A/N: Help this chapter was so cute and fluffy. I'm dying.


~friends are better~

Ever since that first day when Naruto joined the orphanage, the blonde brat hadn't left him alone. Toji would have regretted it if the other kid wasn't such a good sparring partner. So he didn't mind that Naruto was always hanging around him or that they shared a bed at night because Miss Suzana was too stupid to get a new on put in for Naruto. It was fine for now since they were both small, but the minute they got big enough, he'd have to threaten Miss Suzana into getting one for the blonde brat as well.

Toji wasn't blind. He knew all the adults were afraid of Naruto for some reason. And because of that the other kids were also afraid of him. That was fine though. Naruto was his annoying brat buffer. That little snot nosed Emiko hadn't come near him once with Naruto around. And that was enough to make Toji put up with Naruto's occasional clinginess.

It was late at night and both Toji and Naruto were in the attic laying on the bed Miss Suzuna had put up there for him. He had mentioned to the matron that if she was going to be too scared to be around Naruto she could just put Naruto's bed in the attic. She had shivered and been too afraid to admit to Toji she was being unfair to the blonde child, but had seen the positives in the idea.

So she had moved his bed to the attic.

He didn't think the woman had it in her. It almost made her a bit interesting. She was still weak though. Not that Toji cared, the attic was a much better place to sleep than the shared dorm rooms, even if it was a bit dusty. At least the cries of snot nosed brats were virtually non-existent up here.

Toji was lying awake in their shared bed while Naruto snored beside him. Toji found he didn't need much sleep. Most of the time his body was too full of restless energy. He didn't feel it much when he was up and moving around, but when he laid down to rest is when became aware of it. He would have attributed it to growing pains if he wasn't so familiar with the sensation.

It was the feeling of his body absorbing energy.

The Zen'in clan in his past life had seen the results of his heavenly restriction stripping him of all cursed energy and had discarded any potential he might have had. They had automatically assumed no cursed energy equaled an absence of energy.

But they were wrong. His restriction simply inverted his cursed energy into positive energy. It was just intangible to the senses of the Zen'in and other cursed sorcerers. And he had no way to use it. Did they think his inhuman strength was simply normal? Did they just disregard that he could hide cursed energy in the form of a cursed spirit inside of his body? If he had no energy then the presence of the cursed spirit would still be able to be sensed. It only disappeared because there was something in between the spirit and the senses of other sorcerers.

And that was positive energy; or as Gojo would have put it, the energy produced through reverse cursed techniques. He knew what it felt like to have energy sink into his very bones. To produce energy and have nowhere for it to go but back into himself. To be so drenched in energy as he grew that it changed the very makeup of his body. Enhanced it.

It seemed he had a similar body this time around. Or was that tied to the soul? Jujutsu theories had speculated that the soul drenched the body, and both reflected the other. Perhaps it was a memory from his past life affecting the body of this new one.

Naruto snored loudly and Toji pushed his drooling face away from his cheek.

The point was that he was sure this feeling was his chakra. If he focused hard enough, he could feel a spot in his chest that felt like water. And everytime he breathed, it spread out from the center. It didn't circulate like one of the history books mentioned, a book titled A History of Chakra. It was just constantly coming out everytime he breathed.

He didn't know why the fuck his body was different. But he suspected it had something to do with the attack that happened the day he was born. People always whispered about it on his birthday. Celebrated the defeat of a great beast. How they could still remember the feeling of the demon's chakra.

Sometimes he thinks adult's forgot that kids had ears.

All he knew was that this was the feeling of his muscles and bones absorbing energy; his eyesight sharpening, his eardrums expanding, his sense of smell developing. He also knew he was in for a lot of pain growing up. Toji remembered how he was almost constantly in a state of bone ache until he had finished growing. But he knew it meant he'd be able to be strong again. So he didn't care. He could deal with pain. Pain was nothing.

~friends are better~

One of the best things about being an Orphan in Konoha was that you were allowed to look after yourself. As long as you returned before curfew and attended breakfast and dinner, you had your own autonomy. Toji always took full advantage of that.

He had started running as much as his body allowed him when he had decided he wanted to be a ninja. So far he could only run two or three miles before he got tired and had to go back for some food, but each day he could see improvement. Each day he pushed himself a few more minutes, a few more meters, a few more blocks.

He got stares from people he passed by of course. Some four year old kid who was running around the village. But most people just laughed a little at him. So it was fine.

It was different seeing the reaction people had to Naruto though.

The only time he had seen such hate was when some sorcerer tried to come after him for revenge. The hate of a lost loved one. The hate of wanting the source of it to suffer. So Toji was naturally curious about why that was all directed at Naruto. He wouldn't ask of course, he wasn't stupid. But maybe he'd start listening a little harder when people thought he wasn't there.

The boy in question was huffing and puffing as he tried to run beside Toji. His blonde hair was weighed down by sweat and the white shirt he wore was sticking to his boney chest. It didn't take long until Naruto had slowed down and then stopped to catch his breath. Toji stopped just ahead and crossed his arms over his small frame.

