Gender Bender Naruto: The Series
By: KioKat
Summary:We all know Naruto, the #1 knucklehead, loudmouth ninja, right? Well, what if He had been a She? What if the whole Naruto world had been flipped around? The kunoichi now shinobi and vice versa? Join us on the adventure of a lifetime with Uzumaki Nariko, Konoha's #1, knuckleheaded Kunoichi!
xox
Chapter 4: Betrayal and Confusion
(Completed: 07-20-09 )
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Hajime darted from roof top to roof top, frowning slightly at the turmoil in his mind. Today had not gone as he had planned. He pushed off from a building's edge as he thought back to the earlier events.
He had been so sure that Izumi would say yes to his request. She seemed so close to the Kyuubi child, so... attached. For a brief moment, he had been certain that she would agree; but then her face had changed, and she had refused.
A larger part of him wanted to believe that it was because she did not feel for the jinchuuriki as much as he had been led to believe. However, the quiet voice within him disagreed, whispering that it likely had been the teacher inside her that wouldn't allow it. Izumi had always been somewhat of a stickler for following the rules, even when it came to that child.
Hajime grimaced at the thought of that girl. He had hoped that by bringing up the suggestion of her being passed when she should have failed, he could gain her trust. As much as he disliked the idea of getting near her, it was necessary if he wished to go through with his plan. He needed her to trust him if he wanted it to work.
Landing on one of the rooftops, he sprung away again, soaring through the air. No matter; it should have been enough that he had "considered" it. From what he gathered, the Kyuubi child was surprisingly trusting considering her position. Lack of affection, perhaps?
He shook his head, ice-blue orbs hardening like the frozen liquid they resembled. It was not important why, just as long as it would assist him with his self-imposed mission. Pausing on one roof, he frowned and glanced around. Of course, completing that self-imposed mission required actually finding her first.
As if answering his unspoken question, a brief flare of chakra announced its presence in the forest to his right. The chunin crouched on the building top and faced the tree line. He narrowed his eyes. Though it had only been for a brief moment, the amount of chakra he had sensed had been absolutely massive.
Without hesitation, he took off in a sprint towards the thick foliage. He knew of only one person within the village that had chakra levels that high. A faint smirk tugged at his lips. Fortunately, it just so happened to be the very person he sought.
After leaping from tree branch to tree branch for a few short minutes, a flash of orange caught his eye. He stopped and pressed himself against the trunk, pleased that the child appeared to have not sensed his approach.
He smiled. Perfect.
And then, he stepped into view.
oxoxo
Izumi sighed softly to herself, finally resting at home after a long, tiring day at the Academy. The graduation exam had been exhausting in itself. What with the crying and begging for a second chance or the excited cries and victory dances of those who wouldn't leave the room, it wasn't hard to understand why she was so tired; but afterward, she had stayed behind, having to help sort out the files of those who had passed and those who hadn't. It had been a tedious task and the noise of the crowd outside had done little for her concentration.
Not to mention that nagging little emotion that had been playing with her heart long after Nariko had left the room...
Izumi shut her eyes and shook her head firmly. No, no, she wouldn't think about that!
'I did the right thing,' the brunette insisted. 'I have no reason to feel guilty about this and Nariko should have had no reason to feel betrayed. She needed to make three bunshin; she barely made one. It was the right thing.'
Yet, despite her reasoning, the feeling did not disappear. Instead those darkened blue eyes continued to haunt her, the betrayal within them echoing loud and clear.
Izumi clenched her teeth, fingers clutching the hem of her shirt helplessly. What was she supposed to do? There were no exceptions, not even for Nariko...
She tried to shove back images of the blonde sitting on the swing outside the building, quietly watching the cluster of students and parents that lingered there. She tried to pretend that she did not see all the malicious and relieved grins that those same parents and fellow teachers had shot towards the depressed blonde. She tried to ignore the memory of those blue orbs clouding up with the emotion she recognized but could not recall, and the tears Izumi swore had gathered there before the young girl had vanished from the scene. She tried not to think of how much it had pained her to see those tears as she looked away, attempting to forget...
But those unreadable blue eyes appeared within her mind once more, and she tried vainly to recall the name of the emotion she had seen there. It seemed so familiar... So very familiar...
And just as it had the day before, another pair of unreadable brown orbs materialized within her mind's eye. This time though, even though she felt just as weary as the first time the memory had bubbled up, she chose to latch on to that image. Perhaps she would finally come to understand what that recognizable emotion was.
She searched long and hard, wondering and wondering whose eyes those were. Slowly, very slowly, the memory came to her followed quickly by a realization. First came a form, faint and shadowy, but small as if it were that of a child's. The vision became clearer, now revealing the shadowy figure to be a young girl, no older than thirteen at best.
