Chapter Text
The weird thing about remembering things from when she was Riley was that she could remember them better now than she could when she was actually still Riley. She wasn’t sure why, probably something to do with seals and Death God Bullshit, but she utilized this fact as often as she could.
It was like she had a selective photographic memory. She could remember, down to the last detail, every episode of Naruto she’d ever watched, every song she’d ever listened to, and many of the books she’d read.
It didn’t extend to memories she made as Tomoko, evidently, but she had a fairly good regular memory so she wasn’t that salty about it.
Having full recall mean she could listen to any song, anytime she liked, which was cool, but since it was in her head, she couldn’t share them with anyone, which was not so cool.
So, she decided to learn to play the piano, which for some reason was still a thing in this world, if somewhat rare.
She’d… sort of known how to play as Riley? Like, she wasn’t great at it but she knew a couple songs. But Tomoko didn’t have the muscle memory, so she was back at square one; no experience but a good ear and some background knowledge.
It was slow going, but eventually she could play some of the simpler songs. When she wasn’t training or experimenting, there was a good chance you could find her in the back room of the music shop, playing songs no one else had ever heard.
Eventually, she wanted to save up enough money to buy her own piano. The one she was using was fine, but the owners of the shop kept looking at her funny. Like, she got it, alright, Orochimaru was creepy and evil and whatever but she was just playing piano! There is literally no way to hurt people by doing that!
But that was the only music store that had a piano available for the general public. So.
Still, she thought maybe they were overcharging her a bit, but she couldn’t prove anything. She wasn’t about to break into their records, and she wasn’t bored enough to spy on their other customers.
She headed home for the day, electing to take the streets this time, instead of the rooftops. Sometimes she just liked to wander.
The civilians still avoided her, along with some of the ninja, but a few of her fellow shinobi nodded at her. She was glad some people were starting to tolerate her.
As she rounded a corner, she noticed a group of civilians circled around something. They seemed angry.
She had a bad feeling about this.
As she walked silently towards them, she heard the tell-tale shouts of a small child, and through the shifting bodies she caught sight of yellow.
“You dirty little thief!” the one in the middle shouted.
“I didn’t steal nothin’!” Oh dear, that was definitely Naruto.
She got close enough to see what was going on through the gaps in their legs. (Being short was good for something after all!) The man in the middle had Naruto by the scruff of the neck, holding him by the collar of his shirt.
“Don’t try to worm your way out of this, you little monster!” One of the spectators said.
“Yeah, accept your punishment, brat!” Another added.
“I didn’t do anything!” Naruto insisted.
“A liar and a thief, huh?” The man in the middle shook Naruto around a bit. “Maybe I should show you what happens to criminals, demon.”
Tomoko decided she’d had enough. She hoped this would work.
“My, my.”
The group froze, falling into silence, before scrambling back and around to face her.
“So many of you,” she drawled, “Just for one boy? One might think you were… compensating for something.”
The men in the group twitched.
“This is none of your business, girl,” one of them snapped.
“Oh?” She smirked at them, raising her eyebrows. “Quite the contrary. A group of adults, harassing a child? As a shinobi of Konohagakure — ” she pointed to the hitai-ate around her neck, “ — I am obligated to… eliminate the problem. Keep the peace, and such.”
One of them scoffed. “A traitor doesn’t have any obligations.”
Her gaze hardened. “Perhaps.” She tilted her head. “But then, a traitor wouldn’t care to minimize casualties if they were provoked. ”
She took a step closer, and they flinched back. She knew they were scared of Orochimaru, and by extension her, but she was surprised her intimidation was working to this extent. She carefully didn’t let any of her surprise show on her face.
“Now, I suggest you release the child, before I feel the need to do something…” Her tongue flicked briefly out of her mouth, deliberately snake-like. “…Drastic.”
The man holding Naruto grimaced, then roughly dropped the boy on the ground. He turned to the mob of people, who at some point had all decided to hide behind him. “Let’s go.”
They left.
As soon as they were out of sight, Naruto spun around and beamed at her. She blinked, caught off-guard by the brightness.
“That was so cool, dattebayo!” He grinned. “You were like ‘ get lost, morons ’ and they totally freaked out and ran away! I was freakin’ out, ‘ttebayo, ‘cuz there was a lot of ‘em, and usually I can outrun ‘em, but they caught me and I totally thought they were gonna beat me up, dattebayo, but then you showed up and chased ‘em off so… uh…” He trailed off, suddenly sort of shy. “…Thanks.”
“No problem, kiddo.” She sighed, her heart rate finally returning to a decent speed. “Man, I wasn’t sure that was gonna work, I knew they were scared of me, but there was a lot of them.” She grinned. “I’m Yashagorō Tomoko! What’s your name?”
She knew, of course, probably would have even if she hadn’t had memories from Last Time, but she was being polite. She didn’t always do that, but she liked Naruto and wanted to make a good impression.
“I’m Uzumaki Naruto, dattebayo!” He struck a pose. “I’m gonna be Hokage!”
She snickered. As he relaxed his pose, pouting, she put her hand on his head. “You’re adorable.”
She didn’t miss the slight flinch he gave, just before contact, which only hardened her resolve.
She ruffled his hair. “I’ve decided.” She bent down until their faces were even. “I’m gonna keep you.”
“Huh?”
She stood back up. “You’re mine now. Be prepared for me to show up at random times to show you stuff and/or bring you cool things.”
Naruto blinked up at her, something like cautious hope building in his eyes. “Does that mean… you want… to be friends?”
She winked at him. “Us social outcasts gotta stick together.”