I sigh as I walk to the playground holding my fathers hand.
"Father, why do we continue to come here everyday? I ask because nobody wants to be near me, they find our allies creepy. Plus I have Torune." I know I need to interact with others, that it's important for growing children, but I'm so tired of the civilian kids avoiding me, and even the clan kids are wary of my bugs. Shikamaru and Choji don't mind, but they also leave me out, even when trying to include me. Besides, Torune is my brother and best friend, just because he has to spend a lot of time training to prevent from accidentally poisoning someone and killing them doesn't mean I don't get interaction with other kids.
"Son, one day you will meet a person that doesn't care about the fact that we host bugs in our body. They'll understand that they're our allies, I want you to cherish that person and never let go. You also need more friends than just your brother. Now go play, who knows, maybe you'll meet that person today." Father lightly pushes me towards the park and I nod my head in acknowledgement. Hopefully today will go better. Before I can even get the thought out I'm knocked to the ground and all I see is blue skies. It takes me a moment to realize that the blue sky was actually big blue eyes.
"Heya! Do you wanna play ninja? It'll be fun dattebayo!" The kid has bright blonde hair, tan skin, and whisker marks on his cheeks. He's honestly the brightest thing I've ever seen. I should be mad about being knocked over and that he still hasn't apologized, but his excitement is contagious, I don't think anyone could ever be mad at him.
"I must tell you first, that my body is a host to kikaichu. If that bothers you then you'll need to find another person." I say, fully expecting him to leave now that he knows about my allies. Everybody else does.
"Who cares about that? I just wanna play ninja with you! You could have snakes for hair and I wouldn't care. I'm gonna be Hokage so I have to be nice to everybody dattebayo! Even though people are always mean to me." He whispers the last part and I feel my heart speed up in my chest. He really doesn't care? I cautiously have one of my allies move to him to see how he reacts, and wow, he has a lot of chakra.
"Woah! That's so cool! Bugs are kinda cute dattebayo." He smiles and I think I love him. Is this love? Am I too young to know love? I need to keep him as a friend. Maybe ask Torune later if I'm in love.
"I'm Aburame Shino." I hold out my hand.
"I'm Uzumaki Naruto and we're gonna be best friends!" He grabs my hand and yanks me into a hug. I look at my father to see what I'm supposed to do and see him laughing. To others they wouldn't even notice a change in expression but I know my fathers reactions by now. His mouth is tilted upwards and his shoulders are slightly shaking. I wonder if Naruto would be able to read me as well one day? I hope so. But for now, what am I supposed to do? I cautiously hug him back, hoping that is the correct thing to do. Is this even socially appropriate?
"Did you want to play ninja now?" I ask and he excitedly drags me around. Not once do I feel left out and I have a lot of fun. I find myself unable to stop smiling and I'm slightly upset that my father called me away.
"Do you want to invite your friend over for dinner?" He asks and I nod, happy that my father doesn't mind my new friend. I calmly, well more like excitedly, but I'm still a kid so I can show some emotions until I become a ninja, walk back to Naruto and ask if he wants to eat dinner with us.
"You mean it? Your parents don't care that you're friends with me? Of course I'll come, dattebayo!" Naruto yells and drags me back to my father. I'm kind of confused as to why he got so excited. Has he never had friends invite him over? Surely someone as bright as him has plenty of friends? But as I'm thinking about it I see adults grabbing their children and pulling them away while whispering about a monster. At first I think they mean the Aburame's, but I quickly realize the glares are pointed at the sunshine boy beside me. I don't understand what he could have done to be treated like that, especially by adults.
"My father doesn't mind because you are the first person to accept me as myself. The clan is loyal to those that accept us as it's not common for others to accept our allies." I say as we reach my father, still thinking about the glares. Naruto surely isn't dangerous, otherwise my father would have been wary, it doesn't make sense for him to be called a monster or a murderer when he's a kid like me. There must be something deeper going on that the adults know about, but the civilians don't understand. My father probably knows, but is unable to tell me.
