Huh.

Oh wow. Maybe I was a lot dumber than I thought?

That makes no sense…

Or I went a little overboard on the exercise?

Doubt it.

"Do I not… have a soul?"

But if I don't have a soul, then how did I get transported here?

No, wait, I had to think about this on a fundamental level.

The paper turned bright red. That could only happen if it was exposed to more physical energy than spiritual. That could mean tons of things.

There were a few points of possible failure that I could think of. My soul, the chakra network, my method of releasing the chakra, or the paper. Maybe a combination of some of them. What I knew was that I couldn't preform henge or run/jump as well as others my age. It was likely the paper was right about my chakra having way more physical energy than spiritual. It explained my shortcomings after all.

Chakra didn't exit tenketsu when I did any physical activities, so I didn't think my method of releasing it was the cause of my poor physical performance at least. So that left my soul or the chakra network. I still didn't know how the soul connected to the chakra network, so it was possible that there was some sort of issue with the connection.

Alternatively, it was possible I didn't have a soul, or my soul just didn't produce spiritual energy. Or the type of spiritual energy it emitted could not be detected by the paper. Issues with my soul would most likely be harder to find than issues with my chakra network, since I couldn't detect my soul. Honestly, I wasn't even sure if it was possible to detect souls.

So, I would start the search in my chakra network. Specifically, where the soul connected to the network.

I quickly skimmed the rest of the chapters on chakra and the chakra network. It turned out that the soul was connected to a larger tenketsu in the heart. Poetic, but also helpful to know. I focused on that tenketsu and tried to sense the chakra flowing through it. It seemed normal enough.

It took a lot of focus to notice faint traces of something unlike my normal chakra that diffused soon after exiting the tenketsu. Was what I considered 'normal chakra' in my body, really just physical energy this whole time?

In any case, this news meant I did have a soul, there just wasn't much energy coming from it.

So, was that an issue with my soul, or the tenketsu? The tenketsu presumably converted something (?) into energy that produced chakra. That something was easier to imagine with cells than it was with a soul. Cells had mitochondria and ATP. But with the soul, it was unclear if it was just made of spiritual energy, or if the tenketsu converted something from the soul into energy in the network. And the soul had to replenish itself, right? How did it do that?

Well, since I could detect the spiritual energy, but not my soul, there was most likely a conversion. I didn't think the soul was made of spiritual energy in any case.

So, it could be an issue with energy conversion, the soul's alignment with the tenketsu, or… the tenketsu itself was damaged or blocked in some way. With how pitiful the stream of energy was, any of those were likely.

I didn't like the thought of going to a Hyuga to get that fixed, but it might be necessary. If it was a blockage, then I could just channel chakra into it to clear it out. If it was a misalignment, I could use chakra to move the tenketsu, although that sounded a lot more dangerous. If it was damage, then I'd have to go to a medic, because there would be no way for me to heal it.

Gah. I didn't like my options. The tenketsu was in the heart, so it would be stupid to mess with it. I could get myself killed.

I stewed in silence against the tree, pondering my options. Shikamaru and Choji sat near me, in a peaceful calm.

The tenketsu in my heart felt like a scab. I had the continuous urge to pick at it, but suppressed the impulse. My chakra poked at the area without my full awareness sometimes. I moved my chakra through the spiral in my stomach to distract myself.

It was after one of these pokes that my body spasmed.

Shikamaru and Choji turned to me.

"Sorry, I have no clue what happened," I responded to their questioning frowns.

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes.

Soon enough, they returned to doing nothing, and I concentrated on my chakra network. A bit more spiritual energy had streamed out of the tenketsu than normal. It was enough that it didn't immediately dissolve when in contact with the rest of my chakra. Instead, it snaked into my belly spiral before I stopped being able to track it. However, the stream soon returned to its initial meager levels.

Was it safe to do that again? I resolved not to, as a precaution.

Unfortunately, that resolve did not last very long. Throughout the day, the problem continued to bug me, and random unintentional poking and prodding led to the same outcome: a spasm, followed by a temporary increase in spiritual energy.

I was in my room when my probing went a little too far.

One errant nudge set off a sharp, stabbing pain through my heart.

I groaned and I slid to the floor. Awe crap. That was stupid. Stupid, stupid, "Stupid!"

Nope, I definitely moved something in there that I really wasn't supposed to. What do I do now? How do I stop it, make it go back?

My body began convulsing and flailing. I couldn't control it. Before I could do much of anything, I lost consciousness.

