A/N: Rewritten as of March 29th 2024

So here's the first real chapter.

I'm still up at work right now, but using the copy & paste option I was able to upload this. It's possible this could be the last update I'll be able to make while I'm up here, but I'm on nights right now which actually amounts to a lot of sort of free time, so there is a chance I could get another update or two out.

Hope you all enjoy~


Chapter I: Second Firsts


The first time she was able to see again, she screamed out her intense relief.

Or she tried to.

All that met her ears was a wail. An infant's wail.

And then there was a blurred face and soothing murmurs that soon turned into frantic whispers to "Be calm Girl," as the wailing continued despite her not attempting to make any sound at all.

All too soon after that she was back in the dark again. Alone.

She knew it couldn't have been that long. She knew what she'd been told before this lack of all surroundings had blanketed her and the one she thought of as a brother faded from sight.

"You have to be born there."

The pale eyed geezer had told them, just before he actually activated that massive, hauntingly beautiful array.

Naruko had just about had kittens.

"It must be only your souls that make this journey."

O-jiji had informed them, even before they learned they would have to be born there. So she should have known before it was said… yet…

That didn't make it any better.

Because honestly, there was likely a lot the two had not told them. A lot she probably should have asked, perhaps.

The sage had said that they would seal away their respective personas in the back of their infant minds until their new bodies could handle them being in control; supposedly so that the years it would take to be functional would pass seemingly as days.

But her first sight of the new world had been from the eyes of a baby. A baby with the lungs of a newborn judging from that wail.

Did that mean the new world was already trying to toss her out? Just before they had disappeared the horned brothers had issued some sort of warning about the seal's rate of deterioration being sensitive to the world's reaction to the 'foreign' mark that would be upon their souls for at least some years after the transfer. She thought they had mentioned that it was possible the seal could break before their bodies reached the projected age.

Not that she knew when that was supposed to be. The whole lot of it had been too confusing for her to properly understand. Plus there had been the shock of it all.

And she'd technically had just died. Been killed.

She shouldn't dwell on that. This was a new life now.

However there was nothing she could do with a body that only ate, slept and shit. This could end up being a pathetically short second life. But if this was just the first signs of the seal deteriorating, maybe there was time left for her to gain the needed motor functions to do something else aside from those three things. She had no idea how this 'seal' thing worked, or even what the Byakugan ji-ji had meant by the world rejecting their souls. So she really had no idea what to expect. Or rather… how the world would reject them. What form the rejection would take… what the process that would attempt to extricate her soul from this world thread might be like.

Was it something she could even really perceive? It wasn't as though she knew what the pure world was actually like after all, since the two Otsutsuki had sent them from their worlds literal seconds before death actually claimed them.

So how did she know she was still in the other world thread?

Was that what had happened? Was this void actually somewhere not quite a part of any world? Or was she simply back in the seal that kept her adult mind from her infantile one? There was no way to know for sure, unfortunately. All she could do was wait.

Wait for something, anything to happen.

No… No, that was not entirely correct. Something else was said. An implication that the way to fight against the new world rejecting their souls was connected to will power.

She calmed herself, forcefully, taking advantage of her years as a shinobi… as a Hokage. Because that was literally all she could do in these circumstances, aside from waiting.

For the first time since her academy days, trying to put herself in Naru-nii's shoes would do her absolutely no good. He was in the same boat as she was, though she didn't know where. He was starting as a baby just like she was.

So instead she fervently hoped that Naruto was having better luck than her.


The first comprehensible words he heard reached him while he was in the darkness. He had no idea if his infant shell was awake or not. The words didn't start off comprehensible either.

At first he was simply aware of a smooth, calculating male baritone.

And then there was a voice he thought sounded similar to the one that had soothed the baby boy the only other time he had been aware of what was going on in the outside world. In contrast to the soothing, quiet tone of that instance however, her voice was harsh, and most certainly a touch above regular speaking volume.

"They've just been born. There's no way to know yet."

Just born? Damn, he'd hoped that it had at least been a couple months. Although maybe she wasn't talking about him in particular?

This could be a hospital couldn't it? Or healer's of some sort, depending on how far back it was from his original time. She could be a Med-nin (or some other sort of healer) in charge of tending to infants, and for some reason he was still in her care even at maybe half a year or a year old.

Wishful thinking.

