Chapter One: Transparency

"Kaiso," snarled Uzumaki Owata. "I've never had a high opinion of your intelligence. But I must congratulate you." He slammed his fist on the table. "You're even stupider than I thought!"

His youngest son cringed. "Please forgive me, father—"

"No, shut up. Shut the hell up!" The Uzumaki clan head massaged his forehead. He took a deep breath and sighed. "Let me get this straight," Owata said with gritted teeth. "Seven years ago, you screwed some civilian. A kid popped into existence, and you didn't even know this girl existed until she showed up on the island!?"

Kaiso scratched his head sheepishly. "Uh… yes?"

Owata made a sound that was the unholy offspring of a growl and a prayer to the heavens. He spent a few seconds trying to control his temper, but he soon gave up. With a few muttered curses, the older man slowly shifted his gaze from his irresponsible son to his newest grandchild. Frowning, he examined her.

"And I suppose this is the girl in question?"

Haru—now Uzumaki Haru, apparently—was a bit bemused by the entire situation. Two weeks ago, she was traveling with her merchant mother, selling glass across the Lands of Fire and Wind. She'd liked living like that, visiting places in a once-fictional world.

(Sometimes, she had trouble believing it. She'd died, and now she was no longer dead. Haru had mostly ignored the implications of that interesting situation. She'd always been a proponent of the go with the flow philosophy. She might as well enjoy this world while she could.)

But after a bandit attack, her mother Sakyu had suddenly decided that Haru was no longer safe travelling with the caravan. After hugging her daughter, commanding her to write every week, and handing her a scroll, Sakyu had sent Haru on a boat ride to the Land of Whirlpools.

To meet her father.

Who was apparently a ninja of Uzushiogakure.

Huh. Who knew?

Her mother had always been vague about the identity of her father… but Haru really, really hadn't expected this. Neither had anyone in Uzushiogakure. But after a slightly invasive chakra test (which she supposed was the equivalent of a paternity test), Haru was shoved into the clan head's office, along with her wayward father.

Well, when life gives you lemons...

"Hello, grandfather," Haru said cheerfully. "It's a pleasure to meet you!" She gave the smile her mother had taught her, the one that Haru used when a potential client seemed hesitant about purchasing a good. Puppy eyes usually persuaded them into becoming loyal customers.

It also worked on her long-lost grandfather. His expression immediately softened. "Now, now, child." He gestured for her to come forward. "There's no need to be so formal with your grandpa."

Haru dutifully walked closer and impulsively gave him a hug. "Ok, grandpa."

The old man laughed. "Kaiso, it seems like your daughter received none of your traits. What a polite and charming child." He looked at her curiously. "I believe your name was… Haru, am I correct?"

"Yup!"

Her grandpa patted her head. "Then, welcome to the Uzumaki clan, Haru-chan. Uzushiogakure will always be a home for you, no matter which way the tides take you."

Everyone in Uzushiogakure had red hair. Now, it wasn't the same shade of red—the hues varied from almost-black to almost-pink—but most people's hair colors hovered between firetruck red and crimson.

Haru was no exception. Her hair was a dull rusty red, a combination of her mother's ordinary brown and her father's strawberry red. And speaking of her father… he was clearly terrified and clueless. He clutched her hand like a grocery bag, as if he expected her to disappear any moment.

Haru decided to take pity on him. "So, Uzumaki-san," she began.

"You can call me D-Dad," interrupted Kaiso, stumbling on the last word.

She nodded, pretending not to notice his anxiety. "So, Dad… what's Uzushiogakure like?"

Kaiso immediately brightened, and Haru knew that she had asked the right question. "That's right! You've never been here before. Uzu, as we call it, is only the best place in the Elemental nations." He started waxing poetic about Uzu's virtues. Nodding and exclaiming at the right places, Haru listened with a smile. "... and our stonework rivals, no, surpasses that of Iwagukure. It's our fūinjutsu, you see. It allows us to create more elaborate buildings."

Admittedly, Uzu was beautiful. The buildings were a mixture of stone and wood—most of the latter being a gift from the first Hokage of Konoha. Every structure was painted in vibrant colors, and elaborate carvings were commonplace. Haru saw children running freely through the streets as merchants hawked their goods.

While traveling through the nations with her mother, Haru had visited the best and worst of this world. She could firmly say that Uzu was one of the most prosperous villages she had ever seen.

