As Long As My Blood Flows
Chapter 6—The Peak of Youth
Naruko's energy as she skipped through the halls into their classroom that day, early for the first time in forever, was exuberantly high. For good reason, too; first, she'd learned a freakin' awesome Jutsu, dattebayo! She could totally kick Sasuke's butt with it! She was sure the look on his face when he saw it would be amazing! Second, she'd gained something akin to the first real father figure she'd ever had in Iruka-sensei. Really, he was just way too amazing and she didn't deserve him. And third…
Blood dripping from the wound created by the two kunai stabbed into his shoulder and leg, shaking but refusing to fall over, Ren pulled the blood and formed a protective shield around Naruko with it. Her eyes widened, and, shaking, she gazed up at Ren through tears.
"Stop!" she begged, reaching out with a trembly arm. "Why are you protecting me!? You heard what he said, I'm a monster!"
"You're not a monster!" Ren insisted, turning to look at her with an intense sincerity as Mizuki and Iruka fought with the intent to kill. The sounds of metal kunai and shuriken clinging against each other rang through the forest, but he didn't flinch. "You're a human, just like me! Just like Iruka-sensei! I don't care what you have inside of you! Every human on this planet has at least some darkness inside of them, something monstrous, but what matters is whether you act on that monstrous part of you or you be kind in spite of it! And Naruko, I know for a fact that you'd NEVER willfully act on the darkness inside of you! You're a human, the best of us, and I swear, that as long as my blood flows, I'll stand by your side, and make sure that your dream of becoming Hokage is reality!"
Warmth rose in her chest from the memory, and it even allowed her to ignore the surprised and suspicious stares of the other students as she entered. (They kind of had a right to be surprised and suspicious, anyway. They didn't know what had happened two nights ago and the last they'd heard, she'd failed.)
The door opened, and Ren stepped through, this time wearing a… rather feminine yukata with a design of doves and lilies. Naruko held back a giggle. His choice of clothing was so weird for a guy, but it also suited him. Her amusement shifted to concern as he stumbled towards his desk, favoring his left, uninjured leg pretty heavily. Her eyes furrowed in concern. "You okay?" she asked him.
"Oh, hey, Naru…ko…" he said, trailing off as he looked at her and froze. For several long seconds, he didn't say anything, and Naruko grew a little nervous. Did he hate her after all? Was everything he said a lie? Then she jumped when he suddenly screamed in what sounded like pain and almost started pulling his hair out. "GAAAAH! I'M SO SORRY!"
Eh? Wait, what? "S-Sorry, why are you sorry!?" she stammered, blinking rapidly as all eyes in the room turned to them.
"I SOUNDED SO UNCOOL THE OTHER NIGHT! AAAAAGH! How could I have said such uncool things!? I SOUNDED LIKE A MORON! AAAAAAAAAAGH!"
E-Eh?
He collapsed in his seat and his head hit the desk with a heavy thunk, drawing a wince from Naruko. He just groaned and continued whining into the wood, though the words were somewhat more muffled now. "I mean, really, as long as my blood flows!? Everyone has darkness inside of them!? How fucking cliché is that!?" He got up, turned to her, and bowed low, hands at his side and a depressed aura around him. "I'm so sorry for sounding like a b-rate action series side character!"
Naruko blinked. Oh. That's why he was freaking out. She burst out in a giggle, then shook her head, smiling softly. "It's okay, Ren," she said quietly. "It made me really happy."
"Eh?" He got up from his bow, staring at her dumbly. "You didn't think I sounded stupid?"
"Of course not! Are you an idiot?"
"Why are you two being so troublesome already?" a weary Shikamaru groaned from the back of the class.
"U-Um, N-Naruko-chan…" Hinata said softly a few seats away, unable to quite look at her. Naruko blinked dubiously at her. What was she mumbling about now? She spoke so quietly that the blonde could hardly hear her. "I'm g-g-glad that you w-were able t-to p-p-pass." Even after years of Ren trying to help Hinata open up, the girl was still a stammering mess. It was kind of sad, really. Especially since the Hyuuga was pretty cute.
