A/N: I am weak so I post this five minutes later

anyways

Chapter 6

Weeks passed slow and fast at the same time after that. The days seemed arduously long, and the precious nights passed in the blink of an eye. It was a tiring way to live life, though Charlie knew inside that many shinobi lived it every day. Hell, they put themselves through worse. Minato himself said he was going easy on her, and she still was having a hard time keeping her head up and her mind sharp. Even living a rougher life than she had in her past, she knew she was living rather cushy.

She still felt like she was making progress, though. She was learning more and more every day, and she had advanced a bit in Minato's training. In fact, she could now do twenty push ups when she felt on the verge of passing out, which was one hell of an improvement if you asked her. She still went home exhausted each day- Minato, even in his own words, overworked her- but this life she was living now, it wasn't a bad one. She made the most of each day, and she was proud she had been able to get so far in such a short time.

Charlie had made a promise to herself, one she intended to keep. She would look after Naruto, and she would do good by Minato. That promise was one she clung to. It was better than reflecting on her situation and whining about it. The beast of her being there was not one she could easily tackle, at least not yet; so why not work on what she could?

Hell, she'd even established a routine. Wake up at 5 AM, meditate for an hour and a half, make some food for her and Naruto. Charlie had given up hope of him ever making himself something that wasn't junk food, so she'd taken up meal prep- meet the kid at his house at seven, eat, go to school, get out at three, go to the training grounds, toil away until eight, and then it was back home to relax. Bed by 10.

There was something, though. Something she was missing, something she couldn't understand, and it was driving her crazy. Despite her best efforts, despite waking up every day (besides Sunday- apparently Minato did have a heart) to meditate, to reach out to whatever chakra she had lying dormant, she felt like she was hitting a brick wall.

It was... frustrating. Exceedingly so. So much so, in fact, that Charlie had scheduled an appointment at the hospital to see if she even had any in the first place.

Even Minato had grown increasingly concerned. He still put her through the ringer every morning, but he came across more thoughtful now, less sure. Like he was trying himself to figure it out alongside her. But even with both of the prodigies thinking it over, neither could come up with a solution.

So here she sat in the hospital room, biting her nails from the apprehension. Minato had gone somewhere else, probably to give her privacy in case it was some bad news. Secretly, she could've used his support. He was one of the only constants she had in this new life.

The medic nin came in after knocking twice on the door. It was the same one who had looked her over when she first got here, and he gave her a strange look as he caught a glimpse of her. "I didn't think you'd be back for a long while," he said, setting his clipboard on the side table and unwrapping his stethoscope from around his neck to set on the table. He wouldn't be neeeding it.

"Neither did I. But... I feel I might as well get this checked out, anyway," she said, kicking her heels against the bedframe.

The medic glanced at her chart as he approached. "You... think you don't have chakra?"

Charlie flushed. It sounded stupid when he said it. "Well, ever since I got here, I've been trying to train in ninjutsu. But I realized that everytime I try, I can't. And I figured either I'm doing something wrong, or there's nothing there in the first place."

"And you didn't think to tell me this on your first visit? I wouldn't have allowed you to join the Academy if I knew you had no chakra." The medic sounded pissed now. He pulled away from her a moment to give her a stern look.

Charlie leaned back a bit. "Well, where I came from, they... ah, they didn't really... I wasn't allowed to train. Let's say that." She didn't meet his eyes. Perhaps the Hokage had told him of her new backstory, or perhaps not, but either way, she'd stick to it.

To her relief, the medic merely set his jaw. "I'm going to run my chakra through your chakra system. Hold still." His fingers came to rest on both temples, and he closed his eyes in concentration.

She felt his chakra invade her body, cold and clinical. It felt like an invasion of privacy as it zinged through her, from her toes to the roots of her hair, and she clenched her teeth against the odd feeling. No bedside manners with this one, huh?

After about five minutes, he pulled away, but looked more confused than he had before. "Well, you have chakra, but it isn't yours," he said, and looked like he himself didn't understand what he was saying.