"Your dad sounds awesome dattebayo! I bet Jiji would like him!" Naruto grins and I naturally agree, I don't see how anyone could hate my father, he is always kind and even gives food to people that need it. I even hear him tell Aunt Chō that he'll watch over the orphanage some nights while she watches us.
"Shino, are you and your friend ready to go? Should we let your guardians know you'll be eating with us, Naruto?" My father asks and I can see Naruto grimace out of the side of my eye.
"They won't mind! They told me to stay outside today and to find food if I get hungry because it's adoption day at the orphanage and nobody wants me to be there when picking out children." I feel a stab of pain go through my heart. They won't even let hopeful parents meet him? He's not even an option to be adopted? But wait, didn't he say jiji earlier?
"You're an orphan? Then who is jiji?" I ask, confused. That doesn't make sense.
"Oh! The Hokage, dattebayo! We eat lunch together when he gets time. He even took me camping during the last adoption day and taught me how to catch and cook fish, just in case I haven't been fed that day." This small bundle of sunshine knows the Hokage? And if he's telling the truth, the Hokage knows that he isn't being treated right and doesn't do anything about it? There's nothing logical about that.
"Oh, I heard that you tracked down another anbu recently. Care to share how you're able to find some of the highest ranking ninja?" Father asks, this is the most he's spoken to an outsider of the clan in a long time. He must accept our friendship and is trying to encourage it. But can Naruto seriously track anbu down? That's impressive, especially for someone that's not in the academy yet.
"Oh that's easy, dattebayo! I just follow the smell! It's not that hard." Naruto says and I wonder if he's part Inuzaka or Hatake. He doesn't have the looks and I'm sure the clan would have taken him in, but not many have the sense of smell to track others.
"So are you going to enter the academy? It seems only logical to ask since you wanted to play ninja." I ask, wondering if I'll have a friend in class. That's if we even get into the same class. It's only logical to have allies in a new place.
"Yeah! I'm going to be Hokage, dattebayo! Jiji also said I'll get an apartment and be out of the orphanage when I enter." Naruto says happily, bouncing around. He really reminds me of bright summer days.
The rest of the walk is silent, except for the occasional question and Naruto talking about anything and everything that catches his eye. That and talking about ramen. It kind of annoys me but at the same time, Naruto has such an excitement for life that seems to have brought him pain, that it makes me not mind how talkative he is. He can talk enough for the both of us so that I don't have to.
"Naruto, Torune has left to undergo training with Danzo. He took my place as Danzo had the Hokage's permission to take me." Shino says and I feel a sadness and rage build up inside of me. I know everyone thinks I'm an idiot, but when you're the village 'monster' you can't sound or act smart. They think you're planning against them, luckily for me, they don't realize my pranks are a way to build up my skills. But back to people thinking I'm an idiot, Danzo shouldn't be recruiting anyone, Jiji disbanded Root after the Uchiha Massacre.
"Don't worry, dattebayo! We'll see Torune again. Our big brother will be just fine." I smile and hug him. Shino is the person that gave me a family and friends, brought light into my life like a firefly. My world was dark until this tiny light lit up in the darkness, and I won't let anyone take that away.
"He's not coming back, Naruto. I have to go, I just wanted you to know why he's no danger around, its only logical since you visit the house often." Shino says and then leaves, shoulders having a slight slouch to them. This is unacceptable.
I turn and smile, keeping my head down so the village doesn't notice the hint of cruelty in it. I will always be the monster they turned me into, but I am also loyal to those I call my own, and Danzo messed up when he took one of mine.
I go to Jiji's office with a sad look on my face, hiding my thoughts behind my mask so that the staff doesn't see.
"Jijiiii," I whine, silently asking him to send his anbu out of the room, which he does, "Shino said Danzo is training Torune and that we'll never get to see him again!" A few real tears slide down my face, just the thought of not seeing the family I made mine makes me sad. Luckily I know Jiji will let me have my way.
"He what? I told him to disband that group." Jiji scowls. He rubs his head a bit before sighing and looking at me.
