Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!

WARNING! This is me having a plot bunny in my head for the past month and setting it lose. It will probably turn out badly, but I couldn't resist.

ANOTHER WARNING! This is not edited, so there might be some typos!

A/N: I have read a few SI as Naruto and this is my take on the situation. Clearly slightly different than the original story, this is more an OC-SI! Then an actual one, because if this actually happened to me, I would probably fall insane, unlike my aloof OC. Anyway, I hope you enjoy and tell me what you think! I always look for ways to improve, so constructive criticism is highly welcome :)

Summary: My name is Uzumaki Nori – no, I'm not the twin of Uzumaki Naruto. By all that I have concluded, I'm his replacement. (semi-SI! As Fem!Naruto)

Full summary: A chance to redo my life is what I had always wanted – key word being my. Now, I had a completely new one and hell, I don't care about what is supposed happen. This is my life now – so freakin' deal with it!

Chapter 1

The chaos of babies is a choir that overwhelms the mind.

Uzumaki Nori could tell you a few things about babies. They were loud, they couldn't communicate and their very life depended on the kindness of strangers. However, since they do not have a developed mind of their own yet, they do not realize that – they rely on basic instinct. Nori did not have that commodity. Her mind, it seemed, hasn't reset for her previous life.

Back then she hadn't really thought much about it, just that it would be a nice perk not to have to relearn math and basic things like that, since, she figured, from the broken fragments she received, that the language was not her native one. But, that seemed like a minor issue, as language can be learned through exposure.

The only thing she really remembered was that her birth had been a hectic one.

But after a few weeks, once her vision had been finally clear enough to see she could have screamed, but instead, only small sobs escaped her tiny lips. The masked man-woman? -to this day she doesn't know- disappeared as quickly as they appeared. It took Nori a few second to calm before her mind started to work in overdrive.

It was only a mask –but, what it triggered in her brain was a series of motion pictures that all unravelled at once. The only thing on her mind – this can't be happening.

Now, to spare you the details, we will move forward three years and observe Nori's development.

For the past three years Nori grew up in an orphanage. She had learned her name fairly quickly, if only for her superior mind trapped in a yet to be developed body. It hadn't been as bad as she expected, once she figured out what her role was, that is.

The orphanage staff mostly ignored her, but didn't neglect her. They had tried a few times, but quickly came around - she guessed it had something to do with her masked guardian angel. Nevertheless, she finally managed to figure it out, but only after a visit from a certain old man known as the Sandaime Hokage.

She had successfully replaced Uzumaki Naruto.

Now, she had her own little theory that she learned about from a beloved character in a TV series. What if there was an infinitive number off universes? Going by that logic in one such universe, Naruto could have been a girl, in the other he could have been less reckless, in the third smarter – you get the picture. Still, that didn't explain her knowledge of a universe where this was fiction – But, again, infinite number of universes could mean that all fictional universes could exist as well. And what a fascinating idea that was! The possibilities were endless.

But, she was stuck here, in this body. This was, for all she knew, her only chance at a more interesting life. At this point, she had no goals, she was three, lived isolated, was parent-less, and most importantly – she was a key piece in the village, if only because she kept the Kyuubi at bay.

She only vaguely remembered the manga, she had taken a dislike to the main protagonist – whose only good points were his dumb luck and the Kyuubi's healing power. That was her sentiment and she was sticking with it. Not that the brat didn't have good qualities. She had always disliked the eternally immature type – something Naruto clearly was. In all honestly – she was more a fan of the side characters (well, aside from Sasuke and Itachi).

The Hokage she had met only twice, the first time she had still been a baby. The man smiled a lot, his eyes held wisdom, but Nori didn't care about that. Because, he didn't see her for her – she was merely his responsibility and a memento of the Forth. To that man she was far away from her own personality – that is not to say it was going to remain that way. But, Nori would rather choose herself who she made bounds with. Not that she planned to make many.

But, I digress.

It was one night that Nori overheard a conversation the orphanage matriarch had with the Hokage (whom Nori refused to call anything but Hokage-sama) that she should be moved to live on her own, as she was mature enough to do so. Nori knew her fast development would cause her trouble, but she had never been one to care much. Beside, you try to hide something in a ninja village and then see how that goes.

Needless to say Nori was moved into her own apartment the following day and was explained what was expected of her. A jonin, she had yet to meet would check on her every week to see what she was up to.

And that is the point where Nori's life truly begins.

