Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The girl couldn’t even form thoughts as she looked around the room. Perfectly still, eyes wide like a deer in the headlights. A frown, then a thought. Where was she? The man in the front of the room continued to talk, paying her sudden existence no mind.

Her eyes wandered to the children around her. The first thing she noticed was that black hair was the most common in the room. It was all she could see from her position. Hers was a strange, blackish violet colour. The seating was in layers, her own spot in the back corner. The scraping of chalk on the blackboard at the front of the room brought her attention back to the adult.

A teacher.

Her mind whispered the words to her as she still fumbled around in her head, trying to get her bearings straight. He was standing front and centre, behind a podium. The chalk he used to write on the board tapped rhythmically with every character he scrawled. The children around her were had their eyes focused on the man. A few were scribbling in notebooks.

The symbols on the board were something that vaguely clicked in her mind; mathematics. He was writing out a mathematics problem. She decided to put that on the backburner for the moment, allowing herself to think. Who was she?

Her mind whispered back a name, but nothing else.

Uchiha, Naori.

Naori frowned, movement in her periphery catching her off guard as her neck practically snapped. To her right was a boy with hair that reached his mid back, tied in a low ponytail. He was yawning – but her sudden stare froze him in place. He smiled for a few seconds, as she continued to stare, before turning his head.

“S-sorry..” It was barely a mumble, but she caught it.

She changed her focus back to the now overflowing questions in her head. Where the hell am I? Why can’t I remember anything? She let her eyes flit around the classroom again. Who are all these people? Obviously I couldn’t have just appeared. This was my class, I’m sure of it.

Why couldn’t she remember them?

Molten fire roared in her head as she groaned. Her thoughts were leaden, heavy, but not slow. Where was she? Who were they? The pain began to sear as she let her head fall to the table. Fuck, it hurts, why does it hurt? Why can’t I remember? 

A voice pierced the silent fire that gripped her, ripping her away from the thoughts and the pain following it.

“Naori.” The teacher spoke, likely repeating himself for the second time.

“Kibe-sensei.” She spoke, but it wasn’t her voice. It wasn’t her who spoke it, but yet it was. She said his name, but did not know him. Why couldn’t she remember? The pain began to flare again, smouldering below the surface. Waiting for her to trip up, to lose focus.

“Please, keep your head up in class. We do not allow sleeping during academy hours.” His tone was polite, reserved. Respectful. Naori furrowed her brow, confused.

Why was the teacher giving her respect? She was a student. Who was she? The fire in her head began to pulse and thrum, before giving way under the weight of a thousand-fold her current memories. A tsunami of knowledge poured into her, obfuscating all of her senses, overwhelming her mind. Uchiha Naori knew who she was, now.

She was not Uchiha Naori.

Panic set in as she stared at the chalkboard at the front of the class. How had she come here? Just minutes, maybe hours prior, she was studying for her PSATs. Had she fallen asleep? This was a dream, right? Sweat began to drip down her forehead.

She was not Uchiha Naori. She was not from here. The characters on the chalkboard were a jumbled mess for only a few seconds, before it clicked. She understood them. Looking back, she’d spoken in Japanese as well. She knew only one language on earth, prior to this, and it was English.

Why the fuck was she in the body of an Uchiha?

The question wasn’t the most important right now and she knew it. What was going on? It was more pertinent than something as dumb as her genetics in this new life. She pinched herself, just to make sure it wasn’t a dream. She did not wake up. Offloading some of her anxiety and confusion to the side, she refocused. She needed to understand her situation.

She watched as a boy, who also looked like he was sleeping, was called on. Takuma. The teacher did not look chummy with him. Naori frowned, but didn’t recall why. Her memories were fractured at best, practically nothing more than an instinct on how to behave and retain her act as Uchiha Naori. He walked up the board, her eyes focused on him. His hands were shaking until he grabbed the chalk.

The maths on the board clicked in her mind. It was a division word problem. She solved it quickly, nodding, impressed as the boy did the same. Takuma. He was interesting. She allowed the ghost of a smile to form on her face as she looked to the rest of the class. Her mind allowed her some names as she looked at a few.

Uchiha Izumi.

Akimichi Hideaki.

Inuzuka Hiji.

Another Uchiha? Her heart rate spiked for a second before she allowed herself to calm down. She would be fine. By now, she’d pinched herself enough to know she wasn’t sleeping. Naori took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. So what if she was in a ninja academy, training to be an assassin? Disguise would be her bread and butter. If she wanted to live, she had to thrive. She would have to strive — the danger of being discovered was only a motivator.

Right now, Uchiha Naori is an outsider. She wouldn’t be for long, though. She would analyse herself until she understood everything. She would become Uchiha Naori, no matter what it took. Her mind clicked back to attention, setting aside her resolve, as Takuma left the room. He’d asked to use the washroom.

She continued trying to form a plan of action in her mind. Uchiha Izumi was a critical part of that; she would talk to her, drain any information she could. It was a risk but one she had to take.

The teacher turned to the chalkboard, crossing his arms with an odd look on his face. Hushed whispers went through the room. She was only able to catch parts of it.

“Heh, Takuma got something right for once.”

“No way that idiot got it right. Did he cheat off the girl in front of him?”

“..I didn’t solve it either..”

Surprisingly, Izumi did not engage in the hushed whispers. She had an odd look on her face, but one that wasn’t inherently negative like most of the others in the class. It was closer to calculative. Naori, for a second, hesitated about her plan to engage with the fellow Uchiha. There wasn’t much she could do outside of that though. With a silent curse, she forced herself to agree. The whispers stopped abruptly as the teacher wiped the board.

Naori just shrugged that nonsense off. Childhood gossip wasn’t really something she was interested in. She turned her attention to finishing her analysis of the classroom. At the top of the class, several dozen posters were pinned. She scrunched her nose as she read them. This was the most blatantly obvious propaganda she’d ever seen.

