Chapter Text
The sun rose higher and higher into the dawn sky over the village of Konoha, the rays hitting every corner of this ‘hidden’ home for all manner of shinobi and kunoichis, all of them dangerous in their own rights.
A faint spring wind seemingly warmed the air a little as in one of the many MANY training locations, full of trees and a small pond on the outskirts of the clearing....
The village’s only Uzumaki was busy practicing his techniques....well....
One of them at least.
“ Oiroke no Jutsu! ”
And it was....the one that ‘defeated’ the Third Hokage...the Oiroke no Jutsu.
“Heh heh.” ‘Naruko’ chuckled while currently posing in front of no one, the smoke around her large assets never dissipating as her twin pigtails laid on her chest like sleeping snakes. “Perfect! And it only took me ten times to get the size right! Now my chest AND butt are going to make even girls swoon, dattebayo!”
....yep, this was...training....to make a henge, one designed to make men faint from blood loss....
Even sexier.
....well, to be fair, this IS training! And despite knowing the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu and the chakra pool that can make an ARMY of henges.
Even a so-called dead-last knows that there are times when punches and kicks won’t work. Sometimes the best offence was the best defence, or in this case, the best seduction methods.
Better to practice a technique that would get him into places his normal self wouldn’t even go to and obtain information right from the target’s ears without violence than let it go....unused.
....then again, he just wanted to use the jutsu to prank people for the lols, so take that with a grain of salt.
“Hehehe! Teme is going to faint when I show this to everyone! Hehehe.” She giggled to herself with a foxy grin before getting a silly idea and undid the transformation, returning himself to normal. “I wonder, what would happen if I did an Orioke no Jutsu with...mmmm, Sakura-chan? Hinata-chan? Mmmmm, who should I try first?” ‘Sakura-chan might kill me, Hinata-chan...might faint. Mmmmmm...decisions, decisions, decisions.’
As the genin rubbed his hands together with a smirk, an idea for a prank involving either his teammate or his first friend’s form along with an army of squirrels, he felt his mischievous nature growing stronger with every passing second.
For this would be his best prank ever....and Iruka will never find out about this one!
...and hopefully that stays like that, no need to make his father figure angry at him, again.
“Hehehe, oh! I got it! I’ll fuse Sakura-chan AND Hinata-chan into one perfect henge! Oh, no one will stop me or figure this prank out, not even when Sakina Hyuno shows up to make that teme blush! Oh Naruto, you really outdid yourself this time, dattebayo!” The Uzumaki cackled before cracking his neck a little and started doing the hand signs in rapid succession, all caution flying out the metaphorical window.
For while he knew quick hand signs were more difficult for a newly minted genin...
He also wanted to do the prank as soon as possible before the others arrived, maybe even prepare something....raunchy to freak his own team out a little.
Plus, what could POSSIBLY go wrong if he did his jutsu with fast hands?
“Oiroke no Jut-”
....and....just like that....
Naruto Uzumaki, successor to the Second Hokage’s famed Kage Bushin no Jutsu....
Stabbed his right palm with his left index finger, hard, causing him to scream in pain before tripping and slamming the now bleeding palm onto the ground with a thud.
“OW!”
Darkness, dirt and the sensation of pain of his own face manifested quickly in the genin’s body as he twitched a little, never expecting to actually stab himself with his own fingers.
Especially with his own damn fingernail no less!
‘OW! Yep...Iruka-sensei was right...fast hand signs are dangerous! OW!!!’ he thought in pain while hearing a faint ‘poof’ sound...yet was too busy twitching in pain to notice. ‘Never again...well, unless I practice first that is...ow, my nose.’
Yet as he slowly pushed himself off the ground, despite the pain in his right palm, he....
Felt something...was off.
Like...there was a void right in front of him, one that....
Didn’t belong in the natural world.
“....are you ok?”
A cold chill ran down the spine of the Uzumaki as he stared upwards....only to see someone looking down at him with a confused look on their face.
....and....it was a strange...a very strange sight for the genin.
For in front of him was a woman, a tall woman, skin as pale as fresh snow, lips as red as roses....her eyes as white as a Hyuuga...but more....clear, unspoiled.
Her brows, short and round like a hime’s, were raised slightly on the left brow, her long grayish white hair reaching down to her knees, lightly blowing in the spring breeze, thin strands of hair gently laid across her ample chest.