"Amazing," she whispered.

Kaiso heard her and grinned. He patted her head hesitantly. "I think so, too."

Haru spent about two weeks exploring Uzu. She clambered over the rocky beaches and ran through the narrow streets. Haru even climbed the tall buildings; the engravings made excellent handholds. She'd enjoyed rock climbing in her last life—it had indirectly led to her death, in fact—and she was glad to indulge in the habit again.

Quietly, she made friends with the various merchants, children, and the occasional ninja who deigned to talk to her. To her father's relief, Haru was a self-sufficient child. (Which was only to be expected. She had thirty-two years of experience in her old world and an additional seven years in this new one. Frankly, not being self-sufficient would be more surprising.)

She'd gotten to know her new dad fairly well. Kaiso was a cheerful, though irresponsible, man with quick temper and a penchant to flirt with anything on two legs. He'd tried to temper that last habit when she was around, but Haru wasn't blind. She'd noticed the way the waitresses and waiters all acted around him. Still, Haru liked him. He was trying to be a good father, and he had a wicked sense of humor. He wasn't sure how to act around her, so he treated her like an adult. That suited Haru just fine.

Then, her carefree time in Uzushiogakure was shot to hell. Haru was forced to do something she hadn't done in over twenty-nine years. Attend school.

Kaiso grip on Haru's shoulder was uncomfortably tight.

"My father wants to see you," he reminded her for the hundredth time. "I'm not sure what he wants, but don't worry. You'll be fine."

Haru gave him a look. Her dad smiled sheepishly and let go of her shoulder. With a deep breath, he pushed open the door to the clan head's office. Haru entered before he did.

"Hello, grandpa!" she said brightly. "It's good to see you again!"

Owata looked up from his papers. "Ah, Haru-chan! If it isn't my favorite granddaughter!" He stood up from his desk and opened his arms. Haru obliged him with a hug.

"Aren't I your only granddaughter?" She pouted playfully in response. Though Haru hadn't met them yet, Kaiso had told her about his siblings and their children; Haru had three cousins—all male.

He laughed. "Yes, well… you're still my favorite girl." He patted her head. "How are you enjoying Uzu?"

"It's incredible! I've never seen anything like it." Haru meant every word. "Everyone is so nice, and the buildings are so pretty…" She started talking about the different people and sights, including one or two of the hidden crannies she'd discovered. Her grandfather listened attentively, but Haru noticed a strange glint come into his eyes as she mentioned her climbs on the towers.

She trailed off. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No, no, child! I'm just glad that you've enjoyed the village." He paused. "Now that you've settled in, are you ready to attend school?"

Her mouth fell open at the non-sequitur. Blinking rapidly, she stared at the clan head with unabashed shock. "Huh?"

Her grandfather looked slightly concerned. "School, Haru-chan. I've enrolled you into the Academy. How do you feel about starting in a few days?"

Haru opened and closed her mouth several times as she tried to think of something to say. Finally, she found her voice. "I've… never attended school before." In this life, at least.

Her grandfather's concern turned to surprise and then anger. "No school?" he thundered.

"I mean, I know how to read and write," she hastily added, "and I know a lot about trade routes, sale prices, and glass. It's just… I haven't stayed in one place long enough, you know?" The concept of school hadn't crossed her mind in a while.

"I see." He didn't seem as angry anymore, but he certainly wasn't happy. "We'll have to remedy that." Owata sighed. "In Uzu," he said gently, "everyone attends the Academy for at least three years."

"Everyone becomes a ninja?" She frowned, puzzled. From what she knew from gossip and vague memories from her past life, the Academy was where ninjas were trained.

He shook his head. "For the first three years, both the ninja-hopefuls and civilians attend the same classes. Most civilian Uzumaki get an apprenticeship or a job after that. It's only the ninja who continue studying for three more years." Her grandpa rubbed his knee thoughtfully. "Five is the usual age to start, so you'd be older than most. But you're a smart girl. You should be fine."

Haru tried not to scowl. She'd hated formal education. After high school, she hadn't stepped in any kind of school again. She'd taken a job as a cosmetologist, and she hadn't looked back. Now, it seemed like Haru didn't have a choice.

"I understand, grandfather."

But that didn't mean she'd have to like it.

From the second she saw it, Haru knew that she'd hate the Academy. The blocky, gray structure stuck out like a sore thumb among the colorful and tall buildings surrounding it.

