A Bone to Pick

[Slightly_Displeased]

Chapter 1: Blessed

Itsuki Kaguya

I never had a firm belief in my past life of what could happen after death. I wasn't especially religious, even if my parents were. As I got older, I always felt like I needed to see more concrete proof that a God truly existed. That said, I didn't discount the possibility of God being real either. Whether it was heaven or hell, reincarnation, an eternity of nothingness, I had no way of knowing. I just had to hope it wasn't the last one cause that would suck.

Imagine how annoyed I was when I found myself surrounded by nothing.

It's not really an experience that can be described. How would you explain not existing yet somehow still being aware? I wasn't surrounded by darkness exactly, but nothing. It felt like I was there for both a long time and no time. I couldn't even look around, I just was. What I was I have no clue because I couldn't feel anything.

And then out of nowhere I would feel everything. I felt the air on my skin, heard voices chattering, smelled smells that overwhelmed my senses, saw giant people all around me… it was too much. It was like I couldn't comprehend what was going on and could only stare blankly ahead.

Then I was back.

In the void of nothing.

This kept happened more and more frequently, with my stay in existence being longer each time.

I felt bigger every time I entered that place, I could understand more, my vision was clearer, but still felt unable to properly function and could only stare straight ahead before I got kicked out again.

Until one day, I fully took control and I wasn't sent back.

---​

I woke up from my bed, eyes wide and frantically looked around.

"What the fuck?" were my first words.

Then memories flooded into my mind. Vague and messy memories which cleared up as I got older.

My name is Itsuki. It's my fourth birthday. I live in an orphanage in Kumo, a village high up in the mountains. And I want to be a ninja.

Huh. Well then.

"What the fuck?" were my second words.

As the headache of knowledge died down, I felt a wave of elation. I'm alive. I can feel things. I can actually move.

"Haha" I began to chuckle which turned into a full-blown belly laugh as I celebrated in the confines of my new room. Getting up from lying on my bed to finding myself lying down on the floor, rolling around with uncontrollable giddiness like I was that Greek philosopher who died laughing at his own joke.

I don't care that I'm apparently in the world of Naruto and I don't care that I'm in the body of a four year old. Right then and there, all I cared about was the fact that I exist again. I'm real. And whatever that bullshit limbo I had to go through was is a thing of the past.

"Ugh," a voice nearby grumbled.

"What's so funny?" another boy spoke.

Then a door creaked open in a far corner of the room.

"I see someone's in a good mood", I look up to see a light-skinned middle-aged woman, with silver hair and a bright smile gazing down at me. "Happy birthday little Itsu."

"Thank you, Ms Tabui", I thanked her, calming myself back down and pulling the name from my memories. It helped that she was a prominent one being the Head Matron of the orphanage. "It's a big day today!"

"Why'd you wake me up Itsuki!?" a different voice yelled.

Tabui had been busy lately; we were in the midst of the second shinobi war and more kids were joining the Kumo orphanages by the week. She is a retired Chunin, with some kind of severe injury in her right leg from the first shinobi war which has left her with a limp as she walks. She has said that her daughter usually helps, as she lived here too, but was currently out deployed somewhere being a Kunoichi herself.

There were around 50 children in this orphanage alone from my memories, and I'm not sure how many more there are in this village. The rooms were fairly packed because of this. This still wasn't enough to dampen my mood.

"Haha, he's just excited, Eiji. Itsu's been talking about it non-stop all week. 'Tomorrow's the day I get to be a ninja!' " Tabui softly chuckled while stepping towards me and ruffling my hair. "Come on. Since you're all up I can make breakfast early for your room. A big four year old needs a big meal. Afterwards, we can see about unlocking your chakra."

Oh. That was today wasn't it.

Barely holding back the need to start laughing again, I nodded and followed her out.

---​

I was mostly quite during breakfast. There were about twelve of us sat down in a large hall, with the Head Matron sat amongst the children smiling and replying to their babbling as more staff set the tables around us.

The orphanage it turned out was a pretty big place. High up at the top of a mountain, a large chunk was carved out to make room for the building.

With a moment to myself, my thoughts were going over this body's memories.

I'm in Naruto.

That thought is finally taking a firmer place in my mind. The fictional anime world of my past life. Somehow, I've reincarnated into the famous, messed up land of punch-wizards whose salary is based off of killing other punch-wizards.

Hell, I don't even remember how I died. I actually don't remember much about my past life beyond what I recall from Naruto. That I remember in vivid detail. I feel like I should be more concerned about that, given that I must've had family and friends that have now been snatched away from my brain. Who exactly am I supposed to blame for robbing my memories? Who's to say any memories I make now won't just be taken all the same? I don't even remember my name. But since I can't remember any of that, I found myself not too bothered by that little rabbit hole of depression. Since I can't remember them, I don't know what I'm missing out on. I also have some other pressing things to be thinking about.

I'm not just Itsuki.

I'm Itsuki Kaguya.

Kaguya.

As in the clan of people that pull bones out of their body to stab people with. The insane battle-maniacs that attacked the entirety of Kiri by themselves for nothing else but the love of game.

That little tidbit of my name hadn't seemed to mean much to me before today, not even knowing about the Kaguya clan, but it has very much been near the forefront of my own thoughts over breakfast.

'How the hell am I in the body of a Kaguya kid in Kumo? What kind of plot-driven nonsense is this?'

My new body's memories don't go back enough to learn the answer to my new backstory, and it dosen't seem like I ever bothered asking since I didn't even realize I was from a clan.

'Well, being that I'm in Naruto, I'm sure it's a tragic backstory. Convenient too since I'm glad I didn't wake up anywhere near Kiri.'

