Five minutes after she woke up, Valerie realized three things.
One, she was no longer in her own bed.
Two, she wasn't in America, or even her own universe anymore.
Three, Naruto Uzumaki was cuddling with her.
Yes, the Naruto Uzumaki, Child of Prophecy, holder of the Nine Tailed Fox, son of Minato Namikaze the Fourth Hokage and Kushina Uzumaki, one of the last Uzumaki, future student of Kakashi Hatake, future student of one of the Sannin, and whatever tittle he also owned. That Naruto was hugging her while snoring.
She did what any sane human would do in this situation of hers, she pinched herself, hard.
"Ouch..!"
Her eyes widened in horror at the high pitched sound that escaped.
She held her hands up to inspect them, and realized two more things.
She was no longer in her own body, rather the body of a child. Judging by Naruto's appearance, she'd say the body she's in was at least three years old.
Oh, and also if this was really happening she'd have to go through puberty all over again.
So she did what any sane person would do in her situation. She closed her eyes and went back to sleep.
When she went to sleep she woke up in a foreign body, so by that logic she should wake up back in her body when she wakes up, right?
'Well, here's to hoping.'
And if her plan didn't work, well she'll leave everything up to future-her.
A yawn escaped her before she fell asleep.
She wasn't sure for how long she slept, but when she woke up it was morning.
There was no one next to her.
She smiled in relief, her plan actually worked.
"Mina, morning!"
'Or maybe not.' She thought as she sat up to see mini-Naruto grinning at her.
Oh, how she hated her past self right now.
"Mina?" Naruto worriedly asked.
'Well better play along, I guess.'
"Naru, morning."
Sure enough she was speaking Japanese. Of course whichever deity placed her in the bizarre situation she was in would help her with the language barrier. How cliché.
"Ya okay sis? Ya seem out of it, dattebayo."
"I'm fine?"
Naruto casted her a suspicious look, maybe his sister really was sick. She was acting off after all.
Ana, or apparently Mina, on the other hand was cursing whichever deity that decided to screw her over.
Of course she'd wake up in the body of someone who shouldn't even exist. Of course it would just happen to be Naruto's sister. And she was probably his twin, wasn't she?
Just her rotten luck!
Could her situation get any worse?
Before she could realize that she jynxed herself, her stomach growled.
"Food?" Naruto asked.
Despite the flush on her cheeks, Mina nodded.
Grinning in amusement Naruto led her sister to the dining room downstairs.
Belatedly Mina realized that they were in an orphanage.
'Must have not been kicked out yet.'
Mina expected that once she and Naruto entered the dining room, everyone would start glaring at them, calling them names, being bullies, and things like that.
What she did not expect was to be completely ignored. No one even glanced at her nor Naruto.
Somehow she preferred it if they were actually bullying her. At least then she wouldn't feel so invisible.
"Mina?"
Mina glanced at Naruto who was standing in line to get food. Shaking her head she walked over to him.
So what if the other kids ignored her?They were just canon fodder.
Naruto was the main character. And he paid attention to her.
Seeing Naruto look so worried, she managed to give Naruto a genuine smile. It wasn't his fault that she was in this crappy situation. And also, she was kinda feeling bad for stealing Mina's body.
.o0o.o0o.
Mina leaned against a tree, lazily watching over Naruto as he ran around chasing a lizard.
She's been in a supposedly fictional world for almost four hours already, and she was so damned tired.
Aside from that, she figured out something else by eavesdropping.
People think that Naruto's the jinchuriki, not her. Frankly she didn't know if this was true or not, either of them could be the jinchuriki really, and if Minato had split Kurama in Yin and Yang, well then both of them could be the jinchuriki.
The reason why they ignored her too was because the original Mina wouldn't abandon her dear brother even if the world depended on it. Admirable really.
She saw the other kids heading inside, screaming about lunch.
Stretching her limbs lazily, she stood up, and cupped her hands near her mouth.
"It's time to go inside Naru!" She yelled cringing slightly at her voice.
Yeah, she wouldn't be getting used to how high pitched her voice sounded, not for quite a bit.