Wait… know what exactly? Whatever it was, the woman's voice was rather hostile about the subject.

"Just gut one of them," the man spoke, a dangerous edge now to his voice. "If the other one squeals, we'll know."

Gut one? He wasn't talking about babies, was he?

There was a wail nearby. One he knew belonged to an infant. Fuck… the man had been talking about gutting a baby as if it was normal. What was he doing? Surely he hadn't actually eviscerated an infant, right?

"And if the first one dies, you'll handicap the surviving one," the female voice shot back, her voice now holding the slightest hint of desperation. "Put h- It down."

There was a moment where all he could hear was the distressed wails of the other infant. He had no idea if the man had put it down… or how he'd been holding it to begin with. Somehow, he couldn't picture the owner of the cold voice to have been holding the infant properly. However the fact that the baby was still crying meant that he couldn't have cut its stomach open. An infant would have probably died by now if he had.

Then there was a resounding thwack.

It took him a moment to realize that someone had just been hit.

"Don't take that tone with me," the man's voice spat. Obviously it was him who had hit the woman. And he did so again, he believed, by the sound. He vaguely thought he heard the woman doing her best to hold back a cry, and the sound of a body hitting the ground. "Silence it. Or I will gut it."

Then once more it was just the wails that met his ears. Nearly a minute passed before he heard anything else again. Some shuffling, a sharp intake of breath… and the vaguest hint of the coppery smell of blood.

"Hush girl. You must be quiet," came the woman's voice. It was a gentler tone, but it showed no attachment. The tone was clearly only soft to try and get the infant to be quiet, not because there was any affection for the baby from the speaker.

So the other infant was a girl?

And he and the girl had both been born just recently. Could they be twins? That's what made the most sense. It was either that or there were other infants here who were just born and he was older (back to the wishful thinking on that one). But since no other babies had started crying at all the racket... chances were slim. It was more likely that it was just the two of them.

But why would they both be together with just this woman and the dangerous sounding man?

Were the two their parents?

Naruto hoped not… even though that meant that they'd been snatched away from whomever their real parents in this world were.


Being an infant was far from pleasant on the nose. Damn she could really stink up a room! It didn't help that she was always next to another baby either. Who could make a stink just as well as her (she thought he was worse actually).

But it wasn't as bad as what had to be done whenever she made that stink. Damn, wearing a diaper was embarrassing. And very uncomfortable . It didn't help that there must only be a total of four cloth diapers for the two infants. Sometimes it would be over an hour that she'd be aware of the world, while enduring a full, sodden diaper. And then the diaper that replaced it would still be damp from washing.

It was a miracle that her baby shell hadn't gotten deathly ill from the unsanitary and cold state she was often left in.

What the hell were these people doing? This was no way to treat a pair of babies! They needed to be kept clean and warm.

And Fed.

Hunger was becoming an all too familiar feeling for her to 'wake up' to. The poor baby's wails for attention usually only got an embrace and soothing words, or an urgent request to be quiet. Naruko felt that the baby was barely being fed enough to survive.

It really was a miracle that she hadn't died yet.

The other baby wasn't being treated much better, as far as she could tell. He wailed just as much as she did.

And that wasn't the worst of it.

On several occasions she'd had the sensation of being upside down, hanging above something that smelt heavily of death and decay. A cold voice always accompanied these occasions. A threat. And a progressively more desperate plea not to drop the infant each time this had occurred.

Whoever the man was, she positively hated him already. She hoped he was not her father.

The woman who tended to them was a little less distant compared to what she had been in the start. Still, it seemed to Naruko that she had no love for the two infants. She hoped she was not her mother.

Through it all, Naruko kept asking two questions.

Where were her parents in this world?

This first question was something she was familiar with. She'd asked it many times when she'd been growing up the first time. Something that now had a part of her wondering darkly… was she not permitted to know what it was like to have a family? Was there some other mark on her soul, aside from the one that indicated it came from a different thread, that meant she was fated to a loveless childhood?

Or the even more sinister line of thought… was that some strategy of the world thread to expel the foreign entity that was her soul?

She never dwelled on these thoughts… when she could help it. Instead distracting herself with her second prevalent question.

Where was Naruto?


Catching snatches of the outside world in sight, sound and smell was nothing short of frustrating. He couldn't actually do anything; he was simply along for the ride. He had no sense of how long it had been either. Sometimes it felt like days in the void went by before he caught a glimpse of what was going on in the world again. Sometimes it seemed only like hours. It was nearly impossible to tell how time was passing outside.

