Forest For the Leaves

F.Y.I: Nice little fluffy chapter with Naruto spending time with Shisui, meeting Shizune and Satsuki, and Naruto crying... a lot.

Chapter 3 – My Three Best Friends

Senju Compound

The day found a great deal of blond clones moving about within the confines of the Senju compound, tending the gardens as they often did during the day when they weren't training. Utilizing the books on horticulture and botany, along with liberal use of the Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu, Naruto had managed to make the place bloom.

Thankfully, the Anbu guarding him weren't allowed inside his house unless they sensed something wrong, so he could use his Shadow Clones without worrying about being discovered using a Forbidden Jutsu.

Plus, he could feel that he was getting close to mastering the Wood Clone Jutsu and then he could finally come clean to Shisui about it.

The original Naruto was sat down in the solar, tending to half a dozen bonsai trees. It was a delicate, and relaxing task that he'd come to quite enjoy. It was an art form really. Caring for the trees required a great deal of patience and concentration that allowed him to easily forget the trials of the day, losing himself in the process of gently watering the soil, painstakingly wrapping wire around the branches to produce the desired shape, and pruning as much as could be spared but not the slightest bit more.

Naruto really needed the distraction, as he was really starting to get aggravated as the day went on.

He was currently looking over his favourite, and youngest of his trees. It was still only small, and sprouting from the cracks in a boulder. Naruto did not want to meddle with the shape, but to aid it in its task of breaking the stone apart by pruning only the limbs that shaded lower branches with more leaves to expose it to the most sunlight. Naruto wanted the tree to flourish, to slowly but surely endure its hardship in growing and one day be the largest in his collection.

Naruto had sensed the older boy's presence, well before he managed to walk up behind him, though to his credit, he'd succeeded in not making a sound. Normally, he would have smiled, but Shisui had been getting on his nerves lately.

"Yo." Shisui appeared in his sight, craning his head over the younger boy's shoulder and waving his hand in front of his face in an attempt to startle him.

"I knew you were there, Shisui," he dismissed, as he laid down the pair of scissors in favour of grabbing a handful of mulch.

"Pfft, yeah right, kid," Shisui denied, "Of course, you did. You know everything, don't you?"

He gently dampened the rock with a wet cloth to prevent the tree from drowning, Naruto answered "You came through the window of the bathroom on the third floor."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about your sensory thing," Shisui said with a sigh, Naruto knew he was lying, but it was something he'd become accustomed to while hanging around Shisui. The Uchiha seemed to get a kick out of things like that. He suspected it was to do with Shisui trying to treat him like everyone else, which Naruto appreciated to an extent, but was soon becoming exasperated by the sheer frequency of such attempts, or more specifically, the manner in which he tried them.

Standing up, he started walking towards the door to the training ground to start the day's sparring session. "Come on, Shisui. You're late enough as it is."

"I'm not late, kid. You just have boring hobbies."

"You're more than two hours late!" Naruto harrumphed. He'd flipped the hourglass twice after noon. He was very particular when it came to training, and he was certain that he wouldn't have left Shisui waiting like that.

"And another thing, you better not have broken anything on your way in this time."

"Mah, mah, Naruto," Shisui 'defended' himself, "I paid for that flower pot after, didn't I?"

Naruto scoffed, "That vase was a gift from the Fire Daimyo to the Senju Clan that predated the Warring States Era, it was a priceless artifact. The fifty ryo you left on the pieces is hardly compensation."

"Well, I'm going to need to see a receipt then for priceless, because I'm not going to overpay for a pot."

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Naruto let out a long sigh and tried to regain his composure. 'He doesn't even feel bad about it.'

"I'm serious, Shisui. If you break anything else while you're breaking into my house, I'm going to have the Hokage take it out of your mission rewards."

Shisui was scandalized by that, "Jeez, Naruto, you sure are cranky today. Can't you give a guy a break?"

Naruto knew the remark itself wasn't particularly nasty, and that Shisui wasn't angry or trying to be hurtful, but it made Naruto upset nonetheless. The older boy didn't seem to care about his pupil's time, privacy, possessions, or passions.

He was continually irritated by the fact that Shisui didn't realize when he'd hurt his feelings. Moreover, he was disappointed in himself for not taking the chance to explain his feelings to Shisui out of fear of them being dismissed.

More and more, Naruto thought that their friendship meant far more to him than it did to Shisui.

Taking opposite places on the field, the two of them began a flurry of exchanges. It wasn't much of a fight.

On his best day, Naruto couldn't dream of getting past Shisui's Sharingan. He saw every one of his attacks coming, took notice of every one of his movements, and could identify in an instant where his weaknesses were and how to exploit them. All of his attempts to lure Shisui into a trap had been seen through with ease.

And this wasn't even one of Naruto's better days. As was soon made apparent to both of them once Shisui landed a big uppercut that was meant to be a feint and sent Naruto flying back.

Landing with a thud, Naruto took little notice besides mechanically rising to his feet. He was used to the pain, and his healing ability was that Naruto had barely even registered the attack. If it had been a fight, Shisui would have pressed home, and probably killed him. But it did little to shake him out of his funk.

Shisui took note of his young friend's amateurish mistake but chalked it up to it being a lucky blow, not bothering to use his Sharingan to play it back in his head.

Renewing the spar, Naruto's mind was much more focused on other things. 'It makes sense though, why should Shisui care as much as I do? It's not like I'm the only friend he has.'

Letting down his guard, Shisui swiped the feet from out under him, and he face-planted into the dirt. Naruto barely noticed except for the fact that now he had to stand back up.

'I'm not even his best friend.'

