This fic is mostly an excerpt of me ranting about how fucking dare Kishi make Naruto's abuse seem meaningless. Like the pain Naruto had went through at the hand of the villagers was nothing
One would say Naruto was a physically affectionate person with how he clings to people, but in reality he was so touch starved that he immediately latched onto any kind of physical approach that were not meant to hurt him.
Shikamaru first noticed this from the way Naruto acted around Iruka during their Academy days.
He watched as Naruto clung to the young instructor's hand with a brilliant grin on his face, open and bright like a flower that bloomed under the positive attention of someone who was kind enough to touch him without the intention to hurt him.
He had always wondered why the villagers had treated Naruto the way they did and why Naruto had shied away from most adults, especially those who raised their hands and voice toward him.
As a kid, it used to frustrate him for not understanding it, missing an important piece of the puzzle that would explain why Naruto was hated so much but as he grew older, he began to understand.
The final yet vital piece finally came to him when he witnessed Naruto transforming his boss summon into the Nine Tailed Fox.
Of course.
The realisation came to him and all the scattered pieces he had accumulated over the years began to slot itself and clicked into one big ugly picture.
Naruto was the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi, much like Gaara who was the Jinchuriki of the Ichibi.
Naruto was hated for the beast he contained within him.
Naruto was hated because the villagers were unable to see beyond the visage of the demon he contained to see the lonely boy who had been crying out for someone to notice him for who he was.
Even after being lauded as hero after Pein's invasion, Naruto never spoke of his abuses.
Sometimes, it was easy to forget about Naruto's abuse by the hand of their own villagers, especially when he was so bright and happy, as if untouched by the darkness of his own childhood. Yet there are time where the signs of abuse was so blatantly obvious that it hurt him to simply witness it.
Shikamaru noticed how Naruto would shuffle back from a crowd of adoring and grateful villagers who were looking to thank him for saving them, how his normally welcoming blue eyes become so jaded and guarded whenever he was approached by the villagers who used to be his abusers.
And Shikamaru hated it.
He hated the hypocrisy of the villagers.
He hated the very people he had vowed to protect for causing so much pain to one of the person he cared so much.
He hated them for making Naruto's life a living hell and easily forget the pain they caused him after he had fought tooth and nail to prove his worth to them.
He hated that it took Naruto almost dying for their sake for them to finally treat him with some basic human decency that every human should have gained by simply being a human and not force him to earn it like Naruto was some beast playing in human's skin.
It made him sick thinking about it.
And he was not the only one who noticed this.
The rest of Konoha Eleven rookies plus Sai had come to the same conclusion as him when they all witnessed how violently Naruto had flinched away from the supposedly gentle touch of a shop owner who was trying to thank him for saving Konoha during their own small celebration after the invasion.
Oh don't get him wrong, it was a barely visible flinch but for trained shinobis like them and someone as expressive as Naruto, that small flinch would have been an outright full-bodied convulsion.
Others may have not understood the reason behind it but for him, Kiba and Chouji, they understood why Naruto had flinched away from the seemingly kind elderly. They had after all witness the same elderly woman treat Naruto harshly a couple of years ago before throwing him out from her shop for simply trying to buy food from it.
They watched as Naruto forced himself to stay calm at the face of one of his tormentor despite how his very instinct must have been screaming at him to run away to safety.
It was painful to watch.
Just when Shikamaru was about to step in and stop this farce, Kiba had thrown himself over the table toward their blond friend. The Inuzuka heir proceed to hound Naruto into a playful brawl and if during it he had accidentally knocked the elderly woman away from Naruto, well none of them had seen it happen.
Lee said something to make Naruto laugh and the rest of the Konoha Eleven plus Sai began to ease away from the tension that had unconsciously built up within them when Naruto had been approached.
With subtle movement, they all shifted around the booth to make sure Naruto was at the very centre of their small gathering and shielded away from any possibility of being approached by any other villagers. If a couple of Genjutsu had been thrown up around them to divert the attention of anyone who think to approach the hero of the invasion, well they all have an unanimous agreement between them.
The villagers may think they will get away for what they had inflicted on an innocent child who was helpless at the face of their hatred but his friends were not so forgiving. They may not be wise enough to notice the abuse earlier to do anything about it but they all understand it now.
And hell would freeze over first before they allow anyone to harm Naruto again.
It may take years to undo the effect of the abuses Naruto had suffered at the hand of the villagers, but they all were willing to help in any way they can, even when it comes to small things such as ushering away his tormentors.
Naruto may never heal but they can help replace the hurtful memories of his with better one. If it takes the villages being razed down to nothing for Naruto to begin to heal, well none of them would care much about it.
It will take more than just simply thanking Naruto for the villagers to make it up to him and the Konoha Eleven plus Sai will not let anyone take advantage of Naruto's bleeding heart. They all will make sure the villagers had proven themselves sufficiently enough before they allow any of them to get closer to Naruto and it would be at Naruto's own term.
They will not let the villagers force themselves upon him again.
Not this time.
The villagers will need to earn Naruto's trust first before they even think about having him.
And Naruto's friends will ensure it
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