Chapter Text
Naruko’s heart was thumping as they traveled deeper into the forest. She hadn’t seen this road for almost three years but she knew every step of the way. The branch Chouji broke when heading out to find Sasuke, the engravings Kiba used to mark his speed training. Every tree, rock, and leaf were all exactly as she had left them. It was all she could do but take off in a sprint.
“Um, Naruko? You maybe want to slow down a little bit.” Jiraya sensei said. So much for being one of the greatest ninja of all time, the old perv was just slowing her down.
“Oh come on Pervy-sage, we’ve been training like crazy every day for the past two years and now that we’re in the home stretch you want to slow down?” Naruko continued her pace up the hill. “I wonder how much everyone’s changei, ya know? Did Sakura ever grow her hair back out? Did I finally catch up to Shikamaru in height? I bet Bushy Brows and Neji are even stronger!”
Jiraya sighed. Ok here was his opening. Time to address the toad in the village. “Well you probably would’ve caught up to that kid in height if you didn’t…Well, you know?”
Naruko brushed a blonde pig-tail over her shoulder to look back at her master. She was still getting used to those things. “If I didn’t…what?”
Jiraya sensei was getting flustered about something. Damnit! He was a writer! He shouldn’t be having this much trouble trying to find the right words. But as he thought through his arsenal there was no tool right for this job. “Well you see…Speaking of how much you and your friends may have changed- Well maybe we should think of how to tell that you’re now….”
A light shone out of the corner of Naruko’s eyes. She snapped forward so hard that her pigtails swept up, momentarily blinding her. When it fell again she saw it. She had crested the hill and it was right there. Through the leaves, the stone faces of the hokage shone in the midday light. A bustling metropolis thumped with life right out of sight of the rest of the forest. And just up ahead the gates with the letters, “ あ ” and “ ん ”. Opening and closing. The beginning and the end. After three long years, Uzumaki Naruko was finally home.
She took off in a dead sprint, leaving pervy sage in the dust. Faster than Kiba’s record time, faster than bushy brows at full force, she was practically a yellow flash herself. She was past the treeline. She was past the gates. A pair of Chuunin were trying to stop her. What were their names again? The one with cheek wraps and his friend? Oh whatever! Pervy sage will sort it out. She needs to get a view. Naruko dropped her bag and ran up a telephone pole. Soon she could see it all.
The people! The village! The Academy and the hokage’s Office were right where she left them. And hey, they even put granny’s face on the monument! The leaves danced on the air as Naruko took in the whole sight. She just had to yell it out. “The village hasn’t changed a bit! I’m home everyone! Uzumaki Naruko has returned to The Hidden Leaf Village!”
Something thudded underneath Naruko’s feet. Wood crunched like a face full of broken teeth as the telephone pole gave way out from under her. Naruko was so busy taking in the surroundings she had failed to notice the newcomer running in from behind. She had barely enough time to jump out of the way and land in a three-point landing. Her training took over. She was halfway through the hand sign for the shadow clone jutsu when she saw the flash of pink hair and relaxed.
“Oh hey there Sakura. Wow you haven’t changed a bit! Wait a second, am I bigger than you now?”
“You perv!” Sakura bellowed as she pelted a fist right into Naruko’s gut. Naruko had to fight to hold down her lunch as she was sent sprawling back into the fence. Ok, Sakura was a lot stronger than when she left. That punch felt just like getting flicked from Granny Tsunade. And she wasn’t trying to hide her emotions like back in the day. Flared nostrils, blank white eyes, Sakura was pissed.
Naruko may have dropped her fighting stance, but Sakura clearly wasn’t backing off. “I haven’t seen you in nearly three years and you come back looking like that!”
Naruko put on as friendly a smile as she could muster. No clue what Sakura was talking about but whatever misunderstanding it was, wasn’t going to ruin the reunion she’s been waiting for. “Heya Sakura. Listen I know I didn’t write much but I swear I meant to, it’s just we were always traveling, ya know? And one time a hawk ate the messenger pigeon. It’s the truth, believe it!”
Another fist. Right between the eyes. Naruko’s whole head rang like a bell. Her body felt like it was becoming undone. Oh no. It was. That jutsu, the one that she had worked so hard to control that it was almost instinctual, like a second skin being ripped away. Instead of catching herself, Naruko weaved the handsign right as she fell back first onto the dirt road. If she was going to do this she was going to do this as herself.
“Ow- Sakura. What is your-”
“Just drop it already, will ya?” Sakura fumed. But she looked like the second hit had taken some steam out of her. If anything she sounded like she was…sulking? “I won’t talk to you till you drop the prerverted jutsu already, Naruto!”
