Hello friends! Behold my newest story! So here's the thing. My other fic is old. I wrote that first chapter in high school. My enthusiasm for it is... limited. Mind you, I do still plan on finishing it, but I would also like to start on something new. Something I came up with as an adult and not a moronic moody teenager. And as I was deciding that, I also happened to be reading a female Naruto story. In the end, I came up with two distinct versions of Naruko I really wanted to write, and decided to start with this one. So, here is my first attempt at writing from the perspective of a female character. Well not so much this chapter because it's a prologue but... you know what I mean. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.

Chapter 1: Welcome Home

Konohagakure no Sato is widely considered the greatest of the five great hidden villages. It has survived peacefully despite being involved in nearly every war waged in the elemental nations since its founding, having the misfortune of being located in the approximate center of the continent. Yet all that prosperity has come at the cost of many lives, as well as the lesser appreciated cost of a distinct lack of social change. Constant struggles for survival have a way of putting matters such as prejudice aside. As such, Konohagakure lives in a time of rigidly enforced sexism, which scant few are willing to fight against. But all of creation, all aspects of life, possess a measure of balance. Darkness and light. Good and evil. Yin and Yang. And so it came to be that sexism indirectly saved the life of Naruko Uzumaki, Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no kitsune and only daughter of the Yondaime Hokage.

It may seem difficult to comprehend to an outsider from an enlightened society. But in truth, the daughter of a king of ninja being saved by an evil is rather appropriate. Had Naruko been born male and named Naruto, as had originally been the plan of Kushina Uzumaki, who had had an incorrect gut feeling that her baby would be a boy, the young Jinchuuriki would probably have been given an apartment at a young age and expected to survive on his own, as is the custom within the walls of Konoha when it comes to orphans. But that is not what happened. For the old man, Sarutobi Hiruzen, third and current leader of Konohagakure no Sato did not believe a young girl to be as capable of surviving on her own. And neither, for that matter, did the decidedly sexist and lecherous student of the Sandaime, Jiraiya of the sannin, who also happened to be the girl's godfather.

So, as a result of this underestimation of the female sex, Konoha's only Jinchuuriki was raised outside its walls, where she was safe from the prejudice and fear of the city's citizens, who were likely enough to try to kill the innocent child, under the care of the legendary Toad Sage. At least, she was until her third year in life, two months after her third birthday and three days after the discovery by her guardian that his teammate, Orochimaru, had turned traitor.

XxX
Konohagakure, Hokage's office
XxX

"I'm going after him sensei. You can't talk me out of it."

"And what of Naruko? You can't bring her along on a manhunt, nor can you just leave the girl on her own. You have responsibilities Jiraiya."

"I..." The aging man with his enormous mane of rapidly graying hair struggled for a moment with his words, and when he finally spoke again it was almost a whisper. "He was like my brother sensei, I won't just let him... I'm not giving up on him."

Sarutobi, recognizing the look in his student's eye and knowing he couldn't change it any time soon sighed, feeling the weight of all his mistakes crashing down on him.

"That still leaves us with the problem Jiraiya. What to do with Minato's daughter? We can't just leave her to the wolves."

Jiraiya did not argue, for he agreed. Both men turned their heads to the side to look upon the face of the girl in question, sleeping peacefully on a nearby couch thanks to a forced sleep jutsu to garuntee them some privacy.

"Maybe Tsunade could...?"

"Tsunade is taking this even harder than you are Jiraiya. She was already broken after Nawaki and Dan. Now this... I don't know what she'll do. But she's in no position to be raising a child." (1)

"Ok... how about Kakashi?"

"A bit young for the job, don't you think? Regardless, he joined ANBU. He isn't available for much these days."

"Bah, of course he did. What about his godmother? That Uchiha chick Kushina always hung out with?"

"She married the clan head Jiraiya. Her adopting Konoha's only Jinchuuriki would be seen as a political move no matter how you look at it, and that opens a whole can of worms I'm sure you have no appreciation for. Besides, there have been... troubling reports concerning the Uchiha lately. I'm not sure I trust them with Minato's legacy right now."

"Well then what about-"

"NO! Don't you get it Jiraiya? I went through all of this three years ago. there was no one else to take care of her then, and there's no one else now. Face it, you have to give up on going after Orochimaru. Naruko needs you more."