All he knew was that there had been snow and a deathly chill the fourth time he'd been able to see out of his infant eyes. Something he could very clearly remember, because the room they were normally in had no windows, no natural light. Making those few instances there was any hint of an outside world really stick with him.

And now, it was unbearably hot.

To make matters worse he had absolutely no control of his body. None. Not the ability to wiggle a toe, a finger, a fist… nor the ability to move his lips, or even to take over his own breathing.

He'd watched on many occasions as his hands had reached out for the woman, or for the bottle she was offering to him. They were not movements that he willed to happen. Nor could he stop himself from crying at hunger or the discomfort of his diaper.

Being trapped in a baby's head was going to drive him absolutely crazy.

At least he must be nearing a year old now right? There had been some baby talk, some attempts at real words, and a bit of crawling though no attempts at walking. Plus he suspected it had been fall (maybe very early winter) when they'd been born, and now it appeared to be summer if the heat was any indication.

Only something felt… off about that assessment. Something… about the way his eyes watered. The way his body was coughing more.

Something about that acrid smell.

Smoke?

Shit. That's exactly what it was. There was a fire. A fucking fire.

His little lungs burned, and he could hear wails, before they broke down into coughing, and then silence. He felt like he was being suffocated. But he had just enough presence of mind to also notice the sensation of being moved. Quickly. Roughly.

His body was bouncing in what must have been a burlap sack, torn open and converted into a sling that held him, and the female baby to the back of the woman. At least, he thought it was the woman. The ride was rough, constantly jostling him against the other baby and the bony back of whomever was carrying them.

And then cold air hit them, shocking the infant into more, sputtering wails.

Naruto barely had time to consider what this might mean before he found his consciousness separating from his body and was landed back in the darkness.

It wasn't Summer. It was Fall again.


When she found herself staring up at the sky, freezing to the bone, Naruko couldn't help but be utterly confused. It wasn't because of a damp diaper, or blanket that was swaddling her that she was so cold either. The cold was in the air, and it was under her. Whatever she was lying on felt practically like ice. And it was more unforgiving than the thin, old futon she was usually laid down upon.

That was definitely sky above her, not a ceiling.

She was outside.

Why in the world was she outdoors, and seemingly laid down on the ground?

It was no surprise when baby started wailing. Of course she wouldn't at all like this very uncomfortable, and cold position she was now in. But did she have to scrunch up her eyes as she cried? Naruko couldn't see the outside world like this, to try and figure out what was going on.

The sky had been a rather vibrant blue however. Autumn?

It had taken some time to deduce this, but she knew that they had been born around autumn. There had been a few context clues… and a few broken conversations, that eventually made that fact clear.

She also knew they were older than a month or two from the motor functions her little shell had. So she now had an idea of how old she really was in this new world. About a year. A year was better than a newborn. But she hadn't yet started standing up… at least not in any of the times she'd been aware of what her little body was doing. This was slightly concerning… but it probably had to do with the fact that she was definitely undernourished.

Or (and she hesitated to consider this at all) perhaps her perception on what normal childhood developmental milestones were was skewed. She vaguely recalled that civilians always had seemed to be kicking up a fuss about things dealing with children… shinobi children. About them being too young for certain things… and she had often somewhat agreed.

But now she wondered if their protests were because civilian children, and those born to shinobi parents… were somehow different in their rate of development.

Logically, that shouldn't be true… they were all human beings.

And yet… perhaps there was some merit to the idea as well. Something about being exposed to active, developed chakra, in the womb? Or in early childhood? Or perhaps the act of developing their own chakra… changed something?

Maybe it was all of it.

Or maybe she was just grasping at whatever subject she could think on, to try and pass the time.

Finally the wailing quieted some as she felt the warmth of a pair of hands lifting her up from the ground. She was soon able to see what was around her again, and found herself staring at the face of the Woman. Not that that was unexpected. It was almost always this woman, with blonde-silver hair that tended to her and the male baby.

But now the woman's pale skin was coated in what looked suspiciously like ash. And her soothing voice lacked the urgency it had almost always had for her to be quiet. Had they left the place where that cold voiced, sinister asshole had kept them? Naruko had gotten the impression that the woman was little more than a prisoner there. The room she had always seen had no windows, and only one door leading out of it. And the one and only time she had seen beyond before now was the briefest glimpse through a window in the hall that showed her fall leaves, near the beginning.

