Author's Note: First off, some of the reviewers of this story claim that I am doing a yuri pairing instead of friendship between Natsumi and Hinata. I'm not criticizing them, but I feel it needs to be pointed out. I honestly don't know if they are aware of it or I'm bad at writing it, but it's actually a running gag. A yuri pairing is a possible future, yes, but not RIGHT NOW, hence one of the tags for this story is Friendship. To Natsumi and Hinata, they are doing what comes naturally to them as best friends. There is no hidden romance in their actions. They do get embarrassed if put on the spot. And their yuri moments? That's the running gag, with the start of the gag being their accidental kiss at the Chuunin Exam. These yuri moments are never done by them on purpose. Jiraiya is constantly misjudging their relationship because of Natsumi's ignorance when it comes to the hidden meaning in words and just plain catching them in the absolute worst timing after some mishap happened to them, as shown in the previous chapter. Even Neji misjudged them, although he is correct that they are becoming more than best friends as well as being accurate with his foresight that they have a high chance of their friendship developing into a yuri romance. His error however is the same as Jiraiya's. The 'yuri moment' he saw is just Hinata comforting a distraught Natsumi as her best friend, but he misjudged it as an action belonging to a budding couple.
Hopefully, this will clear the air for some of the readers that still read this but are put off by the supposed yuri. Now, on to the chapter!
***Chapter Start***
Early the next morning, Hinata was back to visit Natsumi again. Jiraiya was already there, and he announced he would officially accept Natsumi as his disciple and in three years, he would train her to be a full-fledged ninja. The Akatsuki would be coming after her after those three years, perhaps four if they were lucky. She was quick to refuse him, to both his and Hinata's surprise. She argued that if they did not quickly resume the chase for Sasuke, he might be killed by Orochimaru. She told him how Kimimaro revealed to her that Orochimaru wanted to take over Sasuke's body. Jiraiya commended her for learning the truth about why Sasuke had been targeted by the Sannin since the Chuunin Exam. He told her the jutsu he used to steal bodies could only be done once every three years, so Sasuke is safe for that period since he had just used the jutsu. But he also told her to forget about him. He went to Orochimaru on his own accord. No matter what she did, he would not change his mind. He mentioned that through his experience, he could tell that Sasuke was the same kind of person as Orochimaru. She should forget about bringing him back. Attempting to do was an arrogant fool's errand but if she insisted on doing so anyway, he would drop her as his disciple. He would get Tsunade to have the ANBU trail her and depending on the case, have her prohibited from even leaving the village. He reminded her that she had the Kyuubi in her which was the Akatsuki's target. So if she was going to act on her own regardless of what he said, she should keep in mind that no matter what, she would eventually have to deal with people worse than Orochimaru. Giving up on Sasuke was her safest option. Being a ninja was not just about jutsu or power. They also have the develop the wisdom needed to make the right judgement, and to live as a ninja. If she remained a fool, it would be tough for her to live in the world they were in.
"I won't insist on pursuing Sasuke, but that doesn't mean I'll just ignore any missions that involve searching for him. If Tsunade-baa-chan offers me a mission like that, you can bet I will take it," Natsumi told Jiraiya.
"Because he's your friend? Does a friend do that to his comrade? Take a look at the plight you're in!" Jiraiya snapped at her.
"He's not my friend!" she declared, surprising him at the ferocity behind her statement. "But that doesn't mean I want him dead! I'll drag him back as a missing-nin, not as a friend!" The anger bled away from her just as quickly as it came. Jiraiya looked thoughtfully at her behind turning to look at the sunset. "But if I have to make a 'wise' decision that hurts Hinata-chan in any way, then I'm fine with being a fool for life!" That declaration stunned the Toad Sage. He had thought he had gotten through to her.
"Natsumi-chan..." Hinata felt conflicted at Natsumi's resolve to sacrifice herself if it meant protecting her.
"Even if I'm by myself, I'll stand by Hinata-chan's side no matter what! And I'll even kick the Akatsuki's butt! If you want to drop me as your disciple, then that's fine! I'll learn more awesome jutsu and get stronger with or without your help!"
"Only an idiot thinks she can do everything by herself. If someone like you were to do it alone, the best you'd be able to come up with is some stupid jutsu, anyway," Jiraiya said, prompting an immediate reaction from Natsumi who tried to lunge at him despite her injuries if not for Hinata holding her back and pleading for her to calm down. "It might somehow work out if you are a big fool and not an ordinary fool... Be prepared once you're out of the hospital, you big fool. See you then!" He jumped to his summon who had been waiting outside the hospital the whole time to leave.
"Roger!" Natsumi saluted him jokingly but the gratitude was clear. When he was gone though, her determined smile changed to a troubled frown. Hinata was quick to notice and ask what was troubling her.
"...I really wanted to kill Sasuke, you know..." Natsumi admitted, making her gasp.
"W-Why?"
"He told me that I didn't understand him... That I didn't know how it felt to lose a family member... So he said I would know... if he killed you."
"A-And... What did you do, Natsumi-chan?" she hesitantly asked, having a bad feeling even before she heard her answer.
"I snapped. I went from trying to beat him unconscious to straight up wanting to murder him. And the Kyuubi... he made me wear that weird bubble armor again."
"Just like when we were in the alternate dimension?" Hinata instantly knew what she was referring to.
"Yeah... Damn that genie..." Natsumi cursed under her breath. "I never want to find another magical bottle ever again."
