Enji Todoroki has a brother who never gives up and shines like the sun.
Naruto Uzumaki is reborn as Todoroki Enji’s brother.
Enji's older brother and, like in his previous life, Naruto refuses to let his circumstances limit him.
Sure, he CAN do the formal stuff… but why the hell should he. It’s obviously not making his parents happy… or his grandparents. Why should he want to carry on doing something for things he doesn’t value that he KNOWS will just make him unhappy?
Nope. He is going to be himself. He is going to be loud, cheerful and happy and, if his parents can’t cope with that, they don’t really deserve to be parents.
He’s not going to let his baby brother grow up with a stick shoved so firmly up his butt he spits splinters.
He is going to LIVE and GROW and be HIMSELF.
He is NOT going to be picking up the slack for Naruto (now Hirohito - abundant benevolence. It sort of suits. Rather than a flaming Quirk like Enji, Hirohito harnesses the power of the sun. When active his Quirk bathes his skin in a radiant aura, like the corona of the sun, yellow gold ‘flames’ dancing harmlessly over his skin. His eyes turn yellow gold as well and his hair shifts acid blond to orange-gold like a living flame. Being around him makes a person feel good, uplifted but the sun can be harsh as well as life-giving and in that mode, the flames turn redder and so do his eyes. They scorch all around them, particularly the target of his wrath.
He never uses that mode unless he is deadly serious.) simply because he chooses to be his own person rather than let them squish him into a box of expectations. He deserves BETTER than that and so does Enji.
Enji grows up with his own personal sunshine to counteract the coldness of the ‘relationship’ between he and his parents and grandparents. They have more or less abandoned their efforts to ‘shape’ the eldest son and so are targeting Enji for their plans.
And Naruto’s not having it. Nope. No way. Children are more than just something to dump your expectations and ‘legacy’ onto. They’re little people with plans and thoughts and dreams of their own.
Naruto learned quite a bit while wondering with Pervy Sage and more in Hokage training.
Just because he’s sunny of personality and speaks a little roughly doesn’t mean that he’s stupid or gullible. Shinobi tactics work well against those who aren’t expecting them.
Even so, the hot-headed Enji grows semi-catering to the ideals of his parents and grandparents.
It’s just… his brother has more say and more sway. People instinctively LIKE Hiro (who insists on being called Naruto) even when his Quirk isn’t in use. He’s warm and welcoming and completely unpretentious. People just relax around him.
Enji can’t do that and feels intimidated trying to live up to such an example, despite being told constantly ‘you do you. I’m me and trying to copy someone else never works as well, so you do you instead. Be Enji. Be the Hero you want to be but do it properly.
What does it MATTER if All Might is more popular? What you SHOULD be focusing on is WHY he’s more popular and do you want to do that just to try and reach him?
Think about it. Think hard. Is that who you are? If not, do something else and put your focus there instead.’
It sort of sticks but then his parents come along and pour their toxic nonsense into his ears with the grandparents backing them...
Enji goes to school again and gets a fire safety qualification, specializing in forest fires and their control and management.
He still presents a stern public image but he is careful to keep the collateral down. To make sure his takedowns have exactly the force needed and no more. To ensure that any harmed or made homeless or businessless by his fights are cared for until they can get back on their feet and any orphans are properly homed and cared for… he WILL be checking.
If he asks his brother to oversee that side of the business, it’s just common sense and Naru doesn’t mind at all.
Essentially, while he’s a powerful Hero he is also a RESPONSIBLE Hero. His brother would stand for nothing less.
When his parents push their sons to accept the matches they’ve arranged for them, it’s only Enji who agrees, tentatively.
He wants to meet the girl first and see if she’s amenable.
After all, his brother is right in that, although his parents work well together, they don’t love each other. They tolerate each other at best and play little spiteful games trying to manipulate each other.
That is NOT the sort of life he wants.
Especially when he has the stress of being a Hero on top of everything else.
Naruto refuses any match outright.
They threaten to disinherit and he smilingly advises them to go right ahead. He has never needed or relied on their name, heritage, or influence and the only reason he hasn’t already left is Enji.
He would have loved and treasured them if only they’d been open to it. They were not and so he’s not going to keep kicking a corpse to wake it.
He will care for them in their old age because they HAVE housed, fed, and given him access to education. He’ll give them that much. The grandparents… hmmm, no. They’re his parents to deal with and have fun with that.
When Enji moves out, he will be too.
Naruto isn’t thrilled that Enji is going to accept what looks very, very much like a Quirk match but he told his little brother, point blank, that if he did this he was going to treat the girl like the Queen she is!
Arranged match or not, he’ll date her properly and ensure she is comfortable enough in his household that she can uphold her part of maintaining a household.
Their kids will be treated like the little people they are and allowed to grow and choose their own paths or Naruto will know WHY!
Don’t make him pull out Therapy no Jutsu. He’ll do it if he has to!
(Even without Chakra, that still works. Naruto has frenemies, allies and friends everywhere because of that. He might look like an overly cheerful, optimistic sunshine idiot but there’s a brain under there and it works. It’s actually quite cunning and no one sees it coming because the cheerfulness isn’t a facade. That’s how Naruto actually IS.
It’s sort of funny to watch… well, when you’re not on the other end of it.
No one knows that Naruto was one of Nedzu’s students. After all, he didn’t attend U.A.
