Chapter 3: Red Clouded Crow
Naruto sat there staring blandly at the piece of paper before him. He absolutely hated being three. Looking over at the other toddlers sitting at the tiny child's table revealed that they were happily coloring the paper as many colors as they could. Oh why did he have to be stuck in a toddler's body?
"Naoko-chan are you alright?" Naruto looked up at Akiko, their caretaker for the day. "You don't want to color? I could make you a cute ducky for you to make a pretty pink or red!"
Naruto felt himself grow ill. Why? Kami why did Inari-sama hate him so! Naruto quickly shook his head no at the offer before standing up and wandering to one of the windows. Staring out to the bustling streets of Konoha made him wonder what he could do. What was the point of being in the past if you're stuck in an orphanage unable to train, to change things for the better?
A group of dark haired men wandered over to a stall where the owner bowed deeply to them. Naruto frowned at the interaction. He couldn't ever remember anyone acting that way for anyone but the Hokage. Who were these people?
The little white haired girl rose onto her tip toes, pressing her nose into the cool glass. Her blue eyes squinted as she tried to see details of the men. When she had been a boy she could have seen them easily. Naruto scowled as they walked farther away. How he hated being stuck in a weak three year old girl's body!
"Danzo-sama, Homura-sama, Koharu-sama! What do we owe for this lovely visit?" Naruto stiffened by the window.
"Ah, we simply wish to see if the children from the Central Children's Orphanage are settling in properly and of course any new children that have been brought to the orphanage." Smiled Utatane Koharu , her wrinkled face scrunched up like a cat that had smelt something particularly terrible. "We already visited the Western Children's Orphanage earlier today."
"Oh how kind of you all! I must say that everyone is doing quite well." Akiko beamed at the advisors before sighing. "I'm afraid we don't have any new children. I myself was hoping that our most honorable daughter would be brought here so that we could have her adopted by a proper clan but it's really silly thinking, I know. Why would the Hokage send her to an orphanage of all places! But I hope he goes back on his statement of hiding her from us all. I know many that would like to apologize to her fo-for taking poor little Na-Naruto!" Her voice cracked near the end as tears welled up. Utatane Koharu stepped forward to comfort the much younger woman as Shimura Danzo and Mitokado Homura began to casually wander around the room.
They carefully looked over the children that could pass as three year olds, even though most weren't. Naruto struggled to calm his heart. They were trying to find him! What was he going to do! Naruto stared out the window as he watched from the corner of his eye as Mitokado Homura headed slowly towards him through the crowds of children. The elderly man hadn't yet noticed Naruto but it would occur any time now.
"Well hello there, what are you doing by the window?" smiled Mitokado as he looked down at Naruto. Naruto slowly looked up at the man, his face blank.
"Watching clouds." The little child finally blurted out. Naruto found himself silently thanking Shikamaru for that excuse, one that the lazy boy gave when troublesome wasn't a good enough answer for the askee (who was usually Ino). Blue eyes watched as a slight flustered look crossed the old man's face before the advisor nodded bye and left quickly to Danzo's side. Naruto carefully looked back through the window, this time actually looking up at the white puffy clouds. It was good to know that the infamous Nara response flustered even the Hokage's advisors.
"There are no blonds here," remarked Homura quietly to Danzo. "Are we sure she would be a blond like her twin?"
Danzo's reflection in the window gave an almost scandalized look to his fellow advisor. "We all agreed that it would be most likely. Because of the genetic experiments done on her, she couldn't possibly have red hair. And I can assert that none of the genetic experiments that Orochimaru had done changed the original physical appearance of the person. Since she has none of her mother's genetics, indicated through the blood test, she must have all the same colorings as the Jinchuuriki."