Charlie blinked at him. "Those are a bit mutually exclusive, don't you think?"

He shifted a bit on his feet. His eye flitted to the door, as if wishing he could be anywhere else. "I don't really understand it myself. You have two chakra systems. One is completely dead, not even a wisp. The other's chakra coils are completely developed and full to bursting. I- I'm going to go get my supervisor and-"

Her eyes narrowed. Suddenly, she got the sense that this was something no one should know, not even him. Before she knew what she was doing, her small hand gripped his wrist tightly, and she was sending him a look cold enough to freeze blood. "You will tell no one. I'm going to the Hokage." She stood and brushed past him, before looking back thoughtfully. "I'll be back."

And then she was on her feet, and she was running, running, running.

What the hell was going on?

Sarutobi Hiruzen was just about to enjoy a nice, warm cup of tea when he was rudely interrupted by a series of frantic knocks at his door. He frowned thoughtfully at the clock on the wall; it was eight at night. To his knowledge, he had no appointments scheduled.

The little redhead didn't even wait for him to say 'come in' before she was bursting through the door, chest heaving and a panicked look on her face. She gave him a meaningful tilt of the head, and he raised his hand, the silent signal for all of his ANBU protectors to vacate the room. One of them had the good sense to close the door as he shunshined away.

When he nodded at her, she straightened, and said, "I have two chakra systems. And I can't use either of them."

The Hokage stared at her. Was that even possible? She looked away, cheeks flaming. "I've been trying to access my chakra, if I had any, for this past few weeks. I wondered why, but I think I know the answer. Like I said, I have two chakra systems. One of them, which I'm presuming is mine since I'm not from here, is completely bare of chakra. The other is completely full of chakra, with well developed coils and..." She frowned, as if having an inward debate with herself. "I... think it's Minato's."

What.

What?

"What?" Sarutobi intoned, marching forward to stare at her. She'd never mentioned Minato before, why was she bringing him up now?

He had noticed the strange chakra the girl had given off, because how could he not. It was chakra that didn't fit her, the kind that had made him a bit more suspicious of her than he cared to admit. Perhaps the reason for that was, in the back of his head, he'd recognized it. But... it couldn't be. Minato was dead. He was dead.

The girl's face shone a brighter red than before. "Before I came here, I was in this... place. It was blank of everything, and everyone. It was just a space. I thought I had died, or something, but Minato was there. Somehow, I ended up... where he was. And then, a bit later, I woke up here, and Minato's voice has been in my head. He's been helping me train," Charlie confessed, and then bit her lip. "I... I don't know for sure. And I can't access it, anyway. But... the medic that examined me, he knows now that I have two. I told him I was coming to tell you, and to not tell anyone else, but that I would return."

Sarutobi sank down in his chair, running his hand over his mouth. This was bigger than he'd thought. She was a bigger issue than he thought. If anyone ever found out that she had Minato's chakra, or that she and he were linked in any way at all, she would be in grave danger.

But he had to make sure.

He leaned forward, looking the girl in the eye. "Minato-kun, if you're in there... tell me something this girl wouldn't know."

Charlie got a funny, faraway look on her face, before she looked back at him. "He says that there's not much he could tell you that I wouldn't know, but that we could try a mindwalk instead." She shuddered, holding her arms around her midsection. Obviously, she wasn't a fan of the idea.

Sarutobi cleared his throat, and stood finally. "Charlie-chan, go home for the night. I'll call on you in the morning. For now, Inoichi-kun and I will be paying your medic a visit."

Charlie bowed, and scuttled out of the room as fast as her little feet could take her.

The Hokage glanced at his tea with a look of remorse. It would be cold by the time he returned.

'I should've just told him from the beginning that you were with me, Minato,' Charlie thought despondently as she made her way home. Her friend had been oddly quiet since finding out about her chakra situation, which she assumed meant he was thinking hard about the situation.

"What's done is done. He's going to go wipe that medic's memory, and then we'll be clear to do the mindwalk tomorrow," Minato replied absently.

