Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If i did, this wouldn't be fanfiction, would it?
Summary: The last thing Naruto would ever do is give up. Even in the face of death, his will to fight never disappeared. Ultimately, fate granted him another chance at life in another body. NarutoxFemNaruto.
Warning: Yes, it obviously contains incestous themes. Although, i suppose in this case it is more like... selfcest? As for everyting else(gore, violence, etc.), it is rated T. If i were to decide to do something more explicit and disturbing i will provide a specific warning at the start of the fic.
Oh, and also, Fem Naruto's name is Tsuyu. FYI, that's the name of the main heroine in Jiraya's book, 'The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi Novel'. I thought it would be easier to distinguish the characters that way when writing and would be fitting since both of these stories will be NarutoxTsuyu.
Live Another Day
Chapter 1: A New Chance!
Nobody knows what exists or what happens after death. The only constant for living beings is to be afraid of it, and that is final.
Pain has managed to capture the Kyūbi Jinchūriki in the Konoha's assault with the help of the 'masked man,' also known as Tobi. Almost everyone in the village died in the process, which only increased Naruto's determination to save what is left of Konoha and defeat the villainous killers. However, it seems that determination is not enough to save everyone.
Naruto Uzumaki, a child that had suffered greatly throughout his life, finds himself in a situation that guarantees only one thing for him – an imminent death. It was very dark in the cave, and Naruto could't see, but he definitely felt the presence of many 'kage-level' shinobi. He felt powerless… no, he was powerless to do anything. In all his life, Naruto never thought he would ever be so useless. The Nine-tails' chakra has finally been drained, and once a tailed beast is extracted, the death of the Jinchūriki is certain.
He is trying to scream yet no words are coming from his mouth. He is trying to get up but he cannot. Slowly but surely, even the idea of screaming is starting to fade for the blonde. Yet his mind is dead set on continuing to struggle and fight.
Once the incredibly powerful shinobi finished draining the Nine-tails into some sort of statue Naruto couldn't help but wonder, "Is it really my time? Did I come so far just to die in such a lame fashion?! No. No, it can't be. I don't accept it. I will never accept it no matter what." It looked like the only thing that kept Naruto alive for longer than any Jinchūriki has ever managed to had after their beast was taken is his strong will to never give up. It had led him to great victories against many foes, so it can't fail now can it?
XxX
For just one second, everything went black for the blonde teenager. As soon as the pure blackness appeared, it in a matter of a second was replaced by a flash of light that lingered on for what seemed to be hours upon hours of time. Naruto felt so many emotions during what he thought was his demise, ranging from sadness and anger to relief and peacefulness.
Then, in a similar fashion as the blackness disappeared, all the pure whiteness was replaced with a view of… the greenest forest Naruto has ever seen. He was now surrounded by lush bushes and deciduous trees, which made Naruto even more confused than he was during his 'death'.
"Am I dead?" was the only thought that was on his mind.
After what it seemed to be hours of just standing and looking blankly at the tall grass, Naruto snapped and started looking around spastically. Up and down, right and left, everything seemed to be so real and peaceful.
He touched the grass, took the leaves that were on the ground, and quickly ripped them apart. He started taking the grass out of the dirt and even decided to lick it with his own tongue. Still, the idea that he might be in some sort of paradise lingered on. The absurdity of it all made Naruto chuckle, which quickly turned into a loud laugh. It took him a solid minute to let out his emotion at the bizarre situation he had gotten himself into.
The blonde, after letting out his emotions decided to stand up and start walking along a path that was filled with long branches, which made it quite a big challenge to get pass through. While maneuvering through the dense bushes and branches that were physically hurting Naruto a bit, he couldn't help but wonder, "Could I die here again? Certainly not, right?!"
Naruto didn't notice a large puddle he accidentally stepped on. When he decided to look down, he lost his breath. He didn't see his reflection in the water. It was… Kiba?