Naruto mouth dropped open at those words. That hadn't made any sense, not that he was complaining. No one had ever claimed that the advisors had understood genetics or any of that all that well. Blue eyes blinked as the sudden thought popped into his head. At this time there wasn't much understood about genetics let alone how genetic experiments could affect a person. Part of that was because of the illegalities of the procedures in Fire country. It wasn't until the Demon country opened its borders again in 12 or so years that the knowledge became available since it was legal over there. Right now only Orochimaru had any real knowledge on the subject, though whether he had ever really thought about his knowledge in a productive manner is debatable since he had only ever been interested in immortality.
Right now the most people knew was how to compare genetics of one person to another to find relationships. There were a lot of breakthroughs in genetics over the next five years or so. Naruto shook his head at the knowledge that all those ridiculous lectures Sakura went into around him about the medical subjects she was studying at the time actually came in handy. He couldn't quite believe that he had remembered that much about it. Wasn't this the lecture where he decided to see if he could breathe underwater?
"Danzo-sama, the Hokage is requesting your presence." Spoke up a young, dark haired man as he stood by the doorway. His reflection looked oddly familiar. Naruto turned and looked at him. Dark hair, dark eyes, way too pale skin. Naruto frowned he looked sort of like… Azure orbs widened as the man turned to follow Danzo out. On the back of his shirt was a red and white fan. He was an Uchiha.
Sasuke
Naruto turned back to the window and slid down onto his bottom. Sasuke was still in the village. He was three just like him. His clan was still alive! Blue eyes stared out the window clouded with thought. He could save Sasuke! He could go make friends now and be there for him. It wasn't like Naruto could stop Itachi, he wasn't skilled enough to do that! But he could have people notice the massacre before it was complete! Naruto could save Sasuke and some of the other Uchiha!
A large grin spread across Naruto's face. He could save Sasuke! Naruto jumped up, he had been stuck in this damn orphanage for two whole weeks whining to himself about being in a three year olds body when he could have been sneaking off to find Sasuke and work on becoming friends. Kami knows how long that's going to take! Sasuke is such a bastard after all.
Blue eyes narrowed on the caretaker, now he just had to convince her to let them outside â€"eyes glanced at the clockâ€" a good three hours early. Naruto frowned as he looked at her and then at the other children in the room before grinning. This could work perfectly. Naruto casually walked over to the group of five year olds, little loudmouth Yuki specifically.
"Yuki-kun! Yuki-kun!" Gasped Naruto as he sudden started running over to her.
The little girl blinked at the three year old. "Yes Naoko-chan? Do you want to play dolls with us?" A slight exasperated sigh escaped the five year old. Clearly she had had enough entertaining little silly three year olds for this morning. Naruto glanced over at Haruko, his fellow three year old. He couldn't really blame Yuki for not wanting to play with another little kid. Haruko was an idiot in Naruto's opinion, of course that wasn't quiet fair since Naruto was comparing them all to what he remembered of his childhood and how the rookie nine had been. His memory seemed to have twisted into making the entire rookie nine out to be geniuses compared to these kids.
"No, Yuki-kun I want to play outside! The flowers are pretty!" Pouted Naruto even though he felt like a idiot. The little, blue eyed girl continued. "I want to pick them before they are all taken away by the older girls out there!"
Yuki's eyes widened in horror, "Nani, all gone?" Naruto watched as Yuki rose quickly and grabbed her fellow five year olds before rushing Akiko-san. "Akiko-san! Akiko-san! Can we go outside?"
Moriko yelled, "I want to go outside! It's boring here!" The other five year olds soon joined in yelling at the poor caretaker about the flowers and wanting to go out before they are all gone. Naruto simply smiled in self-satisfaction. After another minute of screaming the head caretaker, one Hayashi Yumi, entered, looked at the issue and shouted above everyone, "Outside now! None of you are coming back in until dinner. Damn racket is giving me a fucking headache."
Naruto shook his head at the woman. If he ever got a chance, he was going to inform Jiji that the head caretaker was always getting over a hangover on Mondays. Not the best thing to do when having to take care of children but absolutely perfect to take advantage of.