Izumi frowned, eyes widening as the face slowly came into focus, allowing her to finally recognize it as one she knew. Gently, she reached out towards the girl as if to touch her, but her fingers met glass. The brunette stared as she realized the young teen had copied her action. She lifted her gaze to lock with the girl's, again noting that the smaller brunette had done the same.
The female chunin stared wordlessly at the apparition in her mind, having long come to the realization of who it was.
"...It's me," she whispered softly.
The young Izumi stared at her solemnly, eyes shining with the emotion that had confused the older brunette earlier, but that she now understood perfectly. Izumi closed her eyes, mentally pressing her forehead to the mirror within her psyche, tears forming beneath her lashes.
'Loneliness...' her mind murmured.
'Oh, Nariko...' the brunette thought sadly, opening her eyes to stare blankly at her mental reflection. 'That's what I saw... You were lonely... You...' She continued to watch her younger self, the tears having faded as she came to yet another realization.
'...are just like me...'
Izumi felt like the breath had been punched out of her lungs. Just like her... Nariko was just like her...
Memories of herself as a girl, the same girl that stood before her, orphaned and alone, crashed upon her like a flood. So much made sense now.
How many times had she purposely goofed up to attract the attention she had so desperately craved and seemed to have lost with her parents' death? How many times had she gone to fool around or pull some prank or other, hoping to garner some sort of reaction whether it was negative or not? How many times had she envied those children with parents or been driven to tears by the emptiness that ached inside her?...
...How many times had she seen the loneliness from her childhood reflected in Nariko's eyes?
Izumi stood there numbly, guilt panging within her chest, but not for the reason she had thought it to be.
'How?' she couldn't help but wonder helplessly. 'How could I have never noticed, neverrealized...?'
'You didn't want to,' something told her quietly. Izumi flinched at the soft words. It was not a reprimand, not an enraged voice screaming for justice. She almost wished that it was, but it was only a mild, if brutal statement of fact. 'You refused to acknowledge it once you found yourself able to overcome it. You didn't want to remember, to be reminded of how it felt... or how much it hurt.'
The brunette stared at the ground, now understanding her guilt. 'I... am so selfish... I ignored her true pain because I didn't want to recall it myself. If she hurt, I hurt; that'swhy I disliked so much to see her unhappy. She's me. She's me.'
Izumi's eyes went wide. No wonder she found it so difficult to tell the blonde she didn't hate her! How could she admit that to Nariko when such a fact wasn't even true for herself? The brunette laughed in bitter disbelief. She was a chunin, a teacher, but god, if she didn't feel like an idiot right then.
Everything made sense; all of it, everything!
She stared at nothing in particular, brown eyes filled with wonder. She understood now. Nariko... Oh, Nariko... How could she have been so selfish, so blind?
That girl, that blonde, that hard-headed, oblivious, wonderful student of hers! She was-
Izumi's jolt back to reality came in the form of a great flare of chakra: brief, but massive.
Her breath caught within her throat. She'd recognize that chakra anywhere... The brunette glanced in the direction she had sensed it, and a cold dread twisted her insides.
She swallowed, wondering at the emotion. She didn't know why it was there. Maybe it was that female intuition she heard about so often and never felt, or perhaps it was the events of the day; but whatever it was, all Izumi knew was that the flare had given her a bad feeling.
As a shinobi, she had been taught to follow her gut, and the fact that it seemed Nariko was involved?...
Without a word, Izumi took off out her front room window, briefly hoping that her instinct was wrong. However, if it was right...
She only prayed she wasn't too late.
oxoxo
The Third sat calmly at his desk, pondering the dilemma before him.
The scroll, the scroll, the forbidden scroll that held that jutsu was gone...
Unnecessary and over-the-top use of inflection aside—though considering the severity of the situation, perhaps it was justified—he had already figured out when the scroll had been taken. Only one time had he left the drawer unattended in the past two days, and he knew that the scroll had still been there the other morning. It was simply a matter of who had taken it, really.
He closed his eyes, running through the possibilities. Only a select few knew of the scroll's existence, and even then, there were fewer who knew of its location. As far as his awareness went, those few were trustworthy, and even if they wanted the jutsu within, they would have little use for it because they lacked the chakra for any of the techniques the scroll withheld. So, who could have...?
His mind returned to the event that had drawn him away from his desk in the first place and the person in charge of the action. Sarutobi frowned at the thought. That didn't seem right. Nariko barely knew Konoha's history, let alone the existence of a scroll such as this. Besides that, how would she have gotten in?
He briefly recalled that someone appeared to have been in his office while he had been gone, and he hadn't thought he had left the window cracked...