***Flashback Start***
Kakashi had organized a grill party for all the Genin because it was a rare occasion when every team was free. Natsumi had chanced upon a buried bottle at the beach and when she opened it, a genie had appeared. Of course, no-one believed him until she inadvertently wasted two wishes. Seeing as he was the real deal, everyone there wanted the last wish for themselves. The other teams had went to Team 7's camp to investigate the weird man floating in the sky and heard everything. The genie bottle kept switching hands until it landed in Hinata's hands, who was only trying to keep out of trouble. Seeing the chaos it induced, she opted to smash it to restore peace.
"Wait, wait, wait! Please don't destroy the bottle! I'll disappear!" the genie popped out in a panicked hurry just as Shikamaru used his Kagemane no Jutsu to prevent Hinata from smashing said bottle on the ground. "If you want me gone, I'll just grant your wish and leave you people in peace!" The genie stared at Hinata for a second before raising his hands, palms pointed at her. "I have searched your soul and will grant your impossible fantasy!"
"What...?" Hinata was confused as well as nervous.
"Deep in your heart, you secretly wonder what future you might have with your friend if she was a boy, yes? Then I will bring you to a dimension where she is a boy."
"No, wait...!" Before she could even deny the genie, magic, for lack of a better description, shot out of the genie's hands and trapped her in a force field. A wormhole opened up a short distance away and she knew she was about to be thrown in it.
"Hinata-chan!" She saw Natsumi grab onto her just before they were both flung into the wormhole, screaming as their vision spun uncontrollably and they blacked out.
***Break Line***
Natsumi woke up with a terrible headache. The last thing she remembered was jumping to save Hinata from getting thrown into a weird hole made by the genie. Recognizing her surroundings as the beach they were at for the grill party, she wandered the forest, calling out for Hinata with no response.
"Did we get separated?" she asked herself, having no luck finding her best friend in the forest or at the beach and she was sure she had combed the entire area when her clones reported no signs of anyone at all. Everyone was gone. The sun was setting, and soon she would have no light. "I should get back to Konoha. Maybe Hinata-chan got dropped off nearer to the village."
Natsumi returned to Konoha just before the last vestiges of the setting sun disappeared. As she walked down the street, she heard the weirdest comments from the other villagers.
"Just what is that boy up to, trying to disguise himself as a girl? Does he think such an obvious Henge will fool anyone?"
"Is he trying to sneak into the girl's bathing area with that Henge? Disgusting!"
Looking around herself, she did not see any sign of a boy with a horrible Henge. Just who were they talking about? When she looked directly at one of the gossipers, they turned away immediately. That was nothing new. She heard the comments keep popping up as she continued down the street to her home and no matter how discreetly she tried to find the 'boy with the horrible female Henge', she could not spot anyone suspicious. She decided it was best to ignore them and headed back home. When she arrived at her door, she searched her storage pouch for her door key only to find it gone.
"What? Where's my key?" she exclaimed, fishing deeper and still finding no key. "Oh, right. I left it on the table yesterday before I left for the grill party," she grumbled. She had woken up late that day and locked her home with the spare key she kept hidden outside. "Guess I'll have to use the spare..." She went to the area where she kept the spare key and it was not there. "What? Where is it? It's not here!" She searched the area more thoroughly, finding nothing. "Oh, man! Did I seriously misplace it somewhere else? I'll have to ask Hinata-chan to help find it tomorrow..." she grumbled, resigning herself to sleeping in the streets. She did not want to break her window just to get into her apartment.
***Break Line***
Her morning did not start out well, feeling stiff from sleeping on a stone bench and her tracksuit as a replacement for a pillow. It got worse when she tried to take a bath. Upon entering the bathing establishment and paying for its service, she was immediately chased out by a horde of other bathing women who threw wooden pails at her the moment they laid eyes on her in the bathing area. They screamed at her to get out and how she tried to use a Henge to peek on them. The host even refused to refund her after hearing the commotion and assuming the worst, calling her out as a pervert. Yelling angrily from outside the establishment at the injustice she just received, she had no choice but to risk being peeped on as she bathed in the river.
She bathed as quickly as she could, not wanting to know if there were peepers around. She went to Team 8's meeting area to see if Hinata had team training or a mission to attend to later. Team 8 was there without Kurenai, meaning she still had some time to speak to Hinata before she would be considered as intruding on Team 8's activities.
"Great, you're here, Hinata-chan!" Natsumi called out as she emerged from some bushes, startling Team 8. "Could you help me out later to find my house key? It's gone missing," she asked as she clapped her hands together in a small plea. Before she could speak further, Kurenai appeared in a Shunshin, looking at Natsumi in puzzlement. "Morning, Kurenai-sensei! Don't worry, I'll be leaving now. See you later, Hinata-chan!" As she left Team 8's meeting area, she completely missed the look of utter confusion on everyone's faces.
"Who was that?" Kiba was the first to break the silence.
"Naruto...-kun?" Hinata was too confused to be embarrassed at being brazenly approached by her crush who was seemingly using Henge to disguise himself as a female for unknown reasons. She noted the affectionate suffix attached to her name, which only added to her confusion because she knew Naruto never called her like that. He only did so with Sakura.
"Do you know her?" Shino spoke up.
"N-No but... Wasn't that Naruto-kun?" she half-replied half-asked.
"Akamaru says that's Naruto but he..." Kiba paused awkwardly after hearing what Akamaru was telling him. "Akamaru said he also clearly smelled like a female."
