The Translation: Harriet Potter y la Escalera que Pudo con Ella - AquaviriusMaggot

Chapter 1 Chapter Text

She had been claiming to be 100 years old for the last 20 years, and why? Because, what person in their right mind would believe she was 120 years old when she barely looked 70? And she didn’t look like a 70-year-old with a limp and Alzheimer’s. Harriet Potter wasn’t just any old fool, oh no, she was someone who had lost the fear of what people would say. Since Voldemort had died, she had rebuilt her life, got a job, married, had a family, retired... She had done everything she was supposed to do and then what she wanted to do. Learned everything and more.

As time went by, it became easier for her to care less about other people's opinions, most of them being sheep. The truth was that she didn’t care if they didn’t believe her if she said she was 120 years old. She said she was 100 because messing with people was one of her few pleasures at “her age,” as her granddaughter reminded her every time she got it into her head that she had to behave like a “normal” grandmother. Harriet responded with sudden selective hearing until she got tired and gave up.

Of course, she knew that sooner or later her retirement would come to an end. What she didn’t think was that it would come so early. She didn’t die dramatically, betrayed by her supposed right-hand like Dumbledore, nor did she die in battle after being hit by a ridiculous expelliarmus spell after screwing someone over for years like Voldemort, nor did she die peacefully in her bed after suffering from such a strange lung disease that it turned out to be incurable like George... No, fate had a humiliation prepared for her as punishment for laughing so hard she broke a rib at last year's Gala after causing a series of catastrophic mishaps with Weasley's joke products.

One summer day, she was playing with her youngest granddaughters, drawing on the walls with colored chalks, eating junk food, taking out her clothes and using them as costumes. The attic was trashed, but Harriet didn’t care because her granddaughters were happy amidst the chaos, and at 120 years old, being able to fix the mess with a wave of her hand, she didn’t care much either. Hours later, they had moved from the attic to the playroom on the second floor until Caroline had the brilliant idea to play tag.

What she didn’t foresee was the stupid plastic doll left on the second step of the stairs. She ran, laughing, with her granddaughter chasing her as fast as her six-year-old legs could, and of course, she tripped. Before she could realize the precarious and pathetic situation, she hit her head on the stone banister and was instantly knocked unconscious, falling and tumbling down the remaining 25 marble steps when, if she had been conscious, she would have stopped the fall with a snap of her fingers. During one of those hits, she broke her neck like it was butter, and that was the end of her long existence.

Voldemort hadn’t been able to kill her countless times, nor had her uncles, who had passively and actively tried to get rid of her, nor the cerberus, the basilisk, the acromantulas, the dragon, the inferi, Nagini, or the criminals she had hunted... Nothing had managed to. A simple marble staircase had killed her. Contrary to what she would have speculated, she didn’t meet anyone on the other side of the mystical veil where all living mortals, for some unknown reason, thought someone awaited them once dead. It simply felt like she had been put in a giant washing machine, whose spinning made her nauseous. After what seemed like centuries, it stopped, and she saw a faint light while the screams of a woman made her ears explode.

Completely surprised, as she hadn’t had time to process her death or the subsequent hellish trip, she found herself in silence, waiting to figure out what was happening. She was surrounded by a liquid substance, something sticky, and she almost thought she could feel a touch of skin against her body which, now that she thought about it, was naked. Suddenly she felt everything contract around her and slowly, she was almost pushed until she put two and two together and realized, as if she had been slapped, that she was being born. Her surprise and amazement were such that when she came out, she was as silent as at a wake.

“What’s wrong with her?”, asked a voice, and she recognized the words even though they were spoken in Japanese, but if being an auror, having money, and time had served her for anything, it was to learn languages, "Why isn’t she crying!?”

The female voice asked tiredly, but quickly started screaming again, and she realized that she was giving birth again. She had a brother or sister. The sensation was so strange. She had never had any living blood relatives besides the ones she had engendered, and now she was within reach of her mother, with a brother or sister on the way, and surely the arms she had just been placed in were her father's.

“There’s nothing wrong with her,” cooed a female voice but rough with age, “Some babies don’t cry.”

“I’ll take your word for it, Biwako-sama,” a male voice whispered enchantingly.

Then she heard the powerful cries of another baby and her mother’s sobs of happiness.

“Look, Minato...”

“I’m watching you, Kushina.”

Her eyelids felt heavy, as if someone were forcibly pressing them shut, and she fell asleep. She did it so quickly but not without first learning that now, supposedly, her name was Seina Namikaze. There were several things that almost kept her from sleeping. First, she had died and been reborn practically at the same time. How was that possible? Was the baby’s body she inhabited soulless? Second, she had a younger brother, a brother... She didn’t know how to process the news. In the end, she fell asleep and thought she would have time to assimilate it all. Or so she thought.

Shortly after, and by that, she meant a few minutes later, she woke up forcibly. With her blurred eyes, she could barely understand what was happening. She felt totally helpless with her small, uncoordinated limbs, compromised vision, and magic out of reach. She had something inside, something like magic, but at the same time totally different. So different that it was impossible to determine how to use it as she wanted. At most, she could have caused some damage like small children do when their magic rebels accidentally.

The screams and roars were deafening, and she wondered if she really wanted to know what was going on. Her brother cried loudly beside her while she stayed quiet, trying to catch something, anything. After what seemed like an eternity, she felt something enter her, and although she wanted to scream and ask what the hell was happening, she only gurgled and cried, unable to use her newly acquired vocal cords.

Days later, when all that nightmare passed and she regained consciousness from what seemed like a constant period of sleep, she found out that her parents had died. Wow. What a surprise. Despite having heard her new parents’ farewell, she harbored the hope that, somehow, they had survived, but fate existed to screw her over in any dimension. The next thing she understood was that she and her brother had been sent to an orphanage because apparently no one could adopt them since their existence or rather, their parents’ identity, was a big and terrible secret, and being adopted by one of their many friends was a no-no.

She hadn’t heard such a bunch of nonsense in over a century, but of course, with exactly five days of age, how could she complain. Then she found out that she lived in a ninja village and that her parents had been ninjas, and the best part was that her late father had been the most powerful ninja in the village. Wow. She felt like she was in one of those movies her fat, clumsy cousin Dudley liked, though this was real life and she was more screwed up than the protagonist’s.

This is how she found herself waking up day after day next to her brother, who no one had dared to separate from her side due to the incredible tantrums and fits he was capable of throwing whenever someone even thought of feeding him out of her reach. She didn’t know how, but either her twin brother was a genius or the fact that they were twins had something to do with him sensing her presence. When she pondered over it, having nothing else to do except stare at the walls of what she supposed was the worn paper of the orphanage and look out the window, straining her vision to its limit at the idiotic wall of the same building next door, day after day, she realized that if she tried consciously, she could sense where Naruto was even with her eyes closed. Perhaps Naruto, with his infantile mind and dulled senses, found it easier to locate her than she did him, since she couldn't stop thinking and was so aware of her surroundings that she sometimes overlooked her brother's innocent presence.

Slowly, the days passed, and she tried to grasp everything she could about her surroundings, but the truth was that she barely knew anything new. The orphanage matrons avoided contact with them as much as possible, unless they had to feed them, change their diapers, and bathe them. It was a ritual where no words were exchanged, perhaps because they were too young to speak. Still, it became clear to her what her new situation was when one of the girls called her 'demon.' In fact, she was sure the girl would have tried to drown her if it weren’t for the fact that the orphanage was being watched by a hidden presence that she was aware of thanks to that strange power inside her, which she occasionally touched with her metaphorical internal fingers out of curiosity.

After a month, she wondered if she still had her mental barriers and, realizing they were still intact, she set about reviewing them. To her surprise, after seeing everything was intact, she noticed there were two doors that hadn’t been there before. Seeing the marble stairs behind the first door made her let out an ironic laugh, but it wasn’t difficult, after creating a mental avatar of her former self, to go down the stairs to see what mystery awaited her below. Despite her 120 years, what she saw left her speechless for a few minutes.

There, behind a wall of what seemed to be the largest red bars she had ever seen, and whose 'door' was a simple seal that could be mistaken for a jumble of runes if it weren't for the fact that it was in Japanese and she didn't recognize the design, was a gigantic fox. Its fur was dark orange, almost red brown, and it had 9 tails lying placidly around it. She closed her mouth when she realized it was open and retreated as quietly as possible up the stairs, trying not to wake it.

Naturally, when she emerged from her mental sewers, she reinforced the door with runes and all the protective spells she knew until, when she finished, she realized she had used magic when, initially, she had been unable to sense its presence at birth. The first thing she had noticed was that strange energy so abundant inside her that perhaps, now that she thought about it, had eclipsed her magic. Maybe it was easier to use magic in her mind since she was used to it, and with an adult mental avatar, she could have control over her body that she didn't have in reality…

In any case, she was grateful for it and told herself she should meditate on the new discovery. The second door was, to her surprise, a corridor directly to Naruto's mind. Apparently, her twin was also minimally magical because, otherwise, how could she explain such a magical conduit? Although, on second thought, maybe it was due to her magic.

When she explored Naruto's mind, she realized he was really a baby. She didn’t know what she had expected, but she felt a weight lifted off her shoulders when she saw that her brother’s innocence was still largely intact. Seeing the identical door in her brother's mind gave her a pang of fear. She went down the stairs and, as she had thought, there was the fox, but its fur was noticeably lighter than her inner demon. She seriously wondered what her brother and she had gotten into without wanting to, just days after being born.

She left there as if Filch and his stupid cat were chasing her on one of her nights at Hogwarts, running. She spent hours thinking about the matter. Studying that strange energy that had become her main source of power became secondary, but no matter how much she racked her brain, the only clues she had to solve the mystery were that strange sensation on the day of her birth when she felt something being introduced into her and the fact that the matrons constantly called them 'demons.'

The answer came to her a week later when, just a month old, she found herself in the arms of an older man everyone called Hokage-sama. From the deference they showed him, he must have been someone important, but even he didn't realize that the baby he was holding in his arms, and wasn’t crying, was straining her hearing as much as possible to gather all the information she could.

“The orphanage matrons adequately care for the babies, Hokage-sama, despite the obvious hatred and resentment,” a ninja reported, though she could only notice his outline kneeling on the floor.

“Why do you say that?”

“They frequently call the babies demons, sir, and talk among themselves when they think I can't hear them.”

“Mmm… I see,” sighed the old man, “However, this is the fate that awaits them since Minato decided to seal each half of the Kyubi in his twins. For better or worse, we can’t do anything as long as they don’t directly harm them.”

“And what about the secret? The whole village is whispering about the demon's whereabouts. The matrons are trying to influence the older children to leak the information.”

“The nurse guilty of the crime is already being interrogated,” the Hokage said harshly, passing her to the ninja, who stood up, “Why don't you give this scroll to the head matron? I would like to talk to her about the matter”

“I will do so, Hokage-sama.”

And that was how she put the pieces together. A demon that her father had somehow split in two with some ritual and had sealed in his children. Despite wanting to hate him, she couldn’t feel a shred of resentment. She had lost her scruples many years ago and had been screwed over so many times that she had learned to take her anger and use it for more productive things, like getting revenge and coming out victorious in any situation.

Besides, her father hadn’t seemed like a bad person during the short time she knew him, so she was sure he had done what he could in a desperate situation. If he hadn’t killed the fox, it was probably because he couldn’t. The last thing he could try was to seal it somewhere, and apparently, the first thing that came to his mind was his newborns. What a miserable life, she thought.

At least now she had a second chance to live. With a brother. With new powers to discover. In a new world. She couldn’t complain, really. She had lived her old life to the fullest and had no regrets. Her family was safe, they had a great and substantial inheritance, and they were happy. She couldn’t ask for more after dying playing with her granddaughters, actually her great-granddaughters, and enjoying every last second. And yes, she had died from a fall on the stairs, but at least she hadn’t suffered for months like George before dying sedated to the gills. It was clear she couldn’t complain about how it all ended.

With that epiphany, she truly began her new life, and within her was born again that mischievous feeling that pushed her to move forward and, more importantly, to take on this new reality she now called life and maybe even make fun of some people meanwhile. Starting with the orphanage matrons.

If there was one thing she had learned with 3 children, 6 grandchildren, and 13 great-grandchildren, it was how babies develop. Who had been the fool who, retired, had cared for her grandchildren for long, tedious hours? Harriet Potter. Who had been vomited on, sneezed on, spit on, peed on, and pooped on a trillion times? Harriet Potter. Yes, she had a few things clear about a baby's growth, so she knew that at one month old, she should behave like a nearly blind vegetable that cries and soils itself. Just thinking that she would have to be like that, pretending, for a long time made her stomach turn, and she told herself that sooner or later she would slip up and make a mistake that the orphanage’s invisible guardian would notice. So, it was easier to let it be known that she wasn’t a normal baby so that they would slowly get used to the mischief in Loki's name that she would soon be doing. That way, she could pretend her adult behavior was more like a baby genius.

However, despite wanting to move, her body was still a hindrance. Until she was 4 or 5 months old, it would be impossible even to sit up, so she resigned herself to hoping those months would pass quickly, or she would go completely crazy. In the meantime, she thought, looking at the gray ceiling of her room, she would do the only thing she could: figure out how to use her new power and strike up a conversation with her inner demon.

"Hello," greeted Harriet, Seina, descending the mental stairs, "You're finally awake from your slumber. You've been making quite a racket in here. Are you okay?"