'I wonder how I have two systems. I wonder why I can't use one of them,' that, indeed, was her main question. Inside, however, she felt she already knew the answer. There wasn't much reason for Minato's presence in her head other than that they were connected in some aspect. And given that she couldn't create chakra, which she was becoming more and more sure of... well, it had to be created by someone. Minato was the obvious choice.

Her comrade seemed to be thinking along the same lines.

"From the medic's tone earlier, he seemed surprised it was so developed for one so young. I can only assume that means it is my chakra you have, rather than your own. But how? My soul was consumed by the shinigami. With it, my chakra."

'Do you think somehow, when I appeared there, we were both in the Shinigami's... stomach? And when I left, that bright light, the energy I felt... and now, you're in my head... do you think somehow, parts of you merged with mine when I left?' It was a far fetched theory, to be fair, but it was on her mind.

"It doesn't sound impossible," Minato admitted. "Things have felt a little off here after you've gone. I feel as though I'm torn between where I am, and where you are. But if this is fate's way of putting me back in my village, it's quite a way to do it."

'Fate. I don't believe in fate.' Charlie kicked a stone in her path, and watched it ricochet off a trashcan further into the alleyway beside her. She couldn't believe in fate- all that she believed was that which she could see. She wasn't willing to accept anything else. And anyway, she had a sinking feeling something nefarious was happening. 'Something set this off, Minato. And if we don't find out why we are the way we are soon...' She blanched. 'I fear neither of us will be safe.'

In the morning, Charlie was summoned to the Hokage's office by an ANBU. She dressed hurriedly, and scribbled a note about not feeling well for Naruto before rushing out of her apartment and sliding it under his door as she went. Poor Naru-chan would have to make his own breakfast today.

It was a little before seven in the morning, and Minato had thankfully neglected to wake her early. Probably less due to forgetfulness, and more because he had bigger fish to fry. Either way, she was glad she had the extra two hours as she rushed down the streets, bolting past pedestrians and ninja alike who all stared after her. Probably wondering just where a ten year old was running to at seven in the morning.

The little scientist inside her was brimming with excitement and fear at the prospect of answers.

Charlie reached the Hokage's office about twenty minutes after she was called there, and she knocked twice. There was a distant 'come in', and so she did, warily.

The Hokage was standing and talking calmly with a tall blond man as she entered. She could recognize Yamanaka Inoichi anywhere, simply by the blond ponytail alone. He cut an intimidating figure, at least 6'3" and built like a horse, but he gave her a disarming smile as she approached the two. His eyes held a great deal of curiosity, however, and maybe a twinge of confusion.

"Morning, Charlie-chan. This is Yamanaka Inoichi, though you already knew that. He's going to be doing the mindwalk today, and I will be tagging along, if that's alright," the Hokage said, gently guiding her to his chair to sit.

"I want to figure this out as much as you do," Charlie said, though it did make her nervous that they would see all of her memories. Would they be able to see the whole timeline? Or just what had happened since she'd arrived here?

"If you're ready, we can get started," Inoichi said. He knelt in front of her, and the Hokage took hold of his shoulder. "It will hurt if you block me out, so try to invite me in instead, okay?"

Charlie gulped and nodded. He raised his hands to her temples and his pale eyes locked with hers as he cast his jutsu. Suddenly, all she saw was blankness.

"So this is Charlie-chan's brain," Sarutobi mumbled as he looked around. They were, indeed, stationed next to her brain. He watched it beat with electric impulses, and raised his eyebrows. "This is quite the technique you have, Inoichi-kun," he added.

"You said she had someone else's presence in her brain?" Inoichi asked, looking around with a critical eye. It wouldn't surprise him if she had. He had been able to sense some weird chakra in the girl. Chakra that didn't really fit her, but that was so achingly familiar to him that he'd felt instinctual shock at seeing her walk in as opposed to someone else.