"Come on, Naruto," Shisui chastised him as he picked himself off the ground, "you're going to have to do a lot better than that if you're ever going to beat me."

"Sorry, Senpai," he apologized, "I'll try harder." 'Does he even consider me his friend at all? We only see each other when we're training.'

Shisui went on the offensive again, and instead of trying to dodge the older boy's attacks, Naruto decided instead to eat them. He could withstand the impact without much bother.

'Are we acquaintances?'

Quick jab, followed up by a stiff straight right to his eye.

'Colleagues?'

Liver shot, another to the solar plexus then an elbow that glanced off his clavicle.

'Hometown neighbours?'

Jab, jab, hook, uppercut combination. Knocking one of the boy's baby teeth out – Naruto swallowed it without much thought.

'Am I just a student to him?'

There were off days, and then there was downright pathetic, and then there was this. Contrary to what Naruto was thinking, Shisui did indeed care for the well-being of his charge and was himself becoming distracted as he wondered why Naruto was taking so much more punishment than usual. It was so bad he decided to take it easy on the kid and deactivated his Sharingan.

Shisui knew he was a skilled ninja, and that even going light in a sparring session he could handle the kid easily, but he knew that Naruto was much better than this. Naruto was extraordinarily talented, Shisui had no doubt by the time he was his age, he would have surpassed him by leaps and bounds. It was only Shisui's knowledge of Naruto's ridiculous healing ability and endless stamina that he hadn't stopped this already.

'Is he really this upset over that pot?'

So distracted was Shisui, that he failed to notice the strange movement of chakra emanating from Naruto's abdomen, or the reddish hue that was muddying the boy's eyes.

'No, not his student,' Naruto decided, 'only someone the Hokage him ordered to look after. Just another mission.'

Absorbing the strikes, made it so that Shisui had to commit fully to each one, meaning that each time he hit Naruto, it was harder to pull back and go for another. Each kick that landed, meant the other foot was more firmly planted. Each punch meant that Shisui's guard lowered.

'He doesn't care anymore about you than any of the Anbu.'

The next time Shisui went to sweep Naruto's legs, the Senju pivoted on his foot and changed the angle where they were to collide, and when shin bone met shin bone, it was the Uchiha who winced as he pulled it back.

'I bet he cares less even. He has to spend more time here than any of them, and even then he tries to spend as little as he can.'

Rolling with the punches, Naruto swiped past Shisui's hands and he watched in terror as the boy's nails nearly tore off one of his retinas.

'He doesn't care about you at all.'

Shisui watched in awe, as Naruto evaded his combination and landed a solid hit just beneath his guard, staggering him a bit.

'He's just the Hokage's babysitter.'

Naruto followed through, headbutting Shisui's counter away and lashing out at his ribs with two savage blows, the irises of his eyes redder now than not, the pupils narrowing into ovals.

'He's holding you back.'

Stomping on Shisui's feet, he hurled a fist into the ninja's guts and threw his shoulder into the young man's face.

'All Uchiha hate the Senju.'

Eyes blaring crimson behind narrowed slits, a body radiating foreign chakra. The boy the villagers so despised, saw his opening.

'Do it!'

Naruto ignored his teacher spitting up blood, and launched a flying knee at his head.

Shisui was sent hurdling backward, and it was only years of experience that saw him land on his knees instead of his face, which was now covered in blood from his nose and mouth. Looking at Naruto with the fabled 'eyes of insight', he could see what he had missed before. The boy's chakra network was a blaze of bloody red, flowing like molten lava as it threatened to bubble out of him.

Glaring down on the wretched Uchiha, marred in the marks of battle, beaten and nearly broken, he wondered how simple it would be to kill him.

Seeing the boy's very skin start to burn up and threaten to be shed, Shisui called out to him, "Naruto!"

Locking eyes with each other, Shisui's eyes began to shift, and while the boy in front of him began to growl and postured himself to pounce, in an instant, before Shisui could cast his genjutsu, the red chakra receded.

Staring at the worn-down form of his friend, covered in bruises, all beaten up and hurt, Naruto wondered if he was alright.

Rushing to his side, Naruto was soon helping him to his feet, "Are you okay, Shisui? I'm sorry I hurt you, I didn't mean to, I can't believe I managed to touch you, let alone do that."

Confused, but glad, Shisui answered, "I'm fine, Naruto. Don't worry about it, you did great. You'll be a ninja in no time."

"Ugh, thanks I guess." Naruto could tell the older boy was seriously hurt, "We should get you to the hospital."

Waving the boy off, Shisui sat on a bench and caught his breath. He knew he did need medical attention, he was sure that Naruto had cracked at least one of his ribs, and broken some bones in his foot, and he wasn't feeling great about his jaw either. But first, he had to make sure Naruto was okay.

"How're you doing, Naruto?"

"Huh, I'm fine, Shisui." the boy answered, rather perplexed. He wasn't the one that was hurt.

"You seemed kinda out of it earlier."

"Oh yeah, I guess I did sort of space out a bit there, didn't I?"

"That happens a lot?"

"No, not really," Naruto answered, rubbing the back of his head as he checked whether his shoes were tied, and double-checked, "Only when I'm really upset about something."

Shisui nodded.

"Naruto."

"Yeah," the boy answered but continued to try to avoid eye contact, not wanting to bring up his insecurities to his friend. When Shisui didn't continue, and imagining the Uchiha staring at him trying to dodge the subject, he finally turned his head and looked his friend in the eye.

Regret. Guilt. Self-loathing.

Feeling such strong negative emotions from his friend, and assuming that Shisui had felt so bad about breaking the heirloom vase that he had let himself be beaten to a bloody pulp to make up for it.

