'I've never seen a place,
that's quite like this.
Everything is turned around.
This crazy world is upside-down.
...
Everything's confusing when it seems so new.
But I look a little closer and it starts to feel familiar too.'
~This Strange World
My Little Pony: Equestria Girls
Consciousness returned to Narumi slowly. She woke up on the ground. In an unfamiliar setting. 'Is this gonna be a regular occurrence?' She thought dryly.
"Oh! Thank Kami yer awake!" Narumi turned her head towards the voice and spotted Daisuke getting up from his crouched position against a nearby tree. A quick scan of the area told Narumi that she was in a forest. The beach they arrived on was a short distance away. On her other side was a lit fire pit. Above it was a handful of fish cooking.
"You wouldn't believe how much you scared me, Missy!" Daisuke said, kneeling down next to her and helping her sit upright. "You were asleep fer 3 days."
"Yeah," Narumi groaned, "Chakra depletion tends to do that to a person."
Whack!
Narumi's head lurched forward. Turning to look, she saw that Daisuke had hit the back of her head. He scowled at her.
"I knew ya looked tired when I met ya!" He yelled, "Why'd ya use yer chakra when ya knew tha' ya shouldn't have?!"
"I didn't want you to get hurt." Narumi said, shrugging.
Daisuke's angry look faltered. He sighed, bringing a hand up and rubbing it against his face. "I get it. I really do. Shinobi are self-sacrificin' idiots." He said, "But please learn to take care of yerself, Missy."
"I'll try." Narumi said, blankly staring at him, knowing she wouldn't be able to promise him that. She looked around and asked, "What happened while I was out?"
Daisuke snorted, but his expression looked unsure, "A lotta things, Missy. I honestly don' know where to begin."
"Begin at the beginning. After I lost consciousness."Narumi said it like it was obvious.
Daisuke sighed again. He seemed to be doing that a lot today. "Alright." He said, "But listen carefully. I don' feel like repeatin' myself."
Narumi nodded, reaching towards the cooked fish and grabbing about half of them. Daisuke gave her a look, but Narumi replied with, "I barely have any chakra. And I haven't eaten in like 3 days." So he let her be.
"The first thing I should probably say is that this place is a lot different than the Elemental Nations." Daisuke started, getting comfortable. "For one, there ain't any Shinobi."
Narumi nearly choked on the piece of fish in her mouth. She expected it, but it was still surprising. Cautiously spreading out her senses, she finally noticed the distinct lack of active chakra in the air. However, there was quite an abundance of inactive chakra.*
"The first thing I did after ya passed out was move ya to a safer place. I found this clearing an' so far it's been doing its job. After gettin' ya settled I headed to the town a couple kilometres Northeast of here. What I found was... shocking, to say the least."
Narumi tilted her head. Daisuke huffed and ran a hand through his hair before slowly opening and closing his mouth, contemplating his next words. Finally, he said, "It's kinda like time ran backwards a good 1000 years at least." Narumi's eyes widened minutely.
"I recognise the buildings an' stuff, but only cuz of the amount of history books I've read. Nobody in the town wears the same stuff ya can buy back in the Nations. None of the women have pants, for one. Everybody has some kinda kimono or yukata or haori on. The women don' walk around without a man accompanyin' them. An' it honestly don' look like they'd be noticed without that, which I find stupid. Oh! An' all the women have makeup on! I swear, it was just a sea of white faces, black hair, kimonos and buns. They all have long, black hair, an' their kimonos don' really differ that much. It was gettin' kinda repetitive while I was walkin' through the town. Everybody was lookin' at me too. Like I was a piece of gum on the bottom of their sandals. Still, I found the 'leader' of the town pretty easily. He had the flashiest kimono on that I've ever seen! An' there were so many women around him."
Throughout Daisuke's story, Narumi's facial expression changed. The blank look she's had since... it was replaced with a disgruntled look. "That sounds boring."
Daisuke grinned. Leave it up to Narumi to not panic. "Aye. But the strangest thing was their appearances."
Narumi raised a single eyebrow. "What's wrong with their appearances?" She asked.
