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 5: Truth and Love
(Completed: 07-20-09)
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RECAP:
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.
xox
Izumi crouched protectively before the blonde, frozen in horror as she watched Nariko's face.
"...what?" Nariko's voice came out unusually meek and quiet. "W-what do you mean?... H-how? I can't be-" She whipped her head towards Izumi. "Izumi-sensei, that's not true, right? He-he's lying, right?" Her teacher was silent, and the blonde's voice became frantic. "Right?"
Izumi didn't answer for a long time and she licked her chapped lips nervously. "Nariko, I..." However, her words simply died on her tongue, and she observed her student helplessly.
The preteen began to tremble. "But- No. How! That-that can't... The Fourth destroyed the Kyuubi!" Her words were desperate, as she tried to find the lie in Hajime's own. "How can that be true if he killed it!"
"But he didn't," Hajime responded calmly, though his eyes flashed strangely. "That's the story we tell our students and the village children, but that's not what happened. The Fourth didn't kill the Kyuubi that night. Instead, he sealed it away inside a newborn child..." He stared down at her blankly. "That child was you."
Nariko stared back, dazed by his words. 'I... I'm... I really am... That's why they all... because... because I'm...' Her thoughts were disjointed; her whole body was numb. A small ball in her belly tightened with nausea. She... She had never felt so... so... She was that horrible demon that had nearly wiped out Konoha, that had killed so many people, and that had caused the death of the Fourth?...She was that monster?
The clearing turned gray, as her knees buckled beneath her and her vision blurred. No, no... It couldn't be... It couldn't...
Izumi could only watch as her student fell to her knees, trembling pathetically as she clutched her orange-clad form. A tear dripped down the brunette's face, a tear drenched in the guilt of her heavy conscience. If only she had come sooner, if only she had stopped Hajime, if only...
But she had no more time to think of if-onlys as a wave of kunai whistled towards the shaking blonde.
Izumi'seyes widened.
"No!"
Crimson blood splashed against Nariko's whiskered face, dripping down onto her clothes and the ground beneath. Her ears roared, only the taunting drip of the iron-scented liquid echoing through her mind, clear enough to be heard. The world distanced itself. She lifted a blood-stained hand and stared at it, each movement seeming slow, almost blurred. Her eyes traveled up, beyond her hand, as she slowly lifted her head to stare at her teacher. Izumi crouched over the blonde, arms spread out protectively as her face tightened in pain. Nariko's eyes were drawn over a dozen kunai that almost appeared to be growing out of the brunette's back. She stared at the red liquid dripping from each wound, following its path as it slid down her sensei's back until it splattered sickeningly on the ground.
"N-Nariko..." The woman's voice was weak as she stared down at her student through the one eye that she had managed to force open. "Are... you okay?"
The preteen jerked her gaze up to her teacher's own, her face suddenly warping into a picture of horror. "Am Iokay? Izumi-sensei, you- you're-" She cut her stammered words off, a lump forming in her throat.
Izumi smiled, though it looked more like a grimace. "It's... alright. Just... as long as you're... safe..."
Nariko stared at the brunette, at a loss for words.
"Oh, Izumi..."
The blonde snapped her head towards the dark-haired nin who had spoken, his expression pained. "You've always cared too much... I should have known that you'd shield her, even if she is your parent's murderer..."
The world stopped as Nariko's already over-worked brain processed that information. Hajime's earlier words popped into her mind.
"Especiallyafter what it did to you, after how much it hurt you..."
Oh no... No, no, no... She didn't... She couldn't have... She... She had killed Izumi's parents!
The world spun again. Everything suddenly felt so wrong. Izumi had every right to hate her, but... she didn't? Nariko choked at the thought, face wrinkling unhappily. Izumi should despise her! She had made Izumi, her sensei, who had always treated her so well, an orphan—an orphan!
The blonde began to tremble again. No, no, why was Izumi protecting her? She should be the one attacking her. She was the one who had every right! Why, for the love of god, why wasn't she taking a kunai and shoving it through her chest? Why? Why?...
"Why?..." Nariko whispered, breath hitching. "Why?..."
Izumi stared silently down at the blonde as the young girl continued to shake.
"How... How can you still protect me?" the blonde hiccuped. "I..."
The brunette watched, as her student bit her lip in an attempt to force back a sob. There was silence for a long, long moment, and Nariko half-wondered if her teacher would refuse to answer.
"...Because I know what it's like."
Nariko's body froze in its tremors, and her eyes grew wide with shock. Slowly, she lifted her gaze up to her teacher's shiny one, stunned and slightly overwhelmed by the emotion, the painful understanding she saw within Izumi's eyes.
"To be alone... To feel so lonely..." the female chunin said softly, tears pooling in her brown orbs. "To do things you shouldn't because you need the attention... To get reactions from people, regardless of whether they're good or bad, because you just want someone to see you... to know you're there..."