But then, how would she have discovered the scroll or opened the drawer for that matter? It was kept locked at all times. She shouldn't have been able to even glimpse inside it.
The Sandaime frowned again, reminding himself that Nariko was an expert prankster. Perhaps she could have discovered some way to force it open, but what would she want with it? How would she even know of its presence?
He paused for a moment in thought. Then again, maybe she hadn't known what it was. Maybe she had discovered it accidentally? The Third turned the possibility over. It did seem like something Nariko would do. She had always been a bit of a curious child; a certain incident involving the blonde and a few less-than-respectable magazines she had discovered hidden in the desk of his very embarrassed and former assistant reminded him of that.
Sarutobi sighed deeply. He didn't want to think the blonde had taken it, but experience had taught him not to exclude anyone or anything. In their world of shinobi, many things were possible.
He reached down to a drawer on his right and slid it open. Then, he fished a small cushion from within and, after a moment, placed a round crystal ball upon it.
The Third brought his hands up to hover on either side of the clear orb, waiting for the image he sought to appear within. A scene swiftly materialized before him, holding the blonde he had hoped to find, and he glanced about it for a moment, searching for any signs of the scroll.
He sighed once more on seeing it spread out before her, the young girl bent over the writing, apparently in intense concentration though his view was that of her back. So, Nariko had taken it, after all.
The Sandaime had only a second to wonder how he was going to explain this to the council when something about the image caught his eye. The elderly man stared down at the orb, wordlessly watching the events play out before him.
The longer he watched, the more he smiled.
'Perhaps... the council won't have to know, after all...'
oxoxo
Nariko hunched over the paper, completely exhausted but obviously pleased.
'Who would have guessed thatwould be the first thing on the scroll?' Nariko thought with a grin.
"I can't wait to show this to Izumi-sensei!" she exclaimed, hopping up as she went to make the hand sign. 'Just one more test run and...'
"Nariko!"
The blonde jumped, startled to hear someone call out her name. She whipped her head up to a tree on her left only to see a male chunin crouched on one of the branches. She stared blankly at him for a moment, attempting to recall why he seemed so familiar, when it clicked.
"Hajime!" she cried out suddenly. "That's who you are!" She grinned up at him. "You're that one guy from earlier, the one who asked Izumi-sensei to let me pass!"
Hajime's eyebrows rose at her sudden exclamation. "Ah... Yes, that's me." He frowned down at her apologetically. "I'm sorry she didn't agree though. I was so sure she would..."
Nariko drooped for a moment. "Yeah..." However, to the Leaf nin's immense surprise, she perked back up. "It's okay, though! I've been practicing this really cool new jutsu! Once Izumi-sensei sees it, she'll have to let me pass for sure!"
Hajime stared at her in confusion. "What?" He furrowed his eyebrows and frowned. "Jutsu? What jutsu?"
The blonde grinned at him once more. "It was in this scroll I found in the Old Man's office. It's amazing, and I've been working really hard to learn it!"
The chunin's frown deepened. Old Man?... His eyes widened. Oh, wait! Hadn't Izumi mentioned that that was Nariko's term for the Hokage? Hajime glanced back down at the preteen. So, that would mean she found the scroll in...
"You stole that from the Hokage's office?" he inquired, looking stunned.
The young girl frowned at him. "I didn't stealit! I'm just... borrowingit, that's all. I'm gonna put it back!"
The male brunette continued to stare at her, turning this information over in his mind. He had not been expecting that. She wasn't supposed to have stolen a scroll from the Hokage, and what jutsu had she learned?
Hajime reached behind his back, hand digging into his pouch to grab the objects placed within. No matter; it didn't change a thing. She thought him to be on her side, and that was enough for him to be able to catch her off guard. It was about time he went through with his "mission."
He gripped the objects tightly within his fingers, before snapping his hand around and letting go.
Nariko could only watch with stunned blue eyes as a swarm of shuriken descended upon her.
However, instead of the stabbing pain she expected, a sharp burning cut through her chest and back as she was tackled from the side, coming to crash onto the ground a mere foot from the thudding noise of metal piercing dirt.
The blonde could only stare blankly, as Izumi pushed herself off of her student and turned to regard the startled male chunin with confusion.
"Hajime-san..."
The blue-eyed man seemed to regain his senses, though his expression remained surprised.
"Izumi-san!" he cried. "What are you doing here?"
"What are youdoing here?" the female brunette shot back. "Better yet, what are you doing?"
The man turned silent at that.
"Hajime-san," Izumi repeated, standing up, "what are you doing? Why would you attack Nariko?"
He clenched his jaw and glared at her. "Don't get in my way, Izumi-san. This is necessary."
"N-necessary?" she sputtered in shock. "Necessary for what!"