No one but Enji, who worked it out for himself and kept his mouth shut because he values his dignity thank you very much…)
Rei doesn’t mind Enji… but the real draw of Enji is that he comes with a brother who is sunshine incarnate… and not just for his Quirk.
He’s warm and welcoming and not the least bit interested in her as anything other than a new family member… more's the pity.
Enji is handsome but he’s volatile and she, who has been raised in sequestered quiet and calm, has NO idea what to do with a volatile person. She doesn’t know how to deal with it… but she’s willing to learn and the tips and tricks shared by Naruto help. They help a lot.
She wants this to work.
Enji is… awkward but he’s willing to try. Part of that may be that his sunshine brother has promised to tan his behind like a hide if he doesn’t but there are other parts.
They ‘date’ for two years despite both sets of parents pushing.
Rei is just lucky her brother-in-law to be has impressed upon his younger brother to strive to be his best in all things, up to and including his personal life, rather than settle for the tolerance or cold formality either set of parents have achieved.
His parents didn't particularly want Enji to be a Hero but now that he is…
Matching him with her was his parents' attempt to tip the balance back towards them.
She… isn’t inclined to let that slide. She will NOT be one more duty. One more thing he has to carry. She’ll be as much of an equal partner as he’ll let her be.
Oh no. She’s invested now, isn’t she?
Rei is timid at first but slowly she begins to settle, and begins to show her sparkling brilliance.
Despite the arranged match and her broodmare status, both Enji and Naruto encourage her to try doing things she’s always wanted to do but was never permitted to. She takes singing lessons and art lessons and all sorts of other lessons trying things.
Some, she lets go as she’s not good at them and she doesn’t care enough to press on anyway. Others, she keeps despite the fact she’ll never be a master. She gets pleasure from doing it.
She can sing now and dance a little. She wants to dance with Enji. To make displays with fire and ice and capture the moment in a photograph or a video. She wants to see if he can keep his fire steady enough to power a small kiln. She wants to play with their Quirks, rather than just using them in his Hero work (outside of his very silly fiery facial hair.)
She wants to make snow flurries and ice sculptures. She wants to show and explore how beautiful ice can be since she was never permitted to before.
She doesn’t want to be Elsa anymore. Not when she can be the Snow Queen in her full glory instead… She wants to learn Enji’s private side and find her own so she can share it with him.
Naruto is all for it.
He wants both of them to grow, not just as people but as partners, together.
She’d like that. She’d like that very much.
Touya is born and he’s a Mama’s boy.
Enji isn’t quite sure what to do with him.
Don’t get her wrong. He does love his boy it’s just… he’s not very good at emotional things (despite the fact both of them are going to a private therapist. Naruto is too out of solidarity but she has no doubt he’s got his own issues to sort.) or situations.
She still has to initiate most of the contact between them because he’s not very good at reading cues that way.
Emotionally Constipated her charming BiL calls it.
He’s proud of her and of his son though he has to be coaxed into holding him and helping with the domestic side.
Since he can’t take time off yet, Naruto steps up again. It’s so much easier with three of them.
He takes over the night feeds using bottled expressed milk while she and Enji get what rest they can.
It’s working… sort of.
Three years later Fuyumi is born and, from the get-go, she takes after her mother.
Mixing fire and ice isn’t easy and their children are collecting the fallout.
Touya’s Quirk is powerful but doesn’t fit his body.
Fuyumi runs a little too hot for an ice user and her snowflakes melt quickly.
Natsuo… they aren’t sure. He doesn’t have the toe joint but there’s never been any sign of a Quirk.
Both brothers are getting worried. Three children is a lot and even spacing them out, pregnancy is hard on the body.
Both sets of parents are still pushing for that legacy child though.
Rei made a deal. She’d try one more time and, if it happens it happens. If it doesn’t, well, she’s not risking her health simply because the parents want their dual legacy child.
It’s an unmitigated disaster from the get-go.
She’s carrying twins.
And her body is objecting.
Strenuously.
She’s so, so sick and losing weight alarmingly. Enji is talking about bringing in a nurse to tend her she’s so bad.
Then, while on her way to see her brother and his match, to see how they’re going, there is a Villain Attack and her car is knocked off its wheels and rolled.
She’s in hospital for over a week and, despite being nearly three months gone, she lost the babies. The miscarriage hits her compromised systems hard.
Enji puts his foot down. No more harassing her for more children from either set of parents.
Naruto backs him. Children should happen because they are loved and wanted. Not as trophies or accidents.
The parent sets back off, reluctantly.
Touya is nearly sixteen when she falls pregnant again and it’s a shock to all.
This pregnancy is hard but nothing on the one before it.
She will NOT be having anymore after this, even if she has to have the internals removed.
It proceeds as normal as a pregnancy can, though she developed pregnancy-induced diabetes.
Shouto is born a little premature, like Touya was, but otherwise healthy.
It looks like the parents might actually have finally gotten the grandchild they wanted.
Shouto’s hair is perfectly split red and white. He also has full heterochromia.
Enji’s parents are gone in a mysterious plane crash. He’s still coming to terms with that.
Even so, Shouto will grow and do what he wants… just like all Enji’s other kids.
Naruto will accept nothing less and neither will Enji and Rei.
Touya is getting Hero training because he WANTS it despite his difficulties.
Natsu wants to be a medic and attended U.A. in the General Studies course.
Fuyumi wants to teach of all things.
And Shouto? He'll be whatever he damn well pleases.
NONE of the children will be having a match set up for them.