Half of them were formed around the supremacy of the hidden leaf, something she supposed she’d have to get used to. The other half was glorifying the Shinobi life, spattered with various ‘Shinobi Life Lessons’. Look underneath the underneath, she chuckled quietly, drawing an odd look from the boy she had spooked earlier. Something in her told her she’d already deviated away from Uchiha Naori.

With a frown, she stonewalled her expression. Her eyes were locked back onto the door, waiting for the boy to come back. He was interesting, and unlike everyone but her, he was nervous. She wasn’t sure why. Maybe it was his academy performance? Based on what she’d heard already, he was quite the… underperformer, to say the least.

With a bit of effort, she dragged her focus back to Kibe-sensei. Idly, she wondered if there was a reason behind her complete indifference to coming here. Pain broiled in her mind, hot and heavy, before it gave way again. Her hands clenched unwillingly, her face flinching as she remembered. She wasn’t particularly attached to her last life, and more than once, had considered… leaving it voluntarily. She grunted at the memory, forcing it out of her mind, before discreetly checking her wrists.

They were clean, and unmarred. She let herself breathe a sigh of relief. As long as her past didn’t follow her here, she would do anything to make sure this life was one she’d be proud of living. The facsimile of a smile formed on her face for the second time since she’d been put here. 

There was only one thing she was worried about, though. When the fuck was she in the timeline? Uchiha Izumi rang a bell, Naori thought she might’ve once heard something about her and Itachi being a thing but…

Her memories were fickle, and she didn’t want to put the weight of her life on them if she didn’t have to.

She felt something in her shift, as she narrowed her eyes and set her heart in stone. She refused to let her second chance be wasted; it was hers to grab. It was hers to control, and she would be damned if she let even the most talented ninja the village had seen take it from her.

She didn’t know much about her situation, though. Confirming her identity and forming her disguise was the absolute priority. She turned to the boy beside her with the long hair and ponytail, a name already forming at the tip of her tongue.

“Muichi-san.” Her voice was flat, her expression the pinnacle of indifference. She hoped the Uchiha were like she remembered, or this would be very odd to the boy beside her. Something in her told her she was making the right move.

“Uchiha-san.” He had an awkward smile on his face. She furrowed her brows. Clanless shinobi referred to those from clans as their last name. She nodded, very slightly, to the relief of Muichi.

“How old are you?” The question, obviously, took the kid off guard. She had to stop herself from letting a smile show through her facade.

“U-uhm, I’m eleven, Uchiha-san.”

“I see. Thank you, Muich-san.” She turned her head before he could ask anything else. She was somewhere around that age as well, then. She didn’t really know what that meant. She just knew she had very little time to get a whole lot done. Hopefully, she sighed, she would be able to do something to change the tide of the Uchiha.

With a glance out of the window, she felt her heart squeezed by an invisible grip. Four faces, she barely recognized them though. It had been years at the least since she’d watched Naruto. She knew what they meant, though. They meant that she did not have a lot of time. Stoically, she turned her attention once more to Kibe-sensei. This was probably, if she was right, her last year in the academy.

Exasperated, she listened for what felt like several minutes before coming to a stark realisation. She did not know what he was talking about — she couldn’t follow, at all. She knew absolutely nothing about what he was lecturing on. She strained her mind, trying to understand, for only a few minutes before coming to a realization. She was only certain three absolutes at the moment.

She was Uchiha Naori, she was probably eleven years old, and she was in Naruto. With a mental pause, she corrected herself. There were four absolute things she knew.

She was also certain she did not want to die at the hands of Uchiha Itachi.

Chapter Text

Naori wasn’t really a fan of Naruto. Sure, she’d followed the series and retained enough information to know that she would likely die unless she changed something just because she was an Uchiha. That was, though, about it. She liked the concept of Jutsu and Chakra, but the way the series went had been a nosedive compared to what it could’ve been. Ninja were supposed to be that — Ninja. Somewhere along the way, they started turning into walking nukes. That was about when she'd stopped paying attention to the series.

As much as she disliked it, though, there was one thing she could say about the walking nukes of the world. They were strong, and they were far less likely to die than most people. At the moment, she was really wishing that she was one of them. She was scared. Her last life had been a nightmare, and now she barely had a few years before her second one would end at the hands of a monstrous genius.

Becoming a monster like that was far, far off in the future -- if it ever happened -- so she had to come up with a plan. Her current idea was to make a timeline as comprehensive as possible. If the Uchiha Massacre wasn't thwarted, she would simply become a rogue ninja. She was putting a lot of faith in the butterfly effect, because right now she had very little in herself.

She wasn't sure if that was a more terrifying future though. If the Uchiha Massacre was stopped, what would Danzo do? What would happen with the Akatsuki? With a frustrated grunt, her attention shifted back to Kibe-sensei. Thinking about that was pointless. All she could do now was train and hope she could get strong enough to change things if they wouldn't change by themself.

He droned on, kept talking, and she just kept waiting for something interesting. There were some things that her instinct called to her attention. Things inherent to whoever Uchiha Naori was, before. Her mind giving vague whispers, half answers, small bits of informations on the things that mattered to whoever she had been.

Specifically, the Clans of Konoha. A few eyes turned her way, a few turned towards Uchiha Izumi, a few turned towards Akimichi Hideaki and Inuzuka Hiji. She turned her own to Takuma, now having returned to the class, as he stared dead ahead. She felt a strange sense of comfort with the boy. They were both nervous. 

Unfortunately, he… seemed a lot more boring than she thought he would be at first. The kid basically just stared ahead with a dozed off expression the entire day or studying materials in class. She watched for a few minutes, taking comfort in his anxiety. Sharing the mood with him even if he didn't know it, before her thoughts began to churn again now that she was calmer.