Still, it was weird how shy she was around Naruko. Like, what? Why? The Uzumaki didn't get it.
She shrugged and gave the quiet girl a big thumbs-up and a ramen-worthy grin. "Heheheh! You betcha! The future Hokage can't fail some dumb graduation exam!" (The fact that she had failed three graduation exams and only passed because she essentially committed and then exposed crime was carefully shoved in the recesses of her mind.)
Hinata's eyes shone at that, and Ren just shook his head with an equal parts exasperated and fond grin. "I don't know if that's compartmentalization or if you're just that bold…" he muttered with a chuckle.
The door opened again while they teased each other, and Ino and Sakura both entered, talking happily about something ninja-related. Naruko's head perked up and she smiled widely at Sakura-chan. She was so cute! That pink hair was really unusual, and it stood out in a good way. It looked really silky, too! Honestly, the blonde was jealous, jealous of both Sakura and Ren's hair. How did they get their hair so smooth!? Ren wasn't even a girl!
"Oi, Sakura-chan!" Naruko called, waving cheerfully.
Sakura's eyes fell on her and she blinked, startled. "Eh—Naruko-chan!? But I thought that you…!"
"I heard about it from Ren yesterday," Ino told her, smiling softly. "We happened to be getting our IDs done at the same time and he told me that Naruko apparently passed some secret test or something."
Sakura stared between Ino and Naruko, mouth opening and then closing. "Secret test, huh…?" she mused, canting her head to the side in the most adorable sign of confusion Naruko had ever seen. She perked up, however, and smiled at the whiskered blonde. "Well, I'm glad you passed, anyway." Ever since Ren started talking with everyone three years ago, Sakura had stopped hitting Naruko as much and seemed a lot more accepting of her. Something which she was very grateful for, honestly. Sakura may not have been terribly good at taijutsu, but her fists could still hurt. In any case, they weren't quite friends, but they at least got along decently well.
"Thanks!" Naruko, beaming, chirped back, sunshine and rainbows.
Ren stared at her. "Scritchable…" he muttered so quietly she didn't quite hear it, and glanced at him, blinking.
"Eh?"
He blushed. "Nothing." He reached out and patted her on the head like she was a little kid; she blinked in surprise and jerked away almost instinctively, though… it didn't feel bad, exactly. It was strange, but then, Ren was strange, and she just accepted that. After all, that strangeness was why he was one of her favorite people in the entire world.
~o~
Iruka came in soon after everyone had settled down in their seats for their Genin Orientation. His eyes swept over Naruko and I, and he smiled fondly. I grinned back at him, my appreciation for him having only shot through the roof since our fight against Mizuki. The man really was probably the best adult in the entire city, other than my own parents; but then, I was biased, really.
"Congratulations to everyone in this orientation," Iruka started, wearing his Chunin vest with a proud, warm smile at all of us. "Starting today, you have officially graduated from the Academy and are now fully-fledged ninja of the Hidden Leaf. But be prepared. You're still just Konoha Genin, You have a long, arduous road ahead of you. You'll make friends, but you'll also make many enemies. You will see things that I could never prepare you mentally for, no matter how hard I try. But know that I am proud to be able to call all of you my comrades."
Iruka began to pace around softly as he continued.
"Today you will be sorted into your Genin teams and be assigned a Jounin-sensei. Normally," he added, examining us with a raised eyebrow, "you would be divided into squads of three. However, this year is… a little different. We have a number of graduates that is not a multiple of three, and as such, we'll have to change things up. It's rare that this happens, but not unheard of, and I suppose this is just one of those years."
Confusion murmured throughout the class, and I furrowed my eyes as well, tilting my head. What would they be doing with something like this?
And what team would I be getting on? I… Well, a part of me wanted to get on Team 7, assuming the teams were assigned as they were in canon, but also—PLOT. Being a member of Team 7 meant instant access to a firsthand seat at all of the nasties that wanted to kill you. It also probably meant I'd naturally become one of the strongest ninja in the world, but that was only if I managed to survive long enough, and, well, I held confidence in myself, sure, but not that much confidence.