That name. It stung worse the ringing in her head. Something clicked in Naruko’s mind. Oh no. That’s what Pervy Sage was trying to say earlier.
Naruko had tried to write letters. She started writing at least ten different ones to Sakura alone and that was a lot for her! She hated writing! But any time she tried putting how she was changing herself into words, the pages stayed blank. How are you supposed to tell someone that your name never really felt like your own? That your own skin felt like an ugly itchy sweater that you could never take off. Eventually, Naruko crumpled the paper up into a ball and threw it in the river. She would figure out what to say once she could see them in person again. Things would be easier that way.
Now she was face to face with Sakura, and she had no idea what to say.
“Well, you gonna get up you knucklehead? You gonna drop that pervy jutsu or am I going to have to beat it out of you?”
Naruko brushed some of the dirt off of her jacket. It was a new one too, with black and orange in place of her previous blue and orange. Jiraya sensei had just finished sewing the Uzumaki crest on the shoulder and now she was gonna have to ask him to stitch it back on.
“Listen Sakura,” Naruko said standing up and putting her hands out above her head. “This isn’t sexy jutsu, ya know. Well I mean it technically is but-”
“I don’t care what it is! I won’t talk until I see the real Naruto!” She grabbed Naruko by the jacket, but wound up brushing against something else in the process. She let go immediately and crossed her arms over her chest, looking away to hide that her face was turning as pink as her hair. Naruko could swear she heard Sakura say something about, “They are bigger.”
The second use of that name stung but Naruko knew it’d be unfair to expect Sakura to use anything else at this point. Maybe now she’d actually have time to explain.
“Hey! Release Big Brother Naruto you, vile woman!” yelled a slightly less childish voice than the one Naruko had expected. Oh no. She wasn’t ready for this.
Konohamuru was almost unrecognizable. He was finally starting to grow into that ridiculous blue scarf, which didn’t quite reach the ground anymore. He was wearing an athletic hoodie typical of ninja of their generation and had traded his goggles in for a leaf forehead protector. He was Genin. Naruko was so proud of her kouhai.
Konohamuru and his friends jumped from the alleyway to the side street Naruko and Sakura had been fighting on. But he stopped dead when he got close and stared and the blonde girl in front of him. “Big- Big Brother?”
No. Not now. Naruko was barely keeping it together enough to try and get through to Sakura. But she could take it. Konohamuru needed his big brother and Naruko couldn’t be that anymore.
It was getting harder to breathe. Naruko had faced down S-rank criminals before, fought and befriended some of the most powerful monsters to attack the leaf since her birth, and yet just seeing her friends here again, as she was like this. It was too much. Her head was still ringing from the earlier punch. And the jutsu. Was the jutsu still up? She couldn’t be sure.
At this point Sakura had calmed down and was saying something but Naruko couldn’t hear her. Sakura reached out but Naruko slapped her hand away before she could get hurt again, even by accident. Konohamuru saw that and went back to his fighting stance, ready to defend his master’s honor. It was all too much. Why didn’t she just think this through before she got here?
“I have to go!” Naruko screamed. And for a second it sounded like her old voice.
Naruko knew every inch of Konoha. She leapt from rooftop to rooftop, with tears in her eyes.
- - - - - - - - - - -
To say that Jiraya was having a better time would technically be true, but only the same way that the statement, ‘The Hidden Stone Village has more fertile land than the Hidden Sand Village” is technically true. First, he had to explain to Kotetsu and Izumo how the teenage girl that just ran in was not in fact an enemy spy, but actually their village’s Jinchuuriki. Then why he was referring to her as Naruko if he meant that she was Naruto. The whole thing was a mess and yeah, he probably didn’t explain it that well but was a trip to the Hokage’s office really necessary?
Jiraya hated taking the front entrance to places, he just couldn’t do the same panache he normally gave it if people are expecting his arrival. Still, this was Tsunade we were talking about. He could afford to be a bit more casual. He stepped into the Hokage’s office with the two guards at either side like any other common jounin might. He kept his hands behind his back and his face behind a jovial smile as he said, “Hey there Tsunade, been a while.”
Shizune paled, she was never a fan of his work. Tsunade had a big bottle of sake on her desk and considering how it still had some drink in it, Shizune probably brought it in recently.
“Jiraya,” Tsunade said icily, hands folded on her desk. “What happened to the mission you were on for the past two and a half years? You know the one about keeping Naruto safe?”
