Esparia's A/N: Removed some, added some, stared at this for a week. Honestly, I'm just trying to bounce back from The Deadly Week(s) of Finals. Focusing is about as easy as climbing a cliff with my toes. I'm tired and I'm out of it, but this will get done or my pen name isn't Esparia. *Double checks pen name*

Chapter Warnings: Child soldiers, and...implied mental angst? *shrugs*

Original Ch 4: 12/27/14

Update: 12/16/16

Omake: 12/19/16

…

Chapter Three

(A Loss of Childhood)

Uzumaki Naruto: 2nd Year of the 7th Timeline, 6th Day of the 7th Month

Camaraderie was something Naruto had resigned himself to never truly having. This had been a fact since the day he was born.

His lineage, for one, was something he would have had no matter what circumstances surrounded his life. Not many Uzumaki remained, that was a given and sadly accepted fact.

Then there was the fact he was made into a jinchuriki a few hours after he was born, there were (at most) only nine jinchuriki in existence at a time. The problems each faced varied, but ultimately they were all viewed as tools of power. They shared a common lack of freedom and social stigma.

The lack of normal social interaction tended to cause some, well, social problems. He didn't get the full scope of this issue until much later. There were social rules. Things you should or should not do, things that you can only do under certain circumstances, and things that were heavily frowned upon. Most people had their parents as guides to this aspect or, at the very least, a group of friends they could gage what was okay and what wasn't. Of course he wasn't nearly as bad off as Sai, who couldn't compare his emotions to situations he was in.

That was all before this weird time mess up. Now, and he couldn't be completely sure, he figured he was the only person to actually travel back in time. Time travel was not normal. Living your life all over again was not normal. It wasn't supposed to happen...unless you were a fictional character in some fantasy or sci-fi gig.

To put it lightly, these things added up into a big awkward mess that made it difficult to connect with others that haven't experienced the same thing. Hence, no camaraderie and very few close friends who would understand. It was surprising how much social interaction was through shared experience.

Take into account of individual mindsets and generally "clicking" with the right people, and that left Naruto where he was now. That is, he was sitting in a tree people watching.

People watching was...therapeutic, one could say. You didn't have think a whole ton about it, just watch and see what people were up to. Taking guesses or making up stories of what they were doing and why.

Naruto was currently watching the playground and listening to the children's gleeful laughter and idle chatter of parents. It was a relaxed atmosphere, one that Naruto was intimately familiar with watching from the outside.

Naruto's body was two almost three, and having both physically and mentally aged, he could understand his own memories and predicament a lot more clearly then when he was one almost two. He understood things to an extent and even could understand that certain things were still going over his head. Mathematics weren't an affinity for him, higher levels especially, but he knew with a certainty he'd be able to understand multiplication a lot better when he turned a few years older. He also knew that certain traumas would be kicking in full gear as he aged.

Around the time he would turn eight is about when he could remember most of the things from before, and more if prompted. By the time he would be with his genin team again, though, is when the problems would really begin surfacing. Trauma, habits, knowledge slip ups, and other things that could make the hyperaware ninja in the ninja village he called home become suspicious.

Thankfully, at his current age, most things would be written off as a "strong imagination" or "childish boasting".

Though, kids just thought he was weird and avoided him. He, in turn, avoided them. No need to make more awkward situations then he already had in previous timelines. The memories were bad enough.

Besides, it wasn't like he knew how to play their games to begin with. He learned the games, of course, but he never knew how to interact as a child while playing those games. Sai, as emotionally constipated as he was, later proved to be a very good academy teacher; understanding children's minds better than even his wife. Naturally good with children, it was a little unsettling.

So there he sat, in the shadows of a tree's branches, stalker-watching kids play and adults talk. One might ask why in the world he was even wasting his time by going to a playground if he wasn't even going to do anything.

It was simple, actually. Every weekend a caregiver and a few volunteers (or helpless genin) would bring the orphanage children on outings. It allowed the others to do some deep cleaning and it would allow the kids to get a wider perspective. In essence, he had to go.

