I Became Naruto And My Girlfriend Became The Nine-Tails

Darkness. A suffocating void surrounded him. Then, in a sudden flash, pain—unbearable, searing pain.

Naruto Uzumaki gasped for breath as he opened his eyes, only to find himself unable to move, his body weak and fragile. A blinding light above him cast deep shadows, and muffled voices filled his ears. Cries of agony, battle, and desperation. The world around him was chaos.

Then, memories flooded his mind.

"No way..." he thought. "I... I was just... No. This isn't a dream. This is real."

His past life, his identity, everything came rushing back in a storm of thoughts. He had died. He had lived another life before this, one far removed from the war-torn world of shinobi. And yet, here he was—reborn as Naruto Uzumaki.

But something was different. He wasn't alone.

"Haruto?" A familiar voice, soft yet firm, echoed within his mind. A voice he never thought he'd hear again.

His heart skipped a beat. "Akane...?"

A silence stretched between them before she spoke again, a mix of confusion and realization in her tone. "I... I think I'm the Nine-Tails now."

Naruto's newborn body couldn't shiver, but his soul did. The truth was undeniable. The love of his past life, Akane, was now the very entity sealed within him—the beast known as the Nine-Tailed Fox, Kurama. Except, Kurama no longer existed. Akane had taken his place.

Outside, the chaos raged on. The masked man who had summoned the Nine-Tails had been repelled. The cries of a dying father and mother filled the air. Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage, and Kushina Uzumaki, the woman who had given birth to him, were making the ultimate sacrifice to protect their child and the village.

Naruto, now fully aware of everything, could do nothing but listen.

"Live, Naruto," Kushina's voice whispered, barely audible as her chakra faded. "Grow up strong... and find happiness."

Then, silence. A cold, aching silence. The sealing was complete. His parents were gone.

And just like that, the first night of his new life had begun.

..........

The following years were... difficult, to say the least.

From an outsider's perspective, Naruto Uzumaki was just another orphaned child of Konoha, an outcast shunned by the villagers for reasons he did not yet understand. But Naruto—no, the person who had become Naruto—understood all too well.

He played his role well. A clueless, lonely orphan with no understanding of why the world seemed to hate him. He kept his head down, feigned ignorance, and never allowed himself to stand out too much. He couldn't afford to.

"We have to be careful, Kurumi," he would whisper in the safety of his small, empty apartment. "If the village finds out that I act too mature for a child, we're in trouble."

Kurumi, the once lively girl from his past life, was adjusting in her own way. No longer bound by human form, she was now an enormous wellspring of chakra, a being of unimaginable power sealed within him. And yet, she was still... her.

"You don't have to act like a fool, you know," she would tease. "You can be smart without drawing attention."

Naruto smirked. "Better safe than sorry. Besides, I'm in no rush."

Years passed, and Naruto grew. He was far from the prank-loving troublemaker of the original timeline. Instead, he was calculating and patient. He observed, he learned. He trained in secret, guided by Kurumi's knowledge and power, always making sure not to raise suspicion.

At the Academy, Naruto carefully balanced his performance. He wasn't the dead-last nor the prodigy. He was a diligent student, intelligent but not exceptional. His scores placed him comfortably near the top, showing talent while never surpassing the obvious geniuses like Sasuke Uchiha. He had to maintain the illusion of being a promising but ordinary student. That was the safest path.

Kurumi often helped him with refining his chakra control, allowing him to grasp concepts that most students struggled with. Yet, Naruto never showcased his full potential. Instead, he let others shine while he remained in the background, quietly mastering the fundamentals in ways others couldn't.

When sparring with his classmates, he fought with just enough skill to avoid suspicion. A perfectly balanced act—strong enough to be respected, but not enough to stand out.

"You're too cautious," Kurumi would sometimes complain. "You could wipe the floor with them."

"And then what?" Naruto would reply. "Get put under constant surveillance? Have the Hokage's ANBU watching me every second of the day? No thanks."

She sighed but never argued. She understood. The world of shinobi was cruel, and drawing attention now would only bring unnecessary risks.

However, Naruto wasn't just waiting—he was preparing.

Late at night, when no one could see, he trained. He worked on chakra control, taijutsu, and even experimented with sealing techniques—something few students even considered. With Kurumi's guidance, he began to understand the mechanics of the seal that bound her and how to one day harness her full power safely.

As time passed, he grew stronger in ways no one expected. Unlike his original counterpart, he wasn't struggling to master basic jutsu. He was refining techniques before ever showing them in public. The transformation jutsu? Mastered. The clone technique? Perfected. The substitution jutsu? He could execute it with seamless precision before even graduating from the Academy.

And so, the village saw what they expected—a lonely boy, an orphan trying to make his way. But unlike the Naruto of the original timeline, he excelled in the Academy, performing near the top of his class while never standing out too much. Behind closed doors, however, Naruto Uzumaki was something else entirely.

He was waiting.

Waiting for the right time to truly begin his story.