Author's Note: Some reviewers have noted that I occasionally use "Naruto" to describe him when he's female. This is intentional and is supposed to reinforce that they are the same person. My apologies for not being good enough as a writer to show this in-text.
Naruto quickly hurried home. She was quite excited to see her newly discovered cousin again. She wondered if Karin was already there. Since she had used the Body Flicker in the preliminaries, there was no further need to refrain from using the technique. Most people would assume Kurenai had taught her. Kurenai would assume, correctly, that she had picked it up with her clan techniques. In truth, the only reason she had refrained from using it was because Sakura and Hinata did not know it. She would have to ask Kurenai if she thought they were ready for it. It was too useful for getting around not to teach them, provided they had the reserves for it.
She arrived at her door and paused to sense who was inside her apartment. To her disappointment, the only one she could sense was her long-term clone. As she reached for the doorknob, she felt the buildup of chakra that signaled an incoming Body Flicker. She quickly turned to see who it was. An ANBU appeared in a swirl of leaves with a hand on Karin's arm.
"Uzumaki-san," the ANBU said, "your cousin now has freedom of the village under your supervision. Please instruct her on what is expected of Konoha residents."
Tsunami nodded in acknowledgement. The ANBU quickly left via another Body Flicker.
"Tsunami-chan!" Karin exclaimed.
"Karin-chan!" she returned as they looked at each other. Tsunami was not sure how cousins were supposed to great each other. Hinata and her cousins were all quite formal with each other. While she had no desire to emulate the Hyuuga, she did not want to be too familiar either. Evidently, Karin did not know what to do either, since she just stood there as well.
Tsunami quirked her lips and scolded herself internally over the slight awkwardness. "Let's go inside and you can meet my brother," she said.
Karin perked up at that which made Naruto slightly nervous. Steeling herself, she opened the door and entered her apartment.
Being her, her clone was able to sense them outside and was standing by the entrance to the hall that led to the two bedrooms waiting for them. That reminded her that she would need to pick up another futon for Karin. The rooms weren't that spacious, but they could easily accommodate two futons. It looked like "Tsunami" would be getting a new roommate. It was slightly inconvenient to not have as much space, but having a real relative living with her more than made up for it. Since she usually spent her evenings in her birth form, it was her clone that would have to deal with it real time anyway. Although… having a roommate could be fun; she would have to think about it.
"Cousin!" Karin squealed and pounced on her clone and wrapped him in a hug. Tsunami was somewhat taken aback. Karin had not acted like this before. Her clone stiffened and looked uncomfortable. He looked at her pleadingly. Tsunami began to rethink whether she would be male around Karin or not. Unfortunately, if she wanted to be in her birth form much at all, she would have to. She was about to say something when she noticed the edges of Karin's mouth quirk in amusement.
"Stop teasing my brother, Karin-chan," she scolded.
"Ahhh," Karin whined exaggeratedly. "I can tell he needs some feminine teasing." She rested her head against the clone's chest and then it jerked up and she let go.
"Your chakra signatures are almost the same!" she exclaimed. "Why are your chakra signatures nearly identical?"
Tsunami fidgeted nervously while trying to think of an excuse. Her clone shot her a look that told her that he was leaving the explanations to her. She supposed it was one of the "perks" of being the "real one."
"In fact," Karin said, "only your yin-yang balance is different. What's going on here?" She alternated between glaring at each of them.
"Don't look at me," the clone said. "I'm only a Shadow Clone."
Tsunami glared at her clone. Karin turned all of her attention to Tsunami. Her traitorous clone took the opportunity to get as far from Karin as was possible and still stay in the room.
"I didn't think it was possible for a person to sense that," Tsunami said in order to stall.
"I am a truly exceptional sensor," Karin said proudly. "Now tell me what's going on. Are you really a boy or a girl?"
"I was born a boy," Tsunami admitted. "Naruto is my real name. I stumbled upon my transformation bloodline several years ago and decided to use it to escape the stigma of being me part time."
"You mean where they treat you like the Kyuubi?" she asked.
Tsunami nodded.
"Does your transformation bloodline make you a real girl?" Karin asked.
