<Nasuki Uzumaki>

"That'll be... 5,000 yen"

Nasuki could only angerly scowl at the shop stand owner as she heard the price. He was overcharging her again.

"That's double of what it was last time! I told you; I don't have that kind of money!"(N.S)

Nasuki let out a barrage of words laced with fury while trying to keep her voice in a low tone. She couldn't afford to attract attention here.

"Oh, don't play with me little girl. I know better than anyone what kind of money you have"

What the man said was sadly true. Nasuki had been doing all their shopping at this particular stand for three months. It wouldn't take a genius to figure out how much money she had. Despite her best efforts to find another store that would sell to them, she had come up short. Covering up her eye-catching hair could had only taken her so far.

"You know, you should be grateful I still feed you demon twins. Every time you come here you put me at risk. Do you know how people would look at me if they knew I help you? But do I receive a thanks? No, all I get is attitude.  You must really have a lot of options to continue talking to me like that. Do you want me to increase the price again that bad!"

Nasuki nervously pulled at her head scarf while looking around. The man was purposefully being loud in order to attract attention. He was trying to make her fold. It worked.

"No-no... I'll pay. Just give it to me"(N.S)

The man's confident grin from winning disappeared after he heard the second command. With an eyebrow raised he said,

"Fix that tone of yours. It's going to get you into trouble"

'Damn useless bastard!'

Forcing down her internal feelings, Nasuki corrected herself.

"Please help me with the items sir"(N.S)

"Ahh, that's much better. See? It wasn't that hard to be polite, was it?"

The man let out a loud laugh as if to taunt Nasuki while he begun looking for the requested items. Nasuki for her part, could only hatefully glare at him. It was a great shame they needed a person like this.

The items Nasuki needed were the cheapest things he was willing to sell to her. Two loafs, two 6 packs of eggs, and a matchstick box. Realistically, all those items cost nowhere near 5,000 yen. A pack of eggs goes for about 100 yen, a big loaf of bread 150 yen and a packet of matchsticks 50 yen. Nasuki's total should have been somewhere around 550 yen. She was instead paying almost ten times the amount. Naruto and Nasuki weren't going hungry because they didn't have enough money. They were going hungry because everyone they met overcharged them.

It didn't matter if the store owner had sold the customer before them bread at 150 yen. They would still be charged 1,000 yen for it.

"Alright, here you're goodies"

The condition of the food brought out was disheartening. The bread looked like someone had punched it while the eggs had visible cracks on their shell. It was a miracle they hadn't completely bust yet.

"'Oh, yeah. You wanted matchsticks again"

The owner fished out a box from his pockets then proceeded to throw them down onto the table. It was clearly used and from the sound it made when it landed, not even halfway full.

It was times like these that Nasuki really considered stealing or bribing someone else to do their shopping.

They had actually attempted the latter of the options at one point in time. It was hard to find a kid who would talk to them and agree, but once they did it worked like magic.... until the kid told his parents where he got the extra money. A rumour spread that they were out corrupting kids which helped worsen people's already negative view of them. That was the end of that. No kid would accept their offer no matter how much money they promised.

As for stealing... being in a village full of ninja put an end to that idea. Plus, people already hated them for simply existing. Giving them an actual reason was like adding gas to a live flame.

Nasuki pulled out the money from her shorts. Half a month worth of money was going to buy them a week of one day a meal foods.

The man grabbed the money out of her hands and started counting it with an excited face.

"Looks to be all accounted for. Go ahead"

Without replying, Nasuki took out a small dirty bag from her left pocket. Walking with food hanging around was just asking for trouble.  

She stretched out her hand in a bid to grab the food and leave but was stopped by another hand grabbing hers.

"Come on. I know you know what to say"

In a low mumble Nasuki spoke,

"Thanks for the food"(N.S)

"What was that? Speak proper"

Increasing her voice and rephrasing her words, Nasuki spoke again,

"Thank you for the food kind sir"(N.S)

"Much better, now scram brat"

Nasuki hurriedly scooped up the food into her bag before departing. Choosing to take a different route than the one she used to get there.

'I fricking hate this world!'

While Nasuki's memories of her last life might be quite a bit blurred, she was certain it was not nearly as trashy as this world. That shop keeper was really the worst.

'Little girl? I'll show you a little girl!'

Nasuki might be a little girl now, but that wouldn't stop her from eventually stomping on his face. She was going to show him just what exactly these small hands could do. Nasuki spent a good part of her walk daydreaming what she would do to that punk.

'Hopefully Naruto has some better luck than me...'

Letting out a sigh, Nasuki could only pray for Naruto's success in fishing. They hadn't been as lucky as they were that one last time. All successive tries had resulted in resounding failures.