Reincarnation was not a novel concept to her. In fact, it was a fairly popular trope in fanfiction, anime, and manga communities. She’d read, and watched, a lot. So while she was lost and without knowledge she knew she desperately needed, she wasn’t entirely out of her comfort zone. Putting her past behind her and getting into her new role was a priority. WIth narrowed eyes, she clenched her jaw.

Who was Uchiha Naori?

The answer to that question would dictate her life, she only hoped that Naori and her were similar enough to reconcile. Another bout of mental pain, though it faded far quicker than the prior incidents. Weaker, too. Focusing, she pushed past the pain. Searching for something, anything honestly.

Solid, concrete memories seemed to slip through her hands like sand. All that was left were vague impressions. Emotions, maybe, but nothing solid. With a frown, she opened her eyes.

Fuck.

Whoever the girl had been before was gone, now, and that was an absolute. There was nothing left of what had once been. She twitched her arms, feeling the powerful muscles. Stronger than she had ever been on earth, ready to fight at a moment's notice. She felt the instinct that had been carved into them. The memories that had been forged through blood, sweat, and tears.

But the knowledge wasn’t in her head anymore. She would have to retrain herself from the ground up, without anyone learning that she no longer knew how to fight. The instinct would help, but not much, not if she didn’t have someone to help her.

This world was dangerous , and while she loved pressure, her life hadn’t truly been on the line before now. This was a new type of pressure. Like a knife at her neck, only stopped by the thin veil of her identity.

The identity she no longer knew.

But, what did she know about Canon? She paused at that. What did she know about Canon? Was she even in Canon? How could she ever know? Exasperated, she shut off her senses and tried to think. Uzumaki Naruto was the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi. The massacre of the Uchiha clan happened somewhere around… maybe… six? Six years or so after Naruto’s birth. That sounded right.

Her eye twitched. Okay, find Naruto. Find out how old he is. Surely the Anbu guard—she paused, making a mental note now that she’d remembered about them— would love to see an Uchiha interacting with the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki after they’d been blamed for the death of the Yondaime Hokage and his Wife, who was the previous Jinchuuriki.

Sasuke should be around the same age, no? Alright. That was an easier goal to meet. The son of the Clan head, I could probably ask Izumi that. With a vague series of events now in her head, she nodded to herself. Yes, that would work.

The previous Uchiha Naori had left absolutely nothing, so she’d have to make do with her past life’s limited knowledge. With a sigh, she straightened her back. Muichi looked at her, an odd glint in his eyes, before turning away. She grabbed the notebook, and pen that looked suspiciously like a Bic pen, in front of her.

She flipped through the pages and felt like swearing. Why the fuck is your notebook empty, Uchiha Naori?

Sourly, she flipped back to the first page and began to design an outline the contents of the notebook. She'd organize it, something she'd been chronically bad at in her last life. At least there's one good thing about starting fresh, right? The first thing she needed to get was a timeline. It would determine a lot about her new life.

Lightly scribbling on the page to get the ink drawn, she plotted out the events as she knew it – noting every plot point, and character, and character ages over said events. At least, she did as well as she could remember it. There were very few people on that list in which she had the ages for. All Naori could do was furrow her brows. She needed more information.

Sasuke and Naruto – both, probably, six or seven years old at the time of the Uchiha Massacre. Itachi was thirteen. If I remember right, Kakashi was… about twenty or twenty one at that time. Naori frowned, trying to remember when Kakashi had gotten Obito’s Sharingan. The knowledge did not come to her.

Hiruzen died during the Konoha Crush, which was in the Chunin exams, about half a year after the main cast graduated as Genin. That should make Sasuke about twelve, right? Maybe thirteen, at the oldest. Naori flitted to the next page, deciding that trying to continue the timeline off what she could think of just right now was a bad idea. She might fudge something.

Her next priority was to write everything she knew about Chakra, Chakra Control, and the Uchiha clan. Chakra is the combined quantity of Physical and Mental energies. The quantity of Chakra possessed by a Shinobi is determined by the lesser of the two. The closer the two are to a balance, the higher the quality of Chakra.

She flicked her pen on the table, bouncing it a few times as she tried to collect her thoughts. Tenketsu are the points where a Shinobi can release Chakra from. Releasing Chakra from the feet is difficult, as there are fewer Tenketsu than in the hands. The hands are the primary point of release for Chakra, which is why handseals exist.

She hummed, continuing to write down more random trivia. The picture it painted was not clear, even muddy was an overstatement. Naori knew that there was a lot she was missing. For now though, it was enough to get started on studying once the academy hours ended. The ticking of a clock suddenly entered her ears as she perked up, refocusing on class.

She looked at the clock. It was well past the time she usually ate lunch on earth. Kibe-sensei’s voice broke her reverie.

"Okay, class," Kibe clapped his hands to gain the students' attention, "let's move out to the training yard. I'm going to test your shurikenjutsu today; I hope everyone has been practicing; I would be very disappointed if you have not."

Naori opened her mouth, her restraint barely good enough to stop her from voicing protests. That was not good. At all. She had no fucking clue how to throw a shuriken. With a sigh, they knew it was pointless to try anything to get out of this. All she could hope was that the previous Naori had been diligent enough her muscle memory would save her from embarrassment.

Leaving her seat and watching everyone else do the same, she watched as Takuma fumbled with his hands. He was panicking, still in his chair. Why would he be panicking so much? With a frown, Naori just decided to continue watching for now. Takuma rang no bells in her memories, and it was likely that he just ended up flunking or something.

WIth how spotty her knowledge was though, there wasn’t any reason not to pay attention. As Takuma rose, she followed behind him, as he too followed behind the rest of the crowd. Following Kibe-sensei out of the building, the class entered a barren field. There were a few weeds, maybe, spread about – but the focus was clearly on the training logs at the other end of the field. Kibe-sensei stood to the side of a couple boxes, filled with Kunai and Shuriken.