"Mmm… You'd make noise too if you were stuffed into a wretched human like you," retorted the dark half of the Kyubi, who had awoken a couple of days ago and had vented his frustrations to the four winds when he thought no one was listening, "Although, now that I see you... Curious, very curious. Where's the brat they've put me into, woman?"

Harriet smiled. She had been debating whether to appear in her new form, presenting herself as a child with a more developed brain, but she had ultimately dismissed that option. She didn't know much about the demons they talked about in this dimension, but she didn't believe the Kyubi was one, or at least not the type of demon she knew from her original dimension. Taking that into account, and the fact that it seemed she was going to have the demon inside her for the rest of her days, she knew that if she wanted to gain his trust and have any kind of relationship that didn't end in tragedy, she had to be honest.

"I am that brat. This is my former body, the body where I died just over a week ago."

Kyubi watched as she changed her appearance, showing him her current face, with a raised eyebrow, but he seemed to believe her.

"You reincarnated into the Fourth's brat."

"I don't know who the Fourth is, but I suppose you're talking about my father, to whom, apparently, my brother and I owe our appearance."

"You resemble your father, but you have your mother's eyes."

Harriet felt her heart skip a beat at those words. The same ones that had haunted her for years. It was curious that her destiny repeated the old patterns. Seina. That was her new name. The name her parents, once again sacrificed for the greater good, had given her with love. She was thankful for having lived a full life because, otherwise, the similarities between her two selves would have traumatized her for years. Now, even though it didn't seem like it, she was an old woman who was cured of frights. Changing names, homes, parents, powers... was nothing new to her.

"This isn't the first time I've been told that. My name was Harriet, now I'm called Seina. I know our circ*mstances aren't the best, me being a helpless baby and you a demon trapped in here... but if there's one thing I've learned in my previous life, it's survival."

The Kyubi's large red eyes followed her attentively as she approached his cage.

"What do you want?" he finally asked, reclining on his paws and bringing his eyes as close to the bars as possible.

Harriet smiled dangerously.

"I want to cooperate."

Days later, Harriet, no, Seina, had devised a routine. When she was awake, she interacted as best she could with her brother, Naruto, who apparently was as blond as she was and who, unlike her, had three faint parallel marks on his cheeks that seemed to be a birthmark. She also practiced using her new power, which, compared to her magic, had reserves so gigantic that she could hide her magical core inside. Which left her dumbfounded, as she was one of the most powerful witches on the planet in her previous life. Discovering that her magic was still there was a relief. In fact, her magic seemed to have fueled Naruto's magical core. Although, in comparison, he was practically little more than a squib. He wouldn’t do great things like her, but at least he could use runes, arithmancy, potions, and other more passive branches.

Her chakra, as the Kyubi called it, was a much lighter energy than magic, almost like air. In fact, the best analogy to explain chakra was like the air that fills a balloon. Chakra was light like a gas, shapeless on its own but easily moldable once you knew how to introduce the air into the balloon. Magic, on the other hand, was denser, like honey; capable of maintaining its form long enough to be used without a spell. That's why children, and some adults, were able to use magic without a wand, although it was easier to try to mold magic to cast spells with a magical focus.

The most curious thing of all was that no one seemed to be able to detect magic. The first time she used it to enlarge the Kyubi's cage, who still didn’t fully trust her, the giant fox was dumbfounded.

"How did you do this!?" asked the Kyubi, and she shrugged.

"With my powers, obviously. Don't you want me to improve your cage?"

"It's impossible! I haven't sensed your chakra!"

Harriet, no, Seina, debated whether to tell him the truth, but in the end, she told herself that it was a matter of trust. And who was the fox going to tell that she was really an old woman trapped in a baby's body with powers different from chakra?

"It's magic. In my past life, I was a witch. Magic resides in the soul, you know?" she explained, conjuring a chair and sitting across from the astonished gaze of the demon, "My soul is the one trapped in this body."

"So not only do you have chakra but also magic... What else can you do?"

Seina smiled widely. To the Kyubi's stunned gaze, she enlarged the cage, turned the ceiling into an enchanted sky, transformed the concrete floor into earth, stone, grass, and forest, and conjured a mountain in the distance with a snow-capped peak from which a river flowed into a grand lake. The sewage water vanished completely, and that piece of her mind turned into a forest on both sides. To finish, she shrank the demon and conjured all kinds of animals to share his cage with him.

She got up from her chair, conjured in the middle of a meadow right now, and approached the cage. She looked at the small fox that now only reached her waist.

"What do you think of your new home?"

The Kyubi looked at her with something indescribable in his red eyes and then ventured into the forest. Seina let him go without further ado. Not only had she destroyed his worldview, but she had also treated him much better than any other jinchuriki. Simply because she had the power to do so. Right now, he must be in an emotional crossroads: he tried to hate her, but she wasn't to blame for his imprisonment, and, what's worse, she was able to improve his life if he put aside his old resentment, but how could he do that if it was all he had known for years?

She left his mind, content to see her protections, and having learned that magic left no trace, unlike chakra. The problem with using her magic was that she was being watched every hour of the day. Sooner or later, they could realize that something was happening, not necessarily by noticing her magic but by seeing the effects of her spells. After all, if the matron started treating them like royalty when until now, she seemed to want to suffocate them, it would be strange. Still, that left plenty of leeway.

To start with, she cast a locator spell on her brother Naruto. Since only she could sense it, she wasn't worried about using it. Then, she used a medical spell that would alert her if Naruto was in danger of death. The last spell she wanted to cast on Naruto was a protective one, but there was a problem. Unlike the other two spells, this spell would make her brother glow for a second. Irritated, she mentally noted to cast it as soon as she could. What she could do, however, was protect the room where they slept, a room the size of a shoebox with a single crib they shared. That way, when sleep inevitably overtook her, she would rest easy.

She considered protecting the entire room but ultimately decided to focus on the crib. After all, despite the numerous ninjas watching over them, none of them dared to take them from their crib except for the orphanage matrons. Still, she cast a spell to alert her if anyone with ill intentions entered their room. If she found herself in that situation, she would figure out what to do. That was precisely her plan for everything else, as for now, all she did was sleep, eat, and excrete.

Chapter 2 Chapter Text

The first year of life passed quickly. More than half the time was spent sleeping, so in what seemed like the blink of an eye, the next October arrived. It seemed like a bad joke that her most hated month was precisely the month when she was born in this new life. Luckily, they hadn't been born on Samhain or she would have started crying.

To her little surprise, the spell alerted her a couple of times to an intruder in her room, but they were instantly subdued by the invisible ninjas watching over them. They were ANBU, from what she could gather, all dressed in black and gray uniforms with animal masks with two eye holes. When she saw them for the first time, she shuddered to realize the resemblance to Voldemort's Death Eaters. It was eerie to think that their bodyguards were precisely the Hokage's most lethal lackeys, just like Voldemort's Death Eaters. The only difference between them was the rather neutral presence of the ANBU instead of the malice radiating from the Death Eaters. Still, since they protected her brother and her, she metaphorically shrugged. She had lost her scruples years ago, so she didn't care if hired killers were their protectors, as long as they did their job well.

Despite those few exceptions, the year passed without much incident. Then the next year passed. The only good thing that happened during that time was her relationship with the Kyubi, who gradually seemed to soften his heart with their infrequent talks and the continuous improvements she made to his cage when the demon requested it. He had gone from hating her to tolerating her with some degree of trust.

"And you say you lived for over 120 years?" the Kyubi asked, lying on the grass barely less than a meter away from her. "What was that other place like?"

"Much bigger. One could spend their life traveling and still wouldn't have seen it all," she explained, her gaze lost in her memories. "The world was much more advanced too, but technology caused a distancing between people that didn't exist before, nor seems to exist here."

"And what about the ninjas?"

"They didn't exist. Nor did the bijuus like you. There were normal people and magical people, as well as multiple animals and magical creatures. Humans, however, were still humans. Fearing and exterminating what they didn't understand," she said with a sad smile. "You're lucky you weren't there. They wouldn't have put you in a baby's stomach, that's for sure. They would have locked you up while they debated whether to kill you or use you for their own purposes."

"Humans..." the Kyubi scoffed angrily.

"I know. During my second year at the wizarding school, Hogwarts, I found out I could talk to snakes, you know? I found out by chance. I didn't think much of it, but people didn't like it. The murderer of my parents had killed many others before, causing 2 civil wars. Do you know what his main skill was?"

"Don't tell me. Talking to snakes. I see. You became a pariah, didn't you?”

"That's right. I was only 12 years old and had grown up with my non-magical aunt. What the hell did I know about all that? Still, even though they convinced me to feel guilty for having that ability, over time I realized it was just a magical language."

"Human. Tell me your story from the beginning," the Kyubi requested, much more polite and cordial than before.

"It will take some time, but I think you'll find it interesting. My name was Harriet Potter, daughter of James and Lily Potter. When I was a year and a half old, my parents were hidden under a Fidelius Charm. This charm has the ability to...”

Months later, when she finished telling the Kyubi in great detail her entire life story, from birth to marriage, she saw how the demon was unable to look at her with eyes full of hatred. Harriet hadn't been a demon, but in less than 20 years, she had been treated much worse than the Kyubi himself. If anyone could understand what he was going through, trapped inside her, it was her and vice versa.

"Humans failed you. That's something they're very good at," he said, with a hint of resentment and sadness. "My father was human. He created us, my siblings and me. For a while, we were free, but other humans were terrified of our power. They didn't realize that we, beings of pure chakra, were just as neutral as nature."

"Humans have always been very hypocritical," Seina agreed.

"Perhaps some more than others," he said contemplatively. "My father left us when we needed him most. We begged his name to free us, but we forgot that he too was human."

"I'm sorry."

"Why? It wasn't your fault. Just as this confinement isn't your fault but your father's, those before him who locked me in your mother, and the person who forced your father's hand, forcing him to lock me in you."

"I know, but I know what it feels like when someone you admire and love betrays you. It’s like you'll never trust anyone again, the pain and loneliness that entails... I’m sorry that other humans, people of my species, are unable to tolerate creatures like you simply because you're different and have more power than us. I’m sorry that you, and your siblings, are treated like slaves just for being born as you are, even though none of you asked to be born."

The Kyubi hid his face, and Seina saw that he seemed genuinely moved. She understood perfectly well what the fox had gone through because she had gone through the same. Putting oneself in another's shoes, indeed.

"Human. My name is Kurama."

"My name is Seina. Nice to meet you, Kurama."

Just as she got up to continue erecting new mental barriers, as she did every night while asleep, Kurama spoke. She turned, but only saw the fox's profile among some trees illuminated by the false stars.

"Seina. Thank you."

After that, things changed. Since they were already talking and walking, the matrons started teaching them to read and write at the orders of the Hokage. At first, they had refused to do so, but a visit from the ANBU and the Hokage quickly changed their minds. They did it grudgingly but efficiently, knowing they were being watched at all times. Seina tried to keep up with the other children her age, making sure to excel a little so she could have an excuse to help her brother, who found it hard to focus on one thing, having so much energy.

From age 3 to 5, she dedicated herself to using all sorts of invisible spells not only to improve their stay in the orphanage, like environmental spells, but also to ensure she had as much information as possible. Basically, she was spying on everyone. She not only used spells but also Legilimency on the matrons.

She knew, from probing into others' minds, that the adults knew what they had inside them. They weren't aware of their parents' names, but that didn't matter to them either. They were determined to hate them because they believed that, one way or another, they were the demons and not their caretakers. Useless ignorant people. Still, she was used to dealing with incompetents, so slowly but surely, she manipulated their minds so that, instead of potentially being violent, the matrons settled for treating them with resentment and indifference.

When a new matron arrived, young and generally friendly, she didn't hesitate for a second. Before she could interact with them and show herself as resentful as the other matrons, she sunk her mental teeth. She saw how the Hokage had interrogated her before hiring her for the position at the orphanage and knew she could use it to her advantage, making Yumi believe that the Namikaze twins, whom everyone called Uzumaki, were not really demons but just a pair of misunderstood children.

"Your technique is very useful," Kurama urged, when she told him the news that night, as she had for years. "Do you plan to use it to improve your position in the orphanage?”

"More food and blankets wouldn't be bad," she said coldly, remembering that everything Naruto and she had was always the worst of everything. "The orphanage is a safe place as long as the ANBU are there. The problem is internal. If I can make her my puppet, I will."

"Mmm... maybe the fact that she treats you decently won't sit well with the other matrons... Be careful.”

Seina kept it in mind, but for quite some time, nothing happened. Except that Naruto wanted to play with her all the time.

"Come on, nee-chan! I want to play renegade ninjas!"

"We played that yesterday," she avoided sighing. "Don't you have to read that book Yumi gave you?"

"It's just so boring!"

Seina watched as Naruto crossed his arms and seemed to vibrate with energy.

"Why don't we go to the park?" she finally said.

The truth was that Naruto needed much more exercise than her since he didn't have her mental discipline. She didn't even know if she wanted to teach him to meditate because she was horrified of what might happen if Naruto found his other half of Kurama in his mind at only 5 years old. That's why Naruto needed to tire himself out three times as much as a normal child. Hence why she had made him some weights for his feet and arms and they played some kind of game every day.

However, playing with kids her age exhausted her. They screamed, cried, fought over anything, weren't afraid to bash their heads against the ground, were stubborn, reckless, ignorant... Certainly, at her 125 mental years old, she wasn't in the age to play with little kids except for a couple of hours a week. The problem was that Naruto wanted to play with her all the time because she was the only one who treated him well, his family, and with whom he didn't have problems relating. If she had had less patience, or less mental age, she would have left him alone more often, but Seina knew the danger her innocent brother was in.

