The Oracle

by Momomon429

Death is the next great adventure and all that but as someone who's already died and was perfectly happy with her undeath Alice would like a refund. Or in other words Alice Cullen experiences her second death and finds herself unhappily thrown into the Naruto universe.

5. Chapter 5

Their first two weeks set a precedent for the rest of their time at the Academy with just how much information was thrown at them all at once. Information they were expected to remember. It surprised Alice because for all the fact they were training to be Shinobi they were still six year old children. With the short attention spans and temper tantrums that came naturally to kids that young. The Academy however didn't care one bit.

She could see the way the other kids struggled to keep up, their tiny brains doing their best to follow the rules Kuroiwa had set. But often they weren't successful and she wondered if it was realistic for the Academy to expect what they were from them..

Any one of Kuroiwa's lessons left them inundated with a massive amount of information she knew most of the kids wouldn't remember. Like when he finally touched on something she'd been wondering about for a while. Exactly how shinobi were able to do the things they were able to do.

"Chakra is an essential part of life as we know it." Kuroiwa told the class and Alice immediately perked up.

Shuri had told her the scant basics about chakra but didn't actually go into too much detail. Alice had wanted to push her for more answers but instead just accepted what was offered. Part of her thought that while Shuri was willing to offer information on things related to being a shinobi, she really didn't like doing so. That it reminded her of painful memories she'd rather forget.

And Alice knew a fair bit about that.

"Everything in this world, from the simple plants beneath our feet to the strongest shinobi in the world, contains what we call chakra. It's within everything you see in our world and without it you would die. One of the most fundamental aspects of being a shinobi is being able to manipulate that chakra to perform Jutsu."

As if to drive home his point, he raised his hands, formed a strange shape with his fingers and within a blink there stood a perfect copy of him. Gnarly scars as all. The children broke out in excited whispers that were silenced by the original Kuroiwa reprimanding them for their outburst. Just as quickly as the copy came into existence it burst into smoke and disappeared.

"That was the clone technique and no, you will not be learning how to perform that until your third year. What we will do this year is go over what chakra is."

He pulled out a diagram of a figure sitting cross legged that had their hands in the same strange motion she'd seen from both Kyo and Kuroiwa. "Chakra is generated when two or more primal energies, called physical and spiritual energy, are molded together by an individual in the form of what's known as a jutsu. Physical energy is collected from the body's cells and as such can be increased through things like training and exercise. There are also some stimulants that can briefly increase your energy but they come at a high cost and aren't recommended."

He pointed at the figure, specifically towards its head. "Spiritual energy comes from the mind's consciousness. It's something that can be increased through studying, meditation and just getting basic is also why we will be practicing meditation here at the academy, it's an important part of cultivating spiritual energy. These are considered Yin and Yang energies respectively. Yin refers to someone's spiritual energy while Yang is used to describe physical amount a person will have and the skew in which these two energies exist are determined at birth. That is why people who come from clans have more chakra and control of that chakra in comparison to those that come from civilian backgrounds."

"To perform any sort of jutsu you first need to be able to mold both your physical and spiritual chakra, we call someone's proficiency at doing this chakra control. You can increase your control over time but as a whole it's something that is also determined at birth."

"To use chakra you need to be able to move those energies within yourself which is again another reason meditation is so important. Chakra can be molded with the use of hand seals." This time he pulled out another diagram, this one a large poster full of someone's hands in different positions. Each one looked more awkward than the last and like it would give her a cramp to try and emulate. "These are hand seals, what you will be using to mold your chakra and perform justu. You will not be learning how to actually manipulate your chakra this year but you will be expected to know each of these seals and how to perform them. You will be expected to execute these hand seals perfectly and by the end of the year all of you should be able to perform any seal on command. A faulty hand seal can lead to disastrous results for a shinobi so it is important you all study."

"Now the last thing I'll touch on before we start today's lesson on hand seals is that from chakra, there are three types of jutsu a ninja will use. The first is ninjutsu which creates the justu we typically see, like the clone technique or anything that deals with an elemental release. The amount of chakra someone has dictates how much ninjutsu someone can learn, which is also why, as I said earlier, clan's are generally able to utilize more ninjutsu than someone who comes from a civilian background. The second one we will cover is genjutsu which involves the art of creating illusions and using chakra to control someone's five senses. There are several clans in Konohagakure that specialize in genjutsu, two of the most prominent are the esteemed Uchiha and Kurama. The last is taijutsu which utilizes martial arts or hand to hand combat."

He paused to let the class absorb everything.

"With all that being said if you look to the back of the class you'll see a chart with all of your names on it."

They followed where he'd pointed to and just like he said at the very back of the class there was a large sheet of paper with all their names on it. ."That will be our class ranking system. Throughout your time here you will be tested and based on the results, will be given a number determining how well you're doing in the class. I expect you all to try your best to reach a higher ranking, Konohagakure doesn't tolerate those who don't put in any effort. A higher ranking as will also help you once you graduate. Superior officers look at the class rankings when making decisions over who to recruit so I suggest all of you do your best so you'll be able to have a successful career. Now, I'll be passing out a worksheet and we will be going over each hand seal one by one."

All in all that was the way Kuroiwa taught his classes. He was an incredibly stern man who expected perfection and didn't tolerate any nonsense. There was no slowing down when he was going over something, he taught them one thing after another and if they weren't able to keep up they were punished harshly.

Kuroiwa tended to single out Naruto more than anyone and his favorite thing to do seemed to be caning him in front of everyone in the class. There were certain times Alice could see how angry Naruto could actually get and these were one of those moments. He wasn't afraid or hurt when he was getting hit instead she could see, plain on his face, that he was angry. Anger at the situation, how he was being treated or maybe just at the world, she didn't was genuine rage there but he held himself back from saying anything every time.

Just as Kuroiwa had done in the first two weeks, he hit Naruto until he bled and as the person that cleaned him up every time she knew that without the strange way his wounds healed faster than any other human she'd seen he would've needed to go to the hospital.

To her dismay, Alice was a close second to find herself suffering under Kuroiwa's attention. As soon as he'd noticed she was friends with Naruto he made it well known that he didn't like her either given the way he'd belittle her in class whenever she said something or how he'd do his best to pick on her for no reason. She would've preferred it be just that but like he did with Naruto, she was caned for any little reason. He didn't hit her nearly as hard but it still hurt and it still drew blood.

It was these times she desperately wished she could've been a vampire who wouldn't be hurt by something like this. A vampire with the ability to tear out his throat with ease.

She so desperately wanted to, her mouth positively ached with the need.

Shuri was concerned at how often she was getting hit but they both knew there was nothing she could do. Alice had signed herself away to the Academy and in their eyes this was just discipline.

If the class were amused at her and Naruto's constant punishments it didn't last long. As it turned out they weren't exempt either because after those first two weeks, where Kuroiwa had relied on verbal warnings, he resorted to caning children that acted out or continually ignored what he said. While he resorted to corporal punishment easily he was significantly more gentle with the other students. More tolerant and not finding every little thing they did as wrong.

The children were hit and if they cried out they were hit again and hit harder. Shinobi didn't cry and weren't supposed to respond to pain. This in turn intimidated the other students very quickly and taught them that disobedience meant pain.

So it wasn't any surprise that despite it only being towards the beginning of the year several students had already dropped out. They were three kids she never bothered to learn the names of, though one of them had been particularly vocal in making fun of her and Naruto.

She'd socked that one in the face and she couldn't help feeling victorious even as she was punished.

"If they can't even handle this then they don't deserve to be Shinobi." Was all Kuroiwa had said when asked about the dropouts.

Because in his eyes, if they couldn't even handle this much then they really were worthless. Personally Alice just thought he was cruel and apathetic but that was just her.

She'd seen corporal punishment before, had lived through a time where that was the norm, but the way Kuroiwa subjected her and Naruto to it constantly seemed more than unfair. Being punished even when you did nothing wrong was irritating especially when it seemed more based on how he was feeling than anything else. Maybe this was just considered normal in a military dictatorship like this but that didn't mean she had to like it.

Didn't have to not be angry about it.

Naruto struggled more under his attention than Alice did but they both knew that both of them were peerless in this situation and that there wasn't a single thing either of them could do so they both found themselves resigned to their fates.

What surprised her however was that Naruto actually felt guilty that their association was causing Kuroiwa to target her and the other students to treat her just as poorly, because by now both of them knew what was happening and why, Naruto was a very expressive person and she could the emotion plain as day on his face. This boy couldn't lie to save his life.

He had no reason to feel any sort of guilt for the choices of other people in her mind, but he was a child that didn't have the perspective she did.

It was lunch where they spent the most time together and they could usually be found under one of the large oaks in the courtyard. That specific day they were going over the different hand seals Kuroiwa told them all to memorize. For Alice, memorizing them wasn't the hard part. The difficult part was actually forcing her hands into the proper position.

Her tiny hands were awkward in their movements and she paused a lot to double check if she had gotten it right. She was still the quickest in the class but Kuroiwa didn't seem to care, considering he took great pleasure in calling her seals sloppy and accusing her of just not trying.

Naruto on the other hand was absolutely terrible at remembering any of the seals and had a tendency to mix them up. It took him the longest in the class to get his hands into the correct positioning but he also worked hard to learn something that didn't come to him naturally.

They were at lunch and Alice had just finished correcting Naruto, who had made some weird combination of the ram and rat seals as they practiced, when once again he got that somber look that didn't quite fit on his face. It was that expression he wore sometimes when he thought she wasn't looking. There was the guilt plain on his face and she knew he was thinking of the way she'd been treated as a result of being around him.

She wasn't expecting it though when Naruto loudly, because that was Naruto's natural volume, spat out a random apology. It was a sudden and desperate thing and her brain stalled for a moment with how out of the blue it was. His next sentence cleared some of it up though.

"He's bein mean to you cuz you're hanging out with me. The other kid's too." Naruto looked like a kicked puppy and Alice really didn't like seeing him like that. "If you weren't with me you would be fine 'ttebayo."

So he was talking about Kuroiwa and the other students too. She wondered how long he'd been holding this in. Based on the way guilt just radiated off of him probably a while.

"Naruto-kun, do me favor. Can you look at me?" He did but he looked absolutely miserable and like he was bracing for the worst. "I'll be completely honesty with you, I don't like Kuroiwa-sensei and I really don't like that he targets me.

He flinched like it was his fault but she continued.

"But him being an asshole and wanting to hit children because of whatever's messed up with him has nothing to do with you. Absolutely nothing. It's not your fault and there's no reason for you to feel responsible for his choices."

"But he's hittin you like me."

"And? Those are his choices Naruto-kun. You didn't make him do that."

"But-"

"Nope!" She chirped at him. :"None of this is your fault. Plus if there's one thing I don't regret it's getting involved with you."

"You don't?"

"Not at all. In fact you're my favorite person here."

A blush covered his cheeks at that and Alice couldn't help the smile that bloomed across her face. He was shifting around like he was uncomfortable with her admission but she could still see how happy those words made him. This look was better on him than the guilt he'd had earlier, she'd rather a bashful Naruto then one who was taking on things that weren't his fault.

His ears were still pink when he finally gave her that wide, megawat grin of his.

Alice really wanted him to understand that none of this was his fault. She didn't know why he was treat the way he was but she hated that this was his normal. He was such a sweet and genuine person that it boggled her mind that so many people disliked him. She couldn't do much for him but she could be there, she could treat him like a human being.

She wasn't a vampire anymore, she couldn't just fight with everyone for how unfair it all was. In this situation she was once more powerless. And wasn't that a bitter pill to swallow.

Naruto seemed to recover quickly though because he soon blurted out."Hey, Arisu-chan! The dumb lady at the orphanage canceled curfew so I can go out after school again to get ramen 'ttebayo! Do you wanna come with me?"

"She finally canceled your curfew?"

"Yup! It's been forever since I've been to Ichiraku's, I think she was doin it cuz she just hated that I got ramen and she didn't."

Well considering Alice didn't have any work that night given it was one of her days off and Haru and Boru would both be working late for the next two weeks she was completely free. She'd originally planned on helping Shuri around the house and resting but going out for ramen didn't sound like a bad idea given how hungry she constantly was. She even had some money on her.

Naruto also look so hopeful that she didn't think she would've been able to say no if she wanted to.