Naruto personally thought that it was like some perverse advertisement to get kids adopted. Though, to be fair, the orphanage was practically overflowing with kids. The Kyūbi attack (which really should be renamed "Obito's Psychotic Break", then again, every problem he had could sort of be named that...), there was an unsurprising boom in orphans. It didn't help that the Third Shinobi War had just finished, there were plenty of orphans from that as well.

On this particular day, it was Emiko and a newly minted genin team with their jounin-sensei. First mission by the looks of it, and didn't that bring back the memories. The sensei's amusement, the genin's disappointment, and of course the dawning horror on their faces.

The little genin didn't know it yet, but the job of babysitting never went away. Sure, most chunin and jounin no longer babysat actually infants; however, let it not be said that plenty of fully grown adults didn't act like spoiled brattish children. It was those kinds of babysitting missions that made you want to be the one killing the client, actual infants were a blessing to have instead.

Of course, it would probably help if their jounin-sensei were to supervise them. Unfortunately, for the genin, jounin had a funny way of disappearing whenever their was a dirtied diaper.

The jounin was actually in a tree not far from Naruto's position, not trying terribly hard to hide but not announcing himself either. If the genin wanted help, they had to ask for it.

Naruto let himself relax into his tree, watching the chaos that was prideful genin unfold. He was in a tree because he had to be. People didn't really like jinchuriki in general, so to avoid stressful encounters, he stayed up in his tree. Like always. Bored. There was only so much you could do at two (almost three). Sure he could access his chakra and walk all over the place, but that was hardly fun.

Konoha had a few playgrounds, surprisingly. One of which was in the middle of the city area. A chain linked fence surrounded that one. The one he was in was more of an old training ground, promoting stealth games and the like. A few favorites were "Police and Thieves" , "Shinobi", "Oinin vs Nukenin", and "Assassination in the Castle".

Naruto probably wouldn't even know what games those kids were playing if he hadn't played with them when he was older. He had taken care of kids in most of his lives, one way or another. Though, his first life stuck with him the most. He had been taking a breather from his ninja duties, unaware that he'd be summoned to find out that a war was just around the corner, when he first played "Oinin vs Nukenin".

…

"Mommy mommy," yelled a kid, no more then four, "Mika won't play oinin vs. nukenin with me."

"Why not?" the mother asked asked, flipping a page in her book.

"Mika…Mika not wanna be nukenin," the child pouted, "only wanna be shinobi and not take turns."

"Well maybe you should play a different game," she suggested.

"But I want play oinin vs nukenin!" yelled the child. The mother looked frazzled and at a loss for how to defuse the situation.

"I'll play with you," a blond haired man said, jumping down from my tree. A smile spread wide across his face.

"Really?" the kid said excitedly.

"Yup," the man replied, "I'll be the nukenin first, kay?"

"Yosh!" The kid jumped up and took me by the hand, before running toward the playground.

The kid pointed to himself and exclaimed, "I'm a fearless shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village! And I'm going to take you down, evil ninja-san!"

The tall blond laughed 'evilly' and mocked, "I'd like to see you try, Hidden Leaf ninja are all too soft to take down the likes of me."

"Ha! I'll prove I'm stronger then you," he said before running at the taller man.

He slowly dodged to the side. "You'll have to try harder then that, chibi."

The kid puffed out his cheeks and ran at him again. "Konoha ninja are the best, and I'm no chibi!"

"Ha-ha-ha, yeah right. Big talk for a little guy," He said and dodged another attack.

The boy turned around and smacked the ninja with his tiny fist on his leg. The man 'yelled' in pain and limped away from him.

"That was just luck, but I won't underestimate you again, chibi." the man said with mock-menace.

The boy grinned and attacked him again, this time nailing him in the stomach. The blond shinobi used a minor amount of chakra to make himself fly backwards. He 'shakily' got up, before 'collapsing' on his hands and knees.

The kid ran up to him, worry and shock written across his face. The man winked with a grin before going back to being a 'defeated nukenin'.