Tsunami nodded again. "Monthlies and all. The medic nin think I can even get pregnant." She shuddered. While at times she wanted to be a mother—she blamed her hormones—the fact was that she was still the Kyuubi jinchuuriki, as far as she knew, meant that she would never allow herself to risk releasing it due to pregnancy. This was besides the fact that she could not see herself letting anyone put anything in there. Being able to mother the children she fathered would have to satisfy her mothering instinct.
"Who knows about your double life?" her cousin asked curiously.
"Jiichan, Ero-jichan, Kurenai-sensei, and you as far as I know," Tsunami replied.
"Jiichan is what you call Hokage-sama, right?" Karin asked.
Tsunami nodded.
"Who's Ero-jichan?" Karin asked.
"Jiraiya-baka," she growled in response.
Karin's jaw dropped. "You call one of the Sannin 'Ero-jichan' and 'Jiraiya-baka?'" she asked incredulously.
Tsunami snorted. "Please," she said derisively. "The man is a self-proclaimed 'super pervert' and he neglected his duties as my godfather until now."
Karin raised her eyebrow, but said nothing for a few moments. Finally, she asked, "Sakura-chan and Hinata-chan don't know?"
Tsunami dropped her gaze. "I know I should tell them, and I will as soon as the Exams are over."
Karin simply nodded and an awkward silence developed between them.
Tsunami sighed and flopped down on her couch. She leaned forward and rested her forehead in her palms and her elbows on her knees. She massaged her forehead. She could not believe she had already ruined things with the first relative she had met. It figured that things were going too well for her.
Tsunami felt the couch shift and figured that Karin had sat down next to her. She looked up and her cousin looked at her sympathetically.
"I know what it's like to want to get out of a bad situation," Karin told her. "I don't know for sure if I would have turned myself into a boy to escape from Kusa, but I probably would have done it if it would have let me escape with my mom."
"You don't think I'm weird or disgusting?" Tsunami asked. She could not keep an edge of pleading out of her voice.
Karin giggled. "I don't think you're disgusting. Weird, on the other hand… But since all shinobi are weird to one degree or the other, I won't hold it against you."
Naruto could not help the surge of relief and affection that flooded her. She lightly slapped her cousin's shoulder. "You're a shinobi too," she said. "What's your weirdness?"
"You'll just have to find out, won't you, Cuz?" Karin responded playfully.
They grinned at each other and fell into silence again. This time it was a lot less awkward. Karin ruined it by asking, "So… Hinata-chan likes male-you, but doesn't know you're really him."
Tsunami shrugged. "Nothing can happen between us because of her family—at least for the foreseeable future. They would slap their slave mark on her if they thought she was dishonoring them by associating like that with the village pariah. I couldn't do that to her."
"Would you if it weren't for that?" Karin asked.
"I don't know," Tsunami admitted. "I like Hinata-chan a lot. She's probably my best friend, but she holds the male-me on a pedestal. I'm not who she thinks I am."
"What do you mean?" Karin asked.
"The reason she admires me is that she thinks that I never give up despite being constantly labeled a failure," Tsunami explained. "She was nearly devastated when I told her that male-me was going to be a sealmaker instead of a full-time shinobi. I had to assure her that male-me had not given up on his goals or she would have gone catatonic. I like that she has a lot of faith in me, but I don't know if I can deal with the expectations of being her idol. I like the relationship that female-me has with her a lot better."
"So, I can pursue you without stepping on her toes?" Karin asked with a teasing twinkle in her eyes.
Tsunami rolled her eyes. "We're only twelve. I'm not ready to date."
"It's never too early to stake my claim on the future Uzumaki Clan Head," Karin replied cheerfully. Tsunami could see that while her cousin was mostly teasing, there was more than a little determination behind it. She could tell that if she tried to tell her not to flirt with her, Karin would not listen. Maybe if she set up some rules, she could keep it from getting too out of hand?
"Fine," Tsunami said. "But no flirting with female-me. I don't want you doing anything that might blow my cover."
"I can see that," Karin said, "for public at least."
Tsunami glared at her. "Not in private either—I don't want you developing bad habits. Besides… I change into a girl to escape from certain types of stress. If we're going to be sharing a room, I don't want to have to worry about you engaging with that type of teasing or flirting with me in my sanctuary."