I woke up in shock and in a cold sweat. My body still convulsed. With some struggle, I willed it to stop. As I panted, I checked my chakra network for damage. My focus slowly and hesitantly inched to my aching heart.

A significant amount of something pooled out of the tenketsu. It made its way across the rest of my body. The sight reminded me too much of internal bleeding.

I didn't think that was supposed to happen. Something about it seemed off - unfamiliar. On top of that, there was just so much, and it didn't interact well with the rest of my chakra.

Without thinking, I tried to stifle the flow, to gather up the substance and return it through the tenketsu again, but my attempts ended in failure. The substance slipped out of my grasp and continued to flow through the rest of my body.

My hands shook. I lifted myself to my feet. At least I could still do that.

I stared at nothing, watching helplessly as the substance continued to pool out. What would I do now? Should I get help? Was it worth it? The chakra network seemed to be stabilizing and although I was still in pain, it wasn't nearly as bad as before.

After a few minutes of hesitation, the pain slowly subsided. I was able to clear my head.

Alright, what was that?

My chakra seemed fine, in that it was now integrating with the new substance more smoothly than it did at first. What did that mean? Was this spiritual energy? Did that mean it really was a blockage or a misalignment then? Well, there was a quick way to figure that out.

I turned to my mirror and focused my chakra into the Transformation Technique.

With a burst of smoke that I quickly cleared away, I faced a brown haired Ino.

…

Woah! Yes! Finally! Ninja Magic!

I couldn't stop the grin that spread across my face. Hah! This was the start of something beautiful, I just knew it.

I released the technique with a pop. Time to test my physical abilities now.

Shikamaru, Choji, Naruto, and I bounded through the trees. The wind blew through my face and grinning teeth. This would never get old. I could keep up with the rest just barely, now. Shikamaru and Choji would usually slow down for me, although Naruto had less patience and often whined for me to speed up. But today, I could finally keep up.

We were following Naruto to a new hideout he'd found. Every time we thought we'd lost him, the bright orange drew us back like a beacon of light.

Through a field and past a stream, we stopped near a small waterfall that brimmed with life.

Naruto cleared his throat. "I came by here earlier, but I thought it would be more fun to bring you guys too!"

We gazed in awe at the sight. Frogs ribbited and fish could be spotted in the stream. Mushrooms of all kinds dotted the surrounding forestry. I had memories of my past life like this. Where the neighbor kids, my brothers and I spent time in the woods or near ponds. We caught frogs and turtles and hid from property owners, and we pulled pranks like putting dead fish in mailboxes. Ok that last part was pretty terrible now that I thought about it. But besides that, the scene really did trigger some nostalgia.

And then Naruto started picking those mushrooms that looked like they were from Mario. I was fairly sure those were toxic.

"Umm. What are you doing with those, Naruto?"

"Huh? Oh. I thought we could go fishing and then eat a big meal with mushroom soup."

"Well, I'm pretty sure those are poisonous. You can tell because that bright color acts like a warning sign to other animals."

"Oh." Naruto looked down at his own clothing.

Oh, now he had to be a deep thinker. The suit wasn't the issue.

"No, not like that." I chucked. "A bright color like that can be used in all sorts of ways. Like to make sure people don't forget you, or to make people think of you in a certain way. It's also a good way to tell people that you aren't hiding from them, that you're not dangerous. It can be a good disguise for a ninja."

"Oh, I get it. That makes sense!" Naruto tossed the spotted red mushrooms he was carrying and moved on to a different variety. I just hoped those weren't poisonous. I was sure Choji could check later though.

I idly thought about my new chakra development. I had been distracted before, but now I was drawn back to the situation. Why did the chakra feel so off at first? And what did I do to fix it? There was pain before, and what about that flailing? That was like a seizure. I couldn't control it at first. But didn't muscle spasms like that only happen with brain damage? What would damage to the heart have to do with it? Or specifically, damage to the heart tenketsu?

I made my way to the creek. Shikamaru waded his feet in it, while Choji foraged for plants with much more deliberation than Naruto, in the woods behind us.

"I fixed my chakra problem," I commented before Shikamaru could say anything.

"I noticed." He paused for a bit. "On your own?"

"Yeah," I shrugged. "It wasn't a big deal." I laid on the moss-covered stones.

"And you didn't do anything stupid?" He looked at me, dubious.

"Nope. I'm just that good," I grinned at him.

"Mm." He neglected to comment further, watching the brook instead.

Sure, I lied, but he didn't have to know the full magnitude of my stupidity, right at this second. We watched the stream for a while in silence.

