Chapter 2: Odd Ball

Seven years had passed since that fateful day Naruto was adopted into the Aburame clan. The sun was shining the birds were chirping and there wasn't a cloud in sight, it was a perfect spring day.

Virtually every child was out playing, with the exception of two boys. One had dark brown bushy hair a bage long sleeve shirt with dark brown pants and wore pitch black sunglasses. The other boy had spiky blonde hair he wore a long sleeved orange shirt with dark brown pants that stopped at his lower calf. He topped that off with sunglasses with a dark blue tint as opposed to jet black ones. They were lying on the floor inside their clans training room breathing hard.

"Hey Shino what do yah say we go one more round?" the blond one asked rather loudly.

Shino was still trying to catch his breath from their last bout and having to fight another round didn't sound enticing. "Sorry Naruto but I'm at my limit, besides we should focus more on training with our kikai rather than Taijutsu every day." Shino says in a similar fashion to his father.

"Yeah maybe you're right, it's just training with the kikai is so much harder. Taijutsu is pretty straight forward you just gotta learn a bunch of different kicks, and punches." Naruto says while punching his fist in the air to further emphasize his meaning. "With the kikai you need to make complex strategies and coordinate all the insects at the same time while defending off your opponent. It's just way to tuff."

Shino adjusted his glasses. "You give yourself far too little credit Naruto. In our sparing matches with father I have seen you perform some how should I say, unique strategies."

Naruto gave Shino a puzzled look "unique, what do you mean unique?" he asked curiously.

"Well you do use our clan's style correctly, but you always seem to add your own twist to it." Shino says in a matter of fact tone. "As many times' that I have spared against you, it's never the same your unpredictable." Shino concluded.

Naruto cocked his eyebrow. "I'll take that as a complement, so since were done sparing for today what should we do?" Naruto says irritated his brother didn't want to continue sparing."

At that same time both boys' stomachs gave a loud growl.

Shino stared down at his gut. "I guess that answers your question Naruto. We have been training for so long lunch must have slipped our minds. What do you say we go into town to find something to eat?"

All the happiness in Naruto's eyes faded for just a second, but do to his dark blue sunglasses went unnoticed by Shino. "I don't know about that, you know how I feel about going into town everyone is always glaring." Naruto says while trying to hide the remorse in his voice.

"Yes but they stare at everyone from our clan, people fear what they don't understand." Shino says trying to console his brother at the same time pitying the village for not thinking logically.

Naruto shook his head. "No it's different when they stare at me, when they look at you they just get creped out. But when they stare at me there's hatred in their cold eyes."

Shino lifted himself from the ground, and Naruto mimicked his brother "I guess that means your decision is final? If that's the case lets go to the kitchen and see if we can find something to elevate our hunger." Shino says while heading for the door. "It's too bad though I really would have liked to go to that ramen shop" he added.

Naruto stopped in his tracks and turned to face Shino. "I changed my mind, besides who cares about a few stares anyway?"

Shino nodded to his brother knowing full well he would take the bait hook line and sinker. 'Naruto maybe unpredictable in battle but when it comes to his stomach he has a one tracked mind' Shino mused to himself.

"Hey Shino whatcha yah waiting for?" Naruto says while opening the door to leave the training room.

"My apologies, I was lost in thought." Shino replied bluntly.

"Yeah whatever let's just get going already, I'm starved" And with that the boys made there way out of the Aburame mansion and into the village.

(A while Later)

As Naruto expected he was greeted with the usual stares of hatred, and the occasional name calling but he ignored it. Nothing was going to spoil his mood, not when he was about to gorge himself on ramen. They eventually made it to Naruto's favorite food stand Ichiraku ramen. The two of them were greeted by the friendly shop keeper and his daughter.

"Oh why isn't it my favorite customers, how have you two been?" the old man asked happily.

"We've been great old man me and Shino have been training like mad lately." Naruto says enthusiastically. "We want to be at the top of our class when we join the academy" he explained.

Shino simply nodded his head in agreement.

"I'm sure you two will make splendid ninja" the young woman says while handing them menus.

Naruto and Shino took their offered menus and started to scan through them. It didn't take Naruto too long to find what he wanted. "I'll have two bowls of beef ramen" Naruto practically shouted.

Shino took a little more time to decide. His mind was playing a little game of tug of war with chicken flavor on one side and shrimp on the other. He analyzed the pros and cons of the two and ultimately decided on shrimp. "I'll have two bowls of shrimp ramen" Shino says plainly.

