A Feeling of Belonging

"Those who do not understand true pain can never understand true peace."

"Hey! what's a kid doing here?" A smooth voice questioned.

Naruto whipped around; he had been so lost in thought that he hadn't noticed the faint chakra signature of the new speaker.

The new arrival appeared to be a freshly minted Chunin with short black curly hair, long girly eyelashes, and coal dark eyes. They were also wearing the standard navy Uchiha shirt and tan shorts with the customary fan crest stitched on the back of the shirt.

"Uh! Nothing!" Naruto squeaked still slightly out of it.

The stranger tilted his head to the side and smirked, "Sure, kid. What are you doing here? Don't you know training grounds are off-limits for civilians?"

"I was just exploring! I'm going to be a Shinobi too!"

"Hoh... A little sunshine like you wants to be a Shinobi, too, huh? Don't you know that Shinobi follow the rules?"

"Ah, but even the best Shinobi know that some rules are made to be broken, at times."

"Hahaha! I like you, kid! I'm Uchiha Shisui! What's your name?"

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto! It's nice to meet you, Shisui-San."

"Oh ho, respectful little brat, aren't you? Since you're here, might as well make the most of it and spar with me hm?"

"Spar? With you? Are you sure?"

"Sure, sunshine, let's see what you've got!"

"Alright! But you better take me seriously!"

"Hahaha! We'll see!" With those words, Shisui settled into the basic Uchiha Interceptor stance. Naruto himself decided to settle on the basic academy stance even though he knew many other taijutsu styles.

"Taijutsu only?" Naruto asked.

"Of course, sunshine!"

"I'm going to make you take that name back, you know?"

"Bring it. Sunshine."

And so Naruto brought it. Making the seal of confrontation, which Shisui returned, he quickly rushed Shisui in a burst of speed. Naruto threw a quick jab to Shisui's chest. The jab was simply sidestepped, and Shisui retaliated with a leg sweep. Naruto jumped over the sweep while Shisui capitalised that he couldn't dodge with a spinning backhand. Naruto narrowly blocked the blow but was sent flying towards a tree. Flipping around mid-air and pushing off the tree, Naruto rushed at Shisui with a flying kick. Shisui dodged again, letting Naruto pass by and taking the opportunity to aim a jab towards Naruto's ribs. Naruto took the hit intentionally, remaining cautious in showing what he could do.

Both fighters had similar thoughts racing through their minds

'He's fast! Really fast!' Naruto sprung up again and snapped his right leg out in a high kick aimed at Shisui's face; Shisui caught Naruto's leg and threw him to the side using his superior strength.

'Strong! It seems I can take this a little seriously.' Naruto thought.

Picking himself off the ground, Naruto was determined to at least get rid of the annoying nickname; he sent a flurry of blows towards Shisui, increasing his speed subtly as he went. Shisui narrowly dodged around each punch, sweat dropping as he went.

'Did this kid just get even faster? It looks like I have to up my game! He might just give me a workout!' Shisui let himself be pressed backwards until his back hit a tree.

Naruto saw this and struck out with his left leg in a roundhouse kick. 'Chance!'

Shisui ducked beneath Naruto's leg under his guard and lashed out at Naruto's supporting leg, sending Naruto tumbling to the ground again.

"You're not taking this seriously, are you?" Shisui asked incredulously.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you can obviously go much faster right?"

"Hmm... Well, maybe..."

"Gotcha, I'll just have to force you to show me then."

For the first time in the spar, Shisui rushed at Naruto with a blazing fast punch, Naruto swiftly ducking into Shisui's guard with a sharp jab to his gut and darted away.

"Oof! Now that's what I'm talking about, sunshine!"

Naruto grinned, "I'm gonna make you regret that."

"Oh? How so?"

Shisui shot forward with a wide sweep of his arm, only to yelp when Naruto darted to the side and punched him in the kidney. Naruto gave Shisui a bit of time to recover before going at him again with a high kick. Shisui saw the rush coming and blocked the kick, launching himself in a tackle at Naruto. The two wrestled on the ground for a bit before Shisui rolled over Naruto with his more excellent build and sat on top of him.

"Hah! Gotcha, Sunshine!"