"Sure, Naruto-kun. I'd love to get some ramen with you."

He looked like Christmas had come early and she'd given him some amazing gift. Naruto was smiling ear to ear and Alice was just glad that he no longer looked like he was being crushed under the weight of other peoples desicions.

She knew Naruto's ramen shop was in Konoha proper and funnily enough, Alice had never actually been outside the Flower district since she'd ended up in this world. She had no reason to leave so why would she? Her life was settled comfortably in the small radius that was the Hanako orphanage and Tsumugi's shop. Shuri herself never even left the Flower district, there just was never much need.

Were she who she was before all this, the first thing she would've done was explore. She would've traveled all across Konohagakure and sent herself on some grand adventure. She wasn't that person anymore though. After all the last time she'd decided to go out on her own she had died. Not even that but had suffered a long, painful death.

She swore she could still feel the ache at her joints where her limbs had been torn off.

She had no time to rethink her offer after school because Naruto just grabbed her hand with that bright smile of his and dragged her through the Flower district. Part of her thought if her reluctance to leave was obvious enough that Naruto just grabbed her then there might just be a problem there.

The streets were as they always were and they traversed the uneven dirt paths that stretched most of the district. There were the gangsters hanging out with one another as they drank, prostitutes walking the street corners trying to coax in marks and emaciated addicts hitting the pipe despite being covered in grotesque scabs. It was all the hallmark of what made the Flower district the Flower district.

So it was a stark difference that as soon as they hit Konoha proper the roads became even paths that were clean of any litter. The buildings were bright, colorful and impressive to look at. What really showed they were no longer in the Flower district though were the people, because despite the streets being filled with them they moved around without any sense of danger. They weren't constantly scanning the streets or looking over their shoulders, they weren't tense and ready to run at the drop of a hat and people were actually talking to each other normally and not screaming at each other or just generally minding their own business.

The Manjushage corridor and the Flower district were dangerous places to just meander or hang out, unless you were part of the Yakuza, so to see so many people out and about walking around without a care in the world was jarring. In addition there were even fully unformed Shinobi wandering around and Alice couldn't help but find the sight strange.

Shinobi rarely wandered the Flower district in full uniform, they kept on their headbands but otherwise looked like any other civilian

The civilians here weren't worried about the danger and it showed. It was so lively and they had to dart between the legs of civilians and shinobi alike. It was bright and busy and Alice couldn't help but think on how different the two places were.

Naruto dragged her to a small shop, modest and welcoming with the words Ichiraku's ramen proudly emblazoned on the fabric that hid customers from view. What hit her the most though was the smell of ramen that was thick in the air, Alice couldn't help the way her mouth watered. Since she'd begun the Academy all the physical activity had upped her appetite and when she ate it was like she was personally trying to make the food disappear.

She wasn't surprised to see a man already sitting at the counter in the far corner so they found their seats at the complete opposite end.

"Teuchi-jiji!" Naruto hollered.

There was a complete kitchen on the other end of the counter and she could see a man with his back to them, broad shoulders hunched over the meat he was busy cooking for the other man's order and even from where she was at, it smelled heavenly. Her stomach rumbled.

He barely even turned but his voice was joyful the second he noticed them. "Naruto! It's been so long since you've been here boy. We missed you!"

"Yeah well the dumb lady had us on a stupid curfew so we couldn't leave."

"Oh dear, that sounds terrible. Ayame-chan's been missing you, you know."

"Where is she?"

"She wasn't feelin well so I told her to stay home."

"Well tell her I said I hope she feels better."

"I will!" It didn't take him long before he was ready to plated the other customers food and when he did Alice saw that the bowl was large. It was a big portion and as she checked the menu in front of her she saw that the prices were actually very reasonable.

When Teuchi was finally free to talk he stood in front of their side of the counter with his hands on his hips. He was a large man, tall and could've easily been considered imposing if not for the way he held himself, there was a smile on his face that looked like it never faded and his eyes sparkled with mirth. Teuchi was older, with salt and pepper hair beneath his white cap and wrinkles that marked age. Just from the bit she'd seen of him she could tell that he was genuinely happy to see Naruto.

How long must he have been coming here for Teuichi to be this familiar with him? Though given the fact that Naruto affectionately called the man Jiji she supposed it had probably been a long time.

"Now" Teuchi said as he leaned forward. "Who's this? It's rare to see you bring anyone, is this a friend of yours?"

"Yeah! This is Arisu-chan and she's my friend!"

She couldn't help the way she stiffened at the word friend. To be called a friend was something that filled her with so many complicated feelings. Alice had avoided calling anyone that since she'd arrived here and she wasn't even sure she would even be able to fully give of herself the way friendship required. The most glaring bit though was that it still just felt too much like a betrayal to the relationships she'd had before.

It would feel too much like truly admitting she could never go back, too much like a final goodbye she wasn't ready to give. In all honesty she felt like a patchwork of poorly healed scars, just as gruesome as the ones on Kuroiwa's face, and like one wrong move would just have them all bursting open.

But she had a choice here, an important one. This child considered her a friend even if they hadn't known each other a long time, a relatively short time in fact. He trusted her, wanted her around and she knew that besides Teuichi she was maybe one of the only people that treated him with any sort of kindness. He was a hurt child and letting her own trauma take over here would only hurt him further.

She really wondered why something about him led her to choose to not hurt him when she herself felt like nothing but damage and pain. While she wasn't quite ready to start throwing around the 'friend' word she wanted to hurt him even less.

She didn't like seeing him sad, it didn't suit him.

So eventually she settled on. "Yes, I'm his friend Cullen Alice, it's nice to meet you Teuchi-san. I've heard a lot about you from Naruto-kun, he practically dragged me halfway across Konoha to get here."

Saying those words felt bitter in her mouth but she knew they needed to be said.

"It's nice to meet you Curren-chan!" He held out a hand for her to shake and she noted he had a strong grip with calloused hands"And don't think I didn't hear what she said Naruto, it's not very nice to drag a lady across town."

"We had to get here!"

"And you couldn't have walked?"

"Well yes," He sputtered. "But I haven't had ramen in forever Teuchi-jiji! I was dyin without it!"

"Yes, well maybe don't pull her along like that next time? When you walk with a lady Naruto you give her your elbow and make sure to walk on the outside, always remember that. Now how about I give the two of you a bowl on the house each? I don't think I've ever seen Naruto bring a friend by so this calls for some celebration!"

The fondness there was absolutely clear, especially if she was getting free food just for being his friend.

"Thank you very much-Teuchi san."

"No problem Arisu-chan! Now what will you be having today? Your usual Naruto?"

"Yes please!"

She looked at the menu again and settled on the first thing that sounded good. "I'll have the hakata ramen please."

As soon as Teuchi left to start on their orders Naruto, who was already right next to her, leaned in even closer to whisper.

"I know I called you my friend earlier but it kinda just slipped out. I didn't actually ask if you wanted to be my friend? We don't have to be if you don't wanna."

It was a talent how expressive he was because she could see the regret and hope on his face all at once. She once again had a choice here, she could deny him and set firm boundaries to keep herself from feeling like she was betraying the relationships she'd had before or she could admit they were friends.

Looking at him the choice was obvious.

"I wouldn't mind Naruto, I can be your friend."

She didn't know if it was true, if she was ready to be a friend and didn't know how one word could send her spiraling, but there was no contest between her two options.

"But Kuroiwa-sensei would treat you nicer if you weren't with me."

"Kuroiwa-sensei gets his rocks off beating little kids, I don't care what he thinks."

He snorted at her blaise statement.

"You would probably be happier if you weren't my friend though."

"I could probably be a lot of things but at this point we hang out daily, I help you with school work and we're hanging out at your favorite ramen spot. I think that constitutes being friends."

Wasn't it funny that she was realizing just how true that statement was, that they really did hang around each other every day at the Academy. She helped him with schoolwork and just spent time listening to him talk. She was his friend, she realized.

They were friends.

"Are you sure, Arisu-chan?"

"I suppose so. Looks like we're friends then Naruto-kun, please treat me well."

If Naruto had looked like she had given him a special gift just by agreeing to going to get ramen with him actually admitting they were friends, no matter how much she couldn't help feeling like it was still a betrayal, made him look like she'd given him something precious.

Before anything else could be said Teuchi got between them to place down their respective bowls. They were huge and steaming hot and made Alice remember just how hungry she was. They both decided to forgo conversation to just dig in.

The ramen was delicious and while Alice had finished her bowl, Naruto had polished off three like it was nothing. She'd watched him with grim amusement and wondered where he stored all that food.

They fell into pleasant conversation after that, talking about school mostly and she listened to him complain about Language class, it was probably one of his least favorite subjects. He was learning and doing better than he was but he still struggled a lot.

When they parted ways that night it was with Naruto looking lighter than he had all day and Alice feeling just as conflicted.

It was a comfortable time though so it wasn't a surprise in the days that followed, Naruto continued to ask her out to ramen whenever she wasn't working or meeting with Haru and Boru. Come hell or high water, Naruto was always ready and willing to eat ramen. Though Alice couldn't really complain, it was good ramen. Affordable too.

She got to spend more time with Naruto out of class and as a result got to know Teuchi better as well considering how often they ended up at Ichiraku's.

He was a Konohagakure native whose family had owned this shop for generations, nearly four in fact, and he was incredibly proud of his little shop. Despite that however he actually had wanted to be a baker at one point and he proudly told her that to this day he could still make a mean chocolate cake. Made promises to make it for them sometime. He liked to laugh and was a bright person.

She also got to meet Ayame, Teuchi's daughter who had been sick their very first visit. She had been equally as happy as her father to see Naruto had actually made a friend. While she wasn't quite as jovial as Teuichi she was someone who was easygoing and light hearted. It was surprising when Alice found out she had a rather dark sense of humor and even more surprising when she'd told her one day that she had dreamed of becoming a famous Kunoichi as a kid (Kuroiwa had explained to them early on that while Shinobi was a general term for all ninja, Kunoichi could only be applied to those that were female).

They treated her with kindness and warmth so it was a nice place to be.

Naruto though was ecstatic to finally have someone to eat ramen with and even happier to be able to call her a friend. She learned very unsurprisingly that she was his very first friend.

He also enjoyed just having someone to talk to as evidenced by some of the conversations they'd have over ramen and often debates on which ninja would win in a fight.

"Ne, Arisu-chan, who do you think would win, the first Hokage or a group of a hundred S-rank missing nin?"

Alice had been mid slurp and put down her chop sticks. "Why the first hokage?"

"Well hear me out, Kuroiwa-sense was talkin about how strong and stuff the he was. But I was thinkin, what if he had to fight a whole army of S-rank Shinobi. No matter how good his tree stuff had to be he'd probably lose right?"

Alice could only laugh that Naruto referred to the Hokage's famed mokuton as 'tree stuff'.

"I dunno Naruto-kun. Sure he'd be outnumbered but the first Hokage had cleared out whole battlefields on his own before, it wouldn't be the first time."

"But a whole army of S-ranks?!" He exclaimed loudly. "C'mon Arisu-chan there's no way he'd be able to fight that."

"What about a group of a hundred Hashirama's versus a thousand S-rank nin?" She countered.

He looked genuinely stumped by that.

"I wanna say Hashirama cuz there's a hundred of him but a thousand S-ranks is a lot."

"Just food for thought."

"Well whatever, who cares who'd win. The only thing that matters is I'ma be a more kick ass hokage than he ever was 'ttebayo."

While Naruto was obviously loud and boisterous he was also pleasant to talk to. He was funny in a way that was effortless, like he wasn't trying to be, it was just how he was. The times they spent together were strangely some of the times where she felt most present in the same way being around Haru and Boru made her feel.

He had a way of pulling her out of her head and seemed to know when she needed space or when she was okay to talk. He was far more intuitive than anyone gave him credit for.

She still struggled to apply the moniker of 'friend', despite that first admission, to herself towards any of the people she'd met here. Logically she knew that's what they were. They were friendships she had made with people she'd convinced herself she couldn't get close to.

But loss made it hard to feel that was the case.

The words tasted like ash in her mouth and made her heart ache even if she knew they were true.

But when Naruto called her a friend, she didn't correct him. When he asked her if they were friends she'd told him yes.