Perking up Naruto ran towards the door. "Last one there's a rotten egg!"
Sputtering, Mina ran after him. "Not fair!" She whined pathetically.
Of course she was the rotten egg considering Naruto cheated.
She crossed her arms, a childish pout on her features. Acting like a kid was easy enough for her.
"Mina?"
"Let's just go inside." Mina grumbled reaching to open the door.
"Open it already." Naruto urged.
"I'm trying!" Mina growled twisting the knob. The door didn't even budge.
After a full minute of struggling with the door, Mina gave up with a huff.
"What's going on?" Naruto asked, fear laced in his features.
Mina crossed her arms, and scowled at the door. "Apparently, we've been kicked out." In a very cruel way.
"What?!" Naruto yelled in shock.
Mina sighed, why did she have to get kicked out on her first day as Mina? Just her rotten luck.
"Let us in!" Naruto yelled banging on the door.
Mina watched, mildly impressed by Naruto's ability to shout so loud, and then it got boring after five minutes.
"Naru."
Naruto didn't stop.
"Naruto, enough!" Mina raised her voice slightly.
Naruto paused, not because Mina raised her voice, but at the usage of his name.
He looked at Mina who seemed to be contemplating something.
"Let's just go." She said.
He frowned. "Go where?"
"Somewhere. Just trust me, okay?"
Naruto immediately relented. If there was anyone he trusted more than himself, it would be Mina.
Taking Naruto's small hands in her even smaller hand Mina decided to trust her rotten luck.
Just kidding.
She just decided to walk blindly towards the Hokage monument deciding to get the Third's help.
.o0o.o0o.
After navigating through the impossible streets and corners of Konoha,-Damn Kishimoto for not giving out enough information on Konoha's layout-she reached the Hokage's building, or whatever the place was called.
"Mina, are you sure you know where you're going?"
"Naru?"
"Yeah?"
"Shut up." Mina sweetly smiled, her blonde hair flying wildly in the background.
Naruto nodded, for the first time in his life fearing his sister.
Mina walked towards the front desk while dragging Naruto.
"Hi." Mina greeted the lady at the desk.
"Yes?"
To her credit, the lady was extremely proffesional. If it wasn't for how she was slightly tense, Mina would have said that she and Naruto didn't affect her.
"We'd like to speak to the Hokage."
Naruto gaped at his sister. 'Are you nuts?!'
The desk lady however raised an eyebrow. "What makes you think such a busy man would have time for two brats?"
"Why wouldn't he?" Mina shot back, her voice sounding more childish in contrast to how she had acted earlier.
"Wait here, I'll see if he can spare a minute."
"Tell him the Uzumaki twins are here to see him." Mina grinned.
The desk lady finally relaxed, an amused smile on her feature. She nodded at Mina before walking away.
Mina felt like she had won a million dollars. She actually made the desk lady smile! That never happened in the fanfic stories she used to read.
"Are you nuts?!" Naruto yelled shaking her shoulders.
Blinking in surprise, Mina raised her hand to fix the glasses on the bridge of her nose, belatedly realizing she wasn't wearing any.
"I'm Mina."
"You're nuts!"
"No, I'm Mina." Mina stressed out.
.o0o.o0o.
Mina smiled in amusement as Naruto hid behind her.
To think that Naruto was actually scared of the Third Hokage, the man he would one day adore, was funny to her.
She was grateful for Naruto's fear, because otherwise she would have been a nervous wreck herself, as it stood she was less of a nervous wreck right now. She was nervous, but not so much considering she had to be brave for Naruto.
"Good afternoon Hokage-sama." She softly said, finally looking up to meet the Hokage's gaze.
From behind his desk Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled kindly at her. "Minako Uzumaki, what brings you here?" He asked.
'Minako?'
Blinking, Mina, apparently Minako, decided to focus on the task at hand.
"Naruto and I are in need of a place to stay."
"If I recall correctly, you two are from the orphanage."
"We were kicked out." Mina cursed herself for sounding too casual about it.
A normal kid would be more panicked or sad after all.
"Do you have any idea why?"
Minako shrugged. "Beats me." She lied.