"Damn it! That's not fair. Maybe you're just fat!"

"Oi oi, that's kinda rude, Dontcha know? I'll have you know I'm not fat!"

"Yeah yeah, get off of me. You're heavy."

Slowly crawling off of Naruto and dusting himself off, Shisui remarked, "Say sunshine that wasn't a bad spar, where'd you learn the academy style? Someone teaching you?"

Naruto sat up and awkwardly rubbed the back of his head, laughing nervously. "Nah, I watched some students practising and copied them." He said truthfully.

"Woah, really? You learned Taijutsu by copying what you saw? No teachers?" Shisui didn't bother to hide his gaping.

"Hahaha yeah...."

"Damn sunshine, imagine what you could do with a teacher! That's it! I've decided! I'll teach you."

"Eh. Is that really alright? Won't you be busy with missions?"

"Don't worry about it, shorty! I've got this!" Shisui confidently replied.

"Well, if you say so..." Naruto said unsurely. "And I'm not that short dattebayo!"

"Compared to me, you are, hahaha!"

"That's not a fair comparison!" Pouted Naruto, puffing his cheeks

"It is to me!" Came the cheeky response as Shisui jokingly poked Naruto's puffy cheeks.

Batting Shisui's hands away, Naruto huffed and turned away in thought. Training with Shisui would be a good cover for any Shinobi skills he might show off as Naruto, and it would give him an excuse to use the henge without suspicion, at the very least. Making up his mind Naruto turned back to Shisui with a broad smile on his face.

"You know what? Sure, I'll train with you! But you better be able to keep up!"

"Hey! I should be saying that to you!" Shisui said indignantly.

"Blehhhh" A childish impulse took over Naruto, making him stick out his tongue in retaliation.

"You brat! What happened to the respect from earlier? Get over here!" Shisui laughed as he promptly leapt up chasing after Naruto, who had yelped and scrambled away, laughing as he went.

Naruto couldn't remember the last time he felt so light-hearted as the chase quickly devolved into a game of ninja tag. He cackled as he tripped Shisui, who had lunged for him into a tumbling heap.

"Oh, that's it! I'm going to get you now!" Shisui declared, jumping to his feet with a determined gleam in his eyes.

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "Catch me if you can!" He yelled, sticking out his tongue for the second time. And so the chase was on. The game encompassed the entire training grounds, Naruto leading Shisui on a wild goose chase all over the place. Several times Naruto had led Shisui into a few old and abandoned traps just for giggles; Simultaneously, Shisui dodged, and around projectiles and pitfalls, he cursed Naruto under his breath, leading to even more laughs from the child.

When Shisui had finally had enough of entertaining the little blond devil, he quickly used the most flawless Shunsin jutsu that Naruto had ever seen, placing himself in front of Naruto. Who then promptly crashed into Shisui, sending both boys tumbling to the ground for the ninth time that day.

"Hey! No fair you cheated!" Naruto shouted in jest.

"Ninjas don't cheat. They win." Shisui smugly replied, "You're one slippery kid, you know that?"

"Hahaha, I do my best!" Naruto dusted himself off before he considered what he had seen. "Say, that was the Shunsin jutsu, right?"

"Huh? Oh yeah! It's my speciality! They'll be calling me Shunshin no Shisui in no time!" Shisui crowed.

"Hahaha, I'd like to see that! Can you teach me that?"

"Of course, little sunshine! You're my student, and it's my signature technique after all!"

"Wow, really?"

"Yeah! I'll be as fast as the Yellow Flash one day! You'll see!"

"Cooooool!"

After making further plans with Shisui and waving their goodbyes, Naruto Returned to his apartment under a sneaky henge to hide his whisker marks. He detachedly observed the stark difference in treatment he received from the civilians. It was like the whiskers painted a sign that said, "Please glare here!" and now that they were gone, he was just another regular dirty kid returning home after playing too much. Except the problem was that Naruto didn't want to live life under a henge.

Hiruzen

Sarutobi Hiruzen was a tired man. He had served Konoha faithfully for many years, surviving the second and third Shinobi wars. Just when he thought he could retire in peace, his successor had to pull the ultimate heroic act and sacrifice himself for Konoha. Hiruzen reminisced sadly; Minato was a brilliant young man whose time hadn't even really begun yet; it was a genuine pity that the Kyuubi incident had happened.

