Chapter 1 – Aria of the Orphanage
The air was cold, carrying the fresh scent of dew and spring earth. A soft drizzle pattered against wooden shingles, the dawnlight just beginning to bleed through the windows of the Konoha Orphanage.
Inside one of the quieter rooms, the cries of two newborns filled the stillness.
Wrapped in thick white swaddling cloth, Aria blinked slowly, her silver-lavender eyes catching the dim light like polished moons. Her skin was like warm ivory, faintly glowing with life, and her hair—longer than a newborn's should be—was a waterfall of shimmering starlight, soft as silk.
To the world, she was just a newborn baby.
But inside… she was limitless.
> "...Kushina-san passed away during childbirth. The boy… Naruto, he's her son," whispered a kind nurse to the matron as she checked on the two infants.
> "And this girl? She was found alone outside the village gates, but healthy. A gift, perhaps?" the matron wondered, eyes drawn to the glowing warmth around Aria's form. She smiled softly. "Aria. Her name will be Aria."
The name sank deep into the child's spirit. She accepted it fully, finally whole.
> This time… I will live.
---
[Within Aria's Inner World]
Though her body was infantile, her mind was vast—anchored in a universe all her own.
Inside, endless fields of rich soil stretched beyond the horizon, bathed in perpetual golden twilight. A crystal-clear river flowed through blooming orchards, and a celestial sky hung with three suns and a moonlike tree glowing with divine energy.
At the center of it all sat a quaint wooden farmhouse—a hybrid of Japanese simplicity and fantasy comfort. A massive jade greenhouse, animal barns, chicken coops, and a large field sectioned into crops were already taking form through Aria's will.
Time moved differently here. One second outside was nearly seventeen minutes inside.
Aria, now in her spiritual form—tall, feminine, graceful—sat cross-legged within a glowing circle of runes in the orchard.
> "Step one: Synchronize body and soul… Then draw in chakra, qi, mana, and aether from the world…"
She inhaled. Light flowed into her. The grass trembled. The air grew heavier.
> Everything is so alive here… even chakra has taste and feeling.
With Heaven-Defying Comprehension, she didn't just feel energy. She understood it. Every flow. Every resonance. Every law it obeyed. Her body's divine organs responded to the stimulation:
Her lungs devoured elemental essence from the Inner World's atmosphere.
Her kidneys stored it, refined and potent.
Her heart pulsed with life energy.
Her crucible-like stomach assimilated every bit of natural chakra.
> I'm not just learning how to use energy. I'm becoming the perfect home for it.
---
[One Week Later – Konoha Orphanage]
Aria lay in a crib beside baby Naruto. He cried softly, small fists clenched.
Aria rolled toward him with effort. Her body was still that of a newborn—but thanks to her adaptive physiology, it was already stronger, more responsive.
She reached out with her tiny hand and touched his cheek.
Warmth spread. Naruto hiccupped… and stopped crying. His blue eyes, still slightly cloudy, locked onto her glowing ones.
> "Mmm," he gurgled.
She smiled. Even without speech, their souls brushed. A strange, silent comfort passed between them.
From that moment onward, Naruto clung to her like a second heartbeat. They were always placed together—cribmates, bath buddies, nap partners.
And when no one watched, when the nurses stepped away, Aria began feeding her Inner World's chakra into Naruto. Healing him. Strengthening him. Making sure he would never feel the pain of loneliness or weakness like she had.
---
[Inside the Inner World – Training and Crafting Begins]
During every nap, she returned inside. Each session saw her meditating, crafting, learning.
She began bee farming, creating hybrid honeybees capable of producing chakra-infused honey. Their hive grew rapidly in her golden orchard. The honey—dense with aether—became a potent healing nectar.
She built a brewery next to her barn, fermenting flower-petal mead with wood essence and immortal springwater. It aged instantly in her world's time flow. One batch could grant mortals chakra circulation with just a sip.
She raised her first goats, whose milk turned into chakra-rich butter. Her chickens laid glowing eggs. Even the plants obeyed her will.
> "Farming is just another form of creation. And creation is my first step to divinity," she murmured from her porch, brushing dust off her oversized, self-stitched cloak—warm, beautiful, soft as clouds.
---
[End of Chapter 1]
Next Chapter Preview – Chapter 2: Threads of Bond