There was so much conflict going on inside her that she wished, not for the first time, she was back with the Cullens. Rosalie would've known exactly what to tell her, she was blunt and had no issues with calling out anyones idiocy. Hell, Bella would've listened to her in that quiet way of hers and made sure she left the conversation feeling heard.

It had only been a year but she missed them just as fiercely as the first day she'd arrived here.

In a way though she was grateful to Naruto. To Haru, Boru, Shuri and Tsumugi. They had embraced her when they didn't have to and brought her a sense of safety in a world that could easily kill her.

In general her thoughts were all over the place but despite that she continued to do what she was good at, pushing forward and making sure she survived.

—-

If someone had asked what Alice expected going into a school that trained young kids into being child soldiers she would have said a lot of fighting. She'd expected the children to be pitted against each other in violent fights while the instructors just watched on and let it happen. She thought she'd be forced to fight the other students in pseudo death matches. However what she got was absolutely none of that.

She blamed it entirely on watching too many dramas when she was in her previous world.

The teachers had made it abundantly clear that they wanted their students to develop a solid foundation. That foundation was what they'd be building on as they went through their years at the Academy. Most of the time they were running laps and if they weren't doing that then they'd be going through elaborately set up obstacle courses. Alice wasn't a fan of all the running, being in a human body and having to feel what it was like to have her calves burn and not being able to draw in enough air because of how hard she was running had disillusioned her to the whole thing.

'

Running was better than doing things like situps and lunges, in her opinion. She'd found herself at one point vomiting from how hard they pushed them and she wasn't the only one.

While Alice's first experience with any sort of exercise as a human was working in Tsumugi's shop, her time in the Academy took that and multiplied it by a thousand.

She had never dealt with physical exhaustion as a vampire and had never ended the day with her limbs aching so bad she wanted to cry. Being absolutely covered in sweat and dirt was equally as unpleasant and there were so many days where Tsumuigi would take one look at her and send her straight home.

It was a normal day as any other when Kuroiwa, who had a talent for looking naturally disapproving of everyone around him, had them all gather up into a group. As soon as he barked out the order everyone scrambled to get together, they were trained enough at this point to know that disobeying him meant pain. And no one liked pain.

"So far we've been working on your basic conditioning. A Shinobi must have a strong body and mind. If for whatever reason you can't handle this then you have no hope as a Shinobi." And he sneered to show them just what he thought about that, scars twisting gruesomely with the motion. "Most of you have done adequately so we'll be starting to introduce new lessons into what you're already doing."

His gold eyes were flinty as steel and serious as they ever were as he looked them all over. No one made a single sound and everyone waited patiently to hear what he'd say next. There wasn't a single person who wanted to be found lacking and caned before doing physical activity. Alice herself could attest to how painful that was.

"The first thing you all are going to learn is the proper way to fall. Before you learn any sort of martial-art, learning to fall is essential to know. In a fight you are often knocked down and if you don't know the safe way to fall you'll end up breaking bones, which in an actual fight means you're dead. When you fall it is important to know you need to lean into it. Your natural instinct will be to freeze up and that's what will get you killed."

There was another instructor standing to the side, a muscular woman with a mess of bright red hair. He made a gesture for her to step forward and right in front of him. She shot a wolfish grin at the students.

"Kumamoto-sensei is here to assist. She will push me and I'll show you what I mean and what will be expected of you."

Kumamoto took that as a cue to start and shoved him, hard.

As he fell he leaned into the motion and when he swung his arms to direct himself he hit the ground and used the momentum to roll and find himself standing once more. He was perfectly fine and despite his tumble there wasn't a hair out of place. It all played out as a single graceful motion that only a trained Shinobi could accomplish.

Alice warred between trying to pay attention and feeling disappointed that the other teacher hadn't shoved him harder.

"When you fall it's important to keep your body loose, especially your knees and ankles. Keeping those stiff or freezing up will end with you breaking your legs. You can use your arms to direct your fall like I did and build momentum so you can go into a roll. Doing so will be important in making sure you don't injure yourself. It's also important to protect your head as much as you can with your shoulders."

The two teachers continued to repeat the action as they narrated what they were doing. They both took turns on who was being pushed but everything was explained to them clearly and concisely. Both teachers were graceful and quick in their movements and Alice wondered how much training they must have had to get to that point.

"Alright then, you've seen enough. Gather into pairs with the person next to you. We're going to practice, each of you will take turns pushing the other. I expect you to try your best to practice what you just learned."

Alice found herself paired with a quiet girl who was named Mari, as she introduced herself. She was one of the orphans that were in their class and one who tended to stick to herself.

"Everyone needs to be ten paces between any other group!" Kuroiwa bellowed as he moved through the group of children standing in military fashion.

The practice wasn't as bad as she was expecting and while Alice was a lot less coordinated in this body than she had been in her other one she was a quick learner when it came to adjusting to her smaller limbs and comparatively slower reflexes. She had an innate instinct on what to do and how to move herself most effectively, something every vampire had. It took her more than a few tries and being pushed roughly to the dirt but she eventually found her rhythm. While not perfect, she was falling in a way that wasn't going to completely break her delicate human bones.

They were at it for a solid thirty minutes while Kuroiwa and Kumamoto marched between each group and instructed them on what they were doing wrong and how to fix it. He only reprimanded her once but she noticed when she wasn't practically eating dirt that he avoided Naruto for the most part save for a few comments to embarrass him.

Eventually he called them all to a standstill with a sharp bark of "Attention!". They all stood ramrod straight immediately, hands to the side and facing forward. Everyone was covered in dirt, bruised and absolutely exhausted.

"The next thing you will be learning is how to throw a punch. Anyone here who thinks they have any sort of experience with fighting, forget everything you think you know. When you're here, you know nothing, am I understood?"

"Yes Kuroiwa-sensei!"

"Good. Now when you throw a punch do not keep your thumb tucked into your fingers, that's the easiest way to break it. If I see any of you being idiotic enough to do so there will be consequences. When you throw a punch you push with your feet, make sure they're shoulder width apart, power it up through the legs, turn your hips, shoulders and extend the arm. Make sure to tighten the fist as it reaches the target.

When he demonstrated for the class he settled into a firm stance just as he instructed and punched. It was a quick and effective motion, His fist shot out like a whip and Alice knew being on the other end of that could probably knock someone out.

They followed the previous exercise and all the students stood at attention with enough space between them. The two teachers walked between the group of students and corrected the children when they weren't doing something right.

She was lucky, one of the first things Jasper had taught her was how to properly throw a punch. When she'd met him she had all of the vampiric power and none of the technique, So now she found it easy to follow through with the action. There was still an adjustment period, this body was just too different but just as she had before she found her way with the motion and was throwing a proper punch easily enough.

She also had to keep herself for punching out at her full speed. She was much slower than a vampire or a shinobi but she was certainly faster than what a child should be,

Kuroiwa had eyed her form but said nothing, whether that meant what she was doing was acceptable or if he'd just decided to ignore her she didn't know.

The day ended with her body feeling like one big bruise, her arms limp noodles by her side and with the knowledge Tsumugi was probably going to end up sending her home the second she saw her. She was exhausted and ready for the day to be over. Naruto in comparison was as energetic as ever.

Despite the pain in her body she felt accomplished. It was such a small thing but she was able to complete the lesson, she was able to use this small, alien body to throw a punch. To actually start learning how to defend herself.

Distantly, she thought as she headed to the orphanage after class was dismissed, she wondered if this meant she was getting used to this body. If it was becoming something she was actually used to rather than being something that was like stuffing herself into an ill fitting glove.

Slowly this body and this life were beginning to settle into her and even as she lay her head on her pillow that night, she didn't know how that made her feel.

—-

It was the weekend and with that Alice was happy to have the chance to rest her aching body. Between the increasing intensity of the Academy's physical lessons and her work at Tsumugi's she felt like she was ready to just sleep the whole weekend away. That didn't stop her from doing her daily run though(she always made sure to bring a kunai with her after she'd convinced Shuri to let her go) and working her sore muscles into the stretches the Academy taught them.

She practiced her punches, sometimes she'd even had Shuri watch and critique her, and when her muscles were screaming at her for a break she all but collapsed into the dirt. The Academy had told them that it was important to keep up basic conditioning and encouraged them to do what they learned in their lives outside school. The fact she was exhausted and sweaty didn't stop Haru from insisting they hang out however.

She'd only gotten her to give her some time to shower after promising that yes, she would go with them to the lake. And demanding "Haru I'm covered in sweat I'm not leaving the house like this".

Being sweaty was a terrible human function.

She found herself basking in the sun at the lake though not much later, comfortable and just about ready to take a nap. Haru and Boru were in the middle of a dispute. Apparently Haru had been taking on too much at work, volunteering for multiple projects that had kept her incredibly busy.

Which was true, Haru was very rarely home anymore and whenever she could, she'd bring home different projects to work on. It wasn't an uncommon sight to see Haru still up at three in the morning sewing away patterns onto different colored fabrics.

"I-I'm just saying H-Ha-haru, you've been w-working a lot."

"Well yeah." She said defensively, they'd been at this for a while now. "Sensei won't keep me on if I don't keep up Boru, you know that."

"T-that's fine but your v-volunteering yourself for more p-projects than you can handle."

"Oh, you think I can't handle it?! Or what, that I'm too stupid?!"

"Absolutely n-not! I'm just concerned H-Haru, that's all!"

"Well I need to get the work done!" She shouted hotly. "I don't ever get on your case when you work a lot so don't get on mine."

"T-that's not the same thing and y-you know it."

"Whatever."

"A-Arisu-chan tell her!"

Alice blinked lazily, she was exhausted and she really didn't want to be dragged into their argument. She mostly just wanted to enjoy soaking up the sun. But she knew they'd keep trying to bring her into it if she didn't say anything so instead she just settled on the truth.

"You've been working a lot."

A lot was an understatement but that's what she felt comfortable saying. She wasn't going to deny Haru her chance to impress her sensei though, she knew that there were a few other apprentices who were older than her and that it was very competitive. Haru was working under a reputable seamstress so she needed to do whatever she could to prove that she could continue as an apprentice.

"Not you too Arisu-chan!" She whined. "No. You know what we're done with this conversation. I'm not arguing about this with you guys."

Her voice was firm and Alice knew she meant it. She didn't want to talk about this anymore. Alice could respect that..

"H-Haru you can't just-"

"So Arisu-chan tell us about your little boyfriend."

It was so completely non sequitur and out of the blue that both Boru and Alice didn't quite know what to say for a second. They both knew she was trying to change the subject but Boru still looked like he wanted to go back to the previous topic.

Alice had to take a moment to process the question before slowly saying "Boyfriend?"

"Yeah who you're making that extra bento for every day."

"Haru…"

"Nope! We're talking about Arisu-chans boyfriend now! That's the topic of conversation Boru!"

"I don't have a boyfriend," Would likely never have one. "I've just been making it for a ….."

Even now the word got stuck in her throat. She wondered if she would ever move past this or if she would just be stuck running away from anyone that could possibly care about her. She had told him this is what they were and she wasn't someone who went back on her word.

"Friend. A friend. I've been making one for a friend at the Academy. He doesn't have anyone to make him one and he can't really cook so I just decided to cook an extra one."

This time it was the two of them that looked at her absolutely baffled. It seemed like Haru got what she was going for when she tried to change the topic, Alice thought wrly.

"Y-you have a friend?"

She bristled at his tone. "I can make friends."

That sounded weak even to her ears.

At her words they looked even more baffled, like they couldn't believe what they were hearing.

"Arisu-chan you s-spend most of your time avoiding literally e-everyone. The fact y-you voluntarily went out of your way to be s-s-someones friend is shocking."

"He's right. It took us literal months to get you to even agree to hang out with us."

Alice wanted to refute what they were saying but she realized she couldn't, they were telling the cold hard truth. Briefly she recalled the person she had been before all of this, the outspoken, vibrant woman that wanted to be everyone's friend. Being torn from everyone and everything she loved and the death she'd been dealt had turned her into someone she wondered if Jasper would even be able to recognize.

The thought made her want to vomit so she wasn't really thinking when shep spat out her next sentence.

"I can make friends outside you guys."

"Y-you consider us your friends?" Boru looked touched.

Ah, she just realized she implied that's what they were. Just like with Naruto she had a choice, she could put up those barriers and continue to distance herself or she could admit the truth. They were friends. She spent an absurd amount of time with these two for the better part of a year, at this point friend would be the most apt description.