Jiraya gave a big thumbs up. “Yup, Just brought her back today. As you can see she’s perfectly safe and way stronger than when we left. So mission accomplished if I do say so myself.”
Tsunade stood up, and turned to face the village from her desk. In the distance, an orange flash ran from rooftop to rooftop. “Yes, Naruto is back. Except there’s one key difference. She’s a girl now!”
Tsunade spun around and threw the sake bottle. The two jounin on either side of Jiraya ducked. But he simply caught the bottle out of the air. No sense wasting perfectly good sake. It tasted bitter on his tongue. “Oh hey, this is from the Hidden Rain Village, right? I haven’t had this vintage in years!”
Tsunade banged her hands on the desk, leaning over it like a tiger ready to pounce. “Jiraya! What kind of sick games did you force on Naruto?”
Ok, that was going a bit far. “Nothing, I swear! This was completely her idea. Besides you know I don’t go for kids that young. And Minato’s kid too? It would be completely unprofessional.”
“Your debauchery is unprofessional!” The Fifth Hokage took in a deep breath, and sat back down at her desk. There was just a slight wobble in her step as she sat down. Not enough for anyone other than the most skilled shinobi to notice, or an old friend who just had a taste of the same alcohol she’s been drinking. “What do you mean it was Naruto’s idea?”
“That’s actually kind of a long story.” Jiraya leaned against a bookshelf under the photographs of Lords 3rd, and 4th. He gestured to the two Jounin, letting them know they were dismissed before he added, “And she goes by Naruko now.”
- - - - - - - - - - - -
One year earlier
Just breathing hurt. Jiraya could feel the stabs of pain like a thousand microscopic kunai piercing his chest. The Medical ninja who happened to be on hand said several of his ribs were broken and its a miracle one of them didn’t pierce his lungs. He’d survive, but it would leave a nasty scar. When the medical-nin asked what had happened he simply said he had been attacked by a wild beast. That wasn’t too far from the truth.
Naruto’s skin had grown back. It was way faster than any human should be able to regenerate, but still it was at least a full agonizing minute as Jiraya watched his protege reform his body, and realize what happened. Naruto hadn’t left his side since then, even when Jiraya wanted nothing more than to drop the kid and pass out on a nice courtesan’s lap.
And of course Naruto had to insist on doing something to make up for the incident. He had threatened to carry Jiraya all the way back to Tsunade for treatment but the Hidden Leaf was at least a week away by foot and Naruto was also weak from the transformation even if he didn’t want to admit it. Now the 14-year-old sat on a cushion in the Inn they were using as a makeshift hospital room. It was the best they could do in the Land of Eggs or whatever small country they were passing through now. They had only replaced Naruto’s headband a month or two ago. It survived the attack but now half of the teen’s orange and blue jacket was burned away from the intensity of the Nine-tails chakra. Still, Jiraya’s student seemed uncharacteristically completive for once. Maybe he could use this silence to sleep.
Naruto stood up and screamed, “Please, Pervy Sage, you need to teach me some way to control it!”
“What are you crazy?” Jiraya shot up and winced as his back protested against the sudden movement. He gritted his teeth and continued. “We just tried that. I misjudged the Nine Tails power. That’s not on you, it’s my failing as a teacher. So please, just rest up a bit, won’t you? We can try again with breaking genjutsu once we’ve both had a week to recover.”
“A week? We can’t wait that long!”
“Listen Naruto, not everyone here has a supernatural healing factor!” Naruto was a kind child and usually pretty caring. But he was also the dumbest pile of bricks Jiraya ever taught. Kinda like himself at that age actually. “You know I bet there’s another Chuunin exam coming up. Why don’t you head back to the village for now? I’ll just rest up here, and maybe get another chapter done of my next book. Im sure I’ll be back to full strength just in time for you to earn your flak-”
A tear landed on Jiraya’s bandage. The middle-aged writer struggled to sit up and face his student. How long had Naruto been crying?
“I can’t go back.” Naruto’s head was in his elbow. Tears ran down his whiskers. “I could hurt someone else. Someone not as strong as you, master. I-I can’t.”
This kid was really something. Jiraya made a show of casually leaning his head into his palm even though his arm screamed against it. Naruto doesn’t need any excuse to feel worse. “Alright. Then let’s take some smaller steps before jumping to the big stuff. Chakra control. I said it before and I’ll say it again. The way you mold chakra is inefficient. You never had to really worry about it since you have so much from both the Nine Tails and your own bloodline, that you can take as much as you want without worrying about running out. However if you learn to more carefully control how much chakra you use at a time not only will you be able to do more for longer, you’ll be able to stem how much of the nine tails does come out when its time to draw on its power.”
