Fleur

- Player, stasis time is over, you must wake up. Date: 949 (after defeating Kaguya Ootsutsuki), 16 years after the founding of Konoha (Hokage — Tobirama Senju). Time: 20:00. Location: Water Country Border, Northeast Island in the Kasunda Sea, Kirigakure. Awakened by the sharp beeping of the system and the cold flow of sea air, I opened my eyes. My body felt cottony, poured with lead. Without even touching my head, I could tell it was very cold, like a dead man’s. Blinking my clammy eyelashes and focusing my eyes on what was right in front of me, I squinted in incomprehension. Something white. Something shaky. Something warm. Something that was so close it was touching the tip of my nose. I closed my eyes and sighed heavily, immediately feeling something snap from my hand, and then I heard the sound of flapping wings. The sound didn’t last long: after about three seconds, the “something” came back down. Frowning, I listened to my surroundings. All around me were warm bodies that were breathing. Either beasts or something else. Though where would this 'something else' come from? Orochimaru hadn’t been born yet. I guess. In any case, he should still be young. About five years old. But that’s not certain. I hadn’t really delved into the history of the world. I finally opened my eyes fully, and a ray of sunlight was shining through the trees where I lay. I jerked away from the bright light and turned my head to the other side, hearing a faint hissing sound. Sighing, already realizing what it was, I pushed the back of my head slightly to where my nose used to be, feeling the furry body shudder. Swaying a little, I raised up on my elbows, immediately putting the phalanges of my fingers to my forehead because of the darkening in my eyes. -Good morning. I had a soft fucking landing in the other world, of course,” I muttered, immediately alerted by the squeaky voice. But when I opened my eyes and looked down at my body, I saw a thicket of moss and flowers on top of my white, torn clothes. I exhaled the rest of the oxygen in a doomed voice: “Little girl,” I said, as if it were a diagnosis. A beep from the system was heard. Looking at it and seeing the reaction from the demons to my awakening, I pressed my lip: - Well, we’ll get used to the new body, — whispered as quietly as possible, but I must have been heard, because on the mail appeared a letter with some kind of award. There was a mask. It hid my face completely, but there were slits for my eyes. — Am I being sent to Anba now, too? Ha-ha, — I took the mask out of the “inventory”, twirled it and looked at the pattern on it, I asked: — Why (exactly) a fox? - I see, I see,” I finally said something to that, and started to look around. A small clearing surrounded by forest, with islands peeking out from behind it, the setting sun with fog, and a body of water. The sea. Squinting my eyes at what had woken me from stasis, I swayed in satisfaction. Lowering my eyes to the clearing, I saw a large array of bushes and berries on them. A huge amount of lavender in the clearing and animals. There were many animals only near me, the rest walked somewhere between the trees, sometimes peering in my direction with wary interest. Hares, crows, sparrows, snakes, deer. A few butterflies flew from flower to flower around me. Mesmerized by it all, I threw my head up as high as possible to look up at the sunset sky and the puffy clouds. Lowering my head a little, I saw a subject of somber, dark color that makes one feel a certain uneasiness — thunderclouds. But those were closer to the big island. That’s where Kiri must be. And the system has a knack for picking beautiful places to wake up, heh. Or was it “father” who did it? Rolling my eyes in thoughtfulness, I realized that my body was starting to “wake up”, which meant that my brain activity was increasing, and my stomach was working, and my bladder was filling up…. An emoticon popped up that looked like it was shrugging its shoulders and laughing. Looking skeptically at this representation, I exhaled, shaking my head playfully: Anyway, I just want to pee and eat. I can see some berries, there are trees, burdocks, and if anything happens, the deer will cover me. At least I hope these animals don’t run away from me as soon as I get to my feet. I mean, they obviously occupied me because I was asleep and unmoving, and now they might scatter. I really wonder why they haven’t eaten me though. Also, my back, which wasn’t bending well, suggested bedsores. Those questions went away as soon as the window appeared in front of me: Stasis is the same as cryogenic sleep, but without the freezing. Safer sleep, all processes in the body begin to slow down a lot except breathing, heart, and brain, tissues do not die off. I came up with the best description of a stasis capsule: a stasis capsule is similar to a cryogenic capsule, but it is in a standing position. - Oh, I see. That dream took the last of my brain. I knew that in the last world, so why the hell am I dumb now? Did the transition from the other world have something to do with it? Is my childhood body causing me to degenerate? Or have I not woken up yet? Tz,” I carefully got upright, leaned on the deer, who also stood up, and started kneading my feet. — Thank you, dear,” I thanked the deer, stroking his back. He shook his head in agreement. I was stunned: “Do you understand me? — I asked him directly. He turned his head in my direction and looked at me expectantly, then shook his head again. — Ara, cool! — I smiled at him, still kneading my legs, moving to my shins. — Do you happen to know which way the humans are? At the same time, the deer looked towards the forest, from where several butterflies floated out, flying towards us. Looking at them, I extended the index finger of my hand, which was not busy stroking the deer, towards the insects. After flying for a few moments near me, as if thinking whether to land or not, one of them fluttered on my finger, and the other landed on the top of my head. - Hee-hee, cuties,” I said, until I looked toward the forest. A fox was coming out of there, beautiful, but skinny and with a tattered tail. She looked at me warily, and I looked back a little interested. Blinking, the fox waved her tail and turned around. She took a couple of steps back into the forest and turned to look at me, apparently expecting something. I squinted in incomprehension and wanted to follow her, but I stumbled and fell back to the place where I woke up. - Uh-oh. My legs are a bit stiff, could you wait until I rub them properly? — I smiled calmly at them, rubbing my thighs with a weak fist. The deer stared at me for a couple minutes, and then, as if bored of looking at it, ducked down and sat with his legs tucked up, looking at the confused me in anticipation. - You want me to sit down, right? — I summarized the result of this action on his part, gently squatting down, feeling my legs cramp from the action. Blinking at that, he turned his head in the direction of the fox, waiting for me. Relieved that I wouldn’t have to torture my legs, I carefully climbed on top of him. Finally, having climbed up, the deer went in the direction of the fox. For about ten minutes we walked through the woods until we came upon a hamlet of six houses. As if to say “get down,” the ungulate turned his head sideways, looking at me with one eye. I quickly dismounted and sat down on the damp ground, still in one cloth with moss and flowers mixed in, and bowed to the animals that had escorted me to the village: - Thank you, sweet animals, for your help to someone unknown! My name is Mi,” I said, arching back with a hunched back and introducing myself to them. — I really don’t know what that will get you, but let it be. Standing up from the ground, the deer gave me a soft peck on the nose, and the fox waved its tail at me, turning back to the location of the clearing.