"H-Hold on. Let me c-catch my breath."

They were on one of the main roads that circled near the west side of the village and ran parallel to the Naka River. This side of the village was full of civilian residences and guest apartments for visiting merchants. It was also, conveniently, far away from most of the clan compounds.

Even so, Toji had seen a lot of ninja run on this road from his window in the orphanage's attic. He figured it probably circled around the whole village and was popular for ninja to train their endurance. Which is why he was using it. There weren't any signs that said he couldn't . It wasn't gated off or anything. He saw merchants travel up and down it all the time! So clearly anyone could use it.

Toji's number one rule, after all, had always been to shoot first and ask questions later. Or never. So until someone tried to tell him he couldn't do something, he'd damn well keep doing whatever was the most advantageous for him.

"Wow." Toji yelled a bit since he was almost ten feet away from where Naruto was bent over. "Giving up already?"

Naruto's head shot up. "N-No! I'm just…" Naruto scowled furiously before he drew in a big breath and forced his legs to run up to Toji. "I'm just tired. And thirsty."

Toji looked over at the river that was right next to the road. At the edge of the road was a grass embankment that slid right down to the bank. "There's water right there."

"What?! But that's river water!"

Toji shrugged and walked off the edge of the road. His sandaled feet slid easily down the grass slope and he only wobbled a bit before he caught himself and jumped the last bit to the even ground of the river bank below him.

Naruto wasn't nearly as graceful.

Toji watched him try to copy his own actions but he tripped halfway there on a bunch of twisted, tall grass and ended up flipping head over heels before he landed hard on his back. The wheezed out groan made Toji grin and laugh at Naruto's pain.

"Yeah, yeah…laugh it up. Ow ow ow." Naruto sat up and rubbed his lower back. Toji crouched down near the edge of the river and cupped his hands underneath the surface. It was cool and refreshing when he brought it up to his lips. He drank his fill before he splashed some on his hair and face to combat the warm summer sun.

Naruto's first sip was hesitant before he let out a surprised sound and took another large gulp. "Hey that isn't so bad!"

"Of course it isn't. Where do you think the water from the tap comes from?"

"I don't know." Naruto grumbled as he took off his shirt and dipped it under the water. He was grinning as he took it back out and draped it over his hair. He then fell back on his rump and let out a content sigh. "Didn't really think about it."

Toji took a seat next to Naruto and took a minute to watch the clouds slowly crawl by. It was turning into a hot summer and it made it harder to exercise outside, but Toji knew it just made for better conditioning.

"Hey, what's your last name?"

Toji looked back over at Naruto. The wet shirt was heavy on his blonde locks and blocked out the sun from his blue eyes. Toji shrugged.

"Don't know."

Naruto frowned. "How can you not know?" His eyes suddenly widened. "Do you…" he looked down at his lap "...do you not know who your parents are either?"

"No idea. The matron just said I was found in some rubble and brought to the orphanage. Said I was born the night of that big attack. The one that everyone celebrates on October 10th."

"No way! That's my birthday!" Naruto was positively vibrating. "Wait, aren't we the same age? We could be twins!" Naruto suddenly looked up at Toji's black hair. "Okay, well maybe not twins, but brothers! Are there twins that don't look alike?"

"Yeah." Toji's eyes were closed as he enjoyed the feeling of the wind blowing over his wet hair. "They're called fraternal twins."

"Then maybe we're that! That fraternal thing. Isn't that how it works? Anyone who's born on the same day are twins?"

Naruto clearly did not know how genetics worked. Even if they had been fraternal twins, which he highly doubted they weren't, Toji's face was too differently shaped.

"I'm sure there are a lot of kids who were born on October 10th, Naruto."

"I mean…yeah." Naruto was pouting as he picked up a rock near him and threw it into the river. "Just thought it would be cool though."

Toji honestly wouldn't mind if he had a kid brother like Naruto in his past life. Not that he would ever say it out loud. It was a little too sentimental for him. Plus Toji usually just let his actions speak for him. Words were cheap.

"Who cares. We're friends. Friends are a lot better than family, anyway."

"Really?" Naruto sounded a bit unsure. Like he didn't believe that was true.

"Yeah. Sometimes you get a family who hates you. And you're stuck with them. But friends, they stay with you because they want to, not because they have to."

Naruto had a small smile on his face and Toji kindly didn't pay attention to the few tears he saw escape the blue eyes. As soon as Naruto noticed he was crying though, he wiped the tears away with his arm and put another bright smile on his face. This one, however, actually looked happy.

"Yeah! I'm glad we're friends, Toji."

"Yeah." Toji mumbled, an embarrassed frown on his face. Damn child body. The heat on his cheeks was just from the summer sun. No other reason.

Toji usually let his actions speak for him, because words were cheap.

But Toji was also a cheapskate.

~friends are better~