Author's notes: Hey, super short thoughts here, I dunno how far I want to go with this fic yet, so I'm writing this as a pilot chapter to see if the idea has legs. It's an idea that has been kicking around the old brain case for ages now, and I'm finally gonna write it out. I'll know if I wanna do more once chapter 1 is finished. so check the ending notes to see if this is an ongoing project. I guess. Hope you enjoy.
Full summary: In the five elemental nations, Warriors were classified under 3 distinct disciplines. The Shinobi, The Samurai, and... the Shinigami. Most warriors followed only one discipline, while the truly elite could boast the skills of two... Join Naruko Uzumaki As she sets out to master all 3 disciplines, and become The Hokage who will live forever in the history of the Shinobi world.
This is a story exploring the Potential ways the Naruto world would be different with Bleach's shinigami present. Not as detached guardians of the afterlife, but as spiritual warriors present in the world of the living. I'm also going to use Naruko instead of Naruto because... I want to. Also, I will be adding a few OCs into this story, for reasons that will become clear over the course of this and the next chapter. if you don't like OC stories, that's fair, but I would still encourage you to give this one a chance, as the OCs will not be the primary focus.
Chapter 1: The New Team 7 (Pilot chapter)
"It's so damned hooooooot...!!" Whined a Blond teenage girl With Whisker-like scars on her cheeks. She wore a thick orange jumpsuit, with the red swirl crest of the Uzumaki stitched into the back. Her Bright blue eyes reflected her misery as she wrung out the single pony-tail of blonde hair that sprouted from the back of her head.
The perks of living in the Hidden leaf Village were great. it was Arguably the strongest of the 5 Great Shinobi villages. It was home to inarguably some of the strongest Ninja clans. It's civilian population were treated as equal to it's military, which wasn't necessarily a given in one of the great Shinobi villages. The leaf village was also Beautiful, graced with flourishing plant and animal life, living in scenic forests and fields, all thanks to the Leafs Mild tropical climate. That same tropical climate that Naruko currently found herself complaining about. Seriously, why did the academy not have an AC unit, and why did they leave all the windows open!?
"Gee is it hot?" Another blonde with much longer hair, and a purple top/skirt combo, asked sarcastically. "I couldn't tell over how much Naruko has been Whining about it. Seriously, the summers here are always in the 90-100F range, you'd think you'd have learned not to wear that Atrocious Orange jumpsuit in these temperatures by now."
"My jumpsuit isn't atrocious, Ino!" Naruko snapped back.
"Actually... yeah it is." Confessed another girl with long pink hair and a simple red dress with black shorts underneath. "I just didn't wanna tell you, cause you seemed to really like it."
"What!?" Naruko exclaimed incredulously, then turned to the last girl in the room, a short shy girl with short black hair in a white jacket and black pants "Hinata, it's not atrocious is it...!? I mean, Sakura and Ino just have to be pranking me right!?"
Hinata blushes, let out an "eep" sound and looked down. she had been caught off-guard by her crushes' sudden attention, and now she was in trouble. she could only hide behind the shy act so long. her mind went into overdrive as she tried to think of a way to tell Naruko her jumpsuit was... unflattering, without hurting her feelings.
"you don't even need to ask." said a gruf male voice from the row in front of Naruko. everyone turned their attention to the speaker, a boy with black hair and the Uchiha clan crest print on the back of his blue popped collared shirt.
"What's that mean Sasuke?" Naruko asked curiously, genuinely surprised he was even weighing in on the topic of fashion. he was mister T-shirt and shorts after all, no fashion sense whatsoever.
"It means, that everyone knows that jumpsuit is stupid." The young Arrogant Uchiha replied, causing Naruko's head to slam into the desk with a groan "Granted, anything will look stupid when an idiot wears it."
"Sasuke!!" Sakura gasped, surprised (somehow) by the rudeness of her crush "Don't be so rude!! You can't treat your classmates like that, especially not the daughter of the fourth Hokage."
"Eh, It's fine." Naruko said, turning her head to look up at Sakura, even with her head still planted on the desk. "It's better than him kissing up to me like everyone else seems to."
Everyone in the room could hear the accusatory tone there. It was no wonder, from the day Naruko had enrolled in the academy, she had made it clear to everyone that she didn't want to be treated any differently than anyone else, even if she was the daughter or the Fourth Hokage. there was also a student in the back who made note of exactly who Naruko was defending. Shikamaru Nara was not one to miss such details, even if he wished he was.