Hiruzen regretted not taking care of Naruto more in place of Minato, but the boy seemed to be doing okay. He had survived on his own for a month, for heaven's sake! Talk about being resourceful! Hiruzen really should have kept a closer eye on that orphanage rather than just checking in on Naruto with his crystal ball every once in a while.

Speaking of which, the whole orphanage debacle was giving him a headache, and he couldn't tell what Danzo's intentions were towards Naruto. Perhaps the old fool had thought to make Naruto desperate for help and then lend a helping hand, making Naruto indebted to him? Hiruzen was simply thankful that he had decided to ask the ANBU about the young boy that day. He needed to establish that his ANBU reported to him and only him now. Ahhh, so much work to do on top of all his ever blasted paperwork. Hiruzen sighed.

At the very least, Minato's son seemed to be happy. Hiruzen had visited the young boy at his apartment with an offer of dinner the other day. The boy had seemed cheerful enough despite the hatred that Hiruzen could see him encounter. It saddened Hiruzen that he could not make Naruto the hero his father had wanted him to be without endangering the boy. He'd done his best to keep rumours of the Jinchuuriki quiet, but it was not to be. The information leak still hadn't been discovered even after two years of investigations. He sighed again.

Honestly, Naruto reminded him so much of both Kushina and Minato that it wasn't even funny. The first time that Hiruzen heard the word 'dattebayo' come out of Naruto's mouth, he felt a lump well up in his throat at the ghost of a red-headed woman that he saw superimpose itself over her son. Hiruzen was simply grateful the boy was so canny and that he hadn't died out on the streets before Hiruzen could do anything about him. Reconstruction efforts had taken up too much of his time and left no time to worry about Konoha's newest Jinchuuriki.

After Two Weeks

One day Shisui stumbled upon an interesting scene as he entered the training grounds.

Naruto was balanced with one finger on the tip of a senbon upside down on top of the running creek that flowed through the middle of the training grounds with various leaves and miscellaneous objects stuck all over him.

"Uhhhhh, hey, whatcha doing over there?"

"I'm practising my chakra control Shisui-san!"

"Uhhh, okay..... Don't hurt yourself there, buddy."

"I'm fine, I'm fine."

"You looking to become a medical-nin, Naruto?"

"Huh? No? Why would you think that?"

"Well, it's just that the only Shinobi I know who do such ridiculous chakra control exercises are medic nins... Why have you been so hooked on chakra control anyways? Shouldn't a kid your age be focused on stretching chakra coils for larger reserves?"

Naruto laughed; he laughed so hard he lost control and fell into the creek with a splash.

Sputtering, he climbed out of the creek, leaves still stuck to his skin.

"Shisui-san, I probably will never need to worry about the chakra reserves. I can perform over a hundred shadow clones and not be tired."

Shisui's eyes bugged out. "No way! You're a little sunshine! I can barely manage two!"

"I just got lucky with genetics, I guess. I am an Uzumaki, after all."

"Ahh, you're right, a real Uzumaki, huh. You don't exactly have the hair for it, though?"

"Aah, yeah, it comes from my father's side, I guess..."

Shisui tilted his head curiously, "Speaking of which, who are your parents? And where are they? Shouldn't they be worried about their kid being out all the time?"

"Ah. My parents are dead; I've never known who they were." Naruto replied, trying to sound truthful. He knew the likes of Shisui might be able to see through his words.

Shisui squinted at Naruto for a minute. "Say, when did you say your birthday was again?"

Naruto's sweatdropped, "I uh, never did say. Um, it's October 10th."

Shisui leaned back, closing his eyes, "Huh. How interesting." Shisui stared intently at Naruto and nodded his head. "I understand now."

Naruto knew what Shisui meant and was just waiting for him to start glaring at him or maybe even beat him up.

"Huh? What do you understand?" Naruto had an idea of what Shisui understood.

"Nothing, don't worry about it, sunshine."

"Uh, okay if you say so, Shisui-San." Naruto was relieved to hear him not making a big deal out of it.