AUAU
Naruto grinned widely as he found himself running through the quiet section of town that separated the Uchiha residence and the major shopping district of Konoha. From his understanding the Uchiha personal training grounds was what he was running by now. It was a rather intelligent way to separate the loud, busy district from a residential. Naruto disliked how loud it was living just outside the major part of the district himself. He couldn't wait till he could figure out a way to move into one of the small studio apartments that was reserved for orphaned genin and sometimes genin-to-be. Perhaps he could even get his old apartment back!
"Are you lost?"
Blue eyes blinked at the sudden question, horrified that he hadn't noticed someone that close to him. Even if he was stuck in a three year olds body couldn't mean he had lost all his skills, could it?
"Do you want me to take you back to the shopping district? Your mother there?"
Naruto frowned as he turned to thank the person for the offer. Blue eyes widened as he stared up into black orbs of a Uchiha. The stress lines under each eye, though far less prominent than last Naruto had saw them, told Naruto exactly who was offering him help. A strange pain flashed over his abdomen as Uchiha Itachi walked towards him.
The little girl gasped as bile filled her mouth and she doubled over. Naruto found himself upchucking. It felt like something was clawing its way back up his throat. Why the hell was he reacting like this in front of Uchiha Itachi of all people! He had to get away, not stand in front of the mass murder and throw up!
"eh, you alright?" Surprise and uncertain colored the future murderers words. If Naruto hadn't been busy upchucking he would have had to wonder if he had ever heard that much emotion from the Uchiha before. Instead the blue eyed child continued to struggle to cough up whatever it was that was trying to get out. Naruto was even too busy to jerk away from the chibi Itachi as the boy touched his shoulders in a hesitant action of comfort. He was getting dizzy.
"Just… just calm down and breathe through your nose."
The little girl closed her eyes as she reluctantly followed the orders. It helped a lot. The light headed feeling faded and Naruto was soon able to force his mouth wide open and coughed more controllably this time. Another moment and finally the thing fell out of Naruto's mouth. Blue and black eyes stared down at it in shock. He had just thrown up a raven!
The raven got up on to its feet and looked up at the two humans for a short staring contest before, with a jump, it somehow rammed itself into Itachi's chest and dissolved. Itachi gave a soft uhf before slumping forward, resting his head onto Naruto's small shoulder. What was going on? When had he gotten a raven in his gut?
Naruto shifted slightly as the weight of the Uchiha began to become too much. What was the last thing he remembered? Did it involve a raven? Itachi? Naruto scowled at that, it hadn't really been about the Uchiha. Blue eyes glared over at the man, he had been involved of course but it had been mainly that puppet master and clay dude that they had been forced to fight. He hadn't actually seen the mass murder in person since before he had left for training with Jiraiya.
"Naruto-kun." Came a sudden quiet mummer from the Uchiha as he lifted his head. Wide blue eyes meet suddenly very tired, pained black ones. "You will tell me what has happened."
The three year old glared at the mass murderer, for somehow this really was the mass murderer and not just the boy that would become one. "Why the hell should I tell you anything!"
Itachi sighed as he got up to his feet. "We are both trapped in our- are you in a girl's body?"
Naruto shifted as he mumbled in reply. This wasn't how this was supposed to go! He was supposed to be making friends with Sasuke right now. He was most definitely not supposed to have brought the future and insane Itachi to the past and have a random ass conversation with him!
"What was that?"
"Yea, I'm in a girl's body teme." Naruto glared up at the chest of the boy. He had at least learned to not look an Uchiha in the eye.
Itachi sighed again before grabbing Naruto's arm and dragging the tiny, struggling body into the forested training grounds by the road. After a few minutes of walking, and cursing on Naruto's part, Itachi slowed to a stop by a clearing that had a bench of all things sitting under a tree.
Naruto found himself sitting on the bench with Itachi kneeling in front of him. "Now, Naruto-kun you need to tell me what is going on."
Blue eyes glared into black. "Why should I murderer?"