Sasuke had gone back to brooding after Naruko had spoken up, which was expected. It was just what he did. What Shikamaru didn't expect was for Naruko to stand up for him, rather than stand up to him. Shikamaru went over the interaction in his head, as well as what he knew of the two of them trying to find common gro-.. oh. Seems they had something vital in common.
"Hello? Earth to shikamaru!" Naruko said, shaking shikamaru from his thoughts, as she waved a hand in front of his face.
"Huh? Sorry, I was napping." shikamaru said lazily, rubbing an eye to sell the lie.
"No you weren't." Naruko rebutted immediately. "You were thinking, solving a puzzle. Trust me, I know the difference with you." Shikamaru shoulda known better than to try to lie to her, so since he did, Naruko also knew that he was thinking of something he didn't want to share. "Anyways, Ino, Choji and I, are going clothes shopping, after assignments. You coming?"
Shikamaru shrugged. Ino, choji, and Naruto knew well enough that this was his way of confirming he would. Even if he would never admit it was cause he wanted to. Instead insisting that he was doing it for them, not himself. They didn't even bother to ask, much like he didn't bother to fight them on going in the first place.
"Sakura?" Naruko asked, turning to look at the pinkette.
"... If Ino can behave herself." she agreed begrudgingly, though she was secretly really happy to be invited without having to ask. She didn't have a lot of friends, and thanks to her most recent fight with Ino, it seems that number may have gotten smaller. Again.
"if I can behav-"
The door slammed open, cutting Ino off as every student immediately sat down facing the front of the class. Iruka walked in calmly, surveying his students for the final time. He noted with immense pride that Naruko was among them. Naruko may not have had all the immense natural talent her parents seemed to, but she had doubtless been training herself into the ground to pass the exit exam.
"You're staring at the idiot." Sasuke noted callously. "Lemme guess, she failed and you're about to tell her to go home."
"No." Iruka replied, barely keeping his voice even. The nerve of that kid, to Insult his most hardworking student so easily, as if it was the natural state of things. He took a second to both let his single word sink into Sasuke's big head, and to get his anger in check. "She's here because she passed the exam. She even exceeded the exam expectations by displaying an S-rank jutsu."
That caught the attention of everyone in the room. All heads snapped to Naruko, who blushed slightly at the attention. "I Uh..." Naruko began sheepishly "may have told my mom about my struggles with the clone jutsu, so she taught me the shadow clone jutsu instead. It's muuuuuch easier.."
That only made the looks even more incredulous.
"Ahem." Iruka cleared his throat, and his class refocused on him, save for Sasuke, who was still staring at Naruko with a mix of surprise and resentment. "You all know what's going on, and I'm not one for big speeches. So I'll just say this, from today on, you're adults. You may only be 16, but in the Shinobi world, that's more than old enough to be considered mature enough to be considered an adult. From today on, you're no longer students, you're genin, fully fledged ninjas.
"At least, that's what your parents and other ninja will tell you. None of what I just said is true. You still have a lot of maturing and growing to do, so by definition, you're not adults. You will spend anywhere from the next few weeks, to the next few years, learning from and being protected by a jonin instructor, so by definition, you're still students, not full ninjas. I urge you to keep these truths in mind as you start your time as genin, and continue your journeys to become great Ninja."
Iruka surveyed the students as he concluded his short speech. Naruko, Sakura, Ino and Hinata were all listening intently, Iruka knew they heard and took in his words, and would learn from them. Shino, was, as ever, hard to read, he had no idea if he was listening or not. Shikamaru and choji were both definitely not listening. in shikamaru's case, cause he was pretending to nap, and in choji's case cause he was shoveling chips into his mouth and probably couldn't hear anything over the crunching. Kiba and Sasuke were both not listening simply because neither believed he had anything useful to say to them at this point.
"With all that said." Iruka continued, grimly "I will now announce teams." He took out a scroll, and unrolled it to read the names "Before I do, just be aware, teams are assigned Directly by the Hokage, if you have an issue with your assignment, you can voice it to Lord Fourth when your team turns up to accept their first mission."
"The first team I will assign today, is team 7, consisting of: Naruko Uzumaki, Hinata Hyuga, and Ino Yamanaka , you will be training under Jonin instructor Yuhi Kurenai. Report to training Field 9 for your first training session."
"Hell yeah~!!" Naruko exclaimed ecstatically. "I get two of my best friends, and two of the biggest badasses in class!"