"Naruto, I wish I could have given you a childhood that didn't make you have to grow up so fast from constant assassination attempts and having to kill so early. Please forgive what I'm about to request of you as I can't trust my own anbu for this. Destroy root. Completely. Try to save as many of the children as you can." My grin comes back, sharp canines flashing. This is why I love jiji. He sees the darkness inside of me but still accepts me for who I am. Me, who is still a bundle of sunshine, but don't you know? The sun can also burn and even kill. I'm only the person I was made to be. I'll always try to save, but sometimes that's just not possible.
"Gladly." And with that permission I'm gone. After the first assassination attempt a few weeks after I befriended Shino, and consequently the first time I killed, Jiji started training me. This came in handy within the last five years as I've had twenty attempts since. Within this time I'm by no means a master, but we discovered I'm actually really great at stealth, tracking, setting traps, and even some fuinjutsu. Jiji calculates me at being low chunin level, meaning I shouldn't be able to take out an entire army, so I'll have to utilize the skills I am good at, that being silent assassination.
I quickly head to my apartment and grab a dark grey outfit, mask, kunai, and poisoned bombs. I then follow the scent of Torune, easily finding the base. I quietly slip inside, slitting the throat of the two guards outside. Once inside I slip into the vents, sniff the fabric of Danzo's shirt I was given and make my way to the strongest scent, hoping it's an office, it is, and just my luck Danzo is still there. Damn. I need to get evidence of everyone there and working for him before I start, otherwise some may be missed. Jiji told me he'd cause a distraction for Danzo to leave, I just have to wait it out.
A couple hours later, with Danzo coming and going, I finally get my chance. A meeting requesting Danzo's presence. Once he leaves I kill the guard assigned to his office and ruffle through his paperwork. This man really is a piece of work, I can see that he's sent multiple people to assassinate me in order to get jiji agree to let him train me to become the ultimate weapon for konoha. There's also the fact that Danzo has multiple sharingons, that one is actually out of my league, so I create a shadow clone and have it henge into a bug and fly to jiji. It will then write a message out in ink. I've also discovered he has root members become close, only to have them fight to the death to kill their emotions. Once I have the list of all root members (let's pretend they keep their names) I slowly start to go to the cells, killing every older member that I see guarding. They've been fully brainwashed and can no longer be saved.
The first cells that I reach there are two young girls, no older than six. I knock them out and put them in a specially made sealing scroll, it will keep their bodies alive and easy to transport. I continue doing this until I reach a cell with two boys, one my age and the other a little older, both arguing.
"Sai, I will die soon anyways, our battle is today and I want you to live. Tell Danzo that you killed me and survive." The older one says, he looks sickly.
"No Shin! I don't want you to leave me." The younger cries and I feel my heart break for these two. I quickly knock them out and place them in a scroll. I still haven't found Torune yet and I don't have many more cells to go. I'm getting worried that he's not here.
Once I finally find him he's with a Yamanaka, they're both older than the others, but neither are completely brainwashed. Before either can sense me and decide to fight, I knock them both out, place them in a scroll, and continue my mission.
Once I have all the children out and the others dead, I completely burn the Root base. I quickly run back to the Hokage's office, wary of anyone possibly watching or drawn to the fire.
When I get close I switch back to my orange clothes and ignore everyone yelling about him being in a meeting. I walk inside to see a silver haired jonin with a face mask standing over a dead Danzo with his arm cut off and Jiji sitting calmly at his desk drinking tea. I'm pretty sure he used to be an ANBU that I followed around, he smells like Inu.
"Jiji! Can we get ramen? Also, why is that old coot dead? Jiji? Should I be panicking? I feel like I should be panicking." I try to get in character, but the satisfaction of seeing Danzo dead is too much. But maybe my acting is good enough, I mean, most kids wouldn't know what to say or do when seeing something like this.
"Naruto, that was the most unbelievable acting I think I've ever seen you perform." Jiji sighs. Guess that performance screamed fake.
"Well I'm relieved. I'm sorry that I don't care that one of the people trying to kill me is dead." I shrug, and quite frankly that's true. The less I have to worry about attempts on my life the better.
