How To Hide In Plain Sight

I woke up the next morning pretty early. A habit I had yet to break, but I didn't mind. I'm sure it would help as a ninja, but as an undeveloped child, I think it might be bad for me.

I look over to see Naruto still fast asleep. Along with a trail of drool coming from his mouth. I chuckled lightly before going to take a shower. I liked to keep my hair short, and usually had it slicked back with a strand hanging over my forehead. It was really spiky, something I inherited from my dad, from what I remember. It hadn't been long, but I really miss their parental warmth. I sighed, no bad thoughts. I have my own family in the form of a crazy blonde my age with whiskers.

I dried off and put on a basic white tee with black shorts like usual, before making a hearty breakfast. This is one of the occasions where remembering a past life comes in handy, no normal four-year-old could cook. I think Hokage might have just assumed that Naruto would go and order ramen somewhere every day.

The first time Naruto had ramen was three years old when the orphanage got really lazy and just got a bunch of instant ramens. Like normal, I and Naruto ended up with significantly less food than the others, yet it was still loved at first taste. He wouldn't shut up about it ever since.

I turned the stove on and checked the fridge. Apparently, someone had come in last night and stocked up all our ingredients. Not sure what they expected, maybe they think their super-weapon is a super chef? No clue, but I'm decent at cooking so I'm sure will grow up healthy.

I picked up six eggs and quickly cracked them in a bowl. I grabbed the milk and checked to make sure it wasn't expired, before pouring it into the bowl and whisking. Once that was done and my pan was warmed up, I poured the whisked eggs in and scrambled them. I also put a couple of pieces of bacon in the oven. Once I had almost scrambled the eggs, I sprinkled some shredded cheese on top and it melted into the eggs as I finished them off. Loading the eggs onto the plate along with the bacon that had just finished, I poured out two glasses of orange juice.

Just as I finished setting the table I heard a thump. Looking towards the noise, I see Naruto's tiny four-year-old body slumped over and face planted into the ground with his blanket still hanging off of him. I heard him grumble something about how mornings were the enemy of mankind. That's a little to the extreme, don't you think?

However, as soon as he smelled breakfast his mood swapped out like a light-switch. I was almost blinded by the energy radiating off of his body when he had just been a blanket burrito. Damnit Naruto, it's too early for this.

"Breakfast! C'mon Sakuya, you gotta eat fast so we can go explore the village. Then we can pick up some ramen for lunch 'ttebayo!" Naruto shouted before digging into his eggs. A warm smile was placed on my face before my thoughts came to a screeching halt. If the orphanage treated us like that, what's to say the rest of the village won't?

No, Sakuya, stay positive. There's gotta be something we could do though, I'm sure the library will have something. But worst-case scenario, we could always resort to the Hokage. I quickly dug into my eggs too. God, it's been years since I had food like this. The orphanage always tossed us the leftovers and cold stuff. I almost cried, but that would make me look weird so I held in my tears.

Just as I finished, Naruto grabbed my hand and dragged me out the door and into the village. Now that I had a good look at it, it was quite beautiful. With all the trees and the Edo era style to it, it looks straight of the very, very old history books of my old world. Like before we even discovered space travel.

We arrived in the main plaza, and as everyone's gaze landed on us, their pitiful killing intent was leaked. I knew this would happen, of course, we wouldn't be accepted. Damn Hokage, you're not supposed to reveal who is your super-weapon! It's supposed to be a secret!

I glanced over at Naruto, he looked like he didn't notice, but I could tell by the slight tenseness on his face that he was faking it. And so we spent our time exploring. A couple of times we approached a store the employees quickly turned it to closed. I could tell Naruto's mood was getting worse each time, and it hit rock bottom when we showed up at the library and were just straight up kicked out, the librarian claiming that demons don't have the right to learn. And even worse is when we were turned away from the instant ramen store. At that point, Naruto had a gloomy cloud hanging over him.

We trudged our way back to our apartment, Naruto's bright and cheery attitude gone. Replaced by a hollow-looking and broken four-year-old. I knew that Naruto faked most of his happiness, and that foxy-grin on his face was to help the resentment.

So when we arrived home and Naruto started crying his heart out as I comforted him, I wasn't surprised. Hell, I would cry too if it wasn't for the first six years of my past life. Commoners weren't treated the best, especially a family with no one in the military like mine.

"Sakuya, why? Why do they do this to us, it's not fair! I want to hate it but I can't. I still want to be a ninja and protect them. I don't understand my own heart. Why, what do I have to do to make them acknowledge me. I'll even become Hokage if that's what it takes!" Naruto bawls into my chest as I just silently pat him on the head until he eventually falls asleep. It was heartbreaking for me to hear those words come out of a four-year-olds mouth.

I had a good idea of what had to be done, we needed a way to hide in plain sight. And the best way to find it? The library. I put Naruto to bed before I waited.

A couple of hours and the village was silent. If I was going to be a thief, I was going all out. Sack and all. I ran through the streets silently and quickly arrived in front of the Konoha library. Checking the window, I found it unlocked. For a ninja, these people are pretty lazy. Oh well, not my problem.

I followed the signs and grabbed pretty much anything that looked useful. Medical Ninjutsu textbooks, history books, chakra control techniques. Until I finally found it, the transformation technique. I grabbed it and stuffed it into my ever-growing stack. I had quite a few books now, but just as I was about to start making my way back I saw it.

The restricted section. Filled with dangerous jutsu that are very powerful. I couldn't help it, even though curiosity has murdered many cats, I had to. So I snuck in.

There were all kinds of techniques, but none really stood out. But as I picked up one book, I was immediately intrigued. 'Theory on Chakra Manipulation.' Was what it was titled. I decided to take it with me to satisfy my curiosity until I heard footsteps.

My heart-rate spiked. If I was caught here, a death penalty would be me getting off lightly. Damn it, I thought curiosity only killed cats! Holding my breath I listened as the footsteps drew closer. They stopped at my position, and my heart was racing. It seemed like an eternity, but they finally left. I released a breath I didn't even realize I was holding before I hightailed it out of there.

Mission complete, find something to help me and Naruto go out in public like normal people! And maybe I stole a couple of other goodies too.