With his lip quivering, and his eyes watering, Naruto fell to the ground next to the older boy and began weeping onto the dirt. Tears of sadness for hurting his friend, but mostly tears of profound joy brought on in the knowledge that his friend cared about him so much.

In the deep recesses of his mind, within the vaults of his subconscious thought, Naruto noticed the idea that he needed to make other friends in the village.

As for Shisui, he just ignored the pain from his sore ribs. He deserved far worse after all.

Patting the kid on the back, to the boy's consternation, Shisui wondered if the village deserved Naruto. As of now, he was certain that Naruto deserved better.

And yet, Shisui had done his duty. Because he loved Konoha, and that would just have to be enough. It had to be.

Nervousness. Naruto had been meditating so he could feel it the moment it entered his sensory range.

Someone teeming with nerves was approaching the compound. Another stranger. It certainly wasn't the Hokage, Shisui, Danzo, or any of the Anbu who'd ever guarded him before. This was a young woman, carrying a small mammal.

Nervous pranksters had tried to approach his house before but had always been warned off by the Anbu. Alongside the angry villagers on the anniversary of the Nine-Tails attack, which Naruto now knew were people seeking some semblance of revenge. Still, the Anbu protected him all the same.

But not from this new nervous stranger. They approached her, and then let her through.

Naruto dispelled his clones and went to answer the door, using one of his favourite tricks of opening it just before the visitor was about to knock.

Standing before him was a taken aback brunette with a pig in her arms which was wearing clothes and a pearl necklace...

"Um, hello," greeted Naruto.

The woman sized him up and down and then gave him a big smile, which surprised him.

"Hello, Naruto-kun," greeted back the woman, "You've grown so much, but then I haven't seen you since you were a baby."

Naruto wondered if this was one of the nurses or babysitters who had taken care of him in his mother's absence, he was quite sure he didn't know her recently.

"I'm Naruto Senju," he introduced himself with a bow.

The woman gave him another warm smile that made Naruto's stomach flutter.

"I'm Shizune Kato, Naruto-kun," she introduced herself with a bow of her own and shook him to the core.

This was his mother's apprentice. Here. He didn't know whether to slam the door or to fall to his knees in tears.

"Oink!" oinked the pig.

"Ah, and this is Tonton."

"Oink."

Acting on polite instinct, Naruto bowed again, "Hello, Tonton," which was echoed with a happy oink.

Shizune just continued to smile at him, but her nervousness was still palpable.

Naruto could only ask the most pressing question on his mind, "Did my mother come with you?" He could not sense her presence anywhere nearby, but maybe she was reporting to the Hokage. A mixture of hope and dread colouring his voice.

Remorse shot through her, though one didn't need Negative Emotions Sensing to notice the frown on her face, Naruto's face dropped.

"I'm so sorry, Naruto-kun, your mother is still on her mission."

"What mission? Drinking and gambling?!" he barked, and Shizune flinched, she obviously hadn't expected anyone to have mentioned the truth to him. Still, Naruto knew it was rude to say such a thing, and desperate not to ruin things with Shizune, apologized, "I'm sorry..."

Shizune just gave him a sad smile, and went to her knees to look him in the eyes, "It's alright, Naruto-kun, I understand it must be difficult for you without your parents around. I lost my parents when I was about your age, I know how hard it can be without them."

Grief.

"You miss them," Naruto stated.

"I do."

"Does it get better?"

"You learn to live with it," she told him, truthfully. She went to brush hair out of his eyes but stopped when he took a step back from her.

"I don't like being touched..."

She sighed, "You didn't like it when you were younger either, how is your Sensory Ability now, Naruto-kun?" Worry.

With some pride, he answered, "It's getting better, that is, I'm better at controlling it now. Shisui thinks soon I'll be able to limit it to physical touch."

She smiled at him again, and Naruto who was unused to beautiful woman looking at him with any sort of affection, couldn't keep the blush from colouring his cheeks.

Soon, Naruto was serving her some tea, which was the second time in a row a visitor had wanted a long conversation over a hot beverage.

Getting straight to the point, Naruto had to speak his mind, "Why did my mother leave me? Does she hate me for being the Jinchūriki?"

Shizune nearly spat out her tea, "No! Not at all, Naruto-kun, why would you think such a thing?"

Naruto clenched his fists at his side, "Then why would she leave me here all alone in the village?"

"Naruto-kun..."

"Why would she care more about drinking and gambling than her own son unless she hated me?!"

"Deep breaths, Naruto-kun, you don't want to hyperventilate."

Embarrassed by his lack of self-control, Naruto followed her advice.

"Count each of your inhalations and exhalations up to ten, and then count them down backwards."

'One, one, two, two...' Naruto calmed himself.

"To answer your question, Naruto-kun, your mother doesn't hate you, quite the opposite, she loves you very much. The reason she left, is complicated, Lady Tsunade has been through a lot in her life and lost so much, that means she deals with a number of negative emotions. You, of course, can sense Negative Emotions, so your mother believed she was hurting you just by being in your presence. A part of me wishes you could remember being a baby, Naruto because you'd know that you couldn't stand to even be in the same room as your parents without bawling," Shizune explained, and Naruto was careful to sense if she was lying. She wasn't, she was just incredibly sad.

"Lady Tsunade has her vices... for sure. But please don't ever think she hates you, especially not for being a Jinchūriki. Lady Tsunade was dead set against that, but it was only because your life was in peril too that she relented. Had you not been chosen to seal the Nine-Tails into, you would have died along with the rest of the village, you're a hero, Naruto-kun, and your mother knows that better than anybody."