Turning into a long alley way that had become a great shortcut, Nasuki let her thoughts continue to wonder.

It was probably for that reason she didn't notice both exits being blocked by a bunch of kids.

Her continued walk came to a halt as she bumped into someone. Not a lot of people travel this particular alley way. She must not really be paying attention for her to hit someone.

"Oh, my bad. Sorr-"(N.S)

Nasuki suddenly collapsed to the ground as she felt a quick fist connect with her gut.

"Ugu!"(N.S)

Thankfully she managed to swing the food in front of her chest before her back greeted the ground.

"W-what the hell!"(N.S)

Nasuki slowly started to sit up. Ready to meet the face of her attacker.

"I-Itsuki?"(N.S)

It was a familiar face. The face of her old errand boy.

"Not quite"(I?)

Something was different about him. He looked taller, he looked older, and he looked a heck of a lot meaner.

"A-Are you sure this is a good idea, Shun? I mean, it's not like she forced me to take the money. I-"

"Shut up Itsuki! She probably used some form of demon power on you. You are likely corrupted. Don't believe a word she says!"(S)

A smaller version of the talking boy that had appeared beside him coward.

'Itsuki and his... brother?'

Both boys spotted light brown hair and dark green eyes. They looked eerily similar.

"You got us both into a lot of trouble and I think it's about time you pay for it"(S)

It was then that Nasuki spotted it. The headband woren by the older boy. He must be a Genin, a ninja.

"I see you noticed my headband, yea that's right. I'm a ninja!"(S)

Nasuki suddenly felt her heart begin to beat, beat fast. While Genin maybe the lowest ranked ninja, they were still a ninja. Ninja are damn strong.

Deciding to make a quick escape, Nasuki turned around and tried to make a break for it... only to be tripped by something. Finally dropping the food when she looked down, she saw what appeared to be a living shadow.

'More than one and their using their Jutsu?! What the hell!'

"Grab her arms!"(S)

Nasuki heard two sets of footsteps approach her before she was abruptly picked up by the arms and hoisted into the air.

"Let go of me you bastards! I haven't done anything to you!"(N.S)

Nasuki struggled in the air until another fist came into contact with her gut.

"Don't lie demon. Itsuki, search her pockets"(S)

Hearing the words spoken. Nasuki summoned the last of her might in an effort to escape. This was rewarded with two more punches to the gut and one to the face for good measure.

"Go Itsuki, and demon... if you try that again with my brother around you. I won't be so kind"(S)

Nasuki could only helplessly plead with her eyes as she saw Itsuki start to search her pockets.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."(I)

The boy gave meaningless apologies as he proceeded to rob her.

"5,000 yen! Wow! I had a feeling they were loaded! I bet they stole it though. Who would give money to demons?"(S)

The kids gathered laughed before they began brainstorming what they would do with the money.

"Let's hit up the sweet stand!"

"I saw a really cool mask we could get!"

"We're Ninja now guys. Come on, not kids. Let's go buy some cool tools"(S)

"Oh, great Idea!"

"True! True!"

Nasuki could only watch them as they planned to waste way her precious money.

Money she and Naruto couldn't live without.

"Give back my money before I rip out your heads!"(N.S)

The kids' attention was briefly focused on her before they all started laughing.

"Last time I checked, this is stolen money. I am doing a good thing here by taking it off your hands"(S)

The jeering and laughing continued as the kids decided they were yet to have enough fun.

 

Thirty minutes had passed.

Nasuki's bruised and bloodied body was still hanging in the air.

"Shun... that's enough. She's going to pass out"(I)

"Enough?! Look at her! She's a monster, who cares if a monster gets hurt? You... you disgust me brother"(S)

Nasuki's anger had been simmering. With every punch, with every slap and with every kick. She really hated this world. She hated the shop keeper, she hated these kids, she hated the people who passed by and pretended to see nothing, she hated her poverty, she hated her hunger, she hated her fear and most of all she hated her inability to keep her and Naruto safe.

Her powerlessness was loathsome.

"Did you check her bag yet?"

"Oh, no. I completely forgot about it"

One of the kids walked over to where the bag had fallen over.

'No no no no no!!!!'

He opened it then rummaged around before boldly declaring,

"It's just trash!"

"Guess we were expecting a little too much from a demon... Just stomp on it"(S)

"WAIT! DON'T! NOOO!"(N.S)

It was too late. The boy was already in the air. He didn't do it just once, no; he did it six times before getting bored.

"Look who was pretending to sleep?"(S)

That was it. The last straw.

Nasuki felt something inside of her snap.

A weird power started building up.

She was not going to let these punks get away with this.