* * *

It’s been two days since I woke up. They had been hard days really. I tried to ask someone at the house or the bar to help me with something in exchange for the food I hadn’t eaten, but they kicked me out, so I decided to do what the Ame trio had done.Survive on my own. It was hard, hard. The people from my past world were hothouse flowers who didn’t know what it was like to live on the streets, because the government gave them money and a dorm room to start over. A clean slate, as they say. And in this godforsaken place there are not even shops with food! It’s a mess. But there is something like a park (just a trampled meadow with blankets, something for recreation). That’s where I found out all the rumors that were going around the island. The gossiping women said that they saw some fishermen walking from the pier and talking about the fact that soon a ship with supplies would arrive in the port and then sail back to Kiri. And here I was, all serious, thinking about what to do next. Rikudo and the system literally left me without everything! I’m a human-like creature, but I’m not human. Not even close. You could say I’m something like the tailed ones: I’m also made of chakra, but I have a circulatory system, organs, nerves, that sort of thing. I can feel hunger, cold, nausea from lack of food, dizziness, fatigue. But I can’t die like a normal person. I mean, if they make a hole in me, some of the chakra that used to be in the hearth will move to the place where the junction occurred. And the rest of the chakra will continue to circulate through the CCS (hakra Circulation System in this way) It’s comfortable. But I’ll sleep like I’m in stasis afterward. That’s a disadvantage. But I can control it. For example, I had a hole made in me — the chakra patched everything up, and I can, by concentrating hard, keep the chakra from putting me in stasis for the time being, but when I get home or where I’m sleeping, I need to sleep. I have to! It can’t be neglected. At least that’s what the system says. So I’m sitting behind a tree by a raspberry bush. (Let’s imagine that raspberries will grow in a humid area… especially, this is another world, so let’s just imagine that in our language — raspberry, and in theirs something else, because our Ms. from another world, called the berry exactly raspberry.) and wondering how I’m going to get into port, and if I get there, how I’m going to get aboard. Though to be honest, from the anime I remember everyone who was found to have chakra being dragged to the main hidden village. Especially after the war. So if there are genin escorts on the ship, then there will be a jounin, and if there’s a jounin, he should know the simplest medical techniques for detecting health problems and chakra nidus! - God, I’m a genin, — I said, grinning and covering my eyes so I could throw a berry in my mouth the next second.