At least she assumed they had been fall leaves. At the time colours had been rather muted to her eyes.

The woman held her up, a frown on her face, and a dark look in her grey-blue eyes. "I've got nothing to feed you girl. We have nothing but the clothes on our backs," she murmured softly, before worrying her bottom lip. Of course, the Woman had no idea that Naruko actually could understand her.

"Baah BAH ma," tumbled past her little lips, and Naruko inwardly sighed. Damn baby babbling.

The woman's expression softened marginally however. "Is that so? I suppose you're right… We'll just have to go find some food." Of course, she was more talking to herself than responding to anything intelligent, but clearly the silly baby talk had eased the woman's tension some.

Okay, maybe baby babbling wasn't so bad.

Not for the first time, and likely not the last, Naruko found herself wondering if the woman was their mother. From what she had seen looking at the other baby, he had blonde hair and blue eyes like the woman (his hair was too dirty to tell what shade of blonde). Maybe when she started really talking, and could control it, she'd be able to find out from the woman herself.

"Oo… Oo gaah," fell past her lips, sounding like more senseless babbling. But Naruko started… that had been her. Her lips had moved on her desire to try and say O-ka, to find out once and for all the identity of the woman.

"Now then, Lets gather up your bro- the Boy and get going," the woman spoke as if the baby in her arms had not just attempted to call her mother.

Either she didn't notice, or chose to ignore it.

However Naruko didn't fail to catch the word the woman had almost said.

Brother.

Well, at least she finally knew she and the male baby were actually related. Twins in fact.


"Goodness! You look terrible!" A concerned voice rang out from nearby, rousing the babe from slumber and pulling Naruto's consciousness into high alert.

This was the first new voice he'd heard in what must have been at least two weeks.

"Oh! Oh my, you have children," the concerned female voice grew in pitch. Unfortunately Naruto could not see the speaker, his eyes staring at the grimy cloth of the Woman's shirt. "Please come in! We need to get you three cleaned up and fed. Those poor dears." The female carried on, clearly ushering them indoors.

Finally they were out of the bitter cold. It was still a little chilly however, and he knew that was likely because this was some small home in a village that relied on wood, or coal, to keep warm. He could smell the hint of it in the air… nothing like the overwhelming acrid scent from the day of their escape… but still a little irritating to his young nose.

"What in the world were you thinking, travelling about with two small ones like that, without a coin to your name by the looks of it?" this was now admonishing, disapproving.

"We hadn't expected twins… all our savings ran out months ago" the Woman started, and Naruto knew that the emotions were exaggerated. She sounded so forlorn. "My husband wanted to move to a new village where he would have more work, but he was killed on our travels," she went on, her voice sounding totally devastated. You could hear the tears, seemingly choking the words. "I've… I've been doing what I could but… no where I've passed through since I would employ a woman with two infants…"

She was really laying it on thick… but it would work. Just as it had the last time the woman had used this sort of ploy.

"Oh, I'm so sorry dear," came the now pitying tone of the other woman. "What a terrible tragedy… Well, don't you worry about a thing now. We don't have a lot to spare, but I can ask around town. We'll get you back on your feet, you'll see."

"Thank you… thank you so much," the woman gushed in feigned gratitude.

But Naruto already knew that they wouldn't be sticking around here. This wasn't the first place where the Woman had taken advantage of the pity and kindness of others. It had been awhile since the last time, certainly, but this woman was no stranger to pulling at the heartstrings of others to get things they desperately needed, and then leaving without a word. They'd probably be gone before this woman woke in the morning, like they had done several times before now.

It wasn't going to be the last time, either.

"Please, no need to thank me," the kindly sounding woman had responded. "It's just the right thing to do." She sounded so matter of fact about it. Naruto was a little surprised by how helpful this woman was being, compared to some before. They usually were only given some food, a change of clothing, and one night (along with a bath so they would not smell up the place).

"By the way… are they both boys?" the woman asked curiously.

"Oh, no. The smaller one is a girl. She was born second," The woman replied back with a more cheerful, relieved sounding voice. This wasn't the first time this question had been asked. It wasn't the first time the woman had responded this way either.