There was a moment of pause as the reality sank into Jiraiya's mind, despite his best efforts. His fists clenched, his eyes shut, the man started to shake.

"Jiraiya..."

"NO! He's my family too, I won't just give up! Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

There was a small poof of smoke, and when it cleared there stood in the middle of the room a short, obviously aged toad of a dark green color, with very thick white eyebrows, a relatively long white beard, and clad in an old brown cloak.

"Jiraiya-chan, what a surprise. What-"

"No time to chat Pa. Listen, can you watch Naruko for a while? It's an emergency."

"Minato's girl? Well I suppose so, but really what is goi-"

Without hesitation, Jiraiya picked the sleeping girl up, thrust her into Fukasaku's arms and dashed out the window, barely a thank you thrown over his shoulder impatiently. As the silence reigned in the office, Fukasaku gently placed Naruko down onto the floor, she was bigger than he was already, but her weight was nothing to the old master of mount Myoboku. He looked at the other old man before him and simply asked, patient as can be.

"So, what happened that's got Jiraiya all worked up?"

XxX
Nine years later
XxX

Jiraiya never came back. The elders of Mount Myoboku gathered to decide if the old pervert would even be allowed to remain their summoner, after literally dumping a child on them to raise with no explanation. In the end, they forgave him. Sarutobi and Fukasaku spoke at length about what Orochimaru had turned out to be, and what it had done to his teammates. Jiraiya had been filled with a kind of desperate pain he could not ignore, and the elder toads had understood. Of course, many of the younger toads, including Gamabunta himself, outright refused to ever fight alongside him again. But that was the price you paid when you ask your summons to watch a kid for a while and then just never came back for her.

As for Naruko, she was raised on the mountain by and alongside the toads. It was an... unusual upbringing. Naruko accepted the toads as her family of course, she had never known anything else. But she was an outsider, in more ways than one. She was a completely different species, and there were many complications, ranging from dietary needs to the other youngsters of mount Myoboku bullying her for being so different, as children are prone to doing. But she was alive, she was fed, she was healthy. Not to mention, each and every toad on mount Myoboku is raised as a warrior, so she was strong. And today, she would get to prove it. Because today, she was going back to Konoha.

"Aww Pa, do I have to?"

"Now listen here young girl, the people of Konoha are just as much your family as the toads are. You may not remember them, but they need you." Seeing that young Naruko was going to be petulant about this, Fukasaku gave up on the wise old man voice and switched instantly to stern and reproving. "You're going and that's final!"

"Yes Pa."

"Good. Now get over here child."

The young Kunoichi grabbed a hold of the little old toad's hand and the two disappeared in a 'poof' of ninja smoke.

XxX
Konohagakure main gate
XxX

Izumo and Kotetsu, two well known chunin of Konoha due to their willingness to volunteer for the dreaded guard duty at the gates, could confidently say they'd seen some weird shit in their careers as ninja. But when a small toad with a beard popped into existents alongside a young blond girl in black shinobi sandals, blue cargo pants with many pockets and pouches for ninja gear, including at least one scroll they could see, an orange top with a long deep blue coat over it that went to her knees, two ninjatos sheathed on her back over each shoulder along with a tanto at her hip, and a strange, horned hitaiate with the kanji for "Oil" written on it, they were a bit confused.

"Uhh..." Came the intelligent reaction of kotetsu at his sudden instance of strangeness. The unusual duo walked right up to the chunin pair and, as if it were the most normal thing in the world, the old toad began to speak to them.

"hello young ones. I understand you're supposed to jot down the names of those who enter Konoha. I'm Fukasaku, and this here is Naruko Uzumaki. We'll be going to see the Hokage, after this one's gotten a chance to look around I'd wager."

"Wow! This place is AWESOME!" Came the exuberant reply from the young teen girl. She was looking past the talking trio at the city proper, ogling everything like she had never seen buildings before. As she shifted in her lax and distracted state, Izumo noted that her orange top didn't have sleeves under her coat.

"Um... ok?" Izumo replied, thoroughly nonplussed. With that, Fukasaku began leading an awestruck Naruko through Konoha.

