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Naruto neither has Stockholm Syndrome nor is just an extreme masochist. There are simply more important reasons for him to stay. He doesn't particularly care for the villagers, but for the same reasons that he decided to change the past, he needs to stay. Do you seriously believe that everyone who is abused in life just has the option to leave?
And about Naruto being shirtless. I repeat again and again that the Naruto of this story didn't come from the world of anime. There are differences in his history, and in the future, they will be mentioned in more detail. A few have already been mentioned in a few of the past chapters, but this is not an abuse-focused story, so they are not the center of events.
And about the godfather, again, this story is not entirely canon and while the whole Naruto universe gets elements from Japanese concepts, it is still a fictional world, so there would be differences.
Naruto had just finished a training session with Hinata. In the morning, he woke up with a sense of dysphoria, and he knew that it would be a hard day. However, he did not expect Neji to come after Hinata.
Neji looked so young and innocent. Just like the others. There was no seal on his forehead. But he already knew that. With the Kumo accident averted, Hiashi put his foot down on the matter of sealing the branch family.
While he couldn't convince his elder council to remove it from the already sealed members, he managed to put a stop to the practice for the future. His elders were still unhappy with his actions, but it was his first step to bring his clan closer.
Over the past few years, the normal tension of the Hyuga clan had gone down drastically, and it was only his first step. There was still animosity between the branch and the main family, but things were looking up by the day.
Neji came to pick up Hinata for a clan meeting. They both left quickly. But from the short interaction, Naruto could see how much happier this Neji was. He was still serious and formal spoken, but there was no hatred toward Hinata.
Naruto could remember their deaths. Hinata's last words were about how she wished to unite his clan and put an end to their unjust system. She died with a sad smile, knowing that even if she survived, there would be no Hyuga clan left for her to unite. There was only a handful of Hyugas left at the time, and they all knew that the war wasn't ending anytime soon.
Neji's death was even more painful. Naruto was supposed to be there. They were supposed to hold the enemies back while others escaped. It all happened so fast. They were in a valley in between tall mountains the only way for the enemy to get through was to go through them.
There were too many, and Naruto could only focus on himself. He was overwhelmed. There was only time to dodge and kill enemies. One second he was confident that they had the upper hand, and the next, he heard an explosion.
He was thrown back. It took him a second to gather himself. The explosion came from Neji's position. Naruto ran as fast as he could, but there was nothing left. Only a burning corpse with pieces scattered.
Naruto saw red. He didn't remember much of what happened next. He only woke up a few days later in a medical tent. It was all his fault. If he was paying attention….
He sometimes forgot that his friends were only humans. They weren't invincible. Just because they lasted so long, it didn't mean that they could survive everything thrown at them.
He was devastated. It had been a while since the last death among the people close to them. He was so stupid to believe they were so much stronger that they wouldn't experience another death. He vowed never to let it happen again.
But he failed miserably. He was always too late, too stupid, and too reckless. One after another, they all fell. They died protecting him, getting him through the war, and giving their lives so that he could survive.
He knew that they gave their lives to save all the survivors, but why should it always be him who was protected? Why should it be he who was supposed to be a savior? He couldn't take it.
His breathing became ragged as he sensed the early signs of a panic attack. He could feel his chakra fluctuating. He had to get away. He couldn't get back to ROOT. While they knew how to deal with his chakra fluctuation, he couldn't explain the panic attack.
He couldn't bring any attention to Hinata. So he Shunshined as fast as he could to a secluded training ground he often used. He could see the faces of his friends. He could see their deaths.
The images were going too quickly through his mind. He heard their voices. Their last words. He couldn't breathe. There was too much pressure in his lungs. He was trying so hard to keep his chakra stable.
He couldn't afford to bring attention upon himself. He suddenly felt a hand on his shoulders. There was a familiar chakra slowly seeping into him. It took him a few moments to realize it was Shisui.
His eyes wouldn't focus, but he could see the blurry outline of the boy in front of him. he was gently talking to him, trying to ground him with his chakra. It took a little longer, but his heat beat finally slowed down enough to hear Shisui.
"Naruto-kun, please, can you hear me?" He asked, voice etched with worry.
Naruto couldn't find his voice to speak, but he managed a slight nod. "Ok, good. I need you to focus on my breathing, ok? Follow my instruction." He then began to breathe with Naruto. Three seconds in a hold and 3 seconds out.
Naruto felt exhausted. When his breathing was normal again, he felt himself slowly pass out in the arms of the older boy.
When he opened his eyes, he was curled into Shisui's lap with his head on Shisui's chest. His hands were clinging tightly to Shisui's shirt. He was sitting under a tree, and his eyes were closed. His breathing was slow, so he must have fallen asleep.
Naruto looked at the sky. It was about 2 hours. He let go of Shisui's shirt and tried to get his arms which were holding him in place, securely to let go. His movement woke the older boy.