Truth be told, he felt a bit out of his depths. Nothing like this had ever happened before. The Hokage had briefed him about the girl, about how she was from a different world, and about how she knew every single thing about their own. Inoichi had no choice to believe that- his Hokage would never steer him wrong- but everything about the girl, especially her chakra, was strange.

"She claimed to- well, you'll see I suppose." Sarutobi didn't want to get the man's hopes up if the girl ended up being wrong. But Inoichi was becoming more and more sure that she hadn't lied at all.

Inoichi shrugged and moved towards a strange looking little door placed into the side of her brain. This really was a strange technique, at least to outsiders, but it worked wonders in intel gathering. "Let's start from the beginning," Inoichi said, and they both entered.

She was sitting in class, hand on her chin, watching the teacher with bored eyes. It was a subject she knew all too well- geometry- and therefore wasn't interested in rehashing. She hated math, actually.

Charlie shook her head to clear it, and glanced outside the window instead. It was a bright day out, and if she tried hard enough, she could barely make out the road beyond the trees. Cars bustled past, each one with some place to be, someone to see. Lucky, they were, that they weren't tied down in a classroom, learning things they'd already learned years ago and grown tired of.

She was twelve years old.

Charlie was at home. It was odd for her nowadays, to be at home and with her family. She had always had obligations, she supposed; projects to do, people to network with. It was tiring work, and she got very little for it- a necessary evil, perhaps.

Now though, watching her mother messing around in the kitchen, her father in the laundry room hanging clothes- she wondered if it was worth it. She had known these people all her life, and they still felt like perfect strangers.

Sure, her mother cooked food for her in the mornings. She told her hello, and goodbye, and goodnight. Her father helped her get her first car, and had taught her to ride her bike, and how to work her new computer. But she, herself, had never been a child to them. She had always been grown, perhaps a little arrogant, perhaps too independent. She'd never needed them, and in return, they didn't need her. Or at least, not in a way she understood.

She wanted to feel close to them. But she had no right.

She stood, brushing off the seat of her jeans as she made her way for the stairs. She had no right to hang out with them like a normal family would.

And it was too late to start acting like their daughter.

She was sitting in the radiologist's office, bored to tears. Her Converse squeaked on the linoleum as she swiveled back and forth in the chair she sat on. It wasn't really her fault; the man was boring as all hell, and so was his job.

She figured the only reason someone got paid that much money to stare at x-rays all day was because they couldn't find any one else to do it.

The ceiling light flickered, and shone brightly in her eyes as she absently heard the man say, "-and then I coordinated with-" and then she was gone, gone, gone.

And then he was standing there, tall and blond like a sunflower, beaming at her, and asking her if she was okay, and no, she wasn't okay. She remembered him, she remembered everything about him, and everything he represented. And she wasn't supposed to be here.

She was running, but there wasn't anywhere to run to, so she ran back to him instead and collapsed in his arms. Under an arrogant, smart-aleck exterior was a small, scared girl, who knew nothing of the world or how to handle it.

At least one of them had a handle on themselves.

Inoichi jerked out of her memories with a start, gasping for air as though he'd been underwater. The Hokage wasn't in much better shape. "Yondaime? She's harboring Namikaze Minato?" the blond said, staring at his Hokage in shock. Somewhere in him, he had known that. He had recognized that chakra from the moment she walked into his perimeter. But still, how-

Sarutobi was about to say something, when he felt his attention drawn away from Inoichi and towards a bright light over the man's shoulder. "Inoichi-kun, there," he said.

Inoichi turned, and raised his eyebrows even further. That hadn't been there before, and it hadn't been present during any other mindwalks he'd done in the past.

The two walked towards the light, as it got brighter and brighter and brighter still. As if they had walked through the sun, the light dimmed to a pale yellow, and they were in a different headspace entirely.

Minato stood there, looking just as shocked as they were. He appeared the same as he had before, except everything was different now. They were alive and well, and up until recently, he had been very much dead. Perhaps he still was.

"I have to say, I had my doubts this would work," Minato said, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Y-Yondaime Hokage-sama," Inoichi said, kneeling before he knew what he was doing.

