Omake: The Tale of Neglect
[AN: This is just filler for what Minato and Kushina did to Naruto. Acts as a chapter to fill in the blanks since many of you ask on what happened. I do not own any characters in the Naruto-verse save for a few OCs.]
Having a twin sucks. Having a twin that's your parents favorite sucks more. Having a twin that your parents love more and being left in the dust sucks donkey doody. Especially at a young age, where your tou-san and kaa-san are still trying to come to grips with what you and your twin want and not screw it up.
I never had to go through that though, so fortunately and unfortunately, lucky me. I've seen the looks Minato and Kushina give me, like I'm the biggest mistake of their lives. But, you win some and you lose some, right?
Anyway, let's get things out of the way first. My name is Naruto. Just Naruto. Not Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, just Naruto. I'm the twin brother of my sister Naomi, who's also the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. I don't call my parents with the honorifics, because they don't deserve any honor from me, so why bother.
This is a recalling about how I was neglected by my family in my first decade of living. And no, telling you my specific age doesn't matter. Because it's a recalling of an event in the past, so it means little if I tell you I'm 7 or 11 when I'm telling you these accounts. But let's get to business, shall we?
See, it all started when Naomi decided to use the family as a catalyst to get what she wanted. A new toy, a place to eat, yadda yadda. Minato and Kushina would follow her by the nose and try to make her happy. She even got the limited Shinobi Man figurine that I've been aiming for at the store, and she just waltzes up to the clerk and asks for it! For free! And she got it! ...for free!
Meanwhile, I've been around and about, doing my own thing with my buddies. Sasuke, Sakura, Ino, Shikamaru, Chouji, Hinata, Kiba and Shino (the two are away on a mixed clan gathering, since the two clans are close friends. Flea removal and that stuff for the Inuzuka's nin dogs and what not.) Of course, Naomi and the other two don't know since they don't make the space to care. I don't know if they have the capacity to care, who knows.
Anyway, we were at this place called Ichiraku Ramen. The place is pretty good and I know the people there, Teuchi-jiji and Ayame-nee are good people and they have good company. We were on a rare family outing, when the mom and pops take notice of me from time to time when they forgot about me again when Minato ordered for the three of them. Teuchi-jiji didn't say anything as he placed my favorite ramen combo before me, dubbed the Swirling Fury Ramen. Loaded with spices and hot sauce, not to mention the extra pieces of naruto in it. Ironic, no?
Anyway, Kushina gasped when she saw the item on the menu and thought it was a tribute to her, being from the land of Uzu and having a title similar to the namesake. I rolled my eyes as she pointed it out to Naomi and Minato, whilst Teuchi and Ayame glanced at each other worriedly. Their eyes soon met mine but I reassured them with my eyes and they sighed.
But Kushina just wouldn't. Shut. Up. It was like listening to an old washing machine during its spin cycle. Rattly and obnoxious as heck, she continued to brag about it to Naomi and Minato, who were having a jolly ol' time. Having quite enough, I got up and moved from the stool to a booth a bit away from them. Naomi noticed the creaking sounds of me getting up and made her way to my booth, leaving Minato and Kushina engrossed in their conversation.
"So, Naruto-teme. You're still the loser you are when you were born." Naomi said haughtily. I rolled my eyes, looking disinterested. I didn't respond, making her try harder to rouse a sound out of me.
"Oi, speak to me when addressed, baka!" She leaned in to try to intimidate me by getting into my personal space… or tried to. It's pretty hard when you're across somebody and a table's in your way. Not to mention that Naomi was pretty short, so that only lessened the effect. I continued to eat my ramen and I could see from the corner of my eye that she was getting frustrated. In a fit of anger, she launched my bowl across the room and it smashed into pieces, strands of ramen all over the place. Don't even ask about the broth.
Minato and Kushina immediately rushed over to see what was the commotion and Teuchi-jiji and Ayame-nee peered from behind.
"What's going on, are you alright?" Minato asked. I noticed that Minato and Kushina didn't spare a glance my way. Naomi immediately worked her charm, faking a bruise and moistening her eyes.
"Naruto tried to pour the broth on me so I had to hit it away!" She said, her voice breaking to keep up the act. Finally, the two noticed me with a hate filled glare. Teuchi-jiji and Ayame-nee could only look on from the sidelines, afraid to do anything. Not that I blame them.
You try fighting a pair of S-class shinobi with a mop and a wooden fence for a shield and get back to me on that.
"You insolent, little brat!" Minato had all but shouted, red in the face. Kushina wormed her way in, picking me up by the hem of my shirt.
"Why can't you be a good kid for once?! All I hear are complaints from Naomi and they're all about you!" She shouted in my face. And, being a toddler with your parents practically yelling 'bloody murder' on you, it's pretty scary. I looked around, confused and almost crying as Minato and Kushina continued their verbal assault on me. Naomi could only sneer with malice as my own parents shook me emotionally. Soon, they got tired of yelling at me and picked up Naomi.
