Asahi woke before dawn. This time, the pain wasn't muscular—it was a dull, stabbing headache, centered right behind his eyes. It was the aftereffect of neurological recalibration, like his brain had been used as an overclocked motherboard for hours.
Still, he slipped out of bed. Iruka-sensei's bento from the previous day had been a revelation. As the sensei had said, the brain consumed calories, and his was running a massive deficit. He had slept like the dead but felt as if he had run two mental marathons.
'You can't recalibrate an engine without fuel'.
He remembered Iruka's other words.
'Change the context'.
While the other orphans slept, Asahi stepped into the silent, dark hallway of the orphanage. He pulled out his faithful leaf, now slightly brown at the edges from use.
'Okay. Not sitting. Not still'.
He placed the leaf on his palm. Took a deep breath. Chakra flowed, and the leaf stuck.
Then, slowly, he began to walk down the hallway.
It was easy. Walking was a rhythmic, automatic movement that required no conscious tension. He could keep the leaf stuck indefinitely while walking.
'Good. Context changed. Now, the problem'.
As he walked, he tensed his pinky.
'Click'.
The leaf fell.
Asahi stopped. Picked it up.
'Damn it. The "walk" command is as automatic as the "muscle tension" command. My brain can't differentiate. It's all movement'.
'Iruka-sensei said… my forehead'.
He looked at the leaf. This was ridiculous. A circus trick.
'But a Jonin-level circus trick'.
He hesitated. Placing chakra on his head… it felt exposed. But if Iruka suggested it, there had to be a reason.
He placed the leaf on his forehead.
Took a deep breath. Buzzzz.
This time it was different. The chakra didn't flow to his palm, an appendage designed for manipulation. It flowed to his forehead, a place with no tendons or muscle memory for doing things. It required a different kind of focus, subtler.
The leaf stuck. It felt strange, a cold tingling on his skin.
Now, the moment of truth.
He started walking down the hallway.
It worked. He could walk and keep the leaf stuck to his forehead. His brain seemed capable of handling these two unrelated tasks.
'Good. Now… the test'.
As he walked, he slowly closed his right fist.
His concentration wavered. The chakra flow to his forehead weakened, and the leaf wobbled.
'No!'. he thought, stopping and clenching his teeth. He pushed more chakra to his forehead, fighting against the instinctive click of his brain trying to cut the energy.
He walked. The leaf stayed stuck. His right fist was closed.
He was doing three things at once: walking (automatic), sticking (chakra), and closing his fist (muscular).
It was… working.
"Oh," he whispered in the dark hallway.
A slow, exhausted smile formed on his face. It's going to work.
By lunchtime, Asahi was in an almost zen-like state of exhaustion. He had spent the entire morning in class—history, geography, mathematics—and every second had been spent with a leaf stuck to the back of his neck, hidden beneath his collar.
While Iruka-sensei spoke about the Five Great Shinobi Nations, Asahi sat quietly, practicing in secret: Tense the left bicep. Maintain the flow. Relax. Tense the right tricep. Maintain the flow. Relax.
When the lunch bell rang, Asahi barely heard it. He stayed at his desk, pulling out his meager orphanage lunch (a rice ball and some pickles) and a new leaf. He stuck it to his left palm, placed it on the desk, and prepared to practice with his fingers while eating with his right hand.
He was so focused on the buzz of his chakra that he didn't hear anyone approach.
"Uh… Asahi-san?" A soft, slightly timid voice.
Asahi jumped so violently that his elbow hit the desk. The click of his reflex was instant. Chakra cut off. The leaf fell.
He looked up, heart racing, ready for… what? An attack?
It wasn't an attack.
It was Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki.
The Hokage's blond son. Yin vessel of the Kyuubi. The protagonist of this twisted world. He was standing there, beside Asahi's desk, looking… awkward.
Asahi froze.
'What? Why?'. His mind, already exhausted from chakra training, panicked.
'Shit, he saw me! The Hokage sent him! They know what I'm doing! Do they think I'm planning a coup? Do they think I'm crazy? Is it because of Iruka's bento? Kushina must have told him something considering her personality!'.
Naruto didn't seem to notice Asahi's existential panic. He simply looked at the fallen leaf, then at Asahi's lunch, then at Asahi's pale face.
"It's okay," Naruto said softly, interrupting Asahi's spiral of paranoia.
"W-what?" stammered Asahi.
"It's okay," Naruto repeated. "My brother Arashi… he can't do it either."
Asahi blinked. "Do what?"
"Stick the leaf," said Naruto. "It's too noisy. His chakra is… noisy. Yours is quiet… but I can feel you get startled easily. Like when you bite down too hard."
Asahi had no idea how to respond. His chakra… was scaring someone?
Naruto gestured to the empty space beside Asahi. "Can I… uh… sit?"
Asahi looked at the empty chair, then at Naruto. 'Sit? Here? With me?' This wasn't in the script. It didn't make sense.
Unable to form a word, Asahi simply nodded stiffly.
Naruto sat. Silence filled the space between them. Naruto unpacked his own lunch, and it was… glorious. A three-tiered bento only Kushina Uzumaki could have made: octopus-shaped sausages, perfect tamagoyaki, cherry tomatoes, and rice with furikake.
Asahi stared at his lonely rice ball. Resignation and jealousy surged.
'Of course'.
Naruto noticed his gaze. Looked at Asahi's bento, then his own.
"My mom… made too much," Naruto murmured. It was such an obvious lie it hurt to hear.
Before Asahi could protest, Naruto used his chopsticks to place one of the octopus sausages on Asahi's rice ball.
Asahi looked at the sausage.
Looked at Naruto.
Naruto wasn't looking at him. He was eating his own rice, cheeks slightly flushed.
Asahi remained frozen.
Danzō Shimura, the Black Dog of Konoha, had given him occupational safety advice.
And now, Naruto Uzumaki, the protagonist of the series, was giving him food from his own plate.
His brain, already at its limit trying to rewrite eight years of muscle memory, couldn't process this new input.
'What… the hell… is this world?'.