《A Place to Belong [Naruto OC, Slow-paced]》 Chapter 1: Sent Away; Part 1: Its Real

Part 1: It¡¯s Real

Papa, I don¡¯t want you to feel guilty. Mama I hate seeing you run yourself ragged for a worthless scum like me. Elly, my precious little sister, I¡¯m sorry for being a leech in your life. Suicide costs money to clean up the mess. Running away would make you hire expensive investigators. I can¡¯t disappear without a trace or erase your memories of me when I was still your daughter and sister. Why won¡¯t God just¡­ make me disappear. ¡­ She wanted to reach out for her phone but found herself unable to move. Was it sleep paralysis? Possible. She remembered being drowsy in the bus, waiting for the darned traffic to move. It would be embarrassing to shout for help and even if she wanted, her mouth would not budge. She could not breathe. Just then she realized that her face was horizontal on something solid. Her nose inhaled the carbon dioxide and water vapor back into her lungs. Her lungs. She could feel her chest rising and falling faster and faster each time, searching for air. Was she going to die? Despite the pain in her chest, she mentally chuckled. Even after death, she somehow managed to make other people¡¯s lives harder. A frail old man next to her might contracted heart attack after noticing someone died next to him, the driver had to delay the bus¡¯s schedule to remove her body, then after the medics removed her, a superstitious rumour about the bus¡¯s company would spread and ruin their business. Her family¡ª ¡°Kusari, wake up.¡± Someone jerked her head to the side, poking her right cheek multiple times. Her nose and mouth greedily breathe the rich air and with that, her sensory organs all receive signals at the same time. Light pierced her eyes, forcing her to squint as they registered multiple blurry figures and a white wall far behind. Her ears rang from the sudden influx of vibrating air; whispers, murmurs and someone shouting all melded into one. Cold polished surface squeezed the other half of her face and the wetness of her own saliva shocked her until she choked and coughed many times. ¡°Hey, are you alright?¡± She winched as the nearest voice drown out the others, stopping the ringing in her ears too quickly. ¡°Where¡­ am¡­ I¡­?¡± she said in between fits of coughing. ¡°Sensei, please stop shouting at Kusari, I think she¡¯s unwell,¡± the voice said. Kusari? That was not her name. Her name was¡ª!!! Her name was¡ª!!! Why can¡¯t I think of my name? In fact, how could she understand what they were saying? The voices around her did not sound like English nor Indonesian nor German nor Japanese. Her mind told her she did and should not understand but something else, a faint whisper in the corner of her head told her what she should hear and speak. ¡°Kusari,¡± a deep and stern voice called out as she was pulled back to the rails of her chair. She, who the voices addressed as Kusari, stopped her coughing fit and blinked until the blurry vision cleared. In front of her desk stood two females starkly contrasting one another. The younger one holding her hands had long brown hair, deep onyx eyes and a single mole under her right, her adorable face showed concern for the coughing friend? ¡ªin front of her. Contrasting the conservative long-sleeved, high-collared purple shirt the little girl wore was the woman¡¯s black skin-tight bodysuit with open green flak jacket that framed her generous bust. The tall woman leaned in and squeezed her cheeks, forcing her to look at her jade eyes. The woman reminded her of Yamanaka Ino from one of her favourite manga/anime series. Shoulder length, light¡ªalmost white¡ªblond hair framed her heart shaped face that was otherwise flawless if not for a scowl marring her beauty. !!! would¡¯ve blushed if she wasn¡¯t terrified. ¡°Where am I, ma¡¯am?¡± she dared ask. She immediately regretted her action as the beautiful woman¡¯s scowl deepened. ¡°That¡¯s Kira-sensei for you, brat, now pay attention to the class.¡± Class? I graduated high school a year ago! A squeak came out from her mouth as the woman pinched her cheeks before turning back to continue teaching. Snickers prompted !!! to look around at her supposed classmates who immediately stiffened and looked back at the blackboard after a loud smack of a ruler echoed in the large classroom. She looked at herself as a pit was growing inside her stomach. Smaller hands and fingers, dark-blue almost black hair tied in a ponytail replaced her blonde locks, basic blue t-shirt and white skirt that was supposed to be a formal dress for a university interview¡­ Whose body is this!? ¡°You¡¯ve taken a liking to ignoring me today, huh?