"Coming right up" the girl says while taking back the menus.

Naruto turned to his brother and tried to spark up a conversation; which was a hard feat to do in public. "So uh Shino have you worked out any new strategies with your kikai?" Naruto questioned, even though he wasn't practically interested in knowing.

"Actually yes I have run through a few different scenarios and matched a plan of attack according to the situation. Their more suited for one on one encounters, but they are diverse enough to use in almost any situation." Shino concluded.

"That's cool I wish I could plan that far ahead. You're a lot like father he's always planning way ahead and talking about having an ace up your sleeve. I just make it up as I go along makes things a lot more simple."

"Well I can't say I agree with your logic, but I won't discredit your methods either. You have managed to best me on numerous occasions relying on instinct as opposed to logic." Shino says while examining an ant crawl across the table.

At that moment a tiny beetle landed on the ant and proceeded to devour it.

Shino shifted in his stool to stare at his brother. "Perhaps you should try harder to keep your kikai under control?"

Naruto just smiled at Shino "aw this little guy was just hungry." Naruto says while extending his index finger to summon the insect back.

A few minutes passed in silence and the old man and young woman returned with four steaming bowls of ramen. "Here you go kids eat up" the young woman says as she sits two of the bowls down. The old man also sits two bowls down and whips out two towels, and hands them to them.

Naruto and Shino took the ramen and towels graciously and thanked the man and woman. They place one towel over one of their bowls of ramen and placed their hands underneath the towel. Unknown to anyone that walked by underneath the towels were hundreds of kikai beetles feeding on ramen.

Naruto was eating his ramen at an inhuman speed. He finished his large bowl of ramen in just a few minutes. Shino on the other hand was biding his time and eating at a much slower pace. At this point Naruto was working on his third bowl when two kids about his and Shino's age walked in. One had brown hair and was quit plump, while the other had black hair tied into a spiky ponytail.

The heavy set kid was practically dragging his friend in. "Come on Shikamaru I'm telling you this place is great" the big kid says trying to convince his friend.

"This is troublesome Choji we were already at my house we could have just eaten there." The spiky haired kid said lazily.

They both took their seats with Choji sitting next to Naruto and Shikamaru next to Choji. Choji eyed the blonde boy next him and noticed the boy had his hand underneath a towel that was caped over a bowl. He didn't really think too much on it but what did catch his attention was the two empty bowls in front of him and noticed he was working on a third "not bad." Choji commented.

Naruto looked up from his bowl and stared at the chubby kid "you say something?"

"I was just saying I'm impressed not many people would eat three bowls of ramen in one sitting. Too many people are concerned with their weight theses days."

Naruto looked the boy up and down "well I can see that you're not concerned with your weight."

Choji's eyes twitched "and just what do you mean by that?" he asked while leveling Naruto a dangerous glare.

Naruto saw the anger in the boy's eyes and knew what he said came out wrong. "Sorry I didn't mean anything by it honestly." Naruto says while waving his hand out in front of him.

Choji calmed down "forgive me it's just I lose my temper when people call me fat. I'm Choji by the way Choji Akimichi and this is my best friend Shikamaru Nara."

Naruto looked over passed Choji to look at the spiky haired kid whom was now sleeping with his head on the counter. Naruto quirked his eyebrow, he didn't quite know what to make of the kid. 'Who falls asleep that fast' he thought. "Uh looks like your friend is tired" Naruto says while pointing to the sleeping boy.

Choji turned to face his now sleeping friend. Choji sighed before he slaped his hand on his forehead "sorry he does that sometimes." Choji then proceeded to shake Shikamaru to wake him up.

Shikamaru slowly woke up from the shaking and calling of his name. "Why did you have to wake me I was enjoying that?" Shikamaru grumbled irritably.

"I wanted you to meet" Choji turns to Naruto "actually I didn't catch your name."

"Naruto Aburame, and this is my brother Shino" Naruto gestures to the boy next to him. Shino turns to face Choji and Shikamaru and simply nods.

Shikamaru looked both boys over for a minute with a bored expression before he spoke "are you really an Aburame?"

Naruto looked a little puzzled "you mean me?"

"Well of course, I have seen my few shares of Aburame before but none with blond hair or that talk as much as you. Your brother is a perfect example of all the Aburame I have encountered." Shikamaru says in a droning tone.

Naruto looked offended. "So what I guess I'm a little different, do you need proof or something?" Naruto proceeded to remove his hand from underneath the cloth but was interrupted by the shopkeeper.