* * *

- Okay, so that’s where the genin is. Where’s the jounin? Should I go ask the kids? If they’re minors, then who am I? Huh. Squatting, I grabbed the corner of a wooden structure directly parallel to the port, where a ship with supplies and news from the mainland and the main island of the Water Country was approaching. - It’s time to act, — I slid the second phalanx of my finger across my lower eyelid, then stood up and made my way toward the cutest, if you could say that about them, genin. I tried to make the most innocent face I could, but I think I was still looking at something foxy. And, tugging the boy of about eleven who was looking at the neighborhood by the pant leg near the bandage with the pouch, in which something suspiciously metallic rattled, I began to speak: - Brother. Abruptly looking at me with a squinted eye, the boy took a step back and raised his eyebrows in anticipation: - What do you want? — After looking at me more closely, he added: — I don’t have any food, go ask someone else. Asshole. I’ll remember you. Almost rolling my eyes at this, I discreetly pressed my lower lip and mouthed: - I… I… I was told by some uncle that I had some chakra. And then added to go to a sh-shinobi and tell him I want to be a ninja. I… I can be a ninja? He raised his eyebrows even higher for a moment, only to then lower them and start pondering something, glancing at me from time to time. - Wait here, girl. Don’t go anywhere, I’ll be right there,” and ran off somewhere in the direction of the bar. In general, the plan is theoretically simple. I need to sail to the main island of the Water Country and quickly run off somewhere so that they stop looking for me. They’ll think I went to see a new environment and got lost, big deal. There’s hundreds of people like her out there. We’ll find more. I don’t really like Kiri, or Water Country in general. I’m used to a different climate, but it’s cool in its own way. But that doesn’t change the fact that I know a lot more about Fire Country than any other country. Oh, and it’s a mild climate. I’m lucky I look like a chakra-less kid. A kid like that would be accepted in any village. There’s going to be another war in a few years, and I’m sure the rulers of the hidden villages know that, so they’re stealthily building up their forces. They’re in desperate need of kunai grease. And by their standards, promising shinobi are born into clans. There will be geniuses like Orochimaru and Sakumo, Jiraiya and Maito Dai. In about ten years, Minato and Kushina will be born. But Kushina’s a clan girl… And Minato looks a lot like a clan boy. I don’t know his lineage. I’m planning to get a chuunin on the list, and then I’ll take it from there. I’d like to travel like Jiraiya. But there’s the Second World Shinobi. And then the third… Fuck, I’ve been traveling. It’s a dream come true! You could just make friends with the Sannin and go to the front lines with them. And then Nagato, Konan, and Yahiko would come along. You just have to get so damn strong. Also, don’t look into the future, or I’ll make a mistake. - There she is, sensei! — The hurried footsteps of a boy and the quiet footsteps of a man were heard from the other side. - Hmph. Girl, where did you come from? — Is it just me, or did he ask purely for information? Pulling on a calm smile, I answered: - I’m from Yae Village, which is southeast of here. I met an uncle there who said something about sensory abilities and told me to come to the port to some other uncle to become a ninja! — I said with feigned enthusiasm, though I doubted he understood the last part of the sentence. - I see. Well, do you mind if I touch your belly? — And without listening to the answer, he roughly pulled my forearm toward him, squatting down. Leaning his hand with a beautiful green light that blinked a couple times, the man raised his eyebrows upward, looking surprised first at my hand, then at my stomach, and then directly into my eyes. — Girl, what’s your name? — This one asked. Woodpecker. It hurts actually holding his hand! - My name is Mi. Well, that was the name of the aunt who nursed me a year ago, and then she died. I don’t know her last name, — I sadly finished my story and lowered my head as if I was very bitter. - Hmm. You don’t know your parents' last names? — he continued to ask. - Uh. No, I’ve never seen them, — Ootsutsuki, asshole! - Got it. So, will you come with us to the hidden village? — Standing up from his bent legs, the man asked without even looking at me. - H-hai!

