Chapter 1: Naruto Aburame

Sarutobi was sitting patiently in a chair, waiting for the rest of the clan heads to file into the conference room. Next to him stood his former student, the legendary sannin, Jiraiya, holding what appeared to be a small bundle of blankets. A few minutes later every seat had been occupied, and they were ready to begin their meeting. The room was filled with the sound of muffled chatter, obviously about the events that had just taken place.

Sarutobi cleared his throat to silence the bickering crowd. Once they settled down, he began, "As you all know Our Village has suffered great losses to the demon known as the nine tailed fox. I'd like to inform you all that the threat has passed, and the demon has been defeated."

There was a sound of applause and cheers from the less formal clan heads. The people who held their tongues were deep in thought. Something was amiss. How could a beast with such terrible power be suddenly defeated? Then it dawned on them. Why was Sarutobi informing them and not the Fourth?

A tall man with long dark brown hair and pale, pupil-less eyes was the first to ask the question, "Where is the Fourth? Has he sustained injury during the fight?"

Sarutobi looked down with a defeated expression on his face. "I'm sorry to inform you Hiashi-sama that the Fourth lost his life during the battle."

There were gasps heard throughout the meeting room and shocked faces on everyone. Surely their beloved Hokage couldn't be gone!

Hiashi managed to keep a straight face, but he too was in pure shock. After composing himself. he addressed Sarutobi once more. "How was the demon defeated?" he asked, trying to keep his voice as calm and collected as possible.

Sarutobi took a minute to think of how he ought to tell them. "The demon was defeated by the fourth," he finally explained. "He used a forbidden sealing jutsu. At the cost of his own life, he sealed the Nine-Tailed Fox into a newborn child." He nodded to the bundle in Jiraiya's arms.

There was another round of gasping from the clans, with everyone throwing questions at the Third Hokage as though they were in a game of dodge ball. Sarutobi could only hear bits and pieces of what everyone was saying due to everyone trying to speak all at once. But one voice was heard above all others. Everyone turned to the man who had just shouted, "We must kill it".

Sarutobi glared at the rest of the council and answered, "No. Besides the fact that you suggest we kill an innocent child, if we kill the child the demon will almost surely be released. The odds of the Demon dying when the child does will increase over time, but even so, we will not kill him either when that time arrives."

"This is insane! You actually wish to protect that monster? Nevertheless, you do not have the power to overrule me. I am the head of the Uchiha clan, which has more power then the Sarutobi clan."

"That maybe true, Fugaku, but since the Fourth never chose a successor, I must take back the role as Hokage. Furthermore, the Fourth left it in his will that we honor this child as a hero for what he holds. I don't think assassinating him is very honorable do you?"

Fugaku just snorted and sat back down in his seat.

"Now, there is still the matter of the child. His parents have died and I haven't quite figured out what to do with him. But I have decided to inform the village of exactly what happened today. I can only hope the village will honor the Fourth's wish and view him as a hero for keeping the demon at bay. If this is not the case, as a fail safe, I have decided to make it a law that no one from the boy's generation or from outside of our village shall be told of the demon. Anyone who breaks these rules will be severely punished. Does everyone under stand my law?"

A few nods from everyone answered his question.

"Now back to the matters of the boy."

An old man with an x shaped scar on his chin stood up. "I would more than willingly place him in my ANBU Root division. The boy carries a great power within him and could become the Leaf villages' secret weapon if molded right."

Then Hiashi Hyuga stood up. He was not about to let an opportunity like this pass him up. That boy was valuable and he had to have him for his own clan. "If I may interject, but maybe it would be more wise to hand the boy over to me. I'm sure the boy could become quit powerful if he was placed in Root, but he might be easily influenced by the demon if he becomes void of any emotion. I do not mean to insult your methods of teaching, Danzo-sama, but it could prove dangerous in the boy's case."

The Hokage thought this over. He didn't want the boy with either of the two. He did want the boy to be brought in by someone, though it appeared no one else was going to offer to take the child in. So he would have to decide between Hiashi and Danzo. His decision landed on Hiashi. He wasn't thrilled about picking Hiashi but the child being ripped of emotions was far worse than anything Hiashi would do. He was about to voice his choice when someone stood from their seat.

A tall man with dark black hair wearing sunglasses and a heavy coat with an unusually high collar was standing. He spoke with an eerie cool voice, "Hokage-sama, I, Aburame Shibi, would like to have the boy join the Aburame clan. I am heavily indebted to the Fourth and could think of no better way to repay him. Raising the child he wished to be seen as a hero could bring me and my clan no higher honor." With that said, he sat back down in his seat.

Sarutobi thought this over and it didn't take him long to realize that Shibi was the best choice. The Aburame clan had no interest in more power or being the best, they would treat him well. Sarutobi cleared his throat and spoke, "Seeing that it would be in Naruto's best interest, I've decided to let Aburame Shibi have custody of the child. Are there any stipulations for you taking the boy?"

Shibi adjusted his glasses and said with no emotion, "Yes, for the boy to truly become part of my clan he must become a host." Sarutobi shivered at that comment along with everyone else. They all knew what he meant by that. "I have already sent a messenger insect to inform my clan to get things ready for the procedure. It is fortunate for us that the boy was born only a few hours ago. The kikai insects can only join with a host on the very day their born, due to obvious reasons. I must get the boy to my compound as soon as possible, so if this meeting is adjourned, I would like to take my leave."

