I never had family.
The boys returned to Danzō, Shisui carrying the passed out Naruto on his back.
Danzō looked concerned, pointing at Nuibari, to which both Shisui and Itachi pointed to the hidden mist headband tied around the boys arm. Danzō tilted his head back in understanding before dismissing them, asking them to leave Naruto behind. Shisui dropped Naruto directly from his shoulder, before spinning on a heel and sauntering out.
Itachi stared at the groaning boy, before shrugging and following suit.
Danzō spoke first, "So tell me, my boy, what happened?"
Naruto groaned as he stood up, rubbed his head and faced Danzō, "Well it turns out the hunter-nin that Motodao 'killed' were actually in on it from the start," he stated taking his mask off and putting his hands behind his head, "We each faced off against one and claimed the swords after winning the duel. That's how the blades are passed on. That's why I got this sweet thing," Naruto explained flicking the blade
'Watch it short stuff!' A voice in his head shouted.
Naruto shot upright in confusion. He was used to Kurama's voice but... 'That wasn't me, kit,' Kurama explained. Naruto closed his eyes and saw the epitome of a librarian. Glasses with a chain, red lipstick, tired eyes, and hair put up in a tall bun. She wore a plain white button down shirt tucked into a high skirt. She stuck her nose up and peered down at the boy.
'Did you think I was this rabid animal, young man?'
"Naruto!" Danzō was shaking the boy, "Naruto, hema, are you listening to me?"
"Y-yeah sorry," Naruto stammered, "there was just another voice in my head, different than Kurama," Danzō looked confused before ultimately coming to a conclusion.
'Of course I'm not this beast, how dare you compare me to- hey I could tear you to pieces you piece o- would you like to continue that sentence, thing?'
The two voices huffed as Danzō flicked the boy on the forehead, "You zoned out again you baka. That other voice is nuibari. Each of the mist blades has some sort of consciousness, that must be what you're hearing."
Naruto put the pieces together. The voice only started when he was named officially as its wielder, and it was constantly rambling about being a delicate little lady, which seemed to fit the swords description.
Danzō sighed and continued his speech, "Like I was saying, you will be attending the academy in order to gauge the talent of your ages ability..." Danzō paused for a moment before continuing, "oh right, and also to make friends with people of your age." The last part sounded almost robotic.
Naruto knew that wasn't the reason, but he was fine with it nonetheless. He liked Shisui and Itachi, they were like his brothers, but they were just about his only friends, besides maybe Sasuke.
He was always so busy with his anbu work, most of it being assassination, that he never had a chance to mingle with kids his age.
Not that it would have been easy. He couldn't chat with fellow 7 year olds about kill counts
Not that he would have wanted to anyway.
He hated killing. But because of the nature of his work he was practically forced to. After 5 straight years of vigorous training and 3 of those being a notorious contracted killer, Naruto was ready to take it easy and maybe even retire.
Even though he was incredibly young, in the 3 years he had been working, he had already created a legacy rivaling some of the seasoned veterans in the organization. Not only did he change Danzō's way of thinking, he also practically saved Shisui and Itachi from deserting the village, something that Danzō believed Sasuke could be thinking about.
That was the real reason Naruto was going to the academy.
He had seen the effects Naruto had on people and he wanted that to keep Sasuke away from the darkness.
After his clan was killed, Sasuke had a hard time accepting the leaf. Danzō also believed he had grown suspicious of Shisui and Itachi: They were the only other male Uchiha left, they adored the hidden leaf, and they were all anbu. Not to mention, they utterly detested the idea of the coup.
Sasuke wasn't stupid. Danzō knew he couldn't just hide the information from him. He basically already knew.
The only way to keep him from hating the hidden leaf would be for Naruto to pull some sort of miracle. Again. It wasn't the most concrete plan, but it was literally all Danzō could do.
Naruto walked out of the root base. The sun was setting and he decided to watch the sunset atop Hokage rock. This had become one of his favorite spots, far away from any villager and any judgement. Even though Naruto had become incredibly strong and proud of himself, the glares still pierced his soul and hurt him greatly.
Before Naruto went to his spot, he unsealed a scroll and undid the chakra seal, revealing a perfectly preserved bag of barbecue chips.
His father, Minato Namikaze, was a former sealing expert. He had left behind a notebook containing information about several seals. The journal also included the flying thunder god jutsu, which Naruto had learned, but was still mastering. Because he could never see the technique in action, it was one of the jutsu that he had to learn and practice on his own.
Naruto shunshined up to the rock, sat and began to munch. He noticed two chakra signatures walking towards him. He turned to face the other two, who were revealed to be Itachi and Sasuke. Sasuke was riding on his brothers shoulders, shouting and waving to Naruto.
It had been a while since Naruto and Sasuke had seen each other. Whenever they were all free, Naruto, Itachi, and Sasuke would come up and watch the sunset. Shisui would always come late, missing the sunset.
Today was different though, as Shisui teleported behind Naruto and put him in a headlock, "Hey there, hema."
Shisui had taken to calling Naruto by Danzō's pet name for him. It was so rare for Danzō to show any kind of affection, so Shisui cherished the thought whenever he could.
"Hey isn't tomorrow the first day of the academy for you two?" Shisui asked. He already knew the answer, but Sasuke was just so cute when he was excited.