Her attire...was strange, only consisting of a kimono-like dress, long enough to cover her feet and hugging the neck in a high collar, her long sleeves ‘protecting’ her hands as the pure white color made the genin’s eyes strain from brightness, his eyes focusing on the thin gray stripes that lined the kimono to prevent eye damage.
Darting his eyes downwards in pain, the genin noticed that the kimono was intentionally open near the legs, revealing a beige inner layer, akin to a kosode or hakama, he wasn’t sure at all, but as his eyes started to adjust to the light again and looked back towards the woman’s face....
He felt....confused, not about her soft features, the face she looked like a Hyuuga somehow married a Yuki Onna and birthed a hybrid of the two, nor was it the fact her...chest and....hips were more endowed than most of the older kunoichi instructors he knew....
But because he felt....a strange sense of kinship with her, one that scared him....and confused him at the same time.
And for some reason, the woman looked like she was having the same feelings, despite having the emotional capabilities like a stalwart Nara during a shogi match.
“....”
“Are you ok?”
“Oh! Um, yeah...thanks for asking.” Naruto said while standing up, the blood from his right palm was still dripping despite the face...it was slowly closing up due to thin lines of red chakra. “...um, so um, are you new here to Konoha? I never saw you before in the village.”
“....I am, although I must ask you a question.”
“What?”
“Why does this planet, and you specifically, have chakra?”
“.....um, lady. Everything has chakra in them, even a dead-last like me knows that.” The Uzumaki deadpanned while tilting his head to the left. “It’s kinda part of our biology.”
“....” The mysterious woman turned her head to the left, then the right, before looking back at the boy, a little more puzzled than before. “Have you, by chance, seen the sacred tree that is supposed to reach the heavens?”
“.....what?”
“The tree that gives sacred fruit every millennium.”
“.....again, what?” he said with even more confusion in his tone. “I don’t think there’s a tree that big in the world, much less in Konoha and I’ve seen some big ones around the training areas too.”
“Training areas? Training for what?”
“Being a shinobi, duh.”
“.....a shin-what?”
“Have you been living under a rock?”
“No.”
“Then how do you NOT know what a shinobi is, dattebayo!?”
The strange woman, eyes staring at the boy with even more confusion behind her mask of emotionlessness, just blinked....as if trying to formulate a response.
“Well!?”
“.....because I don’t.”
“.....you’re serious, right?” Naruto asked while seeing the woman nod her head. “...oh. Um, well, a shinobi is a man or woman who uses chakra to fight for their villages. They do stuff civilians don’t do, like fight battles and stuff like that. Most people want to become shinobi, even the ones that suck at being shinobis.”
“.........so, you are a soldier?” the woman asked in surprise, her expression....softening for a moment. “How old?”
“Eh?”
“How old were you when you started training as a ‘shinobi’?”
“Mmmm, since I was five or six, why?” the Uzumaki said like it was a normal thing before noticing...something forming on the woman’s face that made him a little concerned.
A....An expression of....guilt? Sadness? Pity?
No, it wasn’t any of that. It was....
An expression of empathy....as if....
She knew something he wasn’t privy to.
Something....deeper.
Like she had seen, heard or...had experienced the very thing the unpredictable shinobi just mentioned.
....wait, did she....?
“Wait, did you train to become something as well?”
“....in a way. My clan is....demanding, war-like. It’s expected for everyone to fulfill their roles when we first walk.”
“......oh. Um....sorry I asked....” ‘Crap, I just made her remember bad things. I didn’t know she had a strict clan like that, dattebayo!’
“It’s fine, you didn’t know. But why train to be a shinobi? Do you seek violence? Power?” the pale-skinned woman asked with a hint of concern in her tone. “What drives you to become....a soldier at such a young age?”
“Oh, that’s easy, to become Hokage and get everyone’s respect.”
“Respect?”
“Yeah! Everyone here hates me for...reasons and if I become Hokage then they will HAVE to respect me-”
“That isn’t respect, it is fear. If you go about trying to force others to see you as something you’re not using a position of power, that will only drive them to hate you more.”
“...eh?”
“True respect is earned, not forced. No position of power ruled by fear and forced conversion will last more than your lifetime, possibly less.” the mysterious woman said while watching the boy blink in surprise at her words. “I might not know what a Hokage is, much less a shinobi, but in order to be respected by others, you have to show them through hard work and actions that will make the masses want to see you succeed. A person with merit is one who understands others and acts accordingly to a set of morals and a mind that is not clouded by ambition and hate.”
“........how are you THIS smart, lady?”
