Lem walked behind the otter, looking at the views of the forest. A thought suddenly hits her.

"Say, I don't know your name but you know mine. What's your name?" She asked him out of curiosity.

"My name is Avarus."

Lem blinked in surprise. "It's not Japanese." 

She jumped over a stray tree root, catching up with the scurry fellow.

"It's not supposed to be. Like I said before. Only you can see me, that's it." He ended the conversation with a huff.

She narrowed her eyes at Avarus. "Then why bring me to Narutoverse? I'm not anything special, even to them. Hell, I'll just change the timeline by accident which is super dangerous and low-key not okay." She said unhappily. He didn't give her a response. "Hey, are you even listening?" The redhead never felt so annoyed with a creature before. She let out a scoff, "Alright, fine. Have it your way." Her questions gnawed the back of her mind.

Avarus suddenly ran straight into a bush, Lem stood there like a deer in headlights with a confused glance at the otter.

She followed him into the bush, calming her breathing. Avarus stared at her, his eyes spoke everything.

'Don't move, kid. You'll get caught.'

And so she did as he said, not even moving a muscle. Lem couldn't hear anything without her cochlear which way beyond her hearing level which was higher than the average human. She had the volume turned all the way up to hear what was out there that her eyes can't see. She has other senses to rely on other than her eyes now that her hearing had gone silent a long time ago when she was 17.

 Lem slowly closed her eyes and focused on the sound and the feel of the earth, mostly the earth. She felt someone or something coming. Before they arrived, Avarus bit her on the arm, Lem immediately winced in pain by biting her lip to prevent her growling at the brown otter. She lost focus and couldn't bring her focus back due to the pain she's experiencing right now.

"Jashin damn you to hell, Avarus." The freckled girl cursed at him with anger in her tone. The vibration she felt before Avarus bit her was about four people coming this way.

"Naruto, move it!"

Lem's head felt woozy, but she heard a voice from the distance.

"I'll see you soon, kid," Avarus said before he disappeared by turning tail out of the bushes.

Lem never felt so heavy, she couldn't speak or even interpret emotions. Just before she lost all sensation and fell to the ground. She tumbled out of the bushes which she didn't want to do.

Lem couldn't see right now. It's all blurry, but she could sense the vibrations are very close.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei. I found a weird animal!" A shadow towered over her then more came.

"That's not a weird animal, Naruto. That is a young otter."

And suddenly her hearing disappeared, chills ran through Lem's body as she tried to see, moving her head. She remembered that one of them said 'Kakashi-sensei' and 'Naruto'. Her body was difficult to control, she could only move her head and make crying noises that she couldn't even hear, but could feel from her vocal chords. Lem felt a hand shove itself under her head and the other shoved itself under her back, picking her up. She immediately closes her eyes due to the pain growing. She then was greeted by warmth and darkness by that hand. She can't move, speak or anything. Lem didn't even freak out, she was only surprised she shrunk, hopefully not turned into an otter-like what Kakashi just said. She welcomed the feeling of sleep and being carried.

She woke up to cold metal touching the insides of her ears, Lem didn't know what to do so she tried to scratch someone but they held her hand like she was a baby. Then a pop was heard, it came from her right side of her ear. The cold metal was taken out and placed inside the left ear. She could make out a whimpering noise including a soothing familiar voice.

"Come on baby, it doesn't hurt. Shhhh, it's okay. It's okay." That voice, it was Hana!

Lem stopped whimpering once the cold metal was taken out and a pop was heard again. She could fully hear in both ears now.

"Is he gonna be alright, Hana-chan?" Naruto's voice echoed, Lem tilted her head to the sound of his voice.

    "'She', not 'he', Naruto." Hana corrects the blonde blob.

Naruto oh'd. He watched closely at the otter in interest.

"It's a good thing you guys found this sweet little darling, anymore longer and she would have been dead by the end of the day."

Something was placed on my lips, I moved it away with my paws.

"Now, now. Don't be like that. You'll die if you don't eat." Lem was reluctant to drink the animal baby formal, in the end, she gave up due to her stomach growling.

"Atta girl!" Hana praised Lem.

The now deemed to be an otter felt blessed. Sasuke didn't want to stay here any longer. He felt that it was useless to waste time.

"Come on, dobe. Kakashi-sensei and Sakura are waiting for us." Another voice echoed.

Lem's furry ears perked up. It sounded tired of life, full of hate and depressed. Sounds like an emo duck whose name is Sasuke.

•  °  •  °  •  °  •  °  •  °  •  °  •  °

   Lem's sight had gotten better, but controlling her body didn't not. Kiba watched the tiny otter as she tries to walk but trips over her own feet.

"Mom, what's wrong with her?" Kiba began, "She should be able to walk on her own now." His slit eyes follow the tiny otter's every move then Kiba looked to where his mom was standing in the doorway.