That's why she gave him some of her food when he was still hungry, and she took care of stealing food from several kids without anyone noticing that they were missing one or two lettuce leaves, a couple of chicken pieces, or a spoonful of rice. Fortunately, since no child complained about the theft except for the fact that they were still hungry, no matron watched her at mealtime. Naruto ate a portion large enough to satisfy his appetite, and she did exactly the same at the expense of other children.

"Old Uruchi didn't give us dessert," Naruto said one day, staring at her intently.

"Oh, didn't she?" she smiled, calmly eating her dessert.

Naruto frowned as he contemplated where she got it from, then shrugged, but Seina realized that her brother was starting to notice things he used to overlook. One day, as she was stealing food from other kids as usual, she saw out of the corner of her eye how Naruto threw his glass against a wall, unnoticed by anyone. Everyone turned to the noise, so Seina grabbed a glass from another kid when she predicted what was about to happen.

"Who did it!?"

"It was Naruto!" a tattletale kid yelled. Seina suppressed the urge to strangle him.

The matrons turned, but she saw that both she and Naruto had their own glasses. They took the kid by the ear for lying and the other kid she had left without a glass, too, for breaking plates.

"Why did you do that?" she asked, curious, at the opposite end of the individual bed they shared.

"I saw old Mako coming towards you."

Seina realized, somewhat astonished, that Naruto had tried to cover for her. She looked at her brother lying on the other side of the bed, with his arms under his head, and felt something warm inside her. She knew they wouldn't have caught her because she had put on a few spells, but she decided not to take credit away from her brother when he had done it to save her.

"Thank you, Naruto."

"Is that why you give me some of your food?" he asked, extremely serious for a 5-year-old.

"Yes. I can take a little from everyone's plates without them noticing. If they're hungry, they can always have seconds, but not us. How long have you known?"

"Since always," he shrugged. "You're my sister. I can always feel you."

Naruto nodded and that was the end of that conversation, but Seina was somewhat astonished. Could it be that her mental barriers interfered with the connection Naruto spoke of? She had reinforced Naruto's mental barriers against his Kurama but wouldn't have imagined that, somehow, that would affect her side of the... link with Naruto. Since she didn't have an adult to ask, she asked Kurama.

"Mmm... It's possible. And you say you can't feel him unless you seek the connection with him, unlike what Naruto does?"

"That's right."

"Why don't you try strengthening your connection with him from within, in addition to protecting his mind against my other half?"

The next day, Seina tried it at night. Naruto was awake, lying on the bed, when she moved the door connecting them to the other side of her mind, building a hallway between them. She saw Naruto's eyes snap open and knew before he spoke what he was going to say.

"Shut up, Naruto!" she thought towards her brother and he closed his mouth abruptly, staring at her. "Can you hear me?"

"Seina-nee?” Naruto asked hesitantly in his thoughts.

"Yes. We're talking with our minds."

"Sugoi! How is that possible?”

"I've been thinking about the connection you told me about."

Seina saw Naruto didn't quite understand what she was telling him, but he nodded when she told him she had simply "opened" her side of the door that connected them and now they could talk mentally. On Naruto's part, his mind was now more than ever an open book. He had no filter and wasn't aware of everything he sent inadvertently. For her part, thanks to her mental barriers, she was able to send exactly what she wanted.

She realized that, although she could establish contact with his Kurama, Naruto needed to have mental barriers so that, when he grew up, he would have his own privacy and wouldn't be flooded by both their feelings or they would end up being one in two bodies, if she got distracted or lost her mental barriers for some reason.

"You could look for him at night, like you do with me, and explain the technique while you're in his own mind."

"Maybe you're right. If I could, it would be easier than making him enter his mind voluntarily with meditation. What will be more difficult is explaining to Naruto about his Kurama and having to explain who I am to your other half.”

"Not at all. When the time comes, come to me. I'll give you something and he'll accept it."

"A memory?"

"Exactly. He'll accept it. After all, we're the same entity."

Just when Seina began teaching Naruto Occlumency, things took a turn. Kurama was right to think that the old matrons wouldn't appreciate Yumi's favoritism, if you could call it that. They had hired her thinking she would treat them both badly, like all the others, and they weren't willing to let anyone treat them well.

That day, there was an argument, and the kids were sent to bed early. Naruto and she pressed their ears to the door to eavesdrop, even though she could hear over 20 meters around with the spell she always had active when awake.

"Naruto, listen," she said, speaking to him mentally.

"How can you help those demons!? Didn't you lose your family too!?"

"These kids aren't demons! They're only 5 years old! It wasn't their fault!"

"OF COURSE, IT WAS! BECAUSE OF THEM, I LOST MY SON!"

"I don't know how your son would feel seeing you treat the kids you're supposed to care for like garbage!"

They heard the sound of a slap, then silence. She heard an older person panting with effort and the surprised sound of someone younger. Naruto looked at her horrified, and she took his hand.

"Get out of here and don't come back," the old woman Uruchi hissed.

"No. Only the Hokage can dismiss me," Yumi said firmly. "Until then, I'll treat these kids as they deserve."

"I SAID LEAVE!"

Seina and Naruto listened as there was a struggle between them, furniture colliding, yelling and insulting each other. Seina heard the characteristic sound of a knife sliding on a surface, as if someone had grabbed it hastily, and then the sound of wind and flesh hitting flesh.

"I'm afraid we must intervene," a muted voice interjected, and she knew it was one of the ANBU. "As Yumi-san informed you, only Hokage-sama can dismiss the workers of this orphanage. Due to your violent behavior, you will be interrogated and investigated. The orphanage remains under Yumi-san's temporary care and will continue to be monitored by the ANBU."

They heard Uruchi being dragged away, screaming and ranting not only against Yumi but also against them, and then there was tense silence. Seina disconnected her brother from her mind to keep listening in silence, but she knew it wouldn't end there. The only person on their side was Yumi, while the other two matrons were as angry as Uruchi but didn't dare to voice their thoughts out loud for fear of the ANBU hearing them. Idiots. If she was hearing them, what hadn't the ninjas already heard?

The next day, not only had Uruchi disappeared, but the other matrons, including Yumi, had also been taken for interrogation. Two days later, it was Naruto and her turn to be interrogated. Surprised, she found herself sitting in front of the Hokage next to her brother. She let Naruto answer questions about how they were treated in the orphanage by the matrons, the other children, and even infrequent visitors like the doctor or the food provider.

"I'll be honest with you, children," the Hokage sighed wearily. "The orphanage may not be the best option for you. Yumi-san is only one person and is the exception to the rule. Even if she replaces the other matrons, your situation may not change."

"What can we do then?" she asked, frowning.

Although Sarutobi wasn't trying to downplay the seriousness of the situation, he also wasn't offering a solution. If he, the most powerful person in the village, couldn't fix it, what did that mean for her brother and her?

"You could live in an apartment on your own. My ninjas have told me that you've shown great responsibility and can take care of yourselves. I know it's extraordinary, considering you're only 6 years old, but I'm convinced it's the best for everyone."

"How are we going to pay for food and the apartment?" she asked, ignoring the incredulity of him giving a flat to a couple of 5-year-old children.

"You'll have a monthly allowance from which the rent for the apartment will be automatically deducted. The rest of the money will be yours for food, clothes, and whatever else you may need."

"What about bills?" she asked, seeing that he was simplifying it too much.

The Hokage raised an eyebrow but answered.

"I've made an agreement with a landlord. He has small, old apartments that no one wants to rent due to the new constructions in recent years. I've assured him that the apartment would be rented for at least 5 years or until you graduate from the academy. In return, the water and electricity bills are included in the price of the apartment."

"How much is the allowance? And how much is the rent for the apartment?"

"The allowance is 10,000 ryo per month, of which 4,000 will be deducted for the apartment."

Seina calculated the price of the apartment. Supposedly, a genin received about 5,000 to 50,000 ryo on a D-rank mission, so paying only the apartment every month would cost a couple of missions. However, it was a cheap price considering that they could do 1 or 2 D-rank missions each week when they graduated, and they were two of them to pay rent.

Chapter 3 Chapter Text

Years passed living in that apartment. The routine was always the same. In the morning, they went to the academy and avoided being punished while learning as much as possible. In the afternoon, Seina answered Naruto's questions, and they both did their homework for the next day before having a snack and lazing around for a while. Then, they practiced the jutsus taught at the academy or reviewed the material for an hour and a half and then another hour and a half of taijutsu following the instructions of the dojo they attended a couple of times a month when they could afford it. Every night, before bed, Seina and Naruto meditated for half an hour. Gradually, Naruto was able to meditate without complaining, but he still couldn't enter his mind.

On weekends in the mornings, they both took inventory of the food they needed, and Seina went to buy it under a charm so they wouldn't be cheated. Since several people had thought of cheating her, she didn't feel bad about cheating them with some counterfeit bills that disappeared in a few days. Over time, their savings, kept in a small wooden chest protected with runes, blood magic, and enchantments, began to bear fruit. In less than 2 years, she had gathered almost 40,000 ryo in real money.

Individually, Naruto had spent part of his personal savings on ramen, various clothing items with toads, and gifts for her. He even had a purse, which she enchanted, that he called Gama-chan. Seina, on the other hand, had hardly touched the money they had agreed upon as individual allowance, so she had another 30,000 ryo set aside that they could use if needed. After all, she only spent her personal allowance on gifts for Naruto and the occasional indulgence for herself, like better bath products or an occasional outfit for her free time.

When Naruto turned 7, she began teaching him runes. Knowing how her brother worked, she gave him a rune puzzle she had transformed from a few stones she found in the park. She created a game of memory and speed with several rules so they could play in their free time, and Naruto would learn without realizing it. In less than 3 months, Naruto became an expert at identifying runes and which runes went together in certain "game" situations.

Since Seina had demanded years ago that her brother do his homework with a brush, as Japanese calligraphy was traditionally written, she knew he could write the runes without any problems. Plus, if she saw that the lines weren't quite polished, she would be there to correct him. The only thing missing for Naruto to start writing runic sequences was to explain what they were for and what patterns to use to write them, so for Christmas, she made another game for her brother, but this time with wooden tiles with different geometric designs drawn on them.

As soon as Naruto learned to recognize and identify what each one was for, thinking it was another game, she sat him down at the table to talk to him about what they were.

"Naruto, do you remember the rune game?" she asked, taking out the game and placing each "tile" on the table. Her brother nodded. "I just wanted to tell you it's not a game."

"Eh!? What do you mean, nee-chan?"

"Do you remember fuinjutsu?" Her brother nodded enthusiastically. "Runes are similar. It's like learning another language: fuinjutsu is Japanese, and runes are another language. Both are used for communication, but their basis is different. Do you understand?"

Naruto nodded and frowned. "So... are runes used like fuinjutsu?"

"Exactly. With these two games, I've taught you the basics without you realizing it. Now that you've memorized that information, I can explain how to use them."

"Did you learn this in the library too!? Sugoi!" Naruto exclaimed. "I've never seen these before."

"Uh... no, Naruto. I didn't learn it in the library," she avoided shrinking when she realized the time of truth had come.

Her brother furrowed his brow. "Does this have to do with your... special powers?"

Seina was surprised to hear him, but she nodded. "Yes, it does."

"I see... How can I use them if I don't have this power?"

"You don't have the same amount of power as me, but our connection, being twins, has allowed you to receive a minimum. For certain things, like runes, I would say that the little power you have might be enough to make them work."

"And how do you know all this?" Naruto asked, strangely serious.

"...What I'm about to tell you, you can't tell anyone, okay?" she sighed, wondering if she should be telling a child barely over 7 years old the truth. "When I was born, I remembered my previous life. Somehow, my powers from that life transferred to this one, and through our bond, to you as well."

There was silence as her 7-year-old brother tried to take in what she was telling him. They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity, and then Naruto shrugged and smiled.

"Still, you're my sister, just with superpowers."

Seina hugged Naruto, feeling as if a weight she didn't even know she carried had been lifted off her shoulders. Naruto hugged her back tightly, sensing her emotions through their bond, which was almost always open but whose voices were somewhat... muted. She knew nothing had changed. Sitting back in her seat, she smiled at her brother, clearing her throat.

"I'd like to teach you runes and other things, but we'll take it step by step."

Seina went on to explain the basics of each rune, even though her brother had already memorized the condensed explanation of each one and the geometric patterns. She listed examples of how they could be used, their purposes, and what could go wrong if he rushed through without supervision. She also handed him a diary with blank pages that she had enchanted to be infinite and protected with runes to prevent damage.

"I've written down all the theory I'm explaining to you here, as well as some pre-made examples of runic sequences."

"Wow!" Naruto whispered in amazement as he tried to reach the diary's last page and found it impossible.

"You can take all your notes and write-ups in the same notebook. You'll never run out of pages, and it won't tear or lose pages, unless you choose to remove them yourself. Moreover, nobody will see what's written inside unless they're direct blood relatives," she explained, smiling at her brother's excitement-induced tears. "Anyone who opens it and reads it will think it's a child's personal diary. I have another one where I jot down my ideas and information I remember from my other self."

"Incredible! Magic is amazing!"

"It is. With my help, you'll not only be able to use runes, which is like practicing wandless magic, but you'll also be able to brew many potions that don't require magic and use arithmancy as a divinatory method."

