Uzumaki Naruto is not stupid. Regardless of what people think about the blonde nuisance, she actually rivals the Nara clan members when it comes to their intelligence. She's been living under the guise of an idiot, for her own safety.
A class clown, the academy’s laughing stock, and the village’s pariah.
She’s been hiding in the form of a loud and obnoxious blond boy, instead of a strong, smart, and graceful young girl. She knows that being the most hated person in the village, as a girl she’s been in more danger than being a boy. That’s why she accepted Sandaime's suggestion of altering her physical appearance. She’s been a boy, as far as people know.
Uzumaki Naruto knows why she’s hated. She knows about the nine-tailed beast inside of her gut; having met the demon when she was five years old. Bloody and an inch to death. She met the ancient creature when a group of drunken civilians were chasing her on the day of the Kyuubi festival. Shouting profanities, addressing her as a demon as they throw knives and stolen kunai that she knows they didn’t own.
Apparently, being drunk sometimes can help a person’s accuracy in throwing things. She got nicked at her thigh that slowed her down until the angry villagers caught up to her. They punched her, kicked her, and stabbed her many times. The abuse only stopped when a lone Anbu with silver hair interfered. The group were taken to the T&I, which she found out after being in a coma for about a month.
Naruto could honestly say that her first meeting with the thousand old fox was, for the lack of better words, anticlimactic. Everyone portrayed the beast as destructive, which was true, and an evil incarnate with the inhumane deed it had inflicted on the village. People only like to believe what others say, and since the majority of the population is fed with the belief that tailed beasts are evil; they would like to think so.
However, only Naruto knows how much of a human Kurama is than most of the people of Konoha. She found out that the fox was forcefully ripped out of her mother during childbirth, and he was controlled by a masked man with sharingan. The destruction of Konoha and the death of hundreds were because of the image presented by the sharingan user that inevitably pushed the buttons of the fox. Kurama was then sealed by the Yondaime inside of his daughter’s baby self, and wasn’t that mind boggling?
The very same people who worshipped the Fourth Hokage as their hero, were the very same people that scorned his only daughter because of one fucked up decision her father made. It was not by choice that she became a human sacrifice. It was not by choice that her father wanted her to be seen as a hero. It was not by choice that she’s hated for holding something that’s currently saving the lives of thousands. It was not by choice that she was branded as a jailer.
Sometimes, she wishes that she was never born as the Fourth’s legacy. She would have been far better off born from a civilian family, or a small shinobi clan. She sometimes hated being born in general.
Uzumaki Naruto hides under a mask. Just like her tenant, she’s an expert when it comes to trickery. Everyone knew her as someone who wears their heart on their sleeves, but everything was just a mask to prevent people from finding out the real her. How can she trust those that would ridicule her with everything she does, with her true self?
The only people that she can actually feel herself loosening up a little were Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba, Shino, and Hinata. Even though the Hyuuga heiress was too afraid to speak up for herself, she was never scared to protect her from others. But even then, she can’t muster up the courage to act as her true self in front of them.
Other children from the academy that was outside her friend group would call her annoying, stupid, idiot, a freak, and sometimes a monster. A mundane task such as breathing in one of her classes, would get her called out by the teachers and be punished with standing outside the room.
How can someone with a profession that involves teaching children, ignore one innocent child? Sabotage them, and not offer the same treatment as they did with others?
She tries hard to get the lowest grade possible, makes mistakes when it comes to taijutsu, and purposely fails when it comes to a clone. She ignored the people’s mockery as she failed yet another test. The other students were taunting as another teacher scolded her.
All of it was for the sake of a measly security because people let their guard down around stupid people. That’s why she had to act as one.
When the day of the graduation for new genins came, Naruto honestly thought she would be satisfied even if she failed. She didn’t care if she failed, not become a genin, and would forever remain as a civilian but she was bummed out when the council rigged the results of the unfair teachers to make her pass. Uzumaki Naruto became a genin.
What better way to utilize the village weapon than making her a ninja, right?
Naruto was placed in a genin team consisting of the arrogant and stuck-up Uchiha, the loud banshee pink-haired fangirl, and the laziest pervert jonin to date. Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and Hatake Kakashi.
The very next day that the jonin cyclops passed them as his students, his first lesson was about teamwork. Those who break the rules are scum but those that abandon their friends are worse than scum.
Where was that when Naruto had to do all of the work when it comes to their D-rank missions? Where was that when Sakura would berate Naruto for making a little mistake while the fangirl would not even do the bare minimum? Where was that when Sasuke’s constant belittling of the blond boy in disguise would cause animosity to the team for the rest of the day. Where was that when a client would blame all the misfortunes of the failed work to the student who did not even make a single mistake, but chose to shoulder the burden of getting scolded for her teammates’ ignorance.
