Chapter Text
Uchiha Izumi was screwed. Or rather, Saria Lehmann was screwed. She was two years old and seventeen years old and she was screwed.
Her first problem was that she was in a world similar to the world of Naruto, an anime she had watched and obsessed over in another life. But out of all of the worlds she could have reincarnated in (she didn't ask for this!), Naruto would not be her first choice, or any of her choices.
While the flashy fireballs, thrilling ninja battles, and 'friendship is power' nonsense was being tossed around everywhere and was plenty entertaining to watch, living in a world like Naruto was Hell compared to the world of her past life.
This was a world full of war, death, and blood. There were overpowered, power-hungry madmen bent on ruling the world, a space-traveling clan full of god-complexes, and giant magical monsters that were the equivalent of nukes held in the hands of emotionally troubled children. This world was not at all like the world of peace and comfort she led in her past life.
She did not want to experience any of the tragedies that happen in Naruto. She did not want to fight, she did not want to kill, and most of all, she did not want to be killed.
Which led to her second problem. She was an Uchiha, and not just any Uchiha, she was Uchiha Izumi, the love interest of the one and only Uchiha Itachi.
She despaired at the thought of dying again before she even reached thirteen. So, Saria was not excited to be here. But if this was some sort of hell or punishment for her mistakes in her previous life, then she would take the bull by the horns and run with it.
How did she even know of this world and that she had a past life? Izumi has dreams. She has had dreams since she was an infant but a year old, barely old enough to think or even remember anything. Yet her dreams were the opposite of being awake. They were clear, distinct, and vivid, and they were impossible to forget.
They were always about a girl who had brown hair and green eyes, much different from her own black hair and onyx eyes, a signature of the Uchiha clan. At first, Izumi had thought that the dreams were about herself living an idyllic life where they had a nice house, nice clothes, and tasty food to eat.
But she quickly realized something was wrong with her dreams when she had told her parents at dinner one day about all the things she experienced in them.
She described her adventures about a girl with different looks and a different name from her own, about a home with a mother and father who rarely spoke to her except to demand great things of her and a younger brother as bright as the sun but whose cheery light was smothered under the dismissive gaze of disappointment. She told them about a world millions of times larger than their home, with all kinds of people who spoke all kinds of languages, with massive cities that had buildings that reached the sky and metal carriages that moved on their own, and a mass of people rushing to and fro.
And that's where she stopped because she saw the stern faces of her parents, faces that matched the cold faces of Saria's parents. From their initial joy, to their later intrigue, to their frowning faces, she realized that her parents did not like the dreams she had, so she stopped telling them about her night time episodes and pretended to be just a strangely smart baby.
Izumi considered that maybe the dreams were not actually about herself, but of an entirely different person living in an entirely different world. She only felt more assured of this conclusion when the girl in her dreams grew up past the age of herself. Izumi then was one and a half years old, but she had all the memories of Saria Lehmann who was ten years old.
By the time she was two, she wasn't sure who she was anymore. Was she Uchiha Izumi, the daughter of Uchiha Hazuki and Shounin Nigiyaka, or was she Saria Lehmann, the girl in her dreams whose memories constituted the greater majority of her own? The scale quickly tipped in Saria's favor, though, when the dreams didn't stop. In fact, Izumi started to receive more of them.
In a single night, a single dream, Izumi might remember weeks' worth of Saria's memories. Or was it that she was Saria dreaming a day of Izumi's life? That made more sense, since if she remembers more about Saria than Izumi, then she must be Saria and not Izumi, right?
So that means she dreams of the world of an anime she had watched when she was fourteen, and she returns to reality when she falls asleep in her dreams. Still, that didn't seem right either. She was Izumi. She knew she was Izumi. The world she lived in was real and she was dreaming of Saria's life. This wasn't the world of an anime, it felt too real, colors were too bright, and smells too fragrant. She was Izumi and she was going to die in eleven years if the anime's fate is to be believed.
Yet if she was Izumi, how did she know all of the other information? Saria knew English. She went to school where she learned math, history, and science. Saria had an interest in anime and fantasy. She watched and read hundreds of episodes and chapters and she liked to study and analyze those worlds using her knowledge. Saria could experience nearly everything in the world through a flat glowing screen.
