Chapter Text
My Name is Shikako Nara, and I am going to tell you a story about moving forward .
You see, My name wasn’t always Shikako, it was— well my previous name hardly matters now. If you asked anyone around me they would say my name has always been “Shikako“. You could take me to my twin brother, or my parents and they would say “ yes that’s Shikako, She was born in Konoha hospital on the 22nd of September, I should know, I was there”
They would be correct, mostly. I was indeed born Shikako Nara, younger twin to Shikamaru on the 22nd of September, but it wasn't my first birth. It was my second. I was likely reborn into another world. I have substantial proof that my soul is real and unchanged by the coincidental nature of what I was in my previous life.
In my previous life I was an antisocial teenage girl, who because of circumstances outside of my control ended up becoming a mediocre stand user.
In this lifetime I’ve had my stand since birth.
Stands are representations of your soul and agency (fighting spirit), so it makes sense that something that only requires soul transference would not erase it.
and frankly I’m glad it didn’t, The unchanging nature of my stand serves as confirmation that I am still myself even in a new reality.
actually—
The word ‘new’ is a slight lie, This reality isn't totally new to me. I can tentatively identify this reality as some deviation of Naruto, because my twin is named Shikamaru. Shikamaru nara, Is an… uncommon and rather lazy name that means deer boy; it's the name of a major Naruto side character— who doesn't have a sister.
Shikako Nara to the best of my knowledge did not exist before I was reborn. Shikako Nara is me in almost every sense; an outsider who has been incorporated into this world.
I got reborn in an anime with knowledge of the future, and I got to keep my powers, surely it’s amazing, isn’t it? It isn’t, there is a reason I spent most of my years as a baby in a puddle of my own tears.
This world isn't amazing. This world is terrifying, and my life has been terrifying and will continue to be terrifying. I remember my own death, newborn eyes are underdeveloped so I have to rely on my other senses which I have no control over, the chakra in the air makes it feel as if I was still drowning making every second agony, and Naruto as a world is child soldier central.
In my previous world I was at least generally safe, but no longer is that true, Naruto is a world in which it is incredibly easy to die. If I'm too talented I'll be kidnapped by Danzo, not talented enough; I'll be collateral damage to some godlike shinobi during a ninja war. There were so many incidents and none of them are survivable for the weak. In this world only the strong and the lucky survive. And I've never been lucky.
I needed to get stronger. I couldn’t risk death from inaction because of the off chance this was a delusion.
I cried constantly as a baby even though it worried Yoshino and Shikaku. They tried everything and when that failed, they took me to the hospital. Two things were found to be wrong with me; chakra hypersensitivity, and a mysterious arrow shard in my chest too close to my heart to safely remove. Neither could be fully explained by the doctors. Tests showed that the chakra hypersensitivity wasn’t physical or mental, and there was no entrance or exit wound for the shard. I was put under observation but the shard showed no signs of causing further issues so I was eventually released with orders to come back if further symptoms appeared.
No further symptoms appeared, All I was was a medical anomaly, an infant who should have been killed by an arrow shard that appeared with no rhyme nor reason and yet wasn’t. The shard was completely and utterly harmless to me.
Unlike the shard, my chakra hypersensitivity did end up becoming a pressing issue merely two days after I was released from the hospital. When the Kyuubi came stomping by.
I felt the Kyuubi's chakra in high fidelity. Even though I don’t fully remember the event, I remember the chakra. It was evil, it was malicious, like a large incorporeal mass was suffocating me, and it hurt, it hurt, it hurt so bad. Whenever I breathed it felt like I was being stabbed by a thousand needles… I felt like I tried incorporating concrete into my lungs.
So I stopped breathing.
A crazy thing to do but it made perfect logical sense I promise, breathing was the most detrimental action I was taking at the moment and I had the ability to just stop.
I could use my stand as a substitute.
My stand is a close range ability stand called Nine Feet Underground. Nine Feet Underground is a small metallic creature, with a hand-like mask covering its mouth, a pink and grey patterned lab coat draped over its spine like back, and large padded fingers. Nine Feet Underground can produce one or two marks by touch, these marks will continue to be active as long as a third is not made no matter how far it is from the stand. Nine Feet Underground can then exert a slow constant force on one object within nine feet of the mark in an attempt to cause a fusion with the marked object.
Therefore If I formed a mark on my skin and fused the oxygen I needed directly into my bloodstream I could thereby bypass the need to breathe.
With the chakra having no way to interfere with me I wasn’t choking on air anymore. I felt no need to cry or scream.
For once I was quiet while Shikamaru was screaming. My lack of breathing would have definitely panicked Yoshino and Shikaku, just as Shikamaru’s screams would have if they were here. However, at the beginning of the emergency they were called out to help civilians evacuate.
I wish Yoshino or Shikaku were here to comfort Shikamaru, but it would have been treasonous for the Jonin commander and his wife not to go out to help so I couldn’t blame them. They should have been here, I wasn’t the right person for the job. I couldn't actually do anything to stop his pain, I was helpless...
Nine Feet Underground reached out to hug Shikamaru without my permission.
He didn't stop crying for a while and when he eventually did it was after the poisonous chakra had subsided. I don't think my stand succeeded at comforting him, but It did its best. My brother was loved.
I wouldn't have survived that night without my stand, and I couldn't do anything to help my twin. If I wanted to protect myself and those I cared about I'd need to get stronger. I'd need more than a single trick.