"Come on Kushina, let's go home. It's obvious that Naruto doesn't know how to be a good child." Kushina turned to pay Teuchi-jiji with a few bills.
"Sorry about that, Ichiraku-san. That idiot…boy is always causing trouble. It's like he doesn't want to be loved!" She exclaimed. She then turned her eyes to me.
"Don't come home until you learn to behave!" She bellowed, leaving me alone with Teuchi-jiji and Ayame-nee as they left for the house. I could only stare in shock and fear as Ayame-nee picked me up and hugged me on the floor. I started to bawl.
I didn't go home that night. Or the next day. Or the next few days. Teuchi-jiji and Ayame-nee had to take care of me during those days when I started to cry at random times. Heck, his wife, Kurami-baa even threatened to place a ban on them but Teuchi-jiji and Ayame-nee managed to calm her down, saying they'll lose money and lose their home. I overheard this and instead of anger, I felt shame. Shame that I'm a burden to them for them to have to protect me from my own family.
As a way to combat my burden, I asked Teuchi-jiji to teach me how to make ramen, which he gladly took upon to continue his legacy in the craft. Still learning to this day and making different combinations are hard enough.
Now, let's get this out of the way. Minato and Kushina would never hit a child, they're "good" people in that sense. A child abuser will get shot down in the Court of the Daimyo faster than you can say Henge, Hokage or not.
When I returned, which was about 5 days afterwards, since learning from Teuchi-jiji is fun, they didn't notice. Save for Naomi, who continued to throttle me into the bad light, which made Kushina and Minato retaliate by locking me in my room or not giving me dinner. Stupid for them,. they don't know I could just sneak out of the window. Well, for a while.
Minato found out and had the window locked from the other side and placed an alarm seal by the door so whenever I leave the room they know that I'm outside, and likewise when I go back in.
After that, they ended up slowly erasing me from their lives. The pictures of all four of us were replaced with newer, updated versions without me in it. My drawings and toys were burned. Even my plate to eat with was thrown out. And I have to stay with them, otherwise Minato would get suspicious with me sleeping over and convince the parents that I'm just trouble when I walked in.
During my time learning ramen making with Teuchi-jiji and Ayame-nee (Kurami-baa is the manager and orders the ingredients.), I met my ragtag friends. Each of them has a lasting impression when they first came to the stands. Kiba came with his mom Tsume and sister Hana. Him and Akamaru, his nin dog, tried to nab some meat from the grilling station by the counter, which earned him a hard bopping with a metal ladle. Ayame-nee loved that ladle, and Kiba's head put a dent in it. Shino came with his parents and ate the ramen with his insect horde, making Ayame shriek and faint. Shikamaru came with Chouji, who slurped up a XXL bowl size serving of Miso, Beef, Pork and Shrimp Ramen while Shikamaru, who didn't get any sleep that day fell asleep in the bowl. Sasuke came with Ino and Sakura who were talking about beauty tips. He looked lost so I chatted with him a bit. He ended up laughing so loud after I told him a joke that Sakura elbowed him in the gut while Ino slapped him. Feeling bad, I bought a bag of tomatoes and gave it to his brother Itachi as an apology.
Hinata was the most interesting to me, however. She shied away from me when I tried to make conversation with her, blushing and fiddling with her fingers. I assumed she was a shy and timid girl, but that turned out false. While she was eating a team of genin had arrived earlier and got rowdy, elbowing her in the side. She stopped eating for a minute before she slammed her chopsticks on the table with an audible CRACK. I think the chopsticks split in the middle. Length wise too.
She ended up grabbing two of them with her hands and biting the hem of the shirt of the third one and threw them out of the stand and beat them up. Truly, it was like watching a butcher stab, roast and slice up a pig. Or rather three, since the team of genin suffered from cuts, Juuken strikes and ended up as a smoking pile on the street. She was ferocious!
She came back after the scuffle and wiped the blood off with a moist towelette and looked at me hard.
"You didn't see anything." I nodded stiffly as Hinata paid the tip. When I asked Teuchi-jiji and Ayame-nee, who were in the stock room bringing out more ingredients, Teuchi-jiji just laughed.
"Oh don't worry about that, Naruto. The Blood Princess has just been reincarnated, that's all." I looked at him confused before turning away slowly. They came back the next week and the 9 of us became quick friends. I told Minato and Kushina that I got a job so they wouldn't get suspicious, not that they would really care.
So, that's about it I suppose. I got yelled at by my parents, practically disowned, really. Seals were placed in my room, I was taken in by Teuchi-jiji, learned how to make ramen, met some people and made friends with them and the rest is history.