Naruto seemed stunned by the realization of all he could do once he learned everything she knew. She was grateful for her own interest in studying for pleasure over her 120 years, otherwise, she was sure they would both have died or lived very different lives. At the very least, Naruto would have suffered malnutrition and been the worst in the academy due to constant sabotage attempts.

"You've used your magic before, right?" Naruto asked, his thoughts heading in the same direction. "That's why most people treat us with indifference instead of violence, why you go shopping alone, and why we've never experienced any robbery attempts."

"That's right. Not only that, this apartment is protected, and nobody can hear what we're really saying when we're inside. That's why I always tell you to wait until we get home... Remember the wooden chest I bought? That's where I keep all our money, and nobody can take it. I don't trust that they won't try to take it from our bank account if we leave it there. I also clean the apartment with spells, as well as our clothes, and make our clothes last longer than they should to save money."

"And the kunais you found?" Naruto asked. "Did you really find them?"

Seina smiled. "I bought the first kunais so nobody would suspect where they came from, then I transformed several rocks into different weapons and used runes to prevent them from turning back into rocks, however unlikely that might be. I did the same with clothes. Nobody knows exactly what I buy in the different stores, so I can transform clothing from rocks or wooden sticks. That's how I've saved so much money these past two years."

"Incredible! That means we have unlimited weapons and clothes! Yatta!"

They talked for several hours. She explained how she had enchanted the shower so that water always came out at the desired temperature as soon as the tap was touched, as the landlord had disconnected the water heater months ago. She used her powers to make some foods last longer and produce less waste. She also explained how she could study so much, thanks to duplicate scrolls she had in her possession without anyone noticing, even if they were sometimes kicked out of the library early... The only thing she didn't tell him was how she had used Yumi, the youngest matron at the orphanage, to benefit them.

The truth was that her previous life had taught her many things. One shouldn't distrust everyone, but one shouldn't be overly trusting either. She knew people were motivated by various things: money, their loved ones, and fear. That's why she had been using her spells to spy on people and steal their secrets. If she ever needed to blackmail someone, the Blacks had taught her how. It was only thanks to her constant spying that she had avoided more than one violent altercation and managed to escape the abuse from the village's adult civilians. It had also helped her realize that there were certain teachers at the academy who wanted to ruin their shinobi careers. Not to mention her knowledge of how they could get away with it without accusing them of cheating or copying.

On the other hand, if there was one thing she had learned living with the Dursleys, it was how to go unnoticed, ration the little food the Weasleys sent her, and prepare to live comfortably on the streets if necessary. Not to mention what she had learned during her time at Hogwarts: hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. She thanked Hermione for teaching her that studying wasn't punishment, as it was at her aunt's house, but a gift, as she remembered all the knowledge she had amassed in her 120 years of life.

The fact that Naruto wasn't the worst in his class but the fourth, had more than enough clothes, ate a balanced diet, and wasn't treated violently when they walked down the street was all thanks to her, and she didn't say that arrogantly. She knew that if she stopped using her powers, things would be very different. However, she also saw his graduation approaching, slowly but inexorably. There would come a day when Naruto wouldn't have her constantly by his side, and she worried about how he would survive if she didn't help him become self-sufficient now.

That's why she was willing to teach him runes, even knowing that it would raise many questions for Naruto and that she might have to tell him the truth, as had happened, putting herself in danger. Still, she had at least three years to teach him runes, potions, and, if possible, arithmancy, to a 7-year-old. She relaxed, thinking she had time and that Naruto wasn't stupid.

One day, since Naruto already knew about her abilities, she thought about buying a ninja tent to modify it. She could turn its interior into a city, if she wanted, but she wondered if it was practical considering that ninja only slept in tents under special circ*mstances. Still, she needed some kind of trunk or suitcase where she could neatly store all the scrolls she was copying and keeping in a mountain in the enlarged chest of money.

In the end, she gave up. They didn't have so many things to store secretly, and the last thing she wanted was for someone to discover a chest capable of containing an entire city. She postponed that idea until Naruto and she were at least genin, but she began to modify the typical ninja hip pouches and lower back packs with spells and runes. Usually, ninjas were limited regarding what items they could carry on a mission and have at hand, and not inside a scroll. If she modified the pouches, she could contain all sorts of weaponry within reach in the hip pouch, and any other items, like clothing or medicine, in the back pack.

The weight wouldn't matter. They couldn't be stolen, and nothing would break while inside the pouch. She knew it would be an essential piece of a ninja's equipment.

"Are you okay, Seina-san?" asked a serious voice, and she snapped out of her reverie.

She looked at Shino, to her right, and nodded. The truth was, she found classes boring. Being an adult in a child's body, as much as some of the things she was learning were entirely new, felt like cheating. Not only was she the top kunoichi in her class regarding theoretical exams, but also in taijutsu. After all, for her, memorizing and internalizing the curriculum with the help of occlumency and the library she had at home, which she could consult whenever she wanted, was like a walk in the park. Taijutsu, on the other hand, was something new, but with her adult mind, she could get distracted much less than the other kids. If she added to that the fact that she knew many combat strategies, thanks to her past as an auror, and that she could predict the unimaginative attacks of the children she attended class with... The academy was ridiculously easy.

The only thing that motivated her to keep going was Naruto, learning new techniques, as they were called in this world, and physical combat and weapons training. While it was true that she was skilled with a sword because the Gryffindor sword kept appearing to her when she was alive, she didn't know how to combine ninja acrobatic taijutsu with wielding a weapon at the same time. So, those classes interested her quite a bit.

"I thought we were going to learn something more interesting," Naruto complained once when they explained what they were going to teach them.

"Naruto, can't you see the potential these jutsus have?" she said, vibrating with excitement. "With henge, we can transform into anything. While it's true that many people can see through a henge or notice the differences if someone transforms into another person... can you imagine transforming into an object? You could turn into bandages and use the replacement jutsu to get into your enemies' pouches! Can you imagine what it would mean if that enemy enters their territory without realizing they're carrying their enemy with them and introducing them into their protected territory?"

Naruto's eyes began to widen with a manic gleam as he realized she was right. As soon as she listed the many uses of the 6 techniques they were going to teach him, she knew she had him. That's how Naruto, without even having to be urged to practice, spent hours practicing the E-type jutsus from the academy and then used them so that nobody caught him while he got back at the villagers with pranks and other childish antics. Seina only asked him not to get caught, not to let anyone know it was him, and not to hurt anyone. Everything else, he could get away with.

Her brother's best qualities were his perseverance and his creativity. Despite not being good at hitting the books, she knew that once he had a teacher for his team, he would improve incredibly. After all, Naruto liked to learn by doing. The same had happened to her, not because she struggled to study and retain information, but because the Dursleys had conditioned her when it came to studying. Hermione had needed almost 5 years to break those habits, and by then, she couldn't study runes or arithmancy at school because it had been years since optional classes had started. So, she had to study them on her own in the following years.

"This suck!" Naruto shouted when practicing clone creation.

"Mmm... What do you do before releasing the technique?"

She could create them, but she needed total control over her chakra because otherwise, they exploded.

"I add as much chakra as possible," Naruto sighed, and she shook her head.

"That's the problem. They're not meant for that much chakra. It's a technique for academy kids."

"Eh!? Are you saying I'm adding too much chakra?"

"Exactly. Try using the minimum chakra for the clone."

Naruto frowned and tried, his forehead beaded with sweat, but nothing. The clone had improved in appearance, but still looked like a zombie.

"I think you'll have to do chakra control exercises. I read it somewhere... Aha! Look at this," she showed him the scroll with the instructions and several examples. "Normally, academy students don't need to do them for these techniques, but you and I must have too much chakra for certain jutsus."

"How come you can perform a clone?" Naruto muttered, looking at the diagrams with an inferiority complex.

"Remember the occlumency I told you about?" she said, getting to the heart of the matter. "That's why. I can measure the chakra flow a jutsu requires, so I never use more or less chakra than necessary. Look at this."

She took a calligraphy pen and stuck it to her forehead with chakra, just as the scroll indicated. For her, whose occlumency barriers acted like a tap she could turn on and off at will, something she had taken years to learn to hide her magic and blend in on her missions as an auror, regulating the chakra she used was as easy as breathing. She hadn't imagined Naruto would have problems with some jutsus due to an excess of chakra.

She helped her brother start the chakra exercises and ordered him to practice every possible hour of the day. In the academy during theoretical classes, while eating, and during free time. In less than 3 weeks, Seina saw a clear improvement. Naruto went from getting angry because he couldn't keep a single leaf on his forehead to continuously keeping one and then two leaves. Over time, the clone looked less like a mannequin created by a blind 5-year-old and more like Naruto himself.

“Naruto is improving a lot," her classmates had said when it was time to demonstrate their skills.

"He was putting too much chakra into the technique," she commented in response to Chouji's remark.

"Hence the leaf on his forearm, I suppose," yawned Shikamaru, and she smiled. "At this rate, he might even graduate early."

She didn't say anything. She could have graduated a long time ago, but she didn't want to leave Naruto alone, and even though Naruto could keep up with her, she didn't want to put herself in danger prematurely. Until their graduation, they would receive a monthly stipend, so they didn't have to worry about working to live. Moreover, they were protected within the village and could learn peacefully thanks to all the free time they had. Why rush their graduation when they didn't have to take the exam until they were 11 years old? The only thing they would gain would be prestige, and even then, attracting the attention of certain people didn't interest her as it was potentially dangerous. No. It didn't make sense to stray from the path.

She saw Shikamaru glancing at her out of the corner of his eye, and she winked, losing her serious expression. Shikamaru cleared his throat with a slight blush, and Seina smiled even wider, if that was possible. Kids, some of them were adorable. She wondered which one of them would be part of her genin team and thought that as long as they didn't pair her with some hysterical Sasuke fangirl, she didn't care. Her head wouldn't withstand such constant screaming.

"Attention, kids! Today we're going to examine your taijutsu. I hope you've practiced in your spare time."

Suddenly, everyone started talking and cheering as they realized they would lose a few hours of class. Seina avoided rolling her eyes at the childish behavior of the other kids and stood up. In the years she had been in the academy, she hadn't lost a single fight, and she wasn't going to let 7 or 8-year-old kids beat her. To her surprise, the first match turned out to be Sasuke versus Naruto. She hadn't seen them fight before, but judging by Sasuke's cold glare, it didn't seem like either of them wanted to lose to the other.

The match lasted for 10 minutes, during which neither seemed willing to give up. Sasuke was more flexible and faster than Naruto, but her brother had more stamina and strength. She watched as Sasuke changed tactics as soon as he realized the same in the first few minutes and started attacking Naruto with feints and distractions, which, to his annoyance, didn't work. If there was one thing she had taught her brother during their multiple practice fights, it was how to fight against someone who used dirty tricks.

"Stop! The match ends at 10 minutes with a tie!" said Iruka-sensei and noted the result in his notebook.

Sasuke refused to shake Naruto's hand. He left with his hands in his pockets and a resentful look on his face. The other kids talked about the match, and some complained that Naruto had cheated. Fortunately, Iruka silenced them with a glance and a few words of reproach.

"Trying to belittle a classmate's achievements is not a good quality for a ninja," Seina mentally noted the 3 idiots who had insulted her brother, among whom was Sakura, and thought they would regret opening their mouths. She watched the other matches with total attention, and soon it was her turn.

"Seina Uzumaki versus Ino Yamanaka."

She entered the circle and saw Ino tightening her ponytail with a somewhat nervous expression. Both took their positions, and when Iruka started the match, Seina waited for Ino to launch herself at her. She tried to intimidate her by throwing a volley of punches and kicks, but Seina simply deflected them, using Ino's force against her. Within a few minutes, Ino grew tired as she hadn't landed a single blow, had used up a lot of her strength, and had also received several punches to the ribs when Seina redirected her arms and exposed her torso.

When she saw Ino panting, trying to catch her breath, Seina stepped forward and started throwing her own volley of kicks, punches, knee strikes, elbow strikes, and more. Ino could only go on the defensive, trying not to get knocked out, but she was tired, and Seina took only a minute to bring her down. She won the match in less than 5 minutes.

"The winner of this match: Seina Uzumaki."

She reached out her hand to Ino and helped her up. Her opponent seemed relieved that she didn't mock her and leave her on the ground, perhaps because some kids did just that. What could a 127-year-old gain from humiliating a young child? What was strange was that, after that fight, Ino approached her.

"How do you last so long in a fight? You didn't seem tired at all!" she asked at lunchtime.

"For starters, I don't diet," Seina replied calmly, and the kids around her laughed at her words. "I don't even know why you're dieting if you don't need to. Secondly, I saved my strength and redirected yours, using the gaps in your defense to hit you. Finally, I didn't let you recover, choosing that moment for my counterattack and putting you on the defensive."

"Do you think I should diet?" Ino asked, and Kiba laughed beside her. She elbowed him, silencing him instantly.

"Ino, you have a slender build," she began, exasperated. "Moreover, you're training to be a ninja. Your metabolism is much higher than many people's, which means you need to eat more than an adult civilian. If, on top of that, instead of eating more, you eat less than you need... Do you understand why you get tired so quickly? You have no reserves!"

She watched as Ino sighed, contemplating her words. Since she hadn't said it in a mean way and had given her logical reasons, Ino didn't seem upset by her scolding. With a downcast look, she sat with Naruto and her, who almost always ate together with Shikamaru, Chouji, Kiba, Shino, and Hinata. With a sigh, Seina offered her bento box and a pair of spare chopsticks.

