Chapter Text
“Alright, class is over. Go home or stay behind, I don’t really care.” Kibe-sensei’s voice rang out through the training field as the sun began its descent in the sky. Naori turned to him, watching as half the class groaned things like ‘finally.’
She winced as she moved away from her sparring partner. The boy was clanless, but had been giving her a proper beating. Her arms hurt, and though muscle memory had done a lot, it hadn’t allowed her to do much except block and parry. The bruises all along her body were proof enough of that, and his co*cky face showed his thoughts about the fight. She had only managed to land a single good hit on him.
Her eyes searched for Takuma, noticing his beaten and bruised body, and decided maybe she had done fine after all. Naori felt a jolt go through her body as she realised this would be the only chance she got to try and figure out where she was supposed to go after school. Izumi was leaving, already. Jogging to catch up to her, Naori felt an unease rise in her again. What if she messed it up?
Izumi, likely hearing her stomp her way over, turned to Naori and offered a slight smile. Unlike what she thought she knew about most Uchiha, her hair was a chocolate brown with eyes to match it. Shaking the observation off for now, after all her own hair was an almost-black violet colour, she reciprocated the smile.
“Izumi.” The girl’s instincts told her to be respectful, so she offered a slight head nod.
“Naori.” Izumi’s smile didn’t fade.
“Do you mind if I accompany you back to your house?” There was little Naori did know about the Uchiha. Part of that, though, was that they had a compound. Naori hoped she could figure out where she lived from there, at the very least. Izumi’s head tilted.
“Sure, you can follow me. Did you want to talk about something?” Izumi turned her back to Naori and began to walk off. She hurried to catch up.
“I was thinking,” she paused, trying to figure out how to word her thoughts. “Would you like to train with me after-school? For some reason, I’ve gotten really bad at shurikenjutsu.” Izumi hummed at that.
“Yes, you did quite badly today. Did you hurt your hands or something?” Naori almost tripped after hearing that. It was a perfect explanation.
“Yes! Yes, I hurt my hands. I think I overdid my physical training and everything feels…” She stopped, hoping Izumi would fill in the rest. Naori didn’t really know how it felt to overdo training. Izumi turned to her with a smile.
“Yeah, I know how it feels. Did you want to train today? I’m supposed to be studying, but I might be able to convince my mother if you want.” I smiled. That would be perfect, but at the very least, I had to find out where I lived before night fell.
“Maybe tomorrow.” She said.
The two spoke for a while before arriving at the house of Uchiha Izumi, in the residential district of Konoha’s civilian district. Izumi’s house was, rather, a small apartment. The area looked rather… poor. It looked like the kind of place she would’ve seen in a crime show in her past life. Naori frowned. This was definitely not the Uchiha clan district.
“Izumi, do you know how to get to the Uchiha district from here?” Panic rose before settling. This was a safe question to ask. It had to be.
Izumi shook her head. “No. I’ve never been there. They kicked my mom out when she married someone from outside of the clan.” Naori sighed.
“I see. It’s okay. Do you think your mom could guide me then? I’ve never been here before.” Izumi shrugged.
“I can check. Do you want to come inside? We probably have some food you can have, my mom usually has dinner ready whenever I come home. It’s nic—” Her eyes widened, before cutting herself off. “I’m so sorry, I forgot your parents died. I’m so sorry.”
Stunned, she stopped in her tracks. However, if anything, hearing she was an orphan in this life only allowed her to feel relief. She wouldn’t have anyone who would be able to catch her directly out of the gates.
“It’s okay Izumi.” Izumi bowed deeply, before running inside her apartment. A minute later, her mother exited, alone, before closing the door.
The Uchiha was exactly like she remembered most Uchiha being. Black hair and eyes, stern face. It was almost a relief to see the stereotypical Uchiha, it meant that at least something from her memories was actually real.
“I am Jonin Uchiha Hazuki. It’s nice to meet you, Uchiha Naori.”
I felt my breath hitch. Jonin? I bowed deeply. “Nice to meet you, Ma’am.”
“Please, do not bow. We are both Uchiha. Distant, but still family. I was told you needed me to guide you to your apartment in the Uchiha compound?” I rose, looking her in the eyes. Everything about her seemed normal. She was a Jonin? It looked like she wouldn’t hurt a fly.
“Yes Ma’am. I don’t remember how to get home from here.” The woman offered a sagely ‘Hn,’ before ruffling my hair with her hand.
“Follow me, Naori.”
The Jonin walked quickly. Following her was a chore, and within just minutes, Naori had to break out into a jog to keep pace. Every now and then, Hazuki would look back, then go faster. It took twenty minutes to leave the civilian district, before moving out of Konoha proper. Another dozen minutes passed, maybe, before they finally entered the Uchiha district. By that point, Naori was having difficulty breathing — running at basically full speed.
Uchiha Hazuki did not slow down. As the sun finally began to set, they were in some kind of housing district filled with maybe a dozen or so apartments. Finally, Hazuki stopped, and Naori nearly collapsed as she heaved for air. They were in front of some kind of office, where Hazuki briefly entered.
Naori was only thankful for the respite she was allowed. The Jonin had run her ragged just moving through the village. Hazuki turned to her, and motioned for Naori to follow — she did.