Izumi bent her head, shoulders shaking as she cried. "I know how much it hurts. I know how it feels. I know how you feel, and I hate to see anyone suffer the same as I did. Even so, it's not just that..."
The blonde stared at her wordlessly, eyes wide and filled with heartbroken confusion.
Izumi locked eyes with her. "Nariko, I-"
The preteen suddenly took off before she could say another word.
"Nariko!" the brown-haired woman cried after her student, arms dropping so that her palms pressed against the ground, her student's departure taking her by surprise. She stiffened as a hand touched her shoulder, and slowly, she turned her head to see Hajime looking at her mournfully.
"Do you see how much it hurts you?" he said quietly. "Even as you're trying to show it your empathy, that demon runs off as if it's nothing and hurts you again; just as it always has..." His expression darkened. "Just as it always will."
Izumi's arms finally caved beneath her weight, and she collapsed to the ground. She cringed in pain when the motion shifted the kunai still embedded in her back. Trembling for a moment, she fought back the moan of pain she wished to release, but cried out on feeling one of the sharp weapons tugged from its place within her.
Hajime grimaced at the sound and rubbed her arm gently before removing another. Izumi bit her lip, surprised by the comforting gesture. The events of the night had made the man she thought she knew a different person; it was a relief to find something familiar.
"Why... Why would you do this?" Izumi forced out, once the kunai had been removed and the dark-haired nin had helped her to her feet. "I thought..."
"It's not you I'm after, Izumi..." Hajime said softly. "It's that thing I need to kill."
Izumi jerked back as if she had been slapped. "Kill? How could you even think to-? What did Nariko ever do to you!"
"It's not what it did to me!" the male chunin snapped. "It's what it did-" He cut off and went silent for a moment. "...I have to kill it. It's for the best." He reached out to touch the female brunette. "Izumi, try to understand-"
She whipped away from him, brown eyes expressing her betrayal. "I don'tunderstand! Why? Why would you do this! I..." She stopped and looked away. "...I really liked you..."
Hajime's face transformed into one of fury. "Liar!"
Izumi flinched back in shock, anger and hurt burning within her own eyes. "Why would I lie about something like that!" she shouted back.
He chuckled softly, lips pulled into a grimace. "All these years and you stilldon't get it..."
The female chunin stared at him with wide, brown eyes. "What? Get what? I don't understand..."
He continued on as if he hadn't heard. "Even though we were on the same genin team, even though it was so obvious..."
"What was? What are you talking about?" Izumi questioned, desperate for answers. "Hajime-kun?..."
The sound of the suffix from their childhood seemed to anger him for his jaw snapped shut, teeth grinding together and nostrils flaring as rage burned within his eyes. "How could you have not known? You must have known! Everyone else did!" Izumi opened her mouth to speak, but he cut her off. "For god's sake, the whole villageknew, so how dare you be so cruel as to say you like me-" He spat the word venomously. "-now of all times, after all these years!"
"Hajime-kun..." the female brunette whispered, confused and more than a little frightened. "I don't know what you're-"
"I love you!" Hajime nearly screamed.
Izumi could only stare at him, stunned and speechless by the sudden, outraged confession.
"You hadto have known," he hissed. "It was so obvious. Why would you purposely torment me like that when you knew, when you knowhow I feel, how I've felt for all these years?"
"I didn't know. Oh god, I didn't know," Izumi whispered, fingers pressed to her mouth. "I didn't. I didn't. I swear. If I had..." She trailed off, swallowing hard at the pain in her former teammate's eyes.
Hajime smiled, but no humor, no kindness lurked behind it. "Oh, I'm sure. And to think you'd tell me you don't understand why I want to kill that demon..."
The brunette jolted for a moment, a thought crossing her mind. Nariko... She lifted her head, jaw set though tears still clouded her vision.
"Hajime-kun..." she said firmly in a tone she often used with her students. "If you really love me like you claim, then you won't kill Nariko or hurt one hair on her head."
Hajime laughed bitterly, startling her, his expression partially that of amusement and disbelief. "You really don't get it... I'm going to kill it because I love you."
He smiled at her confused, brown orbs, though with a little of the kindness the other had lacked. "I'm trying to protect you. Like I said, don't you see how much it's been hurting you? I'd never liked you getting close to that demon, you know. I warned you, remember? I suggested you stay away..."
Izumi's eyes widened as she recalled the half-forgotten incident. She hadn't thought anything of it at the time. Many of the teachers had been that way, after all, but...
"Haven't you seen how much it's hurt you, how much pain you've gone through for it?" he went on, adamant that she understand him, his voice filled with a raw passion fueled by his long-hidden affections for her. "Do you know how much it killed me to see you suffering, and for that demon of all things?"