What would Jasper think of her now, afraid to even admit she considered someone a friend?

"Yes," She confirmed. "We've been hanging out for a while. I think it's only fair to consider us friends."

"Arisu-chan!" Haru lunged and wrapped her in a bone crushing hug. "I'm so happy you called us your friends! But that's not getting you out of this, this boy, your other less cool friend, we want details."

Boru surprisingly decided to back her up and nodded.

Alice could only sigh. She wasn't getting out of this without giving them some sort of information. "His name's Uzumaki Naruto."

Even wrapped in Haru's arms she could see the way Boru stiffened at the name but Haru being Haru blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "Isn't that the demon kid?"

"Demon kid?" She said tersely. Despite knowing Haru and Boru for the amount of time she had she wouldn't tolerate them talking bad about Naruto.

Haru pulled away, "Yeah, literally everyone knows who he is. They call him the demon kid, we're not supposed to go near him."

"He's not a demon, he's just a normal little boy."

"W-we're not saying he is. Th-That's just what everyone calls him. If y-y-you of all people consider him a f-friend we trust your judgment."

"Yeah!" Haru nodded enthusiastically, "Hey, why don't you bring him over so we can all hang out?"

"You want us all to hang out?"

"Hell yeah! Any friend of Arisu-chan is a friend of ours!"

Boru seemed a lot more unsure but given that Haru was now fully invested he nodded as well and gave his agreement.

"I'll see if he wants to come by then."

Haru whooped with excitement.

After that they talked about lighter topics, not even addressing the argument between Haru and Boru. It was calm at the lake and Alice couldn't help but relax even further into where she lay, uncaring that she was getting back of her shirt and pants dirty. Haru mostly led the conversation but they talked about inane things like what some of the other orphanage kids were doing or about more of some of the stuff Boru had been reading about

"S-so I was doing some more reading-"

Haru groaned. They both knew at this point what was coming when those words popped up.

"A-anyway I was doing some reading and I l-learned that apparently when it gets colder a lot of insects replace their body water with a chemical called glycerol. It acts as antifreeze towards the temperatures. I actually had no clue they could do that. I was just studying and that popped up, isn't that cool?"

Despite Haru's earlier groan she didn't hesitate to pepper him with questions. Boru was excited to talk about something he was so interested in and Haru showed the appropriate amount of enthusiasm in return despite ribbing him for being so obsessed with insects and nature. To Alice, despite still feeling conflicted, today turned out to be a comfortable day and she was grateful for it

—-

Once they were taught how to throw a punch it was like the floodgates opened and the physical lessons became much more intense. Kuroiwa had begun instructing them on the different kinds of strikes that were used and even started introducing the proper way to kick. If Alice thought before was bad, she was left feeling that every class left her feeling like her body was just one more punch away from collapsing.

Her stamina was a big problem and the more she learned the more apparent that was beginning to become. She tired out a lot quicker than most of her other classmates even if she was better than the others in actually performing what was taught. She still kept her speed under wraps but being quick had nothing to do with being able to continually throw a punch. Kuroiwa had scolded her on her abysmal stamina more than once and there had even been a time where he'd introduced her legs to his switch on the matter.

Naruto's treatment was worse. If he wasn't being ignored then he was being embarrassed or scolded, he never actually corrected Naruto or taught him just left him to his own devices.. It also seemed like his personal goal was to completely ruin Naruto's legs with how much he was hit for minor transgressions, both out on the field when practicing and in class.

Alice had to invest in a first aid kit and despite going to eat at Ichiraku's regularly, it was telling that she spent more money buying bandages and things to clean his wounds than food. The only reason he wasn't suffering permanent damage from how hard and often he was hit was because of his ability to heal quickly.

When learning things like how to punch and different ways you could kick, it was important to have someone there to correct you when you were doing something wrong. Alice had experience from her time from before and more than that she had her instinct as a vampire, the instinct that allowed her to use her body a bit easier than most(because vampires woke up knowing how to use their new bodies and while it wasn't the same she still knew how to most effectively move her body). Naruto however wasn't getting any instruction and had no such instinct to assist him. As a result the way he punched was sloppy, his stance was off and he wasn't properly bracing himself when he kicked.

He wasn't learning what he needed to and it showed.

It got to a point that as soon as class was dismissed for the day she grabbed him by the arm and just physically dragged him out to one of the campus' many training grounds.

"Arisu-chan? What're we doin?"

It was funny how despite how confused he was about her just randomly dragging him around he didn't actually fight her. He obviously wanted to know what was going on though because it was rare she ever initiated something like this.

"Show me how you fall." Was all the warning she gave before she shoved him, hard.

Unsurprisingly he ended up falling flat on his out in the dirt the only thing he could sputter was a confused. "Wha?"

She grabbed him by the arms and pulled him up so he was standing.

"Show. Me. How. You. Fall." This time he was expecting it when she shoved him again.

Her tone was dead serious and something in it must have clued him into the fact she wasn't playing around. When he was pushed this time he tipped backwards and yup, there it was. He was still tensing up.

"You need to stay loose, when you tense up you risk breaking bones. And you barely used your arms to shift your movement. Lean into the fall. Here, come push me and I'll show you."

"Arisu-chan what are you doing?" He was still on the ground looking absolutely confused. "With all this."

"They're not teaching you properly and I absolutely refuse to let you graduate as a shinobi who can't actually fight right. So until we can get you a proper teacher I'll just show you what the teachers should have."

Naruto got that look again on his face, the one that said he was touched but didn't know how to properly vocalize it. It didn't take long for resolve to settle there and burn just as fiercely as everything else about him.

"Gotcha!" He bounced back up with a smile. "I'll be your best student ever, 'ttebayo!"

"Good. Now I'm going to push you again and we're going to do it until you get this,"

"Let's do it!"

And so began their impromptu lessons. Naruto wasn't stupid or slow by any means, in fact once she actually explained the things she did he would pick them up incredibly quickly. From that point it was just about repetition, getting him comfortable with the movements.

She was already tutoring him in all their other subjects so adding this to it wasn't a big deal.

It wasn't long until their usual routine, running first before practicing falling, punching and kicking, was abruptly switched up. This time instead of their regular training ground they were directed to a different part of the campus. They ended up on a field that had everything from targets to straw dummies positioned for people to throw things at. Kuroiwa had toted along a huge box with him and they watched as he pulled off the lid to reveal a huge stack of Kunai.

That had to be heavy and he'd carried it around like it was nothing.

"Alright class, gather around and be silent. Today we're going to begin learning something that every shinobi is expected to knowi, we're going to learn how to throw kunai. I expect everyone to pay attention, even if some of you are a lost cause."

She didn't budge at the comment directed at her and Naruto, because that's usually who they were made toward. If he expected her to respond he was sorely mistaken.

"First off when we throw you want to hold your kunai like so and you want a firm enough grip on it but not so much that you lack the ability to adjust it."

His grip was exactly how he described.

"When you throw you want your form to be like this" He stood with his feet a fair distance apart from one another and when he made the motion to throw, he made it deliberately slow so that everyone could see. "We'll go over all this one by one but while you throw you want to keep an eye on the target. It's going to take trial and error to learn to aim and properly judge distances which is why we're here today."

The children were all quiet but she could see how excited some of them were. It made sense, after all throwing knives and shuriken were what everyone thought of when they thought of ninja.

"We are going to be working with actual kunai so I expect all of you to respect the fact you are holding an actual weapon. Do not point it at other students and if I find you throwing them at each other, expulsion will be the least of your problems, now everyone line up into single file to pick up your kunai."

A good portion of the class was spent on how to properly hold a kunai and how not to end up cutting off one of your own fingers when you went to throw them. He had them go over different grips until he was satisfied they could safely hold their own kunai. They even went over different forms for when they started throwing them.

They never actually ended up throwing the blades but as the days passed and they continued to incorporate kunai practice into their schedule Alice found that when it came to throwing things she struggled a lot. Her senses were sharp but when it came to having the kunai hit the target she found it incredibly hard to even make the thing hit the target board.

It at least reassured her that everyone was struggling just as much as she was but it was a realization for her that if she didn't work her hardest in this she would get left behind. The motivation she felt for getting stronger burned in her gut, she refused to fail. Naruto on the other hand was completely clueless when it came to throwing kunai.

Eventually they introduced shuriken to their training regiment and had to learn how to properly hold it so they didn't cut themselves. Throwing them was strange and very difficult. Just getting comfortable with how to hold the weapon was hard, much less actually throwing the thing. There had been many students that needed to go to the nurses office because they sliced their hands open.

Besides not picking up on throwing kunai and shuriken as quickly as she'd like, she more than kept up in her other classes. Alice did her best not to overly succeed, to fail where she could and stumble like some of the other kids every now and then. There was a part of her that was frustrated with holding herself back, that wanted to excel and try as hard as she could.

But she liked getting kidnapped even less so she did her best to keep her head down.

On certain days though she wondered if this was something that was sustainable long term and she dreaded the answer if it wasn't.

—-

The day had been a busy one and Alice had gotten a lot better at throwing shuriken and kunai but the fact of the matter was she wasn't anywhere as proficient as she wanted to be. She'd used her visions when she was particularly frustrated by the slow progress and she'd seen herself only a few years older and able to throw them at blinding speeds. It should've made her feel vindicated, that she'd succeed, but when she still had trouble hitting a target all she felt was frustration.

For all her efforts her hands were constantly covered in cuts and painful blisters. She still threw through the pain though.

She also remembered that Haru and Boru had been pushing her to actually introduce them to Naruto. Haru bugged her about it often and made sure Alice knew she wasn't amused that she hadn't brought him over yet. She wasn't worried about the three of them meeting, despite Haru's tendency to put her foot in her mouth. Boru usually leveled her out in that aspect.

Every time Haru got on her case about it, part of her wanted to just avoid letting the two meet. They were similar in a lot of ways and imagining them together seemed like a lot. But she also wanted him to meet people who would treat him like an actual human being so one day after school she decided to ask.

He was absolutely flabbergasted, whether it was because of the question itself or the fact people she knew actually wanted to meet him, she didn't know.

"T-they wanna meet me? Are you sure?"

Again, there was that look like he had no idea why someone would willingly want to see him.

"Yup. The second they found out about you they wanted to actually."

"But me? For real?"

"Naruto. We've been friends for a while now. It's way past due for you to meet those two."

"But me?"

"Yes, Naruto. You. They want to meet you." She deadpanned. "They're good people so you don't have to worry."

"If you're sure Arisu-chan." He said uncertainty. "When should I come over."

"We're gonna be hanging out today after school if you just want to come with me."

"I'm going to your house?!"

She winced at the volume. "Yes. We'll meet them there and head over to the park."

"And everyone at your house would be okay with me being there?"

She thought about everyone that lived in her house then shrugged. "I would hope so. They're all good people and regardless you're my friend and I'm allowed to invite people over,"

"Well then lets go, 'ttebayo!"

The journey to her house was a short one and they mostly talked about school. Even disregarding the way the teachers would purposely mark his work wrong, Naruto struggled a lot with the academic portion of the Academy. His worst subject was probably language and though she'd been doing her best to tutor him, he still had a hard time.

The teachers being absolutely useless to him didn't help matters either.

"I don't get why we gotta remember all the dumb dates, 'ttebayo. Who cares about that one revolution in five hundred whatsitt."

"I'm pretty sure you're thinking of the revolution that happened in 280 AF Naruto-kun."

"Graaah!" He shouted loudly, frustrated. "Who cares when the stupid revolution was!"

Alice sighed. While Naruto struggled it didn't help that he didn't like sitting still to study. He thought it was boring and would much rather be outside trying to prank people.

She'd seen some of his pranks and they were impressive.

"You know, if you do well on the next test, and I'll go over it myself to check how many you actually got right, then I'll pay for your ramen."

"Really?!" He jumped up, excited.

"You actually have to get an 80 percent or above. The test is in a few days anyways so if you study the way I showed you I'm sure you'll do fine."

"But I don't know a lot of the words."

"Write down what you dont know and we'll study together."

"Gotcha, Arisu-chan!" He was a whole lot more hyped up now than he was earlier. The power of ramen.

And damn, her pockets would absolutely be hurting but seeing how happy he was she couldn't really find it in herself to care.