"Naruto-kun was a girl all this time?" Hinata suddenly became really pale.
"Of course not! We bathed together in the public showers before! I know he's a boy!" he rebuked. "That's why I'm asking who that was! Both my and Akamaru's nose tells us that's Naruto, but that was clearly a girl!"
"Kurenai-sensei, should we investigate that person?" Shino asked for their instructor's permission. After some consideration, Kurenai nodded and Team 8 began to trail after Natsumi, but were told not to engage her directly until they could confirm if she was a threat of any sort.
***Break Line***
Team 8 tailed the girl as she wandered the streets, seemingly to pass the time. While doing so, they heard the same gossips as she did yesterday, about a boy using Henge to pretend to be a girl. That only further confused the team as well as frustrate Kiba who insisted that she was Naruto except female. Hinata confirmed with her Byakugan that their target was indeed female and not under any sort of Henge, as well as having the exact same chakra as Naruto did. After following her for some time, Kurenai figured out she would head to the Hokage Tower soon and led her team ahead to inform the Hokage of a possible infiltrator in their village.
"Oh, Team 8. What can I do for you?" Tsunade welcomed them, her paperwork for the moment done and Shizune off elsewhere for an errand.
"Hokage-sama, we have a potential problem on our hands," Kurenai reported.
"Speak," Tsunade switched from a welcoming demeanor to one that radiated leadership.
"Yes, ma'am. We were approached by a suspicious individual at where my team normally meets in the morning," Kurenai began. "She spoke to Hinata in an overly familiar manner, asking for a favor. When I arrived, she greeted me as a Jounin instructor and quickly left. According to Kiba and Akamaru, that girl was none other than Uzumaki Naruto, but the problem lies in that we all know Naruto is a boy, hence our suspicion. We believe she may be headed here soon, likely to pay you a visit."
"What about you, Shino? Hinata? What are your conclusions about this person?" Tsunade asked them.
"My kikaichuu has successfully taken a sample of her chakra and I can confirm it is the same chakra that belongs to Uzumaki Naruto," Shino reported.
"My Byakugan has shown me the same. But, that person is clearly a girl," Hinata supported Shino's statement.
"And that's what got us all confused! How can that girl be Naruto, and yet not at the same time?" Kiba was nearly venting in frustration, keeping his cool only because he was in front of the Hokage.
They heard loud footsteps coming from the hallway outside the room. With a quick flash of her Byakugan, Hinata confirmed it was their target and Tsunade ordered them to hide. She would play along to see just who exactly this girl was and why she was pretending to be Uzumaki Naruto.
"Good morning, Tsunade-baa-chan!" the girl greeted boisterously as soon as she swung the door open. Tsunade had to suppress the instinctive anger at hearing the unflattering nickname.
"How many times must I tell you not to call me that?" Tsunade pretended to sigh at the stubbornness of 'Naruto', keeping a sharp eye on her. "And just why are you under a Henge?"
"Huh? Henge? Why would I use that? I'm not like you, baa-chan. I've got nothing to hide," she replied. Just hearing that kind of reply would normally send Tsunade into a blind rage but again, the aggravating yet affectionate casual disrespect for her was exactly the same as Naruto's, so she forced the anger away. She could not out the girl in front of her yet.
"Did you lose a bet with Jiraiya and he put you up to this?"
"I don't think I made any bets with Ero-Sennin..." the girl tilted her head in confusion, her face scrunched in the same way Naruto did when he was thinking too hard as she tried to remember if she had made any such bets.
"Then why are you walking around Konoha pretending to be a girl?"
"Huh? Are you okay, Tsunade-baa-chan?" There was genuine concern on the girl's face. "Did you drink too much and hit your head on the desk or something? I think you should get Shizune-nee-chan to check your memory if you forgot that I'm a girl."
Tsunade chose not to reply to that. This girl, whoever she was, seemed genuine in the way she spoke and acted. If she was a spy or infiltrator pretending to be one of Konoha's most recognizable Genin and good enough to know how he referred to people close to him, just how did she get something so simple like his gender and clothes wrong? She was wearing his trademark orange tracksuit but the matching pants that came with it was replaced with the pants Hinata wore. She was not wearing her hitai-ate on her forehead either, instead hanging it around her neck like Hinata did. Besides the obvious difference of the hair, and the reports from Team 8, this girl might as well have been Naruto mysteriously turned into a girl and completely forgotten she had been a boy before. Something did not add up and Tsunade was determined to find the missing information before she made any decision.
"I think I should run a diagnosis on you instead. I need to update your medical records," Tsunade lied, trying to throw off the girl.
"Uh, okay?" she agreed, still confused with the way their conversation was going.
"And your money. Give me your wallet and I'll take the necessary payment upfront," she held her hand out expectantly. The girl immediately reached into her pouch, pulled out the familiar frog wallet and held it protectively in her arms.
"I'm not handing over Gama-chan to you!" she shrieked. "You'll take all of my money again!"
Here, Tsunade narrowed her eyes. She believed the girl had slipped here but at the same time she hesitated to bust her out. She intended to use Naruto's wallet as a means to get her to slip but not only did she not get to the point of questioning she wanted, the girl had already shot her down by correctly identifying Naruto's nickname for his wallet. She had hoped to make her slip with the nickname but it was to no avail if she already knew that information. Everything she did was exactly what she expected Naruto would do if placed in the same situation.