"Eat."

Ino accepted the offering and thanked her almost timidly. She ate the food she had prepared for Naruto and her: rice with sauce, seasoned chicken, a salad with carrots, tuna, and cucumber, and fruits that she had peeled and cut into a fruit salad. They usually ate the same thing, but varied the first course. It had taken her some time to learn to cook Japanese dishes, but fortunately, she knew how to cook and could follow a recipe.

"Where's Sasuke-teme?" Naruto asked, and everyone shrugged.

"The last time I saw him, he was leaving the academy heading towards the nearest park," Ino sighed. "I saw Sakura following him."

"And you're not there!?" Kiba asked astonished, and Seina gave him a light slap on the head. "Hey!"

“Don't you know what tact is?" she asked rhetorically.

"Kiba is incapable of not putting his foot in his mouth at least once a day," Shino commented, examining the bugs on the nearest tree with a serious voice.

"HEY! What have I done to you guys?" Kiba protested.

"The truth is, I didn't feel like fighting with Sakura again today," Ino confessed, ignoring Kiba.

"You know that with your behavior, all you're doing is pushing Sasuke further away, right?" Seina stated.

Ino shrunk, looking at the ground. It seemed like she had lost her usual impulsive character after her defeat in the ring.

"Is that why you're ignoring him, Seina?" Kiba asked, chewing with his mouth open. "To make him like you?"

"Ew, Kiba, close your mouth!" Ino ordered, making a disgusted face.

Seina rolled her eyes and avoided crying out of frustration. How could she like a 7-year-old boy like Sasuke? Shikamaru chuckled while Naruto yelled at Kiba that his sister could never like a bastard like Sasuke.

"Seina doesn't like Sasuke, Kiba," Shikamaru informed with a yawn. "In fact, she's indifferent to him."

To her astonishment, the others, even Ino, nodded. She didn't think everyone would agree, but apparently, even kids almost 8 years old could feel her emotional state.

"I think he's been through a lot. I don't deny that," she said. "But right now, Sasuke doesn't have any qualities that appeal to me in that way."

"What do you mean?" Ino asked, confused.

"Basically, he's asking you what you see in that bastard," Naruto cut in, eating dessert.

"Not to offend, but basically, yes," she laughed. "Sasuke is intelligent, yes, but he's also cold and looks down on practically all of us. He's antisocial and distrustful, and he craves power. Those are not qualities I look for in a boyfriend."

"And what do you look for in a boyfriend?" Shikamaru raised an eyebrow in her direction, stopping his cloud watching.

Seina couldn't believe the conversation they were having right now. She wondered if she should give a troll response or tell the truth, but looking at Ino, perhaps if she understood why Seina thought some qualities were better than others, she would give up her futile interest in Sasuke.

"I'm looking for someone who is intelligent, reliable, and respectful," she thought aloud. "Someone I can talk to about anything and who truly listens to me. Someone who is a good person."

There was silence as everyone finished eating and pondered her words. Ino, in particular, seemed to be deep in thought with a furrowed brow. Shikamaru and Shino, however, turned to look at her with curiosity and contemplation. Perhaps her answer had been too mature? She metaphorically shrugged and put away her chopsticks in her empty bento box.

"T-those are g-good qualities, Seina-chan," Hinata said, looking flushed and glancing at her brother sideways. She smiled.

"I'm sure we'll both find someone like that," she winked.

Since they started the academy, Seina had gradually been befriending this group of people. The first person they met was Hinata when Naruto saved her from bullies one winter years ago. At first, being in Hinata's presence had irritated her due to her constant stuttering and extreme shyness, but soon she realized it was simply a result of how she was treated at home. Frustrated, she vowed to help her gain confidence so she could stop fainting at any social contact.

Now, although she still stuttered, the frequency of her stuttering had decreased exponentially, her blush no longer outshone tomatoes, and she almost never lowered her gaze or fumbled her fingers in discomfort. Like with Neville when he was a child, Seina had been able to relate to Hinata through their shared interests such as gardening, flower pressing, calligraphy, or medicine.

Something similar had happened with Shino, who wasn't shy but lonely. As she wasn't afraid of bugs, it had been easy to gradually gain his trust to the point that Shino always sat next to her or behind her in class. On the other hand, Kiba and Chouji were just as social as Naruto, so she hadn't had to do anything except bake a few cakes and cookies.

The most surprising was Shikamaru. He was the only one who approached her first, not the other way around. He challenged her to a game of shogi, and when she won after a game that lasted almost an hour, he seemed to decide that she wasn't as bad as a friend. After that, he started sitting behind her, sleeping next to Chouji, and then sleeping next to her at lunchtime while Kiba, Naruto, and Chouji played on the swings or with the ball.

More than once, she wondered what Naruto's childhood would have been like without her there to socialize with these kids. Would he have been able to pique Shino's interest? Would Hinata be able to be in Naruto's presence for a minute without fainting? Would Shikamaru be isolated from everyone else, except for Chouji, because of his intelligence? She dismissed those thoughts as they served no purpose and walked to class.

From that moment on, Ino stopped dieting and started sitting with them instead of chasing after Sasuke. Sakura, puzzled, sent haughty glares her way upon realizing she no longer had "competition," but Ino seemed oblivious to her. With Ino's help, practically the most extroverted person among them besides Kiba and Naruto, they were able to coax Hinata out of her shell.

"If only we could give her some new clothes..." Ino sighed exasperatedly. "She must be boiling in that jacket."

Seina nodded. Konoha was located in the Fire Country, so the climate was practically Mediterranean, if compared to something else. Still, Hinata always wore a lined jacket. Probably to blend in due to her shyness.

"Why don't you grow your hair out, Hinata?" Ino asked, touching Hinata's dark hair.

"My father says it would be a nuisance for me on missions," Hinata spoke quietly, looking at the ground, and Seina lifted her chin as usual.

"You don't necessarily have to wear it long," she said, always the voice of reason. "You could grow it to shoulder-length. It would look really good on you and wouldn't hinder you in fights."

Ino nodded fervently without saying a word, seeing that Hinata was considering it. After a while, Hinata agreed to let it grow a little.

"Besides, having long hair doesn't mean anything," Ino scoffed later. "Look at me. Look at Seina! She's never lost a fight and has hair just as long as mine!"

Seina had long hair, though in a triple braid, as she had seen pictures of her parents and noticed that her mother had extremely long hair. When she went to the salon under a different appearance, she only cut the bare minimum and asked them to layer her hair. Unlike her mother Kushina's red hair, she had her father's golden hair, just like Naruto. Her father Minato's blue eyes had reappeared in her brother, while she had her mother's dark violet eyes.

When Seina showed him pictures of their parents for the first time a year ago, he had started crying. It had affected him so much that he even asked her to change the bright orange tone of the jumpsuit he had fallen in love with and bought, for a white jacket with black sleeves and matching black pants. Seina agreed quickly. She had been trying for months to convince him to change the color of his clothes, but according to Naruto, as long as he wasn't a genin, wearing orange wouldn't kill him in the village. From that moment on, Naruto seemed more like her brother than ever before. They both wore dark pants, although she wore leggings, matching short-sleeved shirts, and a light-colored hoodie, hers in a pastel turquoise shade.

When they turned 9, Naruto finally managed to enter his mind, to his horror. That was the day she had to tell him about Kurama and how their parents had died.

"What IS THAT!? And HOW DID IT GET HERE!? SEINA!" Naruto shouted, and she calmed him down and took him away from there.

"That's called a demon. It's the Kyubi."

Naruto stood still like a statue as he finally understood why some people called them demons. She explained how she remembered the night their parents died and how Kurama attacked the village on orders from someone pretending to be the late Madara Uchiha. How their father had no choice but to seal the demon inside them and give his life in exchange for the village's survival.

It took her brother 5 days to speak to her again, to her irritation and pain. What could she have done? Told him when he was 5 years old? In the end, Naruto came to her with a guilty and hurt expression. That day they apologized for their first real fight and talked at length. She explained how she had cultivated her own relationship with Kurama all that time, how she had helped him despite being trapped in a cage from which she couldn't easily release him, and how Kurama helped her when she asked for help with anything.

"You need to talk to him," she advised. "I can help him like I've helped his other half, but you're the one who has to convince him that you're worthy of his friendship."

Naruto nodded with a determined expression, and they returned to his mind, where they transformed it from a sewer to his apartment at Naruto's request, surrounded by the Konoha forest. Seina helped her brother in every way she could and stayed when he woke up his half of Kurama. She gave him the orb her Kurama had given her, and although apprehensive, he accepted it.

"I need to think. Leave me."

Chapter 4 Chapter Text

By the time they turned 10, Naruto had also developed something of a relationship with the yang Kurama, managed to reproduce the runes on his own, and even learned to make some medical potions. Seina, who had been studying the scrolls from the now fully copied library on her own, learned not only D-rank jutsus but also some C-rank techniques and medical protocols, which she insisted Naruto learn with her.

Fortunately for Naruto, the occlumency barriers he worked on every night had exponentially helped him control his chakra, and now he could perform techniques much faster than before. As for money, they had managed to save about 100,000 ryo in their joint piggy bank, and separately, Seina had saved 48,000 ryo while Naruto, who took longer to learn how to manage his expenses, had only saved about 15,000 ryo.

"If we could save another 50,000 in a couple of years, we could buy one of the houses on the outskirts," Seina had said to her brother. "I've been looking at the real estate in the suburbs, and for 180,000 ryo, we could buy a one-story house with a couple of bedrooms and a small garden, ready to move in."

Naruto nodded.

"Anyway, we won't be able to buy any property until we're genin. Do you think we'll save that money?"

"If we do missions three times a week, we would earn about 18,000 ryo gross per month. In a couple of months, we could save what's left and recover a bit."

"Do you really think the old man will kick us out of here?" Naruto thought sadly, looking around.

"Naruto, do you really want to share a room with me for the rest of your life?" she rolled her eyes. "We both need our own space, and it wouldn't be bad to have a garden to grow what's needed for our potions or to train. Besides, if we buy a house for the two of us, I can protect it properly, and no one would be able to find out our address to attack or spy on us. If I did the same with an apartment, people would wonder why a certain apartment doesn't exist."

"You'd use that spell you told me about... the Fidelus."

"Exactly. If I do it, we'd never have to worry about security. Only I can be the Secret Keeper, and I don't plan to tell anyone where we live. Besides, once we're genin, the Hokage will likely stop sending his Anbu to protect us. We're getting fewer visits now, you know? It used to be daily, and now we barely get a visit once a month."

"Yeah… and with those other weird Anbu spying on us, maybe it's for the best."

"Also, we don't need a huge house," she said with a smile. "All I need is the base of the house and a piece of garden. Then I can enlarge the house and garden to our liking and we could add rooms or even another floor."

"It wouldn't be bad to have a pool!" Naruto exclaimed, forgetting his melancholy as he realized the possibilities.

Seina took out her muggle notebook, transformed from a stone, and made a list.

"We'll need 2 bedrooms, 2 studies, 3 bathrooms, a kitchen-dining room, a living room, a pantry-storage room, a library, a pool, the garden, maybe a greenhouse and a vegetable patch."

"We could have a guest room," Naruto requested, and she rolled her eyes. "I know it will be secret, but… we'll be part of a team. Maybe we could invite trustworthy people."

"Alright. Let's add 3 guest rooms and another bathroom. Hmm… It’s clear we’ll attract less attention from guests if we add at least one more floor besides enlarging the entire house."

"We could put the vegetable patch on the roof," Naruto suggested. "That way, it would always get sunlight and we wouldn't accidentally destroy it if we train in the garden."

Seina nodded. She drew a three-story house. On the ground floor, she drew a small entrance, the living-dining room, the kitchen with access to the pantry-storage room, the library, and a guest bathroom. On the second floor, she drew their bedrooms with their own bathrooms and both studies. On the top floor, she sketched the 3 guest rooms and a full-sized bathroom. In the garden, she drew a rectangular pool on the right side, separated by a row of trees from the rest of the garden and surrounded by stone pavement.

Naruto, smiling, made unconscious noises of satisfaction as he looked at it.

"I'll save everything I can this year," he assured her, and she promised the same.

"We’ll need to start collecting rocks and material so I can transform everything quickly when we buy the house."

They agreed to start gathering rocks and storing them in an enlarged, bottomless chest she would enchant once she bought it. With a bit of luck, they'd have enough material to furnish both floors and build the different levels. With runes, they’d fix the materials and space to prevent them from reverting to their original state, and they could also disconnect from the water and electricity systems. They wouldn’t need heating, cleaning, or many other things she could build with runes for Naruto to use, like a waterless washing machine or a self-cleaning refrigerator cabinet with light and multiple compartments to prevent food from spoiling.

Just thinking about everything she could do made her vibrate with excitement. She wanted a house because, once it was theirs, she could make it disappear and practice all the magic she wanted without endangering her brother. If they ever had a family, all they’d need to do was build an identical house next door and, even if they shared the garden and pool, they wouldn’t have to pay more money for something that was already theirs.

That year, besides planning to buy a house, another teacher arrived at the academy. His name was Mizuki, and every time she saw him, a shiver ran down her spine. This guy was the first ninja to have the pleasure of being read by her legilimency. When she saw the hatred he harbored towards them and his greed, his plan to use them as scapegoats to steal the scroll with the village’s secret techniques… She almost wanted to strangle him right there, but settled for making him bald, as she had done with those kids who accused Naruto of cheating, and then planned how to use him to their advantage.