By this point, Naruto had been attempting not to cry, and failing badly.

"You don't hate me..." Naruto observed, if not asked.

Shizune gave him another strained smile, trying not to cry herself, "No, I don't, Naruto-kun. I love you, I have since you were the cute little baby I used to babysit."

No one had ever told Naruto they loved him before, not in real life anyway.

Ignoring his dislike of touch, Naruto tackled Shizune in a hug and sobbed into her shoulder, deciding just to relish in her negative emotions as confirmation of her sincere feelings.

"Oink, oink!" Tonton nestled herself into the two of them, and Shizune laughed, an angelic sound to Naruto's ears.

"I promise you'll never be alone again, Naruto-kun."

She wasn't lying.

She wasn't lying, he repeated like a mantra in his head.

Naruto's heart felt like it could burst, she wasn't lying.

Uchiha Compound

Her big brother was practicing his shurikenjutsu, while Satsuki watched.

True to form as a prodigy, Itachi excelled and hit everything he was aiming for.

"Wow, Itachi-nii, you nailed every target, even the one in the blind spot behind the rock!" Satsuki enthusiastically congratulated her brother, "Please show me how you did it! Please, please, please," she begged.

Itachi poked her in the forehead, "Sorry, Satsuki, I have an important mission to tend to." But Satsuki didn't believe him. He probably wanted to hang out with Izumi again.

She was officially annoyed, "You're a big fat liar, Itachi," she harrumphed.

"If you're so busy, you can leave then, but I'm going to stay and practice by myself. With the extra training I'm getting while you're off preparing for missions, I'll surpass you in no time at all."

"I am sorry, Satsuki," Itachi apologized, "Be careful with your training."

"I'll be fine," she rebuffed him, "Don't worry about me, you just go ahead and attend to the better things you have to do."

Itachi poked her again and then vanished in a swirl of leaves.

Satsuki huffed, miffed that her guilt trip hadn't worked. 'I guess mom doesn't know everything after all,' she thought to herself, 'I suppose I'll just have to practice after all.'

Naruto was exploring the forests around the village, still no less wary of traversing the streets even if his Sensory Ability had been somewhat tamed. Yet he was no less keen on examining the local flora.

Though wary of the Uchiha Compound, less so now that he was friends with Shisui, the forest surrounding their compound was among the oldest outside Training Ground 44, which he wasn't allowed in. The trees here were old, probably blossomed by Grandfather's Wood Style Jutsu, he could feel the familiar chakra all around him. His own Wood Style was strongest here, and he was making strides in his training by spending time in these woods.

He took off his shirt, leaned his back into a nearby tree, performed the necessary hand signs, and shouted, "Wood Style: Wood Clone Jutsu!" With that, he poured about a fifth of his chakra into the jutsu, still not being good at chakra control. Amazingly, he could feel his body become one with the old tree and merge together to form a Wood Clone, staring across from him was an exact replica of himself, staring at him with similar astonishment.

'He'd done it!' Naruto thought, filling his heart with pride. What an accomplishment this was! He couldn't wait to tell Shizune and Shisui!

"They're going to be so excited!" shouted his doppelganger, shocking Naruto for a second.

"It's not that weird, remember what Grandfather said in his scroll, Wood Clones can communicate with the original," explained the clone... who of course, held all Naruto's memories and apparently was able to read Naruto's thoughts.

'Can you read my thoughts?'

"I could hear that in my head, like all our other thoughts," answered his clone.

'Can you hear me?' came an errant thought in Naruto's mind.

"Wow!" Naruto grinned at his clone who grinned back.

'Can you sense Negative Emotions too?' the original asked in his mind's eye.

The clone sat down and adopted the same pose that Naruto usually used to meditate, probably trying to test himself out. 'Yep!' came the answer.

"Come here," ordered the original, he wanted to test out what Grandfather said about the Wood Clone's ability to take damage.

The clone stepped forward and flinched.

"Why'd you flinch?"

"You're going to hit me!" complained the clone.

"Oh yeah, you would know that."

"Just get it over with."

Naruto reeled back and smacked his clone.

"Ow!"

The original could hear the clone complaining about the pain in his head but thankfully didn't feel the same pain. Maybe he'd remember it when he absorbed the clone.

"Can you perform Jutsu too?"

"I'll try!"

"Wood Style: Domed Wall Jutsu!" shouted the clone, and rather coolly, the roots below them rose up and burst from the ground in pillars from either side of them and encased them in a wooden dome.

"Awesome! We're going to be super strong for sure," exclaimed the clone.

Naruto nodded in glee.

'Try merging with the trees,' commanded the original with a thought.

The clone nodded, and Naruto watched as it placed a hand on the tree and merged with the tree, disappearing into the bark.

'I can still see, and hear, but I can feel the tree too! It's like we've become one new organism.'

'Whoa, Grandfather was right this Jutsu is a great reconnaissance technique too.'

'Definitely.'

Naruto didn't need to tell the clone to exit the tree or start running to the other side village. Just the intention was enough for the clone to know what he wanted.

Later, the clone was communicating to him through their thoughts, even as he sat atop Grandfather's head on the Hokage Monument. During the walk, they'd figured out that they needed to concentrate on their connection in order to send thoughts to the other. Unfortunately, or fortunately, only one of them needed to concentrate.

'This must be the cause of the inhibitory effect of the Jutsu on the user, Grandfather mentioned,' the clone thought. Honestly, the only way Naruto could even distinguish his thoughts from the clone was the delay between the thought of one and its appearance in the other.

