Chapter Text
Naruto Uzumaki’s life had just changed forever, and he didn’t even know it. He was twelve years old, a Genin of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, and he was beyond pissed off at the moment. He had just witnessed his fellow Rookie, Hinata Hyuga, suffer, first verbally and then physically, a brutal beating at the hands of her very own cousin, Neji.
Prior to that exact moment, Naruto was only vaguely aware of Hinata. He had spoken to her a handful of times, and she had always stuttered, blushed a lot, and had trouble meeting his gaze. As a result, Naruto thought of the girl as gloomy and weird. As a life-long outcast, however, he was very aware Hinata had never once been mean to him, so he didn’t dislike her. If asked for his opinion of her, Naruto would most likely have simply said, “She’s okay.”
That was before the Chunin Exams. Now, in the Preliminaries, he had seen her stand up for herself in the face of overwhelming odds. Despite having no chance of victory, she had fought her hardest. Her heart had been breaking even before her cousin’s attack, which had sent her into cardiac arrest! Naruto knew the village had the best medical ninja around on hand, so he had no doubt she would live. That didn’t stop him from being royally pissed at the one who hurt her so badly, though.
Naruto looked down at the floor. Hinata had coughed up blood thanks to what Neji had done to her, and it was still laying there. Bending down, the young blond dipped his fingers in her blood, stood back up, and formed a fist, her blood dripping from it. Glaring daggers at Neji, Naruto simply declared, “I vow to win.” In that moment, everything changed, and no one knew it.
It wasn’t until several days later that Naruto realized he had done something monumental. Hinata’s beating had been so brutal, she had not only gone into cardiac arrest, she had spent the following days unconscious. Under different circumstances, Naruto would likely not have even known when the girl awoke. The night after she woke, however, he found out about it.
It must be understood that the shinobi world was formed on bonds. Ninjutsu was the practical and combat application of Ninshu, the system founded by the Sage of Six Paths. In its purest form, Ninshu was the belief that the inhabitants of the Earth could bond with and understand one another. The Sage sought to facilitate this bonding process by distributing chakra among the people of his time.
Unfortunately, the Sage’s son saw a different possibility in chakra. He weaponized it, and the rest is history. The bonding power of chakra still existed, however. In extraordinary circumstances, it could be activated, either intentionally or accidentally. Naruto’s actions had done exactly that.
Naruto spent the days after the preliminaries trying to get Kakashi to train him, getting shucked off onto Ebisu, and then meeting and starting training with Jiraiya, whom Naruto immediately dubbed Pervy Sage. Once Jiraiya removed the seal Orochimaru had put on the blond, the kid found himself enjoying learning how to walk on water. The summoning training was far more frustrating, but Naruto wasn’t giving up on it.
The fourth day after the preliminaries, Naruto dragged himself home at the end of the evening feeling exhausted. Even in that state, it would normally take him at least a few minutes to fall asleep, but that night, he was asleep almost before his head hit his pillow.
Naruto fell asleep immediately for a reason. He didn’t know it, but at the same moment, Hinata, who had only awoken that day, was tossing and turning in her hospital bed. When Naruto got home and fell asleep, the restlessness that had plagued her faded, and she fell asleep as well. The two actually entered the sleep state at the exact same time.
When Naruto opened his eyes, he knew he was dreaming. He would have had no clue how to explain how he knew, but he did. Everything just felt…off. He had “awoken”, so to speak, standing at the edge of a very familiar training ground. It wasn’t the one his team used, but he had trained both by himself and with Kiba there on more than one occasion.
The boy looked around and found himself alone. When he tried to take a step, he stumbled. Something about the way his body moved and how his weight was distributed felt wrong. He managed to stop himself from falling, but he ended up looking down at himself in the process. Rather than his familiar orange jumpsuit and tan, rough hands, he was looking at a lavender colored outfit and the palest, softest hands he had ever seen.
“This isn’t my body!” he said aloud. When he spoke, it took all of his self control not to jump. That wasn’t his voice, either! He thought the voice was vaguely familiar, but he was fairly sure he hadn’t ever heard it like that before. He couldn’t place whose voice it was.
Hinata, meanwhile, was experiencing much the same thing. She had become aware of herself not far from the same training ground as Naruto, stumbled, and discovered she wasn’t in her own body. The only difference was, she knew exactly whose body she was seeing and whose voice she heard when she spoke. “Why am I in Naruto’s body?” she asked herself.
After a few moments of getting used to her body, Hinata made her way to the training ground. She was still more than a little confused, but she figured her best chance at figuring out what was going on was to go there. Naruto’s body was a bit heavier than the girl was used to, so she was walking a bit heavier than normal and, as such, making more noise.
Naruto hadn’t quite gotten up the nerve to try to move yet when he heard footsteps. Looking up, he saw…himself walking into the center of the field. “What in the hell is going on here?” he wondered. Deciding the straightforward approach was best, he approached the orange-wearing blond.