The wooden posts weren’t uniform in size, heightwise or girthwise, but they all had painted-on targets in white. They were all in various states of disrepair; slashes, cuts, some even had blunt force impacts. She assumed that was likely from taijutsu. Her eyes flicked towards Kibe-sensei as he addressed the class.

"You all know the drill," Kibe said. "Split into five lines and line up in front of the targets. You’ll throw five. The first row throws at the target and then sprints to the target to retrieve their shurikens and sprint to the back of their line." He gave his students a stern look, "Only after the first group has gotten to the back of the line will you throw your shuriken, not a second before. If you break that rule, then be ready for hell. Do you all understand?"

The class chorused with a "yes."

"Good," Kibe-sensei smiled. "Before we start throwing practice, I want all of you to give me twenty rounds around the ground to get the blood pumping and sweat dripping. I told you last time, today's going to be tough," he grinned. "Now, what are you waiting for! Run! Run! Run!"

Without hesitation, the majority of the class started running – Naori eyed Takuma, watching him pick up in the middle. With a frown, she set her pace to the middle as well. Something inside her twinged, telling her it was wrong. She was better. Deciding to follow her instincts, she went faster. Her feet slammed against the ground as she felt like she was flying, smiling as the runner's high kicked in. The familiar feeling of running out of breath never came, the small stings she was accustomed to never reaching her. Her new body wasn't asthmatic.

Naori allowed her smile to grow as she kept pace with the front of the group, the feeling inside her sated for now, enjoying the speed.

The twenty laps passed quickly, a light sheen of sweat was left on her, but nothing else. She controlled her breathing as she looked at the group. There was only one person, again, who stood out. Takuma. The boy hadn’t even managed to stay in the middle of the group the whole time, falling to the back after only a dozen laps or so. He was sprawled out on the ground, gasping for breath.

Naori could only sigh at this. She’d just been sent to this world, and she was already ahead of some people. The pride, the instinct that told her who she was, told her it was only right. She tried to shut out that feeling. The boy was just weak, maybe it was genetics or something. Naori had no right to judge him. They were in practically the same circumstances, or at least would be if she didn't learn a lot, and quickly. She turned her focus back to Kibe-sensei as he went to the front of the mass of students.

"Form the lines, quickly!" Kibe barked an order.

Naori went to the middle line, behind Uchiha Izumi, and in front of three others she didn’t recognize that well. She felt her heart tighten. She didn’t actually know how to throw them, and decided that it would probably be best to watch intently as Izumi tossed hers. All of her focus went to the hands of Uchiha Izumi.

The girl’s hands gripped lightly, holding four shuriken. Izumi’s fingers were given a single shuriken each, and her thumb used to stabilize them. She mused it wasn't too unlike how you spread a hand of cards, just horizontal. With a flick of her wrist, the four shuriken went flying. They all hit either close to, or dead on, the center of the target. Naori hummed, impressed.

“Good job, Izumi.” Naori spoke, hoping it wasn’t too out of character for whoever she had been before.

Izumi just gave a simple nod as she flicked her fifth shuriken. Dead center. She jogged to the target, plucking them out, before returning to the end of the line. Taking a deep breath, Naori grabbed five shuriken from the wooden crate next to her. Fumbling a shuriken into her hand, not daring to think she could do what Izumi had, she tried to mimic the grip she’d had on her second throw. It felt awkward, and unusual.

Naori frowned as she adjusted her grip until it felt more natural. With as much force as she could, she tossed the shuriken and prayed it would hit the target.

It veered off to the side, hitting the edge of the log. Naori flushed from embarrassment as Kibe-sensei shot her with a strange look.

Her heart rate spiked a little, panic setting in. Surely she wouldn’t get caught as an imposter this soon, right? Her hands shook as she picked up another shuriken, launching it. It barely clipped the edge of the target this time. Her third shuriken, and it was embedded between the outer ring and inner ring. Her fourth, solidly in the outer ring. With a deep breath, she focused. Her wrist flicked almost violently as she launched her last shuriken.

It thudded against the wood, right next to her first throw. Her eyes grew hot and moist, her instincts telling her that it was wrong. That she was better than that. Uchiha Naori knew, now, it would be very, very difficult to keep up her guise if she couldn’t even do this. She turned to Kibe-sensei, only to find him staring at her as well.

He was frowning. Disappointed. Her mouth opened in protest. No, she just made a mistake. He shook his head. “Collect your Shuriken, Naori. You’re holding up the line.” Her breath caught before she could speak, only able to nod.

She collected her shuriken, returning to the end of the line. Waiting as everyone else took their turn. She was barely able to see how other people did. Her scores were the worst, aside from Takuma. A heat bubbled up within her. Why was she so angry? She did good. It was her first time. She would get better.

But she wasn’t good. Her instincts pressed her to become better. This was pathetic for her. She closed her eyes, focusing, as she tried to push away her feelings. Uchiha Naori’s feelings. The girl wasn’t here anymore, it was her now. She would do everything it took to make this second chance her’s.

The lines continued for several rotations, and she only got worse. She had gotten lucky.

But, she still wasn’t the worst in the class.

Takuma never managed to hit even a single target.

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 cocky 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.

“Shit. 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. 

Chapter Text

The first few days of Uchiha Naori’s life were rough. On the second day, she’d attempted to pay attention during class — only to get absolutely nowhere. She hadn’t understood any of the topics he was speaking about outside of mathematics. The broad strokes of the history segments were… somewhat familiar to her, but not nearly enough to pass closer inspection. The only useful information she had was that, as of just a few months ago, she was seven year's prior to the start of the show.