"You brat, you may have defeated me this time." The blond slowly got up. "But I can promise it won't happen again. Just you watch, I'll get you back for this disgrace. You'll be sorry!" He yelled before dramatically disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

The kid's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. His mother looked surprised by the sudden smoke.

The shinobi leaped back behind him, without making a sound. He watched the boy's shocked expression for a moment before saying, "that was a fun game."

The boy jumped before looking up at him with a grin. "You a real ninja?"

He smiled down at the boy, blond hair falling in his squinted eyes. "Yup, one of the best."

"Cool," he said, "will you play with me again?"

"Mm, someday," He said.

The child frowned. "Why not now?"

The shinobi pointed up. "See that bird up there?"

He looked up and nodded. "Yeah, it sure is tiny."

The blond smiled. "Well the bird is telling me to go to Hokage-sama's office. I have a mission."

"Ah," the kid said looking up, "you must be a really, really strong ninja if the Hokage wants you."

"You better believe it." The shinobi grinned.

A look of determination came across his face. "I'm going to be a super strong ninja someday too. Then I will fight real nukenin and get the birds to call for me too. I will beat you Shinobi-san."

"Call me Naruto," Naruto said with a wide grin and ruffled the boy's hair, "I'll be waiting for it."

"Hai! Then one day," the kid jabbed a thumb to himself, "I'll be a stronger ninja than you, Naruto!"

He met with the kid a few times after that to play. He had been told he had a way with younger children, and that it was odd for a shinobi of such high caliber to play with kids. He treasured it. It made up for his lost childhood, giving a child a better one then they'd have otherwise. The child grew to be a good kid, always proclaiming that he'd one day outdo Uzumaki Naruto.

Naruto was still waiting…

…

Naruto sighed lightly, his past was a thing he didn't like too think to heavily on but had to in necessity. There was just so much death and destruction, he would be content to never see another child dead from the evils of adults. Sadly, he knew that it was not to be.

'They're so calm now, so happy,' Naruto thought, a small smile made its way across his face, 'As they should be.'

It was so unlike the agitation that dominated them in the past-future. There was so much fear and pain, to the point that the children didn't play and stopped smiling. Naruto vowed to never let it become like that again or he would die trying...again.

Those small ones, with such high hopes for the future, had been his comrades, his friends, his citizens. They had become hardened and frozen over by the deaths and war, bloodied hands and marred spirits. His smile slipped from his face and a world weary sigh escaped his mouth.

He had to think, he had to plan...if he wanted keep the kids from losing that hope.

…

Uchiha Itachi: 8th Year of the 7th Timeline, 6th Day of the 7th Month

Uchiha Itachi was an average genin; well, he'd like to think he was. However, his prodigy status brought about problems with the term "average". So, perhaps, he wasn't an average shinobi; but he was an average person.

Average wants, normal likes and dislikes. He'd like to think he was more normal than what others projected on him. Sure, his intelligence was...high. He could pick something up quickly and efficiently. He learned fast. That's what it came down to.

He learned fast, so he understood what was taught quicker than others. Maybe it was because the academy was still transitioning from the war curriculum, maybe it was because he had the capacity of a Nara but the drive of his kin, maybe it was because his father pushed and demanded. Whatever it was, Uchiha Itachi had graduated the academy and was a genin with a team that weren't too fond of him at the young age of eight.

He thought he might know why they didn't like him and while he couldn't blame them, it still hurt. He liked his team. They just didn't like him.

He wasn't good at normal social conduct. He was being raised as an heir and knew a hundred different way to read political powers and what they wanted. He was being raised by Uchiha Mikoto, showing common courtesy even to scary girls. His father was a clan head, a clan that demanded respect and utmost obedience from even their average clansmen.

So maybe he wasn't average in intellect, social standing, and had a slightly skewed view of what was accepted compared to what was expected. Maybe, he wasn't average at all. If he was average, if he was normal,would his teammates have liked him?