Eventually, Naruto came bounding our way. "Hey guys! We should start fishing now!"

"Oh yeah, Naruto, I wanted to ask you something," I said.

"What is it?"

"How are you supposed to make mushroom soup without a pot?" I pointed to his armful of toadstools.

"Gah. I didn't think about that," he scratched the back of his head.

Choji face palmed. "Ok, now what?"

"Well, first, you two should pick up the food before it gets any dirtier." They had dropped their bundles due to their arm expressiveness.

"Hehe," Naruto laughed awkwardly and moved to gather the fallen vegetation.

"And then… Ok, I have nothing. I guess we could go back and get one?"

Right then, some old man showed up out of nowhere. "I can help with that, if you would like."

He also conveniently happened to be carrying some cookware…

Everyone turned toward him. He waved in our direction.

"Hey, who are you?" Naruto called.

"Just an old man passing through," he casually responded.

Shikamaru and I looked at each other, unconvinced.

Of course, how could I forget all the normal old men that commonly hiked through steep woods with pots on their backs.

"Are you a ninja chef?" Choji asked.

Oh right, that was a profession, according to that one ramen filler episode.

The man laughed. "No, no. I just wished for some peace and quiet. I thought it would be nice to fish up here."

Shikamaru crossed his arms. "My dad told me not to talk to strangers."

And Shikamaru only selectively followed that rule.

"Haha! Don't think of me as a stranger. I'm just your friendly neighborhood grandpa!"

Naruto squinted. "Well… if you let us use your pot, then I guess it's fine."

Something about this seemed fishy. But our meal would soon be, as well, so I wasn't complaining, for now. He really did seem like one of those friendly grandfatherly types anyway. Wait. Grandfatherly? Suspicious?

"Alright, gramps! Thanks for the pot!" Naruto said.

This was the Hokage, wasn't it?

I guess Naruto didn't know him yet. Was this his first time meeting him then? Well, first time for all of us, I suppose.

I let my shoulders relax. Shikamaru and Choji did as well, unconsciously in response.

Choji went to check on the current supplies. "Uhh, this is inedible, and this one's poisonous. Oh, it wouldn't be a good idea to eat this one." He filtered through Naruto's stock, one by one, until we had an edible batch.

By the time the sun had set, we had a solid campfire going, a bunch of skewered fish cooking over it, and a pot bubbling with mushroom soup.

We offered some fish to Hiruzen. He politely took us up on our offer, and we watched the stars twinkle without light pollution interference, as we ate our fill.

Hiruzen interrupted the calm silence. "Each one of those stars is like our world's sun. What do you think, the sheer amount is incredible, eh?"

Naruto responded. "The sun? That giant thing that shines in the sky during the day?"

Poor kid didn't know what the sun was.

"Yes. This world is boundless. Compared to the vastness of the world, man's existence is trivial. The things that insignificant humans fret about is petty indeed," Hiruzen gesticulated.

Was he on a mission to give us all existential crises before the age of five?

"No way, the world is gigantic, huh? It seems like it just, goes on and on," Naruto mused.

Choji nodded, while Shikamaru kept silent.

Well, that was one way to go about it. Not the way I would have done it, but whatever. The villagers hated Naruto, and this guy's solution was to… make him nihilistic? Ok, sure, that fixed Naruto's worry about himself being an outcast, but replacing that with 'life is meaningless' was a bit much, wasn't it?

Good thing Naruto wasn't the emo teen type. I could see Shikamaru becoming an incel though, in some timeline. The red-piller vibes were strong with this one. But he got married in the end to Temari, right? He'd be fine.

Shikamaru and I strolled through a trail the next day. Shikamaru had been oddly spaced out, since yesterday.

"People don't like Naruto much, do they?" He finally spoke.

"No," I responded. I didn't know where to take the conversation. I wasn't going to be the one to tell him why.

"Not because he's loud or anything. They just… talk about him behind his back. Even grown-ups. Is there something wrong with him?"

"How would I know? Our parents seem fine with him though, so I don't think Naruto's a bad person," I shrugged.

"Yeah, but when Choji's dad found out, he looked at my dad. It was only after my dad seemed ok with it that he let Choji off the hook. Why is that?"

I was reminded of how the same thing happened earlier when I calmed down once I figured out it was Hiruzen. But that was more subconscious than anything. I was surprised he'd notice something like that in an adult.

"Maybe your dad knows something Choji's doesn't," I offered.

"And your dad seems fine with it too."

"Mm. Yeah, beats me." Probably because he's in the Intelligence Division.