With every other question her answer changed for each new home that offered them hospitality. Something years of training told him served one purpose. To avoid a sort of word of mouth trail that could be left in their wake. Well… mitigate it, anyway. By changing the story she gave, it became far less likely that those who passed through a few of the same places they had in the past would link any mention of a woman and two young children together.

Unless they knew this sort of tactic anyway.

"Goodness me… Sorry little darling. I thought you were a boy because of your clothes," the second woman cooed from near Naruto's ear. "What are their names?"

Names…

Naruto tuned out the rest of the conversation. After all, whatever names the Woman gave would be different from the ones she'd given last time, and the ones that would follow.

They didn't have names.

At least he had solved the mystery of which of them was older. Probably.


Who would have thought that feeling your body walk so unsteadily, while you couldn't actually control it would be so utterly terrifying? Or a baby… well, Toddler, being just that.

Being only a spectator as your body toddled and tumbled about, dangerously close to drop offs, running water, or other hazards commonly found outside…

Well a child's curiosity stopped feeling like a good (or simply annoying) thing and turned into something highly undesirable.

You'd think, given how malnourished she was, that she would run out of energy a lot sooner than she seemed to. Damn, her little body could go. And the Woman was far from impressed once she got away from her. Or when both of them did.

Sure, they were both still learning how to motor about, but that honestly made watching it from the sidelines more nerve wracking. Toddlers simply didn't know their limits. Apparently under-fed and underweight toddlers were not much different. After her little body had taken its first shaky steps it almost immediately tried to run. Which of course had resulted in her little face being introduced to the dirt.

Naruko wanted more than anything to be properly mobile and in control of her little body… if only there was a way to skip over this damned toddling stage.

At least the baby talk was slowly giving way to actual words now.

If only she'd been able to choose her first word. But alas, it had been beyond her control, like almost everything had been so far. At least the word wasn't an embarrassing first word. In fact, it was kind of disappointing.

And quickly becoming aggravatingly annoying.

"Boi-ee. Boi-eee," came an excited squeal that she recognized as her own, as her little feet hastily moved to try and chase down her blonde haired brother, hands stretched out in front of her. Seriously… it sounded as if that was his name. Did her shell actually think that?

The division between herself and the toddler on the outside was becoming increasingly worrisome.

What would she do if this toddler formed a whole personality of its own? Would that mean she'd be stuck on the inside?

She sincerely hoped that wouldn't be the case.

But… what if… what if there was a whole other soul involved in this? Would it be right…

She always cut that line of question off before it continued further… it was not something she felt ready to truly examine.

Because she was here now… and whatever occurred, she was just going to have to make the best of it.


The first time he was able to control his new eyelids he had opened them to the sight of a face he had already learned.

He didn't actually know who the Woman was; just that she was tired looking, with dull blue eyes, deep frown and worry lines marking her face, framed by silvering blonde hair; the colour masked by days of dirt and grime from sleeping in various out-of-doors hide-a-ways. Her skin was pale from stress and poor health, dark circles hallowing her weary eyes. These features were not as well masked by the state of uncleanliness the woman was coated in.

Her haggard features were further shadowed by the dark of the night, but his memories of seeing her in the light of day filled in the blanks.

She was little more than skin and bones, her hands looking almost skeletal; if it wasn't for the thick scars that covered nearly every inch of skin in a patchwork pattern. Her clothing was haphazardly stitched together from grunge covered scraps of cloth, stains of unknown origin layering the makeshift garments to the point that it was impossible to tell what any of the original colours were.

The woman was dying.

Yet the concern on her sallow face was not for herself, but him.

Oh, he didn't know who this woman was in this world; what her name was or where she came from. But he did know who she was to him.

His Mother; At least in this world.

He'd hoped at the beginning that she wasn't. It had taken him awhile after they'd left whatever place they had been captives in for him to finally accept that she was.

He also knew she was on the run, though he wasn't sure exactly why; just that it had something to do with that cold voiced man. However her present condition was not a result of trying to escape someone (since they had never tried settling anywhere, he assumed they were being pursued), or even the conditions she had escaped from. No, it was because she gave everything to them first, and neglected herself.

Yet she had never called him… either of them by name. He didn't think he had one.

No, he knew he didn't have one.

