Hello everyone! As always, thank you for your support! The reviews really pushed me to finish this chapter and I wouldn't have done it without you guys. You all have my eternal thanks and I'm deeply grateful for the support!

P.S. Oh and someone asked about how often I update, and I'd say a chapter every two weeks. So far, I haven't gone longer than a month, and I hope I don't, but school is proving to be very busy.

x

I shifted sitting positions on the chair, feeling highly uncomfortable. Minato had already talked to my parents about all the exciting possibilities of his 'alternative'.

The 'alternative' plan was ridiculous. It was exactly what I've worked to avoid in this life.

And my parents were eating it all up.

Diplomat. Minato said.

Oh, she'll be great. He said.

Oh thank you so much, Hokage-sama. My parents said.

This is a great opportunity. They said. Haru, you should try to do this.

….

So.

I'm doing the alternative. And I'm doing it willingly, surprisingly, because it appealed to me.

For one, I wasn't going to be shinobi. I won't graduate from the Academy, which will make my status atypical. After my final year at the Academy, I'll be sent to Konoha's upper secondary school for rich families. I was looking forward to hanging with snotty brats and having an easy time at school. The Academy actually kept me on my toes and I didn't have as much time as I wanted to do other things.

And two, I'll be traveling, that's for sure. There's a number of possibilities for what my future responsibilities would entail as a role of something like a diplomat of a hidden village, such as: settling trade agreements, representing Konoha to the larger towns outside of the village's walls, speaking to current and prospective allies of the village, and carrying messages. My main target would be the civilians in and out of Konoha. But if I'm really good, I'll be sent to Hidden Villages, most probably as a political hostage, which could cost me my life even though I could be worth so much to our village. Of course, Minato didn't tell my parents this detail. I only knew that part of the job because of the Academy. What caught my attention, though, was information about foreign embassies because there was nothing about them mentioned in the Academy, nor could I find records of them in history texts in the local library.

Establishing the first hidden village embassy center would be cool.

I gave that a second thought.

Establishing a foreign embassy center would be groundbreaking.

That actually didn't sound so bad.

Embassies were something that didn't exist here. It would just be asking for trouble due to the whole shinobi-secrecy of hidden villages policy, unless the alliance between the two villages was that strong and dependable.

Although the anticipation was exciting, there was the chance of being more involved than usual in this universe.

To change or not to change.

It's tormenting me. I know what can happen, what will happen, and it's up to me if I want to share this information.

But what's been bothering me even more was that I knew absolutely nothing about the entire situation as a whole. Like, was Minato and Kushina's child for sure a boy? Was Rin still alive? Was Obito present when Rin died? Kakashi killed her right?

Am I even in the exact canon Naruto universe?

So I made up my mind. I needed facts. I wanted confirmations. I'd have to research what's going on before I would make my final decision.

Investigation starting now.

I was in the Hokage Tower, at the usual chair in front of Minato's desk. I kept my tone conversational and mildly curious.

"Say, I haven't seen Uzumaki-san for a while now."

"Ah, Kushina hasn't been feeling well lately so she's resting at home," Minato answered lightly and twirled a pen between his fingers. He had a pile of papers in front of him that looked like a total pain to sign.

"So she's pregnant."

The pen flew out of Minato's grip as he stared at me in shock.

"How did you know that?"

Minato's chakra stiffened with suspicion and...was that fear?

I tried to make the situation as casual as possible by acting as though I wasn't aware of how secretive Kushina's physical well being was kept. I'm not supposed to know about her being a jinchuriki, either. Even though the risk was great, I needed the information so I kept going with extreme caution. If I slipped up, then all sorts of unwanted questions would arise.

"I mean, you've been complaining about her mood swings and strange taste buds recently so I thought that you guys, you know, went at it," I said neutrally. This was all true. Undoubtedly, Minato would ask how I suspected Kushina's pregnancy, so I had to dig up some memories as acceptable explanations. It was lucky of me that Minato liked to talk about Kushina often, whether he was conscious of it or not.

"You shouldn't know about that stuff yet, Haru," he grimaced. My shoulders loosened minutely.

He bought the excuse.