The little girl paused as she saw a faint, but visible flinch come from Itachi.
"You will not believe me Naruto-kun, but, as it might actually get you talking, I am willing to explain to you about what happened with the mass murder of my family."
Naruto simply stared at the boy in front of him with a rather bland expression. "You're kidding me right? Explain what? There's nothing to explain! You killed your family but kept Sasuke alive to mess with him because you're a sick bastard! Now leave me alone, I'm going to go befriend Sasuke so that this time he won't leave Konoha. Maybe I'll even be able to convince everyone that your psycho and are going to kill your entire clan in a couple of years so that they'll execute you or something!"
Itachi's suddenly harsh grip on Naruto's arms kept the 18-year-old-three-year-old in his place on the bench. "They're alive?" Whispered Itachi. Naruto stilled his struggle at the absolute horrified agony that dripped off Itachi's words.
Blue eye's looked up into gleaming black. He was on the verge of crying. What the hell? It clicked rather quickly as Naruto thought of his own reactions since coming to this world. It had taken a bit longer for his new, small, and younger body to take hold of his emotions and sometime even his actions, but he had found himself acting like a three-year-old every once in a while. Especially when he thought of all his precious people that were alive again. It made sense that Itachi would be more emotional as a kid, who isn't? But his reaction to knowing that his family was alive didn't fit with what the man had done. With the reason the man had given to Sasuke.
Naruto breathed out in growing horror. "Why did you kill your family?"
Itachi suddenly released Naruto and looked away. As the silence stretch between them the little girl started to squirm. "Look, teme. If you're not going to tell me about why you killed them, even though you said you'd tell me, then I'll be going. I got to go befriend Sasuke so he doesn't go insane and leave Konoha this time around."
As Naruto hopped up to leave Itachi spoke. "Orders are orders, Naruto-kun. My clan was planning to usurp the council and Hokage. They were threatening to begin a civil war. I did as the advisors and Hokage ordered except I demanded that Sasuke be allowed to live. I insisted that the truth of what happened wasn't told to Sasuke. They agreed."
The two children fell back into silence. Naruto couldn't decide what to do. What could he say? Naruto knelt as he tried to ignore the shaking of his body, or the fact that his Ojii had ordered for something like that. Blue eyes closed as he forced himself to focus back to the matter at hand.
"I'm going to stop the massacre this time. You'll not have to kill them."
Itachi shook his head at Naruto. "That is one promise you will not be able to keep Naruto-kun."
An inexplicit sense of annoyance filled Naruto at the word promise. "This isn't a promise. It's fact."
Black orbs looked up at Naruto carefully before a faint smile flickered across the young face of Uchiha Itachi. The boy changed the subject. "You want to save my brother still? And you're going to start by trying to befriend him?"
"Yeah, so?"
"He'll only pay any attention to you if you're strong. Don't think that part of Sasuke began after the massacre. It has always been a part of his person, especially when it came to girls."
Naruto puffed his cheeks out in annoyance. "I'm plenty strong! Come on, let's fight! I'll show you how strong I am. I got way better since I was twelve!"
The three-year-old ignored the startled look on Itachi's face as he jumped up and formed the hand seal of a cross with his index fingers. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" A puff of smoke revealed a single kage bunshin.
"Naruto-kun!"
Naruto ignored the cry of surprise from Itachi as he drew up chakra and with the help of the shadow clone began to create the rasengan. Itachi gapped at Naruto as the girl finished the move and cried out as she moved to run at him. "RASENGAN!"
It took only a few steps before Naruto gave a slight gasp of surprise and crumbled to the ground, the ball of chakra exploding outward in a sharp, circular wind.
AUAU
Itachi stared down at the little girl that he knew was Uzumaki Naruto. Damn that boy! The only thing he had gotten out of him was that they were somehow in the past before his family was dead and that he planned on befriending Sasuke. The idiot child seemed to think they hadn't fought since he was twelve to top it off. It was as if the child had been brought from the future before he had even given the raven, which should have only been his skills with the Mangekyou sharingan for Sasuke, not all his memories. How was that even possible? Naruto-kun had of been from after the time he had forced the raven down his throat in hopes that that power would help Naruto save Sasuke and help Sasuke defeat Madara. Otherwise, how had Naruto gotten the raven?