Both the girls in question were surprised by the praise. For completely different reasons. Ino instantly felt shame, for seconds before Naruko spoke, lamenting the fact that she was stuck on team with the class dunce. If Naruko thought that highly of her, perhaps it was unfair of her not to give her a chance.
In stark contrast to Ino's vanity, Hinata's insecurity is what made her surprised that Naruko was happy with their assignment. she thought for sure that she would be seen as a hindrance, but with her crush proudly calling her a "badass" it had her blushing furiously, and feeling butterflies in her stomach.
"Next team, team 8;" Iruka continued "Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha, and Shikamaru Nara. you will be training under Jonin instructor Kakashi Hatake, please report to training Field 6."
"... at least I'm not stuck with Naruko's useless carcass." Sasuke muttered, ignoring Naruko's immediate indignant hissy fit. Internally, he was ecstatic, together they had the top 3 scores in their class, and if the rumors were true, their Jonin instructor was one of the best in the village. They would be the top performing team, it was practically guaranteed. Especially under his leadership.
Sakura was too busy internally throwing a parade over getting put on a team with Sasuke. Something she was sure ino-pig was furious about. 'Well suck it up Ino! True love always wins!'
"What a drag..." shikamaru said with a sigh.
"And finally, team 10, 9 is still in use from last year. team 10 will consist of Shino Aburame, Kiba Inuzuka, and Choji Akimichi. you will be training under Jonin instructor Rin Nohara, please report to training Field 11"
"Great give me the clown college..." Kiba muttered.
Shino gave no discernable reaction externally. Internally, he was actually quite pleased with his team. Both of their combat styles would perfectly compliment his. The Fourth Hokage was indeed a tactical genius if he saw the potential in this particular team composition. He found himself thinking the same for all 3 teams.
Choji was disappointed he wasn't on a team with his bro Shikamaru, but ultimately was willing to give this team a shot. Besides, ever since they had arm wrestled in the second year, Kiba knew to keep his mouth shut about choji's weight. As long as that was the case, Choji didn't really have a problem with either of his new teammates.
"And that will be all for today." Iruka concluded "You're dismissed. you have a couple hours to prepare for your first training session with your Jonin instructor, but don't be late. 12 O'clock noon on the dot, and anyone who's late will be sent back to the academy." All the genin paled at that. "Team 8, feel free to be late though, your Jonin sensei sure will be. By at least 3 hours."
"What!? Why!?" Sakura demanded incredulously
"Because he's Kakashi." Was all the response they got.
Team 7 was already gathered in the appropriate training field at 11:30. Ino had insisted (much to Naruko's dismay) that arriving early would make a good first impression on their new Jonin-sensei, and (to Naruko's even greater dismay) Hinata had agreed. So they assembled (without lunch) at training field 9.
The leaf village had about 24 training fields modeled after various environments. training field 9 was a simple grassy field area with a small creek running through it. It also neighbored training field 17, the forest environment, so the two were often reserved together. The assembled genin had little doubt their Jonin-sensei had done the same.
"So," Naruko said once they arrived. "Anyone know anything about Jonin sensei? Yuhi Kurenai?"
"I d-do." Hinata spoke quietly. "She was an old friend of my mom's from before she ever married into the family. Ever since Mom died, she's been helping me and Hanabi with the girl stuff my dad isn't comfortable with."
"So she's like your aunt." Ino summarized.
"sounds more like a god-mother." Naruko said. "My mom always talked about how if anything had happened to her, she would have wanted me to be taken care of by my god-mother, lady Tsunade."
"Really!?" Ino said with a gasp... then thought about it for a few seconds "Oh... yeah it makes sense the wife of the Hokage would have friends in high places."
"yup." Naruko said with a nod "And my dad was trained by Jiraiya of the sanin, so he saw all of the sanin as sorta like extended family." There was a pause in the conversation after that.
"That must have been rough for him then." Ino said after a bit, breaking the silence. "Losing orochimaru, I mean. Everyone always talks about how much of an evil traitor he was, but it must have been especially rough for you dad."
"And Gramps." Naruko said with a grim nod. Then she noticed the weird looks "eer.. I mean, lord Third. He trained all three of the Sanin, so he was hit the hardest by Orochimaru's betrayal. I call him Gramps. He and my dad are close, after all, Gramps trained Jiraiya, and Jiraiya taught my dad. They're all sorta like family."
"S-Sounds like y-you have a lot to live up to..." Hinata stuttered out nervously.