The part that Tsunade believed where the girl slipped up was how feminine her reaction was. The way she held her wallet had a girlish touch to it along with the normal childishness, as well as the manner of speech she was using. It was tomboyish yet feminine at the same time. This would have been enough to bust her out as a fake, but the report from Team 8 stopped her again. If she was a fake, how was it possible for her to have the exact same chakra as Naruto?
"Fine, keep your money. I'll do you a free service this time. Let me check... that," Tsunade put emphasis on the last word. "I don't have Jiraiya's expertise, but I can at least see if it's in working order." Another lie. She headed over to the girl casually, but she prepared to pin her down the moment she was convinced she was a spy. There was a surefire clue that would reveal this girl as a fake as well as prevent the hidden Team 8 from connecting the dots to Naruto's deepest secret.
"You sure it's fine to do it here?" the girl asked skeptically but obeyed nonetheless. She lifted up her tracksuit just enough and to Tsunade's shock, the seal for the Kyuubi appeared on her stomach. She managed to keep her shock from appearing on her face, fortunately. This made things a whole lot more confusing. This fake, if she really was a fake and not Naruto turned into a girl and forgetting he had been a boy previously, had the same seal Naruto had. That was impossible for a fake to have.
"It's working fine," Tsunade pretended to inspect the seal and quickly dropped the subject. What she believed to be the ultimate clue did not pay off. "Anyway," she said as she headed back to her desk. "I'll be busy once Shizune returns. Drop that Henge and spend your free time elsewhere, Naruto."
"I told you I'm not under any Henge! And who is Naruto? Is that the name of the boy who's been going around with a terrible Henge to make himself look like a girl?"
'What!' That shocked mental exclamation was shared among Tsunade and the hidden Team 8. How did a spy, if she was one, got the most private information of Naruto correct, yet get the most obvious things wrong? And now, she claimed she did not even know who Naruto was, the person she was pretending to be!
"Then who are you!" Tsunade demanded angrily, taking a threatening step towards the girl. She was through with playing. It was time for a more direct approach, something she was more comfortable with doing.
"W-What's gotten into you, baa-chan? It's me, Natsumi!" the girl revealed her name, taking a step back out of fear. Despite the scared look on her face, Tsunade saw the concern for her, her, well-being there as well.
"And you're going to tell me your name is Uzumaki Natsumi?" she asked sarcastically. She got a relieved smile from the girl instead of the look of a spy being outed.
"Thank goodness! I thought you had forgotten about me all of a sudden! Don't scare me like that, baa-chan!" Natsumi laughed in relief.
"No, you should be scared," she said, the seriousness in her voice removing the humor from the atmosphere completely. With a raise of her hand, Team 8 appeared in the room in a puff of white smoke. All of them had a look of determination as well as lingering hesitance. Natsumi seemed genuinely confused and scared at what was happening.
"Kurenai-sensei!" Natsumi was relieved when she saw the Jounin instructor. "Please help me! I think Tsunade-baa-chan is under some kind of genjutsu!"
"I think not, miss. You are the one behaving suspiciously here, not the Hokage," Kurenai glared at the girl.
"What..." Natsumi was beginning to get freaked out by the situation.
"I don't know what you're trying to pull here, you fake, but you're not getting away trying to pretend to be one of my friends!" Kiba snarled.
"What the hell, Kiba!" Natsumi snapped, temporarily forgetting the tense atmosphere around her. "Did I beat you so hard during the Chuunin Exam that you forgot who I am? Are you serious?" Kiba only continued to snarl at her, making her give up on getting through to him. "Shino! You believe me, don't you? You're the smartest one in the team! Surely you can tell something's wrong here."
"Yes, I agree there's something weird happening. But, that something is you. I apologize, but I have no intention of standing by you," Shino replied in his normal tone but there was a tenseness there. His kikaichuu were buzzing audibly around his hands, ready to attack at his command.
"No way..." Natsumi was stunned at this development. Her eyes soon found themselves on Hinata as she looked around for some kind of help. She visibly relaxed as she spotted her best friend partially obscured by the rest of her team. "Hinata-chan, please! Tell them they're wrong! It's me, Natsumi! Surely you haven't forgotten about me!"
"I-I'm sorry... But I really don't know you..." Hinata apologized.
"What...?" Natsumi turned incredibly pale when she heard her. "Hinata-chan..."
"Can you please stop calling me so familiarly? I truly don't know you, and you're making me very uncomfortable..."
"Hinata-ch-"
"Please! Please stop." Hinata interrupted her, looking just as uncomfortable as she said she was. They watched as Natsumi hung her head, her bangs covering her eyes. Seeing her body shaking in anger, Team 8 tensed, preparing for an attack.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!" What they got was an explosive burst of anger instead. "What are you guys trying to pull? If this is a collective prank, it's in really bad taste!"
"What gave you the idea this is a prank in the first place?" Tsunade asked in a relaxed posture. Natsumi was no threat to her unless she pulled on the Kyuubi's chakra if she truly did have it. Even if that was so, she believed she could take her down without much trouble. She had no reason to go serious on any Genin, special or not.
"Everything! Everything, baa-chan!" Natsumi yelled at her, the edges of her eyes brimming with tears of frustration. "Didn't you give this to me because I won the bet with you! I though you said you believed in my dream to become Hokage!" she yanked out the crystal necklace.
Tsunade's eyes widened at the necklace. Only Naruto should have it, so why did she have it too? Tsunade was still undecided between calling her a spy and believing that Naruto had somehow been turned into a girl and had completely forgotten about his previous gender. However, there were still too many inconsistencies to make a proper judgement. The best option they had was to detain her and investigate further.