Black eyes closed for a second before the man-turned-boy walked over to the unconscious and rather foolish three years old. Who in their right mind would think that their toddler body could handle such powerful techniques or even had the chakra capacity to use them safely? Itachi shook his head as he wiped blood off his cheek, one of the numerous shallow cuts the exploding rasengan had created. Turning Naruto over revealed that the child had even more shallow cuts all over her body. Apparently they were going to have to visit the hospital before he could get any more information out of the child.
AUAU
Naruto woke in the hospital some days later, alone. What had happened? Blue eyes widened as the memories of meeting Itachi surfaced. When that Uchiha showed back up Naruto had a lot of questions! How did the man get a raven in his gut when Naruto had been out traveling with Jiraiya? How did he make it so the raven had his memories and knowledge in it? What was he going to do now?
Naruto looked over the bare white room with a sigh. He really needed to stop ending up here. He needed to go find Sasuke and make sure he wasn't such a bastard this time around while also making sure he didn't leave.
The door opened with a quiet swoosh. Itachi entered as quietly. "Naoko-chan." greeted the chibi Itachi as he closed the door. Naruto wrinkled his nose at the name as Itachi pulled a piece of paper out and, unfolding it, stuck it to the door with a small amount of chakra. A seal gleamed in red ink on the paper.
"It is a portable privacy seal. No one outside this room, even with the windows open, will be able to hear anything. The Hokage's tower is covered in more powerful and permanent versions. Sadly these portable ones are only usable once."
Naruto slowly nodded as he regarded the seal. It was just a bunch of swirls but it seemed really handy.
"Now Naoko-chan you were about to explain to me what has happened and how we are in the past with myself in my younger body and you in some little girl's body while the Naruto in this world is dead."
"Well, why don't you explain how I had a raven in me that belonged to you!"
Itachi frowned as he sat in the only chair in the room. "That is unimportant Naoko-chan."
"I'm Naruto."
"Naoko is your name now and I can't see you being able to somehow transfer back into your past's body when it has been cremated."
The little girl sighed at that. Sometimes the rather new practice, at this time, of cremating the dead to protect the village and clan secrets was rather bothersome. "We're back in the past because... Why does it matter? We're stuck here!"
Itachi stared blankly back. "Do you remember how this happened Naoko-chan?"
Naruto frowned and looked out the window. What did he remember about how he had gotten there? He could remember the dream with his Otou-san, Tou-chan, and Inari-sama. He clearly remembered that entire night in the hospital, burning down the old orphanage, Saru and Buta. He could remember the horror of finding out he was a girl. He could remember the alleyway where he had awoken, though it was somewhat vague now. He couldn't remember before that though! There were butterflies. He was certain there had been butterflies where ever he had been but beyond that nothing.
"Naoko-chan?"
Naruto looked back at Itachi, uncertainty bubbling up from her chest. "I don't remember how, just butterflies. The last thing I remember before waking up in the past was butterflies and being in Tani no Kuni with Jiraiya on our trip. We had a couple more months before we had to get back to Konoha… I should remember more, shouldn't I?"
Itachi nodded after a moment. "I can't remember it anymore but when I first awoke, and let's just call it that, I could remember giving you the raven. That was many months after you had returned to Konoha. I only know I had remembered that because after hearing you indicate that you had not fought me since you were twelve even though I remember differently, I choose to write down my newest memory and that had been the raven being forced down your throat."
Blue eyes closed as the full implications settled onto his shoulders. "We're forgetting aren't we?"
"Aa, it will not be long before we have no solid memories of our past's future. It is not as if that will help us this time around, anyways."
