Observed

Waking up in a child's body is extremely disorienting after being a fully grown adult for the past. Wait, how old was I? I can't seem to really recall. John that was/ is my name? I think " was " is more appropriate as I have no idea if that is still my name. Looking around I'm just outright confused. First of all why is everything so detailed, like to the point it hurts my head a bit. Every minor detail is clear as day, and even worse the more I focus on something the slower it seems to move before speeding up the second my focus falters. Now the room itself feels right as it features paper walls, and a number of other cribs roughly the size of mine scattered all around the room.

A few nurses entered the room, and began the process of feeding, and changing all the other kids in the room. When it was my turn I found out pleasantly that I already understood japanese, and wouldn't need to take the time to learn. To describe the feeling it felt foreign at first but slowly the memories bubbled to the surface, however I have never personally learned the language. Now I'm having more memories bubble up but they are all scattered, and complete nonsense. Incomplete is the correct word, slivers of different lives fluttered through my brain, and I couldn't make sense of any of it, but slowly it was coming together to fill in a lot of blanks for me.

Now given my knowledge of how Mercer worked he would absorb total memory from those he assimilated, however that doesn't seem to be the case for me, or I've never fully assimilated anybody. Now I can't remember if he got more intelligent with people he absorbed or not, but I do seriously hope I will. In my past life I wasn't dumb, but I wasn't doing any ground breaking research haha. However If I could be smart in this lifetime, well that would be great.

The milk tastes like milk, I don't know what I expected but I felt let down I guess? I only hope the food here tastes as good as it looked on the screen because that shit looked bussin bussin.

Well with feeding time over we were placed back asleep, and some of the nurses talked just outside the room.

" Ah they're all so cute. It's so sad they have to grow up here instead of with real families. Hopefully they can get past this hurdle, and have fulfilling lives. "

" I agree Humiko, That damn fox! Ugh it just makes me so mad. We will just have to make sure they all have a good life here! "

" That's right! "

' Alright so that establishes the timeline for me a bit. I'm in an orphanage just after the nine tail attack. Ha how funny would it be if there was a certain blond baby in here. No way right? '

Having nothing better to do I looked inside myself like they do in all the fics i've read, and was massively disappointed when I didn't see anything but darkness. I'm not sure what I expected but literally nothing wasn't it. Oh well. I remember something about not being able to sense your chakra or use it in any way until you were four years old or something like that. So my abilities are about all I have to test out. Now from what I can recall Mercer's abilities are all centered around transformation, and assimilation. He was a baseline superhuman somewhere between captain america, and spiderman in terms of strength, speed, durability, and healing factor. Now he was like that shortly after waking up, and only got stronger as the game progressed, and he absorbed more biomass.

Now I have a few assumptions, but most people around the Jonin level of strength are pretty close to the previously mentioned heroes in terms of strength, way beyond in speed, and well below in durability, healing factor, but they all have magic bullshit known as chakra which can enhance all of these, and give them other bullshit powers. Ah chakra the great equalizer. This leads me to assume most people are at least superhuman levels, and thus a much richer source of biomass. Meaning my rise through the ranks will be swift if I can get away with murder, and then eating the body.

Vomit tried to leave my throat at that line of thinking, but it was quickly overpowered, and replaced with… excitement? As if this body's instincts overwrote my innate displeasure at the thought of murder, and cannibalism. Cool cool cool. Anyway.

Second assumption because the chakra pathways are a part of the people here, and is a mixture of the body, and the spiritual I assume eating a person will either give me their chakra, their pathways, their technical skill, and knowledge. Or it could choose the very best part to keep, and enhance what I already have in place. Based on the fractured memories I have I know one thing's for sure. Somebody had already fed this body quite a few odds, and ends most of which I can't quite make out. Based off my vision, and the fact that I'm not tired despite being a baby I can assume I ate somebody's red eyeballs, and a bit of somebody with an overwhelming amount of stamina. Now will these abilities grow with me, or stay at this level? I have no clue. The other issue is I can't tell if I just have the magic wheel eye turned on, or if I have its effects without its appearance.