So if she was Izumi-the-two-year-old kid, why then did she wake up every morning with a flaring pain in her head so blinding that she couldn't figure out who she was? Why did she remember all of this knowledge if she wasn't Saria who was dreaming of Izumi?
If she was Saria, then naturally she should act like a mature and intelligent person. The wooden blocks and colorful shapes her parents gave her simply didn't capture her interest. As a modern and sophisticated teenager, she was bored out of her mind with no internet or TV to keep her occupied. With nothing to do, she became curious.
She started pestering her parents with questions about the world, but it quickly became apparent that they were unable to answer many of her questions. So, she turned to books instead. She read and read, learning about the Naruto world she so dearly dreamed of.
Saria had only realized the true extent of the phrase "knowledge is power" when she discovered how hard it was to even obtain basic information. And much of it was censored. It made her realize how paranoid the shinobi world is. It spoke to the idea that "secrets are currency." The entire shinobi world would drool at the amount of information freely available in her world (and most of it was considered trivia!).
But when she woke up from her dreams, she was Izumi, not Saria, and living in a real world with the real fate of death looming ominously in her future. But even as Izumi, she had the advantage of Saria's knowledge, reasoning, and maturity. She could do this. She could survive. With only a few advantages, she was desperate to gather more information about this world: how much it knew, how much it didn't know, and how much was wrong or different.
It startled her parents at first. They weren't sure how to handle a toddler with no interest in toys, who behaved more like a mini-person, one not even reaching the height of their knees, speaking with perfect grammar, asking questions about serious topics no child should even be aware of, and begging to go to the library or to buy books filled with words even they struggled to understand.
They quickly adapted though. Her mother would take her to the library a few times a week, and her father would scrounge up enough change from missions to buy her a new book once a month. Soon, they hailed her as their own "little prodigy".
The first time they squealed those words felt like a bucket of ice water was dumped over Izumi's head. Prodigy. That was basically a death sentence in a world like Naruto. Prodigies sped through the Academy and graduated early, were shipped off to the frontlines early, and died early.
Luckily, her father seemed to agree with her on this point and showed some hesitancy to use the word, preferring to call her a "smart cookie" instead. She felt thankful for that, and her family tried to keep quiet about her intelligence as a silent agreement.
Despite all of their support, Izumi could tell her behavior frightened her parents. Their questions were worded awkwardly, starting out with childish phrases before cutting up in the middle and finally talking to her like an adult. They hesitated in their responses to her questions, seeming as if unwilling to answer. Coddling and cooing was cut off abruptly. Cuddles and snuggles were light and short. All the while, she could see her parents' desires to treat her like a normal child.
Even so, they tried to love her the way she is, so in return, she tried to behave as the excitable two-year-old child they wished for She laughed and squeal and bounced even if she wasn’t amused.
Still, she couldn't stop a warm feeling from blooming in her chest. This was what a normal family was like. Only, it wasn't. She was Uchiha Izumi, but she also wasn't. She wasn't the daughter they truly deserved.
She convinced herself she wasn't being a horrible person, and that she was still Izumi, and she was just practicing her acting for her future shinobi career. She definitely had not defrauded her parents.
So here she was, almost three, sitting at the dinner table with some rice and a few side dishes. Her mother was eating quietly to her left. There was no feeding or fussing. Izumi ate her rice and vegetables methodically with a pair of chopsticks.
Saria would proudly boast about her ability to use chopsticks any day because becoming coordinated again was a pain in the ass. She occasionally commented about how delicious the food was or told her mother about her day, such as the animals she saw in the forest or the games she played with the other children at the park.
(While she didn't care for the games they played, she had to behave like a normal child sometimes, and what better way to learn how kids act than by interacting with them?).
Her mother hummed and gave occasional nods, a small smile at her lips. When Izumi had nothing more to say, a silence lapsed between them.
She observed her mother out of the corner of her eye. She had faint bags under her eyes. Izumi guessed she hadn't been getting enough sleep. Her hair was in a loose low ponytail typical of anime mothers. She eats in a graceful way, one indicating she had etiquette lessons.