Uzumaki Naruto, currently, should be somewhere around... five? Naori furrowed her brows. The boy would start the academy sometime soon, if he hadn't already. She scribbled a few notes about him in her notebook at that realisation, flipping to another page after finishing. With a sigh, she realised there was still a lot to know before she could even start to feel safe. Seven years, which meant around... shit... Uchiha Naori would die in two years.

She forced her mind to turn away from that information. The first thing she had to do was graduate from the academy, and to do that, she needed to learn more. She needed to graduate. She looked to the boy at her right hand side, as he flung his arm up. He was blatantly ignored by Kibe-sensei as he tried to answer a question. Muichi was an arrogant know-it-all. She rolled her eyes and went back to her own thoughts.

Uchiha Naori was currently engaging in two-phase studying, which took around 16 hours a day of her time. She allowed only eight hours for sleep, trying not to stunt her growth. The first phase was in her home, Naori would read and study from the textbooks of the first year. The contents were fairly simple, well written and easily digested. It made sense considering it was mostly for children. She’d decided to focus mostly on Chakra Theory scrolls; what was more important to a ninja than their Chakra?

During class hours, though, was her second phase of studying. The girl felt it would be too obvious, that she’d get caught, if she tried studying past year materials in class. So she simply didn’t, at least, not in a way anyone would notice. A smile flickered on her face for just a moment as she scrawled notes in English. What she studied during class hours was her attempts at accessing Chakra.

So far, she hadn’t even been able to feel anything. She would be worried about not having any if she wasn’t in the middle of a military village—if she didn’t have any Chakra, in a world that relied on having Chakra to survive, she would be nothing but a lab rat by now. She sighed, looking at her notes.

The scrolls indicated that finding your Chakra was a simple task of meditation. A warm flow leading to a central point, some people imagined it as a glob or a lake. Naori couldn’t find her flow or centre. She’d been slowly crossing off a long, long list of methods that had worked for other people. The public Uchiha clan library had given her a lot of ideas, but so far none of them had held.

She let out an annoyed grumble as she fixated on another Chakra searching technique. Visualising her body as a cave, she forced her consciousness through the mouth. Step, by step, she walked along the cave floor, searching for heat.

"That'd be all for today," Kibe-sensei’s voice, and the scratching of a blackboard eraser, broke her concentration. "Now, this is your last year in the academy..."

Naori’s eyes flicked open at that. Of course, she knew it would be her last year, she had the textbooks saying fourth-year and all but… Hearing it was different. She took a deep breath to calm herself. Naruto and Sasuke graduated at twelve. Maybe it was… just a difference in birthdays? Her brows furrowed, thinking.

She knew people graduated earlier during war time, but the Third Shinobi War had ended already. She’d heard as much in class, Kibe-sensei having decided not to teach that topic since there wasn’t enough publicly available information on it.

Was it possibly the Kyuubi Attack? Naori rolled the idea around in her head. It seemed plausible, at least. She let the anxiety in her body release as she sagged. Of course, the girl knew she didn’t have a lot of time in the first place, but she’d really have to ramp up her studying.

"...The graduation test is done thrice in the last six months of the program," Kibe continued. "Passing any one of the three tests will see you passing graduation. But I want all of you to do your best in every test, even if you do pass the first time, because your best grade will be considered in the end, and scoring high is important without me needing to tell... because this is a test. The most important test of your life till now."

She nodded at that, Three times would be enough, at least, she’d make it be enough. She closed her eyes, ready to reattempt finding her Chakra. The cave reappeared in her mind. With a step forward she — she grunted, her focus broken as someone spoke again.

“Yes?” Kibe-sensei spoke. Naori rolled her eyes, everything the man said seemed fairly clearcut. What blockhead would have a question?

"What happens if we fail all three tests?" Takuma asked. A student in front of her giggled. A frown rose on Naori’s face. That… was actually a good question.

“We?” Muichi scoffed, but his voice was quiet enough that probably no one but Naori had heard it.

"What happens if I fail all three tests?" Takuma asked, reiterating his questions. She hummed. He hadn’t needed to make that clarification, honestly. The boy wasn’t… good, at anything, but it was unlikely he’d fail all three times. Even she had been getting noticeably better in Shurikenjutsu and Taijutsu.

She’d just arrived here, maybe a week ago on the dot. It would be a shock if someone who’d been here their entire life could fail, especially if they were as worried as the boy seemed.

If she had been placed in his body, instead of hers, she could imagine it would be… a struggle. Furrowing her brows, she conceded maybe he was right to be worried. At least her body had enough muscle memory to fake being skilled. He was nothing more than skin and bone.

She watched as Kibe-sensei narrowed his eyes before turning to the class as a whole.

"If you fail to pass even a single one of three, you will be held back at the academy, where a committee will decide what to do with you," Kibe announced. "You might have to repeat the year, or you might be forced to leave the academy outright."

With a frown, Naori listened as nearly the entire class let out a collection of gasps. Leave the academy? Anyone who knew anything knew that being a civilian, in this world, was a fate almost worse than death. Not even being given the opportunity to learn how to defend yourself… A single Jonin could wipe out an entire village of civilians with as much effort as it took her to do a jumping jack.

Naori felt the anxiety she’d managed to push off in her first few days creep back in. Her grades should be good enough if she failed to be given a repeat year. Uchiha Naori might have been a slob, but seeing the condition her body had been in before she’d arrived… Naori had to give the girl credit; she was no slouch, at least in physical training. It would save her a lot of effort. She gave a sigh of relief. She would be fine, even if she failed. She had to be fine. 

Besides, there was also the matter of the Kyuubi Attack. There was a desperate need for new Shinobi blood. Naori doubted they would turn away very many people, especially Clan kids like her, after a single failure. With that, she went back to crossing off Chakra searching techniques until the class ended.

