Let's Give This New Body a Test Drive
Naruko emerged from the bathroom, steam rolling out behind her. Back in her human form, she quickly dressed, tugging her orange jacket closed. When she checked the clock on the wall, her eyes widened.
"Seven-thirty?!" she blurted out. "Hell ? I was busy writing down those things all day !"
Half a day gone, just copying jutsu and testing her new ability. Her stomach growled like an angry demon, and she slapped a hand over it.
"Alright, alright, I get it," she muttered. "Food first. World domination later."
A grin spread across her face, the kind of grin that made shopkeepers nervous. Locking the apartment door behind her, she slipped into the evening streets. The smell of grilled meat from the nearby BBQ place hit her nose like a punch.
"Oh yeah… tonight's gonna be glorious."
But first, the Anbu. She ducked into an alley, closing her eyes. The Mind's Eye of Kagura flared to life, her senses stretching out like a net. The guards were there, but trailing far behind.
"Heh. Too slow, boys."
But just as she was about to transform into her hybrid form, the tightness of her clothes made her cancel the transformation immediately.
"What the hell ! Why are my clothes not transforming with me ?" Naruko asked herself, genuinely puzzled.
Recalling her previous transformation, she realized that she had gotten naked in order to check out her improved body. That's when she has transformed. There was not a single piece of cloth on her body at that moment. But if she remembered correctly, then usually zoan devil fruits also transform the clothes of their user.
After thinking for a while, an idea hit Naruko.
"Could it be that this is the effect of the devil fruit turning into a Bloodline limit power ?"
*Growl.*
With another loved rumble her stomach demanded food.
Checking for one last time that the anbu guards are still running in circles trying to find her, she quickly undressed herself in the dark alley where no one could see her naked. She was not rich. She could not waste her clothes in just transformations.
She shifted into her hybrid form. She became taller. Her curves became prominent. Raw power hummed under her skin. But when she tried to transform back into Hiruzen's shape…. nothing happened.
She frowned, tried again. Nothing. Like jabbing a button on a broken remote.
"Wait…! Don't tell me ! So one touch equals one transformation? And then poof, gone?!" Naruko growled. "Oh, that's just peachy. Guess I can't go around cosplaying the old man forever."
Beggars can't be choosers. She quickly transformed back into her human form and put on her clothes.
A sigh escaped her lips, but only for a second before the grin returned.
"Fine. New plan. Ramen." She headed straight towards the Ichiraku's. Ten free coupons of premium Raman was not easy to get. But thanks to the courtesy of the Hokage himself, she had them.
Unfortunately her new body demanded more food than she had imagined. Half an hour later, sitting in front of the counter of the Ichiraku ramen, Naruko patted her stomach with a frown.
"Should've brought the damn frog wallet," she muttered, patting her empty pocket.
10 extra large bowls of piping hot ramen was not enough to fill her stomach completely. It was like her new body was a bottomless pit.
She stomped back to her apartment, hands on her hips, already plotting. "Alright then. Tomorrow I will have to hunt. With my appetite, I wouldn't have enough money to feed myself even if I completed 10 S ranked missions in a single month. Fortunately hunting is not prohibited."
…
Morning light spilled across Training Ground 40, a wild stretch of forest and open grass, much like the Forest of Death but emptier and quieter. Naruko arrived with determination in her eyes. Her stomach was already demanding more food. Fortunately she had a solid plan and a new improved body, that could probably easily trash newly graduated genins, without using any Chakra.
First things first, she needed weapons. She searched the training field, gathering discarded kunai and fashioning crude spears out of long sticks, sharpening the tips with steel edges.
As she worked, she couldn't help but test this new body. A casual punch against a tree sent cracks spiderwebbing through the bark. A running leap carried her five meters up before she landed in a crouch, grinning ear to ear.
"Oh yeah," she muttered, flexing her fingers. "This body's a damn monster." At that moment, Naruko made a decision. Since her super strength and improved physique has already been discovered, she will use it as her primary source of attack and defense in front of the others. That way her other Bloodline limit can be kept as a secret.
Finally armed, she stilled her mind, letting Kagura's eyes sweep the terrain. After searching for a while, she finally found a wild boar. It was bigger than a one-story house.
Naruko's smirk turned downright feral. "Perfect ! This should be able to fill my stomach."
…
The beast crashed through the underbrush with a roar that shook leaves from branches. Tusks like spears, muscles like boulders under bristling fur. Naruko rolled her shoulders, tightening her grip on a makeshift spear.
"Alright, piggy," she called, voice dripping with mock sweetness. "Time to make you extra crispy."
The boar charged. The ground trembled. Naruko darted sideways, her speed blurring. The spear jabbed for its eye, but the beast jerked, tusks swinging wide. The shaft snapped in half like a twig.
"Oh, come on!" Naruko yelled, backflipping away from a strike that would've pulped her a week ago. "Hold still, you overgrown ham sandwich!"
The boar lunged again. Naruko slid under its belly, palms slamming upward. The thing flipped—an actual house-sized boar flipping end over end—before crashing down with a bellow.
"Holy hell," Naruko breathed, eyes wide. "I just did that !"
It scrambled up, madder than ever. Tusks tore trenches through trees as it charged again. Naruko met it head-on this time, fist cocked back.
"Time to tenderize the meat!" she roared, slamming her punch square into its snout.
Crack!
The boar reeled, blood spraying. It swung wildly, catching Naruko across the side and sending her skidding through the dirt. She coughed, spat mud, and snarled.
"Oh, it's on now, bacon bits. I'm making sausages outta you."
The fight raged across the clearing. Naruko's speed kept her ahead by inches, fists and kicks slamming into hide like iron hammers. Trees splintered, earth shook, and finally—with a last furious uppercut—the beast collapsed in a thunderous heap.
Naruko stood over it, chest heaving, mud streaked across her face. Then she grinned. "Who's the pork chop now, huh?"
After the end of her adrenaline rush, her hunger spiked even more.
She quickly gathered wood and built a roaring fire. It took the pig a while to get cooked. She had chopped it up and cleared out the contents of its belly leaving only meat on the Fire. The smell was divine. Halfway through tearing into a roasted flank, her senses prickled. Hiruzen was coming.
"Oh hell no," she muttered, shoving mouthful after mouthful like a starving wolf. By the time the old man arrived, only bones, the head, and one leg remained of the house-sized boar.
Hiruzen stopped in his tracks. His eyes wide as he took in the scene: Naruko, cheeks puffed with meat, fire crackling, and a skeleton big enough to block the sun lying picked clean behind her.
Naruko quickly shoved the last piece of boar leg into her mouth. Quickly chewing it, she swallowed, licked her fingers, and flashed her most innocent smile. "Hi, Jiji."
…
Next chapter: Poor Hiruzen