'Makes sense,' the original thought back, 'it must be hard to concentrate on what you're doing when we're bombarded with thoughts that aren't our own, especially during a battle.'

'We're just going to have to practice!'

'You know it!'

Head on back, came the command.

The clone came back eventually, and without needing to be ordered to, extended his hand for the original to absorb him, and with it, Naruto felt his missing chakra return, along with all the memories his clone had gained while running through the village.

Naruto tried the Jutsu again and this time created a dozen clones.

All thirteen of them sat in a circle and giggled at the thoughts racing through their heads. 'No wonder this Jutsu can cause problems' was the loudest thought in the storm of thoughts.

'When there's a lot of us, we should only let the original communicate at will or when there's something really important', thought the clone the farthest to the left.

All the clones nodded.

"We're going to be able to train a dozen times faster now," stated the original.

"Hey, wait a minute, Shadow Clones leave their memories behind when they're dispelled too!" realized the clone three down and to the right from the original.

All the Narutos agreed that meant their training could be multiplied many dozens of times, maybe hundreds.

"Thirteen heads are better than one," quipped one of the clones, and the others laughed with him.

"We can train with Shizune and Shisui at the same time," thought one of the clones.

"Cool," echoed several clones, and they chuckled at the jinx.

Naruto... didn't feel very lonely anymore.

The clones to the left and right of him placed their hands on his shoulders, and he looked at them/him askance.

'We can all feel your negative emotions.'

Naruto had finally found a kindred spirit... in himself.

Frustration. The clone opposite him had taken it upon himself to sense their surroundings and had discovered a particularly strong sensation nearby. Annoyance, frustration, shame.

Naruto wanted to leave, but one of his clones thought it would be a good chance to test out his subterfuge capabilities, and most of them agreed, so he gave in. He soon absorbed a dozen clones and went off in the direction of the emotion he'd sensed.

He quickly found a girl that must be near him in age, an Uchiha, practicing shurikenjutsu, being very hard on herself for missing the target behind the tree. The little patch of forest was filled with strewn-out shuriken and kunai.

Naruto watched as the Uchiha tried her best, and beat herself up for it.

He was about to leave when he felt the strangest thing.

Determination.

Now, Naruto was not a complete stranger to positive emotions, he felt them himself after all. But he was something of an expert at sensing emotions, so he was pretty sure he had just sensed that coming from that girl and he was certain that determination wasn't a negative emotion.

Naruto nearly tripped on a nearby stump. Could it really be possible?

He waited there with bated breath and Naruto was soon practically glowing. It was true, he could feel her positive emotions too! Determination, pride, satisfaction. Even stronger than her negative emotions.

Satsuki was trying her best to match her brother's feet, knocking the kunai in mid-air to hit the other target, but what he'd made seem effortless was virtually impossible for her.

'Damn it,' she inwardly cursed, glad Itachi wasn't around to see her fail so consistently.

She tried again, managing to hit the kunai in midair when she heard the sound.

"Ow!" Naruto had been so besotted with the realization he could sense positive emotions from somebody that he might have ignored the numerous lethally sharp projectiles flying around and had been skewered in the gut by a kunai.

And that's how Satsuki met Naruto, finding him bleeding behind the tree with her kunai sticking out of his belly.

"Oh kami, I'm so sorry," Satsuki started to apologize before scolding him, "What are you doing running into the middle of my shurikenjustu practice and walking right in front of my kunai anyways?!" Before remembering that she had just hit another kid with a kunai who looked to be in complete shock. She went to grab him, "We've got to get you to a medic-nin."

He didn't even seem to notice his wound. That must be bad. "Hello! Are you even listening to me?" she shouted into his ear.

"Hmm, oh hello! I'm Naruto," he greeted and extended a hand.

"What?! Are you okay?"

Naruto looked down and finally remembered the kunai sticking into him, having been so entranced by the feelings of concern radiating from the Uchiha to notice.

"Oh yeah, I've got plenty of shirts like this one and I'm pretty sure Shizune-nee can patch this one up anyways, so don't worry," Naruto explained calmly.

"Are you nuts?! We've got to get you to the hospital."

"I'm sorry, are you hurt? I should have noticed sooner," he hadn't sensed any pain coming from her.

"What? Not me, you've got a freaking kunai in your belly," Satsuki screamed in terror, gesturing wildly at his wound.

"Oh yeah," Naruto remembered, "this thing."

With a grunt, Naruto pulled the kunai watching ambivalently as the wound squirted blood.

Satsuki freaked out and grabbed him by the collar, "Have you lost your mind?! Now, you're going to bleed out and make me a murderer!" She was terrified that he'd already lost enough blood to have actually taken leave of his senses.

"Bleed out?" Naruto asked, pulling his shirt up and wiping the blood away for Satsuki to see the wound had already healed and the scar was steaming away.

Satsuki was so relieved and astonished that Naruto could practically taste the happiness coming from her. He was staring at her like a moth would at candlelight.

"Oh, so you heal incredibly fast, that's not normal but I'm glad I didn't kill you."

"Me too," Naruto said in a daze.

Satsuki gave him a weird look and Naruto could sense the befuddlement, so he tried to act normally. She chalked it up to boys being strange.

"So, what are you doing standing around to be pincushioned?"

"Oh, I'm just practicing my own ninjutsu."

She gave him another look of amazement, "You can use ninjutsu?"

Satsuki knew she'd been trailing Itachi, but this weird kid was already ahead of her too.

Naruto could sense the envy and the amazement, so he just demonstrated. "Wood Style: Wood Clone Jutsu!"

Another Naruto emerged out of his back and greeted the girl, "Hello!"

