Night Rain
Chapter One
For some reason I chose to set this disclosure to the back of my mind and live in an illusion. The only defense, let's call them, measures I took were to emphasize on learning to speak Japanese freely. Even if I could do it, I was still too young, being 1 and a half years old, to reveal my fluency in the language.
It was a slow process I had to go through, putting my patience and nerve-control to a test. Undeniably the reward was worth it and could even go as far as to save my life.
I knew Naruto. I've watched it, read it and have had deep thoughts about it. As far as wishing to be there went, I've only wondered how I'd react to certain events. Maybe I've wished for being part of Konoha 11 or the Rookie 9 but that had been under only one circumstance - I was in Konoha.
Obviously that wasn't the case with me so I didn't feel safe in here. I could think of a lot of places in the narutoverse that could prove fatal for my existence - Kirigakure, Amegakure maybe, during any of the wars.
If there was the slightest chance these ninja were just a nasty trick of my mind, I'd embrace it.
Even if it meant waiting almost two years.
Two years passed by really slowly and I inquired no new information. I did, however, search the house whenever I got a chance and found no proof my parents were ninja. I have always known my mother wasn't but with the constant absence of my father I had to make sure.
Gradually I came to a consensus with my mind and left my previous life in the past. I didn't really have much of a choice, anyway.
Faking "un"fluency in Japanese wasn't all that hard either. Practice makes perfect and everyone knows you learn a language best when using it.
When I ventured to speak I didn't really do it correctly. I may have sound a bit odd, considering my pronunciation was almost perfect but word order and such were a problem.
Another tricky thing was what exactly to ask to get the information I needed. I couldn't just go straight ahead like "Hey mother, in what kind of world do we live?" It would sound strange coming from the mouth of a three-year-old.
The first thing I had ever asked was accompanied by a knot in my stomach because I had been so damn nervous.
I had postponed it with days, not knowing if I had placed my words right. After some consecutive sleepless nights I had completely given up, deciding it didn't matter. I hadn't been around kids much but I knew they could ask pretty random stuff. Right?
After finally popping the question, which was a simple "Moma, where do we live?" every leftover hope in me shattered to pieces.
She faltered details about our village but one term was all I needed to understand – the Land of Fire.
I suppressed a deep sigh and the urge to burry my head in my arms. The distant belief of being able to return to my family was now gone and it took away a big piece of my heart.
Now that I knew it for sure, I could quietly lie and cry in my room. To point out this wouldn't help me was pointless, as I could grasp it pretty well. These reactions were caused by my survival instinct and I'd need a few days to get over it. You don't get reborn into a fictional world everyday after all, can't really blame me.
The less than a week that I spent alone could easily pass as the worst I ever had; even during puberty I was not that depressed. Suicidal thoughts ran through my mind and it was sheer fear of the unknown future only that restrained me from it. It was the first time I wished I was more determined. Other crazy thoughts ranged from wishing to have been a bigger fangirl to losing my mind.
Constantly repeating to myself that the Land of Fire was the least threatening place I managed to overcome my fear.
Of course, I scared the crap out of my parents after they caught onto my fake sickness.
When I eventually went back at peace with my brain, I started going out, this time on my own. Ironically, the baby that had been considered a natural outdoor lover really grew up to be one.
There was a vast difference between these two worlds in the manner of raising kids. Back in my world it would be considered irresponsible, even weak-minded, to let your three-year-old kid run around the village unsupervised. It was only logical; in big cities you can literally come across everything – mad drivers, drunkards and drug-addicts, ill-intentioned people and so much more.
Here such things were abnormal; in the small village everyone knew everyone and took care of each other.
How potential shinobi encounters and wars weren't considered dangerous was beyond me.
All it took me to get to know every place in the village was a fortnight. I can't deny it was fun at first but as I reached the borders I had nothing more to do. My mother had warned me to not go beyond them and for now I planned on listening to her.
Something that surprised me was the whole bunch of kids my age. They were all friendly towards me when we had first met and I had returned the gesture albeit not wanting to interact. I'm well ashamed to say, I had thought I was too big for hanging out with brats. Arrogance at its finest.
I learned my lesson after 2-3 painfully boring days and a debate with myself about how this could benefit me.
Weeks later, I was heading out for the regular 'meeting' of my newfound friends. It was a sunny day outside, bright and pleasantly warm.
I was already in the hallway when I glimpsed my passing figure in the big mirror. I went back a few steps to look at myself. The reflection showed a spitting image of my mother, her curly black hair and deep blue eyes only on a younger person. The only thing I'd taken from my father was the round face I didn't quite like. I stared, almost in a trance, admiring my new looks.