Due to my wisely cautious nature I kept my eyes closed through the whole nurse process. I'm pretty sure babies take a hot minute to keep their eyes open for long periods so it should help me out. On another note what would they even do about it? Send me to the Uchihas? Just to die in a few years? No thanks. I'll live life with closed eyes like the ramen guy if that's the case.

With nothing better to do II tried to change my form, but having no complete bio profiles it failed, and attempting to make claws, or swords, or armor similarly failed. Forshame. Now truly left with nothing to do I drifted away to a peaceful slumber.

Days passed, moving into months, moving into years, and in that time A few important events passed. For one, kids here advance much quicker walking at 8 months, and talking fluently around 2. As to not stand out I merely mimicked the other kids' progress. In addition the info about Naruto was still leaked, and the nurses immediately started treating him differently. Now I grew up with this guy, and while many would suggest I keep my head down, and stay away from him I won't. He doesn't deserve all this hate, and he definitely doesn't deserve to be ostracized by the other kids. So I inserted myself into the equation.

On another note I did get a new name " Haruko " No idea what It means, if it even means anything. In addition I can choose if my eyes have the famous blood red appearance or not, so natruly I hid that shit. My body got a little bigger over the past 4 years, standing just a bit taller than the other kids.

Now to bring myself back to the present Naruto, and I were up to some classical mischief, as per usual. Currently there were chalk erasers fully chalked up sitting just above the door waiting for our victim to come through the door. Our target? The headmistress of the orphanage, Why? Because screw her that's why! This ragged old bitch made sure Naruto was always doing extra chores or other misc bullshit she didn't want the other kids to have to do, and because I refused to part ways with him, naturally I got the worst of it as well. Deciding this was a hill worth dying on we waited for our prey to walk through the door. Low, and behold the old bitch opened the door, and with a shared glace pure bliss crossed our faces as she was covered in chalk.

" RUN! " I shouted, as I grabbed his hand and made for the open window. Luckily this classroom was on the first floor, so the jump out of the window wasn't very far, only a couple feet drop before we were safely on our feet, and well on our way. Escape was easy as the old coot couldnt be bothered to chase us, as we would eventually need to return.

" Haruko, why don't you ignore me like the other kids? "

" Because the other kids are stupid. "

" Why are they stupid? "

" You know why, because they ignore you for being a little different. They don't even know why they don't like you. "

" So why aint you stupid? "

" Because I see past the goofy exterior, and I see a kind kid, just trying his best. "

" You're a kid too, you know? "

" Yeah, so? "

He punched my shoulder before smirking. " I'm glad you're not stupid. "

" Yeah, me too, bud. "

Unknown to the two of them a young man stood nearby wearing a dog mask only kind of observing the two boys while reading a book. An older gentleman joined him, and took a long puff from his pipe.

" How are the two trouble makers? "

" Same as usual, bratty, and always together. Naruto, and Haruko have picked up on the fact that the village seems to hate Naruto, and Haruko has gone out of his way on multiple occasions to either defend him, or stand up to adults. Many have left red faced after that four year old kid berated them for bullying a four year old kid. Some villagers have opened up slightly, and given the two a bit of a chance, but it's very slow progress. Stones are still thrown at him from occasion, but he doesn't spend any time moping around all sad like you would expect him to. Seems the other blond kid is a really positive influence on him. "

" Sometimes a good friend is all you really need. Has either shown anything dangerous such as the ninetails, or anything concerning Haruko's origin? "

" Nothing so far, Haruko does seem to be able to react faster than should be possible for his age, and on multiple occasions he has been meditating, I assume he has some knowledge of chakra as he's constantly trying to feel it. "

" Obviously the lab we found him in belonged to orochimaru so we must remain vigilant, at any time the snake could prop up to reclaim the boy, or the boy himself may be a trap intended to harm naruto. "