A/N: Self-Inserts are definitely like a fourth slice of cake for writers: you know you shouldn't eat it but damn, it's just so good you have to. This is my first ever SI fic and it's something that has been brewing in my mind for a while now. I'm very happy to be writing this and would first like to thank you for choosing this story to read!

If you love diversity and representation as much as I do then you've come to the right place! Eventual pairings will include M/M, M/F, and F/F (gay, straight, and lesbian). This story will be rated T for now but may or may not be rated M later on, because this is Naruto we're talking about so you all know what that means: gore, graphic violence, swearing, mature themes, the feels, fluff, etc. You're gonna get a whole emotional roller coaster ride, but don't worry I won't hit you with everything just yet. The ride is just starting!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto; I only own my original characters.

Chapter 1: A Promise

Loving my new family wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.

Of course, a huge factor in this process was that I couldn't really remember my old life - less that of my old family. Still, I had my reservations with my new family because of the fact that I knew that these weren't my "true" family members. So I did what any sensible person would do in my situation: I cried.

I will be the first to say that I was a very sad baby - well, initially. I cried in my free time which was basically in between intervals of sleeping and eating. The worst part was that I couldn't even cry loudly, like a normal baby would. The only thing I could produce were these pathetic little whimpers that made one tear every other whine. It was pretty weak for crying standards, but depressing, nonetheless. I had been reincarnated into the world of Naruto, a place I had only ever seen through a screen. I found this particular fact out when I recognized the Konoha leaf insignia on the forehead of one of my parents. How I was able to remember nearly all of the details from a show I happened to like, yet remember nothing about the ones I had held so dear to my heart was beyond me. Shouldn't it have been the other way around? And if anything at all, shouldn't have reincarnation made me forget everything? A clean-slate is sort of a requirement for this kind of thing, so why had my trip not gotten the memo?

These feelings of unhappiness in my small being, felt ill-placed because the tears I was crying had no real reason to be there. There was no purpose to their presence because I couldn't even remember who they were for...only for who they should be for.

It was more heartbreaking than one would realize.

However, my feelings about my situation began to change - being around a group of people every moment of every day tends to make them grow fond of the heart.

My weak attempts at crying caused a kind of worry that every parent fears: the unknown. They had absolutely no idea what was wrong with me and went through every possible solution to try and solve my dilemma. They tried feeding me, but I refused each bottle attempt and they could only change my diaper so many times. Trials of trying to put me to sleep were a tricky situation for me, being a baby and all. The rocking was almost hypnotizing and even won sometimes, but it always resulted in me waking up with silent tears and hiccups. Eventually, my new parents brought me to a doctor and after some strange prodings of feeling something but not, we came back home with them having no answers as before. It was at this point that I was sure they would stop trying to help me. I was a sucky baby and I was putting them through so much, so it would make sense if they didn't try anything more - I mean what else could they do?

My new parents seemed to have came to a different conclusion. It was the day after the checkup that they began their new tactic. The morning started off as usual, with me waking up with tears in my eyes and when my whimpering finally made its appearance, they acted on their plan. It was my mother who picked me up, I couldn't really make out exact details as my baby vision made everything blurry, but I could tell it was her because her long hair tickled my face and she smelled of something sweet. She picked me up and laid my head on her shoulder and rubbed her hand in a soothing motion on my back. "I am sorry I cannot protect you from whatever sadness you are feeling Hoshito-kun. I cannot promise that you will not ever feel sad again, but I want you to know that I will always be there for you. We shall get through this together." Whispering softly in Japanese, a language I didn't yet understand but easily recognized, made the sadness in me lessen. I didn't need to understand what she said to know that they were all words of love.

She did this until I fell asleep again.

Next when I woke, I repeated the routine process of whimpering - but I noticed the weight in my chest had lessened. It was a slight relief, but it was definitely noticeable. I was once again picked up out of where I had been lain down and found myself in the arms of my father. He had a minty smell to him. "Tears are words the mouth cannot express. I understand that something is weighing heavily on your heart and I will try with all my might, to alleviate that weight. I wish for your happiness, Hoshito-kun." as he spoke, I noted how nice his voice sounded - a rich, smooth tenor. He put me on his shoulder, in a position similar to what my mother had done, with one hand on my back and the other on my diaper-padded bottom. Soon he began to pat me in in a soft, steady rhythm. He did this until I stopped crying. It took me awhile to fall back asleep, as I was slowly encompassed with a new feeling: safeness. I couldn't fathom how they could love someone who didn't belong in this world...but, I guess in their eyes I was just their child.

