Third in my Of Children and Monsters compilation; the first being Of Children and Monsters; the second being Running on Empty.
.o.
A person's reputation is what others think of them; their character is who they really are.
.o.
Aburame Shibi was watching his son move through the Aburame kata as the sun fell. Fiery golds and reds washed over the boy, leaving a sight very few outside the family had ever seen; an Aburame wearing nothing but boxers.
Shino had few entrances for his kikaichū at the moment; his hive was still very small. But every evening father and son trained in the clearing behind the main family's home. They trained to increase his son's capability of holding more kikaichū and they trained to teach his son how to control his kikaichū when they tried to feed on someone's chakra when he didn't wish for them too.
Shibi unleashed his tightly controlled chakra and his son winced slightly as his kikaichū began buzzing under his skin, though he didn't falter in his movements. Shibi didn't mind the wince, what he watched for, however, was to see if any bugs from his son's hive ventured out of the entrances in Shino's skin and towards him.
Shino exhaled lightly when Shibi pulled his chakra back under control, relieving the pressure. Not one bug had ventured out, but he released his chakra again for a longer period this time as he thought about why he was pushing his son so far.
Generations back this kind of training had been done over the space of years. It was a skill that was important, since one didn't want to drain their allies on accident, but in the end it was a skill that had once been one that had not been top priority for the Aburame to learn. Konoha, while having many more strong ninja with high levels of chakra than almost any other hidden village, had never had someone with chakra levels so intense as to make the kikaichū bugs react without instruction and totally against their holder's will; at least not someone who would have been around the children with their lower levels of control.
But then the Yondaime had sealed the Demon Fox inside a new born child.
It hadn't mattered at first. Not until the incident happened. The boy, Naruto, had done something to piss a store clerk off and an Aburame had stepped in to keep the clerk from striking him, only to have his kikaichū bugs rear out of his control and head for the one he was defending. It had taken all of his control to call them back from what they viewed as a delightful meal. The boy had run away in absolute terror but had later seemed to forget the incident, as he had shown no fear of any of the Aburame clan after it.
However, the Aburame clan was careful around Naruto from then on, those with lesser control tending to avoid him. This was not because of what he held, but rather because of how he attracted the kikaichū. Shibi knew it was foolish to judge one on what they held inside them, but one needed only to sense the boy's chakra, if they had the ability, to see that he was not the fox.
His chakra was normal as anyone else's, but for its size and the way it grew on its own. The boy was only eight, but already his chakra was the size of ninja who had spent years cultivating theirs. Every time Shibi saw the boy, his chakra had grown by some small or large amount, depending on when he had seen the boy last. It was intense being in the boy's presence. His own control was perfect so he found that he would often check on the boy; in curiosity mainly.
He had learned a great many things about Naruto in this way. For one he had begun to realize why the boy's chakra was so exponential for one so young. It had to be the seal. His kikaichū could sense the difference between the boy's own chakra and the one he held contained. How they could sense the Fox's chakra when it was so tightly sealed that even the Hyuga's couldn't see it, he was not sure. But they could and as big as the boy's chakra was the Fox's was a million times bigger. His kikaichū though, had given him the knowledge that every time the boy's chakra jumped in size, the fox's shrank by the same amount.
It was both amazing and terrifying. He wondered if anyone, even the Sandaime, knew of this. Surely the paranoid members of the Council would not have let the boy live if this was the case. The boy's power would eventually be on the level of a tailed demon. But what really stunned him was that the when the boy reached the end of his lifespan (provided he was not killed before all of the Fox's chakra was converted) instead of needing to reseal the fox, it would die with him. The Yondaime really had succeeded in 'killing' the demon.
Another thing he had realized was that all that power would be a problem if Naruto had no loyalty to Konoha. And as cheerful as the boy was, he was very much alone when it came to having friends. Oh there was the adult here and there that treated him fairly. There was the one ramen stand owner that not only treated the boy fairly, but also preferentially. And he had heard Naruto call the Sandaime Jiji-sama on more than one occasion, indicating that their relationship was closer than the Council would prefer. But the boy was never around anyone his own age.
Shibi watched his son moved smoothly and with precision through his kata, the initial winces seemed to be the only outward sign that it was difficult. He was proud of the near perfect control his son was showing. Soon he would bring Shino out on one of his walks and make him aware of Naruto. It was important for many reasons.
The first being that he wanted to know if the control Shino had would extend to being near someone with so much chakra. He had seen the roster for the children at the Academy in his son's year. Naruto was on it. They would be taking classes together and he doubted Shino would react well to his bugs attempting to drain a classmate... neither would his other classmates. In fact they'd probably react worse.
Although, when he thought about it, Naruto probably wouldn't be hurt by Shino's kikaichū since his hive was too small to even dent the boy's chakra levels. But still, it was better to have them meet when he was nearby, just in case.
Because for some reason most people didn't like being covered in bugs...
The second reason was that his son really needed to learn to interact with people outside of the Clan. All Aburame learned to be stoic and unruffled by their emotions. This was to protect them from ninja who read emotions from people's faces. It made them great card players. It also (and this could be seen as good or bad really) made them forgettable, despite their odd way of dressing. To do this, the first few years of an Aburame's life was spent in the Clan compound; until they were of age to go to the Academy. The downside of this training was that interacting with non-Clan members tended to be a shock to the system at first.
The third reason was simply that Uzumaki Naruto needed a friend. He needed someone his age of which to interact with. And in Shibi's mind it was most important that this be someone with great loyalty and love for Konohagakure, so as to instil that loyalty and love into him. He had heard the boy had recently started to claim that he would be the next Hokage. But from his observations of the boy it was not out of any love of the village, rather than a thirst to prove himself in the eyes of the villagers whose hatred was palpable.
Though Shino had only just recently been brought out of the compound for the first time he had always had a love and loyalty for this village. It was a love and loyalty that all Aburame had held and cultivated since they had first been welcomed into the village with open arms. Whereas before they had been shunned and even hunted down for having what other villages viewed of as an unnatural, freakish talent. Shino also knew that a person's reputation was rarely ever who they really were.
If Shino could pass that loyalty on to Naruto it could only be a good thing. The boy would be incredibly powerful. He had to be brought to love this village more than anything. It was common sense to instil such love into the boy. A ninja with no love for their village was dangerous to said village. Shibi would do anything to avert such danger.
There would be some who would question his motives, some who would be disgusted by them, and even some that would say he was offering up his own child as a sacrifice to the demon.
But his Clan would understand. After all each one of them knew that one could not be measured by what was held inside them. The Aburame were not insects.
Naruto was not the fox.
Shibi sighed as he finally brought his chakra back under control. Shino didn't react at all this time. He simply continued to move though his kata, suffused with the bloody colours of the sunset.