Shadowed Sun

No One

This fanart was drawn by Aszel96 on deviantART. Thank you, friend. 

We were six years old when we moved out of the orphanage and into our own apartment. Grandfather Hokage, or Grandfather for short, had given us the very same apartment from the manga. The only difference being that he had a door installed in between two of the apartment rooms and gave us each a separate one. He then told us to write down everything we needed and wanted for furnishings, where he would then give the list to one of his shinobi, and they would furnish our apartment.

Naruto and I were close as any twins were at that age. He was my rock and my sunshine and I adored him endlessly.

He loved me, so very dearly, and I loved him. We were virtually inseparable. He seemed to retain the same personality I had always imagined him having, and my personality then developed to contradict his—to complete him almost.

Where he was loud, I was quiet. Where he was rebellious, I was docile. Where he was mischievous, I was unfailingly polite.

We decided to just share a bed, and use the money limit Grandfather had given us to buy something else: a garden.

We would use one apartment room for eating, sleeping and all other necessities, but the other we would use for miscellaneous purposes. The room had a skylight and with some of the money, we eventually made a sort of indoor garden.

Our treatment from the village wasn't as bad as I feared it would be. Yes, there were glares. Yes, there were muttered curses. Yes, we were kicked out of quite a few shops, but no one raised a hand against us. Or well, no one actually landed a hit on us. It could have been so much worse.

And after we moved into our new apartment, we would begin our time at the academy.

Something Naruto and I were both anxious for.

"Whadd'ya think it'll be like?" Naruto asked in our newly furnished apartment, a cup of steaming instant ramen in his hands.

"I dunno," I answered. "Jiji said he picked out our teacher 'specially for us. I hope they're good."

"They will be, considering Jiji," Naruto said happily. "I bet they'll be super smart and super strong too."

"Maybe," I allowed. "Demo, Nii-chan, are you still going to prank?"

"'Course," Naruto declared, slurping up his noodles.

I smiled. At first, I thought perhaps I should discourage Naruto's prankster ways—as it wouldn't help him gain anyone's respect or love—but the thought was quickly dismissed for multiple reasons.

Naruto loved his pranks. He loved being a rascal; it always cheered him up and made him happy. I couldn't frown upon something harmless that made him happy. Not to mention, it was a surprisingly good training method.

When I explained this to Naruto, it probably redoubled his efforts in pranks. If he could continue to come up with ingenious pranks and mischievous ploys, targeting only shinobi and able toescape the shinobi—he'd become a master at escape. Not to mention it would seriously improve his stealth if he was able to stay unseen by shinobi while wearing such a bright color like orange.

And it allowed his more imaginative and creative spirit to run amuck, something all shinobi would need in the heat of battle. I didn't doubt that his genius ingenuity to come up with brilliant plans in the midst of battle was because of his pranking past.