To get stronger I started experimenting and practicing. I needed to practice in secret to avoid kidnapping, but after the Kyuubi attack I was desperate to learn something, anything about chakra. I tried my best to create any effect with my chakra. I nudged, and budged it, but it was an awkward mass of glowy energy that wasn’t doing anything helpful because I hadn’t developed chakra pathways yet. Chakra was far less instant than stands. With stands you had everything at your disposal at once. Once you figured out what you could do with a stand, you would just have that ability. It was simple, easy, and quick, unlike chakra. Chakra was an interesting mess I needed to figure out.
The only notable effect I made at that age was from my rather rude idea of incorporating the Chakra surrounding me into myself using my stand. It was such a bad idea, I should have known it wasn't mine in the first place! My fingers started turning to stone, if I let the combination finish I would have probably been dead.
My experimentation was tiring, so I started taking midday naps, an easy task being a baby. If I was born to any other clan than the Nara it might have been concerning, but it probably looked normal the Naras are known for their intelligence, and laziness. My frequent naps alongside my use of my twin as a measuring stick on what I could show publicly would only reinforce my naraness. I appeared to be a perfectly normal Nara child… Probably. Yoshino and Shikaku often called me their “precocious little deer” and I was brought to the hospital a few times but I was normal unlike what I would be If I was discovered; the most prodigious prodigy in the history of Konoha prodigies
My private practices only got more intense as I aged. I enjoyed sticking things to my forehead or my feet to the floor, because the idea of wall walking was so cool and those were the first steps. I wasn’t always as patient with my practice, once I tried to climb the walls with chakra before falling down on my fourth step. I wasn’t injured or anything but Yoshino and Shikaku didn’t let me out of their sight for about a week after they heard the tumble. The tumble didn’t stop me. I continued to practice although more carefully. I didn’t have the chakra reserves for it yet. There’s a reason serious ninja training doesn’t start until eight or nine. That’s when the body creates more than just the “essential” chakra.
As I grew up my life largely followed this regular pattern of waiting for Yoshino and Shikaku to leave so I could practice my Chakra until I turned four. Three was the age Konoha deemed normal for children to start wandering within village bounds, but because of my condition my parents didn’t let me wander until I was four.
With great hesitance my parents let me wander as long as I stayed with My brother at all times.
Unlike my parents worries, my first exposure to the world outside the clan compound was rather mundane, at the request of my parents my brother guided me through the city with his friend Choji (who he apparently made friends with with an offering of a potato chip, instead of being introduced by our parents like I thought they were in the series.). It was a maze of alleyways, but the varied ramshackle houses made for easily recognizable landmarks for the children of Konohagakure. Shikamaru showed me these landmarks as lazily as possible, telling me little excerpts about each because he was told too. The only descriptions I would get were simple like “it’s the oldest building in the financial district”, “ a goodwill gift by the uchiha now ruined”, or “the academy”.
I wanted to go to the academy next year. I had basic control of my chakra by now.
“Can I go to the academy next year?” I pleaded with my parents.
“No” they responded simultaneously.
“Pleeaaaaaaase” I said with my best rendition of puppy dog eyes, or I guess in this case fawn deer eyes even if that word combination sounds less cute. Fawn deer eyes are very cute, possibly cuter than puppy dog eyes and that is the phrasing I will be using for my pupp— fawn deer eyes. Sure, the common way of altering that term to be deer related may be the phrase baby deer eyes but that doesn’t follow the convention established by puppy dog eyes, it doesn’t use the term for the baby of the species and then the term for an adult of the species.
Anyways, I needed to be in the academy. it’s the only realistic way I would be a ninja of the village. Those who do not go through the academy or an equivalent ninja school will never be allowed to take official missions. If I wasn’t an official Konoha ninja I would lose any advantages or opportunities I could gain from being part of a village.
“ Sweetie no” Yoshino replied firmly.
“Why “ Why wouldn’t I be allowed to be a ninja? I'm a Nara..
“You're not suited.”
I’m probably the most well suited child to the profession! I actually know how dangerous it is! Even if some shinobi should never have become shinobi and only became it because of propaganda, that's still a bullshit reason. I’m both a clan child and actually have a developed sense of danger.
“Why?”
My father gave me a “you should already know this” expression and said with exasperation “You can’t use chakra”
“ Yes I can!”
“You can?” he says doubtfully.
“Yeah!” I exclaim with utter confidence.
“....... can you show me?” he asks.
Bringing my chakra to the surface I made a small glowy ball.
”You sure can” he stated dumbfounded.
“Yes, it's not really that good but I can.”
I should have been so much better by now. All I could do was petrify myself, stick things to myself and make glowy balls and I cheated to do one of those.
“No, what you did there was impressive” he stated kindly
“but we still can’t let you go to the academy”
Why not?
“How about an apprenticeship with your dear father.“
What?
Why would he offer an apprenticeship over the academy? Apprenticeships are for prodigies, the offer’s so weird but it could be safer. I wouldn't be exposed to danger as long as nobody knows. Would anyone know? Are apprenticeships something that had to be reported. Would danzo learn of it
I had to ask if it would be shared with danzo subtly.
”would it be shared with those close to the Hokage?”
“Yes?” my father says hesitantly before my mother claps her hands on my dad’s shoulders and smiles “Don’t worry of course it would be, you would have shown your skills a—”
My face blanched ”Academy it is!” I clear my throat “ I mean I would still much rather be in the academy instead”. I won’t stand out as an academy ninja. Danzo won’t know me. It may be easier to disappear but if I give him no reason to disappear me into root, I won’t be. I just have to stay average, that's all.
“I’m going to the academy, and you can’t stop me” I state resolutely to my parents before scampering off to my room to scheme.