"...That toad had a great beard."

"Right?"

XxX
Hokage's office, 45 minutes later
XxX

"Ji-chan!" Naruko shouted loudly upon entering the office, running the length of the room and literally vaulting over the desk to glomp her grandfather figure. "It's so good to finally meet you!"

Indeed, though Naruko had come to view Sarutobi Hiruzen as a grandfatherly figure in her life, someone she could always go to, they had never actually met in person. Sarutobi had feared that the girl would grow up with absolutely no appreciation for her home on mount Myoboku and had therefore made sure Fukasaku sent a messenger toad to his office once every month, so that he could make sure she had access to all the same textbooks used in the academy, as well as sending the girl a personal letter he would hand write for her each month. Naruko loved these letters, they were literally the only connection she had to her own species, and over the course of her young life she had responded to these letters each and every time, often confiding her personal feelings to him, made easier by the fact that there was no actual face to look at while doing so, alleviating the fears most children have when speaking to intimidating adult figures. Eventually, this connection became so important to her that the messenger toad found himself running back and forth between the mountain and Konoha nearly every day, just to accommodate the constant letter writing.

"Naruko! I'm so glad to finally have you back here in Konoha." What Sarutobi didn't say was the feeling he got the moment he saw the smiling face of that bright twelve year old girl. Between the hatred and fear of the villagers, the lack of real family, and the fact that making friends with children parented by people who were terrified of her would NOT have been easy, the old man shuddered to think what would have happened had she grown up within the leaf. Yet here she was, happy, healthy, and if the power behind that glomp was anything to go by, sufficiently well trained. Sometimes, life has a way of making things turn out better than anything you could have planned yourself.

"Konoha is so much bigger then I imagined! Your letters could never do it justice. It's amazing!"

"Indeed it is Naruko. Konoha isn't just a great city however. Always remember that it is your home, and represents so much more than just its impressive walls and buildings. It represents a dream great enough that your parents were both willing to sacrifice their lives for its safety."

Naruko nodded, sobering from her excitement induced euphoria at the mention of her dead parents. Having grown up in a place as isolated as mount Myoboku, it had become unnecessary to hide her parentage from her. The original fear was that the small child would accidentally let the information slip, and Minato's old enemies would come chomping for a piece of his legacy. Just one more reason Sarutobi was actually grateful that things had turned out the way they had, even if it was due to the irresponsibility of his moronic student.

"Right. I won't let them down."

"I'm sure they would be very proud of you Naruko-chan. Now, remember that today you were brought back here not only so you could rejoin life amongst your fellow humans, but also so that you could put all your hard work to use as a proud kunoichi of the leaf. Why don't you head over to the academy building now, so you aren't late for your jonin sensei. The teams have already been announced, the jonin should be arriving soon enough."

"Already? Sheesh give a girl a minute to say hi at least." She pouted cutely, but accepted none the less that it was time to go. After a brief instruction on how to get to the academy, and which room she needed to get to, Naruko headed out, leaving the aging Hokage with the old toad who had raised her.

"So... I'm glad to see she's adapting to all of this well."

"You gave her ample time to prepare for the transition. Besides, that girl has always adapted well. You should have seen her in training, that girl has some serious talent with ninjutsu I must say."

"I'm glad to hear it. And thank you again for taking her in. I can never express my gratitude enough for what you did."

"It was... necessary. It is a shame you won't let me tell the rest of the toads the real reason she stayed with us permanently though. Are you certain this secret is really worth all this animosity? Bunta-kun won't even let Jiraiya summon him anymore."

"I am sorry to hear that, but this is perhaps the most dire secret I've ever come across. My former pupil might have turned out to be a psychopath, but no one can deny the sheer power Orochimaru holds. For him to subjugate himself to an organization... this 'Akatsuki' must be truly terrifying, whatever it is. And there is truly no one but Jiraiya capable of gathering intel on the elusive group."

"Well, if you insist. I'll take my leave then, stay in good health Sarutobi-kun."

Sarutobi gave the old toad a smile and a nod, and then with a 'poof' and some smoke, Fukasaku returned to his home.