The implications of that were troubling…

It likely meant there was some sort of reason she wanted to maintain an emotional barrier between herself and them, her own children. And most reasons he could think of that she would want that for herself… well, they hinted at suffering, at trauma, he believed.

But then… they had been captives… and there was the cruel voiced man. So… that really was not a ground-breaking revelation.

"Go back to sleep, Boy," was the hoarse whisper that made its way past the dry cracked lips of the fragile looking woman.

He did not want to. But his body still was not in his control. It gave a little nod before rolling over to acquiesce with the instruction. The ground was much too cold and uncomfortable for the small body to sleep well on… yet said body was much too tired for sleep to elude him completely.

Still, he willed his eyes not to close.

And he found himself staring into a pair of round, vibrant blue eyes.

Not for the first time he wondered who was behind those eyes. Was it the one the Woman saw, or someone like himself?

As his eyelids disregarded his command to stay open, his gaze moved to the small pair of lips that belonged to those nearly incandescent blue eyes. Just before the lids closed shut and sealed him away in darkness, he caught sight of a single mouthed word that gave him the answer he'd been pondering about for what felt like months.

Naru

So it was then that Naruto knew that in their new lives he really was 'Nii-chan'. Naruko's new body was the younger twin of his own.

Which was at least one thing he could allow himself to feel relief for… knowing where she was now. Even if he had wished she wouldn't be in his current circumstances. Because at least one of them really should have gotten the chance to have a proper family and childhood.

Yet… it meant he was not alone in this. At the very least, even if they had no other family… they would have each other.

But how much longer was he going to be relegated to the back corner of a toddler's mind?


The first time in this new world that she had to stop words from tumbling out inadvertently was a direct result of letting several words fly past her lips that she shouldn't have known. She hadn't known she shouldn't know them…. but she probably ought to have.

She swore it was all Naruto's fault. (even as some part of her recognized how childish that was of her)

It had started with her exercising her new found ability to control her tiny mouth whenever she was actually aware of the outside world. Which she estimated was nearly three quarters of the time that her little body was awake.

Naruto hadn't responded to Boy. Boy was all the woman ever called him, like she was simply Girl. That was also all their little voices had called each other. Still he hadn't responded, even when she called him again.

"Talkin to Baka-nii!" had tumbled past her lips… and she immediately could feel the pressure of the Woman's gaze. Apparently she shouldn't have said 'Baka' or 'Nii'. she inwardly cursed as the woman grabbed her shoulder, and turned her around so they faced each other.

"Where did you learn Baka and Nii from, Girl."

She had almost said 'from Ka-san', but at the last second had remembered that they had never actually called this woman that. So she had just pointed at the Woman in hopes that would be the end of it.

The fragile woman had looked absolutely terrifying, eyes hard as steel, and Naruko realized that the woman must never have said either word in front of her. Crap.

"You didn't learn it from me."

Naruko had no idea what to say. She stared blankly at her mother until in the end she just muttered "dunno… heard somewhere," while she averted her eyes. She could feel the piercing stare still fixed on her, but hoped that if she did not look back into those eyes the Woman would let the matter drop.

A minute felt like hours, but finally the gaze was turned away, and the woman was ushering them on, taking their small pudgy hands in her skeletal ones. Naruko couldn't help but notice how the Woman's grasp on her hand was almost painful.


The first time he used his new voice he didn't immediately realize he had control of it. A pained cry had erupted from his tiny lips as his little body was lifted up by his grimy, blonde locks. Tear blurred eyes glared at the dark skinned culprit, who was sneering at him, showing off rotting, yellowed teeth. The stench of the man's breath burned his nose and caused him to gag. At least, he thought it was a man.

"Haruka, Hand over the other brat," the sinister, callous voice had spoken, wafting around more of the rotting odor. It was so rancid he could only liken it the smell… of a massacre of bodies left out in a hot summer sun all day.

If he could command his body, Naruto would have struggled to try and get away… or at least see where his mother and sister were. His mother never responded verbally, so he didn't even know what direction she could be in.

Instead bile rose in the back of his throat at the cretins next words.

"Surely you don't want to die for the products of rape."

Naruto's small eyes widened, and then another gasp of pain fell past his lips as he was roughly swung about by his captor. But the motion was enough for him to catch sight of the Woman and the tiny Girl.

With a shadow hanging over them.

And a glint of metal.

"Ka-San!"

It was supposed to be just a thought. Not a child's scream bursting desperately from his mouth.