Angry, irritable thoughts swirled in her head as she sat in the uncomfortable desk. In her class, there were about fifteen other students, all around five years old. Having the advantage of two years, Haru towered over them.

Naoko, their sensei, was a tall woman with long red hair. Her demure, traditional appearance was a facade—at the slightest provocation, she'd explode into threats to contact their mothers. Since Uzu was simply one big family, where most people knew each other, the warning was more immediate and severe.

Unless your mother is a merchant in Suna, Haru thought idly, twirling her pencil.

"Class, it's time for a test!" announced Naoko. "Are you ready?"

The students burst into nervous agreement. Haru simply groaned. The mention of tests brought flashbacks of hours and hours of bubbling in answers. And this was her first day. Did she really have to take a test without any preparation?

Dread pooled in her stomach at the sight of the test sheet, but her worries dissipated the second she started reading. Now, Haru was far from a model student—but even she remembered basic addition. Relaxing, she wrote in the answers. After the math section, the rest was extremely basic reading comprehension and spelling.

To her surprise, Haru had finished almost a half hour before everyone else. The teacher accepted her paper with a neutral expression. After reviewing her paper, Naoko pulled Haru aside.

"Haru-chan, would you mind taking another test for me?" she said with a smile.

Yes, thought Haru, yes, I would. Externally, she grinned. "Sure!" chirped Haru.

While the other students continued doing… whatever they normally did, Haru was taken to a separate room. There, she took test after test after test. Despairing, she half-wanted to fail everything just so they'd stop.

But Haru persevered. She raced through the basic math operations, fumbled her way through algebra, and faltered somewhere around geometry. She did better with reading, but once they started on the more complicated Kanji, Haru gave up. If she had a better opinion of education, she would have been embarrassed at her failure of middle school subjects. As it was, Haru didn't give one whit about school or tests—she'd never had.

Still, the teachers seemed fairly impressed. Without much ado, she was placed into a new class. From what she could tell, most of the students were a few years older than her.

"Yo, kiddos!" grumbled the teacher, who was a giant of a man with a missing leg. "This is a new student. Her name's Haru. Be nice."

Unenthusiastically, the class chorused, "Yes, Tarou-sensei." A few students gave her suspicious looks, but most seemed content to whisper about her.

Haru smiled at her classmates and tried not to fall asleep as Tarou droned about the history of Uzushiogakure. Something about storms and divine blessings, but she honestly didn't care. Haru soon resorted to counting the number of swirls in the room. (The Uzumaki used those swirls everywhere, from clothing to carvings.)

"Alright, kids!" Tarou grabbed his cane and rapped it against the floor. "Get outside."

Haru perked up and followed the gaggle of children as they rushed outside.

She had excellent endurance when it came to running laps, middling accuracy with shuriken and kunai, and no skill whatsoever concerning taijutsu. Of course, the existence of these ninja-like activities during "P.E." made Haru realize that she wasn't learning with future-civilians anymore. She'd been shoved into the ninja classes.

Frankly, Haru didn't know much about ninja. From what rumors she'd heard while traveling, they were bloodthirsty contract-killers with the ability to use magic. The memories she had about the manga Naruto were mostly faded and useless, too. She was going in blind, but she was used to that. Besides, it was something new, and she liked new. Without much concern, Haru accepted her future ninja status.

"You're the bastard, right?" A skinny girl with maroon hair poked Haru, startling her out of her thoughts. "My mom told me about you."

Haru blinked. "Yeah, that's me!" She waved. "My name's Haru. What's yours?"

The girl frowned in response. "My mom said that your dad's terrible, so you're terrible, too."

"Hey!" shouted a boy with scarlet hair. "Mai, don't be mean!" He put his hands on his hips and glared. "Sure, Kaiso-oji's 'an idiotic flirt only good for breaking things and running away,' but it's not her fault!" He said that first part with that matter-of-fact tone children only use when quoting someone.

Mai's face turned the same color as her hair. "Whatever," she huffed. The boy stuck his tongue at her as she stomped away.

"She's a jerk." He shook his head and grinned at Haru. "Anyway, I'm Shuji. You're my first cousin." Shuji carefully emphasized the "first," which kind of made sense; in a clan, everyone was related somehow.