"We're Naruto," they both bowed in unison.

Remembering the manners her mother taught her, she returned the bow and introduced herself, "I'm Satsuki, of the Uchiha Clan."

"You must be Shisui's cousin, right?" asked the clone, hopefully.

She nodded, "You know Shisui?"

"He's my shinobi instructor."

That Shisui, no wonder he never had time to teach her anything useful. Seeing her look of jealousy, Naruto frowned.

"I could help you with your shurikenjutsu, if you'd like."

Satsuki wondered if he'd be a decent enough teacher, so he passed him the kunai and told him to show her what he could do.

Naruto smiled, grabbing the kunai and absorbing his clone, he demonstrated his skills.

He jumped in the air and spun around, managing to hit every target, even the one hidden behind the tree.

Satsuki was floored, she'd been trying that all day, and he got it in one try.

"How'd you do that?"

Naruto twirled another kunai in his hand, and explained, "You're focusing too much on hitting the targets."

"Well, duh, how else are you supposed to hit them?"

Rubbing his neck, Naruto laughed, "What I do is focus on how the kunai move instead, then it's just simple physics and a lot of practice. You need to get used to the weight, and how it moves through the air, how long it stays airborne, how it arches with gravity pulling it down, how much force you throw it with. Throw the kunai ten thousand times, and you'll know exactly where it goes on the ten-thousandth-and-first try."

Shisui had taught him that last part, and he was especially grateful now that he got to show off.

"Physics?" Satsuki asked

"Yeah, physics," Naruto said, "the study of motion, matter, and energy. You haven't read about physics?"

"My mom says we'll read about how to become a shinobi once we're in the academy."

Naruto scratched his chin, "I guess I do read a lot for someone our age," He didn't quite realize that having really nothing to do except read for most of his young life had made him book-smart well beyond his years.

Sizing him up, Satsuki was reminded of the kid she'd seen running through the village, the kid her mother had said would be a worthwhile friend. Deciding that based on that and his shinobi skills, she decided to give the weird kid a chance, grateful for the lesson not even Itachi had provided. Plus, hopefully, he'd forget about her impaling him on one of her kunai.

"You want to train together?" she asked.

Bathing in gratitude, Naruto accepted her offer ecstatically.

As the sun went down, Satsuki noticed a marked improvement in her shurikenjutsu, Naruto's tips and pointers going a long way.

After a while, she got bored of throwing kunai and instead wanted to learn Naruto's Clone Jutsu, but...

"Sorry, Satsuki, only I can use Wood Style, it's a kekkai genkai, just like I can't use the Sharingan."

She didn't bother to state that she couldn't use the Sharingan either – yet.

"Oh well, it can't be helped, do you know any other Jutsu?"

Naruto excitedly demonstrated the Substitution Jutsu with one of his clones and promised to teach her later.

The two of them agreed to meet here again tomorrow, Satsuki left with a smirk, and Naruto with a beaming smile.

They would meet together often from that day forward.

"So, Cousin Shisui said you were a Senju."

She'd immediately tracked her cousin down to grill him for an explanation as to why he was teaching some strange boy and not her, when he'd explained that it was a mission from the Hokage to train his students' son.

Naruto choked on the apple he'd been eating, fearfully looked up to the face of his new acquaintance, and asked if that was going to be a problem.

"Not for me, idiot," Satsuki scoffed, "Still, you could have told me."

Naruto nodded, feeling bad about not trusting Shisui's cousin to have an open mind.

They sit for a while longer before a thought occurs to her, and she nervously adds "But it'd probably be better if we kept that to ourselves." She didn't want the rest of her Clan thinking she'd become chummy with a Senju of all people, but honestly more like she was afraid her father would find out and forbid her from seeing him.

Which Naruto hastily agreed to, knowing full well his reputation and not wanting Satsuki to get in trouble for associating with him.

"Oh, Naruto-kun, you made a new friend, I'm so proud of you," Shizune congratulated sincerely.

"Oink, oink." Tonton agreed.

"Satsuki & Naruto sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G," Shisui teased mercilessly.

"So, I finally grew some cherry tomatoes for you to try, I hope you like them."

Naruto had prepared bento boxes for Satsuki to enjoy while they trained, and had gone all out with Shizune's help to make the best lunch he could.

Satsuki was hesitant to eat a boy's cooking and wondered to herself if Naruto's tomato plant had come from himself, but not wanting to be rude accepted them graciously.

"Mmm..." she moaned and started shoveling the little fruit into her mouth. "Theyrh delicitous," she said with a mouthful.

Naruto smiled wildly, relishing her satisfaction like it was a drug.

After finishing them all, Satsuki offered to buy all he had, only for Naruto to wave her off and tell her she could have all the tomatoes she wanted. After all, he got more out of it than she did.

Shizune finally noticed how Naruto was being treated on a trip to get groceries. Naruto had tried to tell her that the Anbu would bring some to them, but Shizune had argued that they weren't errand runners, and that it would do Naruto some good to get him into the village proper.

When she noticed how the villagers glared at her little brother figure, she wanted to run away with him and never come back.

She would summon Katsuyu as soon as they got home, and tell Lady Tsunade that the Hokage had lied to them about Naruto being treated like a hero, that he was the village pariah.

Then, they ran into Shisui Uchiha and Naruto happily introduced his big sister figure to his shinobi instructor.

Shizune would just have to look after Naruto herself if no one else was going to.

The two of them had ended the day's training early to go skip rocks in the river, Satsuki soon held the record for most skips and bragged about it until Naruto created a hundred Shadow Clones then had them practice all at once until he could consistently beat her score.

