When I regained consciousness, I found myself lying in a wooden cradle.
The room was quiet, except for soft crying sounds.I slowly moved my eyes around. There were many cradles placed in rows. Many babies. Some sleeping. Some crying. Some staring at the ceiling like me.
Orphanage.
Minato and Kushina… they must be dead.
A heavy feeling settled in my tiny chest.
So it really happened.
The Nine-Tails was sealed.
And I survived.
But questions would not stop running through my mind.
Am I the jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails?
Did Minato split the Kyūbi's chakra,half in me and half in himself?
Or did he seal the full fox inside me?
Is this world following the original timeline with only small changes?
Or is this a completely different world from the anime?
If it is very different… then my knowledge from the show might be useless.
Before I could think more, the door opened.
An old woman walked into the room. Her back was slightly bent, and her hair was grey. She wore simple clothes. On her face was a gentle smile as she moved from cradle to cradle, feeding each baby with a milk bottle.
Her voice sounded sweet.
Too sweet.
She fed one baby. Then another.
Then she came to me.
The moment her eyes landed on me, her smile disappeared.
Her face twisted into anger.
Cold anger.
She placed the bottle she had been using down on a small table. Then she picked up another bottle from the side.
Something about that felt wrong.
Very wrong.
I did not like the look in her eyes.
She shoved the bottle into my mouth and squeezed hard.
Hot milk rushed down my throat.
It was burning.
It was too hot.
Pain shot through my throat like fire.
My eyes widened.
You crazy woman!
I wanted to scream. I tried to pull away. But I was a baby. My body was weak. My arms barely moved. She held my head firmly and kept forcing the milk into my mouth.
It burned.
It felt like I was swallowing fire.
She kept talking while doing it. Her voice was no longer sweet. It was sharp and hateful.
I could not understand the words, but I understood the tone.
Hatred.
After what felt like forever, she finally pulled the bottle away.
I gasped for air.
"Haah… haah…"
She looked at me.
And smiled.
A cruel smile.
Then she spat on me. And walked away.
"AAAAAHHH!"
It burns. It burns. It burns.
My throat felt like it was on fire. My chest hurt. My whole body felt hot from inside. Tears streamed down my face as I cried loudly like a normal baby.
But inside, my mind was screaming something else. I will remember this.
I will make you pay for this.
The moment I can move on my own… the moment I grow stronger… I will not forget.
This confirmed two things for me. First, I am definitely the jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails. Second, this is not the canon Naruto world. In the original story, Naruto was ignored, avoided, looked at with fear.
But he was not tortured like this as a baby.
This world is darker.
Much darker.
Oh God…
My childhood is going to be a nightmare.
If there is one thing I learned from reading fanfiction in my past life, it is this — when things start bad, they get worse.
There will be hatred.
There will be abuse.
There will be loneliness.
And my meta knowledge? It might be useless here. I cannot rely on the story I watched. I cannot rely on what I remember. I can only rely on myself. I need to get stronger.
Fast.
Thankfully, I have the Fast Learner perk.
And Weapon Construct.
And I am Naruto freaking Uzumaki.
But that means nothing if I do not survive long enough to use them. I closed my eyes as tears kept falling.
I just hope…I just hope I have enough willpower to survive this world.
—
Three Years Later
"Finish cleaning the dishes quickly. Then wash the clothes. If you want dinner tonight."
The orphanage matron stood in front of me with a deep scowl on her wrinkled face.
This damn hag.
She works me to death.
Ever since she realized that I could walk properly and understand what people were saying, she started giving me chores. First small things. Then bigger things. Now almost all the housework in the orphanage is done by me.
Washing dishes.
Cleaning floors.
Carrying water.
Washing clothes.
Sweeping the yard.
I am three years old.
Three.
The last three years have not been very eventful. Honestly, I expected worse.
After that first night with the burning milk, I thought she would torture me every day. But she never did that again. She fed me normal milk after that. The only problem was the quantity. It was always too little.
I was never full. I was always hungry.
As a baby, there was not much I could do except lie in the cradle and move around. So I focused on the only thing I could control, my mind.
I started learning the language.
It sounds similar to Japanese, but it is not exactly the same. The words are slightly different. The sentence structure is also a bit different.
It took me one and a half years to fully understand and speak properly. Yes, even with the Fast Learner perk, it sounds slow.
But I had no books. No pen. No paper. No one teaching me.
Only my ears and my brain. So honestly… I am proud of that.
But that was not the only thing I trained.
I knew I could not train my body much without raising suspicion. But I could train something else.
My chakra.
At first, I thought it would be difficult. Very difficult.
But maybe luck was on my side. I inherited chakra sensing.
I do not know if it is an Uzumaki trait or something else, but I can sense the chakra signatures of people around me. Every person feels different. Some feel calm. Some feel sharp. Some feel heavy.
Right now, my range is small.
About fifty meters. Still, that is more than enough inside the orphanage.
I keep my sensing ability active almost all the time. I quietly observe the chakra around me and try to memorize each signature.
The matron's chakra feels twisted and sharp. The other children feel small and soft.
Sometimes I even sense shinobi passing by outside.
Apart from sensing, I also started chakra control training when I turned two. The only safe training I could do without raising suspicion was the leaf sticking exercise.
I secretly gather small leaves. Then I focus chakra to my forehead and try to make the leaf stick there.
At first, it would fall immediately.
Then it stayed for a second.
Now, it can stay for several minutes.
The adults think I am just a lonely child trying to entertain myself. The other kids do not play with me anyway. Thanks to the matron spreading rumors, they avoid me.
They whisper when I pass by. They look at me with fear.
It does not bother me much. I do not want to play with them. Loneliness gives me time. Time to train. Time to think. Time to prepare. Because I know one thing clearly.
This world is not kind.
And I cannot stay weak forever.
After three years in this world, I have noticed two big differences from the main timeline.
The first difference is the Senju clan. In the original Naruto story, the only known living Senju was Tsunade. But in this world, the Senju clan still exists. At least, some of them do.
Once every month, a Senju woman visits the orphanage. She brings food, clothes, and sometimes toys for the children. She has soft brown hair and calm eyes. There is something warm about her presence.
The strange part? She treats me like a normal child.
No hatred. No fear. No cold stares.
She smiles at me the same way she smiles at the others. Sometimes she even pats my head. I do not know why. Maybe she does not believe the rumors. Maybe she knows what others do not.
Or maybe… Senju and Uzumaki blood still share some connection in this world too.
The second difference is more personal.
My appearance.
I have red hair. Not blond.
Bright red hair, just like Kushina.
And my eyes… they are violet.
Deep violet.
People often stare at me for a moment before looking away. That alone makes things harder. It reminds them of the Nine-Tails night.
It reminds them of loss.
"Finally, the dishes are done," I muttered quietly while drying my small hands. "Now I have to wash the clothes if I want food tonight."
Most of the time, I stay quiet.
But sometimes, I speak out loud on purpose. Just loud enough. Just clear enough.
In case someone is listening.
The Hokage should have assigned ANBU to watch the jinchūriki. That is how it was in canon.
Maybe they are watching. Maybe they are outside my sensing range.
Or maybe they are using some technique to hide from chakra detection.
I cannot sense anyone unusual nearby. But my range is only about fifty meters.
If they are farther than that… I would never know.
Still.
Maybe one of them hears me. Maybe Kakashi is among them. Maybe someone will feel pity and leave some extra food behind.
I do not know for sure if I am being watched. But a kid can hope.
And hope… is better than nothing.