She wasn't really scared about lying, everyone lies. Besides she was counting on the fact that her ressemblance to Minato would soften the old man up.
"T-they hated me, that's why.." Naruto quietly added, slightly gripping at Minako's shirt.
Minako slipped her hand on Naruto's, and gave it a comforting squeeze.
"So, as you can see Hokage-sama, we're now homeless because people hate my brother for no reason." Minako couldn't keep the deadpan out of her voice, no matter how hard she tried.
She was tired after all. She just wanted a bed and a nice sleep.
After a few more simple questions, Minako and Naruto were off on their merry way towards their new appartment, of course they were escorted by a ninja Minako deemed generic.
.o0o.o0o.
Minako looked on in amusement as Naruto darted around their new apartment like the curious little boy he was.
From what she's seen so far today, the original Minako was Naruto's twin sister, though she wasn't sure who was older, and both looked alike. The only difference was that Naruto had inherited Minato's eye color, while Minako had inherit Kushina's eye color.
Minako wouldn't lie, she had a great time with Naruto today, but...
'I want to go back home.' She thought with a sense of longing.
Was that even possible?
The alternative was too tiresome for her to think about.
"Hey, what's wrong?"
Minako blinked at Naruto's worried look. "Huh?"
"You seem sad." Naruto frowned.
"I'm not," She ignored Naruto's skeptic look, "Just sleepy." And to prove her point she yawned.
The whole "waking up in a body that didn't even exist" dilema was too annoying to think about at the moment, so Minako decided to leave it up to the her of tomorrow.
.o0o.o0o.
"Mina, wake up! Let's go play!"
Minako grumbled, but didn't do anything else. It was too early for her to go out and play. "Go to sleep Naru." She sighed.
Apparently Naruto didn't get the fact that Minako didn't want to go out and play, because he removed the sheets from their bed.
Minako frowned, but instead of giving in she merely curled into herself.
"Mina, come on!" Naruto whined.
"Why don't you go yourself?" Minako asked still refusing to get up.
Naruto didn't respond.
Feeling worried, Minako sat up to see Naruto looking down, a hurt look etched onto his features.
'Shit.' She immediately realized her mistake. 'Minako's the only one who would socialize with Naruto.'
Feeling resigned, and guilty, she sighed in defeat. "Let's go out then."
Naruto perked up. "Yes!" He cheered.
'Well, he got over that quickly.' Minako sarcastically thought.
At least she wouldn't spend the day brooding about her situation, so that was a bonus, right?
She changed into a simple blue shirt, and beige shorts. She didn't bother to comb her hair, which was as short as Naruto's.
She scowled at Naruto's smug grin. If only she could punch it off of him.
"Sooner we leave, the sooner we get back." She muttered to herself raising her left hand to fix the glasses which she wasn't wearing.
'I'll have to get some new glasses.' She thought to herself while Naruto rambled on about childish stuff.
"Mina, wanna be a ninja too? We can do it together!" Naruto grinned at her.
Minako froze.
She hadn't given her situation any real thought. She definitely hasn't even thought about the whole becoming a ninja business.
"Mina?"
'Ninja? Me?'
Minako took in a deep breath.
"I don't know." She lamely answered Naruto.
He frowned at her before whining about how she just had to join the academy with him in two years.
Frankly, she would prefer going to civilian school. There had to be one, right?
"Ninjas are so cool!" Naruto kept insisting, trying to persuade her.
Minako shrugged. "I don't want to be cool."
Naruto looked horrified at the thought of having an uncool sister. "But ya have to be!"
"Why?"
"You're my sis, that's why."
Minako felt resigned to the comforting way Naruto's words felt, truly Naruto could tell her to kill someone right now and she would probably try to do it.
"I'll think about it." She promised him, sounding more tired than excited.
Naruto cheered before dragging her by the wrist to the playground.
Despite that she allowed Naruto to drag her.
'I wonder which one of us is older.' Minako mused to herself, 'Doesn't matter, I'm still mentally older than him.'
She wasn't accepting her situation, she doubts she would ever accept it, but she could adjust, couldn't she?
After all it seemed like it would take her a long time to figure out how to get back to where she belongs.