"Kushina's pregnancy or baby-making?"

Minato sputtered, "Both, Haru, both."

I shrugged and leaned forward, faking sparkling eyes and curiosity. I had planned this, word for word, to make this exchange go smoothly. I just had to be careful while firing questions one at a time.

"Is it a girl or a boy? How many months has it been? Am I allowed to know this? And how come it's supposed to kept a secret?"

I mentally cursed and slapped myself.

Way to be subtle.

Minato chuckled and rubbed his eyes. I noticed the ink stains on his hands as he did so.

"I can't tell you everything, because no, you're not allowed to know about this." I pretended to pout, but quickly dropped the subject because I had one last question. And I was too impatient for the conversation to simply warm up to the topic I wanted, so I let my childish impulses take over.

"You didn't tell me," I blurted out. Minato's chakra tightened.

"Tell what?"

"Rin." I said it softly, afraid that I had broken a taboo, but I needed to know. Minato visibly wilted before straightening his back, forming a serious demeanor.

"While fulfilling her shinobi duties, Nohara Rin died in the middle of combat during a mission," he admitted somberly. It sounded so recited and distant when he said it like that.

"Oh," I mouthed. I let my eyes fall to the ground in front of me. I didn't even know her all that well. We had only met a few times, never exchanging heart-to-heart words, but still.

She was just gone.

Rin was one of those people who you'd expect to see time to time, accidentally bumping into on the streets, whenever and wherever, but now she's just. Gone. I was never going to see her again. It was depressing when I thought about it that way. At my silence, Minato sighed.

"You're being quite inquisitive today, Haru, is something matter?

I'm just thinking about your death, I thought sourly. And Kushina's, and dozens of others'. And those who have already passed away, like Obito. And Rin.

I shook my head and denied the maelstrom storming inside my body.

"No, nothing important, Hokage-sama." I slipped in his official title, hoping it'd have the effect I wanted.

Immediately, Minato reverted to his more professional tone that he used for business meetings.

"So, with that settled," Minato said decisively. "Haru, take this to the courier stationed at the main gate before he leaves, will you?" Minato held out a white envelope.

"When's he leaving?"

"In about ten minutes so you better hurry," he said sweetly.

I made a mock scowl before swiping the package from his hands. He's been using me as his personal messenger ever since my frequent visits to his office and always gives me a short time interval to deliver the letters. Although in this case, ten minutes had a bit of more breathing room.

"Oh, and Haru?"

I looked over my shoulder.

"Do you have another daily question for me?"

"What's the point," I grumped. "You don't answer them in the first place."

MInato grinned. "I'll be waiting when you come back after delivering that."

"The usual codename," he informed me. I gave a final nod and disappeared through the door.

The Hokage normally had letters that traveled, well, everywhere. It was strange, because, they were letters. Not scrolls. And then I was informed that the Hokage used scrolls for the super confidential stuff, like B to S rank level.

So that meant the letters weren't important. There were correspondents who wrote letters for Minato, which he reviews before signing them, and those envelopes went to a number of noble families and wealthy individuals for the sake of keeping financial and political relations. The special ones were scrolls adorned with a wax seal on the front always went to the Fire Daimyo, its writing outlining Konoha's progress and news in simple sentences. A lot of miscellaneous letters scattered to various areas around the hidden villages, like small towns and farms that dotted the countryside. All of these, except the one sent to the daimyo, were of relatively low confidentiality, since they were envelopes after all, which was why I was allowed to carry them to the main gate. Personally, I assumed Minato wanted cheap labor because I wasn't even getting paid. Nonetheless, these letters weren't of extreme importance unless the Hokage gave a code word. If there was a code word, a scroll was hidden inside the envelope, through a seal that required the recipient to know how to unseal it in order to get the scroll. And even if someone could unseal the envelope, there was another security you'd have to bypass. I rarely got an envelope with a code word, however Minato has grudgingly told me the identity of one in particular because I had guessed it after delivering packages for it several times.

Toad.

Well gee, I wonder who that could be.

Normally I'd go directly to the area of destination once I left the Hokage Tower, but today, I was going to do something a little different.