His expression softened. "All I want is what's best for you. All I've ever wanted is what's best for you. Don't you see? Killing it is the best for you. With that thing gone, you'll be free." He placed a hand to her cheek. "It won't hurt you anymore," he finished with a kind of conviction meant solely for her.
Izumi simply stared at him in disbelief.
Unbeknownst to them both, a familiar blonde had been hiding in the shadows nearby, listening to their conversation. She bowed her head at Hajime's words, curling up tighter, the scroll forgotten on her lap.
'Maybe he's right,' she thought sadly. 'Maybe... Maybe it's best he just kill me.' She shut her eyes, lips trembling. 'I've hurt so many people, and I hurt Izumi-sensei, the one person who's been so nice to me, so badly, so much...' She buried her face in her arms, feeling a familiar heat prick her eyes. 'Maybe... I should have just never been born...'
"No, you're wrong," Izumi responded, denying his words and pushing away his hand. "Don't you see? Nariko's not a thing, she's not an it, and she's most certainly not the demon!"
The blonde paused, listening to her teacher's words.
"Don't you understand?" the brunette pleaded. "You said so yourself; the Kyuubi was sealed inside her, so she can't possibly be the demon! Nariko..."
Izumi paused and lowered her head. "...I don't care what you think. I don't care what people say about her. I don't even care that the council seem to somehow think she's a threat! Nariko is..." She lifted her gaze to stare Hajime down. "Nariko is a member, a shinobi of this village. You will never find a ninja with as big a heart as that girl—Kyuubi or no Kyuubi!"
Nariko trembled, and the female chunin, unaware of her second avid listener, went on.
"Nariko has become one of my precious people," Izumi said firmly. "She has become someone I want to protect. She means so much to me and I care for her..." She paused for a moment. "In fact..." She smiled at Hajime, eyes glistening. "...I love her."
The blonde's shoulders shook with a suppressed sob, tears streaming down her cheeks. 'Izumi-sensei...'
Hajime stared at his ex-teammate, and for a moment, Izumi thought she just might have gotten through to him...
Then, his face suddenly tightened, and his shoulders trembled with anger. "You... You'll love her, a child who you've only come to know during your past few years of teaching and one who's hurt you so much... But you won't love me, your former teammate who you have known since you were a child and who has done nothing but wish to protect you?" His voice steadily rose with each syllable so that the last few words came out in a near-roar.
Alarm consumed Izumi's features. "What? N-no, I never said I didn't-"
He stalked towards her, and the female chunin scrambled back in an attempt to escape from the enraged man before her. "All I've wanted is what's best for you! All I've wanted is to keep you safe! All I've ever wanted is your love, but you won't even grant me that!"
He halted in his steps, and Izumi, in her frantic attempt to back away from the enraged shinobi, stumbled over one of the forgotten kunai. She collapsed to the ground, watching him with wide, frightened, doe-like eyes. Then, nostrils flaring and mind clouded with a sudden burst of rage, Hajime snatched another stray kunai from the ground and whipped it towards the woman he loved.
Izumi's eyes closed in terror.
Clang!
Her eyes flew back open in shock. The shinobi weapon thudded against the dirt, followed quickly by Hajime, his face pressed roughly to the ground. He pushed his head to the side, spitting grass out of his mouth as he caught sight of Nariko. She glared down at the man she had pinned to the ground, an almost feral snarl escaping her mouth.
"Don't you ever hurt my sensei."
Izumi gaped at her. "Nariko..."
The male chunin lay there limply, his mind slowly coming to the realization of what he had just done. His eyes grew wide as horror consumed him. 'I... I just tried to hurt Izumi...'
He stared numbly at the brown-haired woman, cheek pressed against the grass, eyes clouding again—not with anger, but despair instead. Disgusted with his own actions, he shifted his head so that he faced the dirt once more, ignoring the soil he knew was smudging itself on his skin and tangling itself in his now messy brown hair. What did it matter? He was already lower than it, no better than scum, no better than the very child he had sneered at and abhorred for harming the female brunette. Revulsion, not with the girl but himself, consumed him, and he shuddered helplessly.
A pang of sympathy filled Izumi as she watched the horror fill Hajime's eyes and the self-loathing that very nearly oozed from his form. She quickly forced herself up—the blonde looked far too ready to kill the man—and made her way over, touching the preteen's shoulder.
"It's okay, Nariko. Don't hurt him," she said softly.
The blonde snapped her head up, expression twisted with shock and disbelief. "But Izumi-sensei, he just- he just attacked you! He was gonna kill you!"
The older woman smiled at her. "I know, but..." She glanced down at her former teammate. "I don't believe he meant to do it. In fact, I think he regrets trying..." A part of her also doubted that he had actually intended to kill her—the trajectory had been a little off for a fatal hit—but she kept that to herself, doubting the blonde would believe her if she pointed it out.
