Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Kushina looked at the two babies that were peacefully sleeping, finally. They were incredibly tiring, as much as she loved those two, Her husband was currently busy organizing the rebuilding of Konoha, so looking after the kids fell completely to her.

She was thanking god that at least Naruto was a quiet child who only cried when he really needed something, as Natsuki was a bundle of energy that couldn't be let unsupervised for even a single second. She permanently crawled around, never remaining in the same spot, and she cried more often in ten minutes than Naruto did in a normal week. Kushina suspected the Kyuubi was at least partially responsible for the exhausting amounts of energy Natsuki possessed.

Still, her life was going well. She had survived giving birth, her husband had survived something nobody was supposed to survive, and their children were healthy. What more could a mother ask for? Well, maybe that he children got along a little better. They were eight months old, and seemed to get along fairly well, although Natsuki was clearly the more dominant one of the two, except for the odd night. It had happened twice so far that she had woken up to Naruto's whimpering, only to find that the only thing out of the ordinary was that Natsuki was clutching onto him. She had thought it cute, but Naruto seemed really uncomfortable. Maybe Natsuki was grabbing too hard?

Naruto was just over 4 years old when he first understood that there was a difference between him and his sister. Of course there were differences, he was a boy and she was a girl, they had different likes and dislikes, liked to play with different toys, stuff like that. But while Natsuki had never been sick a day in her life, his health was a bit more frail, and beside getting sick from time to time Naruto had noticed that three to four times he woke up feeling absolutely miserable without knowing why, in the last year. It usually only lasted a few days, but it was still odd.

Their father had of course explained that Natsuki had the mighty Kyuubi sealed inside of her, and that it gave her increased healing and better health. That made it all the more puzzling for Naruto why Natsuki screamed as if tortured whenever she scraped her knee. Naruto usually tried not to cry when it happened to him, and just went to his parents, most of the time mommy, something she seemed happy about, since she always called him a 'big boy'.

But only now, that they had left the compound together as a family for the first time did Naruto really understand that there was a large difference between him an his sister. Now that Naruto thought about it, as long as he could remember, he and Natsuki had never been out of the compound at the same time, so when he had been outside before, people had smiled at him, and he had thought they'd do the same for his sister, and he was right. What he didn't expect was that they completely overlooked him while his sister was there.

Nobody seemed to notice he existed anymore, as everyone rushed to get a look at his sister. Naruto didn't really mind not been gawked at by strangers, and actually had a bit of sympathy for his sister that was caught in the center of this human maelstrom, until someone, in his hurry to get a look at 'the Savior of Konoha' ran into him, actually sending him flying with a surprised shout. The muddy ground prevented any serious injuries, but his formerly orange yukata now had large patches of brown. He sniffed. He had liked that yukata.

Minato noticed that the tug on his leg had vanished, and looked down, only to find that Naruto was not there, but a good four feet away, rubbing his head while unhappily looking at his ruined yukata. He saw the man that had run him down, his shinobi-instincts having ensured that he recalled the face of a man who had rushed by him a little too close. He spotted said civilian merchant, elbowing his way through the crowd, and pulled him back by the collar.

"Hey, what's the big...? Oh, Hokage-sama, what can I do for you?" The merchant had turned ashen when he realized he'd shouted at the leader of his village.

Minato was annoyed. "Well for one thing, you can apologize for knocking my son into the dirt and pay for the cleaning of his yukata."

The merchant's eyes darted around until he saw Naruto, covered in dirt. Lord in heaven, he had ran the son of the Yondaime over! He wouldn't be able to sell a thing for the next week! "I'm sorry, I was elsewhere with my thoughts. Of course I will take responsibility for this, the cleaning is on me. If there is anything else I can do..."

Minato gave him a cold look, and the merchant shrank away. "You will get the bill in the next days. And that was an expensive yukata, if the stains don't go out, you're replacing it."

Of course the talk between the Hokage and the merchant had attracted attention, and Kushina and Natsuki now noticed Naruto was still sitting in the dirt. Natsuki blinked, pointed at her brother, and laughed. It wasn't really any bad intention, he just looked so funny.