"So what can I get you and your friend Choji?"

"I'll have three bowls of beef ramen" Choji whole heartily answered.

"And I'll have a bowl of miso flavored ramen" Shikamaru says with a yawn.

"Hey old man how about another bowl of beef ramen" Naruto yells.

"Sure coming up."

Choji took Naruto ordering another bowl of ramen as an unspoken challenge and ordered five bowls instead of three. It was his pride as an Akimichi to out eat anyone no matter the circumstances.

This didn't go unnoticed by Naruto 'so he thinks he can eat more ramen than me we will see about that.' Naruto thought with a toothy grin.

Twenty minutes later Naruto and Choji were tied with nine bowls each. Shino and Shikamaru were amazed that they had consumed nine bowls and were working on their tenth and showing no signs of faltering. Even the shopkeeper and his daughter were amazed Naruto and Choji usually only ate seven bowls on their best days. Another twenty minutes passed and they were now on their fifteenth bowl and both of them looked ready to blow chunks.

Choji knew he was at his ropes end. He couldn't believe someone not from the Akimichi clan was going toe to toe with him in an eating contest. Stealing his resolve Choji readied himself for another bite than he saw what he didn't expect Naruto eyes rolled to the back of his head and he passed out face first into his bowl of ramen.

Shino merely shook his head before he pulled his brothers head out of the ramen to keep him from drowning in it.

Shikamaru just looked at the unconscious boy and shook his head "troublesome."

At that moment Choji gripped his stomach and ran to a trash bin and hurled, after his barfing round he too passed out.

The shopkeeper sighed before he turned to his daughter. "Ayame would you mind looking after the shop? I need to get these two to the hospital." Teuchi took off his apron and hat walked around the counter and picked Naruto up fire man style, and held Choji the same way on his opposite shoulder. "Let's get going you two" he says motioning to Shino and Shikamaru they nodded and followed the man.

(A few minutes later)

They were standing in front of a nurse in the emergency room. Teuchi had laid the unconscious boys in chairs and was speaking to the nurse. She had to hold back a bit of laughter when she heard the story but knew the situation was a bit serious.

She walked to were the boys were seated to see their condition for herself. When her eyes met Naruto her blood began to boil and she thought about refusing the boy treatment, but decided being on the bad side of the Aburame clan wasn't worth it. She called for two stretchers and two nurses came with the stretchers and wheeled the boys off.

Teuchi told the boys he needed to get back to the shop and wished Naruto and Choji the best of luck. Shino and Shikamaru made their way to the waiting room and waited for any news on their friend and brother.

Shino had decided his parents should know what happened to Naruto and sent a messenger insect to find them. Shina had arrived about twenty minutes after Shino sent his messenger, and demanded to know every thing that happened. She was shocked to find Naruto could be so reckless, and that Shino did not stop him from consuming half his weight in ramen. Shibi was away on a mission and would find out the details later on. Shikamaru had left when Shina arrived to retrieve the Akimichi's.

The Akimichi's arrived just as a nurse came out to tell them the news. She looked at her clipboard and said "who are the parents of Akimichi Choji?"

The two Akimichi's stood up "we are I am Choza Akimichi Choji's father."

The nurse nodded while looking over the clipboard in her hand. "Very well, your son is awake and in stable condition and can receive visitors if you would like to see him. Choji had suffered from a mild case of hyperphagia, and will not be able to eat solid foods for about a week and a half. He will be held in the hospital for two days. His room is on the third floor room three D. The Akimichi's and Shikamaru nodded and preceded to the room were Choji was.

"Next we have Aburame Naruto he is also awake and in stable condition. And seems he too suffered from a slightly more severe case of hyperhagia. He has the ok to have visitors but it looks like he's going to be in the hospital for a few days. You're welcome to go see him if you like; he's on the third floor room three F."

Shina and Shino nodded and walked in the direction of Naruto's room.

(Meanwhile)

Naruto was lying on a bed bored out of his mind, he never quit had the patience the rest of his clan seemed to have, and couldn't stand not doing anything for more then five minutes at a time. He soon started planning how he would escape when his eyes fell upon his window and he grinned like an idiot. 'I guess that will do' he thought as he got up from his bed and opened the window. Looking down he started to second guess jumping from a three story building. But shrugged the thought when he spied a near by tree. Naruto cracked his knuckles and prepared to lounge for the tree but stopped when he heard the sound of someone clearing their throat. He turned around to face a glaring Shina well at least he thought she was glaring behind her dark shades.