"Oh!" Haru tilted her head. "So Konbu-sama's your dad?" Her dad had mentioned his oldest brother, who was also the clan heir. From what Haru gathered, they weren't very close.

Shuji rubbed his neck. "Yeah, he is." He gestured past her. "And that's Yoki, my little brother."

Haru yelped and turned around. She hadn't noticed the little boy behind her. "U-Uh, hi?"

He stared at her silently.

"Yoki's a genius, you know?" bragged Shuji. "He's only five, but he's already in our class!" Surprisingly, there was no trace of jealousy in his words. "So, now that school's over, do you wanna come over to my house?"

She shrugged. "Sure!"

Shuji and Haru swapped stories on the way to his house. Shuji talked about the village, while Haru mainly told him about the different places she had visited. Yoki trailed after them, silent as a shadow.

"Well, this is my home!" Shuji pushed open the door, and the three came face to face with a slender man.

"Hello, boys," rumbled the man in a surprisingly deep voice. He looked at her, curiosity written as plain as day on his face. "And girls, I suppose."

"I'm Haru." She executed a perfect bow. The Uzumaki weren't really big on formalities, but it was better to be safe than sorry. "It's a pleasure to meet you!"

He looked at her with amusement which rapidly turned to realization. "You're Kaiso's kid, aren't you?" He stepped aside to let them in. "That makes me your uncle."

"So you're Konbu-sama?" She could definitely see his resemblance to Shuji and Yoki.

Konbu blushed. "Hey, don't be so formal! Oji will do just fine."

"Understood, Konbu-oji." Haru followed the boys in, and they were quickly ushered into a pleasant sitting room. At everyone's insistence, Haru joined them for a snack.

"Do you want me to send a message to," Konbu paused slightly, "to your dad? I'll let him know that you're with us."

"No, it's fine!" Haru waved him off. "Dad doesn't really care where I am. I just need to be back… by eleven?" Her statement turned into a question as she noticed Konbu's face grow darker. Haru didn't see the issue. Her mom's approach to childrearing was similarly hands-off in approach. Besides, Haru liked her freedom. For heaven's sake, she was mentally older than both her parents!

"I knew that Kaiso wasn't capable of raising a child," he growled. With that, Konbu stomped out.

Haru exchanged a look with her cousins and sighed.

After that day, Kaiso was sent on a long-term mission to… somewhere. Haru didn't know the details. Konbu and his wife insisted that she live with them, and Haru grudgingly accepted. With due haste, Haru was assimilated into the family. Though not totalitarian, Konbu's family had stricter rules than she was used to. Haru obeyed most of them, but she absolutely refused to accept the curfew. Haru became a pro at climbing from the window and escaping her room. Her escapades were soon greeted with a mixture of exasperation and fondness. Haru knew that they could stop her if they seriously tried, but for now, they indulged her.

In the meantime, Haru continued attending the Academy. In her past life, she hadn't been a model student—most teachers would have claimed the opposite—but Haru found most subjects fairly easy. The written subjects were familiar, and physical subjects were a piece of cake. Haru had always been an athlete, so even taijutsu became familiar after some practice.

The two subjects that gave her difficulty were chakra control and fuinjutsu. The former because she had no experience with any kind of magic energy, and the latter because it was too damn complicated. Sealing was an odd mixture of kanji and calculus, and most of it involved a weird, counterintuitive sense of logic.

Kaiso had more-or-less relinquished the role of father to Konbu, but he still made sure to visit her once in awhile. In the meantime, Konbu, his lovely wife Unagi, and the two boys had become her family in more ways than one. Haru began to think of Shuji and Yoki of brothers. It was a strange feeling, as Haru had been an only child in her last life, but it was a welcome one. After seven years of traveling with only her mother as constant company, it was nice to have a home again.

All in all, this new life wasn't too bad. The months passed quicker than she expected, and before she knew it, two years had gone by.

Then, Haru graduated.

AN: Like all my stories, Eye of the Whirlpool is slow-building and focused on character interaction. Action will be present in the story. However, it will not be the focus. Though the main character is currently lackadaisical about her future as a ninja, I intend to go into detail about the consequences of war. (The main character, whose name was formerly Miyu, had her name changed to Haru for stylistic reasons.) Haru is of age with the Sannin, all of whom will play a significant role in the story.

Much thanks to MalevolentRace for being my ever-patient beta.

Thank you all for reading, and I appreciate all and any feedback.