"Yeah... no kidding." Naruko muttered bitterly "And here I am barely passing my third try at the genin exam..."
"At least you passed." said a feminine voice from behind the trio, making the genin jump, and turn around to face the source.
Behind the trio was a tall woman, with long dark hair and crimson eyes. She wore a white dress that seemed to be made of large white bandages, with black lines running down the middle of each bandage, and red baggy sleeves. She had a mesh undershirt, and bandages wrapped around her upper legs and probably around her pelvis and waist. Her hands were wrapped in more bandages, and on her feet were black Shinobi sandals.
"Your father may not have been able to stand her daughter failing again." The woman continued. "You three are early."
"Y-yes, Kurenai sensei...!" Hinata said as she let out a relieved breath.
"good." Kurenai said with a smile, as she walked towards them. She walked right up to Naruko, and stared her down.
The genin all had the same thought at the same time. This is weird, Something is wrong. Hinata especially found this weirdly impersonal tone odd for Kurenai, and instinctively found herself moving closer to Naruko.
Suddenly Kurenai flicked her left wrist, a kunai emerging from her sleeve as she moves to stab Naruko. Fortunately for Naruko's organs, Hinata was faster, slapping kurenai's wrist with a chakra infused palm, causing the Jonin to drop her weapon, and jump back several meters from the genin, who quickly drew weapons and go into a fighting stance.
"That was way too close Kurenai-sensei!" Hinata said, surprising everyone with her boldness and protective tone. "You almost stabbed Naruko! That could've killed her!"
"I imagine that was the point." said a familiar feminine voice from behind the trio.
They looked back to see... Kurenai? She was staring down the other Kurenai(?) with a bemused expression. She stepped forward in front of the genin. "Identify yourself and surrender quietly, and you may not get sent to Anbu interrogation. I wouldn't want to be left in Anko's hands right now, she's.. feeling rather testy at the moment."
"Hah! What a load of crap." The now definitely fake Kurenai said in a masculine voice. "I'm not leaving here until the demon fox is dead. Even if I have to kill you, and the two other brats to do it."
The fake Kurenai released a transformation jutsu, revealing themselves to be a young man with shoulder length white hair, mostly concealed under a bandana that sported a leaf village hitai-ate sewn onto the front. The rest of his garb was unremarkable, just standard issue leaf village chunin flak jacket, and rather standard dark blue shirt and pants with a kunai pouch on his left hip. What wasn't standard was the two Enormous shuriken on his back.
"Mizuki-sensei!?! Why!?" Naruko gasped in horror. He had been one of the few teachers at the academy who had treated her with any degree of friendliness, the only other being Iruka. Why would he suddenly turn on her like this?
"Isn't it obvious!?" Mizuki shouted back, a look of disgust on his face "Don't play dumb with me demon fox."
"What the hell are you talking about!?!" Ino demanded, rage building up inside her at this traitor insulting her friend "Where do you get off calling her the demon fox!? Her Mom and Dad almost died to kill the Kyuubi!"
"Is that what they told you!?" he laughed manically at that for a few seconds, then stopped, and resumed in a cold voice. "No, the fourth Hokage sealed away the Ninetails after it's escape. Though it's previous host was too weak to accept it... so he sealed it in his own daughter. The Fourth Hokage is no hero, he's as much a monster as the demon bitch."
That shook the genin to their core. The Night of the Kyuubi was one of the worst tragedies in recent history. 16 years ago the Kyuubi had attacked the leaf village, and destroyed a significant chunk of the outer district, before being repelled by a combination of the leaf's forces, led by the Fourth Hokage, and a small, but elite contingent of shinigami, who had been on loan to leaf by the Seireitei at the time. Everyone had been told that the fourth Hokage, alongside the captain of the 12th division of the Gotei, had just barely managed to kill the Kyuubi. Ino and Hinata stared at Naruko, and immediately knew that this was as much news to her as it was to them.
"What makes you think that." Kurenai asked, in an ice cold tone that immediately brought the genin back to reality.
"You know it's tr-"
"Not that Naruko is the host of the fox." Kurenai clarified, her voice sharp as a knife. "What braindead delusion lets you believe that the Hokage is as much a monster as the fox?" She demanded, venom dripping from each word.