Where was that when all the team seven’s favorite pastime was to abandon an unhappy child, making fun of her for being an orphan, constricting her for doing her hobby, and for blaming her for everything wrong that happened. She actually expected a lot from the former Anbu captain, her genin instructor. She knew the moment they met inside of the classroom that Hatake Kakashi was the one who rescued her; that time she nearly died when she was five.
She was hurt and disappointed when the silver haired jonin didn’t do anything to reprimand Sasuke and Sakura’s mistreatment towards her.
Naruto thought that nothing could be more painful than hoping that at least in a team wherein everyone should be treated as family, she’s been treated far worse off than ever.
Naruto just wants to vanish. Disappear from the living world, and meet her parents in the afterlife. No one would miss her anyway. Not the academy teachers, not her classmates, not her teammates, not even her genin instructor who was her father’s former student.
No one would miss a hated child with a demon sealed in her gut.
No one would miss Uzumaki Naruto.
Her failed attempt in taking her own life has increased over the years. Everytime she deemed it appropriate to enact her plan, someone would always interrupt her. Kurama, Hokage-jiji, and even Shikamaru.
Always Shikamaru, her lazy friend who would be there when she least expects it. Making her day a bit brighter with just his presence, and a bout of his common phrase of troublesome.
Her suicidal tendencies lessened when she met her godfather, who she didn’t know was her godfather at that time. If it was not for her tenant, she would never know. She trained under the self proclaimed super pervert, and had signed a summoning contract within the first hour of their first day in training.
When the chunin exams ended, the very first thing that Naruto did was to reveal the fact that she was a girl. She dropped her mask as the village idiot, revealing a strong and smart young teen under that awful orange jumpsuit.
Team 8 actually took the revelation positively. Turns out, Hinata knew since the very first time that the blonde rescued the Hyuuga heiress when she was being bullied. She asked her father for a possible reason on why the Uzumaki would pretend to be a boy, and the answer confused her but nonetheless she obeyed. Her father told her that there are secrets that the village was willing to prevent the newer generations from finding out, and that she should help Naruto in keeping up with appearances. She dedicated a lot for the Uzumaki, even going as far as faking a crush to keep the people from finding out her real gender.
Shino found out Naruto’s real gender after they had been paired up for taijutsu. His bugs unconsciously draped themselves unto the blonde in disguise as they were tempted to get a taste of the abundant chakra the Uzumaki possesses. The intel that Shino’s bug relayed shocked him enough to lose focus and to give up a match against the prankster. Later when he got home, he had a talk with his father and was ordered to never tell anymore what he found out, and that he should also help the girl. Shino would always have a bug stuck to Naruto’s shoulder so he can be informed if harm would come her way.
Kiba, surprisingly, found out the very first day at the academy. Even as a ninja-in-training with a fresh out of the bucket ninken, Kiba has the most talented nose to have ever graced the Inuzuka clan. When Naruto introduced herself in front of the whole class, and she was using a pronoun that should only be applied to boys, Kiba was tempted to call her out. However, after witnessing that his classmates would whisper something bad about the sunshine child, he withdrew his tongue and opted to observe first. He found out that Uzumaki Naruto was the most hated child in the academy. She would get punished for doing something that other children would only get a warning to. After concluding that telling her secrets to people would only complicate her life further, Kiba took an oath to never reveal her gender.
Team 8 took Naruto's protection seriously, and they used it as team bonding after they found out that all of them knew about Naruto being a girl.
Team 10 was surprisingly cool about it. For Choji, it doesn’t matter if Naruto was a girl, or a boy. She was still the same prankster and a dear friend that would defend him against people that bullies him for his body. The same person that would sneak in snacks for the Akimichi, and the same person that would get in mischief with him for skipping classes. She was still Naruto, regardless of her gender.
Ino, however, had a mild tantrum when she found out. It might have been a jab to her pride as the village’s gossiper to not find out about this earlier on. Unknown to her, Naruto was actually glad that the pale blonde didn’t find out when they were still at the academy as it would spread like a wildfire the very second that Ino discovered her secret.
Shikamaru, for his part, knew about it halfway through their ninja program. He was always wondering that there was a certain mannerism of the loud kid seated in front of him that was way too soft for someone of his kind. He would get a whiff of a scent from the girl in disguise that was way too feminine, and he always thought that the Uzumaki’s features are too delicate. He got the answer when he accidentally caught the blonde buying sanitary products that only girls use, and that’s when everything clicked into place. How no one from the village found out was shocking.
They could honestly believe Naruto being a girl, but they were more surprised to find out that she actually had brains that rival the Fourth Hokage when it comes to intelligence. (No one needs to know that they were father and daughter, and that the smarts were actually hereditary.)