“I have seen the worst of my clan, the worst of others' darker natures. To understand a person’s flaws is the only way for one to improve themselves and evolve as an individual. To lose one’s self to inhibited acts of passion and emotional imbalance is akin to spiritual decay, a fate far worse than death.”
“....are you a priestess or something? Because you kinda acted like a spiritual leader.” Naruto said with surprise, the words of this strange ‘Hyuuga’ actually made sense to him....and he wasn’t really a spiritual person himself normally.
“No, my clan just...accumulates a lot of information and knowledge over generations. I only took the better aspects of that knowledge and inserted it into my own personal beliefs.”
“....oh.”
“But forgive me for my prior rudeness, but...who are you exactly?”
“Oh, the name’s Naruto Uzumaki and I’m going to be the next Hokage.” he said with a grin. “And I’m going to take your words and...well, use them, um, miss....”
“Kaguya. Kaguya Ōtsutsuki.”
A sense of dread and hate suddenly erupted inside the genin’s soul as he...tried his best to NOT show any signs of distress, his mind pushing back against the negative feelings and returning his mind to a more calmer mindset...though the sensation still lingered in the darker corner of his consciousness.
“Miss Kaguya-”
“I’m not married.”
“Oh, my bad. Um....can I call you Kaguya-chan or Kaguya-san?”
“I prefer san, but it is up to you, Naruto-san.”
“Mmmmm, I’ll just call you Kaguya-chan. It just rolls off the tongue.”
“....but words don’t roll off the tongue, they are metaphysical in nature.” Kaguya said with a confused look on her face.
“It’s a figure of speech.”
“.....ah. I see.”
The blonde genin sweatdropped a little, feeling like this mysterious Hyuuga was kinda out of the loop...on a lot of things.
Yet as he was about to continue the conversation, he realized something.
His team was about to show up and he NEEDED to get his prank ready!
“Um, Kaguya-chan. I think we need to cut this short, my team is about to show up and I had this big prank-”
“Prank?”
“Yeah, I was going to....um, use my Oiroke no Jutsu to make one of them, a real teme, blush like crazy.”
“....Oiroke no...Jutsu?”
“Right, you don’t know. Let me show up.” Naruto said while making the hand signs for his ‘perfect technique’. “ Oiroke no Jutsu! ”
And within a fraction of a second, the blonde genin turned from a scrawny boy to....a naked bombshell of a woman, one covered in smoke as she winked in Kaguya’s direction.
“See~ THIS is what I’m going to do to that teme~”
“........”
“Like it-” Naruko said before noticing that the ‘Hyuuga’ was attempting to undo her kimono, causing the now transformed shinobi to blush. “W-What are you doing!?”
“Making sure you are decent.” she said while taking off the outer layer of her attire, revealing that underneath it was an equally long-sleeved kosode, although slightly thinner than the outer layer, as she placed the kimono right over the genin’s form. “There is no need for a child like you to brazenly reveal your body to the world in such a manner. Think of your own modesty first before turning into....whatever form you took.”
“I’m NOT naked! I am still wearing clothes under this henge!”
“Even so, this ‘jutsu’ as you call it, is inappropriate for anything other than the privacy of your own home. Save it for pillow talk, not battle.”
“That’s the point! I’m making them easy targets for an attack! That’s why I made this jutsu, dattebayo!”
“Then I fear that your mother forgot to teach you proper etiquette for social matters-”
“I’m an orphan.”
“................my apologies then, I didn’t-”
“It’s fine, I’m not THAT worked up on it. Plus, you only met me, it's not your fault you didn’t know that part of my life.” Naruko said while undoing the henge, making him sigh a little. “Besides, you didn’t do it maliciously so I’m letting it slide...so can you take back your kimono? It’s kinda heavy.”
Pale eyes, again filled with a sense of....guilt, stared at the child for a little before nodding her head and taking back her outer layer, placing it back on her body as Naruto rubbed the back of his head with his left hand.
“Thanks.”
With a small nod, the mysterious Hyuuga silently accepted the kindness the genin gave her, the sun slowly rising higher into the sky as the world changed from red to a light blue tinge.
“....so you don’t approve-”
“If you are going to use that....technique for this prank, don’t. Your modesty is more important than degrading yourself like that.” Kaguya interrupted with a stern tone.
“But I need to use it against the teme!”
“Then use something else other than that.”
“Mmmmmm......OH! I got it, but Kaguya-chan, could I....use you in the prank?”