A knock on the door and I was brought back to reality.
"Come on, Amaya, I'm waiting for you!" a familiar voice called.
Hurriedly looking away from mirror to avoid another zoning out, I opened the front door and felt the sun grace my skin.
Outside I was greeted with a bright smile. The person emitting so many positive emotions was Dai, a boy with whom I spent most of my time.
As every other kid I knew here, he was my age, although he looked older. Looking back at how we met I felt a little guilty, because it was his hair that got my attention – a Rock Lee type of bowl cut, only Dai's hair was brown. Although our friendship began as a little joke, I soon saw a good friend in him.
Also, I was completely in love with his eyes – a darker shade of raspberry color. Not only were they gorgeous but also hypnotic, pulling everyone's gazes at them.
He blinked, "Stop staring, it's rude," he then frowned, looking at me deadly serious.
"Ah sorry, I didn't know I was so scary," I laughed at his tone, irritating him just a bit more.
After some seconds of almost awkward silence he shrugged and led the way to the playground.
Our 'squad's jam at the moment were games of ninja. Pretty much self-explanatory, these were like the game of tag, but we used materials at hand as ninja tools. Who knew sticks made amazing kunai and leaves paper tags? The game was so likeable because of all the variations it had – scenarios such as attacks, or high-rank missions were the best.
This was probably yet to be the longest game of ninja we have ever played, with around 15 kids. It was obvious each and every one of us wanted to play but we couldn't agree on what exactly.
"What about simple training?" some girl suggested.
"Pointless," a few others snapped back.
"Umm a surprise enemy attack?"
"We did that yesterday and the day before."
It was silent for a few minutes, the desperate looks on our faces outstanding.
"We should do the demon attack!" a boy, I have never actually seen before, said.
All of the kids turned to look at him like he'd said some forbidden spell.
"The demon attack?" I parroted. "What is that?"
14 pairs of eyes stared at me.
"Don't you know?" Ha-ha, you are so stupid," the same boy answered, arousing a trail of laughter.
Only Dai stayed still, his lips forming a little smile as if he didn't know what else to do.
"It is the attack against Konoha. It happened the year we were born. A giant fox appeared out of nowhere and brought chaos for just seconds. It was a punishment that the people of Konoha apparently deserved. They weren't good, that's why Kami sent this demon to them," he explained.
"A punishment, huh? It was just a natural disaster."
"Wait, did you say a fox?" I was so shocked I didn't even listen to what the others were saying. My heart rate rapidly increased.
"Y-yes. Hey, are you alright, Amaya?" Dai looked at me with slight confusion.
"I have to go," I panted and ran away as fast as I could, leaving the poor children completely puzzled.
At home I went straight to my mother and asked her about it. At first she looked confused, then, after processing my weird grammatically-poor question, she sighed and sat with me on the couch.
"From where did you learn that, dear?" she asked, looking mildly concerned.
"The kids said it."
"Ah, I see," she sighed again. "So, it happened months after you were born. A giant fox appeared not far from here – in Konohagakure. No one knows how it happened but it threatened to destroy the village and even the surroundings. We were safe however, because of a brave man, who fought the fox and gave his life."
"Sounds scary," I remarked, just to sound authentic.
"There's nothing to be afraid of, Aya," she ruffled my hair. "We are safe here."
Now that I knew where in the timeline I have ended up, I began thinking more rationally. After my primary fit of panic, I found myself no longer biased but calm.
It's pretty interesting how my point of view changed, when I learned my life wasn't necessarily threatened. In some sense the desire of living had returned in me.
I felt adventurous and decided I'd take up reading and make use of the big stack of books we had laying around; see if there's something about chakra. It came as one of those crazy ideas, which make no more sense after you wake up. However, my interest didn't die down.
As one of many parents in the village and a part of a raising competition between families, my mother was delighted to hear I wanted to read.
If I could pass as an example, the average age for starting to read was 6, so I was ahead of my own self with 3 years. Judging by the way my mom bragged to her friends about her smart daughter, it wasn't very common in this universe as well.
She was more than eager to help me, which was both a benefit and a hindrance. After hours on end of explaining the kanji and kana, she'd get impatient, because I couldn't grasp a thing. It took three or four of these lessons and her excitement died down drastically. I had to resort to self-teaching at some point when she couldn't explain well enough to be understandable. I don't blame her, though, I was her first child and both she and father looked pretty young. They couldn't have had much experience with children. (Not like I was a normal 3-year-old but that's another topic)
They better learn quickly, though, before I (re-)enter puberty.
The children's books we had at home, in which the symbols were explained to me, were still difficult and I struggled with months. I had never expected the Japanese's alphabet to be that complicated. As a non-native, who had been raised with Cyrillic and Latin, my brain couldn't adapt to this form of writing.