"They all have either black or brown hair. An' their eyes're mostly black an' brown. Very few had blue or green. No unnatural hair colours. No extraordinary birthmarks. Nothin'." Daisuke said, suddenly looking a lot older than he was.
'Oh.' Narumi thought, lowering her eyebrow. That... made a lot of sense, actually. But it also made no sense at all. 'Why does this remind me of when Gaara and I pondered the chemical structure of Utakata-nii's easily pop-able but also sturdy as shit bubbles?' She thought.
"That's going to be a problem. I don't exactly fit in with those criteria. And if I remember my history correctly, there's a high chance that I'll either be stoned to death, forced to commit suppaku, or drowned." Narumi said, twirling a strand of her bright red hair around her pointer finger. Daisuke adopted a very interesting face at Narumi's statement, and her nonchalantness only made him pull an even more interesting face.
Narumi knew she was right. There were quite a few scrolls in Uzushio's scroll chambers that explained what the Elemental Nations were like before chakra started becoming potent in humans. Those stories weren't pretty, but humans tend to fear what they don't understand. They always have, and always will.
Daisuke cleared his throat, and Narumi stopped her musings to focus on him again. "Well then." He said. "It's a good thing none of the townsfolk have seen ya yet. Anyways, I managed to win the leader over with a sob story 'bout how my family and I were a family of fishermen tha' got lost at sea, got caught in a nasty storm and washed up on the nearby beach after losing the boat. Told him I set up camp in the forest and that my granddaughter an' I were the only survivors."
"Granddaughter?" Narumi asked.
"Well I can't call ya my wife now can I?" Daisuke asked, "That, an' I've got too many grey hairs on my head to be considered yer father. Hope ya don't mind."
"It's fine." Narumi said, "I've never had a grandfather before. What compromise did you make with the leader, Ojī-chan?"
Daisuke choked on his spit, but quickly recovered. "Right." He said, gently beating his fist against his chest, "I told him we'd catch fish an' sell it in the town in exchange fer living quarters. He agreed... rather quickly to be honest. But I'm not lookin' a gift horse in the mouth."
Daisuke dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out a key. "He gave me the key to a log cabin on the other side of the forest, towards the south." He said. He then gestured towards the pile of cloth against a nearby tree and said, "I used some of the few gold coins I had to buy us some clothes. All I could afford were some basic kimonos. Sorry 'bout that."
"That's alright. You've already done so much for me. So I'm not going to complain." Narumi said. She then looked towards the south and asked, "When are we going to go look at the cabin?"
"I was plannin' on takin' a look in a couple of hours, but since ya woke up we can go together." Daisuke said, reaching towards Narumi.
Narumi accepted his offered hand and heaved herself up into a standing position. Daisuke kept a firm grip, but Narumi gently shook off his hand.
"I'll be fine." Narumi said before spinning around. "You said the cabin was south right? Then let's go." With that said, Narumi bent down and picked up her bundle of cloths.
Daisuke picked up his own bundle and let Narumi lead the way, but made sure to walk within arm's reach of her to catch her should she fall.
The blank look Narumi always wore on her face seemed appropriate for this situation.
The cabin, if it could even be considered that, was a dump. It was simple wooden cabin slightly elevated above the ground by supporting beams of wood, but it was incredibly rundown. The support beams were crooked and rotted, as was the rest of the cabin. The wooden planks used to build the walls were water damaged, cracked, and loose. The window holes were wonky. There were holes in the roof, and there was no door. Nor was there any way to get up into the house, since there were no stairs.
"I'm pretty sure you got scammed, Ojī-chan." Narumi said while inspecting the small wooden shed at the backside.
"His excitement when he gave me the key makes sense now." Daisuke deadpanned, staring at the cabin.
"Well." Narumi said, turning to walk back towards Daisuke, "He clearly didn't know that he'd be giving the house to a Shinobi and someone who's lived around Shinobi their whole life."
Daisuke grinned, reaching forward to ruffle her hair. "No, he didn'."
"Come on, Missy." He said, heading back towards the clearing. "We can rest back there an' go fishin' tomorrow. We can fix the house after ya get yer chakra back."