"H-hey mother I was just getting a little fresh air is all" Naruto says sheepishly.

Shina merely raised her eyebrow "that's a relief, and here I was under the impression you were attempting to escape." Shina says with obvious sarcasm in her voice.

Naruto gave his mother a huge grin "you know me to well."

"I suppose I do and the last thing I want to hear about are more escape attempts is that clear?" Shina says while narrowing her eyes on Naruto.

Naruto nodded to his mother, one of the few things he would want would be to upset his her. As nice as she was, she could also be scary at times when provoked.

"Good I'm glad we have an understanding. Furthermore I have been informed you will stay here for a few days."

Naruto groaned and crossed his arms, and was about to protest. But his mother raised a hand to silence him.

"No arguments Naruto you have gotten yourself into this predicament and you must face the consequences. But try not to be so disappointed you can use this time to build your patience. You will find soon enough that not every mission you receive will be entertaining.

Naruto didn't argue with that logic if he couldn't become more patient he would die of boredom on long uneventful missions. He would devote himself to becoming more patient, more like an Aburame for that matter.

Naruto had always known he was different from his family he never questioned why. There was usually at least one odd ball in a family and it just so happened that he was that odd ball. No Aburame in their right mind would ever end up in a hospital from merely not knowing when to stop eating. Naruto came to the conclusion that he needed to change it was time to use brain over brawn. Naruto looked to his mother with determination in his eyes. "You're right mother I should look at this as an opportunity to improve myself. I have made a lot of dumb mistakes because I didn't think logically and assess the situation correctly. But no more I promise I will change, and make our clan proud."

Shina stared at her son for a minute before walking to his bed and sitting down. "Naruto I'm proud you want to better yourself, but you do not have to change who you are to do so. We are who we are and you have nothing to be ashamed of. So you make a few mistakes here and there but everyone does it's what makes us human. If you never make a mistake you will never learn anything."

Naruto cast his head down not daring to look at his mother. "Today a kid accused me of not being an Aburame I don't know why but it hurt. It made me fell like I truly didn't belong"

Shina had expected this but didn't think he would take it this hard. Her son was ready to completely change the person he was simply from one comment. She could tell Naruto truly loved his clan if being told he wasn't one of them affected him so much. But none the less she had to nip his doubt in the bud. "Naruto try not to dwell on what was said to you. Believe me when I say you are as much an Aburame as Shino your father and myself. So you may not be quite, sheltered, and mysterious' but as much as people seem to think that's not what defines being an Aburame."

Naruto looked back to his mother "than what does define being an Aburame."

Shina gave her son a small smile "I will leave that for you to find for yourself." Shina kissed Naruto on the cheek and stood to leave. "Rest well Naruto as soon as you get out of here your training will commence." She added.

Naruto gave shina a nod, and then turned to Shino who had said nothing the entire time.

Shino simply said "see you soon" and exited from the room and their mother followed after him.

Naruto was about to dose off to sleep seeing there was nothing better to do when he heard a knock on his door. "Come in" he yelled.

A nurse walked in to his room "Ah good I caught you awake. I have come to inform you, that you have been assigned a room mate. I hope this doesn't inconvenience you." The nurse said a bit apologetically.

Naruto shrugged. "Nah at least I'll have someone to talk too."

"Good to see you're not upset. I was told Aburame members liked their privacy."

"Don't worry about that you'll find I'm different then most Aburame's." Naruto replied dryly.

"I can see that, I'll be back in a few minutes with your roommate." The nurse left and closed the door behind her.

Naruto wondered what his roommate would be like. Would they be young or old, civilian or ninja numerous probabilities were racing through his head until his door opened.

His nurse came in pushing a gurney with a young girl on it. The girl had short dark midnight blue hair with pale skin and seemed to be sleeping peacefully. The Nurse placed her in the second bed occupying the room. She then walked over to Naruto "her name is Hyuga Hinata. She was suffering from a severe case of chakra exhaustion but she should be awake sometime tomorrow. Do try and be nice to her I was told she was the heir to the Hyuga clan. And getting on the bad side of the Hyuga is not something I would advise." With that said the nurse left the room, leaving Naruto to his thoughts.

Naruto looked over to the sleeping Hyuga and wondered what she would be like. He had never met a Hyuga personally but had heard plenty about them. Supposedly they were a bunch of snot nosed pricks. But he couldn't picture this girl being anything like that. He decided he would just have to wait and find out tomorrow and finally let the long awaited sleep take over him.