What kept me going this whole time was pure curiosity.
There were a ton of questions I sought an answer of. I had been reborn with my old memories and knowledge but did I have the biological structure of the people here? Did I possess chakra and could I use it?
This particular question bothered me a lot. I had been and still was an impatient person and the waiting was driving me crazy. Every spare moment I thought about it, my desire to find out grew bigger and stronger.
Before I knew it, I was daydreaming about becoming a ninja.
A little after my 4th birthday I started my first chakra book. How much I understood from it was questionable, although an effect was evident; a feel underneath my skin that was unusual, a slight tingle.
I found out chakra could be simplified and roughly compared to muscles; untrained muscles can still preform simple tasks such as lifting your hand or moving your leg but the more you train them the more evident they get and the more you can do with them. With each and every step the training process gets harder and slower until you reach your physical limit. Brave and, dare I say, stupid enough people push pass their limits using chemicals and non-organic substances to acquire a temporary effect at the price of their future health.
The possibilities of breaking the limit of your own body and chakra were not much, ranging from drinking the rare Hero Water to opening the Eight Gates with the chance of both proving fatal.
However with chakra, unlike muscles, you are supposed to train both your physical and spiritual energy.
Of course, I was nowhere near this complex training system, having not yet succeeded to stick a leaf to my hand.
That's why when I finally made it, I was so excited that I blabbed it out in front of Dai. Much to my amusement the kid was eager to learn more about his own chakra and insisted on me teaching him. It began as a one-time thing but soon it became a routine to train with him.
As for the other kids - I tried to stay away from them. Even in the body of a little girl, I was a teenager in mind and couldn't really stand their attitude. (Dai was a big exception, since he was mature for his age.)
Apart from how annoying they were there was another reason for my distancing. Kids were often a little weird back in my world, which was even considered cute, but here they could be straight off creeps.
An orphaned girl, named Kamiko Nagao, had showed up out of the blue, melting hearts here and there with her 'devastating' story. With her unnatural composure, faked smile and questionable past she was a little too Orochimaru for my tastes so I didn't dare get close to her. The others didn't seem to see anything suspicious in her, which I ascribed to their lack of knowledge of the pedo-snake.
"Wow, you are quite impressive," I exclaimed, while watching Dai pull off something I yet couldn't do, on his second attempt.
"Just don't get jealous, would you?" he giggled, moving one step up the tree he was climbing. "Wanna see if I can get to the top?"
I nodded.
He proceeded almost 2 more meters up, shaking slightly with every step. He was deeply concentrated until only a meter or so separated him from the top; then he relaxed, almost instantly interrupting the flow of chakra. With the loss of his support he flew down, letting out a strange sound between a growl and a sigh.
"DAI!" I screamed concerned that he would seriously hurt himself.
In the few seconds he had before the inevitable collision he managed to slow his fall and landed with a big thump, but no serious injuries, in the grass. I ran to him and helped him stand up.
"You alright?" I asked, glancing at the cuts on his hands.
"Yes, don't worry. Only a bruise," he smiled and dusted himself off.
I let out a sigh of relief and smiled back.
"Let's go home. It's enough for today."
The night was lit by the full moon and the stars, shining brightly over the village, complimenting the ever so beautiful landscape. The wind brought a chilling vibe to the otherwise boiling hot summer, calling for a deserved rest after the long day.
Dai and I were still walking, enjoying the long route home. We walked without saying a word, both of us sunk deep in thought.
"So, what are you planning to do?" he asked disrupting the silence.
"What do you mean?" I turned my head to face him. Our eyes met.
"You want to become a ninja, right?"
The question stopped me dead in my tracks.
'Is this how it looks like?'
While I had still watched Naruto in front of my computer screen, I'd always wondered if it'd be cool to be a ninja. When I had been younger I'd wished for it. I couldn't lie to myself, saying I didn't want, because deep down, where the burden and the reality of being a kunoichi could be overlooked, I did.
"Amaya?"
"Urr yes," I cleared my mind. "I-I don't really know. Do you?"
Dai scratched his chin, looking thoughtfully at the sky.
"Of course I do!" he grinned widely. "But even if we do want… There are no shinobi in our village so we can't become one of them."
"Konoha is not far away, there we can join the Academy," I almost slapped myself after realizing I had slipped.
"Do you think my mom and dad will agree? I should ask them!"
"No!" I shouted. "I mean..uh.. your parents will let you if mine let me. Leave that to me, okay?"
"Okay," he rested his hands behind his head and continued down the path.
'Phew, that was close,' I sighed and followed.