Cave visualisation, her pen scratched it off in the notebook. She packed her things up into her bag, slinging it over her shoulder. Uchiha Izumi waited at the door of the classroom for her.

With a slight smile, she walked over to the girl.

“Has your mom finally let us train together?” Naori asked.

Izumi nodded. “She wasn’t sure if she would let us, I think the only thing that convinced her in the end was you also being an Uchiha.” 

She could understand that; Izumi, like most Uchiha, trained the Interceptor Taijutsu style. With just a hitch in her breath, Naori prayed that Izumi’s mother wouldn’t notice how bad her Taijutsu was. The two left the academy together, arriving at Izumi's house after only a half hour of walking.

Once arriving, they entered the backyard after a short chat to start the spar. She stood across from Izumi, the girl’s mom watching from the sidelines. She offered a slight smile as Uchiha Hazuki spoke.

“Form the Seal of Confrontation. Remember, Taijutsu only.” Her voice was stern, her eyes sharp. Both of them raised their hands to form the Seal. “Start.”

Uchiha Izumi dashed forward, her arms low. Naori clenched her fists and watched closely, noting every step the girl took. The girl was one of the best Taijutsu fighters in her class. Naori would use this fight to learn from her.

Izumi went for a left hook, the air whistling around her fist. Naori raised her arm, letting Izumi's strike slide along her arm with a wince. A second jab came for her stomach—the hit staggered her, forcing her back.  With a grunt, she realised she'd seen it coming and hadn’t been able to do anything about it. The taste of bile rose in her throat as Izumi's fist continued to dig into her. As the slower fighter, Naori decided taking the offensive route was a wiser option. She used the force of the jab to slide left, ducking her body under Izumi’s outstretched arm.

She aimed for what she hoped to be the girl's liver. Izumi’s elbow slammed into her forearm before she could make contact. With a grunt, Naori dropped her arm down and twisted her body to slam her other fist into Izumi's side. She felt Izumi's lower ribs bend under the force.

She jumped back, hoping to make space — Izumi followed too close to create any. Exasperated, she sent a feint towards her face with a left hook, watching in glee as Izumi fell for it. She twisted her body, pulling her arm back, before rocketing her right fist into the girl's stomach. Izumi wheezed, losing focus, as Naori comboed two more shots in before she managed to raise her guard again. She took mental note of how she formed it.

Naori ploughed her elbow towards the cross guard Izumi managed to raise, hoping for another blow. Her elbow never struck. Izumi blurred to the side, with her fists ready and raised. No.. . She could only watch with wide eyes as Izumi launched her attack, her body was still too far extended to pull back in time. She braced for the hit, but  she wasn’t ready for the pain brought by the elbow strike to her cheek, or the nearly half dozen strikes that peppered her body after it. Trying to pull back, she grunted as her legs were swept out from under her. The world spun for a second, and she tried to think where she'd gone wrong. Izumi had regained her focus and punished her for overextending . She could barely feel anything until her body crashed into the ground. Her back dug into the ground as she slid to a stop. Izumi was on top of her before she knew it. Using that split second to think, she came up with an answer. She had been baited. Fuck.

Heaving from the weight of Izumi pressed onto her chest, she raised her arms to guard her face. Pain spiked as Izumi struck relentlessly, not stopping until Uchiha Hazuki held her arms back. The taste of blood filled her mouth, and tears stung at her eyes.

Naori wheezed, hardly able to focus. She had just gotten her ass handed to her and she knew it. She could barely open her eyes, and knew it was probably going to bruise. The soft grass barely left her any comfort, the dank smell from the dirt more irritating than anything. She rose to her feet, wobbling unsteadily, and formed the Seal of Reconciliation. Uchiha Hazuki nodded to her in respect.

“Your Taijutsu style, It’s supposed to be the Interceptor Fist, right?” Hazuki’s voice was uncertain.

Naori grunted as she attempted a nod. Her face… really hurt. She idly wondered if she was bleeding. “Yes Ma’am.”

Both other Uchiha in the backyard sucked in a breath. Izumi spoke first. “Do you… need help with it?”

Hazuki spoke next. “There are some training groups in the Uchiha compound I helped with before I married my husband. I can probably get you entrance into some of the ones focused on Taijutsu and Physical training, if you want.” Her voice carried pity. An Uchiha’s voice carried pity. She’d learned a lot in her week here, and one of the main things is that Uchiha don’t let their emotions show.

“Am I really that bad..?” She mumbled. “I would be grateful if you could recommend some training groups, Ma’am. As a Clan orphan, I should have enough money to pay for them. I would also like to keep training with Izumi, it wouldn’t hurt to get as much training as possible.”

They shared a look before nodding. “That’s wise, Naori. We will help you with your Taijutsu training, but there’s a good Uchiha group that focuses on physical exercise. I recommend you join.”

I could only smile bitterly. “Thank you, Ma’am.”

The journey home was slower than usual, maybe because she just wanted to mope. Her feet were dragging as she looked around. Her face hadn’t actually swelled all that much, thankfully, and she could still see through the light bruises around her eyes. By now, the sun had almost set. She grumbled, her clothes were dirty and had a cut or two on the neckline. These were her favourite set, too…

So far, this life had… hadn’t been too bad. Most of the academy spars she was in had ended fairly amicably, no one wanting to hurt her too bad. Probably due to her clan status. That had been her first real spar. That had been her wakeup call. She needed to do better. She needed to be stronger.

Death was around the corner. Uchiha Itachi would crush her like an ant.  She stopped in front of the Konoha Public Library, hesitating on whether or not it was worth it to see if she could find additional study material. With four years of content already on her plate, the information to find an exercise group, and sparring practice with Izumi after the academy every day?

Life sucked, but at least it was better than before.

Life sucked, but she wasn’t going to lie on her back and die. With a heavy heart and a pained body, she entered the Konoha Public Library.