"Our memories would have given us heads up on all these things we could change for the better!"
"But Naoko-chan the future is different already."
Naruto glared up at the boy, "How so? I haven't done anything to change it!"
"Naruto is dead. You exist. The Kyuubi is not within our protective walls. Madara can get it easier this time. Konoha doesn't have a Jinchuuriki this time around. You are a girl. All of these aspects will change the outcome of many events. You will not be placed on the same genin team. You will not be scorned. You will be loved; more so once your parentage comes out. Many things will change."
Naruto stared wide eyed at the Uchiha. "No...NO. I'll still be on the same team! I'll just be the dead last again! And we don't have to worry about the Kyuubi it's in Inari-sama's grasp. Madara won't be able to get it away from Inari-sama."
Itachi's eyes sharpened at that. "Inari-sama? What do you know about how you got here Naoko-chan?"
The little girl bowed her head before finally saying. "I had a dream where Inari-sama explained that he gave me this new body as thanks for releasing the Kyuubi where he could get it. The dream had Tou-chan and Otou-san too. They-"
"Who are Tou-chan and Otou-san?"
Naruto looked up, startled. "Namikaze Minato and Senju Tobirama! They're my Tou-chan and Otou-san. Anyways Tou-chan explained to me that the Kyuubi is connected to all the Kyuubi's in all the different worlds and when Inari-sama got a hold of one of the Kyuubis it yanked all the Kyuubis back to him. That killed the Naruto in this world and I guess all the other worlds that had the Kyuubi sealed in Naruto's. So this Madara won't be able to get to the nine tails. I had the dream before I read the DNA test. It wasn't just a dream."
"hn," muttered Itachi in agreement, seemingly beginning the Uchiha's infamous non-silence.
Naruto nodded before looking up with a glare. "I will have the same team as last time!"
Itachi blinked at the sudden jump in topic before shaking his head and thinking back over what Naruto had said about this earlier. "You won't Naoko-chan. You-"
"I will too! Just see, all I have to do is be lazy and stay dead last!"
Itachi shook his head. "That won't work. You're a girl Naoko. All genin teams have only one girl on it. There are simply too few females for there to be a team with two girls on it. If you want to get on the same team as my brother then you will have to best the pink haired girl on your team for the position."
A pained expression flickered across the little girl's face before it settled with determination. "Then I'll take the position from Sakura. She'll be alright on a different team!" Naruto turned to Itachi. "You're going to help me train then. I have to be the top kunoichi in my year to get the spot."
Itachi sat back at the order. Thinking it over the dark hair boy slowly responded. "I can help but it's going to be complicated. I don't know if it's only because you remember now or if it will still affect you after you lose your memories but we're going to have to fight your body's reaction to fight like you had done as Naruto. It going to be difficult and rather frustrating Naoko-chan."
"What do you mean? You just need to help me with getting my body back into shape and fixing whatever is wrong with my chakra to make me faint like earlier," scowled Naruto, folding his arms across his small chest.
The Uchiha shook his head. "You need to remember that you're a girl and you don't have the Kyuubi in you anymore. That means that your fighting style as Naruto will not work for you. You will not have the sturdy and strong body you had as Naruto. You will not be able to rely on the Kyuubi to heal your body from all the hits you stupidly took as Naruto. You will not have the same amount of chakra as you don't have the Kyuubi's chakra being cleansed and put into your own.
You do have a rather large amount of chakra for a three year old. Normally three year old girls don't have enough chakra to even use at this stage of life. Very few boys have enough either. It is amazing you have enough for a kage bunshin and the rasengan. It was also extremely dangerous what you did earlier. Your body is not developed far enough to be able to handle the influx of active chakra in your coils. You're going to have to train your body first on becoming comfortable with large masses of chakra flowing through it. Then there's training to use the chakra, chakra control, and you'll have to expand your chakra levels. This isn't going to be easy Naoko-chan."
Naruto gapped at Itachi. "I-I never had to do half that stuff! I just had to do some chakra control. What are you talking about with all this?"