"B-Because..." Mizuki coughed, trying to force his usual confidence back into his voice. "As I'm sure the Yamanaka can attest, the stronger chakra will always overwhelm the weaker chakra. It's obvious the Kyuubi destroyed the innocent baby that he was sealed in, and is simply biding his time until it's stolen body is powerful enough to exact it's revenge. That's why The Fourth is a monster, he murdered his own daug-"
"THAT'S BULLSHIT!" Ino shouted, cutting him off. "Have you ever heard a single Naruko has ever said!?"
"Exactly!" Hinata agreed, her stutter replaced by indignation at this traitor daring to insult her crush "Naruko is the nicest soul in this entire village! She may be a bit of a prankster, but she's never hurt anyone who didn't deserve it!! There's absolutely no way that she could be the Kyuubi."
"Well said Hinata." Kurenai agreed "But speaking of hurting those who deserve it... well usually there's a secondary test for fresh genin, I had one in mind for you, but I have a better idea. There's no way he thought he could take me, and all three of you, alone. So your last teammate and I will deal with his backup. You three, beat this traitor within an inch of his life."
"Last teammate?" Naruko asked, with a confused head tilt. Genin teams were always 3 genin and a jonin. Sometimes the jonin would have another jonin join for specific training exercises or missions, but there were almost never permanent additions to the team.
"I'll explain later." Kurenai assured "for now, complete your mission." Kurenai then vanished in a puff of smoke, the tell tale sign of the body flicker technique.
"You three!? Beat me!? Don't make me laugh." Mizuki said with a smug laugh, as he pulled the massive shuriken off his back "I'm an experienced chunin, and you're a bunch of fresh out of the academy brats. Not that I'll ever understand how you passed this time, demon fox. I was sure I switched those scores."
"Switched the scores?" Naruko asked now once again confused.
"You genuinely sucked at the clone jutsu." Mizuki said with a malicious grin "but your other scores should have let you pass, but I switched your scores with lower ones. I was hoping The Hokage would see that his experiment had failed, and dispose of you himself, but evidently, he's gone blind to the error of his ways. I'll have to dispose of you myself."
Ino and Hinata both growled in anger. How dare he!? First he had the gall to insult their friend, but then they find out he was intentionally sabotaging her at the academy!? This dirt bag had to go down.
"Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!!" Naruko shouted, forming a single hand sign. suddenly the field was filled with smoke, and when the smoke cleared, there were at least a hundred clones of Naruko. Ino and Hinata could only stand stare, mouth agape.
"See!?!" Mizuki demanded, with another manic laugh "Only the Kyuubi has the chakra to make this many shadow clones!"
The clones then let out battles cries as they run in to attack Mizuki with taijutsu. The genin couldn't see Mizuki anymore, but they could hear the distinct sound of clones being dispatched and exploding into smoke. Evidently even this much of a numbers advantage couldn't overcome the skill difference between the chunin and Naruko's own skill.
"I have an idea." The original(?) Naruko said, grabbing the attention of Ino and Hinata. "Mizuki is over there slaughtering my clones. They're solid, and *can* do damage, but that doesn't matter much when they can't even touch him."
"they're solid!?" Ino asked incredulously.
"yeah." Naruko nodded "look, we don't really have time to go over right now. You two are much better fighters than me, I just have a ton of chakra, it's part of being an Uzumaki. I can keep pumping out the clones, and wearing out Mizuki, but I'll need you two to take him down. Ino, you look for an opening, then hit him with your mind transfer jutsu. Once Ino has him, Hinata, I need you to hit as many of his chakra points with your gentle fist as possible!"
Both of them were stunned by Naruko's plan. While it wasn't particularly brilliant or anything, they were more shocked that Naruko of all people had thought of it, and so quickly. Naruko wasn't stupid, as much as Sasuke rudely insisted otherwise, but Naruko was a bit slower to catch on to things. So to say that Naruko being the one to instantly come up with a plan was a bit surprising. Ino made a mental note to stop underestimating Naruko, and Hinata just felt that herself falling for Naruko even more.
"Oof!" suddenly Naruko flinched "That was a nasty one.. are you with me? It's now or never"
"what do you mean, that was a nasty one?" Hinata asked, her concern growing.
"I meant... huh." Naruko said with a sudden realization "Okay, I guess I remember what the clones experienced."
"That sounds super useful." Ino said, clearly a little jealous.
"Yeah, just not right now." Naruko said, urgency returning to her voice "Now get into position!"
"Right!" Both of the other genin said in unison, running off into the orange sea of Naruko clones.