"Okay," Karin said slowly. "I can sort of see that. Isn't it confusing though? You're the same person in either body, right?"
Tsunami nodded. "I am, but I guess you could say that 'Naruto' and 'Tsunami' are both roles that I play. It helps that I don't really interact closely with the same people in my different roles. Even in the Academy, I had different people that I hung out with."
"What about the real you?" Karin asked.
Naruto put up a fake smile and said, "When I figure out who he or she is, I'll let you know."
"Oh, Tsunami-chan," Karin said compassionately. She wrapped her in a hug. "I'll help you."
They both sniffled a little bit, before Karin released her. "Tell me about these Shadow Clones. They're pretty amazing. I couldn't tell that one of you was a clone." She tilted her head toward the clone that standing awkwardly near the wall. Tsunami could not blame him. She felt awkward, she could only imagine what it would be like to have to watch it.
Grateful for the change of topic, Tsunami began to describe the Shadow Clone Technique and how she had used seals to make a persistent clone. After she describe the memory sharing aspect, she could feel a certain amount of satisfaction in Karin's chakra.
Naruto's training for the Finals progressed as it had prior to Karin's release. His relationship with his cousin settled into a comfortable routine once the other Uzumaki figured out Naruto's limits and what level of flirting would make him run. At first, Naruto condemned his long-term clone to dealing with her as a male, but he began to miss his "boy time" and once she figured out his limits Karin was not that bad. The only real discordant note was Tsunami's next interaction with Jiraiya.
"No!" she told him. "I refuse."
"Come on, Tsunami-chan," he wheedled. "Your 'other chakra' can save your life if you need it."
Tsunami did not want to admit the real reason she was adamantly against using the Kyuubi's chakra; she was afraid that if she managed to access the Kyuubi's chakra it would disrupt her mother's "home" inside her mindscape. After all, it was only after her mom "woke up" that all signs of her being the jinchuuriki disappeared. However, she did not trust her supposed godfather enough to explain it to him. So far only the Hokage knew about her mother's presence in her mindscape.
"I said 'No,' Ero-jichan," Tsunami replied.
Jiraiya sighed. "At least give me a good reason, Tsunami-chan. The bijuu's chakra could be a fantastic tool, not just for you, but for the village as a whole."
Tsunami looked at him like he was crazy. Did he really think the village would appreciate her using the Kyuubi's chakra—even in its defense? She supposed that he had been mostly absent since the Kyuubi's attack. She doubted she could make him understand just how much the village despised anything to do with the Kyuubi if he did not already comprehend it.
"Did you know that no sensor has been able to sense the Kyuubi's chakra in me since my seal matured when I was five?" she asked. "The only evidence for me being a jinchuuriki at all is my seal and it's so complex that nobody can tell exactly what it does without a lot of study. Since my clan's destruction there are really no true sealmasters left, despite your own skill. At least at this point in my life, anonymity is more valuable to me as a jinchuuriki than a tenuous control over a minor portion of the Kyuubi's chakra."
Jiraiya frowned. "I can see your point, but that won't always be true. If Konoha goes to war, we'll need our jinchuuriki."
She sighed. "I've read my mother's journals. She used the Kyuubi's chakra less than a handful of times and most of those times she could have avoided it with a little more care. I intend to be good enough that I won't need it at all. My father was considered more dangerous than my mother despite not being a jinchuuriki. Uchiha Madara managed to control all nine Bijuu and then the Shodai and Aunt Mito managed to defeat all of them. The Bijuu are not the end-all and be-all of shinobi power and ability, Ero-jichan. I want to be as great as my father and the founders of the village on my own terms."
Jiraiya smiled fondly. "That's a great dream, Brat. Madara and the Shodai had the advantage of bloodline abilities. Are you sure you're up for it?"
She nodded. "Tell me truly, Jichan. Would using the Kyuubi's chakra have any effect on my chances for passing the Chuunin Exams?"
He shook his head.
"Well, there you have it," she said with finality. "I could use some help with a few sealing concepts. Mother's journals said that while you don't have the same flare for fuuinjutsu as an Uzumaki, you do have some skill."
Jiraiya rolled his eyes. "Uzumaki aren't the only sealmasters, Brat. Let me show you how it's done!"