Chapter Text

There were very few places in the academy that Uchiha Naori truly liked. The Second Academy Training Grounds was not one of them. Kibe-sensei could take the lush grass that was all over here and use it to wipe his ass for all she cared. It was pure deception.

The ground underneath the grass was unbelievably hard, with enough mediocrely sharp rocks to cut into her skin if she got knocked down. She was, somehow, the only person in the class who shared that sentiment.

At first she’d thought it might just have been coincidence; every time she’d get pummeled into the dirt, countless stone daggers seemed determined to give her a new wound. Whenever she wanted to sit, or lay down, a dozen more showed their wrath.

Unfortunately, it happened every time the class was taken to the Second Academy Training Grounds. She'd tried, once, after a particularly brutal sparring class to clean it up after school. The rocks were right back on the ground when they were taken back next. She suspected some kind of ninja training bullshittery to be happening, but wasn't sure.

She didn’t even want to get started on the amount of fucking ants this training grounds had. It was utterly unbelievable in her mind how it had been left to such a state of disrepair. Visually, it looked fine, but if someone spent more than ten minutes here and weren’t bat shit crazy, they’d hate it just as much as she did.

Her internal rant was broken as the next sparring match was called by Kibe-sensei.

“Akimichi, Hideaki,” Kibe-sensei called from his place in the middle of the wide circle formed by his students sitting beside each other in a single line of the perimeter. The Akimichi, far too tall and far too fat for his age, lumbered into the ring. She tried to hold in a laugh; the kid looked like a human bull. Kibe-sensei looked around in the circle before calling, “Takuma.”

Naori could only raise an eyebrow at that. The Akimichi was tied for the tallest in the class with Shura Muichi. Takuma was well on the shorter side, likely from how malnutritioned the kid was. Over the last two weeks, he’d done a lot to make that go away – she’d watched his body fill out from the sack of bones it used to be – but it was still far from the average weight.

Takuma was sitting on the other side of the circle from her, messing around with some rope or other. She squinted, trying to look at what kind of knot it was. She’d been studying knots in her first year books, but hadn’t actually tried to make one herself yet. Her life was a bit too busy for that. Other things were more important.

The boy was still fiddling with his knot, ignorant to the calls of Kibe-sensei. The teacher frowned before speaking again.

Hideaki was picking his ear, clearly disdaining him. Naori could only frown at this. It was disrespectful, but… but Takuma hadn’t done anything to earn respect yet. She could only sigh at the whisper from the original Uchiha Naori. The girl disdained him. All she could do, really, was push it down. 

"Get up, quick," Kibe-sensei said, his voice sharp and snippy. She watched Takuma wince as he looked up to see his opponent. He, reluctantly, made his way to face the Akimichi in the circle. The two were barely a few feet from each other. It was a clear disadvantage to Takuma, but no one mentioned it. "Let's start," Kibe-sensei said and stepped back near the perimeter.

The two quickly formed the Seal of Confrontation. The second-year history books mentioned something about it originating from Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama. She put the idle thoughts out of her mind, and focused on the two in the arena.

Kibe looked at the two for a second, pausing before he signalled: "Start!"

She watched as the Akimichi boy put his arms in an X before charging at Takuma like a maddened bull. She could only frown at his actions. While she wasn’t accustomed with anything other than the Interceptor Fist style, she was sure that wasn’t part of the Akimichi Taijutsu.

She nodded as Takuma – wisely – decided to jump out of the boy’s way. His body curled up as he attempted to roll to the side, the arms of Hideaki outstretching just in time to clip his shoulder. Naori could only frown as she watched.

“He’s making fun of Takuma.” She mumbled. It wasn’t anything less than an observation. He was.

Takuma’s weak physique and poor Taijutsu skills weren’t a secret. Literally everyone had beaten him in a fight with ease. In all honesty, Naori wasn’t even sure how he’d made it four years into the academy.

Her own body was strong enough, and had enough muscle memory, to overcome those problems for the most part. The training with Hazuki and the Uchiha exercise group only helped in those areas.

It seemed like Takuma was just on his own, though. She’d seen him make a lot of improvements but she wasn’t certain it would be enough. The boy staggered from the blow to his shoulder, backing off and trying to make some distance.

The Akimichi refused to allow it to happen. He crossed his arms and charged again; she almost considered that, maybe, it actually was part of their Taijutsu style.

Takuma had barely managed to raise some kind of guard before Hideaki had entered his personal space, raising a fist and clearing the boy’s hasty guard with ease. His fist ploughed into Takuma’s sternum, just below his guard. He was launched back into the dirt.

Naori winced. She knew from personal experience just how bad Hideaki’s blows hurt. The Akimichi was already dashing to his grounded body, foot raised and prepared to stomp within a second. She looked to Kibe-sensei, wondering if he would call the match there.

She barely saw Takuma roll out of the way from her peripheral vision. Hideaki wasn’t done, though. He shifted his weight to the foot of his missed stomp, using it to pivot his body and slam his other foot into Takuma’s back.

He let out a groan, something between pain and shock as he went rolling nearly a half dozen feet away from the Akimichi. Hideaki moved to continue before Kibe-sensei yelled out to stop.

"Alright, that's it, stop!" Kibe ordered, and Hideaki stepped back, returning to the middle of the encirclement. Takuma struggled to stand, but managed, and followed Hideaki back to the centre.

“End it.” Kibe-sensei said, giving both a stern look as they faced each other. The two formed the Seal of Reconciliation, before returning to their spots in the circle of students around the sparring ring. Takuma with his knots, Hideaki with his friends.

She barely had time to think before Kibe-sensei started the next match.

“Seki, Aimi.” Naori had fought the girl a few times. She was quick, and they were evenly matched. The girl was more skillful, but she was stronger. Kibe-sensei paused as he looked around the field.