I already had a kettle of boiling water and a glue stick ready for me at my house along the way to the main gate. A small piece of paper, folded, was in my pocket. It'd take me less than five minutes to do the job.

A normal person would think that for someone important as the Toad Sage, one of the three legendary Sannin, the Fourth Hokage would send an actual scroll instead of a simple envelope, I mused as I hurried.

After I did what I needed to do, I went back to the Hokage Tower. The maelstrom raging inside my body never ceased.

I woke up the next morning thinking Oh, it's going to be one of those days.

One of those days where all I could think about is The Question.

Is this body really mine? Mine to live? To use?

I tried to not make my somber mood obvious when I sat down at the table to eat breakfast, but my mom must have noticed because I saw her slip in my school bag an extra carton of the mango juice I really liked. The corner of my mouth twitched upwards at the small but thoughtful gesture. I started eating in a mechanical manner and absentmindedly listened to my twin brothers' chatter. I couldn't finish most of my breakfast so I picked at the remains on my plate with a fork until it was time to head out for school.

Our family did the usual routine of helping my mom opening the bakery: my brothers swept the floor and pulled out chairs, I wiped and prepared the tables, mom and dad worked in the kitchen. The boys announced their departure and left after finishing their duties.

Before walking out I gave the place a quick double-check and signaled my own exit to my parents; dad's goodbye hug was a little tighter than normal. He must have sensed my bad mood too. The bakery workers were within the vicinity by the time I walked out of the door.

"Haru! Don't forget your lunch!" Mom ran out, clutching a bag and two others.

"Your brothers forgot theirs too, so could you catch up to them?"

I took the lunch bags from her and saluted when she walked back inside her shop. Ryouta and Yuuma go to a daycare center, basically a preschool of sorts, which wasn't too far away so it would be a quick stop.

Along the way to there I held a faint smile on my face while I mentally appreciated how my parents didn't question my behavior too much that morning.

No, really though. I do have great parents.

A block before I reached the daycare, I heard the scrape of metal coming from an alleyway to the side. At a closer look, I saw something that wasn't common in Konoha.

A street rat.

And I mean a street rat as in a kid of about my age, most of the time a year or two older. I say uncommon in Konoha because the Leaf village, especially compared to the Mist, had a fair amount of funds going into its orphanage. If someone spotted a child wandering the streets, underfed, filthy, and without a guardian, the Uchiha police would be contacted and they'd find the kid and take him or her to the nearest orphan shelter. It's because of government and public services like this that Konoha's population is one of the highest among the other villages on the continent.

However this kid looked like he was about couple years older than me, and kids of his age would have been sent to an orphanage years ago. The fact that he wasn't in one indicated he had purposely run away from the institutions. His clothes were tattered and worn out, although not entirely dirty; Konoha wasn't known for its garbage and hygienic problems. He even had sandals, but he probably had to dig through some bins for a pair. His hair was unkempt and light brown, his skin color was similar to my own, and even his eyes were of a close shade to mine. If he was cleaned up, the street rat could've passed as my older brother.

When I met his eyes, I took an involuntary step back. His eyes were sunken and hungry. Ravenous for survival, to live, but it wasn't to a degree of unearthly resentment. He pointedly looked at the three bags in my hands and then back to my eyes.

Without pausing to think, I tossed him my lunch bag. He deftly caught it, his face a mixture of surprise and slight wariness. I shrugged to let him know that I didn't care about the food.

"I'll come back," I said and sprinted off.

I intercepted my brothers and handed them their lunches, ruffling their hair before I went away. I returned to the block where I had encountered the street rat. He was still there, holding my lunch bag, as though he was waiting for me. Wordlessly, the boy jerked his head down the alley as a motion to follow him.

If this was a trick, I wouldn't and couldn't be harmed. I had no valuables other than my backpack for the Academy and inside it were only notebooks, a pencil pouch, and a textbook. I was confident enough with my self-defense and speed if I had to run, so after a short moment, I cautiously stepped into the small street after him. Besides, Konoha wasn't known for its muggers either. I searched the area with my chakra and there was no one around, except for us two. However at a distance, a group of small chakra signatures huddled in one spot.