"If this is really a prank, it's a cruel one! Even I never pulled a prank to deliberate hurt anybody! This is too much! If you guys are still keeping this prank up, I'll never forgive you for this!" she screamed and then pointed to Hinata accusingly. "Especially you, Hinata-chan! I never thought you could be this cruel to anyone, even for a prank!"
"Talks are over!" Kiba brashly rushed to Hinata's defense when he saw her flinch hard from Natsumi's accusation. That was the first time he heard anyone call Hinata cruel and it seemed to hit her hard. He knew that at first glance, she was shy and timid. Heck, he even considered her cowardly in the first month when Team 8 was first formed because she had such low self-esteem that she had to be coddled by Kurenai when things began to get even remotely tough. He saw her kindness later on and then grew protective of her to protect that kindness. Calling her cruel was so far off the mark that he almost dismissed it entirely as a hate-driven statement until he saw her reaction.
He went for a punch to the jaw to quickly take Natsumi down via blacking out. If she was anything like Naruto like a lot of signs pointed her to be, it would take a tremendous amount of damage to keep her down. Naruto's endurance was absurdly high, and Kiba would treat her the same. He went for a quick knockout, having already channeled his Shikyaku no Jutsu while they were hidden. He knew he was faster than Naruto in this state and Naruto had a very hard time reacting to him. So it was to his huge surprise when Natsumi dodged his punch cleanly and slammed her fist into his cheek so hard he bounced off the floor and he rotated a full revolution during the bounce before he laid still. It was thanks to his prepared jutsu that his jaw was not broken and was still conscious after that devastating hit.
Upon seeing Kiba get hurt, Hinata finally resolved herself to enter combat. Just like Kiba, she had a huge surprise when she saw Natsumi suddenly panic and try to draw a kunai. Tsunade was the first to notice that Natsumi was about to throw the kunai at her instead of at Hinata. She waited patiently for the kunai so she could pluck it out of the air but was just as surprised as the two Genin before her when the kunai pouch itself, with all the kunai still in it, was thrown at her. She was about to catch it when she noted the angle of the thrown object. It was not aimed at her but behind her. It crashed through her window and and fell to the street.
"She's doing the Kawarimi!" Kurenai realized what Natsumi was up to and Shino sent his kikaichuu to stop her but the warning came too late. The kunai pouch was back in the room while Natsumi was outside on the street. They saw her perform the Kage Bunshin and roughly a hundred copies were made before they all ran, scattering throughout the village. "Team 8, deploy!"
"Hold it!" Tsunade shouted, stopping the team. She waited for Shino to help Kiba to his feet before addressing them again. "Kurenai, how certain are you that girl, Uzumaki Natsumi, or so she claims is her name, is an impostor of our Uzumaki Naruto?" she asked. She did not look angry but rather contemplative as she watched the clones and their original scatter around Konoha.
"I'm quite certain, Hokage-sama, after hearing your exchange with her," Kurenai answered.
"What if I said there's a possibility that Natsumi is in fact our Naruto? Possibly a victim of a jutsu that changed his gender and removed his memories of ever having been a boy?"
"Truthfully speaking, that is very far-fetched. What has brought about this line of thought, Hokage-sama?"
"According to your team's report, everything about that girl except for her obvious gender and choice of clothes is the same as Naruto, including her chakra."
"Yes, but she does have a feminine touch to her actions, such as the way she walked and talked."
"I noticed those too. Why I bring this possibility up is because she has the same package as Naruto does. How would an impostor have it with the exact same design?"
"What...? Then, that's..." Kurenai was left speechless. She now understood why Tsunade considered such a far-fetched possibility. If the girl did have the Kyuubi, then that absurd possibility suddenly became all too real to just dismiss.
"Near impossible to comprehend?" Tsunade nodded in understanding. "Then how do you explain what we just witnessed? There is no-one in this village with the ability to use the Kage Bunshin as numerously as Naruto can, and here we have our mystery girl able to do the same. We all clearly heard her yell 'Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu'. Those are not Bunshin."
Kurenai nodded towards Hinata who activated her Byakugan and confirmed that the clones still in range of her sight were indeed Kage Bunshin.
"So what does this mean? We're supposed to just accept Naruto as a girl now?" Kiba asked.
"No. We detain her, so I can make sure that is Naruto. I'll have to-"
"Baa-chan, I swear I'm not in any trouble! I didn't do anything!" The door to the room slammed open and interrupted Tsunade, revealing Naruto in a huge panic. "Those clones aren't mine! I-" He stopped panicking when all five people in the room just stared at him. "What? What? What is it?"
"Naruto is here," Shino broke the silence. "Our reservations about that girl should now be null and void." That brought everyone to a firm decision to apprehend the girl.
"What's going on?" Naruto was reasonably very confused.
"Clean out your ears and listen carefully," Tsunade told him before explaining their current situation.
***Break Line***
Natsumi panted hard not because of exertion but because of the stress that suddenly piled up in her brain. Looking at the rooftops and seeing nobody attempting to chase her down, she dismissed her clones. Still feeling furious at the cruel prank, she headed to Ichiraku Ramen to get some of her favorite food to calm herself down. Just thinking about her favorite ramen automatically brought a smile to her face as she entered the shop.
"Hi, old man!" she greeted.
"Hm? Do I know you, young lady?" Teuchi asked.