Itachi stared at the little girl. "You never had to help your chakra coils expand to be able to use your chakra properly?" At Naruto's shake of his head, Itachi leaned forward and regard Naruto curiously. "It could be that your coils were being flexed and expanded because of the Kyuubi's chakra being cleansed and integrated into your own. You never did any chakra activities during the first couple of years in the academy? It's why you don't learn about chakra techniques till the last two years. You're training your coils to be able to accept the flow of chakra."
Naruto shook his head. "I don't know what you're talking about. Why do you need to do that? Your body is made so you can use chakra!"
"No it is not. Well, not really. Chakra coils must be flexed and stretched like muscles. The more you train it the better they are, the stronger they become. The coils are stretched and flexed to get bigger, and the bigger they become the more chakra you can access safely at one time. These training techniques are the basses for chakra control and expansion training. This also is part of the first step in learning how to hide your chakra from enemy shinobi. Shinobi from clans have an advantage in having their coils more readily capable to accept the strain of the stretching and mass use of chakra. That is one of the many reasons clans are the more prominent shinobi within the hidden villages. It becomes a part of your genetic capacity."
"Oh." Naruto glanced outside before looking back at the chibi Itachi. "How long do I have to stay here?"
"A couple more days I believe. I know that your caretaker Akiko stops by around three everyday to see how you're doing."
The three year old pouted at that. "Why am I even in here?"
Itachi raised an eyebrow. "Chakra exhaustion. Though everyone believes that you unconsciously tried to protect yourself from one of my techniques that I had been working on when you stumbled into my training grounds."
"Oh." Naruto blinked at that. He had never had chakra exhaustion before. "Can you tell me the first step I need to do to start training my coils? Can I do that here?"
"You can." Uchiha Itachi rose to his feet and walked to the door. Turning around to regard the little girl, he explained in one word. "Meditate." And with that the future mass murderer and Akatsuki member ripped the seal off the door and strolled out the room, leaving behind a flustered child.
AUAU
The influx of air fluttered soft white strands of hair as nature continued to calm the still figure. It had been two weeks since Naoko had begun her training. It had been two weeks since she had properly claimed the large window in the play room as her meditating spot. She had finally been able to keep herself perfectly still for a good twenty minutes as of yesterday. Physically still, that is.
Naoko could feel something around her when she meditated, always moving and shifting like wind but it didn't play with things as wind did. This thing was more of a silent, continuous figure standing just out of her reach. She didn't know what it could be, but somehow Naoko knew it wasn't part of meditating.
She hadn't seen Itachi since the hospital room. Naoko hadn't had the chance to do anything about it. Whenever she had been allowed outside to play there had always been a caretaker carefully keeping an eye out for her. The few times the little girl had been able to escape had led to her being "caught" by good meaning shinobi and kunoichi that just happened to be nearby. Of course it couldn't be that they were her hidden guards, especially since two had been Buta and Saru. The others probably were the other ANBU that knew her real identity.
Naoko sighed as she pushed the thoughts away and focused on the world around her, not the noise of all the children but the quiet nature of the world. This stillness she had come to learn was strangely familiar. It was almost frighteningly endless. She could get lost in the strange figure if she ever dared reach out to it.
"NAOKO-CHAN!"
Blue eyes flew open as the little three-year-old nearly jumped out of her skin. Turning, after a moment to calm her nerves, Naruto looked up at Yuki. The five year old grinned down at her. "Guess what Naoko-chan!"
Naruto forced his eye from twitching. "What?"
"It's the second Friday of the month!"
Blue eyes stared blankly. "So?"
Yuki's grin stretched widely across her face. "Soooooooo, this is the day that we could be adopted silly!"
Naoko stilled in horror at that. "When are the adults coming?"
Yuki blinked over at her, "After lunch. It's going to be awesome!"
Naruto nodded slowly, no longer listening to the gushing girl. He had to get out of here now.