Narumi fell in step beside him and asked, "How sure are you that he gave you a decent boat?"
"There ain't any fish in the market, so I got a feelin' they don' have any fishermen in the town."
"Are ya sure yer comfortable like that?" Daisuke asked.
"Dead certain." Narumi said, settling into a meditative pose. "This is the quickest and easiest way to regain my chakra. And since you don't want me working until I've recovered, I'm going to recover at least a tenth of it tonight."
"Why only a tenth?" Daisuke asked, settling down on the ground near the fireplace. "Don' you Shinobi need all of yer chakra to function properly?"
"I'm an Uzumaki, Ojī-chan." Narumi said, closing her eyes. "My genetics automatically give me larger chakra reserves. That, and because I used to be a Jinchūriki, my already large reserves have doubled and then gone beyond that. A tenth of my entire chakra reserves would be equal to the chakra of about 20 Jōnin."
Daisuke gave a low whistle and said, "I don' really understand Shinobi rankings all that much, but I'm pretty sure that's a lotta Chakra, Missy. What'd ya do? Absorb the Kyuubi?"
"Something like that." Narumi said. While in the boat, Narumi actually confided to Daisuke about most of her past. She never told him the details of what happened in Uzushio, but she gave him the general gist of it. She didn't want her travelling companion to not know what he was getting into by associating with her. To Narumi's surprise, Diasuke didn't care. Narumi was not ashamed to say that she very nearly cried when Daisuke said if anyone that hurt her in the past showed up he would punch them in the face, consequences be damned.
Daisuke was an honest man. He was kind, hardworking and not afraid to stand up for what he believes in. Narumi attached herself to him when she was alone. She was scared of being alone back then, and she still is. Narumi doesn't want to be alone. She knows that whoever she grows attached to ends up getting hurt, and life would be much easier if she isolated herself. But she hates being alone. She hates it. So much.
So Narumi made a promise to herself that night. While Daisuke slept and the fire burned and she meditated to recover the amount of chakra she had before Kurama's sacrifice. She promised to keep Daisuke safe. Anyone she grew close to, she promised to protect until her last dying breath.
Naruto's Nindō was that he never went back on his word. Narumi's Nindō was to never give up. She figured she could combine the two of them, and create a new Nindō for herself.
"I will never break my promises." Narumi whispered into the silent night. "I will never break my promises, and if someone tries to get me to break them, I won't give up until they've been stopped. Because that's my Nindō, my Ninja Way."
Narumi's determination and promise was loud in the quiet night. And she finally started to feel like she could move on from her grief and turn over a new leaf in this new place.
The two of them worked out a system.
The first time they went out onto the water Daisuke taught Narumi the basics of fishing. Narumi followed his instructions... up until she caught her first fish. The process took far too long for Narumi's tastes, and she made this clear to Daisuke. They argued for quite a bit, but eventually came to an agreement.
Said agreement was Narumi standing on the water and making whirlpools to toss the fish into the nets Daisuke held in place for her. The boat helped hide her obvious Shinobi status, and a simple Henge hid her stand-out appearance. Her bright blue eyes were now the same shade of green as Daisuke's, and her hair changed from red to black. Her whisker marks were pure chakra, for some reason, and couldn't be hidden by the Henge, but simple makeup did the job just fine.
Afterwards, they donned their kimonos and headed towards the town. The leader's face when the two of them brought in their first haul was comical. He wordlessly had a servant direct them to an empty stall, and the fish sold like it was made of gold. Ironic, considering they were paid in gold coins.
The used the majority of the gold coins to purchase food, tools and wood for their cabin. Once they got back to the destroyed cabin, they changed back into their Elemental Nations clothing and set about fixing the cabin to make it liveable. The clearing with the fire pit became their impromptu base of operations until they could move into the cabin.
At night Narumi would meditate to regain her lost chakra. Daisuke expressed his concerns, but Narumi reassured him that meditation was similar to sleeping, so she'd be fine.
They would go out to fish 3 times a week, and changed their fishing location every 2 weeks to avoid upsetting the ecosystem. After fishing, they would go to the market to sell them. Any fish that wasn't sold by the end of the day was either cooked for dinner or left out a distance away for the wildlife. Every other day except for Sunday was spent fixing the cabin.
