The heat in Sunagakure's desert disappeared as the night took over, and temperatures plummeted, forcing sentries to put on an extra layer of fabric to protect themselves from the cold gusts of wind that carried sand.
A figure covered in fabric of the same color as the sand reflected under the moonlight agilely and familiarly jumped between the rooftops, evading every patrol and hidden eyes in the night, carefully carrying a bundle of rags in his arms.
The only thing the sentries could vaguely catch was the sound of sand slipping, but it was a familiar sound to them, especially on windy nights, and they did not suspect anything.
When the mysterious figure made sure the patrols were away, he slipped through an alley and knocked on a wooden door weathered by time.
Five knocks, one hard and four soft in a unique rhythmic pattern.
A girl about eleven years old opened a crack in the door, cautiously observing the newly arrived figure while with a visible hand held a lit candle and the other behind the door held a kunai, ready to defend herself from the unannounced guest.
"Sensei?" the girl asked doubtfully upon recognizing the face under the hood thanks to the dim light of the candle, "Weren't you gone this morning?"
"I don't have much time," the figure didn't beat around the bush, getting straight to the point, "I doubt I'll return from this mission, Rasa is desperate enough to use me as a sacrifice, and you're the only person I trust to help me with... him," the figure brought the bundle of rags closer to the candlelight and revealed its contents.
"A baby?" the girl stuttered, trying to catch up with all the sudden information.
Being woken up at two in the morning didn't help her thought process, still groggy from the sudden awakening.
"My son, I named him Takara," the figure explained to his youngest student, "Did you ever wonder why I was so inactive for months?"
Understanding hit the girl hard, and she widened her eyes.
Was her sensei pregnant and didn't realize it?
No, no one in the village realized it despite her prestige!
But she felt a little hurt in secret... why did she hide it even from her?
"What do you think Rasa would have done if he knew about my pregnancy?" the figure asked with a touch of sarcasm.
The girl only took a second to put all the pieces together; the revelation of the baby was enough to wake her up even harder than a slap in the face.
"B-But he's just a baby, would he really go that far?" the girl questioned.
The figure squatted down to the girl's height and stroked her head with a smile on her lips, in the way she always did to comfort her when she cried as a child.
"You heard what he did to his newborn son, what do you think?"
The girl stood there stunned, but the figure knew she didn't have much time before the patrol returned to the area.
"Can I entrust you with my son, Maki?" the figure's voice trembled despite trying to stay calm, as he extended his arms and offered the baby to the girl, "Please."
The girl looked at the sleeping baby, and after contemplating for a moment, she nodded and, leaving the kunai, took him carefully as her eyes filled with determination. Then her expression changed to one of concern when she thought of something.
"But sensei, the village...," she tried to say.
"I took care of everything," the figure took out a package of scrolls and left them on the floor, "This is for both of you. Adoption documents, falsified medical history, etc. I've already altered the original records; from now on, Takara is your little brother, a survivor baby you found in a desert caravan that was attacked by bandits two days ago. The other scrolls contain everything I could gather, my inheritance. Money, techniques, and important information; use it wisely so that no one suspects and tries to pry where they shouldn't."
"Do you really have to go?" Maki asked in a whisper so as not to wake the baby.
"It's my destiny," the figure responded reluctantly, "I thought about leaving, but... you know the consequences for everyone. Rasa left me cornered and without any other option."
Maki understood, but still, tears threatened to start falling.
"I'm proud of you, Maki, I know you'll be a great kunoichi," the figure hugged Maki as a farewell and comfort before lowering her gaze and kissing the baby's forehead, "I entrust you with my greatest treasure."
"Mmm!" Maki nodded, forcefully holding back the tears as she bit her lower lip hard enough to start bleeding.
The figure stayed there looking at both for a moment, as if she wanted to burn this scene into her mind before disappearing and becoming a pile of sand, erasing any trace of her existence.
"Sand Clone..."
Maki picked up the scrolls with her foot and, after making sure there were no traces outside, closed the door carefully; she had a lot to assimilate and had to plan her next steps carefully.
Several kilometers from the village, a figure rose from a sand dune when she received the last memories of her clone, knowing that now she could truly go to her inevitable destination.
"Everything went well," she sighed as she relieved a great weight from her chest, "Thinking that I'm forced to die like the original Pakura is ironic if I think about it carefully."
She wasn't "Pakura," but a transmigrant who took over the body of the well-known kunoichi three years ago due to a truck accident and pretended to be her identity until today.
Her original plan was to survive and wait for the Naruto plot to begin to take many advantages, but she didn't expect that while she was having fun fulfilling one of her fantasies after returning from a mission, she would end up getting pregnant.
She had many plans to empower her son, but she could barely realize any before having to cover her pregnancy in the village, collecting some favors owed to her by various people without raising suspicion.
It was an extremely delicate period, and she lived in fear of being discovered.
Rasa had spread a network of traps while she was distracted, and as soon as her baby was born, she received the order to go to Kirigakure. And in her circumstances, she couldn't refuse or flee, only obediently die.
"At least I know Rasa will have a humiliating death at the hands of Orochimaru," she consoled herself cruelly, "I hope Maki listens to me and doesn't get involved in the attack; I don't want either of them to be hurt."
She was still weak from giving birth, but she had to pretend during the morning, and that's why she used a sand clone to carry out this task. With a final curse to Rasa and the village for their blindness, she began to walk towards her death.
At least she made sure to weave a beautiful dress with explosive tags under her clothes, knowing that there are techniques like the Edo Tensei; she won't allow anyone to take advantage of her corpse.
Meanwhile, back with the baby...
[Transmigration successfully completed.]
[Congratulations, due to your positive karma points, you are given the possibility of obtaining a character template related to a random attribute.]
[Please be patient while the attribute is selected...]
[Attribute selected: Madness.]
[Choose one of the following templates below.]
[Ice King]
[Willy Wonka]
[Nox]
[Tomura Shigaraki]
[Joker]
[Tyki Mikk]
[Xanxus]
[Kurapika]
[Shinobu Sensui]
[...]