His protege winced at the mention of drawing on the Nine-Tails again, but he wasn’t crying anymore. He was thinking. Good, Naruto had a path forward. He just had to follow it. “Oh I get it. Like building a dam. That way, not only do I control how much water or chakra comes out at any time, but if a flood- like the Nine-Tails - does happen I have a safeguard against it.”
Jiraya gave the slightest nod. His neck felt like it would snap off at any more movement but his smile stayed. “Kinda an obtuse metaphor but if it helps you get it, sure.”
“But Pervy sage, How am I going to practice stemming my chakra?”
Jiraya’s head was pounding. Did this kid need guidance on everything? “Just use a single ninjutsu for a long time. Something that you can practice consistently without it interfering with your life. Maybe even do some taijutsu while doing that. See how long you can keep that ninjutsu up.”
Naruto pounded his fist, “Oh I get it! So if I do something like see how long I can keep a Rasengan charged, or how many clones I can make-”
“No, no smaller” Jiraya moaned. He was lying back in bed now. When did that happen? It was getting harder to stay awake. The various other jutsu he had practiced with Naruto lazily flashed in his vision as he was trying to think it through. Out them all, one stood out. “Like the one you showed me when we first met.”
- - - - - - - - - - - -
“Wait I don’t get it.” The Anbu operative interrupted, having completely forgot he was supposed to be quiet as the Hokage met with this old man, “What does any of this have to do with the fact that Naruto- er Naruko, is a girl now?”
“Don’t you listen Tenzo? That’s the jutsu he was talking about.” The fifth Hokage glared at her old friend, “I thought you said the constant use of Sexy Jutsu wasn’t your idea?”
Jiraya scratched his chest scar. “Well I may have gotten the ball rolling on that, but its not really the sexy Jutsu. Not anymore. Here sorry the details are a bit foggy. But I’ll explain how I learned it.”
- - - - - - - - - - -
Jiraya dreamed. Not a solid dream, just flashes here and there.
Sarutobi Sensei watching them train.
Tsunade and Orochimaru learning medicine together as Jiraya struggled to even get his chakra to mold anything more than hair.
The one time Orochimaru joined him on a “research trip” Oro’s interest seemed more clinical than sexual.
Mount Myoboku. Jiraya was becoming a toad. Pa was hitting him again and again but it wouldn’t stop. His nose threatened to consume his whole face. His fingers were webbed and slimy. His tongue felt heavy in his throat. Everything was heavy. He was becoming a stone statue, Jiraya tried to move, to scream but his body was not his own.
Jiraya woke with a start. Sweat trickled down his perfectly human forehead. Just breathing hurt. What happened to his chest?
An old woman smiled from across the room. She was an innkeeper. He was in an inn.
The old woman placed a tray of food by his side. “It’s good to see you awake. That student of yours asked me to bring this to you, she said she’d be out doing ‘super special training’. She’s quite a feisty one that kunoichi. Oh and don’t you worry, she already paid for the next few days so you just rest up and focus on getting better now. I’m sure she’ll be back soon.”
A female student? Konan? Was he back in the Rain? Jiraya couldn’t smell wet paper bombs but he felt like one had gone off inside his head. He just needed to think.
The Ame Orphans had never had ramen Before. It was hard to find all the ingredients and most of the traveling vendors don’t go this far into The Hidden Rain Village during peaceful times, let alone now. But they got lucky.
They misheard when the ramen guy asked if they wanted menma or naruto. Yahiko slapped Nagato on the back and said they already had one right here. Konan asked if they had a second one, this one was too shy. Even after being corrected the kids just laughed and gave all their fish cakes to Uzumaki Nagato. It was only one letter off from his name, anyway.
When Jiraya awoke there was a girl looking down on him. With that courageous smile and those blonde pigtails, he thought it was Tsunade from back during their Chuunin days. She smiled more then, before the wars. She was saying something.
“-It just wouldn’t run out- started doing it with shadowclones and rasengan but it still hasn’t dropped. I’ve gotten so good I can even keep the jutsu up in my sleep…”
Tsunade wouldn’t care this much about training unless she had money down on it. And Tsunade wouldn’t be caught dead wearing traffic cone orange. Jiraya knew of only one person who would.
The blonde girl brushed a pigtail out of her face, revealing whisker marks on her cheek. “And it’s great cause I never realized just how much better it feels to be a girl, ya know?”