The world erupted into blinding motion.

There was the sound of clashing metal, several wet thunks, and then the sensation of flying through the air before his head collided with the unforgiving wood of a tree.

The once man was knocked out cold.


The first time Naruko's body moved the way she wanted (or as close to it as tiny hands and short limbs could manage) was also the first time events in this world had genuinely terrified her. It wasn't for herself that she was afraid, but for Naruto; who was dangling by his hair in the grasp of a dark skinned, sinister eyed nuke-nin (at least she thought he was a rogue shinobi).

She wanted to rush over and help her brother in whatever way she possibly could. However, years of experience eventually taught her to recognize when rushing in was not the best option. The best choice right now was to stay perfectly still and silent, while she was practically glued to the back of the Woman's leg.

Until Naruto had called out, that is.

And she was being pushed roughly to the side.

Instinct kicked in, and her child's body did its best to follow through, twisting awkwardly as her hands thrust out to catch herself before her face could meet the dirt. Not that the impact on her hands was painless. Despite herself she let out a cry as the impact ran up her short arms, leaving them momentarily numb afterwards. For a moment she was left with that numbness, and the smell of moss and dirt, and little else save the pounding of her own heart in her ears.

And then the sounds around her registered.

Metal on Metal.

Metal through Flesh.

She willed her body to stand, and it did, though her legs trembled slightly. She was aware that whatever was going on, she had to get out of the way. As fast as her tiny feet could take her, she moved to the nearest tree, and then froze. There had been the unpleasantly recognizable sound of a body hitting dirt.

Move, she thought vehemently. Now was not the time to allow her child shell to dictate any of her actions.

Her small frame heeded her command and spun around, putting the tree squarely at her back. It was not the most defensible place… not when other ambushers could be up in the branches of the trees. But it was the best that was available to her.

Her eyes quickly sought out the fallen, needing to know who it was. A sigh of relief very nearly escaped her lips when her eyes landed upon the who.

It was the fiend that had held her brother hostage. With his partner's kunai buried in his throat. Painted red from the blood. Staining the dirt and the grass. Spreading.

She had to fight against the child's urge to scream and cover her eyes as the man drew his final, gurgling breath. Then the light from his eyes faded, and he was dead. Not that the sight of a body impaled through the neck, blood still spurting, was much less grotesque than a living man impaled through the throat, gasping futilely for air.

In the end she had to look away. (but perhaps that was because in part that the guilt she had always felt at deaths before simply was not there, and that troubled her)

And then her eyes landed on the limp form of her brother, sprawled face first across the roots of a massive Magnolia tree. From here… she could not make out much else. Could not tell if he was breathing.

But she would not let herself consider the possibility that he wasn't.

Her eyes shot away immediately, seeking out the Woman and the remaining adversary.

She couldn't see either, but she could certainly hear them. Up in the tree branches above their heads and to the right. Metal on Metal.

She had to chance it.

Move, she demanded of her body once more, a more desperate plea than before. Tiny feet pushed off the ground a little too hard. They stumbled a few steps, got caught on a root and sent her tumbling into a roll. Then her feet were under her again, and pounding hard on the dirt and dry leaves of the forest floor to transport herself to her selected destination.

Not used to being made to work so quickly or so hard, her legs gave out on her not long after she really got going. But by then she'd nearly made it to the boy, and she ignored the stinging pain in her knees after they hit the ground, pulling herself closer to the limp body in a near crawl. Tears threatened to overflow from her blue eyes, but she fought them back as she reached out to her fallen family.

He was still breathing.

But there was the unmistakable red of blood further matting his grime covered hair.

She may not be any sort of medic nin, but she did know that blows to the head could be very dangerous. He could have a concussion.

There was a time when such a blow wouldn't have phased either of them… but this was different of course. These bodies were young, weak, and most certainly untrained.

He might not wake up again.

Frantically she placed her trembling hands on his little shoulder, grunting slightly as she tugged and pulled until she managed to flip him onto his back.

Then she experienced a moment of doubt.

Maybe she shouldn't have moved him though.

Doubt shifted to a panic, which began to fill her, knotting her stomach, and tipping the scale in favour of the tears she had not shed moments before. Trembling hands now on his chest, she tried to shake him, only one desperate thought on her mind.

Please wake up

And then another body hit the ground.


Word Count: 6922


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