“If it involves me in anything inappropriate-”
“No no! Nothing like that! I just need to use your appearance for a henge.” Naruto said while smirking a little. “And it’s going to be fully clothed, dattebayo.” ‘Oh, this is going to be good!’
“Where is Naruto?” Sakura grumbled while currently sitting on a log, the sun currently nearing midday, as her crush, Sasuke Uchiha, was lying against another log with...a rather bored expression on his face. “I know he’s usually late, but this is ridiculous.”
“Perhaps he overslept?”
“He’s a ball of energy, why would he fall asleep for NINE hours and not come running when he realizes it?”
“Mmmm.”
The pink-haired genin sighed, knowing that despite her reservations on the blonde prankster....she IS worried for him.
After all....Sasuke’s words a few weeks ago are still fresh in her mind, how....how she acted callus to the boy, just based on his own lack of parents.
....plus....she remembered her harsh words when....she accused Naruto of hurting Yota.
....kami, he was right, why treat an outsider with kindness yet treat one of their own as....trash, like a waste of space.
She....she was no better than Ami, a bully who enjoyed seeing others in pain.
....perhaps, just maybe....
She should be kinder to him....be more friendly.
Maybe....she could fulfill the role Ino had when they first met.
...the role of a best friend.
“....maybe I should go look for him?”
“Do whatever you want, I won’t stop you.” Sasuke said with a sigh, his eyes looking elsewhere while...Sakura noticed that his tone was...a little concerned as well.
‘Huh, I guess he also is worried.’ she thought to herself before hearing a branch break right next to her. “Huh?”
“Sasuke-chan~!”
Both genin turned around in surprise as their eyes....looked upon the figure right in front of them.
A woman, pale as snow, taller than Kakashi-sensei, with long knee-length grayish white hair that seemed to be tied into a long ponytail.
Her eyes pale as white pools of glass, her soft features more accented by the hime-styled eyebrows and lips red as roses. Her...endowed chest and hips accented heavily by the short-sleeved tank top and extremely thin pencil skirt, both dyed the color of dull blue and white...her high heels seemingly making her even taller than the two genin.
Thin gray nails glistened in the midday sun as she walked towards the two with a smile, her...bountiful bosom bouncing with every step she took...indicating she...wasn’t binding them with anything whatsoever.
Her beauty...oh kami, it was enough to make the genin stop and question their own attraction, their own...preferences, for a moment as they felt like they were....dreaming.
For...somehow...they must’ve fallen asleep because how is it possible for them to MEET a Yuki Onna in the middle of spring!?
“What in the?”
“Sasuke-kun, do you know her?”
“No-”
“Sasuke-chan~!” the woman called out, her voice sounding refined....yet alluring like a honey trap. “It’s been too long~!”
“Then why-” Sakura attempted to say before she saw the mysterious woman grabbing Sasuke with both arms and pushing him right into her cleavage, which in the genin’s mind, were...WAY bigger than Naruto’s idiotic female ‘self’ any day. “H-HEY!”
“MMMMM!?”
“I missed you so much~!” she said with a giggle, making sure to prevent the Uchiha from escaping her grasp. “I wanted you to stay in my bed, not leave me all alone~”
“Wait, what do you mean by that?”
“Oh? He didn’t tell you? I’m his mistress~”
“....EH!?”
“MMMMMMM!?!?”
“Yep~ Been like that since he went to the Red Light District and asked for my services~ And oh kami, he’s a stud, so much so I entertain him even after hours~” she said with a wink of her left eye, causing BOTH Sakura and Sasuke to flush bright red.
...it also didn’t help that Sakura was starting to....imagine....
Lots of....bedroom ‘drama’ between her crush and....this strange...woman.
“W-W-W-W-W-WHAT!? S-S-S-SASUKE-KUN A-A-AND YOU....WHAT!?”
“Yep~ We did it all, and he was enjoying every minute of it~”
“MMMMM!?” Sasuke yelled, although highly muffled, from in between her bosom, his arms trying to push against her and yet failed every time. “MMMM MMMM!!!!!”
“Oh and he just LOVED these babies~” she said, cupping her right breast with a lustful grin, while not noticing that Sasuke was pulling out a kunai from his pocket. “Especially when he had a little taste of-”
“MMMM!!!”
And just like that, the kunai stabbed the woman right on the left side of her ass, causing her to scream in pain, jump back in pain and release her grip, allowing the Uchiha to gasp heavily for air...his face flushed with red.