When they arrived she wasn't surprised to find Haru and Boru on the porch waiting for her. She'd told them when she'd be off and it didn't look like they'd been waiting long. Boru spotted her first and waved, Haru however was practically vibrating with excitement as they stepped up the porch steps. She'd seen Alice's plus one, had been wanting to meet him for a while now.

"Arisu-chan!" Haru said gleefully. "And you! You must be the demon boy!"

Naruto went stock still and Alice could see his fight or flight deciding which one was going to take over. Alice had just been about to say something, to reprimand her because really Haru, but Boru beat her to it.

"H-Haru, you can't j-just say that!"

"Why not? Plus he doesn't even look like a demon, I have no clue why everyone calls you that." She sp close their faces were nearly touching as she studied him like he was some unique mystery before she gave a nod and backed off. "Yup. You don't look like a demon so you can't be one. Honestly you kinda just look like a scrawny little baby."

Out of everything that's what made Naruto snap."I'm not a baby! I'm Uzumaki Naruto and I'm gonna be Hokage one day, 'ttebayo!"

"Hokage? Can a baby like you be hokage?"

"I'm not a baby!"

"That sounds like something a baby would say" She singsonged teasingly.

"Whatever hag!" He spat.

"Hag?!" She shrieked. "Take that back you brat!"

"Only old people have white hair" He singsonged right back at her. "So you're a hag, hag."

Haru turned to Alice. "Arisu-chan I'ma kill him."

"N-no you're not." Boru pulled her back. "It's nice to m-meet you Uzumaki-san, w-we've heard a lot about you from Arisu-chan."

"You can call me Naruto. Arisu-chan does."

Boru smiled. "T-then Naruto-kun. I'm B-b-boru and this is Haru, I apologize a-about her behavior."

"I don't apologize!" She shouted petulantly over Boru's shoulder.

"Whatever hag!" He stuck his tongue out.

Boru looked at Alice. "B-by the Sage there are two of them."

Alice could only nod in solidarity because they both knew now that there were two of them things were going to get louder and more chaotic than ever.

Before Alice even got the chance to tell Boru as much the front door slammed open. Shuri stood there looking irritated and like she was ready for a fight. There was a sharpness to her gaze that told Alice she was in a really bad mood.

"Why are you all yelling on the porch?! You guys woke up Kenji! And I finally just got him down for a nap."

"Sorry Shuri!" Haru was appropriately cowed at her ire.

"Yeah, sorry." Naruto mumbled as well.

In hindsight she probably should have warned Shuri that she was bringing Naruto over rather than surprising her with it when she was already busy dealing with a fussy toddler. But she hadn't, she'd just assumed she would be okay with it.

The second she laid eyes on him though she froze and Alice could see the way her body tensed. There was no warmth in her eyes, they went hard as steel and it was obvious enough that Naruto flinched. He was bracing himself, she knew, for her to kick him off the property and tell him not to come back.

Shuri just stared Naruto down for a tense few moments and Alice felt like the tension was robbing the breath out of her lungs. She really should have checked before hand.

To her surprise after all that she seemed to come to some conclusion and relaxed. Her posture was looser than it was before and she looked more like nothing was actually wrong, like she hadn't stared down a six year old boy.

"It's okay." Shuri said finally. "Just next time please keep your voice down, it took me a long time to get him to sleep."

Naruto looked entirely like a kicked puppy but seemed to take in the fact she hadn't kicked him out or told him to leave. It wasn't a great first interaction but she wasn't telling him to leave so in some ways it was a victory.

They didn't stick around after that and they kept up light conversation, none of them bringing up what happened. Even Haru knew enough not to ask questions. By the time they reached the lake that light conversation had devolved into Haru and Naruto having an argument and doing their level best to annoy the other. There didn't seem to be any actual bite there so Alice left them to it.

"Y-you know he's n-not like I imagined."

"Oh, and what did you think he'd be like? An oni with horns?"

Boru snorted at that. "O-oh yes, I was imagining a man eating oni. C-can you imagine my disappointment?"

The sarcasm was potent.

"Well sorry to disappoint, he's just a regular little boy."

"I d-didn't expect someone you;d b-befriend to be so like Haru."

"Well, neither did I."

Their time at the park was one filled with a constant back and forth between Naruto and Haru while Alice and Boru mostly just talked to each other.

"I bet I could totally be a better ninja than you!" Haru boasted.

"Whatever, hag! Old ladies can't be ninja."

"I'm not old!"

"I mean, technically out of the four of us you are the oldest." Alice chimed in, happily adding fuel to the fire. It had been a long time since she felt like herself and sitting here egging these two on reminded her of that Alice of before.

"Not you too, Arisu-chan! Boru, you can't just leave me to the mercy of these two."

"W-well Arisu-chan is right, y-you are the oldest."

Her squawk of indignation could probably be heard blocks away. "All of you are evil! I'm just gonna go back and hang out with Kenji, at least he doesn't insult me."

Naruto laughed victoriously at his perceived win and Alice could see the way Haru pouted while Boru smiled at their antics. Something she hadn't even known was wound tight with worry relaxed at how well they were getting along. She had hoped that this interaction would go well so seeing it unfold in front of her before her eyes in the manner it was made her feel a strong sense of relief.

She hoped he was having fun, even if it was just from calling Haru a hag.

"A-anyway Naruto-Kun, I've been reading a lot lately and I found something interesting you might like." Haru groaned as soon as she heard those familiar words because both her and Alice knew what was coming next. "Did you know that there's a species of giant hornets whose venom makes holes in human flesh?"

"Huh?!" Naruto looked alarmed and Haru just snickered at how distressed he looked.

"Yes, you see there's a species of hornet that once it stings you its venom can actually dissolve skin, it works by attacking your nervous system. Isn't that cool? Hornets are such interesting creatures."

Naruto went from distressed to absolutely horrified and like that was the furthest thing from cool he could possibly get.

When she watched Boru regale Naruto with some new facts he'd learned, facts that kept turning Naruto whiter and whiter as he clung to Haru, she knew this had gone well. She didn't know what happened with Shuri or why she had been so intense about seeing Naruto but for now that was okay.

Later she would deal with it but for now she tried to remain present.

Her heart felt warm and she wondered,not for the first time, if it was okay for her to feel this way. If it was okay to really allow herself these relationships.

She still didn't know and she couldn't help but hope that at some point she would.

—-

She knew that at the end of the day they were all in the Academy to become shinobi. They were being groomed and trained as child soldiers, to kill when told and die as their village demanded it.

'For the glory of Konohagakure' was a phrase she heard often in the classroom and it was one they were expected to repeat. Often. They were taught how the village was always right and how it was the most important thing in their lives, that it was absolutely everything. They were taught that to serve was the greatest gift a shinobi could ask for and the village needed everyone willing to fight. The glory of Konohagakure required willing foot soldiers and they had been gifted with the opportunity to be such. After all that's what following the will of fire was about

Every lesson they had carried that undercurrent.

"The worst thing you could possibly be," Kuroiwa told them one day as they covered the topic of missing nin. "Is a traitor to your village. There is nothing more serious than treason."

Alice wasn't surprised when they covered early on what constituted treason they were told it was the most grievous sin someone could commit. Other crimes like murder and rape were bad but to be branded a traitor was worse. It was the most severe charge you could be accused of because to abandon one's village meant you were an enemy and Konohagakure brought death to its enemies.

To do so would mean to turn your back on the will of fire which seemed sacrilegious to the citizens of Konohagakure.

.

It was blatant conditioning and in their faces constantly, they didn't even try to hide it. Though again they really didn't have to. The class was made up of a group of small impressionable children, most of which were there for the promise of making better lives for themselves and their families. They lapped up all the propaganda like it was candy.

It made Alice uncomfortable, incredibly so at times, but she said nothing. Like a good little student she smiled along with everyone else, nodded as they told her to never betray her village and dutifully repeated back glory for Konohagakure when prompted.

It seemed propaganda really was their bread and butter like Shuri said..

And while she was expecting it, it was still a strange experience being desensitized with all the other children and actually knowing what was happening while it was happening. It started tame, Kuroiwa would pull up all sorts of realistic anatomical diagrams to show where they needed to strike a person to kill them. How much force they'd need depending on what they used and what position you hit them from.

They learned a lot of that and they learned all the different ways a human could die and after that, different ways specifically Shinobi die. They were put in a bunch of hypothetical scenarios where the end result was almost always killing their opponent. Each lesson was made to desensitize them that much further and as she watched Naruto get excited over getting an answer on a homework assignment right where he'd found the best way to kill their fictional opponent, though it hadn't been phrased that way, she realized how well it was working.

Then came the day where Kuroiwa brought out the power point presentation.

The day was the same as any other and nothing in Kuroiwa's stiff demeanor indicated it would be any different. The children all quietly found their seats because no one wanted to risk earning Kuroiwa's ire. Alice vaguely wondered if Naruto had managed to finish his homework assignment and was already planning out some of the work she'd have to do at Tsumuigi's after school in her head.

As usual Kuroiwa impassively watched everyone filter in, his blank expression made more intimidating by the mass of scars on his face.

"Alright class, we've already gone over some of the different vital areas you would hit if you needed to down an opponent. We've covered some of the different types of wounds you could get as a Shinobi and just how they affect the human body. We've even gone over some of the basic effects of being poisoned in the field and what to expect. Today is usually a day we go over history but today we're going to be going more in depth with everything you've already learned."

The projector was already out so when he'd made to dim the lights and turn the thing on, it didn't take Alice long to figure out exactly what they were going to be shown today.

On the screen was what was obviously a fresh corpse on a medical slab in the morgue. His skin was practically gray and it was a male if how freely he was exposed said anything about it. He was a young man that looked average in every way, unassuming and plain. If he'd been walking around Konoha she wouldn't have been able to pick him out among a crowd.

But there he was lying dead for everyone to see.

There was a collective gasp among the students as they began to realize what they were looking at. Each student seemed to collect themselves quickly though because everyone knew that to cry or make any indication they were uncomfortable with what they were seeing would lead to pain. They had been trained well to that point and as the Shinobi rules dictated, a Shinobi never cried and never showed emotion. It didn't stop many of them from averting their eyes however.

"While we've gone over ways you would down an enemy we've never gone over the actual aftermath. This is one of the cadavers in our morgue. Today's class is going to be going over some of the different types of ways some of our Shinobi have ended up killed in action, you will be expected to use what you've already learned to piece together how it happened based on visual evidence and after that we will go over it as a class. I expect everyone to handle themselves as a Shinobi should. Failure to do so will have consequences."

While they had been trained well there were still some students that were visibly distressed and one girl that despite the warning had started crying. Alice had expected Kuroiwa to just verbally reprimand them with promise for punishment later, what she wasn't ready for was a sense of bone chilling cold to fall over the room. It was heavy, suffocating and made it hard to breathe. But more importantly it promised death.

And it was coming from Kuroiwa.

All of the children were left gasping, terrified and many more were openly crying now.

"As I said before, if everyone does not remain quiet and behave as you are expected to there will be consequences."

The promise and threat settled everyone for fear of more retribution, those who were crying bit their lips to silence themselves in a bid to stop. Anyone who had showed visibly just how distressed they were now sat pale faced and silent in their seats.

It was an effective threat.

The rest of the lesson was a brutal one, not so much for her but for the rest of the children. Alice had seen a lot of death throughout her time as a vampire, had even caused it on many occasions. There were more than a handful of times she'd taken the lives of people who were completely innocent to satisfy her thirst as a vampire. None of anything they were shown was something she hadn't seen before.

Altogether they kept the images tame when in comparison to how violently she knew shinobi died but it was still gruesome. The tamer pictures had shown Shinobi with various stab wounds or those that had died as a result of poison. There was pictures of strangulation, dark purple marks ugly and vivid against those pale necks and a picture of someone who had drowned. The bloated body had been hard to look at, practically blue and disfigured from the body taking in water after death, and she just knew how horrifying this had to be for the other students. They were holding out well, the training that had been beaten into them taking over, but there was an instance of one of the kids rushing for the trash can so he could vomit.

He was not the only one that class and Kuroiwa didn't halt the lesson for any of them, just kept going like nothing happened. Apparently this was expected.

The worst however, at least in Alice's opinion, had been when they were going over different instances where blunt force trauma was the cause of death. There was one corpse that had their head completely caved in, it was a pulpy mess and they could see the brain matter and bits of its crushed skull that was still in its head.. It was violent, messy and had sent many of the children on their way to throwing up.