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± she looked up to see the girl before pouted and folded her arms. Those arms that shot up and grab hers. ¡°Excuse me, sensei, I think my friend here is still unwell and sleepy. May I take her to the restroom to wash her face?¡± Kira considered the girl¡¯s word before nodding, ¡°Be quick, this is your first introduction to chakra theory.¡± Chakra? Before she could think about the teacher¡¯s words, the girl dragged her outside, earning stares from their classmates. *** . ¡°Have you been pulling an all-nighter again?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± That was the second thing she said to the girl which seemed to upset her more. The cute little girl sighed and gently push her in front of the sync before helping !!!¡ªFine, Kusari! Now let me think of my name, darn it! ¡ªwash her face, removing the fatigue Kusari didn¡¯t know she had until now.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. ¡°I know you¡¯re still getting used to living by yourself but that¡¯s not an excuse to study until dawn cracks. That¡¯s not how you catch up to us,¡± the girl then stopped to judge her reaction, seemingly expecting an argument. ¡°Huh, oh,¡± Kusari slapped her mouth. ¡°Sorry, I, uh, umm¡­¡± The girl harrumphed, ¡°No excuse this time it seems. Now come on, we need to get back to class and stay awake if we want to catch up to Itachi.¡± Her stomach dropped, ¡°Itachi? You mean that Itachi?¡± ¡°Yes, that Itachi, my over-talented thirtieth cousin trice removed who absorbs everything like a sponge and applies them the next day. That Itachi.¡± As the girl dragged her inside the classroom and sat her down, Kusari¡¯s mind went to overdrive. Children with varying hair colour in one room, an exotically beautiful teacher explaining about Naruto¡¯s chakra system, a boy and a girl with puppies on top of their heads and a mention of the Itachi in the restroom. There was no mistaking it, !!! had been transported into another world and was piloting a seven-year-old girl¡¯s body. It was not just any world but the Naruto¡¯s world. The fussy girl next to her was Uchiha Izumi, Itachi¡¯s unofficial girlfriend that will die by his hands five years from now. !!! now known as Kusari could only do one thing as a response to the overwhelming info dump¡ª ¡°Kusari!¡± ¡ªand that was to empty her stomach on the desk for everyone to see. In the OG world and this one, making bad first impressions seemed to be a habit she could not break. *** . At some point, every otaku had dreamed about going into their favourite series¡¯ world and grow alongside their favourite characters. Unless of course their favourite started with a B and ended with -eserk. Even then, who would not want to at least shake hands with a hot hunk like Guts before getting brutally murdered by monsters? That was why unlike some of her favourite self-insert fanfiction characters, Kusari was not mad at God for sending her to an extremely dangerous world like Naruto¡¯s. Knowing the plot in-and-out, she was confident she could live in a world filled with superpowered individuals whose morals were on the darker shade of grey. Heck if she played it right, she could help the main characters reach maximum happy ending. Kusari just had to pass the academy with flying colours and get chummy with her j¨­nin sensei to get access to powerful jutsus. She yelped as the tip of a mop poked her in the bum. ¡°Ah! Lord Jesus Christ!¡± ¡°Huh, who¡¯s that?¡± Izumi said after giggling at her reaction. ¡°Anyway, we should clean up fast before our classmates get the fun spots in the playground. Come on, barf girl.¡± Kusari blushed, ¡°Barf girl?!¡± Izumi continued laughing as she poked her cheek. Another stick poked her this time it was her other cheek. ¡°Never thought you¡¯d be the confident one, Kusa. What, finally done acting like a victim?¡± It seemed Kusari had another friend in high places, this time it was Inuzuka Hana, clan heiress of the Inuzuka Clan. Kiba¡¯s sister. Hana in the academy looked almost like Princess Mononoke. Her shoulder length hair exactly matched the princess only Hana¡¯s brown was darker, on each cheek was a tattoo of a fang dyed red, and in replacement of Moro the big bad white wolf were three cute grey-and-white puppies whose names she had forgotten. One sat on Hana¡¯s head and the other two on her shoulders. Hana herself dressed like a tomboy, wearing short grey pants and a boy¡¯s green tank top that revealed her undeveloped chest. Soon enough, Kusari knew Hana would cover that up. Kusari shook her head to make her friends stop playing with her face, ¡°Did I say that out loud?