Hinata made it to the center of the field and was looking at the trees on the far side when she felt someone approach. Turning around, she had the extremely surreal experience of looking herself in the eyes without the benefit of a mirror. “But you’re me,” she muttered.
Naruto grinned at the figure in front of him. “I was about to say that,” he responded. Hinata was fairly certain her brain developed a short circuit. She was looking at Naruto’s trademark grin spread across her own face. She loved that smile and knew it well, and it was enough to tell her that Naruto was…her? The whole situation was messing with her head.
Naruto watched in fascination as his face turned light red. He watched his hands come up in front of his chest and his index fingers begin tapping against one another. Naruto was more than a little bit dense and a complete knucklehead, but even he was starting to put the pieces together. He recognized that gesture, and while he hadn’t been able to place it at first, the gesture and the outfit he was wearing matched up in his head. “Hinata?” he asked cautiously.
Hinata had to tap into every ounce of her training to keep from squealing for joy. Naruto had recognized her! She had never been certain Naruto knew who she was, but he recognized her. Taking a breath, she nodded. “Yes, Naruto, it’s me,” she said quietly.
Naruto was far more accustomed to hearing his own voice, what with being alone all the time and training with clones besides, than Hinata was, but this was different. The cadence, the mannerisms, all of that was pure Hinata. “How does she make my voice sound so cute?” he wondered briefly. Shaking his head to dispel that thought, Naruto asked the obvious question. “What in the world is going on here, Hinata?”
Hinata had been afraid he would ask that. “Even when I just dream of him, he always knows just how to put me on the spot,” she thought ruefully. Sighing deeply, she responded, “I have absolutely no idea. I was kinda hoping you could tell me, actually,” she said aloud.
Naruto shrugged. “I’m as confused as you are. I went to sleep at home, and the next thing I know, I’m here…in your body,” he said, blushing slightly at the end. He wasn’t exactly scared, but this whole situation was weird. “This reminds me of the time I dreamed I got stuck in Sexy Jutsu!” he said with a chuckle. Well, that’s what he intended it to be anyway, but it came out as a giggle. He blushed at the sound.
Hinata stared at her own face. That giggle and blush was far cuter to her than it had any right to be. She wasn’t sure if it was because she knew it was Naruto doing it or if his own body was influencing her perception somehow or what, but she couldn’t stop the slight blush spreading across her own cheeks. She briefly wondered if her finding herself cute meant that Naruto did, but she didn’t dare to even hope for that to be true. Still, it was curious.
Naruto noticed the blush spreading across his body’s face. As it did, a very bizarre thought occurred to him. He found himself handsome and cute for reasons he couldn’t even begin to fathom. Part of him wanted to gag at the very idea of that, but a bigger part was curious.
After hesitating for far longer than he normally would, Naruto shook his head. He had no idea why he was so nervous, but he had a question that only Hinata could answer, and, damn it all, he was going to ask! That determined, he cleared his throat. “Hey, Hinata?” he said quietly.
Hinata looked up at the voice. It was still a bit weird hearing her own voice say her name. “Yes, Naruto?” she replied after a moment.
“I can’t figure something out,” he said back. Hinata nodded for him to continue. “I know this is a dream. If not, I would be freaking out right now. No offense, but this whole thing is weird as hell.”
Hinata giggled. “None taken,” she said. “I agree, this is very weird.” She noted that Naruto had now mentioned that he was dreaming twice…in her dream, but she didn’t call attention to it for the moment. “What is it you can’t figure out?”
Naruto considered this for a moment, trying to figure out how to express his thoughts. “Well, I can’t understand why I would dream about switching bodies with you and then you would say that you’re dreaming in my dream,” he said. After a moment, he added, “That probably didn’t make sense, but I hope you got what I meant.”
Hinata nodded. “I was actually wondering the same thing,” she said back. “It almost seems like we’re sharing a dream somehow. I’ve never heard of that happening, though.” It entirely escaped her notice that Naruto was asking her about something she hadn't actually said, only thought.
Naruto looked at himself. He knew full well it was Hinata in there, but he was still seeing himself. Something about what Hinata had just said was bugging him. “Do you really think that’s possible? That we might be both dreaming the same thing?” he asked.
Hinata shrugged. “I don’t know,” she said quietly. “Should we test it?”
Naruto considered this. “Well, I could come see you tomorrow after I get done training…” he said, his voice trailing off as he hesitated.
Hinata blushed. “If you’re really dreaming this, then yes, please do,” she blurted out before she could think better of it.
Naruto grinned at that. Hinata was once again treated to her face with his blinding smile. “Okay, I will!” Naruto declared. “I don’t know what time it will be, but I will come see you tomorrow. What room is yours?”
Hinata told him which room in the hospital she occupied, then the two sat down and made small talk for a while. After some time of this, Naruto suddenly disappeared. The sudden vanishing of her own countenance startled Hinata so much that she opened her eyes and found herself in her hospital bed.
“That was a very interesting dream,” she thought to herself. The memory of the dream was unusually vivid in her mind. “I wonder if he’ll actually come…”