XxX
Konoha Academy building
XxX

Iruka, a plain looking chunin with a short spiky ponytail, sat at his desk looking fondly at his class for the last time. Each of them had managed to pass the genin exam and he couldn't be prouder. He had given them his very best 'I'm proud of you all' speech a few moments ago and announced their teams. Now they were just sitting around, chatting while they waited for the jonin to show up. The low buzz of the children's conversation died instantly as the door started to slowly slide open, many of them holding their breath in anticipation at finally seeing what a real life jonin looks like.

"Ano... is this Iruka sensei's class?" Only to be sourly disappointed when Naruko was revealed. Iruka however, smiled brightly in greeting of the girl Hokage-sama had mentioned would be arriving today to fill the empty spot on the roster.

"Yes, and you must be Naruko-chan. Welcome, have a seat. The jonin sensei should be arriving shortly."

Naruko nodded and walked over to an empty seat near the front, not thinking much of it but merely seeking the nearest free chair. She sat down, turned to the lone dark haired boy sitting next to the window and smiled for her greeting.

"Hi, I'm Naruko Uzumaki. Nice to meet you."

The boy turned to look at her apathetically and gave a very disinterested "Hn, Sasuke Uchiha." And immediately turned back to the window to ignore her. Suddenly, Naruko felt an overbearing presence of bloodlust from all around her.

"HOW DARE SHE TALK TO SASUKE-KUN!"

Came the collective mental shout from the many Sasuke fangirls in the room.

"Why do I feel like I've made a terrible enemy today?" thought Naruko as she started to sweat nervously.

The rest of the time was waited in silence for Naruko, both because Sasuke clearly had no interest in making conversation with her, and because that overbearing feeling she had had when she first attempted it had kind of scared her. A good half hour went by in uncomfortable silence, the jonin showing up one by one to take away their new team of genin, until only Naruko, Sasuke, and a pink haired girl sitting in another row were left. Then another full hour went by. Then another...

"Hi, I'm Naruko. And I'm SO BORED!" After such a long time spent just sitting around doing nothing, with a few more failed attempts at getting the broody guy to talk to her, Naruko had given up and walked over to sit next to the other girl in the room. "Your hair is really cool. I like the bold choice to dye it pink."

Sakura wanted to hate this girl. She had moved in on her Sasuke-kun! And now she went and said her hair was dyed?! She hated that more than she could describe. But her wide, genuine smile and the fact that she was clearly just a newcomer here caused her to hold back the talons... for now.

"Hi, I'm Sakura. And actually this is my natural hair color."

"Really? That's awesome! So what's the deal with our other teammate? Is he always so antisocial?"

And suddenly, the waiting wasn't so bad. Her tone of slight irritation at Sasuke's silence had alleviated Sakura's fears that Naruko wanted to move in on her man. Sakura may not have understood why this strange girl was immune to Sasuke's mysterious 'charm' (better known to sane people as douchbaggery) but she wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. And as they chatted away for the next hour (seriously, where was this jonin sensei?) Sakura found Naruko to be quite pleasant to talk to. Indeed, when the masked, silver haired jonin finally arrived, the girls were still talking animatedly, and had even forgotten to be mad at the man for being so late.

"Team seven?" The three kids just looked at him incredulously. This guy was a jonin? He looked so... lazy! And really, he walked into a room with only three people, several hours late, and had the gall to ask for the team number, as if there was any possibility he was asking for anyone but them! All three of them, even Sasuke who usually didn't give two fucks about things, decided they already didn't like him. "Right, well then meet me on the roof." And he walked away. With eyes twitching in irritation, the tree children got up to follow.

XxX
Academy rooftop, ten minutes later
XxX

"So, why don't we start by having you all introduce yourselves?"

"Ano... What should we say?" Came the nervous inquiry from Sakura.

"You know, your likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams for the future, that sort of thing."

"Why don't you go first sensei?"

"Ok. My name is Kakashi Hatake. I like lots of things, as for my dislikes... well I have a few hobbies. I don't really feel like telling you my dreams though... Ok, you next pinkie."

There were many sweat drops and eye twitches at that, for so many reasons.