"It's weird. That old guy knew something too. That's why he said all that. He was talking to Naruto, not us."

This kid was way too perceptive for his own good.

"I don't know, why are you asking me?"

He shrugged. "You seemed fine with him, even before our parents said anything. And I know you saw how everyone looked at him."

"I only did that because he seemed ok. I just didn't get what all the fuss was about. Why don't you ask your dad?" I asked, wryly.

The corner of his mouth curved up. "I would, but I don't know if I'm supposed to."

And there it was. Ironic.

"Whelp, I can't help out with that any further. I honestly have no clue."

Naruto's fifth birthday was nearing.

"Alright Naruto. I'm gonna train you in a super-secret shinobi jutsu, it's called the Transformation Technique," I said.

I had an idea. I really liked money, and it would generally be more convenient to have more of it than the allowance I got from Inoichi. I knew he would fold if I asked for more from him, but I didn't like having to rely on him like that. So, the next solution was Naruto.

The real jutsu I was teaching him was ATM no jutsu. He was really good at gambling and luck-based games. I mean, from what I gathered from the show and fanfiction, basically a 100%-win ratio. So at this point, it wasn't even gambling. I wanted to learn the secrets behind it and maybe replicate it for myself. But, we had to look like adults to be allowed in a casino. I needed to figure out why his luck powers worked so well, so an authentic environment would be best.

The other benefit of teaching him the technique was that he could go out in public as someone else, so he wouldn't have such a hard time with the rest of the village.

Unfortunately, this henge was much more nerfed than the show's, and basically all of fanfiction. Seriously? Mass restrictions and it must be alive? The devs really screwed me over with this discount version.

At first, I convinced Naruto that it could only change his hair color, to minimize its danger. If he didn't think it could make him nonhuman, then he wouldn't hurt himself.

After a week of effort, I watched with a burst of smoke as Naruto's hair color became bright pink.

His massive chakra reserves meant he was more vulnerable to actually completing bigger alterations to his form, which ran the risk of accidently transforming into something that the jutsu considered 'nonliving,' and thus harming him. I really needed to figure out what was considered living. And who even decided this? I doubted a jutsu had that sort of intelligence. Seriously. That was a question philosophers pondered for ages in my old world, and probably this one too. The 'living thing' rule had to be a simplification, right?

I was thinking that I wouldn't necessarily have to transform, only Naruto had the luck powers. I wouldn't be playing, just observing. Therefore, I could look like any kid that wasn't me, while Naruto was the one who had to look like an adult.

I already knew Naruto didn't have an issue with the Transformation Technique, given his harem jutsu in the show. Transformation was an easy technique, made significantly easier by sufficient chakra levels. Once my chakra was more balanced, I didn't need nearly as much effort to channel it through my system. Therefore, it would only be easier for Naruto to achieve, with his copious chakra reserves.

"Now, level two is that you can change your shape, but try small changes for now."

I found a trick to maintaining my mass for the technique. I just had to imagine moving around my mass to different parts of my body, rather than an having an immediate transition. Depending on what parts of my body I altered, my chakra network shifted with the changes.

I demonstrated to Naruto by morphing my hand to have two fewer fingers, while adding length to the other three.

"Huh, ok," he responded.

He squeezed his eyes shut and crouched.

With the final hand sign done, a poof of smoke clouded my vision. When it cleared away, I spotted no immediate difference to him. Then I looked closer. He didn't have his whisker scars.

"I noticed my scars make me more noticeable, but if I look like this, maybe people won't stare at me so much," Naruto elaborated.

Ah. Well, that works, since scars had to be physically shaped to not be visible. And, it was one step forwards for disguising him better for my plan.

I paced back and forth. "Alright, good. Now for the mass limit restriction, I'm thinking you eat a bunch, and we see if that increases your mass. I'll have to figure out what we can sacrifice for added height. Hm. Maybe you can transform into a frail old man, that way you don't have to weigh nearly as much."

Sometimes I wondered if my child brain was having an effect on my intelligence, or at least my wisdom and risk taking.

A couple of weeks later, we managed to both make successful, more complex henges. I discussed the plan with Naruto, but framed it more like some fun, new games we could play, but that the ninja training challenge was that he had to disguise himself so well that people really thought he was some old man.

Since I didn't have that much chakra, my changes were more subtle for my disguise. I made my nose more arched and moved my eyes slightly further apart. Then, I changed my hair color to brown, tied it back, and used makeup to alter the rest of my face.