After we were out of sight from the public, the street rat turned around, holding out the lunch bag.

"Why," he demanded.

"You wanted it," I returned easily. The boy frowned down at me since he was taller and shook the bag in front of my face.

"No, what's your motive?"

"No motive, honestly, I just threw it without thinking."

The boy still looked at me with highly suspicious eyes, so I sighed and introduced myself to lessen the stranger-danger factor, which was ludicrous. I was almost nine years old and smaller than him, I couldn't possibly pose a threat.

"My name is Haru and I live down the street. I'm not dangerous," I joked. "What's your name?"

Street rat visibly relaxed a fraction and lowered the lunch bag.

"Eiji. Follow me."

Eiji walked further down the alley and took several sharp turns to the right and left. I would've been lost had I not been aware of the direction we were taking. At the final stop was a sort of place I could only describe as though the Lost Boys of Peter Pan had ran away from Neverland and landed in Konoha.

We were at a remote corner where two buildings came together. Straw mats, stolen or hand-woven, covered the dirt ground and a pile of folded blankets and pillows were stacked at a corner. Wooden crates used to pack vegetables and fruits were repurposed to function as stools and tables. Filled cardboard boxes lined against the wall next to the blankets and pillows. A canopy made of thin sheets tied end to end hung from hooks on the walls, casting a shadow that relieved us from Konoha's warm weather. It was obvious that people, children, were living here and I had sensed them earlier, hiding. But I couldn't see them.

"Come out," Eiji said to the empty space. After a second of nothing, the wooden planks of a building to the side shifted, revealing multiple pairs of curious eyes.

"Who's she?" A voice questioned.

"She's the one who gave us something to eat today," Eiji stonily replied and took out the contents of my lunch bag. He kept the food out of reach from grubby hands before barking, "Make lines."

After only a few minutes, three boys and two girls were sitting on the mats, biting into equal portions of my lunch, which wasn't a lot. Their ages were varied, maybe a year or two older or younger than me, and they needed more to eat for their bodies' growth. Malnutrition will stunt them in the future if they continued this poor diet.

A juice carton suddenly entered my vision and my eyes crossed when I tried to look at it.

"Take it," Eiji commanded. I lifted an eyebrow in bemusement and reached for the mango juice box. Everything that came out of his mouth sounded like an order. I shook my head when he tried to hand me back my lunch bag.

"Don't want it."

Eiji shoved the bag into my hands.

"Take it so you can bring back more food tomorrow."

I laughed aloud at that.

"You're telling me to bring you more food tomorrow?"

Eiji growled and took a menacing forward. Eiji easily passed as a stereotypical tough street rat. He would have scared other sheltered civilian kids, but it didn't make me afraid.

"I go to the Academy you know."

Instinctively, all of the street rats moved away from me, meaning they've heard things about the Academy. The rumors the civilians liked to pass to each other were kind of funny. They didn't know anything concrete except for the details the Academy chunin teachers provide for prospective civilian parents. Clans already knew what to expect and their children were like duck to water when it came to fitting in within the Academy, and they rarely exposed their exclusive training regimes for their young children, not only because each clan had their own style specifically developed for their special abilities, but also because, well, clan rivalry. Whether shinobi acknowledged it or not, it existed. And clans most certainly did not discuss inner happenings of their compounds with normal villagers. Security risk and all that.

Because of the mediocre level of secrecy kept about the Academy and clan children, civilian gossip centered on words that flew through the marketplace, most of them going like, "oh, my son went to the Academy for two years and he had to…" It was that and whatever village boyfriends and girlfriends could glean from their shinobi or kunoichi love interest.

Eiji and other kids' reactions varied. Some were in awe and others in slight fear.

"How old are you?" An older girl asked.

"I'm almost nine."

"You're the same as me," exclaimed one boy.

I feigned happiness while responding with, "That's cool" and then realized something.

You're late, Haru. You're late to the Academy.

I turned to Eiji and waved goodbye.

"I'm late to the Academy so I have to go."

"Why are you going to that place? It's only a place for killers." I froze with my hand in the air.

"How old are you, Eiji?" If Eiji was bothered by the lack of suffix, he didn't show it.