¡± ¡°Loud enough for me and my pups to hear,¡± Hana grinned as the puppies yipped in agreement. Darn Inuzuka genetics! ¡°I-I did not mean to be cocky.¡± And that was true. It mattered not if she knew the plot, what mattered was if she could get by with a weak body like this. The original owner did not eat enough nor sleep enough. After the adrenaline rush from realizing where she was, Kusari felt all the accumulating bad habits this girl developed. ¡°I mean, if I do not pass the j¨­nin¡¯s secret test, I would be sent back here to try again the next year. So, if I do not give up, I am confident I would eventually be in a j¨­nin team.¡± Hana shook her head but Izumi spoke first. ¡°Secret test? My cousins never said anything about a test after got into teams.¡± Hana snickered, ¡°Can¡¯t believe the civie girl knows more than the Uchiha girl.¡± Izumi threw a half-hearted punch which Hana blocked. ¡°Kusa¡¯s right, my mom spilled the secret after I got top marks last year.¡± She wiggled her eyebrows at the Uchiha while she huffed. ¡°Although it¡¯s not that big of a secret, I¡¯m surprised you know about it.¡± Hana fixed her gaze on Kusari. She revealed too much. ¡°Oh, you know, I heard it from¡­ uhm¡­ upperclassmen who had graduated! Yeah.¡± ¡°Pretty generous of them. Most would keep that thing a secret since ¡®they need to experience it themselves¡¯ mentality prevails over kindship,¡± Izumi grumbled. Most likely her fellow clansmen treated her that way. ¡°But I didn¡¯t know you¡¯re acquainted with an upperclassman; you need to introduce them sometime.¡± The hurt look in Izumi made her feel guilty. One for lying, two for doing it in this body. ¡°Anyway, Izu is right,¡± Hana cleared the mood, ¡°Older folks suck for not telling us anything and expect us to succeed on our own.¡± ¡°¡­ And I¡¯ll be sure to tell your mother about that.¡± Kusari, Izumi and Hana¡¯s head slowly craned towards the source of the new voice. It was a voice Kusari had only known for a day but owner gave enough impression so she would not forget it. Appearing out of nowhere was Yamanaka Kira and her scary scowl. ¡°Please don¡¯t,¡± Hana squeaked. ¡°You girls sure took your sweet time cleaning a single mess. It¡¯s three past lunchtime, get off my class. Now.¡± They did not need to be told twice. *** . After the Nine-Tails attack, the Hidden Leaf village who was still recovering from the third shinobi world war lost more ch¨±nin and j¨­nin. Her former j¨­nin-sensei was one of them. Although grief was inevitable, it didn¡¯t hit her as hard as most people. The late j¨­nin¡¯s philosophy was every shinobi was replaceable and the older you were the more you need to be ready to die on the field. She took his philosophy to heart and aimed to replace him with as many high-quality shinobi she could make. That¡¯s why after getting a promotion, she immediately applied as an academy teacher while her peers laughed at her ¡®lowly job¡¯. She would replace them too someday. Yamanaka Kira held discipline in the highest regard. Discipline created leaders and leaders inevitably became high rank shinobis. If she were to be frank, her class lacked promising candidates. Ignoring Uchiha Itachi, the rest of her students lacked the drive to aim as high as possible, most likely because their motivation came from their parents not themselves. Even the clan kids became lax after their first year and in this second year they didn¡¯t show much growth. She absolutely refused to raise lazy shinobis who would overflow the Genin Unit. Even if they got placed in that group of rejects, she wanted them to become the best rejects in the whole world. When she¡¯d expressed this concern to the headmaster, he waved her off, saying they were only in their second year and still had four and a half more to grow. Respectfully, sir, fuck that weak mentality. Even so she knew children with their chakra system locked had their limits so she didn¡¯t push too hard at physical subjects. Injuries and illness stunted growth the most after all. And that¡¯s why after an unassuming civilian orphan student of hers threw up out of nowhere, that got her alarms blaring. When she found Kusari dared dropping her head in class, she shouted at her to wake her up. Waiting for ten seconds, the girl went completely still and showed signs of either deep sleep or¡­ death. But after she¡¯d thought about that unlikely possibility, the girl woke