“OW OW OW OW OW!!!!” The woman screamed before getting enveloped in smoke, revealing a VERY much in pain Naruto, who was running around trying to get the kunai out of his butt. “DAMN IT TEME! THAT WASN’T SUPPOSED TO BE THE RIGHT RESPONSE TO THAT! DATTEBAYO!!!!!!!!”
“Wait....NARUTO!?” Sakura screamed in bewilderment. “That was YOU!?”
“OW OW OW!” he cried out before yanking the kunai out and sighs in relief, only to glare at Sasuke. “Not cool! That wasn’t cool at-”
“You stupid usuratonkachi!”
“Eh-”
“HOW DARE YOU!!!” he growled in rage before quickly pinning the Uzumaki to the ground with his left hand. “YOU NEARLY KILLED ME WITH BOOBS!!!!”
“GAH! G-GAH...i-it was a pran-GAH!”
“YOU NEARLY SUFFOCATED ME!!!”
“It was a prank! A prank-GAH!”
“I’LL SHOW YOU A PRANK!!!” he growled while tightening his grip on the boy’s neck, something that made Sakura gasp in horror while Kakashi, who JUST NOW arrived on the scene, quickly ran to stop the genin from killing his own teammate. ‘How DARE you use my teenage hormones on me!!! HOW DARE YOU DO THAT TO ME!!!!’
“Sasuke-kun STOP!”
“Sasuke! What the hell are you doing!?”
“I’LL SHOW YOU! I’LL-” Sasuke yelled before his eyes started to droop...his irises glazing over as he slowly released his grip on the Uzumaki, who quickly moved away...gasping heavily for air. “I...I’ll....”
“Huh, what in....the....” the Last Hatake muttered while his own eye began to glaze over, his mind slowly filling with an intense drowsiness.
“Sensei? Sasuke-kun? What....what...is happ....ening....”
Once, twice, three times did the blonde Uzumaki blink at the sight in front of him as his entire team, their eyes glazed and their bodies swaying from side to side, fell upon the ground, face first and....unresponsive to the world.
...hopefully they were breathing....and still alive.
“Huh...what the....?” He muttered out loud, his breathing regaining a normal rhythm, as he didn’t notice Kaguya walking behind him until she picked him up by the left arm and helped him stand on his own two feet. “Eh? Oh, Kaguya-chan...um...you saw that, right?”
“Yes, and if it wasn’t for me, you would’ve died.”
“Wait, YOU did that!? How?!”
“My clan has...strange abilities, one of them is the power to erase and alter memories.” she said while looking down at the unconscious genin and jonin with a hint of pity, disdain reserved only for the Uchiha as her gaze returned to Naruto’s blue eyes. “Useful for unwanted attention during reconnaissance missions.”
“Missions?”
“It’s a clan matter, nothing for you to worry about, Naruto-san.”
“.....wait, if you have that weird sign-less jutsu the entire time...were YOU going to erase my mind the moment we met!?”
“......”
“Wait, you WERE!? Oh kami, don’t! I don’t want to lose my mind, dattebayo!”
“I considered it.” Kaguya said with a clear bluntness...that had a hint of hesitation in her tone. “But I stayed my hand.”
“.....why?”
“I honestly do not know, but when I look at you....I feel....a kinship with you. A strange....connection that transcends bloodlines and oaths of fealty.” she said while the Uzumaki’s eyes widened in surprise. “And from the sudden twinkle in your eyes, you feel the same way as I.”
“Well, yeah. ...it’s strange, it's kinda like I trust you, a lot, but we only just met.”
“Fate is rarely transparent with its designs, perhaps our meeting was an act of fate from a different point in our lives?”
“Like reincarnation?”
“Nothing like that, what I mean is that perhaps, while we share different backgrounds and ideologies, we do share...a similar goal? Traits that we both share to an uncanny degree.”
“....huh, so what DO you like?”
“I don’t mean personal traits such as likes or dislikes. What I mean is that we share the same....desire, the same drive that powers our stride into the future.”
“........like?”
The pale-skinned woman stared at her shorter companion before looking towards the sky, her expression...somber yet filled with a hint of hope behind her pale eyes. “From what I assert from you during our brief time together, I see you as ambitious yet wanting to be respected not for power’s sake, but for the chance to make others happy. You, Naruto-san, desire to make the world a better place, even if the world hates you regardless of your actions. I also desire a better world, a world without war and hate, a peaceful one where cycles of destruction hold no place on the destinies of others, only acts of kindness and love.”