Naruto stared at his sister, then at his own clothing, and even though he didn't think it was that funny, he had to laugh too. Kushina shook her head, shooed her children back to the compound to get changed while Minato headed to a bakery to get something sweet that his family could eat together, to cheer up his son after that unfortunate event.

A few months later, the family sat together at dinner. Kushina cooked the family's favorite meal, ramen. Natsuki gobbled down the ramen faster than one could blink, while Minato and Kushina, while eating more civilized, were only slightly slower in their decimation of the meal. Only Naruto ate slower, savoring each bite before swallowing it. That was also the reason he had just finished his first bowl, while all others were at least on bowl four.

"Mom, can I please have a..." Naruto started, only to be interrupted by Natsuki.

"MOM, REFILL!" She shouted happily.

Kushina sighed. "Young lady, how many times do I have to tell you not to shout?" Still, she took the pot and poured more into Natsuki's bowl, before looking into the pot with a frown on her face. "Well, that was the last of it."

Naruto blinked. It wasn't fair! He loved ramen just as much as anybody else in his family did! Natsuki was eating her undeserved ninth filling, he had just finished his first, and she got the last bowl?! Whenever Naruto interrupted somebody, his mother told him that that was rude, why was it okay for his sister?

Naruto calmed himself. It was to be expected. Naruto was unusually smart for his age, and he had already noticed that his parents seemed to love Natsuki a little more than they loved him. He wasn't beaten or hated, it was just subtle things that gave it away. They just always cared a little more for Natsuki than for him. He knew that parents sometimes had favorites amongst their children, and that Natsuki was important because she carried the Kyuubi, but couldn't at least one of his parents love him more?

Kushina looked at him. "What were you saying, Naruto?"

Naruto blinked. "Nothing." He stood up, pushed his chair in, placed his bowl in the sink, and left.

Kushina looked at Minato, who gave her a helpless shrug. Natsuki was busy with her bowl, ignorant to the rest of the world.

Naruto opened his eyes, and immediately felt miserable. The glance down was just a formality for him to know that Natsuki had sneaked into his bed during the storm last night. So he probably had a few hours before it got really bad.

Then he noticed the door to his room was open, and his parents were looking at them, doubtlessly finding it incredibly cute.

Fortunately Natsuki woke up, saw her parents, and rushed out of the room. Naruto looked at his mother. "Mom, can't you tell her to stop it?"

His mother blinked. "Why? It's cute, and I like seeing that my children care for each other this much. Most children climb into their parents' bed when they're scared, not their brother's. I'm almost jealous. "

Naruto grimaced. "You shouldn't be mom, it hurts. Every time she sleeps here, I wake up feeling awful."

Kushina frowned. He always said that, and there was nothing wrong with him. She had even gone to a doctor the first times he claimed it hurt, and the man had told her that nothing was wrong, aside from a cold. "You know, I can understand that you think it makes you look less manly sleeping with your sister, but that's no reason to make up stories. As punishment for telling lies, you'll weed the garden." She knew it wasn't that much of a punishment, as Naruto enjoyed working in the garden.

Naruto opened his mouth in protest. "But mom..."

Kushina stopped him before he could say more. "Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, I suggest you be quiet before you make your punishment worse than it has to be."

Naruto closed his mouth, got dressed and marched towards the garden, past a smug-looking Natsuki.

The storm had not completely passed, and Naruto spent the last quarter of his time in the garden soaking in icy-cold rain, determined to finish the task, no matter how unfair it was to be punished for telling the truth.

He spent the next days in bed with a high fever.

It was Naruto's and Natsuki's fifth birthday. Normally they visited all the different clans that day, spending time and getting presents with each one before moving on, taking the children and those adults who wanted with them until they finally reached the festival that was held annually to celebrate the defeat of Kyuubi. At midnight they launched fireworks that lasted over an hour, with all children being excused from school the next day so that they could watch them. But because Naruto had just recovered from a heavy fever, Kushina and Minato decided that it might be better if they asked the guests to come to their house instead, so that Naruto would only travel to the festival and back, to not completely exhaust himself.

Naruto smiled happily as he took congratulations from all sides, and even got to cut the cake. He gave his sister an extra-large piece with three strawberries on top, as it was her favorite kind of cake, although the congratulating masses didn't leave any time for the twins to actually exchange words.