"It needs to be done," Hajime stated firmly. "Now, don't interfere."
Izumi looked at him, obviously upset and still puzzled. "Don't interfere? How can you say that when I find you attacking one of my students!"
This seemed to anger the male brunette for he whipped out a kunai and sent it flying at the young blonde, who had yet to move. To his irritation, Izumi appeared by the girl's side in a second and blocked the weapon with one of her own.
"I said, don't interfere!" Hajime's voice blared out angrily, the volume startling a few small animals. "Stay out of the way!"
"Do you honestly expect me to stand by while you try to attack her?" Izumi called out in disbelief. "She's my student! How could you-"
"Would you stop treating it like a person!" the male brunette snapped. "That thingneeds to be dealt with!"
Nariko whipped her head to stare at the chunin, stunned hurt reflecting in her eyes. It?... Thing?... Why... Why was he using such cruel words to describe her? She was a person! How could he...? Her mind simply had difficulty accepting the scene before her. Therefore, thoughts buzzing unpleasantly in her head, she continued to watch, hoping things would begin to make sense.
Izumi, however, stared at Hajime in shock. "How... How could you saysuch a thing?"
Instead of answering, he went to attack Nariko yet again.
The female brunette quickly went to block once more, only for Hajime to launch another attack seconds after. Izumi frantically protected Nariko under the hail of deadly weapons, as Hajime stayed on the offense, working to get his kunai and shuriken around her and to the blonde she defended.
The preteen regarded the situation with numb confusion, brain whirring as it worked to process the unfolding events, which had yet to make any sense whatsoever. What... What was going on? Why was Hajime trying to attack her and...
...Why was Izumi protecting her?
Hajime became increasingly frustrated with his futile attempts, finally halting as he panted harshly, each quick intake of breath matching one of Izumi's.
"I can't believe you'd protect it," the male chunin hissed. "Especially after what it did to you, after how much it hurt you..."
Nariko's head jerked up, her attention caught. "What?" she finally spoke, confusion prominent within her features. "What are you talking about? I'd never hurt Izumi-sensei!" She turned her eyes towards her teacher. "Right, Sensei? Tell him he's wrong! I haven't..."
The blonde paused on realizing that the brunette had tensed. "...I-Izumi-sensei?..."
A bitter smile appeared on Hajime's face. "Ah, Izumi... Just as soft as always. Unable to hurt anyone or anything, not even a demon..."
Nariko's brows furrowed. "Demon? What demon?" She looked around, puzzled, as if searching for the creature of which Hajime spoke
The dark-haired nin only laughed softly to himself. "You really don't know. Guess this proves thatlaw has been upheld this far, ne?"
The preteen stared up at him, wide-eyed. "Law?... Which law? What are you talking about?"
"Stop it..." Izumi trembled, watching Hajime with wide, desperate eyes. "Don't do this..."
"Come now, Izumi," the man said softly. "Don't you think it's about time she understood why everyone stares at her so coldly?"
Nariko gasped. "You- You know why they do that?" She looked up at him, momentarily forgetting that he had attacked her mere moments ago in favor of learning why the villagers seemed to hate her so much. "You could tell me?"
"Nariko, no!" Izumi said frantically. "Don't! It's not-"
"I need to know!" Nariko insisted, ignoring her teacher's pleas. "Tell me! Tell me, please! I want to understand!"
"Nariko, you don't-!" her teacher cried desperately.
"Fine," Hajime replied, cutting off Izumi's protest. "You have a right to know."
"Hajime-san, don't-!"
"You are the Kyuubi."
The clearing fell silent.
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Fun Fact:
– The title of this chapter was thought up because, well, Izumi feels betrayed and confused; Nariko feels betrayed and confused, though perhaps more confused. Grins wryly. What more could you want?
– This chapter is the first one in which Hajime drops the suffix of -san to Izumi's name, though it is far into the chapter that he does so.
– Hajime had originally just been a random ninja meant to inform Izumi of Nariko's misdoings in the first chapter, but when turning over the Mizuki issue and how Nariko was going to learn of the Kyuubi, I had this brilliant idea to borrow the poor little shinobi manhandled by Izumi's class and shape him for an entirely different purpose instead.
– Hajime is the only OC in this entire series, that I can currently recall, that is actually shown and holds any relevance to the plot. Laughs. You may all breathe a sigh of relief now.
– Young Izumi's lonely eyes were first brought up in Chapter 2.
– This chapter and Chapter 5 were originally going to be one chapter, but when I realized how long it was getting to be, I decided to split them, making this a 5-chapter arc instead of a 4-chapter one, which I like better.
– Nariko's dialogue holds the most exclamation points out of any of my characters thus far. This includes future chapters as well.