(She ignored the part of her that wondered if she would still want to go back if she found a way to in the future.)
.o0o.o0o.
Minako's left eye twitched as the adults took away their children.
"Why's everyone leaving?" Naruto asked, looking like a hurt puppy.
'It's because they're stupid Naru...'
Minako pinched his cheek, "'Cause we're too cool for 'em!" She grinned at him. She hated seeing him sad for some reason, maybe he really was starting to grow on her.
"Really?"
"Really." Minako lied with a smile.
She didn't feel the least bit guilty for it. After all she's been lying to Naruto ever since she's gotten into the Leaf. She even lied to the Hokage.
The fact that she hasn't been caught yet only made lying feel more natural to her.
She yawned as Naruto dragged her to the swings.
"I could push you." She offered seeing that Naruto's legs didn't fully reach down.
Naruto smiled at her.
She smiled back. His smile was nice, warm, and comforting for her.
"Ready," She started placing her hands on Naruto's back, she had to go on her toes to do it, "Set.." She angled her feet correctly, to make sure she doesn't lose her balance. "Go!" She exclaimed pushing Naruto with all her strength.
Naruto cheered, and after a while Minako stopped pushing him, deciding to go sit in the shade of a nearby tree.
'What am I supposed to do now?'
She knew there were probably no books explaining her situation, and that the only thing in this world that could help her would be fuinjutsu. The Flying Thunder God technique had something to do with dimension jumping, right? Maybe it might help her.
'So I'm supposed to put my hopes on something as abstract as fuinjutsu.' She didn't miss the irony of the situation.
Pulling her knees to her chest she yawned, she was really tired, the stress of her situation getting to her again despite how casual she was acting about it.
'Why was Minako even born?' She wondered.
Minako Uzumaki had no purpose. None at all. Naruto was the child of prophecy, the reincarnation of the Sage of the Six Path's son, and the hero of his story. Compared to that, Minako had no role to play.
Honestly, Valerie (because that's her real name) felt like she was shoved on stage without any script to read from, forced to improvise on the spot. She's been doing good so far all things considered.
But she wanted to go back home. Was that too much to ask?
She closed her eyes, not wanting to think about her hopeless situation anymore than she had to. Overthinking would make her worry, worrying would make her panic, panicking would lead to emotional outbursts such as crying, which she wasn't going to indulge herself in.
Sleeping on the other hand led to dreaming, and dreaming led to escaping from her current reality. She needed that escape, so sleeping was the best option.
Her eyes focused on the blue sky above, the sky that mocked her with its similarity to her own sky back home, and before she knew it she was shifting in and out of consciousness.
"Minako-chan, you can't just fall asleep wherever you want."
Minako sleepily blinked, the sky was being obscured by an old man wearing fancy robes. 'The Hokage.' Her mind helpfully supplied.
"Why not?" She yawned stretching her arms out, she sighed at the satisfying pop.
"It is dangerous." Hiruzen patiently said.
"Oh, okay." Minako stood up and dusted her clothes. She glanced at the swing to see Naruto still playing, kind of stunned by Naruto's stamina. "So, what are you doing here Hokage-sama?" She asked turning back to Hiruzen.
Hiruzen gave her a kind smile. "I visited you and Naruto today, only to find that you two weren't home. On my way back to my office I saw Naruto playing."
Minako nodded, doubting that the old man was telling the whole truth. "Why would you visit us? Don't you have a village to run or something?" She bluntly asked, deciding not to be subtle. Besides kids weren't supposed to be subtle, so it wasn't out of character.
"Even a Kage needs his lunchbreak."
On cue Minako's stomach growled. "It seems an Uzumaki does too." Minako muttered, annoyed at her stomach for being such a baby.
"Care to join me for lunch?"
"Naruto can come, right?"
"That was the intention."
Nodding, Minako ran towards Naruto.
Hiruzen looked at Minako's form, he knew that Minako was not a normal child. From what he's heard, she's always been quiet, but there was just something off about the child. The way Minako looked at him was odd, as if she knew things about him that even he himself didn't know. It almost made her look older.
.o0o.o0o.