Naruto opened his pile of presents, being happy for each one and not at all jealous of his sister. He knew that his sister would get more presents than him, as everyone in the village seemed to want to send her a present. He was happy with what he got. From his father a blunt set of kunai and shuriken next to a big bag of sweets, while his mother gave him a shiny wooden sword for training, as they would start with shinobi-training after their birthday, which really was the biggest present he could ask for, well, aside from the free-meal-coupon Ichiraku's ramen had sent him. Natsuki got the same gifts, plus a few more, and was loudly cheering in happiness.

After the gifting and the meal, it was decided that Minato would activate the security-seals to keep uninvited guests out and over-enthusiastic kids in, before the two age-groups separated. The adults stayed in the house, talking boring grown-up talks, while the children got to play in the yard and training-grounds, after they had made sure there were no forgotten pointy things laying around. It was a warm, sunny day, so the children were only too happy to oblige.

After the adults had left, Natsuki suddenly clapped her hands, pulling the attention to her. "I just wanted to say something. Thanks for coming!" The children cheered, but Natsuki wasn't done. "Wait, wait. The second thing is, because Naru-nii said something mean about me, I'm not going to play with anyone who plays with him!"

Silence reigned after that declaration. The children looked at each other. Natsuki was definitely the more fun one of the two, always cheery and filled with energy, unlike her rather quiet brother, so the decision with whom of the two they wanted to play was an easy one. Also, most of their parents had told them how important Natsuki was and that being friends with her was a good thing. Slowly, all the children headed over to Natsuki, some having the decency to give him apologetic looks, although the general opinion was that Naruto deserved what he got if he was being mean, leaving Naruto standing alone, gaping like a fish. He could not believe his sister had just done that. He knew she wasn't happy that he said that her crawling into his bed hurt him, but it was true!

The next two three hours, Naruto made multiple attempts to play with the other kids, but they sent him away. He tried to talk to Natsuki, but his sister ignored him completely. Eventually, Naruto just gave up, sitting alone in front of the small, shallow pond on the grounds, flipping rocks over its surface.

When the parents came to take their kids to the festival, Naruto said he was tired and didn't want to go. His parents assumed that it was because of his fever and allowed him to go to bed, leaving him some medicine and tea he later poured down the drain, while the rest of the children headed off to the festival, Natsuki being the only one who felt a slight twinge of guilt from her brother's absence, before the festival washed those thoughts away.

She spent the evening at different stalls playing games and winning toys with her friends, falling asleep at the end of the fireworks and being carried home. Naruto had long since cried himself to sleep at that point.

A few weeks later, Naruto was sitting in the living room, drawing a picture. He wasn't really good at it, but he had decided to just try it, with his parents gone and Natsuki being nowhere to be found he didn't have anything better to do, and discovered he liked drawing just as much as gardening. His first picture was simple, it was a picture of his family. Him to the very right, holding his father's hand, who was holding mom in his other hand, who in turn was holding Natsuki's hand. He had worked on it for the last two hours, and it was finally done. The resemblance was very crude, but it was there, and Naruto was proud that he had also thought of drawing grass, the sky, and a house looking like their home, only without the surrounding wall. He was about to put the drawing-stuff away, when he heard a hissing.

He left the house to investigate, and found that a cat had apparently sneaked in. it was a tiger-striped cat with a ribbon on one ear. Naruto tilted his head. "Come on kitty, I'm not gonna hurt you. You're not supposed to be here, I'll show you the way out."

The cat hissed at him, but it followed, ready to pounce or flee at the slightest indication of deceit. Naruto however simply opened the small hatch that could be used to look at whose at the door before actually opening it. It had seals on it that prevented anything from going into the property, but it didn't have anything preventing going out of the property, as long as it fitted. The cat jumped on his back when he leaned forward, then on his shoulder before jumping through the hatch and out of the compound it had been unable to leave.

Naruto on the other hand heard his parents' voices and realized they must have come back while he had been busy with the cat.

When he came in, his father smiled at him. "Ah Naruto, nice to see you. How was your day?"