Naori’s apartment was nearly identical to those around it, only bearing a different number plate at the door to differentiate. Apartment 125. She offered a bow to Hazuki, only to see the Jonin had already left.
Naori grabbed the handle of the door and frowned. Something was wrong. With a gentle push, she tapped on the door. Her mouth hung open a bit. Sure she might be in a nice-ish neighbourhood in a clan compound, but leaving it open and unlocked? After looking around, her mouth only dropped further.
The apartment was utterly trashed. Her hand moved on instinct as she entered the door, flicking a lightswitch on. Deciding she needed a break before dealing with all of that, Naori trawled through the rooms in her apartment looking for somewhere to sit or lay down. Less than a minute later, she’d found a chair – it was good enough. Taking a seat, she looked closer at the state of her apartment.
Dozens of textbooks were sprawled wherever the girl had been able to find room to leave them. Aside from that, takeout essentially covered the floors in filth. A couple boxes of ninja tools were spread around the house haphazardly as well. She couldn’t help but frown. That had to be a safety hazard.
Naori’s lip curled in disgust. How had she been living like this? Sure, she was an orphan, but… She sighed, feeling pity for whoever she had been. The old Uchiha Naori had lived like this. The new one would not. She got up from her seat and began to clean. Grabbing the trash, from takeout for the most part, she tossed it into the dumpster closest to her apartment.
Once the trash had been taken care of, she gathered all of the ninja tools in her home and sorted them into properly categorised crates. Kunai, Shuriken, and what surprised her most, nearly a half dozen Grade One explosive tags. Naori made sure to be extra careful storing those.
Once the house was safer to walk around, and far less filthy, she sat back down to recover. By this point, it was nearly dawn already. The house had been trashed beyond belief at first, but it was now at least… livable. The kitchen, bedroom, and living room were all cleaned. The bathroom she had yet to touch. There was a strange smell coming from it she didn’t particularly want to deal with tonight.
What caught her attention while cleaning were the academy textbooks. There were four books for each of the primary subjects covered in the academy; Shinobi History, Chakra Theory, Strategy, and Mathematics. The other book, which didn't fit in with the rest, was titled ‘A Dummy’s Guide to Various Shinobi Skills.’
She furrowed her brows, re-reading it a few times to make sure she hadn’t misunderstood. Truly, the series was great enough to cross dimensions it seemed. With a shrug, Naori tossed it next to the pile of books she’d made. Her academy id sat on the same pile, where she’d found it while cleaning. The only thing of note it told her was her age; Uchiha Naori was eleven years old.
“These are going to be my study material for the next… year, or so? How much longer do I have before I need to take the graduation exams?” Naori paused for a minute, thinking.
“sh*t. I don’t even know how to access my Chakra. How am I going to perform the Academy Three?” She sat down quickly, trying to enter what she felt was a meditative pose. Her eyes were closed, her mind was empty, and she looked.
She furrowed her brows, coughing a bit. The darkness didn’t give way to some sea of chakra. After what felt like a dozen minutes of staring into the backs of her eyelids, she sighed.
“I have no idea what I’m doing.” Frustrated, Naori stood back up. She was tired. She was anxious. She was absolutely sure that she could be doing something, but right now… Sleep felt like the most important thing in the world to her. After cleaning an entire room, and spending very little time in comparison trying to figure out how Chakra works, the sun was cresting on the horizon.
Her stomach grumbled, and she felt like crying. She would not get any sleep tonight, and she knew it. Deciding that heading into the bathroom to at least do something would be her most productive use of time, she gingerly made her way to the sliding door.
Her hand shook slightly as she put on a brave face, and opened it. The smell wasn’t as bad as she’d thought it would be, but it still made her expression sour. The mirror, surprisingly, was the cleanest part of the bathroom. She’d almost been prepared to spend a good hour or two wiping it down.
She took the chance to get a good look at herself. Her body was much fuller than it had ever been in her past life; before, she’d never been one to eat much. Muscles she wasn’t familiar with having were present too. She let herself flex in the mirror for a while. Her face was disturbingly adorable for someone meant to become a deadly assassin.
Typical Asian features, mono lidded and almond shaped eyes with soft features. Her eyes were completely black, far darker than anything she’d ever seen in her past life. Her hair, now that she could see it properly, was fluffier than she’d been expecting. She usually imagined Asiatic features to include pin straight hair, but Naori wasn’t going to complain; it was pretty.
Her eyes shifted to the floor, where… toiletries were strewn about in a state that far surpassed unhygienic. She had always wondered if periods were a thing in anime and manga, and… well, at least now she knew. With a heavy sigh, she got to work.
Cleaning the bathroom had taken Naori a significant amount of time; there were cleaning products behind the mirror, something she’d noticed far too late after hand scrubbing a good portion of the floor with just water. Now, the sun had risen considerably. With a yawn, she considered if just… skipping school for a day was allowed. She blinked, tiredly, before thinking.
Was there even school today? When does the academy even start? What time is it? Naori darted to her room, where very little actually was. First thing she’d been forced to check was the calendar; it was wednesday. The next was the, surprising her by its existence, clock. It was seven in the morning.
Naori breathed a sigh of relief. She had about two hours until the academy started. It didn’t matter if she hadn’t gone to sleep yet, right?
Uchiha Naori, later that day, was scolded by Kibe-sensei for sleeping in class.