up. Kira checked her eyes and pinched her cheek to check for blood flow and found nothing wrong. She chalked that up to a once-in-a-blue-moon misdemeanour from that girl and moved on. That was before the girl threw-up out of nowhere. Kira¡¯s first assumption had been the girl¡¯s poor choice of food and lack of parental guidance that led to exhaustion but¡­ the vomit she produced wasn¡¯t normal. She held back both her judgement and the need to lecture the girl, and instead told her to clean up her mess. The ch¨±nin instructor¡¯s suspicion solidified when she found her unwell student having a hard time scrapping the mucus from the desk and floor. She¡¯d only heard a case of sticky and slightly corrosive vomit once before and she didn¡¯t like what she heard. As any good shinobi should, she took a sample from the rug and head to the medical research facility. She really hoped she was wrong. Chapter 1: Sent Away; Part 2: Familiar

Part 2: Familiar

¡°The home reflects the owner.¡± ¡­ And this apartment room of hers reflected poorly on OG Kusari. Kusari quickly picked up on her orphan status when no one came to pick her up at the academy. It could be a case of busy parents or a hardworking single parent but knowing the devastation Kurama had caused to adults in the village and the fact that her wallet was empty clued her enough. That empty wallet also clued in another problem: the OG rented an apartment that was way over the budget. When she found her apartment¡¯s address in her wallet, she had asked a couple of shopkeepers for the direction and expected them to lead her to the outskirt. Never had she imagined a 1.5 times studio apartment with indoor bathroom, air conditioning and located two blocks away from the main commercial district. What was this girl thinking!? In her previous world, she had experienced living in wealth and going broke, and the only skill she was proud of was her meticulous money management. Time management would be there too but she only ¡®exceled¡¯ at scheduling and planning, executing had been another story. That was the main reason she flunked university exams even after a gap year. Rummaging through some poorly kept letters, she found the Leaf gave her the Orphan Stipend; 100,000 Ry¨­. From visiting shops and inspecting their prices, it should be enough if she lived far from the village centre. Another letter clued her into concluding that her landlord was a devil-spawn. Two months ago, out of nowhere, she increased the original lease agreement of 70,000 Ry¨­ per month¡ªwhich was egregious enough¡ªto 90,000. It should be illegal and the girl should have known better. The landlord should have had to notify her a month prior before doing so to give her time to prepare moving away if she wanted. Changing it two days before the end of the month was a strategy likely to discourage other landlords from selling their room to an orphan who signed out days before due. She likely blackmailed the poor ignorant girl and that was why she still lived here. The remaining 10,000 Ry¨­ was split into energy bills and food. Instant, cheap, extremely processed food. Now wonder this body felt so weak despite being so young. Kusari sat in front of the barren study desk on the farthest corner from the bed. Nothing except for a half-used pencil, a dirty eraser and a stack of sticky notes that almost ran out. Izumi was the only source of her textbooks and other related study materials; limited to school hours and in the classroom. Under the drawers were dozens led-ridden sticky notes, filled with the girl¡¯s best attempt at understanding diverse subjects too many for a girl her age in !!!¡¯s world. OG Kusari was a people pleaser, Kusari surmised as she giggled reading her notes. Almost all the notes started with praise and thanks to Izumi for lending her materials. An ink doodles here and there made her think the adorable Uchiha helped her with notes as well. What an angel! Kusari re-organized the notes and, out of bad habit, slammed the drawers back into the table. She winched as the rather old unpainted wooden table creaked but was glad it did not break. Then she felt a soft touch on her feet. It was a sticky note? Bending down, Kusari took the note and read the content. ¡°Fireday, 1st day of Fourth-Month, Year 71 Post Warring States. ¡°The orphanage kicked me out. They bent the rules enough for me to stay there a year after joining the Shinobi Academy (don¡¯t have to be a meanie about it, though!!). ¡°Thankfully, there¡¯s a nice aunty who rented me an apartment with a dis-count-ed price, whatever that means.