It was a nice thought. An unpractical one. It didn't matter, in the end, if the others didn't like him. It only really mattered if they could work together. He himself wasn't of much value and he could accept that fact easily. He sorta...just kinda, a little bit, wished that what he wanted would matter...even the slightest?

Itachi bit the inside of his cheek and frowned at his own thoughts. Such foolish thoughts, this train of thought never led to good things.

"Remember to pack for a week, we don't know how long we'll be in Sora-ku," Itachi's sensei, Yuki Minazuki, said.

Tenma, the other male genin, muttered, "we know."

Tenma was completely ignored by the rest of the team and Yuki continued his pre-mission briefing (lecture) about what they would likely see in the mostly abandoned city.

Itachi was familiar with the city Sora-ku having been brought with clan members to be introduced to Nekobaa, a supplies keeper he had been sent on errands to.

With their sensei's dismissal, Itachi and his teammates quickly left their training spot.

Itachi decided that a short cut home and spending as much time as possible with Sasuke before the upcoming mission, would be a necessity. Itachi loved Sasuke, and he knew that his little brother loved him too. He couldn't help but worry, though, with how dependent Sasuke was becoming.

Their father, Fugaku, had never been the closest parental figure; though, Itachi could remember when he was more family oriented. It was only a little after the Kyūbi Attack that he started drifting away. His father had always pushed him hard to be the best shinobi he could be, as it was his duty. The problem seemed to be that while Itachi excelled above and beyond expectations, Sasuke simply excelled. Sasuke was a smart child, advanced by normal standards. But their father, and many others, compared Itachi's genius to Sasuke's abilities. It wasn't fair to Sasuke, and Itachi didn't like that he was good at hurting others.

Their hard to please father, much to Itachi's self blame, overlooked Sasuke and hardly payed attention to him and was always busy. Itachi took it upon himself to fill in for his father's absence, both because he knew it was important for Sasuke to have someone to look up to and rely on and also because Itachi hated seeing how hurt Sasuke looked after their father brushed him off.

Itachi paused on a branch overlooking the forest surrounded playground, an old training ground if he remembered right (which, of course, he did). It was strange to see kids his age, some even older, playing on the jungle gym. It was a reminder that he lived a life far from the average person's, that he grew up faster then most children.

Most kids his age, for he was a kid and he knew it, still worried about school and playing with friends and complained (loudly) about academic work and chores. He thought about his...friend, Shisui, who was more of an older brother than a cousin and about when both their schedules opened up enough to train together. He worried about his clan and his brother's future, about Konoha's future. He read academic books for fun and did chores to decompress from work related stress.

Itachi was also fairly certain that most kids his age didn't know how to take care of their kid siblings, let alone like them. (He once overheard a girl at the academy claim to hate her little brother!) Though it just solidified that his maturity didn't match his peers...and also why it was hard to understand their jokes.

He was advanced for his age, and would continue being advanced if the trend continued. For all he knew, he could be a jounin in five years and have access to the back of the library where they keep all the interesting pre-chakra histories. It could also mean that he'd be a sensei by age thirteen, but hopefully older. The kids down there would be some of Sasuke's comrades, and maybe even a future student of his. Sasuke might even end up being his student. It was a strange thought that he'd rather not dwell on. He could practically hear Shisui's mocking, 'Aniki-sensei.'

No, that wouldn't do at all.

Nonetheless, it would be interesting too see what this age group was up to. Though he had things to do, kage bunshin to summon (to pack his bags), and a certain little brother to break the news to.

As he was about to continue his way home, he paused once more. Itachi was the type of person who knew a little bit of something about everything and everyone. He was an observer, a listen and learn type. So when he came across a thing he didn't understand, didn't previously know or wasn't expecting, it hooked his attention and reeled his interest in faster than the Yondaime could hiraishin.

A young woman, no older than twenty, had called something to the children playing. She was a worker for the orphanage, if he recognized her uniform.

Indeed, a large portion of the children on the playground rushed over to her. All, he noted, were orphans of Konoha judging by their similar clothes. This wasn't what made him pause. No, it was the small blond of two years that walked out of the wooded area towards them. The other children shifted to the opposite side of the young woman than where the lone child stood. The genin team followed suit. That sadly wasn't really surprising; though, it was surprising the jounin of the team (Team Five?) gave to the boy (Naruto) a head pat.

