uzumaki shira | naruto

Shippuden Act 25

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Naruto had always believed that his twin would always be his. Sure, she would make some friends that she would hang out with whenever he wasn't at home. Then, she might as well pick up some hobbies to pass the time on some days. However, did he expect for a day to come when he had to share her constantly? On a daily basis when he could barely have her attention?

At first, he really was kind of skeptic with the team thing when they graduated from the Academy. Heck, if he wasn't so nice, he would have dragged his sister away the moment he noticed how that Pervy Uchiha seemed to spend the entire class by her side. Naruto dismissed it at first, believing that Shira would never give that guy the time of day.

So when did the both of them become the best of friends? Well, technically, they never said it outright and they weren't the typical type of best friends either. But over the years, he accepted that Sasuke (the Pervy Uchiha), Sakura-chan (whose pink hair he really likes), and Kaka-sensei (another Pervy one) would be subjected to his precious sister's affection.

It took him a really, really long time to accept it even though he wasn't obvious about it. Reminiscing about the old days, the very thought of his younger self caused him to wince. Was he really that much of an idiot as kid? Well, yes, as much as he hated to admit it, to be honest.

And he accepted, albeit with as much difficulty as the first time, that all his friends would receive Shira's affections as well.

But it never crossed his mind that his sister would pick up four strays when she had been away from the village. In the first place, Shira wasn't the type of person who would make friends on her own free will. Unless there was no other option, she'd rather laze around all day than socialize. In fact, she already warned him and the rest of Team Seven after that fiasco with Kumo.

In the beginning, it puzzled them when his sister informed the team that she would be at the gates if they needed her so Sakura-chan asked, "The gates? What will you be doing over there?"

Exasperation painted her features. "I have to pick up four, well, three idiots before they rampage in the village." And she just... flashed away. A moment of panic overcame him because he wasn't over the fact that Shira once abandoned him, even if it had been false.

Was it bad that he had abandonment issues because of that? No, not really. It was perfectly justifiable. After all, the person who had been with him since day one, one day walked away saying he was weak. Honestly, he hated her for that but he couldn't keep doing it forever. Every day, he reasoned with himself that maybe, just maybe, she did it for a reason.

And, she did!

She did it because of him but it didn't change the fact that what she had done traumatized him for life. Naruto would most likely panic whenever she disappears in a flash or if she didn't tell him where she was going first.

Like right now.

"Naruto, we just have to go to the gates. C'mon." A loud and painful smack echoed in the tea house where all of them had been eating at. Sakura-chan's strength was over the top sometimes. Couldn't she tell how strong her hits were?! And when he looked at her, he realized; yes, she was unaware how hard she was hitting them.

He appreciated it though. It definitely snapped him back to reality and stopped him from full-blown panicking in the middle of public. Sai sent him a look of what seems to be like sympathy as he followed after Sakura-chan and the Pervy Uchiha didn't even give him a single glance.

That made him snort but he still caught up to them. "Those four idiots... could they be the ones we saw when we encountered Itachi?" Naruto eyed his rival, noticing how he said his brother's name. There was no hint of hatred or distaste like he expected. Could something have happened that he wasn't aware of?