"Are you better now?" He asked softly as if talking to a scared animal.
"I'm so sorry I worried you, Shisui-san. I am a lot better now. I appreciate your help." Naruto said slowly.
"Don't worry about it is not my first time helping someone with a panic attack. We are ninjas after all. It comes with the job." He said with a sad smile.
"Still, I didn't want to inconvenience you," Naruto said.
Shisui looked as if he wanted to argue but sighed instead. "Do you want to talk about it?" He said, tightening his grip around Naruto slightly.
"Not really. I don't think I am ready to confront those memories yet." Naruto said slowly.
Shisui ruffled his head gently. "Hey, it's ok. Just remember that I will be here for you when you are ready." He then pulled Naruto in for a hug.
Naruto closed his eyes, feeling safe and content.
Naruto didn't remember the exact time, but he began to consider the older boy as a family somewhere along the line. While he considered himself a close friend to both boys and would trust them with his life, his relationship with each of them was different.
Shisui was an older brother he never had. They both cared about each other, and although Naruto was capable of taking care of himself, Shisui loved to protect him. He cared about little details of Naruto's life and gave Naruto a feeling of being wanted and deserving.
Itachi was kind and caring. He had a gentle heart and sharp mind, but he was mainly a very close friend. While Naruto was sure that Itachi wouldn't have a problem with being called his brother, Naruto didn't want to take the bond Itachi had with Sasuke.
So while he knew that both boys cherished him, he naturally formed a sibling bond with Shisui. Naruto treasured every second he spent time with them and learned a lot from them.
With them, he felt content. There was no expectation or motives. There was just friendship. He could talk to them freely about different topics and discuss many things. He knew that he wouldn't be judged and he was safe.
They sparred regularly. Naruto knew that he was more experienced than them. He was also formally trained from a young age. He fought a war against some of the strongest shinobis in history.
Due to Kurama and their experience fighting Uchihas, he couldn't be put under genjutsu. He wasn't still able to use sage mode or the power of the sage, but he was still deadly without them. Their spars were still very challenging to him.
While the gap in strength and power was small in the beginning, since they started training with seals, they were improving at an alarming rate. Itachi and Shisui were physically stronger than him, so when they were going full power, Naruto had to mostly dodge their attacks instead of blocking them. They were also speedy.
Naruto had more limitations on the rate he could increase his speed and strength due to his physical age, so he knew that soon they would surpass him by a large margin in those departments.
What Naruto had was higher stamina. Both older boys were working on theirs and were already better than their peers, but it was one area they couldn't beat Naruto in yet.
Naruto tended to drag out their fights due to this reason. If he could make them tire out, they would slow down, and there was a higher chance of making an error or leaving an opening.
After a while of training with each other, they primarily focused their battles around ninjutsu, taijutsu, and kenjutsu. Naruto refused to use anything more than common seals in their spars since most of his seals were made for instant killing.
Shisui was better at kenjutsu, while Itachi was better at taijutsu, and Naruto was the ninjutsu specialist since he had the largest chakra reserve. The older boys didn't use genjutsu since it was ineffective.
Naruto believed himself proficient in quite a few weapons, but Shisui had longer reach and could read Naruto's moves with his Sharingan. So Naruto couldn't engage him in close combat without risks. The situation was the same with Itachi.
Their winning chances were pretty equal. So far, Shisui has the best record. He was very clever and unpredictable when it came to battle tactics. Itachi was usually calm and calculated and tried to win with efficiency. Naruto was more experienced and knew how to react to situations.
Slowly but surely, they became a strong unit. They were familiar with each other's style and expertise and knew how to assist each other. They were each trying to work on their weaknesses and improve their strengths.
Naruto knew he was quick to use ninjutsu since he couldn't beat them physically, but many situations could restrict the use of ninjutsu, so he was constantly working on it.
The older boys were mostly trying to expand and polish their skills. They both showed interest in sealing, so Naruto taught them the basics. He also came up with a system for them to use some of his battle seals.
Naruto began to color code his seals. He would use small colored papers attached to seals to categorize them. Before going on missions, when they wanted to stock their seals, they would use colored paper so that they could use the seals better.
In the middle of battles, it was hard to pay attention to a seal to recognize and find the correct one, but if they had colors, all it took was a glance. They used red for explosives, blue for storage, green for barriers, and so on.
While they still had to check before missions about which explosive seals or other kinds of seals they were taking, it was faster to use in battle. So the system became quite common soon.
Higher-ranking shinobi would color-code their seals. They each had their own system since they didn't want the enemies to familiarize themselves with their system and each shinobi tended to change their system regularly so a system couldn't be related to one shinobi.
Overall it was a huge encouragement to many to try and incorporate seals in their battles, and it was something Naruto was grateful for. He wanted to keep the art of his people alive, and now he was one step closer to doing so due to his friends.