Sarutobi was at a loss of what to do. Charlie had been right- they shared a conscience, perhaps even a soul. Both of them were in danger.

Namikaze Minato nodded, and smiled brightly at them. "I'm glad to see you two again!"

"Minato-kun, how did this happen?" Sarutobi implored. And so, Minato told them- to the best of his knowledge- how she'd gotten there, and how she'd left.

"I have a few theories as to what's happened. The most prominent is one that Charlie-chan and I share. When she left the Shinigami's stomach, she took a part of me with her. We are two souls in one body, wherein I am the voice in her head and she is the physical manifestation," Minato finished. He had that serious, pensive look on his face that Sarutobi had grown accustomed to back when the man was alive. There could be little doubt- he was the real deal.

"That does explain why her mind seems to be split. But it doesn't explain how she got there in the first place, or how she left. I can't assume this all happened by chance," Sarutobi said thoughtfully.

"Charlie-chan thinks someone did this," Minato said quietly. "I'm not sure myself. But either way, if anyone finds out, or if she somehow gets killed... I don't know where either of our souls will go. Charlie-chan isn't meant to be here, and neither am I. I... would like to grant her access to my chakra. I'm assuming it is mine, since the second chakra system is empty. She needs a way to protect herself."

So that neither of them ended up perishing.

When Charlie awoke, a bottle of water was being shoved in her face.

She found herself groaning and reaching for it. Her head was absolutely splitting, so much so that she felt like she would throw up.

"Trash can's to your right," Inoichi's voice said from above her, and then she was reaching for it and emptying her stomach. The bottle of water rolled loosely from her lap to the floor. "Sorry, I forgot to mention it earlier. This jutsu can be harsh on younger bodies. I'm used to doing it on adults."

Charlie gave him a critical look, but waved her hand. She didn't know how long she'd been out, but given the new looks he was giving her, she assumed he'd found what he was looking for.

"Did you talk to Minato?" she asked finally, once she'd stopped heaving. She pulled away from the can with a disgusted face, surreptitiously wiping her mouth on her sleeve. Gross.

"We have," Sarutobi said, from somewhere over her shoulder. She looked over at him, hazel eyes quickly analyzing his expression. There was something akin to respect or intrigue settled on his face. "He seems to be of the opinion that you both share this body in some ways. And I think both Inoichi-kun and I can confirm that that chakra in you is his, as well."

Charlie nodded. She'd already suspected as much.

"He expresses an interest in allowing you to access his chakra, so as to protect both yourself and him. He still doesn't know what will happen if you happen to die while you two are still connected."

Charlie was flattered, a bit, that he would allow her that. However... "I still don't understand how his chakra manifested itself when he doesn't have his true body to generate it. Perhaps chakra itself is more closely linked to the soul than I'd previously thought." She bit her thumb thoughtfully. "If so, would we then be able to put Minato's soul back in his body, if we were able to regenerate it?"

Sarutobi blinked at her. He'd forgotten, somehow, that she had been a genius in her past life, and was apt for coming up with the tough questions. "Well, all that can be answered later. Right now, we need to figure out how you can access that chakra. And one way to do that is..."

"By examining others who do the same thing," Charlie finished, meeting his gaze with a wide one of her own. "You don't mean to bring Naruto into this."

Her voice said that she would not allow it, and truly, she wouldn't. Naruto was not a test subject, and she didn't need him knowing that she and his dad were sharing one body.

"No. Not now, at least. But you need to think hard about what you've seen when you... watched it. I'm assuming he does use the Kyuubi eventually, correct?"

Charlie nodded mutely.

"How did he do that? Think hard, now," Sarutobi said.

She gave him an offended look. "I don't need to think hard. I remember everything. Anyway, he was pretty rocky at the beginning. It was more like Kurama tried to get him to use his chakra during his low points, so he could take him over and get free again."

The Hokage was sweating nervously.

"Ah- but he got everything figured out!" she added, "Not too much destruction! And they eventually ironed out their differences!"

