Naruto: Unexpected
It was shortly after Naruto's ninth birthday that his academy sensei started to teach his class how to actually mould chakra. This created a slew of new problems for the short blond boy; he couldn't get the supposedly basic leaf balancing exercise to work.
"I tried really hard, nee-chan, but it wouldn't stay on!" Naruto complained, pouting as he went through the now smooth and practised motions of a formal tea ceremony. In his styled wig, make-up and brightly multicoloured, flower-patterned kimono fastened with an orange, chrysanthemum patterned obi, not one of his classmates, sensei or other adult friends would have recognised him.
"What happened exactly, Naru-chan?" Hibana-nee asked calmy from her seat by the low table. She was almost sixteen now and would soon be elevated to full geisha. When that happened she intended to accept 'Naru' as her Maiko imouto. Naruto was a bit sad he would never get to be a proper geisha -Takemaru was nice and all, but Naruto really liked wearing the feminine kimonos- but he was still looking forward to it. He would finally be allowed to interact with clients without supervision! Not just that, but also travel outside the okiya professionally! Plus, he could start earning and pay back Himitsu-okaa-san and Hibana-nee for all the pretty clothes and important books, ornaments and other tools of the geisha trade they had bought him. His current predicament, though, made it hard to be optimistic. Abject failure always made him miserable.
"The dumb leaf shot off my forehead, up in the air," he grumbled, pouring his nee-san's tea at precisely the approved angle. "and when I tried again, it shredded. Then sensei shouted at me for messing around and called me stupid."
"It sounds to me like you were using too much chakra, Naru-chan," Hibana-nee said, sipping her tea delicately. "I do know a little about chakra training, though I don't have enough reserves to be a good ninja. My one useful ninja skill is the ability to sense other peoples' chakra levels. You, my Naru-chibi, have a great deal of chakra. A waterfall's worth, compared to your classmates' bucketful. Leaf balancing only uses a small amount of chakra at a time, and you do not have precise enough control to use such a tiny proportion of your reserves. Your classmates have very little, so using a little is easy for them."
"What should I do then, nee-san?" Naruto asked, sipping his own tea.
"First I want you to meditate and learn the feel of your chakra. It is as much a part of you as your hands or stomach, so being able to feel it will help you to control it," Hibana-nee said firmly. "Second, I will show you the twelve principle handseals. You will practice forming them without moulding chakra until you can make strings of then quickly and perfectly. This will make learning jutsu easier for you when they get around to teaching them to you. Third, I'll give you a book on handseals to read. It will tell you what each handseal does to your chakra and why they are used."
"Hai, nee-chan," Naruto sighed. It sounds so boring!
"Meditating will calm your chakra, Naru-chan, making it easier to control. Once you have achieved that I will teach you a chakra control exercise you will find easier," Hibana-nee promised with a small smile. "The book is to give you something to do in between meditating and to help you get ahead in your ninjutsu."
Meditation did help, and the handseal book Hibana-nee gave him was actually rather interesting, but it wasn't until his academy sensei introduced the class to the henge no jutsu that Naruto realised how useful chakra could be.
The first week of Naruto's final year at the academy the chunnin sensei finally started teaching his class actual jutsu. The henge, or disguise technique was the first of these, but it used such a pathetic ammount of chakra that Naruto found it almost impossible to perform. Being sent out of the class halfway through the explanation didn't help, either.
That did not mean that he gave up; The whisker-marked blonde wanted this technique more than all the flashy jutsu in the world, as it would enable him to train as a real maiko rather than just a ninja who could pretend to be one.
Three weeks of solid effort later, Naruto had it down. At least, he thought he did. His henge didn't quite correspond to what he could remember of his sensei's description. For one, it was actually solid rather than illusory. Secondly, his mass changed when henged into someone or something significantly larger or smaller than he was. With this in mind, he decided to ask his nee-san for help. She'd be able to fill in the gaps in his understanding of the jutsu, since she'd said she had basic ninja training.
He changed into his civilian outfit -which included a bandanna over his hair and makeup to hide the whisker-marks- and set off out of his apartment to find Hibana-nee.
Hibana-nee listened patiently to his somewhat disjointed explanation, made him do the jutsu a couple of times then sent one of the newer minarai for food and drink. Once they were alone again she told Naruto to practice his shamisen while she went to fetch Himitsu-okaa-san.