"Twelve, I think," he grunted.

"Tell me more what you think of the Academy."

"I already said it. That place is only for killing. It's a machine," Eiji growled.

"So, like a system?" I suggested. For some strange reason, I really wanted this kid, Eiji, to grasp what I was saying. And for a second, I thought he knew what I meant because he was taken aback at the word 'system'.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he snapped, but I felt his chakra. He was lying.

"Okay then, well anyway, I still have to go to the Academy," I said and started walking away. I was a little disappointed. I wasn't sure if he was lying about knowing the 'system', or if I had just misinterpreted was he was even lying about. Either way, I thought I had finally met someone whom I could speak with about whatever I wanted without having to hold back. I hold back when I talk to my parents, because I didn't want them to suspect me being abnormal. Same went for my brothers, Takeshi, Kenta, all of my Academy classmates, Bato-sensei, Minato, his wife, and everyone I meet. They all knew my family, or was an integral part of the universe. This kid could have been the first friend I wouldn't have to hold back on. He's a street rat. He had no one.

"You'll only be supporting the system if you go back!" Eiji hollered.

Immediately I whirled around with a fierce grin on my face.

Yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes.

"Ah, so you do know about the system." Eiji folded his arms and narrowed his eyes at me.

"Yeah, so what? You wouldn't know anything about it."

If it were possible, my smile grew wider, showing my teeth. Some of the kids behind Eji cowed. I could imagine that I resembled a lunatic right now, but Eiji wasn't fazed by my strange behavior.

I nearly crooned, "Oh, Eiji, I know all about the system."

The system.

Every world has a system and that system runs the world. It's a universal concept. A universal concept that ran across universes itself. I love and hate it.

In my old world, it was simple. The people who had power, prestige, and money ruled the world, whether us lower class folks knew it or not. Those people were, financially, the top 1% of the world. These 1% individuals owned more wealth than half of my old world combined. They flooded governments with 'donations' so that they could direct politics, they censored the huge news networks that managed television broadcasts, newspapers, and radios to announce whatever information they wanted to the public, and they reaped benefits by the millions. Simply put, it wasn't fair.

There had been a movie I was distinctly fond of, called Snowpiercer. Long story short, after an apocalypse, a train was built where the rich lived in the lavish passenger cars at the front near the engine while the poor were crammed in the furthest units towards the end of the line of cars; the poor revolted, upturned the train and ended with a happy conclusion: there was hope to change your lifestyle.

My old friend and I had agreed that the ending was unrealistic, too optimistic. We weren't pessimists, but we were clearly aware that the system never dies. If a revolution happened, society would again settle into a system, one that could be radically different from the former, but a system nevertheless. Of course, technology wasn't up to par in this Naruto universe, so this concept wasn't entirely relatable, so I've been trying to find the system of this world. Except. No one had the type of mind to really think about it. I couldn't confide in anyone about my thoughts.

"But please, by all means, tell me about the system," I said with false sweetness. Eiji and I both knew that no way, never, would the system be something pleasant to talk about. The other kids hiding behind him exchanged looks of confusion. They wouldn't know about or even have the ability to understand abstract concepts like the system at their age. In my old life, I wasn't even aware of the functions of society until later in my teens.

"Rich people win," Eiji spat. "Then everyone else scrambles to take leftovers and ignores people who don't have anything." The burning intensity in his eyes conveyed his frustration. I could relate to his anger at this theory.

"Close," I admitted. The fact that Eiji has recognized this concept at his age was amazing. He was someone I had been looking for in this life.

I continued, "But with shinobi and hidden villages, even the rich are afraid of something or someone more powerful." Eiji considered it and gave a short nod to accept the amendment.

"You want to be ninja."

I shook my head. "No, I'm stopping after the final year."

"Then why follow until then?"

I shrugged and reasoned, "Why not? I'm learning. Civilian school is boring." And then I frowned.

"I'm definitely late for the Academy."

"Go and come back," Eiji ordered. I suppressed a laugh. I didn't know if Eiji was an orphan or his parents had neglected him, but he was certainly living up to the expectations of his name at least.