Natsumi froze just as she was about to take her seat and looked at him with a very pale and horrified face.
'No... No way...' she muttered in her thoughts, unable to voice the words out.
"Wait, is that you, Naruto?" Ayame asked when she took a closer look at Natsumi. "What are you doing using your ninja jutsu trying to pretend to be a girl? This isn't funny to us women, you know. In fact, it is rude!" she scolded 'Naruto'.
"I'm not Naruto! Stop calling me that!" Natsumi screamed, startling them. She realized now that the 'boy with the terrible Henge' was in fact her all along. Everyone in the village seemed to know her as a boy named Naruto. Not even Hinata recognized her as herself. She ran out of the shop and hid herself in an alleyway. Her eyes were wide in terror and panic as she tried to collect herself. If no-one recognized her, then she was truly... all alone. That realization freaked her out more than anything before in her life. The genie did something to her, and the Hinata she knew was nowhere to be found even though they were together when the genie threw them into the wormhole. For all she knew, they might not even be in this weird version of Konoha together to begin with. If that was so, then... Where was she supposed to go? Tsunade had already declared her as a possible enemy and it was only a matter of time before more and more people began to hunt her down. Team 8 were just the first group of hunters. Her mind was beginning to fracture as she put the pieces of the puzzle together and could only foresee a hopeless outcome that would come sooner or later.
Despite that, she refused to just surrender. She was not going to destroy or harm anything or anybody but she refused to go down without a fight. She was confident that as long as she did not encounter Neji's team or any of the Jounin instructors, she could hold out until she escaped the village. She dashed like a madwoman towards one of the exits of Konoha only to discover the gates were closed. The whole village was on lockdown. Tsunade was already boxing her in and looking for her. Now she could not even leave. Her panic and hysteria were rising rapidly as she tried to figure out what to do to keep herself safe. It was only due to her sheer luck that the moment she turned to run back into the village the shadow shooting from the trees towards her own shadow missed and shot past her.
"Wha-" she exclaimed, just noticing the attack and recognizing it as the Kagemane no Jutsu. "Shikamaru, is that you?" she called out to the trees as the shadow retreated.
"What a pain. Your luck is just as ridiculous as Naruto's, you female impostor," Shikamaru's voice replied and he showed himself. "You came here just as I predicted, but for me to miss my jutsu because of your dumb luck is just too much. Really, you're so troublesome, if not more so than Naruto."
"Please, you have to believe me, Shikamaru. I'm not an impostor! You have to remember me! Someone has to!" Natsumi pleaded, holding out for hope desperately that someone, anyone, would remember her.
"Unfortunately for you, I don't," he replied and flipped through his seals for his Kagemane again. She fled the moment she saw him perform seals but he already accounted for that.
"Baika no Jutsu!" Chouji's voice rang out through the air. "Nikudan Sensha!" He barreled down the road like a giant bowling ball and scored a direct hit on Natsumi, launching her back to where Shikamaru was waiting.
"Nice, Chouji!" Shikamaru praised his best friend and struck with his Kagemane. "Success-" The girl in front of him suddenly vanished in a puff of white smoke the second their shadows connected. "What! When did she..." He almost slapped his own forehead when he realized what she did. "She must have done it when she was running towards Chouji and I couldn't see her hands. Tch, how troublesome."
"Shikamaru, how could you not know that was a Kage Bunshin!" he heard Ino scream at him from the other side of the road where she was prepared to use her Shintenshin no Jutsu the moment he held Natsumi still.
"It's not like you knew it was a clone either..." he mumbled under his breath as Team 10 regrouped and gave chase to Natsumi.
***Break Line***
Natsumi barely managed to give Team 10 the slip and fled as fast as she as she could back into the village. Team 8 and Team 10 were now on her tail. She was not fooling herself that the other teams were not after her as well. At this moment, she was most afraid of Team Guy than any of the other teams, if only because of Neji and Lee. There was no chance she could take them on while they were together. She could barely hold her own against Neji and only defeated him because of the Kyuubi's help. She did not want to use the Kyuubi's chakra against them either. She did not know how she would fare against Tenten. All she knew was that the older girl was a weapon specialist and was best at long range.
Utilizing Henge to take on the appearance of a random stranger, she then conjured a few Kage Bunshin in her original appearance and had them scattered a few meters away from her in all directions. It was not long before one of the clones yelled really loudly that Team Guy had spotted her. She immediately dropped her Henge and used her Tajuu Kage Bunshin and scattered them all around Konoha again.
"How is it, Neji-kun?" she heard Lee ask as some of the last clones to flee turned to see Team Guy in the distance.
"No good," Neji shook his head, his Byakugan active. "She managed to make her clones before I spotted who was the original."
"So we have to chase all of them down?" Tenten groaned before venting her frustration by sniping some clones down with her kunai.
"Split up!" Neji took the lead and they separated, each taking down the clones they managed to catch up with.
***Break Line***
Naruto had a complicated look on his face as he followed Team 8's lead. According to Tsunade, this female impostor of his, aptly named Uzumaki Natsumi, was in their village and she wanted her captured for questioning. It was a simple mission at first glance but there were complicating issues surrounding it, such as her having his memories. Certain parts of the memories were jumbled up, like her choice of clothes and seemingly having a strong relationship with Hinata, referring to her just like how he referred to Sakura. Naruto looked at Hinata again and he could not understand how a female version of him, if that was true, could be close friends with her. She always turned red and sometimes fainted whenever he tried to talk or get close to her. She was weird to him, and he wondered just how Natsumi coped with that weirdness. Hinata must have felt his eyes on her and she turned to look at him. She quickly faced the front again but not before he saw her red face. See, she was weird! She was cool when she decided to stand her ground and fight such as the time they went hunting for the bikouchuu beetle. But every other time, her weirdness made him uncomfortable and confused as to why she acted that way every time they were near each other.