"I like... that is to say the person I like is... eep! My hobbies well..." Here she simply glanced over at Sasuke and blushed. "Uhh that is to say, my dream for the future is..." Once again she glanced over at Sasuke and blushed, but this time she squealed loudly. Kakashi just nodded apathetically and asked,

"And your dislikes?"

"INO-BUNTA!"

"Alright then... how about you, the broody one"

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I have few likes and many dislikes. I don't really have hobbies. I won't say I have a dream, but rather it's an ambition. To revive my clan, and to kill a certain man."

"As I thought, he's obsessed with revenge."

"Sasuke-kun is so cool!"

"This dude needs to chill..."

"And finally, the blond one."

"My name is Naruko Uzumaki. I like my family, the toads of mount Myoboku! I dislike Ma's idea of food..." Here she shuddered slightly. "and my hobby is to grow vegetables in my own private garden... which I guess is going to die now that I've moved back to Konoha. Oh well. My dreams for the future are to become the next toad sage, and make my parents proud!"

"Well she certainly grew up in an interesting way." "Well then, now that that's settled, you should all go home and rest. Because tomorrow, you guys are going to go to training ground 7 for a very special survival challenge."

"Ano... but we've undergone plenty of survival training in the academy, Kakashi sensei."

"Oh but this is a very special survival challenge. Hehehe... I almost don't want to tell you, if only so I don't have to see fear on those cute little faces."

"Ehh... tell us what?" Asked a now nervous Sakura. She was certainly the most talkative one of the group.

"Oh well, you see the test you just passed wasn't really the test to become genin. But rather, that was merely a test to see who had the potential to become genin. Tomorrow comes the real test. And trust me... mine won't be nearly as easy. In fact, there's only a 33% success rate for this test. You kids better be ready for a real challenge."

The three had extremely varied reactions. Sakura looked terrified, while Sasuke showed no outward reaction at all. As for Naruko, she was grinning with anticipation. Before Kakashi could even finish his little intimidation routine she spoke up.

"Sounds like fun. Bring it on sensei!"

"Hmm... Be careful what you wish for." He chuckled darkly, making Sakura even more nervous, then stood up straight and turned around, preparing to ninja hop away. Before doing so, however, he turned around and said, "Remember, training ground seven, 8am. Oh and, I wouldn't bother eating breakfast. You'll only end up throwing it up." And then he was gone.

XxX
To be continued
XxX

(1) Lesser known fact of Naruto cannon, Tsunade did not actually leave Konoha until AFTER Orochimaru turned traitor, meaning both that she was indeed still in Konoha when Naruto was born and, as a fandom, we can make a relatively safe assumption that it was Orochimaru's defection that ultimately pushed her over the edge to becoming the bitter old drunk that she eventually became. This fact is verifiable, if you go back and watch the filler episodes where Anko has her flashbacks of Orochimaru's defection, it was actually Tsunade herself that examined her when she was later found and brought back to the village. All of which happened "ten years ago" as of the episode, during which Naruto was 13.

That's it. I know, pretty short. But I personally hate longwinded prologues so my first chapters will always be a bit fast paced. Just an overview of the premise kind of thing, you know. Obviously, as you could tell from the intro, I plan on tackling the issue of gender equality in this story, using the vehicle of an inherently powerful female character who grew up entirely outside the scope of human civilization. We'll see how that goes. The prologue certainly didn't do much in that vein but I had to consider the naturally optimistic personality of the Naruto character growing up without crippling depression caused by isolation, entering an exciting new environment. So she might seem a bit... bubbly right now. This will change quickly. And obviously Sakura is still... Sakura. So there was that.

I'm not a particularly political person so I hope I can at least manage to create something relevant on the subject, or at least just make the reader think about it a little. I am planning another fic eventually but I'll work on that later. Most of you probably won't care about it anyway, It'll have a male/male pairing and, quite frankly, if the fandom is anything like it was 6 years ago that story will probably have a completely different reader base. The Narutoverse has sexism, its fandom has homophobia. And probably a lot of sexism too. And a serious problem with erasure of gender nonconformists. Haku's a man damn you! A very pretty man, who prefers women's cloths. They exist in your world too you know. There are probably some of them reading fanfictions right now, just like you! But anyway, tell me what you think of the actual story, this author's note got way too real for no reason. Sorry about that.