What do I have? Uzumaki bloodline which includes large chakra pools, longevity, and vitality. I'm also the container for the strongest tailed beast with a tsundere personality.
And how could I forget… the biggest cheat of them all… multi shadow clone jutsu…
…
A not so suspicious change of behaviour
I regained consciousness in a hospital room, as expected. But the first thing I noticed was the pain in my lower abdomen followed by wetness below my ass. I was not expecting to get the first period of this new life as soon as I woke up. Fortunately I was being watched. Not long after I woke up, the nurses did some last checkups on me and left me with some diapers and a set of clean hospital gown. Before they left, they also told me that I would be allowed to leave the next day.
That day, I went in to visit the other genin that had gone on the mission to retrieve Sasuke with me. Although I had no idea what their current conditions were, in the original canon, most of them are fine except for Chozi and Neji. They were part of the small group that Naruko had considered friends, so appearances had to be kept. Honestly, except for the sexy scarecrow of my sensei, I didn't have any feelings towards any of these people. Maybe one day I would develop an actual friendship with them.
Unfortunately Kakashi didn't visit me that day. Even after getting discharged, when I tried to find him I couldn't. So I went back to my apartment.
Fortunately, just before I left, the famous 106 Senju princess, the fifth hokage himself decided to visit me and informed me about my rest period, which will be around 2 weeks.
Enough time for me to adjust. Sasuke's betrayal was probably the best time for me to have been inserted into this world. Being born as Naruko and actually living in the hostile village would not have been fun for multiple reasons. Especially not with my experience in my previous life. On top of that having the mind of an adult in the body of a baby sounds like torture. Even more so when the population doesn't like you. I'm also sure that I would not have been able to play the role of a normal orphan either. Would have raised a lot of eyebrows.
Even coming in at another point would not have been preferable. I still would have needed an
explanation for my shift away from canon Naruko. The event with Mizuki may have counted but it would not have been enough. Not enough time and not enough trauma. And I also would have had to go through some dangerous moments before I even gained someone like Jiraiya to actually agree to help me in my training.
How much help will it be… is still questionable.
But now though? I have a lot more freedom. Because I just went through a traumatic experience, I can use that to my advantage. I don't have to act like the loud and excitable child that Naruko was and that's fine because people will not blame me for it. They'd see a sad child recovering from her 'best friend' abandoning her for another traitor. I could then study and train in ways Naruto didn't and they will just see it as an effort on his part to better herself and bring back Sasuke. At this point even if I turn into an open pervert or even a slut, very few will question it. After all, people have different ways to deal with their trauma.
And like I had expected, Tsunade didn't press me about my current mental state, once she realized that I was quieter than usual. The only thing she did was give me some consolation and leave me alone. I was not even interrogated.
After returning to my apartment, the first thing I did was cleaning it up. Naruko, despite being a girl, had a messier room than most single boys. So it took me almost the entire day to clean up the mess. After that, I ate some cup noodles before going to sleep.
Well at least that's what I wanted to show to the Anbu watching me.
I had no idea if I had awakened some kind of sensory ability of the Uzumaki clan or the Anbu was simply bad at hiding but I could feel their presence the moment they started tailing me from the hospital.
It was not strange. I was not surprised that Tsunade had appointed them to monitor me considering my current state. Unfortunately I could not do anything suspicious at this moment.
So I decided to do a simple Chakra circulation exercise while pretending to sleep.
…
Kakashi moved through the quiet streets with his usual lazy gait, hands in his pockets and posture relaxed enough to suggest indifference. The truth beneath that façade pressed heavier on his shoulders than any mission pack. Tsunade's scolding still echoed in his mind — not the volume, but the accusation behind every word. He had failed to protect his students when they needed him the most.
He had been too late to stop Sasuke from hurting Naruko.
He knew why it happened. He saw himself in Sasuke and had acted on that familiarity instead of balance. It was a mistake a jonin should not make — prioritizing a shadow of his past over the reality right in front of him.
He arrived at her apartment door and knocked once. No answer. The lock was sealed but not engaged. Inside, the room was empty — no signs of breakfast, no scattered scrolls, not even her loud presence lingering in the air.
Kakashi scratched the side of his masked cheek and exhaled.
"So… where did the little blonde gremlin run off to this early?" His voice held no frustration — only worry poorly disguised.
If Naruko wasn't home, then Sakura might at least know something. He turned and headed toward the Haruno household.
Sakura's parents answered the door, their expressions weighed down by exhaustion. They explained that Sakura had cried herself to sleep upon learning Sasuke had defected and the retrieval team had failed to bring him back. She was still resting, drained from more than just tears. Kakashi nodded with quiet understanding.
No leads there. The training fields remained his last reasonable hope.
On the way, Ichiraku's banners were just being rolled up for the morning. Kakashi paused. He purchased a small stack of their premium "all-you-can-eat" coupons — a simple peace offering, or at least something Naruko would normally cheer for. He tucked them into his vest and continued on.
After visiting three training grounds, where he usually takes team 7, he found no trace of the blonde. Only silence and the rustle of leaves.
It wasn't until he reached Training Ground Thirty-Three, near the banks of the Naka River, that a familiar sight of long blonde locks finally caught his eye.
Kakashi stopped in his tracks.
The land was torn apart, earth carved open by violent chakra impacts. Trees bent at unnatural angles, and scorch marks dotted the riverbank. This was not just a training field. The entire area looked like a fucking warzone.
More than twenty blondes scattered around the field, each wearing only their underwear. His eyes widened beneath the mask. Each one of them were doing their different things. Around 6 of them we are doing something with rasengan.
One is doing furious situps on the surface of the water. Another two were catching fish ? And there is another one cooking a large fish on fire. And let's not even talk about the chaos the rest of them were causing.
The air around each Naruko was pretty intense. None of them were shouting, even though it was absolutely chaos. Kakashi realized that the situation might have been a little more serious than he had previously imagined.
He silently hoped that the coupons would be enough.
…
Next chapter: My acting isn't good enough to risk it