"Hn..." was her only response, once she got her Sharingan she'd be winning again.

They had their lunch by the river and Naruto caught a fish for them to eat along with their boxed lunch.

"Why do you eat fish when you won't touch other meat?" Satsuki asked.

Naruto hummed, "It's okay to eat fish because they don't have any feelings."

She decided against asking how he could be sure when she realized she didn't think they had feelings either.

Naruto went on to explain that he couldn't believe people ate pork when pigs, like his pet Tonton, were so incredibly smart and emotional.

He ignored the guilty feeling she felt, knowing she probably ate pork with her family.

Naruto learned all of Satsuki's favourite walking paths.

Satsuki learned how to water all of Naruto's plants.

They trained together, a lot.

It was their first day at the academy, thankfully he was in the same class as Satsuki, but Naruto was a nervous wreck, worrying about what his instructors would think about him,and what his peers would think about him.

Thankfully, Shizune was at his side, rooting for him.

"Do you have everything you need? Paper, pencils, kunai, shuriken?" she asks, and Naruto nods.

"I'm sure you'll do wonderfully, Naruto-kun. You're such a sweet boy, I'm sure you'll make friends, and I've taught you myself, you're an excellent student so don't fret over your studies."

Shizune was kind, but he could feel how nervous she was. She must be afraid that his teachers wouldn't be as understanding as her and/or his classmates would follow their parents' example.

"Thanks, Nee-chan," Naruto said trying to be strong for her, grateful for her presence, he reached out, grasped her hand, and gave it a squeeze. She smiled down at him.

"You know, Naruto-kun, I'm so sure you'll do great in the academy, that I'm willing to bet everything I have on it."

Naruto watched in amazement as she took off Grandfather's necklace, the gift from his mother, and gently clasped it around his neck.

The necklace seemed to glow as it was wrapped around him. It was worth three mountain's worth of gold, and she'd given it to him.

He couldn't help the tears from pouring down his cheeks, as he cried into her kimono.

Shizune just held him.

Satsuki would call him a crybaby later, but he was too happy with his gift to care.

After Shizune had bid him goodbye, Naruto watched as all his future classmates bid farewell to their beaming parents.

The Hyuga girl dismissed her escort, a beautiful woman with red eyes. The Inuzuka boy barked at his laughing sister and mother. The Namikaze girl made a scene with her mom. Other orphans, go to class together and are seen off by the matron.

He focused on Satsuki being dropped off by Fugaku and Mikoto. Naruto quashed the envy in his heart, easily, deciding to instead cherish the joy Satsuki felt at her dad bringing her. He also clasped the necklace around his neck to remind him he had Shizune now, and she was worth at least two parents.

From seemingly out of nowhere, Itachi and Shisui arrived.

"Yo!" Shisui greeted him, and Naruto was almost surprised, but he had sensed them coming.

So he greeted them eagerly. "Hi Shisui, hi Itachi! You here to come see Satsuki?"

Itachi nodded, but Shisui scoffed, "As if Aunt Mikoto is going to leave her alone long enough to see her dear old cousin, I tagged along with Itachi to see my prized pupil off to his first day at the academy."

"Me?" Naruto asked in a small voice.

"Well, who else would I be talking about?"

Naruto wiped at his eyes, "Thanks, Shisui, I'll make you proud!"

"I'm sure you will, Naruto, now go get them!" Shisui saluted and then Shunshin'd away.

Itachi nodded to him, "Please, take care of my little sister, Naruto."

Naruto liked Itachi. He considered him Satsuki's version of Shisui. So he happily nodded, "I'll make sure no one gives her grief for being an Uchiha, Itachi-san," he declared. He'd noticed the villagers seemed to dislike the Uchiha clan and say what you want about him, he'd be super rude to anyone who bad-mouthed his friends.

The older boy's eyes just widened almost imperceptibly, but Naruto could feel his shock and nodded to him again. "I am grateful," he said.

Satsuki came running up to them, and tackled Itachi with a hug, "Itachi-nii, you came! Don't worry, I'm going to be out of the academy in no time and surpass you before you know it."

Naruto grinned at Satsuki's confidence.

Itachi just poked her in the forehead, "I know you will, Satsuki. I will see you later."

She blushed and stuttered out an admonishment about treating her like a kid in front of Naruto before he waved to them and vanished himself.

Naruto didn't say anything about her blush, but she noticed his puffy eyes and told him off for crying all the time.

Satsuki glared, trying to burn the people around her to a crisp. If looks could kill, half her classmates' parents would be dead at her feet.

'What was their problem? Glaring at him like that.'

She knew Naruto wasn't popular at the academy, and that he had a hard time socializing with the other kids, but he wasn't a troublemaker by any stretch of the imagination, so why did so many adults treat him dirt?

It didn't make any sense, they treated that Namikaze brat like she walked on water, why were they treating Naruto, Lord First's Grandson like that?

Satsuki knew Naruto knew why, but he wouldn't say. Whatever it was, it had to be stupid. Naruto was the most mild-mannered kid she'd ever met.

He almost started to cry when she pressed him, so she dropped it and settled for glaring back.

Naruto didn't like fighting. That was a lie. He hated it.

Sparring with his clones, or getting beat up by Shisui was one thing, but inflicting pain on his classmates was practically torture for him.

"Victory breeds hatred. The defeated live in pain. Happily the peaceful live giving up victory and defeat," the Buddha had said. Shizune had tried teaching him about Buddhism, mostly to help him cope with his emotions. Naruto tried to live up to her expectations, to incorporate it into his nindo.