Between the drowned corpse and the one who's head was caved in it was an absolutely terrible lesson. While she'd seen and caused death before being inundated with the content had been jarring. She wondered if this would be a wake up call for some of these children that viewed being a Shinobi as something that was glamorous and filled with adventure.

There was absolutely nothing glorious about being a Shinobi and she hoped they realized it.

She didn't even wait, as soon as class was dismissed she grabbed Naruto by the hand and forcibly dragged him all the way to Ichiraku's. He didn't put up any resistance and for once said absolutely nothing as she pulled him through the crowd. It was silent between them and it felt wrong that he was so quiet and wasn't saying anything.

She didn't like it.

Naruto had even eaten in silence as well, still white faced and clammy from their earlier lesson. She didn't push him and knew that he needed time to process everything he'd seen today. Naruto was an incredibly compassionate person, he was a bleeding heart that wanted everyone to live and have their happy endings. She knew seeing death had to be hard on him.

He only ate a single bowl and Teuich and Ayame were incredibly concerned. Alice told them the bare bones of what happened but they understood as much as they could. Teuchi had clicked his tongue in disapproval at the Academy's lesson. They gave him his bowl on the house and promised him that the next time he stopped by his food would be free. It said something when the only thing he could give them was a wobbly smile.

She also decided to accompany him home, to make sure he got home safe if nothing else. She didn't miss the way people looked at him as they walked by, the disgust and the fear obvious in their faces. But at that point she didn't care and she didn't think Naruto did either. They both just wanted to go to their respective orphanages and end what was a terrible day.

While Naruto had been to the Hanako orphanage she'd never actually been to his. He never invited her and she never asked why, she could guess just from how she'd seen people treat him. He directed her to a large building in the western Flower district, it was imposing even to look at from the street. Dark red walls and almost victorian styled architecture, with its steeply pitched roofs, multiple stories and turrets, it was an actual facility. On its arching gates was a neatly written plaque with the words 'Akaibara Orphanage'.

The Hankao orphanage was a legitimate orphanage, recognized and funded by the state. But it was run solely by Shuri and ended up being more a group of children living with their older sister than anything else. People didn't ever actually stop by to find children to adopt.

If anything it was more of a foster house than an orphanage.

This place though was a legitimate business and she could see just how many children they probably had. There were quite a few just roaming the grounds. How many people had to work here? This wasn't a small place. It towered over the rest of the street and the surrounding buildings, almost threateningly.

Ultimately however, she wasn't allowed inside. A woman who was as thin as a rake with all the abrasiveness of one had taken one look at her and told her primly that she wasn't allowed in the premises. She wasn't going to fight this woman on it so she bid Naruto goodbye.

As soon as she had made to turn and walk away Naruto wrapped her in the fiercest hug he'd ever given her. His arms were trembling and she put a comforting hand on his back and rubbed it in calming circles. She held him the way she had Renesmee in that world before whenever she was upset.

She wondered if Naruto had anyone who could be that person for him.

Looking over his shoulder at the impatient woman, she realized he probably didn't.

His voice was quiet and tearful. "Thanks Arisu-chan."

There was so much emotion there so instead of saying anything she hugged him tighter, hoping to convey all the emotion she wasn't able to verbally. She ended up leaving that day feeling more tired than she'd been in a long while.

—-

Alice watched exasperatedly as Arata and Asami argued over the doll Alice had given her on her birthday. While Alice hadn't exactly planned it, her gift to Asami was one she carried around with her. She rarely went without it. So when Arata had touched it she let out her unholy vengeance against him in the form of screaming at a decibel that was painful to hear. This was probably the one time she was grateful not to be a vampire, listening to that with enhanced hearing would be painful.

Her pigtails bounced as she raged. "Nee-chan gave that to me! It's not yours Rata!"

"I don't know why you're so mad, it's just a stupid doll."

"What do you know?! Stupid!" She shrieked and then did exactly what Alice was hoping to avoid, she burst into tears. She was getting about to intervene when Shuri stepped in, she came in like a whirlwind of responsibility and parental patience. Which is to say she did what she always did.

Working magic only Shuri could, she talked the siblings through their argument in that no nonsense way of hers and after a few minutes of back and forth, she got them to apologize to each other. No time outs necessary.

"You know you're an actual magician with those two,"

"Hah." Shuri exclaimed as she joined Alice on the couch, she looked exhausted. "I dunno about that but that would certainly make things easier if I was."

"You still do a really good job with them."

Shuri huffed out a laugh. She paused though and eventually said. "So you and the Uzummaki kid, huh?"

Alice stifferned and couldn't help how terse she ended up sounding, she still remembered the day Shuri and Naruto met after all. "Yes, I'm friends with Naruto-kun."

Shuri only eyed the way she tensed up with amusement but didn't say anything about her defensiveness.

"I don't suppose you'll listen to me if I ask you not to hang out with him?"

"Nope. Wouldn't be able to do that."

"I figured. I've been seeing him around here more often with you, Haru and Boru. Hard not to hear him when he and Haru are yelling at each other."

"Are you not okay with him coming by?"

As much as she wanted to stubbornly insist he would continue being a guest at the orphanage, it was Shuri's house at the end of the day. Whatever she said went and Alice respected her too much to blatantly disobey a direct request. Even if she didn't agree with it.

""It has nothing to do with whether I'm okay with him being here or not."

"What does that mean?"

"I mean that he's your friend kid. I've never seen you go out of your way to befriend someone or even try to socialize. And since you've gotten to know him you seem a bit lighter, more present. Even with Haru and Boru, it seems like you're not always pushing everyone away. He's a good friend to you so in my books he can come over whenever he wants."

Alice didn;t realize that was how she was coming across lately but distantly, she realized what Shuri was saying was true. She had admitted Naruto was her friend and in doing so finally admitted Haru and Boru's own place in her life. She wasn't comfortable with it, still felt like she was betraying her family, but she was still at least able to admit it freely now.

"But you don't like him."

It wasn't a statement.

"I don't like or dislike the kid. I barely know him, though he reminds me a lot of Haru from the bit I've seen him. Seems like a good enough kid."

"Yet you don't want him around."

"At the end of the day Arisu-chan I'm a cautious person. I don't like to gamble and bringing that kid around is a gamble and a half. The only reason I'm not saying anything against it is because I know how close you are with him."

Her brain glossed over Shuri stating how close they were because she still wasn't quite ready to process that statement but her tone became immediately skeptical. "You're cautious. Of Naruto."

Naruto may be loud, obnoxious and prone to pranking people but he was in no way a danger.

"It's complicated kiddo."

"Then uncomplicate it."

Shuri gave her a tired smile. "I would if I could but I can't."

"Does this have to do with why everyone seems to hate Naruto."

"I can't say kid."

Alice's mind spun as she took in Shuri's words. She said she couldn't tell her, essentially that she wasn't allowed. And Aliice knew for a fact if she could Shuri would have no problem saying why she was cautious of Naruto, she wasn't someone to beat around the bush the way she was.

That implied she wasn't able to, not that she wasn't willing. Someone or something was keeping her from just flat out saying what she meant. There was something that was keeping her from talking about it and she wondered what could keep someone like Shuri silent about something like this.

Shuri could obviously see the thoughts going through her head, had a talent at doing so but still didn't comment on it further..She did check her watch however and asked. "Don't you have to get to Tsumuigis? I know she's been going around bragging about her newest employee. Don't wanna give her anything to complain about, ne?"

Alice cursed because she was so caught up in the twins drama and her conversation with Shuri that she completely forgot. She still needed to take a shower and she really wanted to make herself something to eat.

"You think I'll make it in time if I take a quick shower?"

"You should be fine but I'd hurry. She's not a patient woman.."

After the fastest shower of her new life and her running the entire way Alice reached the familiar walls of the hole in the wall shop. She was panting hard and her legs burned but she made it and as she checked the clock on the wall she was pleased to note she was completely on time.

She had been worried she'd be late and definitely didn't want to hear Tsumugi get on her case if she was.

The smell of cooked meat wafted from the shop and Alice stepped in. This place had become so familiar in the time she'd been here that walking through its doors had become something that was comfortable. It was something like the friendships she'd made though, admitting it made her uncomfortable. She shoved it to the back of her mind as she stepped past the counter.

It was time to work, there wasn't any room for those sorts of thoughts.

Tsumugi was in the middle of slicing her way through a huge, bloody chunk of meat. Her knife was cutting through it with all the speed of a full blooded Shinobi. Hey blue hair was tied back in a tight bun and she looked like she had been busy.

She noticed Alice walking in and barely looked up from where she was working. "Girl! Get in here, we got some big orders we gotta work on!"

Alice slipped on her designated apron and moved to get to work.

"How big are we talking?"

"One of the businesses round here ordered take out, we're cookin today for forty people so less talkin more workin."

A large order it was, it took them almost two hours to get everything ready and the fact they were on a time crunch made it all the more stressful. They had to get it done in time for the carrier to come pick up the order.

It was a relief when everything was cooked and handed off and though it left their kitchen in disarray with a mountain of dishes that needed cleaning she was happy it was over.

The shop was slow outside that big order and it gave them time to actually wash all the different dishes. It was during this time that Alice got curious, Shuri wasn't able to tell her why Naruto was so hated but maybe someone else might. Tsumugi was scrubbing away at some of the dishes while Alice started wiping everything down, thankfully they were able to get the work done.

So she just decided to ask upfront, better to rip the band aid off then trying to ease into it.

"Do you know Uzumaki Naruto?"

Tsumuigi paused in her scrubbing and gave her a sharp look she couldn't decipher. "Whad'ya know bout him?"

Her tone was harsh and intense, Alice had only heard it that way a few times since she'd known her. Mostly when she talked about the government and shinobi or when she talked about customers that tried to cheat her out of their payment. It meant she felt seriously about something and Alice just hoped she would be able to tell her more than Shuri.

"He's my friend."

Tsumugi completely stopped her cleaning, put the bowl down in the sink and turned to give Alice her full attention. "Girl, yer friends with the Uzumaki?!"

"Yes, he's in my class."

"Of course ya had to go an befriend him, of all the people you coulda been friends with." She muttered. "Girl ya need to not hang round him, I don't care what ya think ya can't be around him."

"Why? I see how everyone treats him but he doesn't deserve it. He's just a normal kid."

"Normal kid, ha!" Tsumugi barked a laugh. "That brat is the furthest from a normal kid that ya can get and the more ya hang round him the more people are gonna treat ya the same."

"I know that, I've experienced it. But it doesn't make sense to me, why does everyone hate him? He's done nothing wrong yet everyone treats him like he's some kind of demon.

She was frustrated. Frustrated at not knowing the truth but mostly frustrated that she had to watch how people acted like he was some demon or like he was just scum. That he was constantly harassed by adults and children alike. He was hurt and no one seemed to give a damn

Some of her frustration must have leaked into her tone because Tsumuigi didn't outright tell her to stop seeing him again..

"That's a long story I can't tell. I can't even tell ya anything bout the kid, no one can. And I'd warn ya to stop asking around. The last thing ya want if for people to know that yer hangin round him like ya are."

"No."

"No?"

"I refuse. He's just a regular six year old kid with absolutely no one who cares about him. I refuse to just leave him alone to deal with all this."

"Yer not gonna stop hangin round him are ya?"

"Absolutely not."

Tsumugi heaved a heavy sigh before turning back to the sink. "Yer a stubborn girl. It would be safer for ya not to get involved with him but I know nothin I'll say is gonna change yer mindl. Just be careful."

"Naruto wouldn't hurt me."

"I'm not so much talkin bout the boy girll." She snapped. "This is important, a lot of people don't like him, though even that's not a strong enough word to describe how they probably feel. If they realize yer friends with him, they will hurt you."

There were a lot of things she'd been expecting to say and none of them were that.

"There was a girl at that orphanage he was at back when he was but a babe, she was some caretaker or another. She started publicly defending him when things were at their worst, kinda like the way ya are now. Girl had a whole group of people go after her because of that. She ended up bein beaten within and inch of her life and completely crippled. Pretty sure she quit her job after that and had to move away because she kept getting threatened. That was a big story here for a while and everyone got the message, defend the kid and ya get hurt."