"Say Shisui-San, what do you think of getting some more training to become even faster?"

"Huh? You know of better training, sunshine?" Shisui asked doubtfully.

"Yeah! If you use weights or even resistance seals while training, you can increase your speed by a lot!"

"Huh? You might be onto something there! I've never thought of that! It looks like I need to get some weights or something."

"Ah, Shisui-San, I'm an Uzumaki. I can draw you resistance seals."

"You would do that for me? Damn, thank you, sunshine!"

"You have to stop calling me sunshine, though." Naruto deadpanned.

Shisui smiled sunnily, "Is that it? That's easy. Thanks, bean sunlight!"

Naruto let out a frustrated whine and facepalmed while Shisui laughed, slapping Naruto on the back.

The kid was scary smart, and it seemed that everything Shisui taught the kid already knew. It only took one or two tries for the kid to get everything down, and it was honestly quite intimidating. In fact, whenever Shisui tried teaching the kid something, he himself ended up learning a thing or two from the kid instead! Honestly, if Shisui didn't know Itachi, he would have been thoroughly unnerved by the child genius he had in front of him. It relieved Shisui that Naruto could still act like a kid sometimes.

Sometimes he regretted asking Naruto to train with him simply because he was worried over the kid's lost childhood. But he didn't regret getting to know the blond ball of sunshine. The kid always had a quip for him and had a smile that would put the sun to shame.

So Shisui worried. He didn't know what pushed the kid so hard, and He'd heard of what the young boy contained from "well-meaning" clansmen who warned him away from the Jinchuuriki. It seemed that no one cared about Naruto, and the few times they went into the village together, the glares and harsh treatment the child received made his stomach churn.

Honestly, he would have been worried that Naruto would abandon Konoha with his treatment, but he knew the boy personally, and Naruto seemed to take it all in stride.

Shisui watched Naruto train for a while, he'd had a question that had been on his mind for the past few days, and he finally found time to voice his thoughts.

"Hey, Naruto."

"Yeah? What's up, Shisui-San?

"Mah, enough with the San already, just Shisui is fine. How many times have I told you that?"

"Hahaha, sorry, it's just a habit. What did you need, Shisui?"

"Why do you train so hard, Naruto?

"Huh?"

"What are you training for? Shouldn't you be enjoying being a kid? You aren't a clan child, so you have time to be a kid for a while longer".

Actually, even clan children don't train as hard as you, you know? Itachi doesn't count. "Shouldn't you be playing with friends?"

Naruto laughed awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Shisui, I don't really have any friends aside from you..."

"What!?" Shisui exclaimed. That was ridiculous! The kid was remarkably talented and sunny as all hell; people should be tumbling over themselves to make friends with him. Oh. Except. There was that. "That's not good, kid. You need to make some friends, get connections, otherwise what do you even fight for? I need to introduce you to Itachi, and I think you would like him..." Shisui mused.

Naruto himself had a hard time answering the question. After all, he originally trained himself into the ground to gain some form of acknowledgement and praise, and perhaps love. But now, he wasn't precisely sure anymore, and sure he told Hagoromo that he would bring the villages together?

But what did that even mean, he was a child; still. Naruto wanted to have that feeling again more than anything else, the same feeling he had when his father had hugged him when he told him that he would always love him.

Naruto carved for that feeling, and he wasn't sure where he would even find it?

He felt tears in his eyes just by thinking about his father, his smile.

Naruto quickly took a deep breath and didn't let the tears fall.

"That's it! I'll bring Itachi to our training sessions! You'll see, kid! He's a lot like you in a way! Scary smart, oddly mature, and skilled as all hell! You two will get along like peas in a pod, I promise!"

Naruto raised an eyebrow; wait, What??

"Wait, you know Itachi?" Naruto asked out loud, and he wondered why he hadn't told him about Shisui yet.

This time Shisui raised his eyebrows and stopped talking, and leaned closer to Naruto. Almost like he was seeing his face for the first time.

"Wait for a second! You must be Itachi's secret awesome student!!" Shisui half-shouted with his fists in the air.