Himitsu-okaa-san was very interested in Naruto's henge variant. She made him transform into several different girls of various ages, then made him take off his clothes while in henge and had him stand there while she prodded him in various personal places. Naruto didn't dare complain, no matter how weird what Himitsu-okaa-san was doing made him feel; in the okiya, Himitsu-okaa-san was kami. She stopped eventually and let him release the henge and get dressed while she talked to Hibana-nee in low, rapid tones on the other side of the room.
"Naru-chan," Himitsu-okaa-san said at last, "I will allow you to become a maiko of my okiya in your special henge. Hibana-chan will be your onee-san for as long as she remains at the Mitsusha, after which, if you are still maiko, I will take you as my imouto. You have talent, Naru-chan, and I do not want it wasted. Many kunoichi could benefit from the training you have submitted to, but they believe themselves above such things. They are foolish: ninja do others' dirty work for money. Nothing is to low for a shinobi to learn from."
Naruto bowed low in acknowledgement and thanks.
"Your henge-self will be called Benihime," the okaa-san continued. "She has dark red hair and lilac eyes, and she is thirteen years of age. I do not accept maiko any younger, or the wait for physical maturity is longer than the time required for training. Hibana-chan will instruct you in how to achieve the proper effect." She swept from the room, regal as an emperess.
Hibana picked up where Himitsu-san had left off:
"Benihime-chan is to be as close to your real self as possible, Naru-chan. Please go into henge and concentrate on how exactly you would look if you were a girl."
Naruto obliged; the effect was fairly minor. His hair was softer and slightly smoother and his centre of mass was a little lower.
"Good. Now stay in henge, but make yourself about four years older."
That was... interesting. He could feel his body filling out, his legs lengthening and his chest -breasts?- expanding. Hibana helped him loosen his suddenly too-small kimono and eyed him critically.
"You look just right," she said after a pause, "other than the colouring. And you need to conceal the whisker marks."
Naruto darkened his hair to blood red, his eyes to lilac and vanished his whisker marks. He also slimmed his face slightly and tilted his eyes up at the outside, narrowing them a touch just to prove he could. Modifications complete, he stared at his reflection in the full-length mirror, committing his new self to memory.
"Perfect. Now put these on and listen carefully," Hibana said, handing him some larger underthings and a lightweight yukata. "I think I know how your henge works. Not entirely -I have no idea how you shifted into objects or where the extra mass comes and goes from- but I know how you changed your age and gender.
"Now men and women may look and act differently, but on a basic, genetic level the actual difference is minimal. Your body and mine contain the necessary instructions and materials for both a male and female form. What makes you a boy is the fact that your body contains a short piece of code that mine does not, a code you received from your father upon conception. That code enables your body to produce two specific chemicals which ensure that you are born male and develop as such.
"When you change your gender with your special henge, your chakra 'hides' both the code and the chemicals that make you male and pushes your body to conform to the new pattern, transforming you into your own female twin. The looking older is similar, your chakra fooling your body into believing it is older.
"The other changes are purely cosmetic, moulding flesh and bone like clay and adjusting superficial colouring.
"The important bit, however, is that since your henge is technically ninjutsu, it is undetectable and won't break on kai. You actually adjust your body shape rather than spinning a genjutsu over it. The only way to identify you as Naruto while in henge is your chakra signature, but incredibly the gender change disguises that as well. I can teach you to suppress it further, if you like.
"Now -and this is vital, Naruto- do your best not to let anyone discover that your henge is solid. If someone uses kai on you in non-mission-related circumstances because they suspect you, dispel the technique to preserve the secret. This jutsu could save your life and the lives of those depending on you. Because everyone assumes that no henge could ever be solid, your henge gives you a hidden ace. Understood?"
"Hai, Hibana-onee-san," Naruto -Benihime, I'm Benihime now- said, pausing to listen to how different his voice sounded.
"Good. Now you are Benihime, my maiko-imouto and you need the clothing appropriate for your status. Follow me, please."
Terms of endearment
nee, onee-san/-chan = older sister
imouto = little sister
chibi = baby, little one
okaa-san/kaa-san = mother
nii, onii-san, aniki = big brother
otouto = little brother
otou-san/tou-san = father
A/N: My second major departure from canon after the rescue of the youngest Uchiha children. This is the birth of Naruto's first original technique and will have massive bearing on the story in the future, as will its effects on his personality. Konoha is DOOMED.