"Hana said she needs to learn how to walk. There's nothing wrong with her." Tsume said as she went out the back door to feed the dogs.

"I doubt that." He whispered to himself, glancing back at the otter who glanced back at him. She let out a squeak to which Kiba couldn't understand yet.

Lem could sit, lay, but walking was a big challenge. She stopped staring at Kiba and stared at Akamaru instead who was on Kiba's lap. Lem decided to speak, see if it works. She yipped at Akamaru but he ignored her.

 The wee otter sighs begin to try walking again. She thought of The Land Before Time and began copying Littlefoot's stride. Lem slowly put her right foot and her left hind leg first then she put her left leg and right hind leg second. The tiny otter repeated the process, happiness began to swell up in her. She accomplished her walking.

Kiba clapped happily as Akamaru barked. "Good job!"

Just as she began to take another step, a rapping on the door made Lem lose her focus and trip over her legs again.

 She signed mentally, cursing her life then looking to the door.

Kiba got up opening the door. "Yeah? Oh, it's just you, Naruto." He said blandly.

"Whaddya mean it's just me?!" Naruto shouted, obviously offended.

"Dude, you're scaring the baby otter. Shut it!" He said harshly to the blonde.

"Oh, yeah. That reminds me. How's she doing?" He asked out of curiosity.

"She's doing okay, besides tripping over her own feet when she walks." Kiba replied.

Naruto bent down, he pets Lem on the head with his index finger.

"Have you guys named her?"

"We're not keeping her, just taking care of her until she can survive on her own."

Naruto's expression changed from pity to an hope of idea.
"Hey!" He shouted happily, making Lem back away.

"What if I took care of her?"

Hana had entered the room, smacking his head in the process. "No way, she'll die if she's in your care."

The blonde blob frowned. "But what if you taught me how?" Hana and Kiba sighed.

"Naruto," she began, "Even if we taught you how, she'll want to go wild once she's older." Hana stated.

Naruto shook his head fiercely. 
"I don't believe it, no way. She'll stay with me." He said with his words full of fire.

Hana crosses her arms, watching Lem walk slowly to Naruto's jumpsuit before pawing at it then it hit Hana.

"Did you guys see another otter with her?" She asked the Uzumaki.

"Huh?" Naruto tilted his head before getting it, "Oh. No, we didn't see another other beside her." He replied.

Kiba got Hana was saying. "So Naruto, who was the first person she saw?"

Naruto answered immediately. "I was. I also picked her up." He stated.

Hana snapped her fingers. "No wonder she's attached to you."

Naruto sat on the floor, all this confusion is hurting his brain. "I don't get it, whaddya mean?"

Kiba translates for Naruto in a simple way. "Jeez, she means that the otter sees you as her mom," annoyance laced his tone. It took Naruto a minute to process this information.

"But I'm a boy!" He protested, flailing his arms about.

"It doesn't matter if you're a boy or girl. Once a newborn sees someone as their mom, it stays forever." Hana explained to which Kiba nodded.

Naruto looked down at Lem who was rubbing her furry cheeks against his knee and purring. 
   He pets her gently, she began licking his hand which made the blonde smile, he stood up to dust himself off then a pair of arms start to move him.

"See you again in two weeks Naruto," Hana said and she shoved Naruto who protested, out of the house.

Lem could only stare at the door then she looked at Hana in an accusing manner.

"Don't look at me like that, I have the stuff to do." She walked away.

Akamaru stayed with Lem the whole day as Hana was busy and Kiba didn't have anything to do but to watch over the baby otter.

•   °   •  °  •  °  °  •

Two weeks passed by, Lem had practiced walking a lot and started to speak Akamaru's language since she doesn't know otter language during those two weeks.

She's getting tired of being called a 'she'. Lem wants a name now or the next person she's going to bite will be Kiba. Luckily for Kiba, he brought a chewy toy to calm her nerves and for her to play with while he's busy training with Akamaru.

Once they returned, a knock on the door startled Lem.

"..."

Kiba saw Naruto through the little window hole.

"Let me in, Kiba. I know you're there!" He tapped his foot impatiently.

Kiba heaves a sign, unlocking the door and opening it then he stepped aside, letting Naruto in.

"Did you get everything you need on that list for the otter?" He asked Naruto who nodded.

"I even got this!" 

   Naruto turned around to show Kiba what was on his back. It was a blue rounded rectangle bag with white fluffy comforters, on the outside was a baby animal formula. All three of them placed and secured tightly. There was a small flap in case it rained so she would be warm inside. Kiba deadpanned.

"You better not get into any fights during missions..." Now he's worried for her safety.

"Don't worry, she has me!" He boasts happily.

"That's what I'm worried about... " Kiba whispered, Akamaru agreed with him by barking twice.