¡± Orphans who applied to the academy had to leave their orphanage and received the Orphan Stipend consisted of monthly allowance and free tuition. The orphan in question signed a contract not to divulge anything learnt at the academy to other orphans who still lived in the orphanage and to made sure they followed through; the military village separated them. Following her curiosity, Kusari checked under the table and was rewarded by many more sticky notes, hidden. She collected them all, all 42 of them, and inspected them one by one. ¡°Winday, 30 Fourth-Month 71 PWS. ¡°The Academy¡¯s hard. My friends are all talented. That annoying girl told me all I had was a pretty face and nothing else.¡± From what Kusari observed, her class had two Inuzukas, one of them was a clan heiress; three Uchihas, though the boy wonder was unseen today; six Hy¨±gas; a Sarutobi and many other who had family names. The only other people beside her who did not have a family name were orphans, three orphans in class then. So, the rest were either civilian-born or came from shinobi families not fleshed out in the manga. It is undeniable that many of her classmates, her ¡®competitors¡¯, were privileged. She could not hold it against them. Her had lived a privileged life but she had wasted all of it on nothing. It seems I have a bully, too. Darn it! ¡°Lightningday, 16 Fifth-Month 71 PWS. ¡°Izumi introduced me to Hana. I never talked to her since she looks scary. Hana is bigger than both Izumi and me. But her puppies are cute and she¡¯s nice so I was wrong. She gave me her dad¡¯s recipe book (She hates cooking).¡±This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Kusari could not help but smile. Her instinct after arriving into this world was to find allies, people to latch on to. If this girl had been a repressed antisocial, she would find her first few days miserable trying to fit in in this world. She needed to find that recipe book though. ¡°Earthday, 17 Fifth-Month 71 PWS. ¡°I want Itachi to be my boyfriend¡­¡± She slapped her face, Oh no, please tell me she hasn¡¯t confessed yet. ¡°¡­ but he only talks to Izumi. Not fair. ¡°I hate Kira-sensei. She forced us civilian kids to run twice as far as clan and shinobi family kids. Not fair. I¡¯m tired.¡± Kusari froze when she flipped to the next note. The only date indicator on this one was the day ¡°Waterday¡±. The note had been crumpled and reopened again and there were watermarks and led smudges, meaning this girl was not in the best of mood when she wrote this. And Kusari knew why. ¡°DIE SENJU AK¨© DIE DIE! I HATE YOU OLD HAG!¡± That day had been the day when she received the price increase and most likely, threat. What made her blood boil more than it already was, was the name of the landlord. It matched the one on the letter. A Senju clanswoman had abused an innocent child. ¡°Why¡­Why, why!¡± Kusari shouted. ¡°Why do you need to prey on her? Isn¡¯t your clan rich enough?¡± In the source material, there was not a mention of the Senju Clan¡¯s whereabout in Naruto¡¯s time. And this was just a clue. Kusari wanted to shred the letter and this note to pieces but she could not! It was not hers in the first place and it¡­ it was a clue on what might happen to the legendary clan. Her mood shot down to the earth, she no longer enjoyed reading the rest of the notes. She felt like a stalker. A stalker who invaded not only a little girl¡¯s privacy but taking her life away. She took a precious life away. In order to live, again she had to leech on another girl, last time had been her sister and this time an orphan. She was the scum of the earth. This is your chance to NOT fail like last time. !!! wanted that voice in her head gone. You watched and read so many self-help videos and books. It¡¯s time to apply, come on! She did not want to be a parasite anymore! Then¡­ you should search for a jutsu to bring her back. Her eyes widened. This was a world where chakra could make everything possible. Despite a few rules, Naruto¡¯s magic system was quite soft and therefore there must be a jutsu out there to kick out an invading soul. Like¡­ [Reaper Death Seal]. Kusari slapped her face and punched the desk at the same time. It was decided. She was going to master f¨±injutsu. Deciding it was time to get her new life going, Kusari went to work. Without reflecting too much she scoured data about this girl¡¯s habits and daily activity from her sticky notes, and used a new batch to make a structured schedule. In capitalized letters she wrote Fireday until Yangday and stuck them to the wall in front of her. She scheduled little things like cleaning and meal prep, medium things like school hours and grocery shopping, and big things like training and¡­ seeking a part-time job? Wait¡­ No way! There was a note on one of the few red papers. She did not want to believe the content. Not at all. ¡°Yinday, 7 Sixth-Month 71 PWS. ¡°A neighbour offered me a job this morning. He told me it was near the southern wall, a place called ¡°Red Light District¡±. Oh my God, I am a prostitu¨C ¡°Update: the madame told me I did a good job bringing drinks to guests and the big sisters working there. She did some stuff on my face that made me look like grown-ups. I hate it.