Among all of them, Shikamaru was the only one not surprised. As a lazy student that doesn’t exert effort to be acknowledged as the smartest in his class, he could recognize when someone is trying to purposely fail their education. For someone as observant as Shikamaru, Naruto’s attempt to be seen as an idiot was anything but subtle.
The only one who took the secret a little more personally was her very own teammates, Sasuke and Sakura. Sasuke got mad because of his inferiority and superiority complex. (How he managed to have both was a mystery.)
He always feels like even though he won every taijutsu match he had with his blonde teammate, he could never catch up to her. It was a great blow to his ego to find out that he was being beaten by a girl, and by Naruto no less. The village’s prankster and their class deadlast was actually smarter and stronger than an elite clan heir like him.
Sakura, of course, got mad because she thought that she had another competition when it comes to the last Uchiha’s affection. She called out Naruto for being a freak and a slut for attention once she got over her shock. She screamed hysterically as she threw every bit of insult there is known, while simultaneously goading on her crush’s bruised ego.
Naruto expected that Kakashi would defend her but was disappointed when he just vanished before he got to hear the horrible things that the pink haired genin was saying.
Naruto pushed down the depressing thoughts that evaded her mind, and focused on bringing back the slug princess. When Senju Tsunade challenged her to complete rasengan —her father’s signature jutsu— to honor their bet, she finished the task within a week. She won the bet against the busty alcoholic sannin, fought Orochimaru together, was given the First Hokage’s necklace, and went back to the village.
Konoha whole heartedly welcomed their Fifth Hokage, Senju Tsunade.
Shikamaru got promoted by the council into chunin, and so was Naruto. Half of the council was against the Jinchurinki’s promotion but her advancement in rank was supported by the clan heads, and the Hokage. Tsunade fought tooth and nail, and was very proud at the ashen look of the Kyuubi haters when she threatened them into submission. In the end, Shikamaru and Naruto were the only ones that became chunin in their batch, and Naruto requested to be pulled out of team 7.
Naruto has never been happier the moment her shackles to her former team were removed, but of course all good times had an end. She was immediately assigned as Shikamaru’s co-leader in a team full of their genin batchmates to retrieve Uchiha Sasuke after he deserted the village.
The team consists of Akimichi Choji, Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuuga Neji, and she also mentioned that Rock Lee should be included. When they were about to leave for the mission, Naruto was approached by Haruno Sakura. The fangirl made Naruto promise to bring Sasuke back to her. Of course, the blonde chunin refused her unreasonable request.
“Naruto, please promise me that you would bring Sasuke-kun back to me.” Sakura begged, crying crocodile tears as she stumbled upon the rescue team at the tall gate.
“No.” Naruto immediately refuted, not sparing a look at the shocked genin as she checked her pouch for missing shuriken.
“What?!“ Sakura shiereked, her face becoming red in color. “You have to bring Sasuke-kun back to me or else!”
“Or else, what?” Naruto retorted in a bored attitude. “Need I remind you Haruno that I am above you in rank, that means you have to obey me. No means no.” She turned her body to fully face the offended genin.
“Don’t order me as if you have the rights. We are not friends. We are just former teammates with no bond at best. You can’t expect me to tolerate your bitchy attitude when I had to endure it all the time when I was still in team 7.”
In a chilly tone she lowered her voice to a loud whisper, “I am ordered to bring back Uchiha Sasuke by my Hokage, and that’s not you. If we failed the mission, then I can only proudly say that we did our best. What would happen to both of you from here on out is none of my business so back off.”
She turned her back to the village to begin her mission. She could hear the banshee screaming profanities at her but she could hardly care. In the end, the retrieval of the deserted genin was a failure, and almost all of them landed in the hospital to recuperate. After she was discharged, she joined Konoha’s spymaster on his travels, and she was gone for three whole years.
Naruto had never felt more free to be away from the place that only caused her heartache.
—
Nara Shikamaru is unnaturally observant. As the heir to a clan that produces head strategist throughout the generations, his mind runs for miles a minute from constant thinking. He may be lazy, but no one recognizes that it was a way to preserve his observations as he stayed watching from behind the scenes.
Shikamaru’s first thought when Uzumaki Naruto’s introduction on their first day in the academy reached his ears was too loud, too cheerful, too troublesome.
He kept it to himself to stay away from the loud child as he thought, too bright. They haven’t spoken to each other, Shikamaru went as far as ignoring the prankster in their first year as ninjas-in-training. He created an unusual bond with the blond child when he witnessed the Uzumaki defend his best friend from his usual bullies.
Shikamaru hummed to himself, not bad.
The second thought that went through his mind when he closely observed Naruto as a friend was that hiding the pain was much easier with both eyes closed, a wide smile with eyes falling shut.