Now Itachi knew who Naruto was, frankly he would have had to have been rather dense to not know by this point. He had known Kushina-nee through his mom, Mikoto; or perhaps it's better said that Kushina was friends with Mikoto and got every excuse to pinch her friend's son's cheeks out of existence. It came to no surprise that his mother was excited, happy, when she found out she and her best friend were pregnant at the same time.

When Itachi was younger, not that he was particularly old now, he had stuck around his mother. Followed her on errands, when she was visiting friends, and helped her around the house. While he followed her, he learned many things from her. Sometimes it was directly, her telling him how to pick out produce that'll ripen right or showing him the best way to fold clothes so they would fit better in a pack. Other times he simply learned by watching and listening to what was happening around her.

Other kids thought grown-up talk was boring, but Itachi thought it was endlessly fascinating what the grown-ups knew and would say around him but not around other grown-ups.

Kushina's pregnancy was one of those things. Not because she was pregnant, any person with an eye and old enough to understand could see that she was, but because her husband was Minato (the fourth hokage).

When Naruto was born and the Kyūbi destroyed a large part of the village, there was a lot of chaos afterward. Clan problems that were still going on, village problems that are slightly better, and politics that never stop. Naruto was the new jinchuriki.

Jinchuriki, upon doing some secret research, were often seen as tools for the village and used as power plays. Jinchuriki were known to sometimes "lose it". Kushina was an jinchuriki and never "lost it". Itachi concluded that there were several factors that went into a "stable" jinchuriki. Age, chakra, healthy psych, and the seal. It was an interesting subject but one he didn't have long to delve into because of the laws the sandaime passed.

Being a jinchuriki wasn't even half the reason his mother wasn't allowed to adopt him, apparently. The rest was clan politics. Son of a kage being adopted by a clan under suspicion wasn't exactly smiles, rainbows, and dango. His mother was livid when she found out.

In essence, Itachi was intimately familiar with who Naruto was and why the Uchiha weren't allowed to approach him.

What bothered Itachi though, was that others that could get close to the boy wouldn't. They were scared of him. It was semi-reasonable. But it should have been obvious that Naruto was a stable jinchuriki, it seemed obvious. Itachi had assumed that at least some of the adults understood, though, not enough it seemed by the way Naruto reacted to the head pat.

Itachi got a few head pats, and what a strange way to show praise, but by the way Naruto responded...he must not have gotten near any.

The child responded to the pat with a smile, a stiff smile. The slight freezing of expression and the slightly bigger then necessary smile. The way his back straitened before slouching. The way his legs tensed briefly as if to run. Before it all settled down into what looked like any other happy child. A mask of a delighted child.

He didn't like it, but he had to leave.

Itachi looked one last time toward the kid, only to see the little jinchuriki's familiar blue eyes boring into him. His grin curling a little more around the edges before he laughed loudly at something the jounin had said.

Itachi had been obscured by the dense tree branches with his chakra completely suppressed.

The kid had known he was there, watching him.

Well...kicked puppies and steak tartare.

…

Naruto trailed behind Emiko and the other children. His wide grin up in all its megawatt glaring glory. He had sensed the Uchiha before he had even gotten near the park. He could recognize that chakra, suppressed or not, anywhere. It was distinct and odd enough that even in the first Timeline he could recognize it easily.

The boy's chakra wasn't tamed, nor was it wild. It wasn't frigid and stony nor heated and passionate. It was more like an ember, something that could be calmed into nothing or sent up into a fiery inferno of doom. Compassionate and valued the lives it effected. Friend or enemy.

Naruto smirked on the inside, Itachi really was a pacifist by nature…unless it came to Sasuke's safety. If Sasuke was in danger, the boy wouldn't pause even to fight against Kaguya herself. Itachi was a fierce protector once he set his mind to it.