Naruto smiled shyly. Because of Minato's duties as Hokage, he didn't get to spend as much time with his family as he would have liked, so Naruto always seemed a bit unsure about him. "I'm fine."

Then his mother showed up, smiling. "Naruto, Natsuki drew a great picture."

Naruto blinked. She too? Well, that would explain why Naruto hadn't found her. "Really?"

Kushina nodded. "Here it is." She showed it.

Minato smiled. "That's impressive. It really looks just like us."

Naruto's jaw had dropped. That was his picture! The one he had spent the whole day drawing! Natsuki had taken it while Naruto was busy with the cat, and in her shaky writing, had named it hers, writing ME in the uncolored spot Naruto had left above her head. Kushina was titled MOM, Minato with DAD, while she had written NARU-NII above his image. "I made that!"

Kushina's smile faded. "Naruto, I told you before that it's not nice to lie."

"But I'm not lying!" Naruto defended himself.

Kushina gave him a stern look. "Naruto, I saw Natsuki finishing the picture. If it was yours, where were you?"

Naruto tried to explain. "There was a cat in the yard, so I..."

Minato joined the conversation. "So you were playing outside with a cat. That's fine, so why do you insist on claiming your sister's work? If you're jealous, just draw something yourself. What you're doing can be called stealing, and you know our opinion on that."

Naruto tried not to look too upset. "But, that's not how it..."

Kushina sighed. "Naruto, stop making excuses and just apologize for lying."

"But I wasn't!" Naruto started.

Kushina gave him a stern look. "Naruto, go to your room. You won't be coming to Ichiraku's with us today. I didn't want to do this, but you brought this over yourself. It will give you time to think about if the punishment is worth telling us obvious lies."

Naruto blinked. Why was he being punished? He was telling the truth! Natsuki stole his picture, lied to mom and dad, and as a reward, she gets to go to Ichiraku's while he had to stay in his room? That was like a thief stealing a painting, and being given the insurance-money of the painting as a reward. He ran up to his room, slamming all doors that he could, sliding or solid. On the way up the stairs, he looked back one last time, and saw Natsuki stretching her tongue out to him.

That was the first time Naruto truly hated his sister.

Chapter 2 is done.

Not that much happened, some the action will start next chapter, including Naruto's talent, where he is superior, where Natsuki beats him, and some original jutsu, made by Naruto. It's taking me a while because I'm trying to not do this Naruto's-parents-ignore-Naruto-for-his-famous-sister-thing, it's been done too often already, and I don't think it's plausible. Minato is the Hokage, and Kushina is, in this fic, another S-ranked shinobi. Both are too used to glory to completely abandon one child for the other.

What I'm trying to do is make it subtle. It starts with little things, only small shows of favor that aren't even consciously done by the parents, but Naruto notices. So here he quickly realizes that his parents seem to love Natsuki a bit more than they love him, and becomes a more quiet child. With Natsuki showing, well, canon-Naruto behavior when with adults, she's simply the one that gets more attention and needs to be watched closer. Naruto isn't hated, he just slowly fades into the background.

And Natsuki, despite what this and the next chapters show, is not evil per say, she's just spoiled and selfish. It will change eventually, and it's not really her fault with the way she gets attention and adoration from everyone without really doing anything, but for now, she will be mean to her brother, starting next chapter because she's a bit jealous of his talents in certain fields. She was raised with the worship of the village, so she feels it's only right for her to be the best in everything. So add 'sore loser' to her list of personal problems.

And before anyone says 'Natsuki's actions seem a bit cruel for someone her age', I will say this: It is because she is that age that she shows this cruelty. Older teenagers and adults know that being too obvious when bullying someone is not good and leads to trouble, children are like that. Adults mainly use what I like to call subtle cruelty, meaning they, without being really insulting or doing too obvious moves, just let the person feel it is not welcome. Children don't work that way. They are ruthlessly honest. If they hate you, they will tell you that they hate you, they will kick you in the shin and do other mean stuff the average adult wouldn't even consider doing. And Natsuki knows that she has the other kids on her side, who would also deny everything if Naruto tattles to avoid getting in trouble. She won't be mean all the time, especially not while adults can see her, but for a while, she will be unbearable from Naruto's point of view.

Well, not much else to say right now, so

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