"I personally don't care if he's yer friend or not. But there are people who will and if yer gonna be hanging round him, ya need to remember that."

Her words from earlier started to make more sense after that, she was worried. Worried for her safety and not necessarily from Naruto.

"And you can't tell me anything about why?"

"Nope, I don't know nothin girl and that's the way I'm keepin it."

Alice had more she wanted to say, more she wanted to ask but she knew it would be a pointless endeavor. If Tsumugi didn't want to talk there wasn't a single force on earth that could make her. At least she gave her more to work with than Shuri did.

Naruto was hated enough that there were actual groups of people who would join up to ensure that anyone associated with him was hurt. Severely. There was also the fact that according to Tsumugi no one would be able to tell her anything.

She'd assumed in her conversation with Shuri but that solidified her guess that this was a secret that everyone hid and that it was something that was enforced. There's no way everyone would keep quiet otherwise. An order like that could only have come from someone high up in the pecking order.

The rest of the shift continued on and it was like they'd never had that conversation in the first place.. Which was fine, Tsumugi had left Alice with a lot to think about even more to consider. Her questions were in no way answered, in fact she only had more at this point, but she was left with more information than when she started.

So she finished her shift and didn't try to ask any more questions, she knew Tsumuigi wouldn't have been able to answer them anyways.

On the way home however, with Tsumugi walking her there like she always did when she worked into the evening, that something hit her and it hit her like a freight train. No matter how much she learned about Naruto's situation or even if she ever learned the secret surrounding him, there wasn't a single thing she'd be able to do.

No amount of knowledge would change the fact that Naruto was hated, even if she found out who put out the order to keep everything silent.

Just like with everything else she was completely powerless in this situation and oh if she wasn't seriously hating how that was becoming more of a common theme in her life.

All she could possibly do was continue to be his friend and hope that helped him at all.

—-

The school year continued to fly by and Alice continued to practice daily. Her runs started to become easier and her body fell into stretches with less resistance, even the burn she experienced in her legs started to become less noticeable. When she practiced punching and kicking, something she did at home regularly where Shuri was able to direct her on where she could improve, it started to become more instinctual than it had been before. More of a reaction and less of a thought. Helping Naruto practice only allowed her to better internalize the motions.

Her throwing was still sloppy, with both Kunai and shuriken. She rarely hit the target where she wanted to and it wasn't uncommon for her throw to go completely off because she threw it with too much force, or, with the shuriken, didn't flick her wrist the right way. It was absolutely frustrating but she was improving slowly. One of the times Shuri had dragged her out to the park to practice she'd told Alice that she was a lot better than most kids her age were.

It had been said with a heavy gaze that Alice knew meant she should probably start sabotaging her practice at school. The fact this was something she even had to do only made her that much more frustrated.

Overall her stamina was still poor despite her improvements, she tended to be one of the students that tired the quickest. It didn't matter how well she did if she couldn't do it continually. Naruto was the student that always lasted the longest despite being sloppy.

His form had gotten a lot better though and at least he was throwing a proper punch.

It was then after Kuroiwa had deemed their progress satisfactory that he began to introduce actual katas into their repertoire. What they were being trained in was what was called the Academy Leaf style. According to Kuroiwa it was the preferred style to teach beginners because it meshed well with a lot of the other styles a shinobi would learn later on.

He also brought in another female teacher and separated the boys and girls. Men and women, he'd told them, moved differently from one another. Especially later on in life when their bodies developed more. Each gender had its own advantages and weaknesses so there was a need to have a kunoichi teach the girls and a shinobi teach the boys. There would also be joint classes at some point but to start off they would be in separate groups.

The female teacher, Morita-sensei as they were to call her, was a shapely woman that definitely suited the image of what one would associate with Kunoichi. Her long purple hair fell behind her shoulders in subtle curls, her eyes were outlined in charcoal and she'd painted her lips blood red. Her smile was dangerous and she'd told all the girls that a woman's looks were merely another weapon at their disposal.

Alice found herself taking easily to the kunoichi variant of the Academy Leaf style. It was easy to just move and allow her body to fall into the motions. After well over a year here she'd become a lot more used to this new body. It had taken time to become accustomed to it but she'd made a lot of progress.

She was still nowhere where she wanted to be but progress was progress.

Morita was a lot kinder to her than Kuroiwa, either she didn't know about her association with Naruto or didn't care. She gently corrected what she got wrong and always gave good pointers about how to position her arms and legs and what would be easier. She seemed pleased that Alice absorbed everything she was taught like a sponge, told her she was the best in her class and she should take that with pride.

It was hard to make herself remember that she needed to stumble and forcibly mess up more every now and then.

However under Morita's keen eye Alice improved in leaps and bounds.

What she worried about most was Naruto and how he was faring under Kuroiwa's instruction. She had first hand experience with how negligent he was towards Naruto during practice and how the only thing he offered were insults meant to embarrass him in front of the class. The way he never actually taught him anything was far more dangerous than any words could be though. Because if he really wanted to hurt Naruto all he needed to do is not teach him at all, or teach him wrong, and the second Naruto graduated the first fight he got into would be his last.

This was an area she wasn't really able to help him in though and her biggest fear was that Kuroiwa's lack of teaching would ultimately end up with Naruto dead somewhere along the line.

One day though she'd decided to ask Morita, after all she would probably know best. "What would happen if a man learned this style?"

The woman took a moment to think before she answered. "Well, first and foremost it wouldn't suit them. There are parts of it that they could use, both the shinobi and kunoichi variants have overlap after all. But the way a man is built doesnt make this an effective way for them to fight."

There were things that overlapped? Meaning there were things she could at least help Naruto learn.

"Can you show me which katas are the same for both?"

Morita looked curious but eventually just said. "Sure, I don't mind."

She watched the different set of kata's and thankfully there were most definitely a few that were the same. A part of her was happy that she could actually do something to help Naruto so that he'd at least be able to properly do some of the katas. She studied Morita's movements and Alice made sure to commit to each one to memory.

Having gathered all the information she could she pulled Naruto aside one day as soon as class ended. Just as she had done all those months ago, she dragged him straight to the training ground.

"Is Kuroiwa still ignoring you?"

Naruto looked irritated, hints of that anger of his peeking out. "It's like I'm invisible to him unless he wants to insult me 'ttebayo. It's exactly like practicals were before."

"That's what I figured." She thanked Morita in her head. "So here's what we're going to do, I'm going to show you some katas and we're going to do them together."

"Aren't your katas for girls?" He said dubiously.

"Some of the katas are similar for both girls and boys, Morita-sensei showed me them earlier so there's some we can actually work on together."

Naruto looked uncertain but eventually said. "Well if you say so, Arisu-chan. I trust you."

She couldn't help the way she froze at his words because in his

earnest eyes she found that he truly and fully meant it. This child, who faced scorn and nothing but pain just for existing, trusted her completely. Somewhere along the way she'd earned his trust and there was something in her that knew she wouldn't do anything to destroy that trust.

This boy was her friend, the guilt not as present as she told herself these words and she would always do whatever she could to protect her friends. What's her's is hers and she'll guard it covetously that's how vampires operated and though she was no longer in a fully vampiric body her instincts still remained below the surface.

"Alright then" She said, because what else could she say after that0. "I'll show you the first position and we'll go from there."

"Yes, Arisu-sensei!"

Her heart warmed at the title and she couldn't help the smile on her face as she settled into her stance.

—-

It was almost comical how seamlessly Naruto ended up inserting himself into their group, how quickly he found himself accepted. Alice didn't doubt this would happen, mostly because she'd seen it happen through her visions. Haru and Naruto got along like a house on fire despite how often they argued. And they argued all the time. Naruto had opened up to Boru the slowest but once he did the two found themselves in a comfortable friendship.

At some point he'd begun hanging out with them at the lake. He'd been scared when he'd been told about the murders that happened there because in his words what about the ghosts. Haru had flat out laughed in his face which in turn started an entirely new argument.

"Ne, don't you guys work?" Naruto asked one day as they relaxed in the sun.

It was a strange thing to ask suddenly but Naruto also had a strange way of thinking so in that sense it should've been expected.

"Yup," Haru hummed. "I work as one of the apprentices to a seamstress. The best apprentice seamstress actually! Sensei's been giving me all of the projects lately."

"Seamstress?"

"I make clothes."

"Oh, thats cool!" And he sounded entirely genuine.

"I-I'm apprenticed to a shoemaker."

He nodded at that.

"What about you Arisu-chan, I know you work too."

"I work at a meat shop. I mostly cook."

"Is that why your bentos are so good 'ttebayo?"

"I suppose so."
"Hey, we never got to taste Arisu-chan's cooking. I call for a mutiny, we want food too!" Haru demanded.

"Maybe you would get to eat her food if you were cool like me, hag."

"Whatever, dumb baby. I've known her longer therefore I should get first dibs on her food."

"M-maybe you c-could ask? Like a n-normal person?"

"I'm incredibly normal Boru."

"A-Ah yes. Completely no-normal. Of course."

"I can see if I can bring some stuff I cooked from the shop." Alice finally put in.

Haru couldn't help herself and literally jumped up. "Really!? Thank you Arisu-chan, you're the best!"

In this sort of way time continued to move along. There was a huge part of Alice that had refused the idea of getting into any other relationships when she'd arrived here. She'd been broken and missing a part of herself that was so integral to who she was, the idea of getting to know anyone new only brought her pain.

But it was funny how life worked, even if she'd seen it coming through her visions. She was here with these children and all she could feel was just how fond of them she'd become.

She wondered, as she lay back down to just rest, if this was the start of her healing.

Alice had heard mentions of clans before she'd ever entered the Academy. In the run down streets of the Manjushage corridor they weren't talked about often but when they were it was a good chance it was something that was being said with scorn. The people of one of the lowest areas of the Flower district resented the clans for setting forth policies that kept them in poverty. They talked in hushed whispers, because that was the only way you could criticize something like that and Alice's ears were sensitive, that the clans were a group of entitled Shinobi families that were all sitting on more money than they knew what to do with.

How the clans actively suppressed civilian representation in their government.

This was a stark contrast to what she learned about them in school. In the academy they were the esteemed and noble families that held the fabric of Konohagakure together. They were the foundation their village had been built on over seven hundred years ago and they were the pillars that continued to keep everything standing. One of their very first lessons even had been about Senju Hashirama and Madara Uchiha and how their respective clans united to create the great village they all lived in.

They were always spoken with respect and in certain cases reverence. They were the glorious and ancient noble clans of Konohagakure, to speak of them with anything other than respect was a crime.

Kuroiwa taught them often that clans simply produced more exceptional shinobis consistently. When two shinobi parents birthed a child it was just more likely for that child to inherit their larger chakra pool or ability to mold chakra. It was genetics and it proved that any clan child would far outstrip their civilian counterpart.

Something else they were taught about even more thoroughly was the existence of bloodline limits or Kekkei Gekkai and their importance to Konohagakure. One of the reasons clans were so exalted was that for the most part they had what amounted to anomalies in their DNA that allowed them to use unique techniques. These bloodline limits were inheritable and only usually achievable by being born into a clan.

Most clans were considered clans by worth of the bloodline they carried in their line. There were some clans who'd lost their bloodline limits over the years, the Sarutobi and Hatake two of the most notable examples among others, but they still remained noble clans. No one knew exactly why certain bloodlines went extinct and it tended to lead to clans marrying within themselves.

Alice couldn't help but wonder how severely inbreeding ended up affecting them.

The next important thing she learned was that bloodline limits were highly sought after by Konhagakure. They were unique gifts that the village deemed desirable. While it wasn't as often bloodline limits were sometimes birthed in the greater population. From civilians to second generation civilian shinobi families, there were times when an individual showed up outside a clan that could do a unique technique only achievable by the individual in question.

In civilian children if it was reported they were automatically signed up for the Military Academy and forced to become a shinobi. Otherwise they would be expected to marry into a clan or prominent Shinobi family to continue their bloodline.

It was expected of these individuals to birth children to carry on their lines and they were highly sought after.

Not for the first time Alice was happy she'd kept her visions and her vampiric biology a secret. In the entire time she'd been here she'd told no one and planned to keep it that way. People with bloodline limits that didn't have the protections of the clans were essentially forced into becoming broodmares. They were trapped in marriages for all intents and purposes decided by the village.