So, he'd let himself get beaten up in the sparring matches at the academy. He could take it. He healed so much faster than them. He didn't think he had it in to actually hit one of his classmates. He was so much stronger than them.

Even with Satsuki, especially Satsuki. If he hurt her, he wouldn't know what to do with himself.

Iruka-sensei had told him that hesitation was death to a ninja. Naruto disagreed. He figured if the ninja who killed hesitated there would be a lot less dead ninja.

His taijutsu marks were in the gutter, and he'd probably fail the early examinations something awful but at least he didn't hate himself.

He didn't like outshining his peers either, so he'd let Kiba be the fastest, let Satsuki have the best aim, and let Sakura score the highest on their test scores.

Satsuki gave him hell for it, knowing what he was capable of, but he'd just shrug her off. Besides, it only served to motivate her to be the actual best anyway.

Satsuki hates the Namikaze brat. She's brash and stupid and a loudmouth, always going off about being Hokage, as if just because her father was she'd be a shoe in.

The Hero's Daughter, Honorable Daughter, Princess Uzume. It was enough to make her sick. She was a dope, with a stupid verbal tic that annoyed the hell of out of Satsuki.

She can't do any wrong, even when she's pulling foolish pranks on anyone and everyone, screaming about becoming the best kunoichi ever.

She even deigns to think that she can fight Satsuki as an equal as if she trains every day after class with Itachi or Naruto, who was trained by Shisui.

So what if she wins sometimes because of her freakish stamina? Satsuki is still more skilled.

Her most grievous sin is trying to encroach on her best friend. Uzume has a horde of fans fawning over day and night and yet the only person she seems interested is in Naruto. And even he is cagey around her too, and he's even nice around the boy with bugs crawling around inside him.

So, Satsuki is doing her friend a favour by keeping him well away from that dope.

"What do you mean you can sense negative emotions?!" Satsuki demanded angrily.

"I mean pretty much that."

"Can you sense what I'm feeling right now?"

"Angry," Naruto decided not to tell her that he could feel her positive emotions exclusively.

She looked at him with a petulant pout, "Lucky guess."

It took a while for her to believe him, thankfully he was a walking, talking lie detector so he managed to prove himself by basically playing a parlour trick.

Naruto hates fighting. Doesn't mind being beaten up.

That's why when the three kids who are afraid of their dads take turns roughhousing him in the playground when Satsuki isn't around, he endures like a shinobi should.

He's strong enough to take their pain.

Naruto hates fighting. That's why he cries to Shizune that night when the boys turned on the Hyuga girl instead who'd dared stand up for him.

He'd sent the three of them to the hospital.

He hadn't meant to! He was just so much stronger than the other kids.

He'd be even stronger next time, that way he could stop them and himself at the same time.

Iruka-sensei is giving them instructions for today's special assignment. He handed them all a piece of paper, and asked "If the world were coming to an end tomorrow, who would you want to spend your last day with?"

For Satsuki, the answer was simple: Itachi-nii.

For Uzume Namikaze, the answer was simpler still: Mom.

For Hinata Hyuga, the answer was more complicated, she didn't know if it was appropriate to leave her sister out for a classmate, but this was a wishful thinking assignment so she wrote: Naruto Senju.

For Naruto, it was an existential crisis, he couldn't pick which of his friends he'd want to leave out. Finally, he settled for writing down all three of them and feeling sad about leaving out Tonton.

One day, while they're out in the forest together training, Naruto is meditating, trying to suppress his sensory ability, not feeling entirely comfortable using it around Satsuki all the time. He knows he's kind of obsessed with being around her all the time, so he tries to limit his exposure to her emotions. At least when she's asleep, that's a boundary he'd set for himself. Let her dreams and nightmares be her own.

Satsuki had fallen asleep after a long session, though Naruto did not feel the least bit tired.

For the first time in his life, Naruto suppressed his senses and was surprised by someone showing up.

"Why, hello Naruto-kun," greeted Mikoto, who looked like an older version of his friend.

Naruto just stares at her frozen in place, terrified she'd forbid him from seeing Satsuki.

"Satsuki has improved much since she's been training in this spot lately," remarked Mikoto, "and she has seemed much happier lately. Thank you, Naruto-kun for being such a good friend to my daughter."

He sputters, and tries to assure her, "Ahh, no problem, Ma'am, ugh, Lady Uchiha, umm, Satsuki's mom."

Mikoto laughed it off, "You sure are a cutie."

Naruto blushed like a tomato.

Author's Notes: Next chapter, tragedy strikes.

Please Favorite and Follow if you liked it.

I really appreciate each and every Review, and I would establish peace and order if you left one. I try to answer them all.

Feel free to PM me or ask a question in the review if you have any questions you'd like me to answer about the story.

Please don't expect ~10k chapters every time, I'm just on a roll lately.

I got a few negative reviews that I won't respond to here (and can't PM them since they're guests), I guess my negative emotions sensing story entails inducing them.

I suspect I might get some flak for Naruto being non-violent, but I can't imagine someone who literally senses negative emotions not being so. Canon Naruto never even really killed anyone. He spared Haku, he spared Pain! Breaking the cycle of hatred is literally the plot of the source material. But mind you, the story is going to be darker than canon anyway, but that'll make Naruto's nindo harder when put to the test. So while I expect flak from people who think Naruto should be like the Joker (sigh that one comment), he ain't going to be. He's my little ball of light in a burning world.

I hope you guys like Shisui, Shizune, and Satsuki. It was fun writing them. Uzume is going to get a lot more screentime in the future, for now she's just off in the periphery enjoying a peachy life. A time skip is fast approaching, complete with a training montage.