A gulp came out of the boy who used to have blonde hair and whiskers. Right now, however, Naruto was certainly not as blonde nor as old as he was supposed to be. The thought "I look like… no. No, I am Kiba." scared Naruto to death.
This was too much for anyone to take in. Naruto thought of letting out a scream or at the very least saying something in surprise. But he was just purely shocked, which made his mind go fully blank for some time.
"Please… stop it," Naruto asked no one in particular in a voice that couldn't be heard even if you were one foot away from him. It was a hard pill to swallow to see that he was no longer himself. Naruto was strong, but right now he wasn't sure whether he truly is. As many thoughts circled around his now darkish brown hair, one idea was constant: "I have been given another chance. I can fix it." As each second passed, Naruto continued telling himself "I'm still… Naruto. I know many things that I can change. Now, I have time. I cannot the chance given to me go to waste!"
"What happened to Kiba? Did he just died or was he reincarnated like me? What if we somehow just changed timelines, and he is right now in my own alternative body?!" Weird thoughts were still coming to Naruto's mind. With that in mind, he sighed, and while breathing in some fresh air he caught an odd smell through his nose. The smell was very strong, almost as if he could sense the way the smell was coming from. Although he couldn't exactly pinpoint what kind of meat was being cooked, he knew for a fact that it was very likely the way to the village. So, with a look that was mixed with determination, confusion, and fear, Naruto started heading towards the village. Surely, things couldn't go even more wrong?
XxX
(In Yondaime Hokage's house)
"Guess what? I've created another jutsu!" Tsuyu said in a very obnoxious manner.
Minato Namikaze couldn't hold back his smile despite being rather stoic man. He knew exactly what his daughter was like: wild and incredibly in need of attention. So he gave all of his concentration to her, despite knowing that it would most likely be something completely useless and would likely make his day even more difficult than it already was. But that is just a part of having children, isn't it?
Meeting her father's focused look, she quickly started performing hand signs. Then, in a puff of smoke, she appeared and quickly disappeared, leaving her looking exactly the same with nothing else changing or appearing.
Minato let out a chuckle and quickly clarified why he was laughing, "If I had to be honest, I thought you would transform into some odd-looking man or something along those lines as a joke."
Tsuyu stared at her father angrily and grumbled loudly, "Hmph! I thought my father was smarter and more observant than that!"
All Minato could do was look at her with an expression that said 'sorry', but he said nothing to avoid offending his daughter. Despite being one of the smartest men alive, he always had trouble figuring out his daughter.
"It's my hair, you IDIOT! I casted a genjutsu on it!" Tsuyu fumed, pointing to her long, bright yellow lush hair, which was now tied in a ponytail instead of the messy twintails that were there before.
Minato held up his arms in a defeated fashion and muttered, "I'm sorry." Then, without wasting a second, he went back to work. Tsuyu was obviously still upset, but she didn't want to vent her anger on the person she cares the most since she knew Minato had a lot on his plate. Knowing just how much the Hokage had to work and the amount of paperwork Minato does in a day would be equal to how much Tsuyu could do in a month. Despite Minato's attempts to show Tsuyu the "fun" part of being a hokage, Tsuyu could never see it that way.
"Whatever," Tsuyu groaned in a rather quiet way and went back to her room. She quickly and loudly closed the door and went back to studying. Or at the very least, she tried to do that.
"Focus! Focus! Focus!" Tsuyu nearly screamed to herself. The final exam is coming up so soon! This is a major step for every up-coming student who wishes to become a ninja. Genin qualifications are rather easy and certainly possible for almost anyone to pass it. Yet, Tsuyu still had a certain doubt in herself. Every now and then, she asked her father to show her some of the reports of missions, and quite often, genin get themselves in very dangerous and deadly situations. It's not that uncommon for a genin to even be fatally wounded in a mission that would only pay enough for a day in a hotel.