"What's with that serious look on your face Itsu? Trying to act more mature now that you'll get to use chakra soon?" Tabui questioned me with an amused smirk on her lips.

"I'm just thinking about all the new stuff I'll get to do with my Chakra. I'll get to train now and go to the academy soon." I replied like the joyful four year old I was.

A good part about this world I've gathered, is that kids mature way faster than they did in my previous world. If a three year old kid was in my old world and was able to have a genuine conversation with an adult, not mispronounce any of his words, take giant pauses to think of responses and not stutter out a yap session while going off on tangents, he'd be considered a genius.

I guess Chakra, even lying dormant and not yet awakened, has a massive effect on the human body.

So lucky for me, I don't really have to dumb down my words too much to hide the fact that I am in fact a grown adult man, and won't end up with Kumo's version of Ibiki.

"Yeah, now I can beat you up in sparring! You keep saying you'll beat me so you better not be scared and chicken out!" A boy slightly older than me named Tomoki challenged out. He was my friend who had begun his training a few months ago and had been beating up many of the other orphans here that are our age. He would also be starting the academy with me in a few months' time. For some reason I seemed to get immense joy from annoying the boy by saying I was stronger than him, even though I had yet to fight anyone.

Well, gotta commit to what I started. "Yeah, yeah. I'll beat you up the second I get my Chakra. You just try lasting more than a couple of seconds" I said, leaning back slightly and flapping a hand in his direction.

Tomoki shook his head and smirked, "everyone's got an attitude, and then they become Tomoki victims."

I snorted at him.

"So eager to start your training, huh Itsu? Well then, if you're finished with your food, let's go outside and see about unlocking your chakra." Tabui said, standing up from her seat and beckoning me to follow.

---​

I walked with the Head Matron up a spiralling staircase that reached the peak of the mountain, on a large, flat, open area made up of stone that was fenced off at the edges of the peak. Turning my head around I saw markings on the ground on one side of the peak which my memories explained to be a training ground. It was cold, but I felt like I should be far colder than I was even in my small fur coat, seeing how high up I was. Must just be another byproduct of chakra circling the body. A glance showed that Tabui only wore a sleeveless kimono.

I could feel it, my chakra, like a warm layer under the surface of my skin that's impossible to reach. I've been feeling it intensely all morning, my connection to it being far stronger than that of my memories. The experience of living a life with no exposure whatsoever to chakra, was a stark contrast like night and day, giving me far more awareness than a child of this world should have. Like an extra sense that is intrinsically part of my body, no my very soul, and is kept dull and at bay.

Gazing past the fences was a deep bed of clouds stretching far across my vision, with many mountain peaks jutting out above them. Walkways extending out from the sides of the vast mountain circling the mountains themselves, multiple floors of buildings sticking out of the crevices and some etched deep into the rock, with more bridges than I could count connecting the vast network of the village.

'The First Raikage was dramatic as hell to pick this place', I thought looking at the Village hidden in the clouds for the first time. 'Very cool though. I approve. No other village would come close to looking this good.'

Tabui turned around near the centre of the clearing and gestured me to come near.

"Alright then Itsu, let's begin. Chakra, as I have already explained to you is an energy that encompasses all living things in this world. Everything from people to trees to insects bear this gift. It's what's responsible for every Jutsu and technique we use as ninja. Without it we would be as weak as civilians. Most people in this world will never get to use this gift, and go their whole lives never knowing the true limits of themselves." Tabui looked down at me with a warm smile, holding out her hand to rest on my head, "As a child of this orphanage, I now get to share this gift with you."

The alien energy that emanated from Tabui, entered and spread throughout my body. Feeling far stronger and more energetic than my own chakra, it travelled throughout pathways across my body that I hadn't even realized were there until now. Growing warmer and wider with every new cycle, my chakra coils were stretched out by the minute.

The Head Matron's chakra circled the pathways and began to focus on a point, a gate, in the left hemisphere of my brain. The Gate of Opening. My own chakra began to pour through, a slow, methodical, gradual thing.

"Focus on my chakra. Focus on its flow, the paths that it is taking throughout your body. Those are your chakra coils. Now, focus on your own chakra. It is reacting to mine and I'm helping to push it out and guide it, but you need to take control of the flow on yourself. Soon your body will learn and this will become as easy as breathing, but you need to show it how it's done first. Now harness it and follow the cycle." Tabui gently ushered with a focused look on her face.

Taking control of it already felt natural, instinctual. Tabui's eyes widened slightly as I followed the flow of her chakra perfectly. No deviations, no corrections needed from her. Just a perfect pathing of my body.

More and more of my chakra was pulled out of the well of my inner gate as the minutes went by, my muscles began to feel slightly stronger, my breathing clearer and my thoughts faster. But my bones. I could feel every single one. What was 280 bones since Tabui begun pulling out my chakra, became 206. Young bones of the body of a child fused together to leave the number a fully grown adult would have, not that of a four year old.

The infamous bloodline of the Kaguya clan was awakened and in full effect. No emotional trigger was necessary, no waiting for a traumatic event for the possibility of awakening the Kekkei Genkai. You are either felt its blessing the moment you awakened your chakra, or you didn't. And right now, I was feeling very blessed.

"Hmm, good. You'll grow to be strong Itsu."

AN: After lurking and reading fics for a couple of years, I finally decided try out writing one myself. I wanted to combine two things I find sorely lacking Naruto fics: a Kaguya and the Third Raikage (the guy's cool as hell in the show).

I did have some of a prologue written to actually explain how the MC's body ended up in Kumo, but I ultimately realised that he just wouldn't remember it. I figured I could just have it explained later as the MC grows up and any issues with Kiri can ensue.

This is my first time writing anything so any constructive criticism is very much appreciated.