“Uchiha, Naori.” With a sigh, she walked to the centre of the field where Aimi was. Kibe-sensei walked to the perimeter before telling them to start.

As soon as they both formed the Seal of Confrontation, Uchiha Naori dashed towards Aimi. The girl reacted quickly, closing in as well. Taking advantage of her speed, Aimi struck twice at her chest. Naori raised her guard quickly, the full force of the hit bashing her cross guard. The second hit she deflected, forcing Aimi’s arm to overextend. Naori struck the girl’s open shoulder heavily.

The girl bent back with the force of the blow, using the momentum to fall back on her hand and sweep Naori’s legs from under her. Panic hit her for a moment before instinct took over. Taking advantage of her flexibility, she let her body fall backwards with the blow into a somersault.

She barely managed to regain her bearings before Aimi engaged again. Her fists moved quickly as Aimi launched strike after strike towards her face. She staggered back as one managed to glance off her cheek, before she noticed an opening.

Naori caught the girl’s right arm and pulled her over her shoulder, slamming her into the ground and straddling her chest. Aimi grunted from the impact, taking less than a second to recover. The girl's knee slammed into the small of her back, pain searing as she hissed. The world spun as she was forced to roll off Aimi, her back stinging from the blow.

With a flash of anger, Naori spun back, her fist outstretched and slamming towards her. The girl shifted left, almost flowing past her strike. Her arm reared back as she crouched low. Aimi formed a cross guard, trying to block the uppercut.

Now’s my chance! With Aimi’s vision obscured, Naori smiled as she stopped the uppercut and twisted her body. She hadn't put any real force into the uppercut, only using it as an opening. Her leg rocketed forward into the side of Aimi's knees. She almost dropped to the ground, her guard falling as she tried to keep her balance.

Naori used this chance to land a real uppercut. Aimi’s head snapped upwards, then to the side as she rammed her fist into the girl’s cheek. With a spin, her leg rocketed into the girl’s stomach and sent her flying across the small clearing.

Breathing heavy, she let her eyes shift to Kibe-sensei, who nodded, calling the match. “End it.” Aimi struggled to her feet, holding her side with a grunt. She formed the Seal of Reconciliation, smiling at Aimi as she did the same.

She was up on her sparring record with Aimi, now. Uchiha Naori had bested her three - two in her favour. With a smile, she returned to her spot in the circle, waiting for the next match to be called.

“Okubo, Momoe.” Kibe-sensei’s voice hushed the entire class. Okuboe Momoe? Naori furrowed her brows. The girl was… Okuboe Momoe was a monster of a genius. Her clan primarily focused on Kenjutsu, but both her Taijutsu skill and theoretical knowledge were incredible.

Momoe walked calmly into the centre of the ring, waiting for Kibe-sensei to call her opponent. “Uchiha, Izumi.” He exited the ring as Izumi walked into the centre with Momoe.

“Start!” With that, the two formed the Seal of Confrontation before immediately leaping into action. Momoe pounced towards Izumi, her fists blurring as she launched a flurry of strikes towards Izumi.

The Uchiha attempted to strike back in between the gaps of her assault. It didn't go well, and Momoe immediately punished her for it; Izumi's arms were pushed aside as Momoe took advantage of her decision to abandon defense. Three strikes to the girl's abdomen in rapid succession, the hits audible even from Naori's position a half dozen metres away.

Izumi tried to elbow the girl at the side of the head with a twist of her body. Momoe ducked, using the momentum to dart behind her, smashing her shoulder into the back of Izumi’s body. The girl shuddered from the impact with a cough.

Momoe slammed a few open palm strikes into her back before striking the base of her neck with a jab. Izumi fell to her knees, having her pressure point struck, temporarily immobilising her. Momoe did not relent.

The girl’s leg lifted and flew towards the side of her head, fully intent on kicking a concussion into her.

Kibe-sensei vanished before appearing between the two, gripping Okuboe Momoe’s leg and stopping the spar.

“Alright, that’s enough. End it.” Naori was stunned as she watched Izumi wobble to her feet and form the Seal of Reconciliation. What just happened? The entire spar had lasted under five seconds.

The gap between Uchiha Izumi, and Okuboe Momoe was as large as the gap between Takuma, and Akimichi Hideaki. She went over the fight in her head with a realisation. Naori realised she was too slow to even try to mimic Momoe. The girl was too fast. Too strong.

With a frustrated sigh, she realised she would need to up her training. The Uchiha training group had mentioned something about Clan regulation body weights, but she hadn’t thought she would ever need to use them.

She never wanted to focus on close quarters combat, but… She definitely needed to get stronger. Be faster. She hadn’t beaten Izumi yet, and the girl had been trounced by Momoe. She wasn’t good enough.

Today was the last school day of the week; Naori decided that she would start using body weights tomorrow , because right now she wasn’t feeling too good. Her natural healing had definitely improved in this life than the last.

With a sigh, she decided to ignore the rest of the sparring matches today. She still hadn’t managed to unlock her Chakra. That was a priority, and it’s importance had been repeated by every Ninja so far she’d met.

The day passed by quickly as she continued going through her Chakra searching techniques. Today, her focus was on the Windflow visualisation technique. Imagining her body as a leaf in the blowing wind, she was supposed to end up just landing at the core of her Chakra.

She closed her eyes, imagining her body to be that of a leaf. She blocked out noise as she visualised heavy, warm winds to carry her along. Hours might have passed before her eyes snapped open, the sun having gone three quarters or so through its journey.

Frustrated, she swore before hurrying to gather her things. The exercise group usually begins around now, and they’d be pissed if she was late. The Uchiha were sticklers for punctuality.

She cussed a few more times as she ran at full speed towards the compound, knowing they’d make remarks about her poor performance later. Her body was still sore, and she was going to waste a lot of energy just trying to make it there on time.