Just eat my ramen and pretend everything is okay. I'll get through it. / I don't want to be here. I don't wanna do this. / AU. SI OC.
Chapter One
Knowing the future is tough, children fighting wars and being implanted with demons or robbed of their eyeballs is terrifying, but living is easy. Loving the people of Konoha and wanting to protect them is as simple as breathing.
My name is Koi- like the fish- and I'm an orphan.
There's a lot of them in this world I've noticed. I can't say I'm surprised. Civilians and shinobi die every day. The only difference, in my opinion, is that one is prepared for such events and one is not.
The earlier years of my life are blurry with undeveloped senses and a low amount of brain function, it just consists of me being laid out on a playmat in the sun with a stack of rubber weaponry while I gurgle and shit and cry. It isn't glamorous in any way whatsoever and the heads of the orphanage don't particularly care for me. Their hands are rough and they set me down carelessly, allowing me to fall often and bumping my head nearly every day.
I get my retribution as a toddler. My terrible twos are worse than any of the other children because while their tantrums include sitting on the floor and screaming or locking themselves in rooms they're not supposed to- my own fits of anger end with me climbing to dangerous heights by channeling chakra to my tiny feet and watching the matrons run around like chickens with their heads cut off.
Potty training and learning to read are enough to make me wanna call it quits.
Then before I know it, I'm four and Naruto falls in my lap.
I'm meditating when the yellow head of hair knocks my hands to the side and his back collides with my knee. That's gotta hurt I think. I frown and look up to see a girl maybe two or three years older than us.
"You dropped something," I say jokingly.
She scowls and turns red.
"Shut it, pipsqueak!"
I frown.
Rude.
Naruto looks about ready to shit himself- his eyes darting from her to me.
"Unless you want to be fed the carpet- I would stop antagonizing me" I advise.
After all- my reflexes in this life are way better than they had been in my previous one and because of that I practice taijutsu every morning and night. I'm the only one in the place who is obviously going to be a shinobi.
"What are you gonna do about it? You can't even stand up for yourself let alone the demon brat."
I sigh and get up begrudgingly while Naruto scrambles to put some distance between us- clearly embarrassed. She laughs and is about to say something else frustrating. I just know it. So my fist cuts her off. Clocking the no name in her jaw does some damage to my knuckles but the force exerted is enough to take her off her feet.
"You should know better than to pick a fight with someone in the middle of meditating" I tell her.
I shoot a look at Naruto.
He sinks against the wall- probably assuming he's next.
"I don't think you're a demon brat" I tell him meaningfully.
I sit back down to return to my task and allow the now on-her-ass bully to gather her pride and scram. If she knows what's good for her.
The room falls silent and for that I'm thankful.
I lift my left eyelid to peek and make sure she's gone, and I'm met with an adorable sight.
Naruto is across from me mimicking me from my hands and feet to my facial expression.
"You meditate?" I ask, amusement lacing my tone.
He scowls at me, cheeks burning pink.
"Well if that's how you're so strong! I gotta be strong too, you know, I'm gonna be Hokage one day!" I could see wariness in his eyes instead of the spark the anime showcased.
He expects me to laugh or insult him. I resist the urge to frown at the thought and lift The Chin Mudra, the consciousness seal used when practicing chakra control, to form a thumbs up.
I grin.
"In that case...I guess you should train with me."
My inner sadist cackles as Naruto smiles so big it strains his cheeks.
"You'll have to show me your room here" I motion to the orphanage with a stubby arm "we get up before the sun does."
His whole expression falls, his mouth hanging open.
"Before the sun!?"
I hum and return my hands to their original position.
"Now, let me show you how to do what I'm doing" I start, breaking my usual concentration on pretending to be my age since I'm fairly sure Naruto won't guess I'm a twenty year old cradle robber, "this thing with the fingers and shit is called The Chin Mudra, and its the consciousness seal. I hold this and focus on forgetting about the world around me, and I spend the time moving the chakra inside of me to different parts of my body."
Naruto seems to follow along for the most part which is cool since we're literally four year olds. In the other reality, in my version of things where kids don't go to war, they're much less mature and capable of remembering things than the children here. It's like the brains in this realm adapts to prepare them at age two.
"Chakra?" he questions like I just said something in english.