The thing is, she couldn’t report him since she had no proof and didn’t want to reveal her magical powers, so her only option was to use Mizuki and get him caught red-handed. In fact, it was Naruto who gave her the idea.

"Why don't we steal the scroll and blame him?" her brother asked, and she looked at him a bit stunned. "If we do it right, we can make him confess without realizing it in front of other teachers. Actually, I should steal it alone. No one would believe you would let someone so dumb trick you."

"Mmm… Not bad, Naru. We could make him confess in front of Iruka. Yes, not bad at all. Besides, I’m interested to know what techniques are in that scroll that I didn’t know about."

Naruto snorted a laugh.

"You mean, copy the scroll."

"How well you know me. Alright. This is what we'll do."

They planned to steal the scroll before graduation, saying Mizuki had told them it was an additional exam. For Seina, it wasn’t difficult to implant that idea in him and gradually manipulated him to think the plan he was drawing up was his own idea, not an invention of his students he wanted to deceive. The day before graduation, Mizuki approached them with his brilliant "plan."

"What an idiot," Naruto rolled his eyes, walking to steal the scroll with his hands behind his head. "See you later."

Seina nodded and went to the agreed place. Naruto, with his invisibility and silencing bracelet, could steal that scroll with his eyes closed. In less than half an hour, he had it in his possession.

"Look at this. It’s huge!" Naruto exclaimed, handing her the scroll that was as tall as his torso and had a diameter larger than even his head.

"Give it to me."

She copied it and put the duplicate in her bottomless black pouch. Then, she became invisible and followed Naruto to the meeting place with Mizuki. Iruka, who they had been leaving clues for to distrust Mizuki, saw his fellow teacher leaving the academy towards the forest. Seina, who was spying on them, gave Iruka a mental push. She followed both silently and listened as Mizuki tried to hurt her brother by telling him the truth about the nine-tailed fox. She watched as Iruka clenched his fists, enraged, and went to Naruto's rescue.

The situation didn’t escalate. The only surprising thing was the dozens of clones Naruto, bored, had created thanks to a jutsu he had learned by opening the scroll, to her exasperation.

"Where's your sister?" Iruka asked, once Mizuki was subdued and left unconscious.

"Seina must be walking around the village or buying a book," Naruto shrugged, as if nothing happened. "She doesn’t know I’m here. She thinks I’m in the apartment."

Iruka sighed. When she saw that nothing would happen to her brother, Seina slowly left and went to the bookstore and walked around the village, just as Naruto had said. Smiling, she went home and started preparing dinner. When Naruto returned, he was accompanied by Iruka, but since her brother warned her through their mental bond, she wasn’t surprised.

"Seina… I’m bringing your brother back," Iruka sighed in exasperation.

"What happened?"

"I'll let Naruto tell you all the details. Luckily, it wasn't that bad."

"Mizuki-teme tried to use me to get a secret scroll!" Naruto said, pretending to be angry. "But we gave him a beating!"

"Yeah, something like that," Iruka laughed. "I'll leave you to your dinner. Remember, tomorrow you have your graduation exam at 10 o'clock sharp. Don't be late! See you tomorrow!"

"Goodbye, sensei!"

As soon as the door closed and the protections reactivated, Seina looked at her brother.

"Did you really open the scroll?"

"I just wanted to see what it contained! You won't believe it! Look at this! Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Three more Narutos identical to her brother appeared, and Naruto asked her to whisper a number into each of their ears. When they disappeared in a small cloud of smoke, Naruto smiled.

"The numbers were 10, 546, and 1001."

"How is that possible?" she asked, astonished.

"Everything my clones do, I can remember. Also, they only disappear if they get a fatal blow or if I deactivate them."

"Do you know what that means?" Seina whispered, containing her excitement as she realized the gift they had received almost by accident thanks to the idiot Mizuki.

"Yes! Think of all the pranks we can pull! I will have perfect alibis, nee-chan!"

"No, Naruto! I mean that if your clone transfers all its knowledge to you, we can use them for training, and you'll be training twice as much with just one clone."

Naruto looked at her with his mouth open, realizing she was right. That night they went to bed early after she tried the jutsu, although both were too excited about the discovery to really sleep.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, the next day had finally come, and it was time for their graduation. Iruka called them in alphabetical order.

"Shino Aburame."

"Hinata Hyuuga."

"...Shikamaru Nara..."

"...Sasuke Uchiha."

Seina stopped her brother's nervous leg and sent him a mental message.

"Stay still."

"Naruto Uzumaki."

Seina bit her lip as she watched her brother go down, but within minutes she felt Naruto's great happiness through their bond and avoided sighing in relief.

"Seina Uzumaki."

She nervously stepped forward and stood in front of Iruka and two other ninjas she didn't recognize. Iruka smiled and gestured with his hand.

"Welcome, Seina. We'd like you to start with a henge."

She nodded and transformed into her brother without any problem. She had been using this technique and spells for years to buy food without being cheated. She saw them examining her and nodding for her to release the jutsu, noting something down.

"Next, we'd like you to perform a body replacement."

"With what object?" she asked.

"Anything you want."

She looked around and focused on a trash can in the corner. In less than an instant, she replaced herself with it and appeared on the other side of the classroom. She replaced herself with the trash can again and smiled at the amused looks of the examiners.

"Finally, the cloning technique."

She used the academy technique, and a couple of identical copies of her appeared. The examiners checked all the details before asking her to release the jutsu. She stood much calmer, realizing it had been extremely easy.

"Well, Seina," Iruka smiled. "I must congratulate you. You have received excellent marks in all the demonstrated techniques, as well as in taijutsu, theoretical exams, and shurikenjutsu. You are the top kunoichi of the class. Congratulations! You are now a genin!"

"Thank you very much, Iruka-sensei," she thanked, bowing and choosing the black headband.

"You may go. Tomorrow at 10 o'clock you will return to classroom A1 to find out your team."

Seina nodded and left with the ninja headband in her hand. She smiled, realizing that now they could move out of the apartment and buy their own house. When she walked out to the yard where everyone was waiting, she smiled at her brother first and then at her friends.

"YATTA!" Naruto shouted, jumping on her.

"How could she fail, Naruto?" Ino asked exasperatedly. "She's the best in the class."

Seina saw that Naruto had taken the black headband, just like her, and was already wearing it on his forehead, as were Shino, Kiba, and Chouji. Ino had it tied around her waist, Shikamaru on his right arm, and Hinata around her neck.

"So, where are you going to wear it?" Naruto asked, feeling her thoughts.

"Around my neck, obviously," she smiled, putting it on like Hinata. "That way my throat is less exposed. It could even save my life since it's metal."

Ino looked at the band on her waist and took it off. "I hadn't even thought of that. Well done, girls!"

Hinata blushed slightly but smiled. They all went to Chouji's family restaurant, where they were invited as a celebration. They spent a couple of hours eating and then went to their respective homes to celebrate with their families. Naruto and Seina went back to their apartment, where Seina had prepared a gift for her brother, identical to what she had bought for herself.

"Here, Naru, this is for you," she said, offering him the cardboard box where she had stored everything. "I have one just like it. I hope you like it and find it useful."

"I also have something for you!"

Seina took the small package Naruto handed her and opened it excitedly. To her astonishment, she saw a silver locket on a matching chain. It was round, with a green four-leaf clover engraved on it. When she opened it, she saw a mirror instead of a photograph and frowned.

"A mirror?"

"Do you remember the mirrors you mentioned having in the other world?" Naruto said, grinning from ear to ear. "Well, I managed to replicate the runes on this mirror. So we can always communicate whenever we want or in case of an emergency."

Seina was stunned. She had never considered making something like this because she lived with her brother, the only person who knew about her abilities, and it didn't make sense. Also, she could talk to him through her mind, so a communication mirror wouldn't be extremely useful. Still, the fact that Naruto wanted her to have it meant that despite their mental bond, he wanted to talk to her. It must have taken him several tries since she knew it wasn't an easy sequence.

"Thank you, Naruto. I love it."

"I've tested them, so I know they work," her brother blushed at her words. "Well, I'm going to open your gift."

Seina watched as he took out the pouch, the kunai holster for his thigh, a small case full of potions, ointments, and antidotes that she had been making and storing under spells to keep them intact, the new clothes, the weapons, and a small jewelry box containing various items.

"Sugoi... You included instructions!" Naruto laughed as he saw the instructions pasted on the lid of the potion case.

"That's right. The potions won’t perish if you don't use them; until you break the seal of each vial, the spell preserving them won't break."

She explained the spells and runes she had sewn and placed on the clothes, making it nearly impossible for them to be destroyed, and how they were enchanted to be the right temperature depending on the weather conditions. The weapons, despite being transformed from rocks, had been enchanted to never break or need sharpening.

"Additionally, they're connected to your holster. You just need to press the button for three seconds, and they'll appear in their compartments, ready to use. The pouch, on the other hand, is bottomless. Right now, it's empty, but you can put anything you want in it. To retrieve something, just reach inside and think of the item. Like the clothes and weapons, it's indestructible, and no one can steal it without getting electrocuted."

"And I suppose that even if someone does steal it, they won't be able to take anything out without my blood."

"Exactly."

"Could you make me a copy of all the scrolls you've copied?" Naruto asked. "I might need them someday, and I'd like to have them in my backpack."

She nodded and took out the jewelry box.

"You're going to like this."

"Are these earrings?" Naruto asked, looking at the small silver ball-tipped jewelry.

"Yes. One of them will let you hear from about 20 meters away when activated. You'll need to practice as it's a bit strange. Another one is a poison detector, but keep in mind the limitations: it can only detect poison within a range similar to the diameter of your head, with the origin being the earring, of course."

"I see. So, if I put something poisoned in my mouth or the air is poisoned, it will detect it. But if someone tries to poison me with a wound on my leg, I won't know."

"Correct! When it detects something, you'll feel it turn cold and it will vibrate a bit."

"And the bracelet?"

"It's not a bracelet. It's an anklet. It's enchanted so that no one but you and I can see it. It's a portkey, or it will be. I want to anchor it to the house we buy. We'll need to think of an activation phrase."

Naruto's eyes were wide.

"Now that I think about it, I might use our locket as a portkey too. Yours will take you to me, and vice versa."

"And can it take people with me?" Naruto asked, jumping in his seat.

"As long as they're touching you, yes, so be careful."

Seina put the earrings on Naruto and let him explore his new belongings.

She had also bought clothes for herself, realizing it would be more effective to blend in with dark clothing than with a light blue jacket. She bought several pairs of black pants and leggings, black closed boots, and various dark-colored shirts with sleeves and straps. She also bought several ninja bras in black, gray, and navy blue, and a reversible winter jacket, white on one side and black on the other, with padding inside, as well as reversible hats for cold weather and the same for gloves and a neck gaiter. For warmer climates, she bought a white cotton jacket for the desert and another dark gray, almost black, zippered jacket for everyday use, which also had a couple of external diagonal pockets and an internal pocket, all with zippers.

Of course, chainmail shirts to wear under her clothes were a must, along with sewn runes and dozens of enchantments she had placed on the clothes to make them last a long time and not outgrow her. She was sure that, over time, she would come up with more things to add to them.

"Congratulations, kid," Kurama said when she told him that night. "I was sure you would make it."

"Thanks, Kurama."

"What are you going to do with your apartment now? Are you moving soon?" asked the bijuu, who was aware of all their plans.

"Tomorrow we'll find out our team. We might be out all day, so we've decided to go house hunting the day after tomorrow on the outskirts. We've saved almost 190,000 ryo over this time, so we should be able to buy something," she shrugged. "We don't have to decide whether to renew the lease on this apartment or move out until the end of the month, in two weeks."

"Humans, always in such a rush."

"Hey! It's not my fault. I'm going to sleep. I know when I’m not wanted!"

The next day, Naruto woke her up at 7 in the morning.

"Narutoooo!" she groaned when she saw the time. "What are you doing? There's still 3 hours until the meeting!"

"I couldn't sleep, nee-chan!"

"Ugh..."

She got up and went to shower. When she came out, she saw that Naruto was too excited to even make breakfast, so she sent him to shower while she prepared breakfast and a bento, just in case. They ate breakfast in silence and rested on the couch for a while until it was time to leave.

"Can you believe this day has finally come?" her brother asked, dressed in his new clothes.

"Yes. It was only a matter of time."

Naruto rolled his eyes at her exasperation. "Don't be like that, Seina! Aren't you at least a little curious to know who will be on your team for the next few years?"

"Of course, I am, but we're about to find out. I can control myself. Unlike you."

Naruto smiled but didn't argue. They entered the academy, and she saw that Naruto wasn't the only one excited. Despite being 20 minutes early, most were already present, chatting with their friends and classmates. They sat in their usual seats, and Naruto immediately started talking to Kiba, who was to his left.

"I don't know what we're doing here," yawned Shikamaru, wiping a tear. "I already know I'm going to be with Chouji and Ino."

"They might surprise us," Chouji said, eating some chips.

Ino sighed and agreed with Shikamaru. "I don't think so. The surprise will be knowing who our sensei is."

They waited the remaining time, and then a couple of jounin appeared, accompanying Iruka, who had a scroll in hand. One of them seemed to be sick and kept coughing, while the other was the Hokage's son. Iruka called for their attention to quiet down, and everyone obeyed in record time.