Being a ninja is a difficult job. It's not something that can be half-assed, so every genin must to be prepared. Every shinobi must understand that death and killing with your own hands might occur during the missions. Both mental and physical preparation are important, and deep down Tsuyu still feels feels mentally unprepared to be fit as a genin. But she has to do something that requires her to grow in strength and go up in ranks.
Kushina… a very strong and ambitious woman left the world far sooner than she should have. The same man who killed Kushina and destroyed a big chunk of the village cursed Tsuyu to bear the same 'legacy' as Kushina. Despite Minato's best efforts, the stigma surrounding Nine-tailed beast still exists, and it rests on the shoulders of a young girl to live with it.
The name of the killer didn't matter to Tsuyu. What truly mattered for her was his death. In fact, she wished for him to suffer the most painful fate imaginable, hopefully for an eternity. Yet until she becomes a strong konoichi with at the very least the title of 'Jonin,' she can't do anything of significance against the 'masked man'. Her mother's death won't go in vain; she will avenge her.
With the sudden burst of motivation gained from her rather miserable state, she picked what seems to be some sort of history book and started reading. She had lazed round and messed around for long enough. If she somehow fails to become a genin, it would be a massive embarrassment, not only for herself and her father, but most importantly, for her mother.
XxX
(Back with Naruto)
What was likely a few hours of walking seemed like an eternity for Naruto. The situation he was in was certainly not a pleasant one. For starters, he had reincarnated into the body of his friend, whose death in the timeline where Naruto came from was very messed. Well, it wasn't brutal or painful, so that is that… However, having your soul taken by what seemed to be someone with powers of actual gods or demons seemed far worse than death. Naruto taking Kiba's body is quite similar, or at the least that's what was concerning Naruto's mind.
Kiba, at that age as the previously blonde man remembered, wore a dark gray coat with brown fur-lined hood. His pants were coffee brown, which in different light angles looked bluish, reached up to his calves. To complete his outfit off, he had the widely-used darkish blue sandals commonly seen throughout Konoha and small villages surrounding it.
The more Naruto thought about it, the more he realized that he and Kiba looked quite similar. Both had sharp, animal-like teeth and nails that were sharper than most. Furthermore, both of them were marked with something on their faces. Naruto had the iconic whiskers on his cheeks, while Kiba had the well-known red fang markings of the Inuzuka clan on his face.
As Naruto's mind was wandering around the thought of him accidentally killing and replacing one of his friends he suddenly saw what seemed to be… the Inuzuka clan compound, "Great, just great. As if I don't have enough to deal with," Naruto thought in a rather unusually pessimistic way.
Just before entering the Inuzuka compound that he presumed would be his new home, he mentally shouted in an almost comedic fashion, "Wait, don't Inuzuka clan members always have… their dogs with them?!"
A quick decision was made by the newly reincarnated teenager to deal with it later! With a loud sigh, he quickly made his way from the Inuzuka clan's district to the main streets of Konoha. Walking along the crosswalks, admiring the beautifully crafted roofs and enjoying the nostalgic aroma coming from the various shops and restaurants finally calmed Naruto quite a bit. In fact, he even stopped thinking that he is in a new body for a few minutes! However, the same lovely smell reminded him of the reality he placed in. The smell was… too much for a normal human to be able smell as he could truly feel the way the aroma was coming to his nose. Obviously, that was just a trait inherent to Inuzuka clan members.
However, every thought he had previously quickly vanished. This might have even shocked him more than when he found out he is in a body of a 12-year-old kid. He saw himself. Well… he saw himself, but as a female. Great.
Naruto couldn't decide whether fate is playing with him. On one hand, he had been given a chance at reincarnation! On the other hand… this and him being in Kiba's body isn't exactly how he saw his death come about.
Hopefully, my first fanfic isn't completely awful. If I've made(which I definitely have) any mistakes, I'll use the excuse of English not being my native language! This chapter is a bit too short for my liking, but I'll try to make the next one twice as long.
Anyways, any suggestions or questions? Leave a review if you have any thoughts or concerns.