“A world of...peace?”
“Yes, an uncertain one. However, it is not unobtainable, it just requires hard work, diligence and a commitment to said dream. Yet you must know this simple truth...the world always moves in cycles. Times of war give way to eras of peace and then repeat over and over again for as long as life exists. To truly understand peace, one must understand the aspects of war and learn from them, and once one knows the qualities of war, then one will know how to make peace more obtainable.” Kaguya said while Naruto’s eyes widened for a moment, only to slowly form a confused look on his face. “To truly make a world where peace is lasting, one must understand the darker side of war and accept it as a force for change, a method to refine the generations of tomorrow on what not to do and how to prevent conflict from truly starting. Only then shall the cycle of suffering and woe be halted....even for the briefest of moments, for to truly escape the cycle requires methods that only the divine truly understand.”
“...............”
“Naruto-san?”
“.....ow. All that philosophy stuff hurts my brain.” Naruto said while rubbing his head a little. “I get some of the stuff, but I’m twelve years old, I’m not used to all this ‘big-brained’ stuff! Ow, migraine. Migraine.”
“Oh, my apologies. I forgot that you are only a child, while I’m an advocate for philosophical discussions.”
“It’s fine....I’ll try and read...ugh, read books on the stuff in my spare time, so I can actually understand what you're saying. Or maybe get Sakura-oh kami! Sakura-chan! Kaguya-chan, will they wake up!? Please tell me they’ll wake up, dattebayo!”
With a simple nod of her head, the stress that filled the genin’s body dissipated instantaneously...although his migraine didn’t and was still hurting him regardless of the relief he felt knowing his team wasn’t going to be in a coma or something.
“...and will-”
“They won’t remember the prank, which was amusing until he tried to kill you.”
“Yeah, not my best one BUT how was I supposed to know he was suffocating?! I thought he LIKED that sort of thing dattebayo!”
“Some individuals like different things in a partner, not all enjoy endowed bosoms.”
“Mmmmm, I still think he’d enjoy it if given the chance. But Kaguya-chan, when they wake up, won’t they get suspicious about having a gap in their memories?”
“No, I gave them an altered memory to distract them.”
The Uzumaki blinked in surprise before pointing at the unconscious body of Sasuke. “Are you sure? Because he’s an Uchiha, those guys are kinda....dangerous.” ‘And scary!’
“I am sure. The memory will take hold when they wake up and they will be none the wiser.”
“So what memory did you-”
“I simply told them that today was a ‘day of rest’. No training, just rest. Once they wake up, they will return to their own sequential lives and, if you leave right now, would assume that all's well in the world and that they have just stumbled into this ‘training area’ by happenstance.” Kaguya said while seeing the shorter boy grin in an almost fox-like manner. “If you do return to this place tomorrow, they will not ask questions about the gap in their memories, unless you somehow bring it up.”
“Oh kami no, I’m not going to get strangled by the teme again!” Naruto said before noticing that Kaguya was walking away. “Wait, Kaguya-chan, where are you going?!”
“Your place of residence.”
“Wait, how do you-”
“I can read minds, though I refrain from doing it out of courtesy.”
“Wait WHAT!?” ‘She has THAT many justus!?’
“It’s not jutsus, it's natural abilities.”
“Stop reading my mind!”
“That was a mistake that time, it won’t happen again.”
‘I hope not and STOP READING MY MIND, DATTYBAYO!’
“My apologies.” Kaguya said with an apologetic tone as she wandered away from the area, the genin tailing right behind her. ‘His thoughts are too loud anyway...not that I should admit it out loud.’
The faint sound of creaking metal rang across the slightly darkened apartment, the sun shining down from the nearby windows as the only Uzumaki of Team 7 walked in and closed the door behind him, locking it as if by second nature as he sighed in relief.
For he had made it home BEFORE Kaguya did.
And now....he can hide the garbage and dirty clothes before she shows up...
Yes, he isn’t normally THAT messy, but he’s been...slacking a little due to endless D rank missions and his own early morning training schedule...plus he hasn’t had any company in ages due to....his tenant.
So...no need for her to see a dirty apartment and think he’s a slob.
“Now, let’s get those ramen cups put away.” he said out loud as he walked into the kitchen, which just so happened to be quite close to his own bedroom, and....
Saw that everything was....spotless, no garbage, no ramen cups discarded on the ground and...wait, the dirty dishes are put away and cleaned!?