When I arrived at the Academy, Bato-sensei raised his eyebrows, but I got away from scrutiny when I pulled an excuse about helping an old lady. I was about twenty minutes late, which shouldn't be a big deal, but in this society, being on time was essential.

"Where were you?" Takeshi whispered. I was rarely late to anything, and since it was Takeshi, he probably thought that I was up to no good. He was kind of right, though.

"Got held up," I said and kept my gaze straight ahead towards the blackboard where Bato-sensei picked up today's morning lesson from where he had stopped because of my arrival. I looked, but didn't pay attention.

There were a lot of other things I wanted to think about.

As weeks passed by, my behavior changed. I didn't talk as much. I avoided people and company of humans. I had mood swings, sometimes so severe that it even surprised me. I wasn't as humorous and I found being socially active tiring. Even conversing with my family became something close to a nuisance, which troubled me. I could never be fully angry or annoyed with my own family.

I realized my problem one evening when I was in my room, attempting to finish Academy homework. I heard mom entering the room and I opened my mouth to ask her for something.

"Hi, umm-"

I stopped suddenly, with my mouth hanging open.

I just-...I was about to say-...I was going to say that word.

"Haru?"

I snapped back to reality and swallowed.

"Y-yeah, sorry. I-I just had a th-thought," I said breathlessly. My eyes were still glazed over and my stomach felt nauseous. I let go of the pencil I was holding because my hands were trembling slightly. All of this went unnoticed by Natsumi-san.

"Well, here's some snacks for you to enjoy," Natsumi-san said and she placed a plate of dango on my desk. Natsumi patted my head before leaving the room.

Mom...used to do that...she'd give me a snack to eat while I was working in my room…

…

….I nearly called Natsumi-san "mom" in Korean just now.

My lips soundlessly formed the word, "umma", in Korean.

I've only ever called one person, "umma" and that person isn't here.

And suddenly, a huge wave of extreme homesickness, a longing for my old life, came crashing down inside me.

I wanted a computer. Mechanical pencils to do my homework. My books and bookshelf. My room filled with my stuff. My violin. My family. My first family. My two younger brothers who weren't twins. My dad who couldn't draw the line between family and work. My mom who always did things her way and wasn't always so sensitive.

My breath hitched and tears sprung out of my eyes as I hunched over my desk with my hands covering my face.

I want my old life back.

That next day, I smiled in greeting to Itachi as I approached the Academy gates. Itachi nodded his head imperceptibly. It was a nice morning, and I was slightly determined to keep this day pleasant. It didn't have to be awesome, I just wanted the entire day to go by without trouble. It shouldn't be hard.

My meltdown yesterday evening had really gotten to me. The pressure was too much and I was ticking off the days until October 10th as though that date was my funeral.

Itachi and I silently walked into class together. Overall, Itachi and I talked the least in our group of clan children, minus me.

"Hey Itachi, do you like your eggs sunny side up?"

"...I do. Why do you continue to ask this?"

"I was just wondering," I grinned and turned away, but even that grin was feeling like plastic. I had only asked Itachi about the eggs because I thought that his answer would amuse me. But I wasn't. I felt no amusement.

Something is wrong with me.

I spent the rest of that day at the Academy slouching in my chair, not even being aware of what was coming of Bato-sensei's mouth. I mumbled something about being sleepy to Takeshi when he asked me why I was being weird and set my head on the table. Later, Bato-sensei came by our desk and put a hand on my forehead to check my temperature.

"You're burning up, Haru-chan," he said worriedly.

Oh.

I tried to protest against the '-chan' suffix, but he ignored me and had Kenta take me to the nurse's office. After I got settled into one of the recovery beds with the help of a doctor, Kenta promised that he and Takeshi would visit later. I only nodded because once I had taken a medicine and forced to drink a warm cup of tea, I was getting sleepy.

I have never wanted October 10th to come faster because my resolve was breaking.

x

I'll admit, this chapter is the one I'm least satisfied with. It doesn't mean I'm not happy with it, but it's not my favorite, if that makes sense. Please leave reviews, comments, thoughts, suggestions, and critiques, whatever! I love them all and thank you so much for reading! Tell me what you think and have an awesome day!