The system wasn't perfect, but it was enough for Narumi to instill some kind of routine back into her life. Daisuke's presence also helped, which she appreciated, but the routine was nice to help her forget about her problems.
"Welp. It took nearly 2 months, but I'm pleased to announce tha' our cabin is done!" Daisuke said, a huge grin on his face.
And he deserved to grin that big, because the two of them really managed to turn the cabin into a wonderful living environment. The rotten wood was replaced, holes were fixed, and the inside even had a paint job!
"It's almost like we built a cabin stuck in two different time periods." Narumi said, turning to give Daisuke a small grin. She'd grown infinitely more comfortable around the man, and he was officially someone she trusted with her life, so he deserved her smiles. "You know, considering the outside looks like the Heian period and the inside looks like the Postwar period."
They had found out that this place was in the Heian period, which was quite a shock, considering that's nearly 2000 years before their own time. Narumi did some digging, and concluded that the presence of active chakra coupled with humans' ability to use it pushed the Elemental Nations far ahead of its time. Furthermore, the Elemental Nations was isolated from the rest of the world, so all of the technological, agricultural and other advancements they had there was kept there and not shared with the rest of the world.
While slightly annoying at first, Daisuke and Narumi eventually concluded that that was actually a good thing. Now the two of them could help with the discovery of some of those advancements, and they were better equipped to survive as long as they did in the wild while they fixed the cabin. Lots of good things that they would discover as they settled down.
Daisuke swung an arm around Narumi's shoulders. "I wouldn't worry 'bout that too much. It's not like anybody's gonna come an' visit us anytime soon. What the two of us need to do now, is celebrate. Get changed, Missy. The two of us are goin' drinkin'."
Narumi raised an eyebrow, but complied. One puff of smoke later, Himitsu took Narumi's place. Narumi could've used her own name, since nobody knew who she was, but she was still a Shinobi. All of that ingrained paranoia and old habits are hard to get rid of. That, and Narumi found it hilarious that she could call herself 'secret' while in disguise.
"Right then. Let's go an' get drunk!" Daisuke exclaimed, and as his arm was still around Narumi's shoulders, she got dragged along.
"You're going to be getting drunk." Narumi said. "My high level of chakra and enhanced metabolism makes it virtually impossible for me to get anything close to drunk."
"...That's so cool!" Daisuke yelled, tiny stars forming in his eyes. Sometimes he could act like such a child.
"We should totally make some bets an' win some cash."
"We are not doing that."
Shinobi = Ninja
Utakata-nii = Big Brother Utakata
Ojī-chan = Grandpa
Jinchūriki = (Power of) Human Sacrifice
Jōnin = High/Elite Ninja
Kyuubi = Nine-tails
Nindō = Ninja Way
Henge = Transformation Technique
*Active chakra vs Inactive chakra
This is part of my AU, since I'm pretty sure it's not part of Naruto.
Active chakra is basically the remnants of jutsu. Whenever a Shinobi uses a jutsu, they use chakra. When the jutsu is completed, there's chakra left behind.
Inactive chakra is the "life force" of all living things, but specifically those who cannot use chakra to perform a jutsu or technique.
The active chakra reacts with, for example, the inactive chakra in a rock, and the result is the nature chakra that Shinobi and Sages draw from their surroundings. The active chakra stimulates the inactive chakra and turns it into active chakra. Active chakra is the from os chakra that Shinobi easily absorb from their surroundings to quickly restore their reserves.
Chakra Reserves can be restored naturally with time and rest, but Shinobi simply don't have the patience for that.
Inactive chakra can also be absorbed by Shinobi, but it takes conscious effort, which is why it is only done in emergencies, as it is quite difficult. Only a select few do not struggle with this. Sensors like Tobirama and Narumi prefer to use this method to restore their chakra. It takes a lot of meditation and focus, but it quickly replenishes their chakra reserves. It also inadvertently activates the inactive chakra in the surrounding area, which in turn makes it easier for other Shinobi to absorb chakra.