The clones parted as they approached, letting them through, then filling the gaps to disguise their location. It made sense, if Mizuki saw where they were, even despite his hatred of Naruko, he would try to take them out first, leaving only Naruko to face off against him, and he was clearly doing well against naruko. All 100 of her. That gave Ino an idea.
"Hinata." Ino whispered "Use the transformation jutsu to look like Naruko, but not completely... uh.. lose the whiskers!"
"W-why..?" Hinata asked shyly, but did as Ino suggested anyway. She was surprised when she saw Ino do the same. Then it clicked "oh! Good idea!"
"No kidding!" A Naru-clone agreed, the other clones around them nodding, then covertly signaling to the other clones to let them through.
Ino and Hinata made their way through the crowds again, this time heading directly for Mizuki. The Naru-clones parted to let them through as they went. Hinata had thought she would quickly lose Ino, and she almost did a couple times, but the lack of whiskers was obvious when she looked, but she was sure she would overlook the detail if she wasn't looking for it specifically. Especially if she were in a pitched battle.
Before long the Naru-fakes were only one row back. The sea of Naru-clones had formed a huge circle, and in the center, was Mizuki, fighting a dozen Naru-clones at once. He seemed to be winning handily, but clearly putting a lot of effort into it.
"Right after the next wave." Ino whispered to Hinata.
Hinata nodded, and began to gather chakra in the veins around her eyes. As she began to prepare, the row in front of them ran in, replacing the wave that had just been dispatched. She watched in horror as Mizuki tore through perfect copies of the woman she loved. She looked at Ino instead, waiting for a signal.
Ino made the single hand-sign of the Mind Transfer Jutsu, the secret technique of the Yamanaka. The hand-sign was simple, she outstretched both arms, and made a circle by connecting her thumbs, middle, and index fingers together. Her two remaining fingers on each hand pointed upward at a slight angle. "Yamanaka Secret Art; Mind Transfer Jutsu!" Ino said, and then fell limply to her knees, her transformation jutsu releasing in a puff of smoke.
Hinata was moving before Ino's knees had hit the ground, as she knew every second was precious. Against a stronger opponent, Ino's mind transfer wouldn't last long. Ahe stopped about 3 feet from her opponent, taking a low stance, her arms outstretched, one in front of her and the other behind her
"You are within the range of my Divination!" she rushed forward, striking mizuki Twice in the upper legs with open palmed strikes. "Two!" She struck four more times, this time striking four points on his torso. "4!" She struck 8 more times, this time, four points along each arm. "8! Eight trigrams 16 palms!" She then punished but open palm Striking him with both hands in the sternum, sending him sailing back into the crowd of Naruko clones, popping a few in the process. The ones that didn't started whaling on Mizuki some more, clearly dishing back some pain that he had inflicted on them through the fight.
"ooooowwww..!" Ino groaned out, causing Hinata to gasp and run over.
"Are you alright!?" Hinata fussed worriedly, looking Ino over.
"I'm fine." Ino protested with an unconvincing groan of pain. "It's just mental, I was in Mizuki's body when you laid the smackdown on him. Remind me never to piss you off."
Hinata breathed a sigh of relief. Then the Naruko clones all vanished around them, and Naruko sprinted over and pulled both of them into a tight hug, causing Hinata to turn bright red. "that was Awesome~! You were awesome~!"
"Of course we were." Ino laughed. "You said it yourself, we're badasses."
"Damn straight~!" Naruko said with pride.
"D-Damn you!" Mizuki roared from behind them. They turned to discover Mizuki staggering to his feet. He was barely recognizable under all the swelling and bruising from the beating the Naruko clones had given him after Hinata has disabled him. "Don't think you've won! I still got some fight in me, and there's no way that Red Eye'd bimbo took down my backup, they're both Jonin, it's simple math, she couldn't beat them alone."
"Then it's good she had help." Mizuki tried to turn around to face the new female voice behind him. "Bakudo #1, Sai." Unfortunately before Mizuki could confront the new threat, his arms were bound behind his back by an invisible force, and he fell to his knees, then face first into the ground.