The most important thing, Tsunade had whispered to him in secret, was that she had the Kyuubi as well, something which was not possible. That was the main reason she wanted her brought in, not necessarily as a prisoner. She just wanted to confirm just who the girl was, nothing more. The girl was genuine when they spoke and the way she escaped nearly in tears at what seemed like a betrayal from everyone to her made Tsunade just want to talk to the girl. Naruto wanted to talk to her too, but it was more for curiosity's sake than being worried for her like Tsunade secretly was.
However, she did not pull any stops to capture her, judging on how stubborn Naruto was and would treat her the same way. She would send for the other Genin teams to aid them. When the other teams received the mission details and gave pursuit, Tsunade called for a meeting between the Jounin instructors. They were told specifically not to aid directly because she did not want Natsumi to be forced to use the Kyuubi's chakra. Her doing so could jeopardize Naruto's own well-being and secret.
Naruto was snapped out of his thoughts when suddenly clones of Natsumi appeared and scattered throughout the village.
"Naruto!" Shino nodded to him.
"Leave it to me! Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto performed the same jutsu and made roughly the same number of clones as her and they all scattered to chase after her clones. They all yelled to wait and stand still, catching the attention of her clones. Of course, no such thing happened and the chase resumed in earnest. With the help of the other teams, all the clones were taken out. However, none had managed to find the original.
"Naruto!" Sakura eventually hailed Team 8 and Naruto at a clearing. The other teams were already there, ready to share details. "Did you have any luck finding your impostor?"
"Nope, Sakura-chan," he shook his head. "I made my own clones to chase her down but we couldn't find the original. Even Hinata said she couldn't find her."
"How is that possible? I thought the Byakugan could see chakra. How could you not find her?" Sakura asked Hinata.
"Normally it would, but this impostor has the exact same chakra as Naruto does," Neji answered in his cousin's stead. "Our Byakugan can't differentiate if we're only looking at the chakra. We would have to look with more vigilance if we were to try to locate her."
"Kiba is our best chance to find her," Shino said. "His nose can tell the difference."
"I have the same issue. Her smell is exactly like Naruto's, and I have to pay extra attention to tell if it's the smell of a female or not," Kiba told them. He took a deep whiff and suddenly froze. "Wait, I smell her! As well as blood. Did anyone wound her?" he asked.
"I got a hit on her, but I don't think I made her bleed," Chouji answered.
"In any case, lead the way Kiba," Shikamaru took the lead. "That's our only clue for now."
They followed Kiba's lead and to everyone's embarrassment except for Naruto, his nose led to a used sanitary pad in a random rubbish bin. When Naruto asked what was so special about the diaper-looking thing, all he got for an explanation was a hard punch from a very embarrassed Sakura.
"It seems that your impostor is smarter than you, Naruto. She appears to know how to evade Team 8's specialization," Neji gave credit to Natsumi's skill in evading capture, unknowingly taking a jab at Naruto.
"Hey! I can evade all of you anytime I wanted to!" Naruto defended himself.
"Focus, Naruto!" Sakura reprimanded him with another punch to the back of his head. "This isn't about you and your skills!"
"Sorry, Sakura-chan..." he groaned as he rubbed the bump that was beginning to rise.
"We don't have any more clues. Where should we even begin to search?" Ino complained.
"Naruto, maybe you can tell us where you would hide if we were searching for you," Shikamaru suggested. "The both of you should have the same thought pattern."
"Let's see... If you guys were chasing me, I would go..." Naruto tilted his head and scrunched his face as he tried to think. He never thought trying to find himself would be so hard.
"Get out of here! I know your kind, boy! Using your ninja abilities to sneak into the girl's side!" a ruckus distracted the group as they turned to face it. A girl was unceremoniously thrown out the entrance. Unbelievably, it was their target.
"I guess I could hide in the public baths..." he muttered.
"Come on! I'm not that Naruto guy! Why doesn't anyone believe me!" Natsumi yelled back.
"Found you!" Naruto pointed at her, causing her to look at the group. Her eyes widened at being found again but this time by the entire group. "You're not getting away this time! Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto made some clones as they charged her.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Natsumi responded in kind but her creation of clones had more white smoke than Naruto's did, obscuring the sight of them. Naruto's clones charged into the smoke and it persisted for quite some time as the sounds of clones being popped were heard. When the smoke finally cleared, the clones were dogpiling her and keeping her pinned down. "Let me go!" she screamed as she thrashed to no avail.
"Like I'd do that, you fake! I'm dragging you back to Tsunade-baa-chan for questioning!" Naruto and the group approached her to take over the apprehension of the girl. When they got close however, the bunch of clones suddenly got off Natsumi and jumped them. They were caught off-guard by the turnabout and were tackled to the ground face-first and held down with one arm behind their back. Hinata was the only one left standing as she was stunned by the turn of events.
"Get out of here! Hurry!" one of Naruto's clones yelled at Natsumi who nodded and sped off.
"What are you doing, Naruto! Call off your clones!" Kiba growled out as he struggled to break free. "She's getting away!"