He had sensed curiosity from Sasuke's brother; he was curious about Naruto. Naruto had found that geniuses, such as Shikamaru and Kakashi, would go to strange lengths to satisfy their curiosity and to figure out things that they didn't understand. They became obsessive until they got an answer or several good conclusions. It was probably some geniuses' curse.

Naruto felt eyes staring into the back of his head, a causal sweep of chakra let him find a clone. He tilted his head up, hands resting casually behind his head. A shadow of a shadow moved across the roof.

Naruto sighed under his breath, "and so the stalking begins."

…

Omake

(Assassination in the Castle)

Uzumaki Naruto: 23rd Year of the 2nd Timeline, 10th Day of the 6th Month

Naruto looked down at the miniature version of Gaara, no older than four, and the brat's friends. Somehow he had gotten roped into playing with them. The problem was that he didn't know what Suna children played and decided to ask what they wanted to play.

He was picturing something along the lines of a friendly game of Oinin vs Nukenin. But no, what the little four year old decided on was, "Assassination in the Castle". He admitted to not knowing what the game was, and they told him. It was complicated. What group of little kids played this?

"Let me get this straight," Naruto said, "the goal of the game...is to capture the psycho murderer and not die?"

One of the little kids nodded. "Or kill everyone. Depends on your role."

"Uh-huh...and how old are you?" Naruto rhetorically asked.

"I'm six, he's three, and Mina is four," the oldest replied.

"...and Gaara is okay with you playing this?"

"Gaara-ji taught us," the four year old replied, Temari's second child.

"Ah, okay, let's play."

…

Games Mentioned:

Esparia: Just to be clear, I renamed some outside games to fit into a ninja based culture. I'm just going to give a brief description/rules of the original game (as I know them) in case any of the readers haven't heard of it or aren't fluent in English and have different names for the games. I'll put in how it would probably fit into shinobi culture and then I'll add the probable benefits.

-"Police and Thieves" is "Cops and Robbers": An outside/night game, 6+; there are two sides, the Cops and the Robbers. Cops look for and capture the Robbers, while the Robbers hide and avoid getting caught by trying to get to "Base". There are variations, but this seems to be what most are about. I can't imagine it being all that different even in a shinobi society. (Hiding, Stealth, Searching, and Escaping)

-"Shinobi" is actually mentioned in the series and is probably "Make Believe": An imagination game, 2+? It centers around pretend situations and people play-act their parts. Pretty obvious but you never know. For kids in shinobi culture, there are probably more shinobi 'missions' and I imagine it depends largely on the age of the kids playing, it's really playable for almost all ages. (Creative Thinking, ...and really anything else is possible)

-"Oinin vs Nukenin" is "Predators vs Prey" (I think it was originally called "Hide, Seek, and Tag"?): An outside game, 7+. There are one or two Predators that try to hunt down the Prey who are hiding and occasionally changing position. The Predators need to find them, chase them down, and "eat" them. While the Prey try to escape for a set period of time that's the Predator's "Life Time". (No, I don't remember the original rules (Yes, it's because we started to play dirty, threw rocks to make noise, made false trails, and changed the rules to make it more fun (Yes, I enjoyed my childhood. Did you?))). The obvious change would be Hunter ninja (oinin) and Missing ninja (nukenin), it would promote the "being chased down is scary, don't defect" thing and the "this is how you escape enemy territory kids". (Evasion, Stealth, Tracking, and Politics)

-"Assassination in the Castle" based off of a game my cousins, my siblings, and I created called "Hotel on Twenty-fifth Street": it's a complex house game that would fit a little too well in ninja society, 10+. Think "Clue", "Role play", and elimination games. I've written out the rules but it's like a page long and I'm not tacking that onto this. If you want the rules, I can send them to you via PM (it's a good party game). What it boils down to is finding/exposing the killer, not dying, or (if you're the killer) killing everyone without being caught. Obviously a ninja game. Not sure on the age, there are different levels of difficulty that were made. (Stealth, Assassination training, Logical thinking, learning how to take on traits of characters)