¡± She almost flatlined at the thought of being a prostitute. But thank God she seemed to work there as a waitress or some kind. Conscience told her not to associate with that kind of society¡ªdruggies, gamblers and especially prostitutes. However¡­ Rummaging through letters for more information, she then found the only bland white envelope and opened it. There was a stack of money, 3,500 Ry¨­ and another sticky note. ¡°500 Ry¨­ x 7 days = 3,500 ¡°500 x 30 = 15,000¡± The pay was just enough to cover buying more nutritious ingredients. But her conscience¡­ You need the money. Pushing the final verdict to her future self, Kusari got back to organizing the notes. Right after she sat down and look at the final few papers, her jaw dropped. ¡°Lightningday, 10 Tenth-Month 70 PWS. ¡°Kama! Adorable little brother turns 3 today. He said his first word and it¡¯s ¡°Sister¡±! Kyaa! ¡°Can¡¯t wait to bring him to the festival later. Dang, I don¡¯t wanna go to schoooool!¡± The last line was a blur as Kusari¡¯s eyes transfixed into the words ¡°little brother¡±. She had a little fricking brother! She was a big sister even in this world!? She gripped her hand until it turned white. Her chest tightened as she felt like her second vomit was coming. ¡°I¡­ I refuse.¡± She had to control her breathing before panic attack set in. ¡°I refuse to be a burden again.¡± *** . ¡°Get to the point, Doctor Nara.¡± Kira¡¯s visit to the Leaf Central of Medical Research had not been well. The Senjus heading the facility had completely delegated the unit to incompetent fools who couldn¡¯t even manage the place. How could there be fish carcasses rotting inside a room that should be sterile? After half an hour of draining back-and-forth with the administrator, she bolted straight through the Leaf Shinobi Hospital. In ten minutes, she got not just a random doctor but a Nara doctor to inspect her finding. Just as she was glad her night would finally end, the doctor came out three hours later, explaining details about poison that of no use to her. The doctor halted his ramblings and apologized. He gave her a paper envelope and said, ¡°Respectfully, Ch¨±nin Yamanaka Kira, I could not believe you when you told me the one who has vomited is still alive.¡± Kira¡¯s jade eyes lingered at the documents before looking at the middle-aged doctor, silently asking why. ¡°You see, the poison she ingested is extremely high-level. A single drop could kill an adult lion in minutes. Also, the features mouth-watering for assassins is it didn¡¯t leave a single trace in the body after the consumer dies. It uses chakra to bind the poison to the soul and when the soul is gone, it is gone. And the reason this poison is considered a hybrid ninjutsu is because the one who infused the chakra into it controls when the poison activates.¡± She narrowed her eyes. Not that she didn¡¯t believe what the man said. ¡°Maybe she only had a micro dose of this poison you speak of?¡± He shook his head, his disbelieving yet exited expression turned grim. ¡°I thought so as well. Two j¨­nins I know who survived this poison did so because they were underdosed. After they survived the near-death experience, they also threw up the same vomit and mucus as the sample you¡¯ve given me. I won¡¯t go into the details of how the mucous membrane gets involve, but know this; the sample showed that this child ingested a dose strong enough to kill forty-four elephants in an instant. I believe the right target should be an experienced ch¨±nin not a seven-year-old academy student.¡± Kira slumped down the chair and rubbed her tired eyes. She was supposed to be grading quizzes tonight not dealing with this headache. Sometime her concern for her students was the bane of her existence. ¡°Is it a case of mistargeting?¡± ¡°Could be. Ch¨±nin Kira, perchance, do you know if this student of yours is in need of extra money?¡± The brain of a Nara worked in mysterious ways.