Awesome Student? Seriously

"He must be talking about someone else", Naruto replied, sure of that, but Shisui just shook his finger in front of his face.

"Nahhh, Itachi has talked about only one student. I have to be honest, and he told me you were young but never thought you would be a child," Shisui said with a finger on his forehead and acting as he was thinking about something big.

"Well, he didn't tell me anything about you," Naruto replied, and Shisui lowered his head in despair.

Suddenly there were big clouds above his head and raining only on him.

This caused Naruto to question where the clouds even came from, his hand behind his neck; he chuckled nervously.

"He must have his reasons", Naruto replied, not knowing what else to say.

"I knew Uchiha's were a bunch of pussies, but this is ridiculous", Kurama suddenly said in his head with a massive grin on his face.

"Hey, don't forget A third of my blood is Uchiha Blood; therefore, you're insulting me as well", Naruto replied with a half-joking tone.

"You're the exceptions; all the others Uchiha except maybe Itachi are pussies", Kurama replied with a massive smirk on his face.

Naruto escaped his thoughts when he saw that Shisui had escaped his weird despair mode.

"Now, today we're done with, perhaps we..." he stopped talking when Itachi jumped in the training yard.

"Naruto-kun, what are you doing here?" Itachi asked, smiling at Naruto.

Naruto opened his mouth to respond when Shisui opened his mouth.

"Itachi, why you haven't told me that your awesome student is the same as mine", Shisui stated and pointed the finger at Naruto.

Naruto rolled his eyes while Itachi looked slightly confused; he had been on a mission for some time now and wondered how Naruto was, knowing he lived alone. He arrived in the house to see the house empty and then checked the training grounds one by one until he found him training with Shisui.

"What do you mean? Since when Naruto is your student?" Itachi asked, walking closer to them.

"I have been training with him for a week, Itachi; he just showed me the ropes for Shunsin", Naruto explained.

"Yup, and he was about to tell me how much a better teacher I am, compared to you", Shisui stated, giving Naruto a wink.

Naruto just shook his head in denial, much to his disappointment and Itachi chuckled slightly.

"Naruto, since it is already late, why don't you come with me? My home will make dinner very soon," Itachi suggested thinking that would be a good way for Naruto to make a friend with Sasuke.

Naruto lowered his eyes and put his hands behind his back, not sure of what to say. Sure, he wanted to say 'yes' and not eating alone for once would be good, but he didn't want to see them glaring at him but, most importantly, bring Itachi trouble for inviting the 'Demon' to eat.

"Are you sure? I don't want to cause trouble," Naruto finally replied.

Itachi felt terrible for the little boy and immediately nodded his head, and he was sure his mother would be delighted to see him.

"Don't worry, Naruto-kun, my family is not like the others", Itachi replied and put a hand on his shoulder to reassure him that he really did mean it.

Naruto looked up at him and just nodded his head.

"See you tomorrow Naruto-kun, Itachi. And don't forget I want a rematch," Shisui said with a cheeky smile at both of them.

Naruto laughed, and they soon made their way towards the Uchiha compound.

They soon reached the compound's gates, and Naruto saw the entrance being guarded by two, who Naruto thought were Uchiha Shinobis.

They noticed Itachi and gave him a nod of acknowledgement, but they soon noticed his sun hair and whiskers on his face.

Their gaze turned to glares immediately, one of them gripped the sword he was holding harder, and for a moment, Naruto thought he would attack, but Itachi put his hand on his shoulder and made him walk behind him and release his KI.

The guards were silenced immediately and lowered their weapons; Naruto walked inside and had to admit that it looked beautiful. He could see houses everywhere, and each house had a flag or anything that showed the Uchiha symbol.

Walking inside the compound, he received fewer glares; there was barely anyone glaring at him, much to his relief, but Naruto knew this was just the beginning.

They soon reached the house, Naruto looked at its size, and it definitely looked like the most prominent house in the compound.

Itachi gestured to Naruto that he should walk in first, opening the door.

"Kaa-chan. I have returned," Itachi announced.

Soon Naruto heard footsteps coming from a room near the door; another door opened, revealing a woman around her late thirties with long dark hair.