This is going to take awhile…
Naruto is a hard worker.
This we knew.
And yet I'm still surprised with how easily he takes to my breakneck pacing.
True to my word- I come by the room on the second floor and drag our favorite blonde out every morning before dawn touches the skyline. The first and second day he's slow but he gets into the rhythm within a week.
After the first two months of training I had to do something to celebrate how far he'd come, I felt like the kid deserved it. For orphans in this world….let's just say my mindset still operates based off of my previous childhood. Though I knew it would be harder gathering money now. At least I knew what he wanted. Even he didn't yet know it himself.
So I went door to door in the civilian apartments on the upper class section of Konoha the Uchiha usually keep orphans out of. I offered to clean floors and ceilings and help out with my use of chakra, like a d rank before the academy, and explained what the money I needed was for. Some didn't believe me. Some slammed the door as soon as they saw my dirty and worn clothing. But a few listened.
Enough to make a certain soon-to-be hero feel very good about himself.
"Where's my kohai?" I sang as I entered the orphanage.
Naruto came barreling out of my room like an excitable puppy greeting its owner, literally on all fours. I snorted.
"C'mon they won't serve you if you walk in like a dog, silly" I waved a hand at him grinning.
Naruto furrowed his brow, his bright blues eyes scrutinizing me.
"Where are we going? Where've you been, Koi-Sensei?"
Yes. I did in fact make him call me that.
"Shhh...shhh" I wrapped an arm around his shoulders and cackled.
"Eh?"
Naruto whined.
"You can be kinda scary, Sensei."
His entire demeanor changed when he saw where we were headed. The closer Ichiraku's stand got and the more smells that reached us- the more excitable little Naruto grew. It was really cute. I felt like his mom. After all- it's a very mom like thing to do. Celebrating his accomplishments. But I'm just his teacher. And his friend. Hopefully he doesn't start calling me Kaa-Chan. That'd be embarrassing.
Up until then- Icihirakus was just a distant dream. He wouldn't (in canon) be able to try it until he was given an allowance and an apartment in admittance to the Academy.
"12 bowls of your best ramen, please" I swallowed hard and handed over the thick stack of money I'd worked hard for, giving the sweaty man a serious look.
If he weren't a damn Uzumaki Jinchuriki I'd have just gotten us a bowl or two each. But no. I knew how much it would take to actually satisfy the little troublemaker.
Naruto stared at the cash like he'd never seen so much in his life.
He probably hadn't.
"Waaa!? Did you rob a bank, Koi-Sensei?"
I giggled and so did Ichiraku, which made me blush.
"No!" I slapped his shoulder lightly "we're celebrating! You've made a lot of progress in training and I wanted to treat you. We'll be going to the academy soon, after all."
He blanched- still unfamiliar with the concept of gifts and kindness.
"So how'd ya get the money?"
I rubbed the back of my neck sheepishly.
"I worked for the rich people by channeling chakra to my feet and cleaning ceilings, I also got a cat out of a tree on my way back" I shrugged.
His eyes sparkled with unshed tears and he promptly glomped me. Like launched a bear hug over the stool and wrapped around me. We're both so tiny, I thought, amused. I returned it and waited for him to let go.
"We're friends, Naruto" I didn't bother with an honorific "but yeah I'm mostly impressed by how good you've gotten with taijutsu."
He'd been trash at it in the series.
Not when I threw in karate and boxing. I couldn't wait to see the academy teacher's faces when he 'squared up.'
Naruto sniffled, his whiskers twitching, while putting down bowl after bowl of steaming hot ramen.
"You're a very smart little girl and a good friend" Ichiraku complimented me.
I blushed.
"Thank you. You know, you're the best chef in Konoha, right?"
Ichiraku slid me a bowl then.
"This ones on the house."
My heart warmed.
These are the kind of people I wanna protect.
Will...the kind I WILL protect.
A/N
No flames please. If I get anything incorrect, feel free to tell me nicely. This is fun to write and I want it to stay that way. I hope you all enjoyed your first look at Koi. I will say and let y'all know that I made her an orphan because Its the best way for me to introduce the kekkei genkai I've made up. It doesn't get activated in her body until her reserves reach a certain size therefor until she's 'of age' and thas all Ima say.
Also! If I wrote a self Insert OC for Suna, would anyone want that?