And the floor looks like it was JUST cleaned!
“....what in the?” he said in surprise before noticing that his bedroom door was slightly open and walked inside the room.
...only to see Kaguya, sitting on his nearly folded bed like a courtier from the Fire Damiyo’s court, and, once she noticed him with slightly tired eyes, lightly bowed to him in a respectful manner.
“Welcome home, Naruto-san.”
“Eh!? H-How did you get here before me!?”
“I just used Yomotsu Hirasaka.” she said like it was the most normal thing to say in the world, something that made the blonde genin blink in confusion.
“Yom-eh?”
“It is a technique my clan uses for travel or, in this case, cleaning your mess of a manor. For a low-classed lord, you really don’t value the need for servants.”
“A lord? I’m not a lord, I’m just a genin. I bought this apartment and paid rent, I don't HAVE servants.”
“.......oh. My apologies, I thought since you have a large residential manor-”
“I’m not a daimyo, plus you KNOW I’m an orphan. How can an orphan even HAVE servants?”
“Inheritance?”
“Kaguya-chan. The day I HAVE an inheritance, or some secret family lineage, is the day I give up on ramen entirely.”
“....is that a challenge?”
“What no! It is-”
“Then I accept the terms of the challenge, Naruto-san.” the pale-eyed woman said with a confident nod, seemingly dead set on her goals....something the genin had to admit was kinda like himself....in a way.
Which was kinda refreshing, to have someone that didn’t back down to a challenge that is-wait...if she used that strange jutsu in his apartment....
“Um, Kaguya-chan. What HAPPENED TO the garbage in my apartment?”
The sounds of shattered glass rang across the bedroom as a black tear, the size of a window and seemed to extend into an endless abyss of darkness, appeared next to Kaguya’s left side, its very....existence giving the genin a sense of dread.
“I just threw it in here.”
“...and....where does that lead to exactly?”
“Take a look for yourself.” she said while beckoning him to the tear with her left hand. “Do not fear, you will not get injured in the endeavor."
...slowly and with a hint of fear, the Uzumaki walked towards the opening in space-time and poked his head into the darkness, expecting to see a dark void with floating trash inside....
....instead....
He saw Kiba’s room, which not only smelled like wet dog and dog food but also...ramen, week-old ramen to be exact.
And lo, all around the room was ALL of the Uzumaki’s discarded ramen cups and trash bags, haphazardly strung across the furniture and floor like a blanket of filth.
“.....eh!? Kaguya-chan, why did you put my garbage in Kiba’s room!? I know he’s a dick but this is too much, dattebayo!”
“Oh, even though you thought he was, as you referred to him as, ‘an arrogant mutt without a brain’?”
“How-did you read my mind again!?”
“Yes, only after I saw you stop and banter with the hound breeder. And do not feel bad for him, I also read his mind and he called you a ‘ramen-eating baboon that deserves a loser team’. His words, not mine.” the pale-skinned woman said with a tinge of mischief in her otherwise calm tone. “I only thought it was wise to repay his impure thoughts with mild retribution.”
“.....by putting garbage in his room?”
“Would you prefer that I erase his memories and replace them with the memories of a marmoset or something of lesser intelligence?”
“What no!” he yelled in disbelief as he pulled his head out of the tear, which closed instantaneously once he was outside its reach. “Don’t DO that again, Kaguya-chan! He’s just a kid like me, he DOESN’T deserve having his mind erased OR having random garbage put in his room!”
“....very well. I will stay my hand on the matter, but if he does try anything to harm your honor, then he will have a ‘suitable’ punishment to compensate for that tarnished honor.”
“...um, why are you going that far for me? We aren’t friends or anything-”
“Aren’t we already friends?”
“.....what?”
“We already refer to ourselves by our first names, is that not a sign of friendship in of itself?”
.......huh, that was...so kind, in a strange way it was true. They did exchange pleasantries with their first names, not their last names, so....
In a way...they were friends already, even if they JUST met today.
...looks like ‘The Uzumaki Luck’ saved the day again....and....it made him....
Happy.
“....well, maybe we are....” he said with a smile, only to realize what Kaguya did and frowned. “But please don’t throw things into other people’s homes! Just clean it yourself properly!”
“......”
“Wait, you do know how to clean, right?”
“I do, but my clan uses puppets for menial tasks like cleaning.”
“Then what DO you do exactly?”