Izumi never failed to find her mother's movements enchanting, but this time, she couldn't help but feel like her graceful movements felt too rigid, too formal. Shouldn't her mother not feel the need to be like this around her? Did Izumi really care about how polite her own mother was, or was it just habit of hers to always act like that? Even if it is habit, couldn't she be more relaxed around a baby, her own daughter?
Suddenly the word 'daughter' didn't seem to fit here.
Suddenly, she was Saria sitting at the gorgeous dark oak dinner table, determinately staring at the food in front of her as their family ate in silence. Her father was typing away at his laptop occasionally pausing to take a bite out of his meal while her mother was sorting through papers, dinner left forgotten.
Saria didn't know if it was the silence was strangling her or if she was just choking on her food. She glanced to her left and saw her brother in a similar situation as her. His head was tucked into his shoulders. He mechanically lifted chunks of meat and vegetables into his mouth. Saria followed suit.
Izumi returned to reality when her mother took a sip of water. Izumi focused back on her own meal and lifted up a clump of rice and put it in her mouth, chewing on it quietly.
Saria reflected on the situation at the dinner table right now. Every second that passed by seemed to place a brick between herself and her mother. It slowly grew taller into an overbearing wall, until she could barely see the lowered head of her mother eating her dinner. Izumi panicked, wondering what exactly would happen between herself and her mother if the wall was completed.
"When will Tou-san be back?" She asked, breaking the silence and a few bricks come tumbling down.
Her mother paused mid-bite. She set down her chopsticks and took a deep breath.
"I don't know Zumi-chan. Tou-san's on a mission again. Hopefully he'll return in a day or two," her mother replied.
"What's his mission this time?" She tilted her head a little and widened her eyes, appearing innocent.
Her mother tensed at the question. She stared at her bowl of rice for a second.
"…He's on the frontlines sweetie. He's busy fighting the bad guys off and being a hero," she smiled.
Saria internally rolled her eyes at the glorification and brainwashing. The Third Shinobi World War was going on right now. The frontlines had the most casualties, at least from what she believed about war. She just hoped her father would return safely.
"Daddy's so cool! He's a hero! Who're the bad guys he's fighting?" she cheered.
"He's fighting the Iwa," her mother replied.
"Iwa? Iwa-Iwa-Iwa-Iwa-Iwa. They have a funny name! Are they really bad guys? What are they like?"
Her mother responded with a giggle, "Iwa is the shortened name for Iwagakure. They are the Village Hidden in the Stones. They're another hidden village, similar to us, but they are located in the Land of Earth. Their specialty is earth jutsu. They are bad guys because they have killed a lot of our people and started this horrible war."
Izumi raised an eyebrow at the blatant defamation.
"But don't we kill Iwa's people too?"
Her mother startled and then gave a sigh, "Yes, we do, and that is why war is a horrible thing Zumi-chan. People hurt each other with no clear reason or benefit as to why they are doing it besides the fact that that is what war is about. It's not a good thing at all. But it is sadly a fact of our lives, even if it is a terrible one."
"I know Kaa-san." She did know. Saria's world, despite having millennia of history far longer than this world, still hadn't eliminated war. War, with all of the blood, gore, and glory, is a very primitive thing, as primitive as the need to eat, sleep, and reproduce. If people retain the capacity to disagree and the capacity to gain power, then war will persist.
Her mother smiled at her, "that's what makes you our smart little cookie Zumi-chan. Alright, dinner seems to be finished, so let's get cleaned up."
"I'll help Kaa-san!"
Izumi got up from her chair with her empty bowl and carried it over to the sink.
"Aw, thank you Zumi-chan. You're such a big girl!"
Saria sighed in her head, "Of course I'm a 'big girl', I'm almost eighteen mentally."
"Yep! Zumi is a big girl!" she chirped while internally cringing at her own peppy voice.
Later that night, after her mother put her to bed, Saria crawled out from her blankets. She fetched her notebook from underneath the pile of clothes in the dresser. Opening it up to the latest page, she began to review her work.
It was a picture of her living room drawn in pencil, but if you look closely enough, the picture was made entirely out of tiny English letters and words. She had written down all of the knowledge and information she learned in her previous life like this.
She couldn't guarantee that these notebooks would never be found and that shinobi would not be able to "decipher" English, so she disguised her writing as a picture and her notebook as a sketchbook. The paragraphs were read in the order that she drew the objects in the picture.