* * *

What can I say? We stayed in the harbor for two more days, and then we left. In the meantime, the dork took me to some rented room in a hotel near the port and demanded that I wash and change my clothes. After a minute, he snatched the black T-shirt from the girl’s hands, who looked sadly at her sensei and angrily at me. What are you looking at me for? You think I asked you to give me that sack of potatoes? This shirt is literally up to my ankles! At least I can make a belt out of those rags. They threw me in the bathroom and told me to take a bath. Like. Hey, I’m two years old, you didn’t think I didn’t know what a bath was? Especially after I washed myself in a creek. An indescribable experience, let me tell you. And I’m also small! I’m not supposed to be left alone! It’s a good thing I kept my memories from the past world. After washing up, I stood on some barrel in front of the sink and looked at the exterior. Widening my eyes at the guess that struck me while looking at the hair, I hummed not amused. A female child with very dark hair, but, the light from the light bulb highlighted the hairs that stuck out from the entire length of the hair, and burned scarlet and crimson…. green eyes, with a mole under her right eye, about two years old. Hmm. I like it. My skin is also sore from rubbing a loofah on it, trying to peel off all those layers of dirt from when I said goodbye to my dad. Pfft. How long has it been? Hmm. About nine hundred years? Fuck. Fuck I’m a math whiz. Sighing heavily, I realize that this is just the beginning of my ninja journey. What do I want to get out of this life? Who do I want to recruit as a friend? Who to defeat? How to live? Who to love? I don’t even know if I’ll die before the fourth world war or not! God, or as they say in this world, Kami! How difficult it’s going to be for me… Putting on that girl’s tank top shirt, I tore what was left of that cape — I think it’s called a haori — and tied it around my torso to keep it from flying up in the wind. After looking at my feet, I realized that I’ll be going barefoot all the way to the Land of Fire. Haha, how cute. Rolling my eyes in annoyance at that, I shrugged my shoulders, looking at my hair, which was long for my age. Up to my tailbone. What the fuck? I was in stasis! Or did “Dad” do that? Does he have a fetish for long hair? That’s nice. I sighed and shook my head playfully, jumping onto the floorboards that were mistakenly called the floor, and walked toward the exit of the building….

* * *

- All right, now that everyone’s ready, let’s go! — I heard the captain’s voice on the freighter, feeling the pain in the hand that lay in the palm of the boy who had found me. I’d been thrown into his care, with no regard for my safety. Probably figured I’d want to survive so I wouldn’t run away. That’s naive. Who does that? It really would be easier to escape that way. Only now I’m wondering how to get to the mainland… And then, there’s another problem. I don’t know where to go! I don’t know the layout of the countries! Fucking hell! What if I go to the land of lightning? Or wherever?! Ask some chuunin from Fire Country to take me with him?! How stupid! I felt like slapping myself on the forehead for such an ingenious plan! I could try, of course, but I don’t think it would work. Having sailed far enough away, it was possible to see from different sides of the islands in the Land of Water. Right parallel to the bow of the ship, the largest island could be seen — apparently, there was a hidden settlement there. It would be interesting to see it, of course, but obviously not in the near future. Otherwise I would not be released later, and this gnat is already in my liver. Standing on the deck among the yungas and other “casual” passengers, I noticed how they were looking at me from time to time, and the sensei of the crew that “picked me up” was whispering something to some man, looking in my direction from time to time. He gave me an important look and grinned at the end. I felt uneasy. I crossed my arms over my chest and moved away to a less conspicuous place. The wind from my back blew my hair around my face. And since it was daytime, it was easy to see the color of my hair. As I latched onto that thought, I thought about the last memory I had of them — back then, in the bathroom. It was dark in there, and the light was really bad through that window upstairs, so I thought my hair was brown. Well, or something close to that color. And now, looking at the locks of that Greban hair — capitalized exactly — I realize that it has now signed my death warrant. They’re burgundy. They’re burgundy. It’s a shade of red. What does that mean, you ask? It’s the hair color of the Uzumaki, the Scarlet Demon. This country is relatively close to the Land of Fire and Water. So you can put two plus two together. Damn it. A mess from the beginning! You couldn’t give me a different hair color, huh, 'daddy'? - Shit, — I gritted my teeth and cursed under my breath. I don’t even have a hood to cover this mess! Don’t get me wrong. I don’t have an unloved color. On the contrary! Red, to me, is a good color! But when you’re being hunted, literally flooded with their saliva, and your blood… It’s no longer a matter of what color is good or bad. It’s instinctive to get the hell out of here. At least I’ll be accepted in Konoha at the snap of a finger! Konohagakure signed some kind of pact in the future when the Whirlpool collapsed, that any Uzumaki found would go to Konoha and be helped there. Lucky there were still masters left there that came along with Mito. I could be accepted into the clan, I guess. Although a lot of fanfics said that the Uzumaki would tear for their kin. I hope so. At least I won’t be sent to an orphanage. I pray for that every day! Giggling nervously, I looked at the approaching harbor. Sighing, I repeated the plan to myself.

* * *

I turned my back to the wall and looked at the sleeping genin, and began to climb out from under the blanket as stealthily as possible. I didn’t want to get caught and have my guards tightened. Yeah. I was put with this boy on the second floor, surrounded on both sides by the rooms of his teammates, and the jounin went to drink. Sensei is top notch. Opening a window, I climbed through and stopped on the shingles of the building. She could see a metal pipe on the left, which meant she could use it to get down to the bushes under the window, then go to some settlement and find a jounin or chuunin of Konoha, and then

“Quest completed!”.