“Reconnaissance, protecting the Main Branch and the higher ranking Lords and Ladies that govern the lessers. Those were my tasks, nothing more, nothing less.”
“.....wait? What?”
The pale-eyed woman, in that moment, chose to ignore the blonde genin as she decided to change topics. “As of today, I will be in your care.”
“What...wait, you’re going to live with me? But the landlady-”
“I already ‘persuaded’ her into letting me reside in your manor...after snapping her fingers.” she said with a cold edge to her tone. “She was a rude woman, no manners to you or anyone else, so I ‘repaid’ her insults with blood. Do not fear, her memory of the event was altered.”
A small chill ran down the genin’s spine as Kaguya stepped off the bed and....
Patted his head with her left hand.
Yet before he could respond to this sudden moment of affection, Kaguya had already walked past him and stopped near the bedroom door, as if waiting for the Uzumaki to accompany her.
“Um, what are you doing?”
“Waiting for you, I desire a meal...I haven’t had one in a while.” she said with a strange look in her eyes, as if holding back...something, possibly hunger, to prevent herself from looking rude in front of her new roommate.
“O-Oh! Right, do you know what ramen is? Because I know this place that has good-”
“Ramen? What is...ramen?”
“Wait WHAT!? You don’t KNOW what ramen is, dattebayo!?”
“....isn’t that obvious?” she asked sincerely before seeing Naruto quickly walk over, grab her right hand and start leading her towards the apartment’s front door, confusing her a little. “Naruto-san? What are you doing?”
“We are going to Ichiraku's! There’s no way any friend of mine’s going to keep on living WITHOUT tasting the heavenly flavor of ramen!” he said with a grin. “And don’t worry, I’ll pay for the meal, so have as many bowls as you want, dattebayo!”
“......”
“So let’s GO!”
As the two newly made friends walked, or in the case of the ‘Yuki-Onna’ dragged, out of the apartment, the blonde Uzumaki’s eyes were so focused on the ‘mission’ to give his friend the best meal of her life....
That he failed to notice....the small smile forming on the woman’s red lips.
...friendship, for her, is an unobtainable dream.
It was either endless betrayals, machinations of power through destructive acts, self-sacrifice for the slim chance of godhood, or all of the above. There was no room in her clan for such notions.
From the day she was born, she only saw the ugly side of creation. A world of blood, pain and selfishness born from the desire to transcend life itself...to become the ruler of lesser beings, including lesser members of their own species.
...pain and suffering is endless to their kind, they seek only self-importance to the point everything else is like cattle to them, yet said cattle are needed for...times they fall prey to the grasp of death.
Parasites, yes, that is what they are called. Parasites.
Parasites without a soul.
The pain, the cycles of suffering, the loss of autonomy in a system that favors the strong over the collective, the breeding of selfishness and cruelty instead of kindness and empathy....these were parts of a whole that made her....
Made her long for her own freedom.
A freedom away from a toxic eternity of endless consumption and machinations of godhood.
A freedom from needlessly becoming the nourishment for another person’s ascension.
And all she did was betray the coward she once served. One, singular, moment to cast the killing blow...and she was freed from her servitude.
....and yet, appearing in this strange village, this strange planet reminiscent of the one she once attempted to preserve...and to find a person that saw her as a ‘friend’, despite knowing of her strangeness and unnatural powers....
It was....a new sensation, one that she will treasure, protect....yes.
That is what she’ll do.
Once she served a family that viewed her worth and merits only for their own rise to deification, protected a ‘Lord’ that viewed everything as worthless, and stomached the endless apathy for her own survival.
But here, in this World of Chakra, this...World of Shinobi....
She will protect this boy, who radiates the optimism of a thousand suns and holds back an entity as foul as the deepest of hells, and....perhaps....
Help his rise to becoming Hokage?
His desire for respect needs work, and so does the secondary desire to bring peace to this planet....but the goal of becoming this village’s leader? That she can help with.
After all...don’t friends help each other reach their goals?
‘Naruto Uzumaki...your dream will become reality. Be it from the hands of destiny, your own struggles or by the actions of others that see your dream as noble....I foresee the future of your desire. And I, Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, shall assist you in accomplishing your dream, protect you from the cruelty of the world and be the one to endure the pain, be it physical or of the mind.....for that is my new purpose, as a member of the Ōtsutsuki Branch Family and as your...friend.’ the pale eyed woman said as the apartment door closed right behind her. ‘.....thank you, for becoming my first friend...oh Child of Destiny.’