When a misunderstanding causes young Naruto to truly fear for his life, Kyuubi grants him a fragment of power. As an instinctive reaction, Naruto uses it to shapeshift into the least threatening form he can imagine... which happens to be female. However, his chakra control isn't yet good enough to shift back.

This is more a FemNaru story that takes an alternate approach to setting up than a gender-bending story. However, because the author makes good use of this approach, it has several interesting properties not present in the vast majority of other FemNaru stories:

1. Naruto remembers being a boy, unlike in pure alternate universe stories.
2. Naruto doesn't get to sidestep dealing with identity issues the way s/he would in a pure alternate universe or blunt them with "Well, I was born this way , so I guess this is how it's supposed to be," as is usually the case in stories where FemNaru grew up under some kind of locked transformation.
3. While timeskips and flashbacks are used in the storytelling, Naruto/Naru's comfort with being a girl feels realistic because it comes from years of growing used to it and making friends she didn't have as a boy.
4. Unlike in an AU or locked transformation story, Naruto/Naru actually does have to wrestle with the decision of what to do when she gains the option of changing back.