"Welcome, everyone. First, I wanted to congratulate you on passing the exam and becoming true ninjas. As I know you're eager to know your team, I'll start reading your names," he cleared his throat and opened the scroll. "Team 1: Hakuto Nohara, Sakura Haruno, and Mamoru Ikebana. Your jonin sensei is Hayate Gekko."

"WHAT!?" Sakura shouted. Everyone turned to look at her, except for the one she wanted to notice her. "THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE!"

"Sakura! Stop screaming like a little girl!" Iruka reprimanded her. "You are a genin now! Act like it!"

"Team 1. Come with me," the sickly man coughed, and everyone followed him, despite Sakura looking like she was about to cry.

Seina and her friends exchanged amused and exasperated glances. Shikamaru even seemed irritated by Sakura's predictable outburst. They continued listening to the groups being called and saw several more jonin sensei appear. Finally, it was time for Team 7.

"Team 7: Sasuke Uchiha, Seina Uzumaki, and Naruto Uzumaki. Your jonin sensei is Kakashi Hatake."

Naruto and Seina whipped around to look at each other, surprised, but then Naruto began to smile. Meanwhile, Seina thought about how strange it was for them to be together. Normally, family members were not placed on the same team since it was a weakness. If Naruto were in an extreme situation where he had to choose between saving her, his sister, or saving Sasuke, a stranger but necessary for the mission, what would he do? For Seina, the answer was clear. She would save Naruto.

"It’s obvious this has to do with me," Kurama commented, speaking to her mentally. "Maybe they think your sensei can control a possible 'episode' if I misbehave and try to escape… Or perhaps it’s easier to manage one team with two jinchuriki than two separate teams."

"Is that why we’re together?"

"Could be. Who is this Kakashi Hatake?"

"I think I’ve heard something about him. Rumors say he has a sharingan in one of his eyes."

"Then I think I’m right. The sharingan, when used properly, can control a bijuu. The only other person with such potential is the angry brat, Sasuke, and he hasn’t awakened it yet, though, interestingly, he’s also on your team. Makes you think, doesn’t it…?"

Seina realized he was right. She frowned. Were Naruto and she on the same team with two people who had the sharingan in case Kurama acted up? At the same time, their sensei would be able to help Sasuke with his sharingan. Killing two birds with one stone. Very typical of the ninja mentality. Regardless, she thought it didn’t matter. On one hand, she was glad to be able to look after her brother and be on the same team with him.

"Team 10: Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yamanaka, Chouji Akimichi. Your sensei is Asuma Sarutobi."

She snapped back to reality and saw that all her friends, except Naruto and herself, had left with their sensei. She noticed Sasuke was still in the classroom and realized their new teacher hadn’t shown up yet. She looked at the clock and saw it was almost 25 minutes past the scheduled time. Perfect. Kakashi Hatake must be the only ninja in the village who was late.

Chapter 5 Chapter Text

When the classroom emptied, except for the three of them, Iruka looked at them with a mix of pity and amusem*nt.

"He's sure to arrive soon, guys. Don't get discouraged. You can stay here in the meantime."

"What!?" exclaimed Naruto, annoyed. "Do we really have to wait for someone this unpunctual? Who is this Kakashi Hatake?"

"I'll let you find out for yourselves. Ja ne!"

Sasuke stifled a sigh that she heard with her enchanted ears. Naruto sat down in his seat begrudgingly, and she leaned over the table. Gradually, the academy emptied. Only the custodians and a couple of teachers remained, as she could detect with her hearing. Them, and the ninja in the tree. She had heard him land quite some time ago but hadn't paid much attention. Maybe he was one of the ANBU protecting them. Then she had a hunch. What if that stranger was really their new sensei?

"Naruto," she called mentally to her twin and saw him focus his attention on her without moving. "Cover me from the window."

Her brother turned around in his chair, twisting his torso towards her and looking at her with a raised eyebrow. She conjured some glasses and enchanted them with a spell similar to X-rays, allowing her to see through Naruto, the wall, and the tree. She saw him sitting on a high branch, leaning against the trunk, watching them closely. He had silver hair, his ninja headband covering one eye, and a mask covering the lower half of his face, including his nose. He wore the typical jonin uniform with black pants, black sandals, bandages on his ankles, a dark blue long-sleeve shirt, a dark green vest, and black fingerless gloves.

She made the glasses disappear and saw Naruto, who had been in her mind while she looked, frown. It seemed he had also deduced who that man was.

"Is that our jonin sensei?" he asked, and she shrugged before nodding. "What's he doing up there instead of presenting himself to us?"

"Maybe he's observing to see how we communicate with each other? Or perhaps testing our patience. Or both."

"Should we say something to the bastard?"

"I brought a bento for the three of us. Maybe we can offer him some food while we wait. That way, Kakashi-sensei will see that we're willing to interact with him and that we have enough patience not to lose our temper."

"Sounds good to me. You talk to him; he hates you less."

Seina smiled and took out her bento from the enchanted waist bag. Naruto sat properly in his seat, leaving her in view of the stranger, and she looked at Sasuke in the front row.

"Sasuke? I brought a bento for my team. If you want, we can eat together while we wait for Kakashi-sensei."

Sasuke stared at her and then at the bento she had placed on the table. A few minutes passed in silence, but seeing that it didn't seem like the aforementioned would appear, he approached them and sat down without a word. She handed him a new pair of chopsticks, and the three of them started eating. She thanked Merlin that Naruto had bitten his tongue while Sasuke debated whether to eat with them or not.

They had lunch for almost an hour, unhurriedly, until the stranger descended from the tree and headed toward the academy. A few minutes later, just as she had thought, he appeared at the door and called them.

"Team 7. Follow me," he said and disappeared after pointing to the ceiling.

"Is he on the roof?" asked Naruto, and she nodded. Sasuke looked at her and started walking. "What are we waiting for then?"

"Do you sense his chakra?" asked Sasuke, suddenly starting a conversation.

"Not exactly. I could if I wanted to, but I actually have good hearing."

Naruto smiled at her joke and said nothing. Sasuke seemed somewhat incredulous. However, when they found Kakashi-sensei on the roof, he looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"You're finally here, Team 7. You took your time."

His single gray eye lingered on each of them for a few seconds, and when he looked at her, Seina raised an eyebrow at his audacity. For a moment, Kakashi-sensei's serious expression changed, and she sensed a hint of a smile that he quickly controlled.

"Well, since we're here, why don't we get to know each other a bit. Introduce yourselves and tell me what you like, what you hate, and your future desires."

"Why don't you start?" asked Sasuke, sending him an irritated look.

"Alright. My name is Kakashi Hatake. Things I like and things I hate… I don't feel like telling you that. My dreams for the future… I've never thought about it."

Seina couldn't suppress a laugh of disbelief, realizing he hadn't told them anything except his name, which they already knew. Naruto, with a tic in his eye, seemed more irritated than Sasuke and her, if possible.

"WHAT THE HELL!? YOU DIDN'T TELL US ANYTHING!" he shouted. Seina felt her shoulders shake with laughter.

"You, the emo, you're up," he said as if he hadn't heard him. She had to stifle another chuckle. "We don't have all day."

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. What I have is not a dream because I will make it a reality. I'm going to kill a certain person and restore my clan."

A silence ensued where everyone looked at Sasuke, who stared into the distance, and Seina couldn't help but roll her eyes at her teammate's response. She turned to look at their new sensei, shaking her head slowly with some incredulity, and Kakashi-sensei seemed to ignore Sasuke and looked at her.

"My name is Seina Uzumaki. I like many things. I hate prejudiced and intolerant people. As for dreams… Hmm… Having a Pokémon in real life."

Sasuke glanced at her, confused at the mention of a Pokémon, and Kakashi seemed to smile behind his mask with a raised eyebrow.

"And finally, the other blonde."

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I like my sister, ramen, and learning new techniques. I hate the time it takes to prepare food and stupid people. My dream is to become Hokage so that people have to take back their words."

Seina patted him on the shoulder. Kakashi-sensei looked at the three of them again and sighed.

"Alright. Tomorrow you'll have a test to see if you're capable of being genin. If you fail, you'll go back to the academy. If you pass, you'll become my genin."

Seina squeezed Naruto's arm when she knew he was about to complain, an act that didn't go unnoticed by their sensei's eye. Kakashi-sensei stood up and leaned over them menacingly.

"I'll see you tomorrow at 5 in the morning, at training ground 33. I wouldn't eat breakfast if I were you, or you'll vomit it."

He disappeared in a swirl of leaves, and they stood there for a few seconds. She knew he had left, although he could have been too far away for her spells to hear him.

"Is anyone going to listen to him?" Seina asked. "I plan on eating. It's better to vomit than to starve. Besides, don't they say in the academy that we should always eat?"

"Do you think he's testing us?" Sasuke asked, understanding her words.

"I think so. Look. So far, he's been testing the basics they teach us in the academy: being patient before entering combat, knowing how to keep secrets and confidential information, the act of eating... Even, depending on how you look at it, he's testing if we're capable of disobeying an order from a superior."

"So, shouldn't we listen to him?"

"Naruto, we're ninja, but we still have free will. If someone told you to jump off a bridge for no apparent reason and no need, would you do it?" Seina rolled her eyes. "Kakashi-sensei doesn't seem like an ordinary person. I have a feeling he wants us to think with our heads instead of blindly following his orders like sheep."

"Fair enough," Sasuke agreed. "I think you're right. See you tomorrow at the training ground."

"Until tomorrow, Sasuke."

Seina and Naruto, realizing they had more time than expected, ate at the ramen stand and then went to visit the real estate agency in the suburban neighborhood.

"Use henge to change your appearance. We don't want to get ripped off. These people don't care who we are as long as we're ninja and have the money, but it's better not to risk it."

"Alright."

They entered one of the real estate agencies and looked at the information sheets with photographs of each house. An agent approached them from behind, and they turned to look at him.

"Welcome to Maki Properties! How can I help you?"

"We're looking for an independent property with a garden. Our maximum price is 190,000 ryo."

"You've come to the right place. We have several properties that might interest you. Please, have a seat."

Seina and her brother sat down, and they saw him pull out several sheets whose prices were below their budget. She saw a few that needed several repairs for much less money than their budget, and there was also a house with a lot of land that only had one floor.

"What do you think of these?" the agent asked. "If you tell me your requirements, we can start ruling some out."

"To start with, we'd like any renovations to be purely cosmetic," she said, seeing that Naruto had no idea what to say. "At least one kitchen, one bathroom, 2 bedrooms, a living-dining room, and the garden. Oh, and they shouldn't be made of wood."

"I think we have a couple of those. They're below your budget, but they're not furnished. That's the downside."

He showed them a couple of houses. Both had 2 floors and a spacious garden. One had a white facade with mahogany brown window frames matching the door. She looked at the pictures inside the house, and, as expected, she realized that the layout was practically the same as their apartment, but it had a medium-sized entrance with a closet and shoe rack, and the kitchen was separated from the living-dining room by a one-meter wall, if she wasn't mistaken with the measurements. The kitchen was large, enough to have a modest-sized island, and was loaded with cabinets. The ground floor had a small, complete bathroom, and upstairs there was another larger, complete bathroom and 3 bedrooms. The garden was in pretty bad condition but was decent in size.

The other house also had 2 floors, although it looked older due to its dark appearance. The house's layout was practically identical, but, as it was smaller, instead of having 3 bedrooms, there were 2, one larger with its own private bathroom. The garden was larger than the other house, though in equally bad condition.

The cost was 180,000 ryo for the first and 165,000 for the second. She also noticed that the houses seemed to be in opposite directions in the village. While the first seemed to be located on a hill west of Konoha's main entrance, the second house was near the river and seemed to be behind another hill.

"What do you think?"

"I like the first one better," Naruto agreed, and she nodded. "We can easily furnish it with your skills, and we could move in without having to repair anything, except clean it and fix the garden."

"Also, I don't know if you noticed its location on the map, but the second house is in a shaded area. Maybe that's why the price is much cheaper despite being closer to the center,” she said to her brother. And then, to the other man, “Could we go see the first house? The white one."

The agent, a friendly-looking young man with brown hair and eyes, nodded. "It's relatively close. We can get there in a 10-minute walk."

That same afternoon, they visited their first house. To their surprise, they both loved it. It was quite far from the center, but with their skills, they could quickly get to anywhere. Besides, it didn't need any repairs, as Naruto had said, and it was in a neighborhood where the neighboring houses were quite far apart, surrounded by a clearing and a bit further, they had the forest. Moreover, the sun seemed to shine on it at all times because there were no neighboring buildings casting shadows.

When they finished the tour, Naruto was practically bouncing with excitement. "What do you think? I love it! Look at all the sunshine and the land! We can see part of the village from up here!"

Seina nodded and turned to the agent, Makoto. "When could we sign the papers?"

"So, you liked it?" Makoto smiled. "Great! We can sign them this afternoon if you have the money in cash or a check. We close in 2 hours so you can sort out the paperwork if necessary. We just need to check that your ninja license is valid and the money."

Seina nodded, not mentioning that she had the money with her. They went back to the real estate agency, and Makoto sat in his corner, as before.

"Should I assume you have the money in cash?"

"Is that very common?" Naruto asked when he saw that Makoto didn't seem surprised.

Makoto shrugged, smiling. "Ninjas often don't trust anyone. We're used to receiving cash payments. If you hand me your ninja licenses, I'll start the paperwork."