A three-year-old walking alone in the village was clearly a common occurrence as her image didn't immediately cause suspicion. She walked carefully, kept her head down causing a few stray strands of dark red hair to fall into her eyes. She kept her hair short and slicked back, but for some reason it would always become spiky in the back. Needless to say she was not amused, but was too aloof to care and try to solve the problem. Hence why her hairstyle resembled Sasuke's , only with no bangs.

Her eyes were clearly Minato's, because as far as she remembered Kushina had had purple ones. Her hands were in the pockets of the hand-me-down pant she had received in the orphanage - blue in colour – her shirt red with short sleeves. Standard ninja sandals adorned her feet.

Something Nori learned quickly. Children were strongly encouraged to become shinobi from a young age, so playing ninja in the orphanage backyard was a common occurrence.

Nori didn't have much of a choice – if she was to survive she would have to become a shinobi, whether she liked it or not.

On her exploration, Nori passed the local park, the sound of children's' laughter and screams penetrating her ears. She looked up, her bright blue eyes scanning over the crowd. At first nobody even noticed her, but sudden whispers filled the area, then the familiar tension she had experience in the orphanage crept in.

"Oi, you!" a boy shouted, approximately her age. He was grinning showing off his missing teeth.

Before Nori could say anything a woman voice shrieked, "Kenichi!"

The boy turned towards whom Nori assumed was his mother. The girl ignored the rest of the events as she continued on her path. Her goal had been to explore the village, not make friends with children.

She didn't know what happened after she left and neither did she care. The wind was blowing softly making the summer day more bearable. Nori soon found herself in the middle of a field. She blinked a few times. Clearly she must have spaced out for a second.

Before she could even register her surrounding a voice broke through her thoughts. A very loud voice.

"4 998, 4 999, 5 000!" Nori stared wide-eyed at the green-spandex clad man she faintly recognized as Maito Gai who just got done doing 5000 push-ups.

5 000?! What that man even human, she thought, her eyebrows shooting up in astonishment.

Truth to be told, Nori actually found Gai to be one of the people to admire most. He didn't care what others thought of him, believe in hard work over talent and was overall awesome – not that she would ever say that aloud.

Gai, having finally finished his exercises, stood up dusting of his bodysuit before he scanned his surroundings, his eyes landing on a red-haired wide-eyed child. His eyebrows shot up as he examined her. Peculiar hair.

"Oi, youthful little girl and who might you be? Did you come to admire Konoha's Sublime Green Beast of Prey?" he asked flashing his pearly white teeth.

Nori blinked a few times, getting over the shock before frowning. She suddenly wished her teeth were so white, I mean, who wouldn't?

Quickly collecting herself, she bend down in a bow, having been thought social etiquette at the orphanage.

"Hello, Shinobi-san, my name is Uzumaki Nori. I didn't mean to spy. It seems I got lost while wondering around the village," she finished hopping she used all her words correctly. This was the most she had said aloud to anyone in quite a while.

Gai observed her for a moment, easily recognizing the name. Quickly he whipped his smile back in place.

"Do you need help finding your way?"

Normally, in her old life she was advised not to trust strangers, but here, children were encouraged to view shinobi as a sort of helpful police force (even though they had the Uchiha Police Force) so Nori didn't need to think much before nodding. It was getting late anyway. She was just glad it was Gai that she had run into, though she had no doubt that he would tell Kakashi all about this little meeting.

"Hai!"

"My name is Maito Gai, Konoha's Sublime Green Beast of Prey!" Nori just knew he gave himself that epithet. Nonetheless, she gave him a small smile, her eyes closing on instinct, her head titling slightly.

When she opened her eyes again, Gai stood in his nice-guy pose, teeth shining brightly in the low light.

After telling Gai her address she followed quietly after him, this time paying attention to her surroundings.

"So, Nori-chan, what were you doing in the training-grounds?" he tried to make it sound casual, but Nori already felt like she was being interrogated. Thankfully smart children were not an oddity in this world. I mean, prodigies were lying round in heaps.

"I got lost exploring."

Gai seemed to buy the excuse easily enough. "I see, very youthful of you to do that! But, be more careful in the future, training grounds are not meant for children, you could get hurt!"

She gave him a small nod, understanding his point of view.

They walked a while longer in silence before Nori's curiosity got the better out of her. "Maito-san?"

"Hmmm?"

She took that as a sign to go on. "You're a shinobi of Konoha, right?"

Gai gave her a nod and a big smile. "That is correct!"

Nori stared at the ground before swallowing the lump in her throat. She had a feeling she would regret this in the future, but she found herself saying it nonetheless.

"Do you think I could become one as well? A shinobi I mean."

A/N: So here it is - the story that has been plaguing my thought for the past couple of months. I have a feeling I'm gonna regret this, but, ehh...