I hummed, wondering what other teams might be a good fit for me. Team 8, maybe? Well, they were more of a tracking team than anything, and while the new Jutsu I acquired was pretty decent for tracking, that wasn't really up my ally. Ino-Shika-Cho; Team 10? Maybe; I could provide good support for Shikamaru and Ino.
"The teams are chosen in a manner that evens out the team and makes up for each member's strengths and weaknesses," Iruka explained. "Now, listen closely so you don't miss your name." He ran down through several teams, and when he got to Team 7, he announced, "Uzumaki, Naruko. Hyuuga, Hinata. Uchiha, Sasuke."
Naruko seemed pretty happy with that, though she did frown at Sasuke. Sasuke let out something that sounded like a pained groan. I wondered what exactly it was he was annoyed with.
Well, looks like I wasn't on Team 7, after all. Well, this was exactly what I'd… expected…
Hold on, what was that he said? Hinata's on Team 7? Eh? Ehhhhhh?
A squeak of surprise and embarrassment rose up from the back row, and I glanced behind me to see a tomato—oh, wait, no, that was just Hinata's face. Well, someone's very happy with the results. My mind was absolutely reeling though, and a quick glance to Ino saw that she was as stunned as I felt. What the hell had changed to have Hinata get placed on Naruko's team!? Was it just the fact that Sakura's grades had risen steadily since Ino remained her friend?
"Team 8 is up next," Iruka said next. "Haruno, Sakura. Inuzuka, Kiba. Aburame, Shino."
Shino adjusted his glasses, nodding. What an odd kid. I never quite knew what to say around him. But, whoa, Sakura's joining Team 8 instead? What the hell!? Weird… maybe they figured it would be good for them to have her because of her potential as a medic?
Team 9 consisted of Ami and a couple civilians—now that was a group that was doomed to fail—and Ino-Shika-Cho went as expected. But that was everyone except me done and dusted; we'd had thirty-one kids in our class. I blinked rapidly. Wait, wait, my name hadn't been called! Eh? Was I not getting placed on a team after all? Would I just be automatically sent to Genin Reserves!?
I slumped in depression. Man… I at least wanted to do something with my status as a ninja…
"And lastly, for the solution to our unusual problem," Iruka said with a smile directed at me, "Kawase, Ren. You will be placed as a fourth member to one of our older Genin Teams. Now, then, everyone, after lunch break, you are to return here so that you can join up with your Jounin-sensei."
"Hai, Iruka-sensei," everyone said with wide, excited smiles.
Everyone got up to go eat, and Hinata nervously wobbled up to Naruko and I as we left together. "U-U-Um," she stammered, eyes darting between the whiskered blonde and I. "S-Since we're on t-the s-same team n-n-now… W-Would you m-mind if I… if I… "
Naruko, bless her heart, had no idea what was happening. "If you what?" she asked in genuine confusion.
I poked her on the forehead, shaking my head in amusement. "Idiot. She's asking if you want to eat lunch with her."
"Oh." She shrugged and gave a thumbs-up. "Sure, Hinata-chan, 'ttebayo!"
I didn't think it was possible for Hinata's cheeks to turn any redder than they had when she found out they were on a team together, but somehow they did. Even her ears burned up. I grinned.
"Keep this one, Naruko," I stage-whispered. "She's good for you."
"Eh?"
While the blonde just blinked in confusion, Hinata wobbled from my statement. I figured that if Naruko hadn't noticed and put a friendly hand on her back and steered her outside after I handed the blonde a lunch from my mom, the tiny and shy Hyuuga would have fallen over. I snickered; she was really fun to mess with. Still, poor girl. Hopefully being on Team 7 would be good for her.
…Hm. I wondered how this would change the Zabuza Arc and the Forest of Death?
Sorry, Hinata-chan. You're in for a lot of drama.
Lunch passed without much difficulty. I ate alone under the tree where I first met Naruko, taking the time to meditate. Mom had packed me some onigiri and veggies today, along with some sashimi. I got done with lunch about ten minutes before we had to return to the classroom to wait for our Jounin-sensei to show. So, with the extra time on my hands, I grinned and decided to practice the new Jutsu I'd learned.
Dog, Boar, Dog, Boar, Dog, Boar, Ram.
