plenty.
«For what purpose?»
Umm... Nothing.
---
= Year 6 – Shadow Clone =
I'd been waiting for this moment for three years.
Tree walking was easy. Wall walking was just tree walking but sideways. I'd been doing that in the orphanage's back yard at night for ages, crawling up the wall like a creepy little spider and praying Nonō didn't look out the window.
But Shadow Clone? That was different. That required reserves. Real reserves.
And three years of JARVIS's optimization had given me exactly that.
«Current chakra capacity: high-level Chūnin. Sufficient for two to three shadow clones with minimal strain.»
I was lying in bed, staring at the ceiling, trying not to scream with excitement.
Teach me.
«Hand seal: the cross formation. Extend index and middle fingers on both hands. Right hand vertical, left hand horizontal. Maintain the seal while distributing your chakra evenly.»
I'd seen Naruto do this a thousand times. Hell, I'd seen it so many times I could probably do it in my sleep. But seeing it and doing it were different things.
I slipped out of bed, crept to the back yard, and found a spot behind the storage shed where no one could see me.
Deep breath.
Cross seal.
Chakra surged through my body, split, divided...
POOF.
Two figures appeared beside me.
Two exact copies of myself. Same messy hair. Same oversized shirt. And the stupid look of shock on their faces.
"Whoa," one of them said.
"I know, right?" the other replied.
I stared at them. They stared back.
«Success. You have created two shadow clones. Note: When a shadow clone disperses, its memories and experience are transferred back to the original user, making it ideal for fast training..»
It was weird, seeing your own self through your eyes, not like I haven't seen myself in the mirror but still...
"Okay," I said to both of them. "We need to figure out a training schedule."
"Nonō does rounds at midnight," Clone One said.
"Back wall is the easiest exit," Clone Two added.
"Perfect."
We grinned at each other. Three six-year-olds with the same face, standing in the dark like a tiny, terrifying army.
«I am observing. This is either genius or insanity.»
Probably both.
---
= One Week Later – Academy Entrance Exam =
The morning of the exam, Nonō woke me earlier than usual.
"Up, up," she said, pulling my blanket off. "Big day today."
I groaned... genuinely, I'd been up late training, and my clones had been running drills in the forest all night. The memory feedback hit me when they dispelled, and my brain felt like scrambled eggs.
«You are experiencing mild chakra exhaustion. I recommend...»
Yeah, yeah. Rest. I know.
Nonō helped me into clean clothes. Nothing fancy, orphanage budget didn't run to new outfits but it was clean. That was something.
Two other kids were waiting by the door. Kenji, the boy who'd been at the orphanage since before I arrived, now nine years old and trying for the Academy for the third time time, my guy give up already. And a girl named Yuki, seven, quiet and nervous, picking at her sleeve.
Nonō knelt in front of me, adjusting my collar. "Do your best," she said. "Whatever happens, I'm proud of you."
She hugged me. Brief, warm, gone before I could really feel it.
Then we were walking.
---
The Academy courtyard was chaos.
Kids everywhere. Parents fussing, adjusting headbands that weren't there yet, whispering last-minute advice. Clan kids in nice clothes, standing in groups, looking confident. Civilian kids looking lost. A few kids crying.
And there, standing off to the side, completely alone.
Naruto.
He was smaller than I expected. All blonde hair and blue eyes and those three whisker marks on each cheek. He was watching the other kids with this look on his face. Trying to hide it. Not doing a great job.
«Naruto appears to be the only child without a guardian present.»
Yeah. What did you expect?
«I expected the data to match the observation. It does.»
I watched him for a moment. He was putting on a brave face, bouncing on his heels like he was excited, but his eyes kept darting to the families, the parents, the easy way other kids leaned into their mothers and fathers.
---
The written test was a joke.
Not the questions themselves, for a normal six-year-old, some of this would be tricky. But I had JARVIS. And I had memories of an eighteen-year-old who'd spent way too much time on the Naruto wiki.
Question 1: What is the name of the Third Hokage?
Hiruzen Sarutobi. Easy.
Question 2: How many basic chakra natures are there?
Five. Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Lightning.
Question 3: Who is the biggest racist in the shinobi world?
Tobirama Senju...
«That was unnecessary.»
(Author: It is hilarious.)
The math section was even easier. Basic arithmetic. Addition, subtraction, a little multiplication. I was flying through it.
I stared at it. I remembered my previous life. My old math professor, Mr. Tanaka. The man had given me a problem, the day before I died. I'd been struggling with it for hours, trying to figure out why the numbers weren't fitting.
Problem: A circle with center (-3, -2) passes through the points (0, - 6) and (a, 0). Find the value of a. (A/N: Some of you are nerds so here's a simple problem for you. )
---
I finished the rest of the test in ten minutes. Turned it in. The proctor glanced at it, did a double-take, and gave me a long look.
I gave him my best innocent baby face.
---
The practical exam was the leaf concentration test.
Standard Academy stuff. Stick a leaf to your forehead using chakra. Hold it as long as you can.
I lined up with the other kids, watching them one by one. Most managed about thirty seconds before the leaf fell. A few civilian kids dropped it in ten. The clan kids, there were a few, from smaller houses I didn't recognize, held for a minute, maybe two.
When it was my turn, I took the leaf, pressed it to my forehead, and let my chakra flow.
«Maintaining suppression at 90%. Current display: low Genin level.»
The leaf stuck.
One minute passed. Two. Three.
The proctor's eyebrows went up.
Five minutes. Seven. Eight.
I could hear kids whispering. The clan kids were staring. One of them, dark hair, pale skin, looked like he might be related to the Hyūga, was watching me with narrowed eyes.
13 minutes.
I let the leaf drop, pretending to be tired. Made sure my breathing was a little heavy, like I was pushing myself.
"That's enough," the proctor said. "Good work."
I nodded, stepped back, and caught Naruto's eye.
He was staring at me. just… watching. Like he was trying to figure me out.
I gave him a small nod.
He blinked, looked away, then looked back. He almost smiled. Almost...
Then some kid shoved past him, and the moment was gone.
---
We got our results an hour later.
I passed with "Excellent" marks. second position, according to the proctor. Sasuke had the first position obviously he held out for 30 minutes... With the sole exception of Sator...
Iruka Umino, young, scar across his nose, already looking like he regretted his career choices, was reading names and assigning classrooms.
"Naruto Uzumaki," Iruka called out.
Naruto bounced forward, grabbing his results. He passed. Barely. But he passed.
"YES!" he shouted, loud enough that half the courtyard turned to look. "I did it! I'm gonna be Hokage!"
A few kids laughed. Not the nice kind.
Naruto didn't seem to notice. Or maybe he did and just ignored it. He was already moving through the crowd, trying to talk to people, getting ignored or brushed off.
I watched him approach a group of kids. A pink-haired girl, Trash!, I recognized her, she stepped back like he had a disease. The boy next to her, some civilian kid, made a face.
"Get lost" someone said.
His smile flickered. Just for a second. Then it was back, brighter than before, like he was trying to make up for it.
I stood at the back of the courtyard, hands in my pockets, watching.
«You are not approaching him?.»
Not yet.
«Prudent. But your emotional state suggests frustration.»
Yeah, well... What can I say.
The crowd was thinning. Parents were collecting their kids, fussing over results, making plans for dinner
Tomorrow, I told myself. First day of class. I'll sit next to him then.
«You are certain?»
Yeah.
---
END CHAPTER 5