Hajime's face jerked from the dirt to stare at the brunette in awe, suddenly reminded of one reason of many that made him love her so much. 'Izumi, you always forgave so easily...' His face fell slightly. 'But I don't deserve it... And I especially don't deserve you...' The thought tore at him, and shame forced him to close his eyes and turn his face away once more into the worm-infested dirt where he thought it so rightfully belonged.
"But all that stuff he did," Nariko frowned. "He..."
"He meant well," Izumi said simply, smiling down at him gently. "Just trust me on this, okay?"
The young girl frowned dubiously, but nodded and removed herself from the male chunin's back.
Izumi finally allowed the worry and pained hesitance she felt manifest upon her features, as she bent down by Hajime and lowered her head near his ear.
"I'm sorry for this," she whispered sadly, "but I have to be careful."
He briefly wondered what she meant through the blissful, unreasonable joy and painful increase of self-hatred caused by her nearness, when her fingers dug into a pressure point on his neck and his world faded to black.
oxoxo
Nariko watched as her teacher finally lifted herself to her feet, after crouching by the male chunin's limp form for an extra, unnecessary minute or two, and limped to a tree nearby. The woman settled back against it and slid to the ground so that she might rest from the exhausting night's events.
"Izumi-sensei..."
The brunette glanced up, surprised by the emotion in her student's voice. "Yes, Nariko?"
The preteen refused to meet the woman's eyes. "...I'm sorry."
Izumi sighed quietly as she listened to the unspoken words. "I'm sorry I've hurt you so much..." The girl was obviously not talking about the kunai wounds.
She gave her student a tender smile and reached her free arm, the one not occupied with clutching her ribs, out towards the unusually docile girl. "Nariko, come here."
The blonde hesitated, but slowly walked over to her teacher. Once Nariko anxiously stood before her, the brunette pulled the girl into an awkward hug, startling her pupil. Then, Izumi leaned forward, lips moving as she whispered softly to her student. Nariko froze as the quiet words filled the silence of the clearing.
"Don't worry. There's nothing to forgive."
The preteen sniffed, the heavy pressure in her chest forcing her eyes to well up once more, but instead of allowing the wetness to fall, she rubbed the blue orbs furiously, attempting to remove the tears collecting there. Oh no, no way was she going to start bawling like a baby again! She had cried enough for one day, thank you very much! However, she paused suddenly, blinking and unintentionally sending a few of the droplets rolling down her cheeks. Then again... After a short moment's thought, she smiled and leaned against Izumi.
'It's okay to cry when you're happy...'
Snuggled against her teacher, Nariko suddenly remembered exactly what had started this whole mess.
"Hey, Izumi-sensei."
The brunette lifted her head and opened her eyes to regard her student curiously. When the blonde didn't continue, Izumi sighed and, with an tired but amused quirk of her lips and exasperated roll of her eyes, said, "Yes, Nariko?"
The whiskered girl grinned broadly, blue eyes twinkling excitedly. "Well, you see, I've got this really cool jutsu I wanna show you..."
And finally that night, after three failed exams, too many tears, years of hard work, and a very, very stunned, but proud Izumi, Uzumaki Nariko finally became a kunoichi; one step closer to her dream and one step closer to the long and exciting, but pain-filled journey ahead.
End Arc 1
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Fun Facts:
– The title of this chapter, while fitting here, was partially inspired by the opening mantra Team Rocket would chant when they would make their dramatic introductions in Pokemon. "To denounce the evils of Truth and Love, To extend our reach to the stars above!"
– This is the last time we will ever see Hajime in this story.
– This chapter is one example of how much more Shoujo-y this story is than the original Naruto. Grins wryly. Rawr. Beware.
– The first hint we saw that Izumi felt anything "special" for Hajime past simple concern was seen in these two lines from Chapter 2:
"The laughter grew louder, the class deciding that if their teacher hadn't scolded them yet, then they were obviously free of punishment. Unfortunately for them, the noise finally registered in Izumi's mind, and she snapped her head to the crowd of students, an odd emotion flashing through her eyes."
– Hajime has been in every chapter of this arc, as have Izumi and Nariko. The Third has only been in 4 of them; he did not make an appearance in Chapter 2.
– Hajime's reasoning for becoming a teacher was more so he could be with Izumi and keep an eye on her than a true desire to teach.
– Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your perspective, because he broke the law of telling Nariko that the Kyuubi is sealed within her, Hajime must go to jail, unless circumstances work in such a way that both Izumi and the Hokage choose to stay silent about the matter. Izumi and Hajime do have a bit of a story following this, but it is obviously not going to be addressed in this story further as it has nothing to do with the plot. Though, I don't know that anyone would care about it anyway.