Glancing over at the system that had recently given the quest:

“Reach the hidden settlement in the Land of Fire!

Reward: 15,000 ryo, reputation of Konohagakure residents +1000. Uzumaki’s reputation is +5000. Biscuit.

Failure: Death.”

Well, this is where you want to be motivated to find some sort of chaperone to Konoha. Sighing, she hooked her feet and hands onto the pipe and rolled down. Standing up on the ground, she thought she needed a hood. I’m going to have a hard time with this hair. Tz. I looked around and walked into the woods near the hotel. Walked for about ten minutes. I came to an alley between the houses, and it smells awful. I looked up and saw a thin string of wet clothes hanging from it. A bra, pants, pants, pants, underwear, a T-shirt, a T-shirt, another T-shirt, a hoodless sweatshirt, another hoodless sweatshirt, and here’s a hooded sweatshirt, but it’s just like that girl’s tank top — up to my ankles. That’s all right — we’ve been through worse! I just have to get it off the rope somehow. It’s very strange that people show their things to such homeless people. And since the war, there’s been more of them. Yeah. Tiredly closing my eyes for a second, I looked around: I found some thick branch — it was wet, soft and long. Just right. I grabbed it and started waving it back and forth, trying to get a good grip on that sweater. But as soon as I got a good grip on the sweater, I swung the stick as hard as I needed, hitting the glass of the house whose residents had hung the clothes. - Fuck… it’s time to go, — I said, grabbing the sweater and pulling it on as I ran and scurried off into the woods. A couple of seconds later I heard a man shouting that he was missing his clothes, and I just grinned nastily: “You’ll know how to throw clothes away. I obviously need it more than you do, — I looked squeamishly at the sweater, which was dripping water and soaking my “dress” with moisture. — Hmm. After running through the forest for a while, I stopped at some clearing where berries were located. I don’t want to eat animals in Kiri out of principle: they helped me, and I won’t catch them. But I won’t survive long on berries, so I have to think of something. As a result, due to lack of sleep at dawn, I started to fall on my side, to then go to the kingdom of Morpheus…

Pov: ?

Walking through the forest with my co-commanders, I looked for a place to take a break. - Maybe there? The clearing seems normal, — turning my head in the direction that the temporary co-commander showed me, I decided to follow his suggestion. - Why not? Danzo, can you get the pot? — I spoke to my old friend. - It’s not far from my place, so I’ll get it when we get there,” the black-haired man with the cross on his chin said coldly. My name is Sarutobi Hiruzen, and I am twenty-five years old. At the moment, we were escaping from a completed mission in Kiri country and were on our way to a rest stop. As soon as we entered the clearing, I became wary as I saw something dark lying near a tree. With my arm out to the side, I pulled a kunai from my belt pouch and began to slowly approach. The co-commanders became wary and drew their weapons as well. Approaching almost right next to this body, I tried to see who it was. Squatting down and pulling back what appeared to be the hood of a sweatshirt, I saw burgundy curls. My eyebrows flew up, and my mouth gave out a nervous chuckle. Hiding the kunai back, I heard a voice: - What’s up? - Stand down, it’s a girl! — I shouted to them, and then added, “Uzumaki,” and turned back to the baby, in the background hearing a tired sigh from Atsushi* and Danzo muttering about how they’d get in trouble with a baby. Well, I agree with that, but I can’t leave her here, can I? I stood up from my squatting position and gently took her in my arms, so that her knees were peeking out from behind her back and her nose was against my shoulder. Feeling the moisture on her clothes, I frowned, thinking about her getting sick at this rate. With a disgruntled tsk tsk, I walked over to the guys who were starting to set up camp. Taking the damp sweatshirt off her, I printed out a normal one from the scroll and put it on her. This sweatshirt was even bigger than the last one, so you could tell she was drowning in it. It looked cute. Humming at the thought, I left it on the unsealed sleeping bag and went to get branches for the fire. Two hours passed. The girl was still asleep and we had already eaten and more or less rested. It was time to go. To Konoha. Glancing at the child, I began to think: Should I take her or leave her? Though if she had parents or a place to live, she wouldn’t be sleeping in a clearing at night in a wet sweatshirt and all dirty. And barefoot… So yeah. She’d better come with us, especially since she had relatives in Konoha, albeit distant ones. A little awkwardly, he unloaded her onto the grass and began to wrap her sleeping bag, sealing it in a scroll, helped Danzo with the dishes, and, taking her in his arms at last, ran through the trees to the port.