For example, when looking at the living room picture, she first drew the couch which took up the most space, then the floor underneath it, then the kotatsu behind it, etc. so you would also read the paragraphs that made up those objects in the same order.
At least this way, if her notebooks are ever discovered, it will be even harder to understand what she has written, although the fact that she has these notebooks in the first place would be alarming.
She had 4 notebooks currently. They were mostly filled with Saria's knowledge of math and science, and most importantly, her knowledge of Naruto.
There was no need to write down her past life's memories because she has hyperthymesia, a condition where she remembers her entire life with startling clarity and was unable to forget her past. But this condition didn't include declaratory memory of facts and information, so those were the only things she bothered to write down.
Looking at the picture of her bedroom, she reviewed her summary of the disasters in Naruto:
Kyuubi Attack:
- Event Date: in about a year to a year and a half; whenever Naruto is born
- Cause: Obito Uchiha posing as Madara unseals the Kyuubi in the middle of Konoha
- Effect: Fourth Hokage dies, Konoha infrastructure damaged, manpower weakened, people die, Uchiha ostracized
Uchiha Massacre:
- Event Date: in about 9 to 10 years after Naruto is born when Itachi is 13 (side note: who asks a 13 yr old to kill their family anyway? Danzou that's who)
- Cause: Uchiha wanted to start a coup, the village decided to eliminate them before it happened
- Effect: Uchiha clan wiped out, manpower lost, Itachi joins the Akatsuki, Sasuke becomes emo and is a future headache in the series
Chunin Exams/Sand Invasion:
- Event Date: in about 14 to 15 years, whenever Naruto begins his chunin exams
- Cause: Orochimaru works with Sunagakure to attack Konoha and weaken the village. Future investigation into motivation for doing this is necessary
- Effect: Third Hokage dies, Tsunade becomes hokage, Konoha infrastructure damaged
Pein's Attack:
- Event Date: in about 17 to 18 years, within a year or two of Naruto returning from his training with Jiraiya
- Cause: Pein is trying to obtain the Kyuubi for his plans
- Effect: Konoha is completely destroyed, people are revived
Fourth Shinobi World War:
- Event Date: in about 19 or 20 years(?), sometime after Pein's Attack, this event is too far into the future to know exactly and the Naruto timeline was always unclear
- Cause: Akatsuki's plans succeeded and the United Shinobi Nations unite to fight off the threat, later in the war, Madara and Hashirama are revived
- Effect: Many people die, including important and powerful figures of Konoha
Kaguya's Descent:
- Event Date: near the end of Fourth Shinobi World War
- Cause: Kaguya was revived, not quite sure on the specifics of how she was revived, but it was because of a plan formed by Madara and Black Zetsu
- Effect: Kaguya is defeated, but the loss is great for all shinobi nations, future peace established between nations, Naruto becomes Hokage sometime in the future
Saria reread her summaries over and over.
"Each disaster is more ridiculous than the last and the mortality rate is more absurd, especially for ordinary people. Looking at these disasters, it seems that becoming a shinobi myself really is the only option for survival. Or maybe I could just runaway and become a hobo living in the woods?" Saria shook her head at the thought.
"I would have to defect before I am thirteen, and the wilderness of the Naruto world is not a place for an untrained thirteen year old to frolic around in. I could move to a small farming village neighboring Konoha, but convincing my parents to move would be difficult, especially considering my dad is a shinobi."
Izumi sighed, becoming a shinobi was her only option, much to her displeasure, because it at least gave her power to protect herself and she at least needed to be able to do that before possibly increasing her chance of survival. Whatever the future may hold, Saria wanted to live long enough to die of old age, or at least old enough to meet her grandchildren.
A yawn escaped her mouth. Izumi groaned, "Damn this child body. I used to go days with only a few hours of sleep. Guess I'll just have to save planning for another night. I can't think of any more ideas anyway if I'm tired." Izumi sighed and cached her notebook back under her pile of clothes in the dresser, make sure it was thoroughly secure and out of view.
Izumi climbed back into bed then snuggled under the covers.
"I wonder what I'll dream of tonight." She thought before she drifted off.