He noticed the way his friend would flinch with every insult, would cower away as they looked at the child with hateful gazes, and how Naruto would hide the discomfort with awkward and sheepish laughter. Shikamaru hates seeing Naruto like that, it hurts him.
Shikamaru was nine years old, halfway through the ninja program, when he realized that he had a crush on Uzumaki Naruto.
He, Nara Shikamaru, had a growing affection directed towards Uzumaki Naruto, the village pariah. Troublesome.
He realized his feelings after finding out about his supposed male friend was actually a girl with just a boy haircut.
He spent the whole night thinking and thinking why he couldn’t get the thought of his blonde friend out of his mind. How he gets bothered when she gets hurt. How he gets anxious when the guys at their class would get friendly with her. How he gets angry when someone bad mouths her.
How he experienced first hand the feeling of getting butterflies in the stomach when he caught Naruto smiling. Not her usual wide fake smile but a small yet sincere one. Shikamaru likes Naruto, and he’s come to accept it.
Shikamaru was just a newly promoted chunin and 13 years old when Naruto went out of the village to train for three years.
He spent the night before Naruto’s departure holed up in his room as he came up with what to write in his going away letter that he will give to the blonde before she leaves. He settled with his usual trademark of troublesome, and a nervously constructed paragraph confession about his feelings.
He sent Naruto away with a shy open it later, and a meek and quiet please come back safe to me, troublesome blonde.
It was not for another week, a week since Naruto left the village, when he received a reply for his first letter. His parents’ amused and fond gazes sent his way went ignored as he felt giddy for the following days when he read the contents of Naruto’s letter.
I like you too, Shikamaru. We could try to date, if you’re okay with long distance?
Ps: I can call you my boyfriend, right?
-Your troublesome blonde
Shikamaru is so smitten that he could feel himself melting.
.
Shikamaru just turned 17 when his girlfriend of three years came back to Konoha. Naruto’s hurried scribble of I’m going back in a week was enough for him to be in a frenzy for the rest of the day as he planned a romantic dinner for just the two of them. He also promised to bring Naruto to the Nara compound to introduce her to his troublesome parents who wouldn’t stop bugging him about being in a relationship.
His father’s comment of Your mother and I would like to meet Naruto, followed by his mother’s threat of If you don’t bring her home, you find yourself another mother was the only motivation he needed to follow their command. So troublesome.
When he waited for Naruto at the gates, he could feel himself falling in love all over again at the sight of the woman he’s been dating for years now.
Naruto ditched her usual orange jumpsuit and replaced it with a short sleeve kimono-style blouse that was orange in color but burnt instead of neon. Her kimono was held closed with a Nara green obi over a mesh shirt with a pair of black shorts and brown shinobi sandals. Her once short hair now reached her waist and she wore her forehead protector with a high ponytail. The spikes of her hair perfectly framed her slender face. Naruto pulled the outfit perfectly even when the colors would clash on other occasions.
All in all, Shikamaru could feel the judging gaze of his teammates when he ended up getting a nosebleed. His heart's erratically beating heart soars at the genuine laugh that came out of Naruto’s mouth.
.
Shikamaru was 19 years old, two years after the Fourth Shinobi War, when he proposed to his longtime girlfriend on a busy day as they had another ramen date in Ichiraku. It has been almost a year since they decided that they are ready to take a step further into their relationship. They bought an apartment away from the heart of the village as they continued their new rank as jonins of Konoha, and joined the Anbu. They were now widely known as the famed Golden Kitsune and Shadow Demon, the deadly duo of Konohagakure.
Shikamaru has been steadily getting used to his new position as clan head after the death of his father, and Naruto started her own spy network to honor her master. Even with their schedules tight, they make time to spend at least a decent hour or two in each other’s company and would make sure they sleep in the same bed after their usual exchange of I love yous.
With Naruto by his side, Shikamaru finds himself content. However, his stable line of thought was disrupted when he looked at the form of his sleeping girlfriend one fine morning and realized that he wanted to wake up next to her for the rest of his life. He wanted to have her as his wife, the next Matriarch of the Nara clan, and the eventual mother of his future children.
.
Shikamaru was one month away from turning 22 years old when Naruto, his wife of two years, announced her pregnancy while he was buried deep writing his report from their last escapade.
After the attack of Pain –the leader of Akatsuki– Naruto was slowly getting recognized for who she is and not because of what she holds. Even then, both Shikamaru and Naruto were not comfortable living inside the walls of Konoha with their unborn child in line. They both resigned as ninjas and turned their back from the village to live a normal life.
Shikamaru might be a loyal Konoha-nin, but he was more loyal to his wife.
Naruto might have been accepted and acknowledged, but the pain and scar in her soul inflicted by the villagers will be forever etched in her heart.
.
Shikamaru and Naruto were 22 years old, expecting their first child when they left Konoha and never came back.
-END-