Sarutobi nodded and signaled for Jiraiya to hand the baby over to Shibi. Jiraiya walked up and handed the bundle to Shibi who carefully held it. "Please take good care of Naruto," Jiraiya said, almost sad.

Shibi looked at Jiraiya with a cocked eyebrow and said "Naruto?"

Jiraiya looked sheepishly at Shibi. "Yeah, that's the kids' name, but if you would like to change it feel free to do so."

"No, Naruto will be fine." He bowed to Jiraiya and then to Sarutobi. "Good day," and he poofed away in a cloud of smoke.

Hiashi and Danzo were both furious with the Hokage. They didn't show it when they offered to take Naruto. But both of them wanted Naruto, and badly. To think that he would give Naruto to a clan that would keep him from what he was truly capable of! "What a waste," Hiashi spat before going out the door with the rest of the clan heads. Only Jiraiya and Sarutobi were left.

"Do you think I made the right decision?" Sarutobi asked his former student.

"Yes I do. The Aburame's wouldn't have been my first choice. Hell, they wouldn't have been my third. But they are good people. Maybe weird and creepy, but still good people. A much better choice than the Hyuuga or the Root," Jiraiya assured Sarutobi.

"Let's just hope that's true," the Hokage said, slumping into his chair in exaustion.

(Back to Shibi and Naruto)

Shibi had just made it to the Aburame compound when Naruto began to stir from his slumber. The compound was a huge mansion, not as big as the Hyuugas' but huge nonetheless. The Aburame's were the third most wealthy and powerful clan in the village, only trailing by the Hyuuga and Uchiha. The Aburame used to stay in a district, with everyone living in their own separate houses, twenty years ago. But their clan head decided that living in one hive, so to speak, would logically be more proficient. There were only about a little over thirty Aburame so most of the rooms were used for kikai insect breeding, study, and experiments. The home also consisted of a huge library with books on about every known insect, jutsu scrolls, and any other book that would be found in a clan library.

Shibi had entered with the now crying Naruto and was greeted by his wife. She looked similar to Shibi. She wore a long gray trench coat with huge sleeves that went well past her hands, but the collar barely reached her chin. There was a long black skirt protruding through the bottom of her coat that reached all the way to her lower shin. She had on black heels similar to Tsunade's and had long dark brown hair that was neatly wrapped into a single bun. Finally, she wore the Aburame clans' trade mark dark sunglasses.

"Greetings," she spoke, with far more emotion in her voice than her male counterpart. She walked up to Shibi who simply gave her a nod in reply. She eyed the crying baby and took him from Shibi's arms.

"His name is Naruto. I'm sure my messenger relayed the details."

She nodded to her husband and lifted her one free arm, the long sleeve sliding off to reveal an already prepared baby bottle with formulated milk in her hand. Naruto managed to finish half the bottle before passing out. "Now that he's out," she said, "we should get started. I have already selected a nice colony and his room should be prepped by now".

"Your assistance is most appreciated, Shina."

She smiled happily; something only a female Aburame was capable of. "Well, he is my son correct?"

Shibi nodded, "That is correct."

Just then, a woman walked down a staircase and confronted the two: "His room is prepped and ready for procedure." She spoke almost as warmly as Shina. They both nodded and proceeded to follow the woman upstairs.

They arrived into a room that looked like a hospital room prepped for surgery. Shina placed Naruto on the bed and started hooking him up to life monitors, IV's, and a breathing mask. She pulled a bag of type O blood from a cooler that had been there, connected the blood to a vein in Naruto's arm and stepped away.

A man soon walked in holding a cage with hundreds of the kikai insects crawling around. He handed it to Shibi and walked back out of the room without muttering a word. Shibi walked up to Naruto, opened the kikai cage, then placed his hand on Naruto's chest. His hand began to glow green and the insects began to file out of the cage. It wasn't long before Naruto was covered in the insects, except for his face, which was covered in the breathing mask. The cage was virtually empty except for one last insect, the apparent queen. Shibi removed his hand and then let the kikai finish their work.

The kikai were marking him with pheromones as a way of familiarizing their new home. A moment later, blood began to seep through, underneath Naruto. It became impossible to see what was happening due to all the insects covering Naruto. A few minutes later the bed was soaked with blood and the amount of insects on Naruto had decreased by half. Shina had already replaced the blood bag twice but this was a good sign. He was leaking less blood than normal. About three fourths of the Insects had burrowed their way into Naruto; the queen had also receded into his body by this point.

Another two hours passed and the process was completed. Now that the insects had all gone into his body, his skin was revealed to have dozens of small holes all over his body from the neck all the way down to his shins. He was breathing peacefully like nothing had even happened. If it wasn't for the deep sleep inducing serum she dropped in his bottle earlier, his response to the insects would have been somewhat different.

Shina walked up to Naruto and picked him up and took him to a recovery room. Shibi followed. She placed him in a crib and wrapped him up in some blankets. She turned to face Shibi, "This little guy is going to be out for a few hours, even with his healing capabilities."

"So you noticed as well. It must be the chakra of the Nine-Tailed Fox."

Shina nodded "do you think the Fox's chakra will close his entrance holes?"

"No I do not believe so. The kikai secrete a special liquid that heal the flesh around the holes. The Fox will not heal where there is no need too." (Think of how your ear heals when you get your ears pierced. Your ear has a hole but it's still healed at the same time. Same principle here.)

Shina nodded in agreement, "Well, we should leave him so he can rest. Why don't we go check on Shino I'm sure he will be delighted to hear he has a brother."