"Trying to kill you? You're a child! I should've stabbed him a few more times." Silver masked jounin mutters. While he's doing that I give jiji the scroll with all the bodies and hop up and down.
"Jiji, I decided to go find Shino! I'll see you later!" I happily bounce to the door. I finally get to see my best friend now that I've completed my objective. I can't wait to be in his presence.
I sigh, sad that Naruto didn't really have a reaction to Torune being gone. I know Naruto loves my family, as they treat him as one of us, but sometimes I see a coldness in his eyes. I guess it's from the abuse of the village, it's only logical that it affects him in some way.
"Shino." Naruto says, startling me because I didn't hear him come up to me. How I didn't see the orange monstrosity he wears is also a question I'll worry about later.
"Naruto, you scared me."
"You barely flinched, if I didn't know you I would have never seen it." He says and I smile. He can read me even better than my own father at times. I love that I never have to speak for us to have a conversation.
"Why are you here? Why do I ask? Because you didn't seem to care about the news I gave you and that upset me." I try my best to stay patient, but this morning I felt my heart tremble when he showed his lack of care. That was my brother that is now gone. Would he have acted the same had it been me that was taken? Is this friendship actually one-sided?
"I had to talk to Jiji. This isn't public knowledge, but Jiji disbanded Root after the Uchiha Massacre. Danzo never had permission to take either one of you. We will get Torune back." He says, that coldness creeping back in at Danzo's name, but all I can focus on is the fact he went to the Hokage to get Torune back. He actually does care and I've doubted him, even after five, almost six years of friendship.
"I must apologize. I can admit when you didn't seem to care I thought the worst. I never should have doubted you as you're my best friend." Naruto just dismisses the apology and gives me a quick hug. He then starts talking a mile a minute about how his week has been and how he's excited for the genin exams coming up soon. I'm worried that one of the teachers discriminates against him though, because he gets the worst grades even though he performs perfectly at the compound.
My fears were well founded when Naruto was nowhere in sight with the rest of the graduates. I sigh as I walk over to my father, worried that Naruto hadn't even come to us for help.
"Father, it seems that Naruto was not among the graduates. I fear he has run off and will need comfort when he returns." I sigh again, hating that he's worked so hard and because of discrimination he doesn't deserve, he can't even achieve his dream.
"Yes, well, we will be here for him when he needs it." Father says, bringing his hand to my shoulder. We both head back to the house, waiting for our other family member to remember we love him and to come back home.
What we weren't expecting was for him to come in, dragging a bloody Iruka-sensei behind him, and looking terrified.
"Shibi-oji, please help Iruka-sensei!" Naruto gasps, clearly panicked with blood all over him from carrying Sensei. Before anyone can even move the Hokage appears, laying a calming hand on Naruto's shoulder.
"I should've known Iruka would follow you, I'm sorry. I didn't factor him into the mission." The Hokage says to Naruto, and I'm confused. Mission? Naruto isn't a ninja, is he? He's wearing a forehead protector now, but he failed the test.
"I brought a medic for Iruka, and I believe Naruto had some things he wished to inform everyone of now that I've told him that he can." The Third smiles and guides everyone away from the door, Torune and my mother coming to see what the commotion is. I watch as Sensei is healed up and Naruto comes back, dressed in a dark grey outfit. Once healed, Iruka-sensei moves to sit with everyone else so that Naruto and the Third can tell them what they need to tell.
"Ok so, my father was the Fourth Hokage and sealed the Kyuubi into me, making me a Jinchuuriki!" Naruto blurts out and I just look at him in shock for a moment.
"Who cares?" I finally blurted out, just to hear him mutter 'what?'
"You never cared about my kikaichu. If you don't care about the allies I host in my body, why should I care about the one you host in yours?" And Naruto grabs me into a hug, sobbing at being accepted so easily. I was lucky to find a friend in him so young, and I'm glad I was able to provide the same safe place for him.