Team 7 stared at the newcomer, presumably who Kurenai had meant by "their last teammate." She was relatively tall, around 170cm to Naruko's 160, and seemed to be the same age as Naruko and her team. She had spiky Silver Hair that reached down to her shoulders, and bright amber eyes. She wore a grey sleeveless hoodie with gold accents, unzipped, revealing a skin-tight black Mesh Sleeveless leotard with gold outlines. Her arms were not completely bare however, she wore black and gold accented gloves that stopped at the knuckles, leaving the fingers completely exposed, and they also reached back halfway up her forearm. Over her leotard she wore Grey shorts decorated with Gold lines, that stopped just above her knees. She also had Black stockings that ran from her grey Shinobi sandals, all the way up into her shorts, beyond that, they couldn't tell how far they reached. lastly she also wore what looked to be a dull grey haori tied around her waist, and a Shinobi hitai-ate around her neck, bearing the symbol of the second division of the Gotai.
Naruko knew that what the new girl had done was known as kidÅ, the equivalent to ninjutsu used by Shinigami. However, she didn't dress like a Shinigami, they tended to dress in a rather conservative uniform. her outfit, while not overtly sexualized, was far more revealing than anything shinigami tended to wear. The way her Leotard went into her shorts drew attention to expose flesh around her waist on both sides, likely meant to be tantalizing, as was the fact that it outlined her modest bust, likely trying to make the most of a small package. For once Ino was thankful not to have the smallest in the group.
"Now that team 7 is assembled, let's begin introductions." Kurenai said, startling the three genin. "who wants to go first?"
There was no response. Save for Mizuki hacking up a bit of blood.
A short while later, Mizuki had been picked up by the Anbu. They had given a scroll to Kurenai who quickly opened, read, and re-rolled it. With a nod from Kurenai, affirming that she understood, the Anbu disappeared with Mizuki, vanishing into smoke.
"Well then." Kurenai turned to her genin team. "I guess if none of you want to start, I will. My name is Yuhi Kurenai, my favorite food Is fresh Grilled Salmon. I love helping my friends, and Training the next generation. I hate senseless Violence and perverts. Now, you're turn. Just tell us the same things I did just now." she was gesturing at the newcomer.
"oh, alright." The shinigami replied awkwardly "My name is Hikari Yozora, my favorite food is Fresh Barbecue Pork. I love learning new skills and analyzing the things and people around me. I hate being powerless, and I especially hate when evil people get their way."
Naruko studied Hikari's expression as she spoke. She got the impression she was telling the truth, but something about her still bugged Naruko. Hikari had seemed Focused and cold when she had restrained Mizuki. She appeared behind him and restrained him before any of them even knew she was there. Yet here she was smiling awkwardly as though she was nervous. Surely a warrior like that wouldn't be intimidated by a simple conversation right? It was like she was looking at a whole different person.
"How about you next Naruko?" Kurenai nudged, trying to defuse the awkward air.
"Oh! Right, sorry!" Naruko took a deep breath, then broke out in a huge grin "My name is Naruko Uzumaki! My favorite food is Ramen! I love training to be the greatest Shinobi I can be! and uh... I Hate the clone jutsu! it's absolutely useless."
"Isn't that what you used to hospitalize the traitor?" Hikari asked, with an inquisitive head tilt.
"No," Naruko said, adopting an oddly educational tone "Those were shadow clones. The basic clone jutsu just projects a hollow outline of a clone, it's basically just an illusion. They're rather obviously fake to anyone who knows what to look for. Shadow clones... they're different, and way more useful. They're completely solid, and can physically interact with the world, and depending on how much effort and chakra you put into each clone, can exhibit varying degrees of free will and intelligence. It's like summoning a slightly weaker version of yourself."
"That... Wow, that's so OP." Ino breathed out in shock. "I am suuuuper jealous."
"S-sorry" Naruko chuckled nervously "But I can't really teach it to you. I mean, I probably could buuuut... well..."
"You wouldn't be able to use it effectively." Kurenai finished "If at all. Shadow clones are immensely chakra intensive. imagine what it takes you to make a single clone. now multiply that by 1000. that's what Naruko puts into every shadow clone she makes."
Hinata And Ino were utterly speechless. 'how does she have so much chakra!?!' they thought in unison.
"It's part of being an Uzumaki." Naruko said, knowing what they were likely thinking. "Mom says Uzumaki naturally have huge reserves of dense chakra. It's a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, I basically never have to worry about running out. On the other... it's incredibly difficult to learn new jutsu, cause I always put way too much in on accident, and it overloads."
"We'll work on your control." Kurenai promised "It's likely why lord fourth assigned me to be your teacher. Originally Kakashi and Obito were practically tripping over themselves to train you, but Lord Fourth knew that could only end in disaster."
"Oh yeah, I've met them a few times." Naruko said with a smile "They're great. well, Kakashi is kinda a know-it-all, but he's cool."