Seina and Naruto handed over their civilian licenses. They were different from ninja licenses. They only had the ninja registration code and their names. Since civilians didn't usually interact with ninja, even if they might know their names, they never associated it with a ninja's appearance. Moreover, all ninja paperwork was never filed in civilian offices but was transferred to ninja offices to protect the shinobi's identity as well as their home addresses, among other things. That way, the village's shinobi could interact with civilians without compromising their security.

While Makoto finished filling out the paperwork, she took out the money and counted the necessary bundles.

"All right. Here you go. Sign with your name and your fingerprint."

Seina read all the data and saw that everything was correct. She even used her powers but found nothing suspicious. She signed with her name and fingerprint, and then Naruto did the same. Meanwhile, Makoto was counting the money with a special machine. The transaction lasted barely half an hour.

"Here's the key to your new house. The documentation will be archived this afternoon, as usual. I'll give you a copy of the contract and all the documents you'll need to keep."

She put it in her fanny pack, along with the key, and got up followed by her brother.

"A pleasure doing business with you! Enjoy your new home!"

They left without further ado. She could hardly believe it. While it was true that transactions in ninja villages were very quick, she was used to the bureaucracy of her old world. She never would have imagined that they would walk out with a house on the first and only day of visiting a real estate agency. She had thought that they would probably need a couple or more days to decide and buy.

"Yatta! We have our own house, nee-chan!" Naruto exclaimed when they were far from the agency. "Let's go see it!"

She nodded. "I want to put up some protections so no one can break in while we sort out the apartment issue."

When they arrived at their apartment that night, they were exhausted. Not only had they protected the new house, but they had also checked that their documentation had been delivered to the appropriate office, as Makoto promised.

"Our rent ends in 2 weeks," she reminded her brother. "We'll have to take advantage of it to move and furnish it before the end of the month."

"We can use clones to clean the house and fix it. We'll surely get it done in less than a day," Naruto said, eating the rice and meat. "Plus, before furnishing it, we could expand it."

"Not just that. The ground floor is practically how we wanted it, except for a pantry-storage room. However, the second floor has 3 bedrooms and a bathroom... We can easily change the bathroom door inside one of the rooms, and the remaining room can be one of the studies. The hardest part will be building a bathroom in one of the rooms."

"And how will we make the third floor?"

"That's easy. I just have to expand the space vertically and add the floor, creating a completely new floor above. What's missing is building a suitable staircase."

"Do you think you can do it in 2 weeks?"

"Yes. Now that I think about it -, the second floor is exactly how we want the third floor to be in our draft… Maybe we could leave it as it is and make the second floor new starting from the first floor."

"Well, I'll leave it up to you," Naruto chuckled, somewhat confused. "Will you need more stones for the furniture?"

"For now, I think we have enough. We've accumulated enough to make 2 new floors. Maybe even have some left over," she sighed. "We should prepare the bento and breakfast for tomorrow. We have to wake up very early."

Naruto groaned at the reminder and then helped her prepare the food. Later, they showered and went to bed.

When she woke up, she could swear she had only closed her eyes 5 minutes ago. She even woke up earlier than Naruto, who was exhausted from the previous day, and heated up breakfast before waking her brother up. Unfortunately, the area they had agreed to meet was quite far away so they had to run to get there in half an hour.

"At least this way we warm up before we arrive," she said, but Naruto was more asleep than awake.

When they arrived, they found Sasuke leaning against a tree. As expected, the teacher was not there. He didn't even hear anything strange with his enchanted ears.

"Good morning, Sasuke."

"Uzumaki," he nodded curtly.

"You can call me Seina if you want."

"And I'm Naruto."

"I'll call you dobe, if you don't mind," he said, almost jokingly, in a dry and cold tone. Seina couldn't help but laugh at her brother's face.

"…Teme!" Naruto sighed deeply but said nothing more. "Couldn't you use some spell to know if he's here or not?"

"He's not here," she replied, after using one of her spells to detect presences.

Naruto groaned in frustration and threw himself to the ground. Fortunately, it was warm despite being so early, so they both closed their eyes and relaxed. She felt Sasuke's penetrating gaze on her face before he looked away. They spent the time and she almost fell asleep from how quiet the forest was. 8 o'clock came and Kakashi-sensei didn't show up. An hour later, Naruto, Sasuke, and Seina were eating when she heard the sound of shoes hitting a branch.

"He's here," she told her brother, but Naruto pretended not to hear her.

They packed up their things and sat in the shade to escape the sun. Only when it was 10 o'clock did Kakashi-sensei show up reading an orange book that Seina knew was p*rn.

"You're late!" Naruto scolded with a shout that must have been heard all the way to the Hokage Tower.

Sasuke sent a murderous glance at his new teacher while Seina raised an eyebrow, suppressing a laugh at his bullsh*t excuses. A black cat? Kakashi Hatake was a troll from head to toe. She was starting to like him.

"Well, let's start the exercise. You have a couple of hours, until noon, to take one of these bells from me," he explained, showing them some small bells he had tied to his pants' waist. "Whoever is left without a bell will not only be tied to one of those posts, but I will also eat in front of them, and furthermore, they will be returned to the academy. Any questions? No? Then you can start."

Seina and Sasuke hid while Naruto challenged Kakashi-sensei to a hand-to-hand combat. She watched as he dodged all the attacks with incredible speed, still reading his p*rn book as if nothing, and how he sent her brother flying into the river. She used that distraction to approach Sasuke, whom she could hear perfectly.

"Sasuke," Seina whispered and gestured for him to come closer. "This is a trap. There are only 2 bells and there are 3 of us."

"It's clear that your brother will go back to the academy," he assured, not realizing what she was trying to tell him.

"Don't be dumb," she rolled her eyes at his stupefaction. "How many genin teams do you know that only have 2 genin and their jonin sensei?"

"…None," Sasuke thought aloud.

"And what's Konoha's motto? Something we've been told a thousand times in the academy."

"…The Will of Fire?"

"What? No," she avoided laughing at his hesitant response. "Teamwork. Kakashi-sensei is still testing us. We have to take those 2 bells from him by working as a team, otherwise it's impossible for us to get one individually. Not even 50 freshly graduated genin would be able to take down an elite ninja."

"I must admit it makes sense, but how are we going to explain it to the dobe... He's out there fighting against Kakashi-sensei."

"He's gathering information," Seina smiled. "Don't worry, he already knows what we're planning."

"Alright."

"Naruto, retreat. We need to come up with a plan with Sasuke. Leave a few clones to distract him in the meantime," she mentally sent to her twin and then looked at Sasuke. "Let's go, let's find a safe place to talk the 3 of us."

"He won't let go of that damn book," Naruto grumbled quietly when the 3 of them were together. "He told me he won't release it until he finds out what happens at the end of the chapter! He wasn't even paying attention to me! Ugh! If I knew what it's about, I could ruin the plot for him. Let's see who would laugh then!"

"Mmm… How much time do we have?" she thought aloud, having a brilliant and wicked idea.

"Just over an hour," Sasuke reported.

"I have an idea. It might not work, but we can try," she smiled mischievously imagining her sensei's face. "Naruto, send one of your clones to buy the book Kakashi-sensei is reading. If he cares so much about the content, he won't want us to tell him what happens in the final chapter. He'll have to cover his ears and, if he's able to read lips, close his eyes."

Sasuke and Naruto smiled widely, maliciously, as they listened.

"I see. That way he won't hear or see us as we advance towards him."

"Still, it's risky. What if we run out of time?" asked Sasuke.

"That's easy," Naruto said to them. "All we have to do is set the clock back a couple of hours. If we keep him distracted, he won't even realize what time it is until the alarm goes off."

Sasuke looked at Naruto as if he didn't recognize him. Convinced, Sasuke accepted the plan and decided to attack Kakashi so he wouldn't suspect anything. Naruto transformed one of his clones into an adult to go buy the book with the money Seina handed him, then joined Sasuke to distract the teacher. Seina took advantage of becoming invisible and changed the time on the clock. Then, while her brother and Sasuke kept Kakashi-sensei entertained, she set about laying traps around the training ground just in case they needed a Plan B.

"Hmm... I wonder where Seina is," Kakashi muttered aloud, ignoring his brother and Sasuke.

Just when he was about to be discovered, he heard the clone's footsteps and hurried to meet him at the tree line before the jonin noticed his presence.

"I got it, Naruto!"

"Retreat, teme!"

Naruto and Sasuke disappeared to their meeting point, and then she appeared with the orange book in hand. She read the last page of the book as quickly as possible to get an idea of what was going on and nodded. She put the book in her fanny pack and smiled. They jumped out of their hiding spot and surrounded their teacher.

"Ah... finally you decide to attack as a team," Kakashi nodded with a bored expression. "It's about time."

"Attack?" she asked innocently, causing Kakashi-sensei to squint at her and straighten up. "Why would we waste time when you're much better than us?"

"And how are you supposed to take the bells from me if you don't attack?" Kakashi-sensei asked, smiling with his one eye, using the same annoying tone she had used.

"By being smarter than you. What do you think of this?" she reached into her fanny pack and pulled out the orange book Kakashi-sensei was reading. "It's a newly published book. I don't think you've reached the end, have you?"

"Maa, maa... W-wait a moment, Seina," Kakashi-sensei tried to calm her, paling. "Those books aren't for little kids. Why don't you give it to me?"

"Why not? The clerk told me that Icha Icha Paradise is a story about Koyuki and her stepbrother! And Koharu knows how to use fire, see! Here it says he’s very hot," she shook the book, open at the end, playing dumb. "Do you want me to summarize it for you?"

"One moment! W-w-wait!" Kakashi said, his face as red as a tomato, covering his ears. Seina smiled, holding back her laughter, unable to believe how nervous the jonin was.

"KOYUKI CLUTCHED THE TREASURE TIGHTLY TO HER VOLUPTUOUS CHEST AND KOHARU GAZED AT HER, THINKING OF THE PASSIONATE NIGHTS THEY HAD SPENT TOGETHER AND-

"No! No, no, no... Crap!" he shouted and closed his eye while humming loudly so he wouldn't hear her.

"...-AND HOW MANY TIMES HE HAD TOUCHED THOSE BREASTS! EVEN SO, THE HARP'S TREASURE WAS ENOUGH TO SEPARATE THEM!"

Sasuke and Naruto looked blankly at their jonin sensei and took the bells from him without him even trying to defend himself. She closed the book with a loud thud, put it in her fanny pack, and waited with a maniacal smile for Kakashi-sensei to open his eyes. Five minutes passed before he realized she wasn't talking. As soon as he saw that she had put the book away, he sat up and saw that he had lost the bells.

"It's not possible," he muttered, indignant and incredulous.

"It's totally possible!" Naruto shouted with a grin from ear to ear. "You should've seen your face!"

Kakashi-sensei sat in the grass in front of them and breathed deeply. He looked at the clock with a confused expression and saw that it was 11 o'clock again.

"It's still 11? Impossible. You've changed the time!"

"While Naruto and Sasuke distracted you," she said, taking out her half-eaten bento to the astonished gaze of the jonin.

"Did you really read the ending?" he asked, somewhat fearful.

"Ah... who knows," she smiled the same smile she had given them when she excused her lateness.

Kakashi-sensei chuckled in surprise and took the bento he had brought to share with them, even though they were already eating.

"You've beaten me. Using dirty tactics, too."

"Since when does a ninja win a fight cleanly?" Naruto asked. Kakashi-sensei looked at him and ignored him.

"My head hurts from being with you guys, but... you worked as a team. Despite the unorthodox plan, you got the bells. You passed!"

A little while later, the whole team was walking towards the village. As usual, Naruto and Sasuke were arguing about something while Seina walked beside Kakashi-sensei, who, for the first time, wasn't holding the adult book in his hand.

"Did you really buy the book and did the shopkeeper tell you all that?" the ninja asked discreetly.

Seina chuckled when she saw that he seemed worried. "Of course not! I sent a clone of Naruto under a transformation. The shopkeeper probably didn't even realize who he was selling the book to."

Kakashi-sensei looked at her, surprised, and sighed. "I should have guessed. Wait a moment! That means you tricked me! You made up the stuff about Koharu and the Koyuki story!"

Seina suppressed her laughter when she saw the jonin's expression. Did Kakashi-sensei really think he was the only troll on the team? Oh, poor man!

"What did you do with the book?" he finally asked.

"I kept it. I'll read it when I have time."

"What!?" Kakashi-sensei shouted. Naruto and Sasuke turned to look at them. "That kind of book isn't for someone so... young!"

"Kakashi-sensei," she rolled her eyes, "I'm a teenager, not a cloistered nun. Besides, from what I glanced at, the plot is pretty lame, but the p*rn isn't bad."

Her sensei turned as red as a tomato upon hearing her. He remained silent for the rest of the way. Seina wondered for a moment if she had caused him a cerebral aneurysm with her words. Just as they were about to say goodbye, she turned to look at him.

"By the way, when is your birthday?"

"Why do you want to know?" the jonin asked curiously.

She shrugged. "Teams are practically family, aren't they? It makes me happy to give gifts to my family whenever I can."

"September 15th," Kakashi-sensei said without hesitation, and she smiled.

"See you tomorrow, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto said goodbye.

"Until tomorrow," Seina smiled in his direction and turned around to continue walking beside Naruto and Sasuke.

She felt her teacher's gaze on her head and wondered what he was thinking.

The Translation: Harriet Potter y la Escalera que Pudo con Ella - AquaviriusMaggot - Harry Potter (2024)

Chapter 1

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Chapter 2

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Chapter 3

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Chapter 4

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Chapter 5

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