"Alright, this is where the story gets pretty depressing. Shortly after you boys became friends, Danzo set loose an assassin to kill Natuto for getting close to the son of a clan head. Naruto, who at this point slept with a kunai since he was living in alleyways after being kicked out of the orphanage, managed a lucky shot and killed the assassin. After that I started training him for self defense which came in handy because assassination attempts picked up. Naruto was good, he picked up on things quickly and easily once he understood them and soon I was sending him out for missions without even realizing it. He is a perfect spy and assassin, his stealth was amazing, being able to sneak up on someone even when wearing bright orange. After I sent him to destroy Danzo's base, I had him keep an eye on a suspicious chunin. Mizuki had been on my radar for awhile for how Naruto consistently failed in class, but that didn't give me reason to arrest him. Tonight he tried to steal a secret scroll and was caught and killed, but revealed that Orochimaru is alive and has an interest in Konoha. Naruto, as a Chunin, will be leaving on a training trip with Jiraiya and Kakashi, and will be taking Sasuke, as a genin, in order to train and protect him. It seems Danzo told Orochimaru how to get a sharingan and Sasuke must be able to protect himself. Tsunade will be coming back to create the medic program she's always wanted." The Hokage finishes and the room is left in shock, silent except for the random halfhearted protests. Nobody will actually disagree if it's what's needed to keep Naruto safe. I just hope when he finally leaves he won't be gone for too long.
Five years pass by slowly without Naruto. We exchange letters whenever possible, but I miss him more and more each passing day. I can finally admit to myself that I'm in love with him. Even more so as he describes in his letters about befriending the kyuubi, and even a boy their age that was losing his sanity to the biju. Naruto then goes above and beyond and unites the biju, becomes a fuinjutsu master, a Sage, and a high ranking jounin. Sure, most of the konoha 12 are now jounins, with even Sakura becoming a kickass medic that takes no shit, basically a younger Tsunade, but he misses his best friend. Sai and Shin, Sakura's teammates on team 7, were called out a few months back and ran into both Naruto and Sasuke, said they're both extremely powerful. I'm not at all jealous that they got to see the person I miss the most. Not. At. All.
"Shino-kun!" A loud, bright, and happy voice exclaims before I'm being hugged to a muscular chest. A very muscular chest.
I look up into bright blue skies and smile, hugging the man tighter to me. Before I can even finish forming his name, his lips are on mine and everything else falls away. The only man, the only person I've ever loved is kissing me. Time becomes meaningless, even this war doesn't matter. Because I'm finally getting what I want.
"Naruto." I breathe his name when we finally separate, so thankful he's finally here, even if that means the war is finally advancing towards Konoha.
"I love you Shino."
"I love you too, Naruto."
After the war, with the Akatsuki and orochimaru finally gone, friends and family dead, and rebuilding efforts, it comes to no surprise when people start pairing off and getting married and babies start popping out, everyone high on endorphins and happy about finally being at peace. Although, everyone knows that Shino and Naruto have truly been on the road to marriage since before they even entered the academy. Everyone celebrated their marriage, and they had even happier times when Naruto and Shino decided they wanted to adopt.
But, Naruto had always wanted a huge family, and he loves his adopted kids, but there were only so many children he was able to adopt before he was told to let other families adopt children too. Other clans that had become nearly extinct and wanted to teach their family techniques to new members, the orphanage empty of children for the first time since it opened.
Naruto and Shino both decide to get a surrogate and have IVF done. Twins for each one, each surrogate carrying a child for the two men. Although a strange thing, plenty of people were thankful to the ninjas that led the war effort. Sasuke, who married Hinata, had women constantly trying to get him to let them be his surrogates. Which honestly, isn't that new of a thing. Hinata quickly put an end to that.
All in all, life was really good. He had 10 wonderful children, with four on the way, and the man he loves by his side. His slight laughter rouses Naruto from his slumber.
"What is it, love?" Naruto mumbles, nuzzling his face into the crook of his neck.
"Just thinking of how you are my sunshine and I am your luciola firefly." I press a kiss to his head and finally go to sleep with a smile on my face.