I bought a simple kimono for Naruto's disguise.

Naruto gorged himself with Ichiraku ramen to increase his mass. That kid could eat a ridiculous amount. I honestly thought he transformed his stomach to be bigger, just so he could get more food in it. Hopefully he could still digest it all.

When we left, his belly looked a bit rounder than normal. I looked down at it.

"Are you expecting?" I snickered.

"Huh? Expecting what?"

I was briefly reminded of the fact that the demon fox was trapped there.

"Never mind. I hope not."

It turned out that food was not part of someone's mass until they fully digested it. The issue was that at that point, most of it became waste. The waste was still considered part of the body until it exited, but that was when it was the most difficult to keep in the body. Naruto looked constipated. I kind of felt bad, maybe this wasn't such a good idea.

"It's alright, I can handle it," he stooped over.

Well, he did look more like an old man this way. Just not in the way that I intended.

Perhaps chugging a lot of water would have been better. Water made up a good portion of the body, so maybe the jutsu would get confused and use the mass anyway.

Naruto transformed into a very short, frail old man.

"Ahh, that's better," he said in relief.

Or he could just do that. The waste's mass was converted into more height. If you didn't think about how disgusting that was, it was a workable solution.

"Alright, let's get going!" he cheered in an old man voice.

Did he intentionally alter his vocal cords? I'll have to experiment with that later.

We made our way to the shadier part of town. To everyone who looked, I would just be the granddaughter of the old man accompanying me.

We proceeded to a simple stall with a sign that read, "Try your luck! Win 4 times your bet amount!"

"Hello sir, would you like to try your hand at Kitsune Bakuchi?" the older lady at the stall asked.

Fox gambling? If only she knew.

"Sure, why not?" Naruto shrugged.

"Mm. Do you know how to play?"

Naruto shook his head slightly. "Of course! But could you explain for the little lady here?"

I looked up at her with curious eyes. Might as well play along.

She smiled down at me. "Well, what you do is put down a bet. Then, you roll three dice. What you want is for them to come out to the same number. If win, you get four times the amount you put down!" She put up four fingers to emphasize.

"What happens if you lose?" I asked innocuously. She seemed to have forgotten that part.

"Ah, well, then I get the money. But you can try again and see if you can make up the loss."

"Oh, ok!"

She turned back to Naruto. "Alright, so how much will you be putting down? The lowest bar is 100 ryo."

Naruto slammed down all the money I gave him. I wanted to face palm. I should have given him better instructions on what to do with the money. Luckily, it came out to about 200 ryo, which wasn't nearly as much as Naruto was making it out to be.

He nodded and crossed his arms in confidence.

"Ah. Is this your starting amount?"

"Mhm!" Naruto nodded again.

"Alright, here are the dice." She spilled them into Naruto's palm.

Naruto fumbled with them, and dropped all three onto the table.

They rolled, then came out to six, six, and six. Wow, cursed. Or blessed. I didn't know what to call this.

"Huh," she said with a pause. "Looks like you really are lucky today! Would you like to play again for all or nothing?"

I spoke up before he could respond. "Nah, this game is boring. Come on grandpa, let's go over there!" I didn't want her to get suspicious, it was already a low enough chance as it was with one try. It wasn't even slightly skill based, so nothing would justify it.

"Hm? Where?" He turned to leave the stall. Oh shoot. He was taking me seriously. I forgot he was still a little kid for a second.

She was just getting more money out of the register. The second she counted the amount and looked up, I grabbed the ryo. "Nope, we're good. Thanks for the money, lady!"

I followed Naruto, who was ambling forward way too quickly for an old man.

"Slow down, Naruto. Have you ever seen a geezer walk that fast?"

"Oh. Whoops." He slowed his pace.

"Alright, where should we go next?"

We came out of the district 5,680 ryo richer, which was about $500 in US dollars. Once we were out of the vicinity, Naruto released the transformation. Then, he yelped and ran toward the nearest bush.

When he came back, I shook my head.

"Next time, get to your bathroom before releasing the technique."

"Yeah, alright, alright."

I gave him a fourth of the winnings. I didn't want him wasting too much money on his own. I'd hold the rest of his half until he was older.

"Hey, we should do that again sometime!" Naruto said, while pocketing the money.

"Yeah, sounds like a plan."

I learned a lot of information from all of this. Naruto's luck power had the potential to be the best jutsu out there. I just needed a way to harness it. I was already thinking of plenty of stuff to do with the Transformation Technique, too… Mostly just to spite the entity that cheated me out of the technique from the series.