Kurenai laughed at that. She sometimes forgot that Naruko likely has met a lot of the most famous people in the leaf, given her father's many connections. It wasn't a status or power thing, her father had simply been a part of the lives of so many of the Hidden Leafs greatest over the years.
"Anyway," Kurenai said out loud. "I do believe it was Ino's turn."
"I'm sorry, I got caught up in the other stuff there." Ino apologized. "My name is Ino Yamanaka, My favorite favorite food is Garden Fresh Tomato Salad. I love flowers and Sasuke Uchiha~!" she proclaimed proudly, much to the dismay of everyone who knew Sasuke (Hikari simply found the admission of her love a bit childish, but still somewhat cute) "I hate people who think liking flowers makes me any Less of a badass kinoichi."
"I-I guess it's m-my turn..." Hinata said shyly, trying not to look at Hikari. New people make her nervous. "My name is Hinata Hyuga, my favorite food is Ramen." This caused a certain blonde to gasp excitedly, giving Hinata butterflies in her stomach. "I l-love spending time with my little sister, and hearing my Father tell stories about my mom. Lastly... I hate the caged bird seal." The venom dripping from those last words stunned everyone, especially when contrasted by the worm rosey tone she had been using when talking about her family.
"... well." Kurenai said after a minute, allowing Hinata to cool down. "I think we should all tell each other one last thing. Our dreams. What motivates each of us to become Shinobi. Or Shinigami in Hikari's case. I'll go first. My dream is make the world a better place, a place I won't be afraid to bring a child into one day."
"My dream," Ino said immediately after "Is to be a Great kinoichi. Surpassing even the Uchiha."
"Really?" Kurenai asked, genuinely surprised. "But isn't your "true love" an Uchiha?"
"Well duh." Ino said, as if what she was about to say was obvious. "But I ain't gonna be no housewife, and in Ninja households, The stronger Shinobi works, the weaker one stays home."
"You clearly don't know Sasuke very well then." Naruko muttered.
"What was that!?" Ino demanded, standing and glaring at the seated Naruko.
"Nothing. Nothing." Naruko relented with a groan. It was easier to just roll over than to try and challenge her delusions. she respected Ino, but her Sasuke obsession really tested that sometimes.
"Better be." Ino muttered and sat back down.
"u-um.." Hinata began "My dream.. is to Undo the clan law about the caged bird seal, and to undo all of said seals."
"An excellent dream." Kurenai beamed proudly at her god-daughter.
"My dream is to be happy." Hikari Declared, shocking everyone. "I don't need any lofty ambition to be a shinigami, or to consider something worth fighting for. If someone needs to be protected, I'll protect them, cause I wouldn't be able to live with myself otherwise. If someone evil needs to be taken down, then I'll do it, cause I can't stand evil people getting what they want. and if I have to fight to be happy, then I'll do it, as much as it takes."
Team 7 were at a loss for words. They barely knew Hikari, but already they knew she was someone they would get along with. Hinata, because she saw that same protective spark in Hikari that she did in Naruto, and while she wasn't going to start crushing on Hikari, she still found it admirable. Naruko, because she saw a lot of herself in Hikari, someone who's drive to improve and move towards their goal cannot be shaken. Ino and Kurenai however, saw something else. Her dream was to be happy. It was a goal, not something she already achieved.
"I think that's a wonderful dream." Kurenai said instead. "Like you said, not everyone needs lofty ambitions. Now, last but certainly not least, Naruko?"
"My dream.." Naruko broke out into a huge grin "My dream is to master all 3 warrior paths, the samurai, the Shinobi, and the shinigami. Then I'll become not just the greatest Hokage who ever lived, but the greatest Kage who ever lived!! Believe it!!"
End of chapter 1.
Author's notes
I just had to slip a "Believe it!" in there. just once.
So, you may have noticed, some people who should be dead, ain't dead. There's a reason. Like I said in the full summary, this Naruto world is much different than the Cannon timeline due to the existence of the shinigami, and the Gotei as an organization. All questions about what's changed in the Naruto world, why, and what this version of the Gotei is like, will be answered over the course of the story. Hopefully. I might miss a thing or two. I'm not perfect. Just prepare to be patient, I don't really plan on getting into super deep back story until quite a bit later.
Anyway, next chapter, more info on Hikari, and why she's there. A glimpse into Naruko's home life, Naruko gets some not awful clothes, and team 7 starts their training in earnest.