That didn't seem to help matters much, but Sarutobi sighed anyway. "So the Kyuubi itself pushed Naruto to use its chakra. That's... interesting."

"And eventually, a ways down the line, they were able to merge their power. He becomes more power than if he was working alone, or if Kurama took over. But anyway, that's not really applicable here. I'm sure that there are some differences between my situation and a jinchuuriki's."

"It's a starting point."

Charlie nodded in agreement, and finally found her sea legs as she stood from the chair. The forgotten water was picked up, and chugged to relieve the gross taste in her mouth. "So what you're saying is, try to get Minato himself to use the chakra somehow? Or force it to me? That sounds dangerous."

"It could be," Sarutobi acquiesced. "However, you will be in danger anyway should you deign to not try."

Well. She couldn't argue with that.

Charlie left the Hokage's office not long after, with a new sense of dread and a new sense of fear. Something told her that this was the start of a very, very long day.

She didn't go to school after that.

And she didn't go to the training grounds.

Instead, she went directly to the weapons place, the same one she'd visited weeks ago when she'd first arrived. Minato was unusually quiet on the trek, but he spoke up as she entered. "What are you picking up?" he asked curiously. Charlie gave a quick, polite smile to the cashier, who once again gave her a curious look as she entered.

The store was, thankfully, rather dead at the moment. She found it calming- after the treacherous morning she'd just had, she needed time to get over her headache and the feeling of invasion that came after Inoichi's jutsu.

'I saw chakra paper here. I figured this is one way to get started,' she thought, and followed her mental map to the rack in the far back of the store. The chakra paper was sold individually, but she picked up a stack of about ten sheets, and made her way to the front. She was worried she would somehow destroy them trying to work with Minato's chakra- if it was even possible- and anyway, Naruto could try a sheet, too.

She wanted him to at least know what his chakra was about before he joined Team Seven, after all.

The cashier gave her another weird look as she set the papers, and nothing else, on the table in front of him.

"My friends and I are testing out our chakra," she explained to his unasked question, and he shrugged it off with a smile.

She left the store with the paper and a woefully empty wallet.

"Why was that paper so expensive?" she aked morosely, slumping a little. No more money for the month.

"Because normal people only need one, there isn't much demand," Minato replied.

'Oh, thanks for reminding me that I'm weird, Minty Toe,' she thought back savagely, then laughed at his outrage.

Charlie returned home at around 11. Her stomach was rumbling, but she was much too hyped up about what she'd learned to bother with it. She wanted to begin work immediately, and she could feel Minato's urgency as well. So, she shucked off her shoes, and scooted her coffee table to the corner of the living room- a process that had become all but second nature to her the past few weeks. Seating herself cross legged on the floor, she took out a sheet of the paper, holding it tight.

"I... have no idea how to do this," she said out loud, sweatdropping. How was she supposed to reach for a power she couldn't even sense?

"Maybe I could try moving it first?" Minato suggested. "It's... strange, but I think I can still feel my chakra slightly, if I try."

'Go for it, I guess,' Charlie said.

Without much for warning, she felt his increase in presence in her mind. His aura was suddenly everywhere, and she had the absurd feeling that she herself was being pushed out. Anxiety caused her heart to pump faster, and she knew that if he had been almost anyone else, she would have fought him back into his place.

Instead, she nervously gave her position up, allowing him to take charge. She felt her presence of mind slip away, and she was suddenly immensely, immeasurably small in comparison. Did he feel like this all the time? It was... horrible.

Charlie felt like a bird with no room to stretch her wings. She had been his jailer, and she hadn't even known it.

The paper in her hand wasn't moving, but Minato's presence was growing stronger, and stronger still. Her vision warped, as though she'd been dunked underwater.

She tried to say his name, but her mouth wouldn't move, so instead she thought it. 'Minato, something's weird.' The whole situation was weird.

"What's wrong?" he asked, but it wasn't in his voice and hadn't come out of his mouth; it had come out of hers.