"Perfect Transformation!"
Smoke billowed around me, and I felt an odd tingle rush through me. It wasn't very pleasant, but it wasn't painful, either; more… uncomfortable. When it cleared, in my place stood… well, me, but I had twin cat ears, and a cat tail. My human ears were gone. Also, I was a little shorter, and had actual breasts.
"Wow, this feels weird," I muttered, my voice even higher and more feminine than it normally was.
The Perfect Transformation Jutsu was a B-Rank difficulty due to the intensive chakra requirement to pull it off, the amount of chakra control needed for it, as well as how hard it was to master. It differed from the main Transformation Jutsu in a couple ways. First and foremost, while the main Transformation Jutsu only lasted as long as the user's chakra reserves allowed, the Perfect Transformation sacrificed a much higher amount of chakra for permanent transformation. It didn't matter how low your chakra reserves got; so long as you didn't use the Jutsu to turn into something else, you'd remain in the transformed state pretty much forever. The exceptions to this included falling unconscious and death; or if someone touched you and disturbed your chakra system like when dispelling a genjutsu.
Second, as the name implies, it was a perfect transformation. Basically, the original transformation just gave cosmetic changes. You didn't actually become something else. You were still you. You still had the same DNA. Even when people transform into kunai and shuriken, they still have human genetics and chakra flow and stuff. (Hence why, in canon, when Naruto and Sasuke performed their trick with the shuriken against Zabuza, Sasuke instantly knew the transformed Naruto was Naruto.) With the Perfect Transformation, however, you actually, completely turned into… whatever it was you're turning into.
The Sexy Jutsu? Or, the Foxy Jutsu, as it were? It was just a cosmetic change. Naruko didn't actually gain foxgirl DNA or anything. Right now, my DNA was 100% female, 100% catgirl.
Sadly, the one exception to this idea was that turning into, say, a younger kid with the Perfect Transformation wouldn't extend your lifespan and reset the clock on your lifetime.
Oh, and lastly, the biggest difference between the Perfect Transformation and normal Transformation was that the latter couldn't be used on other people. You could only transform yourself. This one could. And that, as well as the fact that if you transformed into, say, a shuriken and didn't have anyone around who knew about it in order to use a kai on you and reverse the transformation, was why it had been sealed away in a storage scroll.
Who had developed such a powerful jutsu, you might ask?
Well, it's pretty obvious who developed it, really.
Orochimaru.
As I thought about this, I frowned, my tail flicking in distaste. God, I hated that son of a bitch, but… well, he did make a pretty damn interesting jutsu. I already found myself altering a lot of my plans. With this tool in my repertoire, a hell of a lot could be accomplished that otherwise simply would not have been able to occur.
…Also, it was cool to be able to turn into a girl at will. So, um, thanks, potentially pedophilic snake man?
All that being said, it would probably confuse the hell outta whatever Jounin-sensei I was being given to find that the class had a catgirl in it, so I Perfect Transformed back into my normal body. I winced and let out a shaky breath from fatigue; thanks to some kekkei genkai training earlier today and how expensive this new Jutsu was, I was running really low. With my calculations, I could probably PT maybe… four times a day before I got too close to chakra exhaustion? Three or four times.
Back in my cute femboy body, I made my way back to class, and waited dutifully for my Jounin-sensei to appear. Whoever the heck they were.
Turns out, I didn't have to wait very long, because my sensei was extremely punctual.
"DYNAMIC! ENTRY!"
And loud.
I gaped at the bowl cut, startlingly green jumpsuit, and grin that—were those actual sparkles!? And was that an actual wave genjutsu behind him!?
Oh no.
Oh no.
"Is Kawase Ren-san here?" Maito Gai, smiling wider than Luffy himself, asked, scanning the crowd for me. His eyes fell on me, and I shrunk. No, no, no. It wasn't that Gai was a bad person, hell no, it was just—he was so loud. And… and… youthful. "Come with me! I'll be your new Jounin-sensei!"
Ino shot me a look of amused pity. Shikamaru grumbled something about people being loud.
If he'd try to get me into a green jumpsuit and bowl cut, I was actually committing seppuku.