"They aren't mine!" Naruto cried out when he tried to dismiss them and they did not disappear. Upon the discovery that they were not his clones, white smoke enveloped the clones with a pop and revealed them to be Natsumi's clones.
"Henge? She tricked us!" Sakura exclaimed. She realized too late that the large amount of white smoke caused by the creation of the girl's clones was cover for them to use Henge and take the place of Naruto's clones after taking them out.
"Hinata-san, please help free the rest!" Lee was the first to break free with his superior strength and overpowered the clone holding him down, quickly followed by Neji.
"R-Right!" Hinata snapped out of her stunned state and moved to take out the clone closest to her. The clone's eyes widened and rapidly backed off, freeing their captive. Hinata was surprised by the action and moved to the next one only for it to do the same.
"What are you...?" Hinata could not help but stop and ask in complete confusion as she looked at the clone. As she swept her gaze, the clones all let their captives go. She saw all of them having scared looks on their faces.
"We're not fighting you, Hinata-chan. Please, let me go..." one of the clones pleaded with her before they all disappeared.
"Damn it! I can't believe I got fooled like that! That's something I would do!" Naruto stamped his feet in childish frustration.
"It is something I can see being done by you," Shino agreed as he stood up.
"We were all fooled by her act. We were careless," Neji said, angry with himself. "We won't make the same mistake again. We'll split up and search for her again." The group nodded their consent and split off into their own respective teams.
***Break Line***
Natsumi fled to the last remaining place she could call a safe haven for her to hide in. Every hiding place she could think of that was not out in the open immediately outed her as Naruto disguising himself as a girl. No matter how hard she tried to tell them she was not Naruto, they would not listen. Those attempts nearly got her captured. She was fortunate her very distressed state had not yet affected her fighting skills. She rushed back to her home, or what used to be her home. It was now Naruto's home. Her panic and paranoia at an all-time high, she busted down the door with brute force and hid herself in the bedroom, not caring to attempt to cover her break-in. She buried herself completely under the blanket like a child hiding from imaginary monsters in the closet, praying that no-one would even think to look for her in Naruto's home. Her body refused to stop shaking in fear. She was not that afraid of being chased down and captured, but rather the realization she was once again all alone. All alone in this weird world... and not a single soul acknowledged her. She was back in that hell of loneliness again. She wanted to let out a scream of despair but she barely held herself together. She could not let anybody find her. She had to escape somehow but she did not have anywhere else to go. Konoha was her only home. She had no choice but to stay within the village with her inevitable capture looming over her every second she was in here.
***End Of Chapter***
For those that don't know, this is an original chapter taking place after an alternate ending of the Naruto and the genie OVA. In the original ending of that OVA, Kakashi appears and accidentally uses the last wish for pocket change after Shikamaru stops Hinata from breaking the bottle. In my version, the genie gets scared when Hinata attempts to break his bottle. He then reads her deepest thoughts and fantasies because genie magic, and throws her into a wormhole, genie magic again, with Natsumi grabbing her in an attempt to rescue her. This wormhole leads to...
The canon-verse of Naruto! This is my OVA after the OVA!
Yes, I am throwing Natsumi and Hinata into the original Naruto world! Where's the Hinata that Natsumi knows? She's somewhere. Just not in this chapter. It's all about Natsumi's first encounter with the canon-verse. Please remember this is an original chapter, and all interpretations are my own. This is just how I believe the characters will react to Natsumi.
There's also a time discrepancy between the two dimensions. From Natsumi's perspective, the genie OVA takes place before Sasuke's betrayal and after Natsumi returns with Tsunade. Please ignore the fact that Sasuke is supposed to be hospitalized and recovering from his mental trauma. Let's just say Kakashi got special permission from the hospital to bring Sasuke out for the grill party since it would be rude to just leave only him out.
From Naruto's perpective, it is after the bikouchuu beetle mission and before he leaves with Jiraiya for the three-year training. Sasuke is already gone, that's why there's no mention of him at all.
For those concerned if I am overpowering Natsumi here, please remember she has a lot of exposure to Team 8 and the Byakugan compared to Naruto. She knows what they can do better than he does. She's only faring better because of her knowledge, nothing more. She's also a bit smarter than him, don't forget that. She still has his tricks and unpredictability.
This is inspired by the Road To Ninja movie but there are several key differences. First, the dimension Natsumi and Hinata were thrown in isn't false. The real Naruto is still there without stupid Menma shenanigans. All the events prior to them being thrown to the canon-verse has already happened there. Another major difference is that Naruto arrives with Sakura in the Genjutsu World, someone he knows to keep him steady when everyone else he knows is so different. They at least recognize him to some degree so he isn't so shaken by it even though they call him the wrong name. He only flips out at his 'parents' and doesn't want anything to do with them at first because he knows they're dead in reality.
Here, Natsumi believes she is alone in the canon-verse and no-one recognizes her, thinking she is Naruto pulling a prank. And because the real Naruto is there, everybody declares her to be a spy and infiltrator. An enemy. This doesn't happen in the movie. Is it so unbelievable for her to freak out like that, especially when she believes her own best friend claims to doesn't even know her? Also, remember she is more emotionally vulnerable than Naruto is. She doesn't have anyone she knows to help keep her mental state relatively stable.
The drama unfolds further in the next chapter! Look forward to it!
I look forward to getting more readers who like this story! Do Follow/Favorite/Review this story, and big thanks to those who are kind enough to do so!