They were shiny toys every one would fight over to have..

She didn't even want to know what someone would do if they knew about her visions, she imagined that seeing the future was a heavily desirable ability. And while she hadn't much forced herself to look at the future of specific people or things, it was something in general she tried not to do because constantly living in both the present and future was difficult, the fact remained she could.

There was a lot of damage this sort of ability could do and she knew that.

"If you ever encounter someone with a bloodline limit who's not already part of the clans it is your duty as a shinobi of Konohagakure to report it." Kuroiwa told them during that particular lesson. "Knowing of someone with a bloodline limit and not reporting it is a punishable offense."

They also learned that the main portion of the government was made in a way that placed the Hokage on top as the end all be all to any decisions that were made. The Hokage had most if not all of the power depending on the Hokage in question. Beneath them were the council of Elders, a group of people that had the Hokage's direct ear and had the power to veto anything they didn't like from reaching said ear.

Lastly was the council of representatives, which was a large conglomeration of different clan and civilian representatives that were in charge of coming up with the different laws Konohagakure followed and decisions that were made. She began to understand more of what the people of the Manjushage corridor who'd quietly spoken about how Shinobi and the clans were trying to suppress civilian voices meant.

Within their government shinobi and clans held almost seventy five percent of the floor. Despite civilians making up the majority of Konohagakure they had the least representation within their law making processes.

There were other governing bodies for different things that they learned about but the thing she was most struck with was just how powerful clans were in this society. They created the laws, pushed the village in whatever direction they wanted and had the power to make whatever they wanted to happen.

Especially the larger clans.

Despite all this she'd never directly met someone who came from a clan background. She'd seen some people when her and Naruto ventured into Konoha proper to go to Ichiraku's but otherwise she had no actual direct contact with them.

Living in the Flower district and seeing what she did on a daily basis, how the poorest civilians were treated and ruled over by different gangs, she wondered exactly what the worth of a civilian life was in comparison to a shinobi's.

Everything she learned and everything she'd seen so far had pointed to the glaring answer that in the eyes of the government, the life of someone who was a civilian wasn't worth much.

.

All this information served to do was make her wonder more about this new society she lived in and her place in it. What it means in her case to have a bloodline limit and the type of ability she has and just how little protection she'd have if word got out about what she could do.

She would be forced into an unwanted marriage and forced to bear that mans children, for the good of the village.

She hoped with all the hope she could muster that she would be able to stay under the radar and keep everything hidden.

—-

Eventually, as all things must, the school year came to an end and with it the beginning of Alice's journey into being a shinobi. There wasn't any actual graduation or ceremony for them to move forward, they just had a series of tests that would determine if they passed or not. The tests themselves covered everything they had learned throughout the year, from shinobi procedure to the first stance of the Academy leaf style.

It wasn't difficult and Alice went through the tests with relative ease, so she wasn't worried. She was however entirely worried about Naruto's results. She knew some of the teachers would purposely grade him down or mark his answers wrong and she didn't know if he'd be able to pass.

She knew he knew the content because she had studied with him all year but the question of if they wouldn't purposely mark him down still remained. And she highly doubted they would change their mind all of a sudden at the end of the school year.

Despite Kuroiwa's constant insult and habit of trying to ruin both her and Naruto's legs, she finished out with a good grade that had placed her at the top of the class for their ranking. She'd placed above everyone and she knew Shuri might not be so happy about that. She'd done her best to keep her head down and act like the other children though and in her opinion she succeeded. She may have scored well but she didn't stand out..

It was unsurprising to see Naruto at the very bottom and even less surprising when she saw the results of his tests. They were abysmal at best and he looked absolutely miserable about it but more importantly they should have completely disqualified him from moving on to the next year.

And yet surprisingly, he was being allowed to pass with everyone else. She didn't know why they made this exception for Naruto, especially with how much the teachers didn't like him, but regardless he was graduating their first year with her.

It was suspicious and strange, just like everything else surrounding Naruto.

Some of their classmates had begun to make fun of him once the final rankings and overall grades were posted but Alice was able to tell them to politely shut up and move on. Which is to say she threatened a bunch of kids who knew for a fact she could back her word up after she'd knocked a few of them on their asses (she'd been punished for it at the time but it had been worth it).. She didn't bother to most times, didn't really care enough to do so when it was directed at her, but when they did it to Naruto? She usually did her best to intervene.

So as soon as class let out she took a Naruto that looked like he was about to cry by the hand and took him to the one place she knew could make him feel better. Ichirakus.

"Well look who it is!" Teuchi spotted them walking in and gave them a wave. "If it isn't Naruto and Arisu-chan!"

Whether it was just because Naruto was so expressive or because he'd known him for long enough he was able to tell, Teuichi could tell something was wrong.

"What happened?"

He was concerned and it was obvious in his voice. She'd thought this often but she was happy Naruto had Teuchi because in a world full of people that looked at his existence with disdain he'd had at least one person by his side. Two if you counted Ayame.

"It was a bad day at school Teuchi-san." She told him because Naruto just wasn't in a place to explain.

"Ah, school problems. Anything I can help with?"

"Thank you for asking, can we just get our usual?"

"Coming right up! Go ahead and make yourself comfortable, it'll be right out."

Ayame had just come back in from her break and just like her father could tell something was wrong with Naruto from a glance. Alice gave her the same explanation and the woman didn't pry. All she did was reach over the counter to pat Naruto comfortingly on the shoulder and tell him she was here if he needed to talk. After that she went to help her father and left the two of them on their own.

"You and I both know those grades are bullshit."

"I know that but… it's just they always do this, I thought that maybe if I tried, put in more of an effort, maybe something would change. That, I dunno, they'd change their minds, 'ttebayo. But I worked so hard and nothing changed."

"Those grades have nothing to do with how smart, or how good of a shinobi you are. We worked together all year and I can tell you for a fact you should've easily passed those tests. You did work hard and you did a great job. Them deciding at the end of the day to mark you down when you don't deserve it is all on them. It reflects on how close minded they are, not on how well you're actually doing."

"Then why's everyone always like this!" He snapped at her. "Everywhere I go everyone hates me! I try to be better and do things differently but it's always the same 'ttebayo! What did I even do?!"

He'd never yelled at her before and she knew how badly he was hurting right now that he did. He had tried his absolute hardest this entire year. Where she had worked hard, Naruto had worked harder. He'd force himself to spend hours studying for tests he knew the teachers would fail him on, drove himself to exhaustion practicing kata's and his forms. He clawed his way through this year and did the very best he could.

But it just ended the same way everything else had

"You didn't do anything wrong."

"Then why?!"

And that was the million dollar question, why. Why does everyone treat him the way they do. Why don't the teachers like him.

"I don't know." She admitted. "I've asked around though and no one will say only thing I could possibly think of was that there was probably an order or something from high up not to say anything. I don't know from who but that's the most obvious explanation."

"Why would they do that?"

"Naruto sometimes adults make stupid decisions and even if those decisions are about you at the end of the day they really aren't. Some adults will take it as justification to direct all their anger at you when you don't deserve it, no matter what the reasoning for the order was. That's because of their own problems, not because of you as a person. Their choices aren't your responsibility and whatever anyone says you are, we both know you're not. You know this, I know this, Haru and Boru know this. Whatever anyone says, remember that."

"Adults are stupid." He mumbled teary eyed.

"They really are."

With that Teuchi placed their bowls in front of them with a fond smile. She knew they had been able to hear everything they talked about and she already knew without a doubt the man was probably planning on giving them their food on the house today. Teuchi really was a kind man that cared about Naruto, that was obvious.

She heard Naruto sniffle and saw him wipe his eyes but she just sat there with them, to show him he wasn't alone and that he had a friend there with him. They ate their food in comfortable silence and if either she, Teuchi, and Ayame saw him cry, none of them said anything.

True to her earlier assumption Teuchi didn't charge them for their meal and Ayame gave both of them some of the candy she had bought earlier.

They only walked home together until the halfway point of where they needed to head off in different directions. Naruto still didn't seem to be in the mood to say anything and while she didn't like him quiet she understood it was what he needed. Him quiet felt wrong, Naruto was loud, bright and vibrant and having him this way made her wish there was more she could do.

Before they could split ways however, Naruto pulled her into a bone crushing hug. Just like he had that day after class. And just the same she rubbed his back and hoped she could convery how much she had begun to care about him in her hug.

"Thank you Arisu-chan. for everything." He whispered hoarsely.

"Anytime, you're my friend, remember that. And remember to come by around noon tomorrow, Haru and Boru want to see you. They'll both be off tomorrow and if they can't congratulate you in person I know Haru will personally hunt you down."

"I will" And when he grinned, this time it was a real, wide and happy grin. "Tell Boru and the hag I'll see them tomorrow 'ttebayo!"

It was with that both of them parted ways and as she headed home she couldn't help but reflect on how her second year in this world had gone. She'd begun it terrified to get close to anyone because it felt like a betrayal and like she was abandoning the relationships she'd had in her old world. The thought of the Cullens hurt but when she thought of Jasper the pang of sorrow cut her deep enough it felt physical. The memory of his smile was sweet but so so painful.

She no longer had her other half, her family, so if she didn't have any of those things then who was she?

Naruto had all but strong armed her into admitting she considered him a friend, that she cared about him. And in turn, she realized that in her time here she had come to care about all the other people in this new life. She'd come to care about the people she met and in admitting that she realized that for all her humanness, her vampiric instincts were still very alive and well.

Because these people were hers, her friends. And just as any vampire does, she guarded those things with her life.

These people had carved their way into her broken heart and she still didn't know how it all happened but she wouldn't let them go without a fight.

It still hurt and there was still that very present part of herself that was uncomfortable with the new bonds she'd made. That still couldn't allow herself to have a connection to the people she'd met here and constantly second guessed everything she did.

But she couldn't deny she cared about them.

And in a way she supposed that was progress.

When the walls of the Hanako orphanage came into view she was surprised to see Haru and Boru on the porch. She'd thought they would both still be working but there they were, Haru needling Boru about something and the boy looking completely exasperated. As soon as they spotted her Haru practically leapt off the porch to gather her in a hug and swing her around.

"Congratulations Arisu-chan!" She exclaimed excitedly. "Tell me how much you whooped everyone in the class rankings!"

Boru gave her a smile from behind Haru. "Congratulations Arisu-chan."

"Thank you. Haru, can you let me go now?"

"Nope" She squeezed her tighter. "Let me properly congratulate you, accept my feelings Arisu-chan."

If her hug was any indication of her feelings then they were particularly strong ones.

She halfheartedly tried to pry herself free only for Haru to continue to squeeze tighter and shout how Alice needed to accept her congratulations.

With all the noise it was no surprise when Shuri opened the door with Kenji at her hip, the baby chewing on a teething toy. When she saw Alice she automatically grinned, one of her dangerous and sharp smiles. She looked absolutely pleased to see Alice.

"Congratulations kiddo. Now are you kids going to come inside or are you going to sit out here making noise for the neighbors?"

"How do you guys even know I passed, I could've failed."

They all looked at her like she told a stupid joke and Alice didn't know if she should be offended or complimented.

"Kid, of all the students in that class, you're the one I would worry least about not passing. Plus, I've been helping you so I know for a fact you should've passed.."

Haru nodded like Shuri said something profound. Alice had practiced sometimes around Haru and Boru, Haru had even tried to join her on her regular run only to end up practically dead afterwards. .

"Well thank you then. And you're right I did pass, I ranked first in the class."

Haru whooped. "I knew it! Arisu-chan beat everyone."

"I'm proud of you kiddo." Shuri smiled, the warmth in her eyes unmistakable. "Now all of you get in the house and Arisu-chan, we will be talking about your placement later. Now in all of you go!"

Haru dragged her inside and Alice found it funny that her first year as a shinobi in training had ended and that so much had changed and yet at the same time nothing did at all. Everything was practically the same as it had been except for her. She was different.

She was changing.

She had taken those first few steps into becoming a shinobi and she didn't just survive, she thrived. She wasn't where she wanted to be, not all, but she was getting there.

—-

AN; to that one guy commenting you're the actual Mvp of the story. I wish ffn allowed people to comment on comments rather than putting it in the story like AO3 does. Or had a notes section but thank you for pointing things out and giving me stuff to think about! Especially for future chapters. Been wanting to say that for a minute now.