Naruto just nodded in response, but Sasuke practically flew off of Itachi's shoulders, jumping up and down.
"Yes it is Shisui-nii! Nii-san also helped me with my shuriken and kunai!" His eyes were wide and he was talking incredibly fast. Shisui laughed and loosened his grip on the now red Naruto.
The blonde knew Shisui was still pissed about their conversation in the forest, "Hey Sasuke," Shisui waved the boy over, "Naruto has a girlfriend," Shisui whispered to Sasuke, who in turn giggled and looked at Naruto, a tick mark forming on the blonde's forehead.
"Hey what's the big idea? What's so funny Sasuke?" Naruto pried, "Shisui what'd you tell him? Come on just tell me already."
Naruto and Shisui continued to bicker as Sasuke walked over to his brother. They both looked out at the village.
"Isn't it beautiful Sasuke?" Said boy just nodded and continued to stare at the sunset in awe, "That's our home. My second favorite thing in the whole world." He paused, "Do you know what my favorite thing is, Sasuke?" He looked over to Itachi and tilted his head.
Itachi waved him over. As the boy approached, his big brother kneeled down, poked him in the forehead, smiled and said, "You are my favorite thing Sasuke."
Sasuke began to tear up, before smiling and rocketing into his brothers arms, "I love you big brother." Itachi returned the hug. After all, neither of the boys really showed affection. The two brothers were broken from their moment by a loud, piercing shriek.
"DAMN YOU SHISUIII! THAT'S NOT- YOU'RE- GRRRR!" They looked over to Naruto who had tackled the hysterically laughing Shisui.
This was happiness.
This would be one of those moments in life where all of these people, even when they eventually grew into men, would think back on when they were feeling down. Naruto never had a family, and the Uchiha either saw theirs die, or suddenly had them ripped away.
Despite this, these boys had found a family in each other, a family forged through friendship.
They were family.
When Naruto arrived at the banished Uchiha's home, he lie in bed staring at the ceiling. 'What is love?' The boy thought. He had a pretty good grip on family, but the idea of love stumped him a little. What made it different?
'I love ramen, I love Itachi and Shisui and Sasuke. I love a lot of things. But I feel different kinds of love for different people. Mikoto-san's like my mom, Danzō is like my dad, and Itachi, Shisui, Sasuke, and the people in Root are my brothers. So what does that make someone like Hinata, ' He pondered for a moment, "Can she be my brother too? Sister?" He let out a sigh, 'I haven't known her long enough. I think. Maybe that's what it is,' and turned over in his bed, 'I guess she's just a friend. Never really had one of those.' He let out another sigh, 'Whatever. I'm not even old enough to drink so why am I worried about all this.'
'Old enough to kill, old enough to drink,' Nuibari said within his mind. That wasn't really his point but he wasn't going to argue with her, 'Baka I can hear your thoughts!'
Oh yeah, right.
Naruto tried to sleep but he kept seeing things. He saw Nuibari's wielder slowly sliding down the wood roof, among other victims of his missions. But mostly he just saw the day when his eyes opened for the first time.
The moonlight, the fire pokers... he can't even go outside during the full moon now, or even dare to look at a fire poker, those wretched things. He knows that those can no longer harm him, but from his trauma he not only gained strength, but superstition as well. Knifes were bad luck and should be avoided, steer clear of the full moon, etc.
Tomorrow was his first day at the academy.
He had already seen more bloodshed and tragedy then most of the village, let alone his soon to be classmates. The amount of people he had killed wouldn't necessarily be a conversation starter.
He kept trying to think of happy times, playing with Sasuke, camping with Shisui and Itachi, watching the sunset, then he would get lost and see the rotting heads of all those he had taken.
Then he thought of the night before he embarked on his last mission.
Staring into Hinata's lavender-tinted eyes.
He never thought about what gave him nightmares when he was with her, 'What could that mean? I don't feel that way around anybody, besides maybe Sasuke,' a thought struck him, 'I haven't made any bad memories with Hinata. Just like with Sasuke. Maybe... Maybe family is... Ah to hell with it. I thought I stopped caring about this.'
He got up, still in just boxers and leapt from the window to the ground below. He needed to see if that feeling of security was just a fluke. He might even find some answers about what Hinata was to him.
"Naruto," a voice called out behind him. It was Itachi.
"Oh hey Itachi," he chuckled, "I was just uh going to the bathroom?" This was obviously a lie, but Naruto thought that it could convince him.
Itachi moved from leaning on the gateway and stepped towards Naruto.
He stood in front of Naruto for a second, arms at his side, before poking him on the forehead and handing him a shirt, "She'll faint if she sees you without that on," Naruto chuckled at that, remembering when he had accidentally walked into her room.
Why was she always so nervous around him? Nuibari and Kurama face palmed at that thought. Itachi turned away and shouted over his shoulder, "Be safe little brother." There was a pause. Naruto was about to turn to leave when Itachi stopped and turned his head and smiled, "And remind me to give you the talk tomorrow," they both shared a laugh then left their separate ways.
'Love... Huh. Maybe I'll never understand it. Maybe that's for the best.'
Hey all! I know these last couple chapters have been a lot of exposition, but I've really been enjoying this world and writing this. I'm happy with where this story is and excited to continue writing. Anyways have a good dayornight. That's a new slang term some homeless guy told me about. He said it's reaaaally cool.
Guhbye!