"Itachi-kun, you returned how was the..." she immediately stopped when she saw Naruto standing behind Itachi. His eyes immediately lowered, and he took a step back instinctively.

For a moment, Mikoto said 'Minato'; she knew Naruto looked like his father, but now he looked like a perfect copy of him.

Understanding what was happening, she immediately brought a smile to her face.

"Itachi, who's the little sunshine," She asked, walking closer.

Naruto smiled back when he felt the happy feelings coming from the woman but at the same time wondered what was up with them calling him 'Sunshine'.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, miss..." "You can call me Mikoto" she introduced herself and walked closer.

"Come inside, no need to stay outside," She said kindly; Naruto felt happy and walked inside. His eyes were exploring the house inside, a smile not leaving his face, feeling like a child again.

Itachi smiled and told him to sit on the couch. He nodded his head and sat down while Itachi walked over to his mom.

"Where's Sasuke and Tou-san," Itachi asked, wondering if Sasuke was training perhaps.

His mother gave Naruto another glance before walking to the kitchen.

"Sasuke is upstairs sleeping; he said he was tired, and your father should return soon," His mother said and started making an extra dish. Itachi nodded his head and walked upstairs, reaching Sasuke's room.

He knocked but did not respond; waiting a few seconds, he walked inside, seeing his brother reading a scroll on his bed, the scroll on his lap.

"Sasuke-kun, what are you doing?" Itachi asked, seeing as he looked focused.

Turning his head to his right, he saw Itachi, and a big smile invaded his face.

"Itachi is good that you returned, and I'm preparing myself to become stronger; I will show everyone that the Uchiha clan is the strongest Clan", Sasuke started with a puff of his chest at the end.

Itachi's smile lowered slightly. "There's no need for that Sasuke, but we are eating dinner right now, and I want you to meet someone", he stated and walked downstairs.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at who he might mean and wondered if he meant Shisui.

Reaching the living room, he saw Naruto wasn't there; he turned around and went to the kitchen.

"Kaa-chan, do you kn..." he stopped mid-sentence when he saw Naruto helping her to prepare the dish.

"Be careful with that Naruto-kun. You might burn your hands," his mother warned as he was using a spoon to mix something in a large saucepan.

Itachi smiled at what he saw and heard footsteps coming downstairs; he turned in time to see Sasuke.

"Brother, can you train me?" Sasuke asked, looking at him.

"Not now, Sasuke, we can train tomorrow", Itachi suggested, Sasuke punted, but he then noticed Naruto, who was still helping kaa-chan prepare dinner.

"Who are you?" Sasuke asked, noticing his blond hair, reminding him.

Naruto put the saucepan back and turned his head around, and saw Sasuke.

"Hi, my name is Naruto Uzumaki," he said, smiling, walking closer and pulling out his hand for Sasuke to shake...

"You're the one they call 'Demon' what are you doing here?" Sasuke asked with a slightly demanding tone at the end.

Naruto's smile disappeared immediately. He felt his throat dry, his heart beating on his throat like a hammer, his eyes suddenly burning, his hand and head lowered. A dry chuckle escaped his mouth.

Of course, it was too good to be true...

Naruto immediately turned around and was about to run outside when he felt a hand on his shoulder stopping him and the sound of a slap.

Turning around, he saw the woman had slapped who he knew was Itachi's brother and Itachi had his hand on his shoulder.

"Why did you say that, Sasuke? I Raised You to BE BETTER," the woman screamed at the dark hair who was touching his cheek with his hand.

Naruto saw Sasuke glared at him with the same eyes like everyone else, and he then turned his attention back to his mother.

"I... I ... everyone outside said that he was 'Not Good' "Sasuke responded.

Naruto could feel the anger directed at him; he walked away towards the door.

"Mikoto-Sama. You have a wonderful house; thank you for letting me stay, and thank you, Itachi-san," Naruto said smiling, and before anyone could do or say anything, he Shunsin away.

Itachi sighed, looking at the leaves left behind by Naruto. From the corner of his eyes, his mother looked ready to cry while his brother was looking at the place where Naruto stood with...jealousy.

Naruto

Stood alone on his bed, hugging his legs and crying his heart out.

Why there's so Much ... PAIN