The thought brought me unexpected comfort.

These actions proved to be the most healing to me. When all other solutions had failed, they had still managed to try yet again and come up with the most simple - and arguably the most complex - solution: love. They didn't know the reason for my tears but that didn't stop them from being there for me. It's indescribable to explain how utterly uplifting it is just to have someone's presence there, just for reassurance.

My heart soon began to fill with the thought of those two...my parents.

It was a handful of whimper sessions before I finally got over what I term as my "adjustment period." I accepted what had happened and I knew there was nothing I could do to change about it. There was no sense in crying over what I lost as it was more important to treasure what I had now. These were my parents now and I would love them just the same as I loved the ones back in my home world. They at least deserved that much.

My world suddenly shifted yet again when I realized just where I was in the Naruto universe.

The information presented itself in the form of a little baby - or more specifically, my twin.

I'd like to say I was aware of the fact that I had a twin, but in all honesty I was - just until recently - too busy spending most of my time trying to cry successfully. I believe I was roughly around five months old before I became aware of my twin. This age brought more control of my limbs, or rather more range of movement to wildly fling my arms and legs about, and improved eyesight. Improved in a very loose sense, as things could still be fuzzy at times but details were definitely more seeable. The Japanese language was something that I was grasping rather easily and by this I mean I understood at least five words. It helped when your parents pointed out everything in the house. I was currently being carried by my mom or kaa-chan when I was brought into their bedroom and it was then I first saw my sibling. The first thought that ran through my head was: holy shit my sibling is Naruto. The baby had golden hair and vivid blue eyes and oh no. If Naruto was my sibling then wasn't it a matter of time before my parents - no, our parents…

I nearly started whimpering again when I noticed a dash of purple. There clipped into the baby's hair in a completely ridiculous, yet oh-so-cute-alfalfa-ponytail was a purple bow. The next thing I noticed were the baby's cheeks...there were no signs of whiskers.

This was not Naruto.

The feeling of relief that washed over me was overwhelming. I had just gotten over losing people I couldn't remember and I didn't want to go through losing someone that I did remember. Pushing my initial feelings and thoughts aside, I began to look at the baby and figure out who this was.

Well, if the baby wasn't Naruto then who could this-

Ino.

The answer came to me so fast I nearly choked on the mental whiplash. If this baby was Ino then that means I was going to grow up in the timeline of Naruto! This fact brought both feelings of dread and happiness. On one hand, I would be able to grow and become friends with the Rookie Nine, but on the other hand I would also be going through the all the hardships they suffered as well.

And boy were those hardships a shitshow.

However, my presence changes things. From what I could remember, Ino Yamanaka was an only child and here she had a sibling: me. Would me being born have any ripple effects on other events? This thought turned into another and I found myself wondering what was it that I could change? The question brought an onslaught of events and possible scenarios that was too distracting from the task at hand. It wouldn't bode well if I just blanked out so I stopped my train of thought, mentally making a note to return to it later.

Right now, I had a twin sister to meet.

Kaa-chan put me down next to Ino and we stared at one another. It was blank staring for a couple of seconds before Ino gave me a gummy smile, showing off a single stubby, pearly white tooth growing on the bottom gum line, before gurgling in gibberish.

I melted.

In my past life I didn't remember much of my loved ones, but what I did know was a couple things. One of those things was that I absolutely adored children. Ino was making a pretty convincing case as to why I should love her with my entire heart. I spoke back to her with a smile of my own, jumbling my words together in a manner that resembled hers and vaguely resembled my past language, before reaching out and patting her cheek as softly as I could.

Ino paused her blabbering to grab at my hand and it all clicked for me. So that's what I was grabbing when I slept; I always assumed it was part of a stuffed animal or something.

Ino continued to blabber on and that's when my parents began to speak.

"Inoichi," Kaa-chan gushed in an excited tone, "look at how cute they are together!"

Ah, Inoichi. Although it was plausible there could have been another Inoichi in Konoha, I'm pretty certain that this was Inoichi Yamanaka - further confirming that I am Ino's twin. In the anime, I had always liked his character and thought of him as one of Konoha's more formidable ninjas. Being one of the head of Torture and Interrogation shinobi, meant you had a lot of skill. Extracting information straight from someone's brain was no easy feat and I was honestly excited to be taught the clan's mind jutsus. Not to mention he was part of the legendary team formation, Ino-Shika-Chō. This deadly combination was one of my favorites and I couldn't wait to get to learn from him. Plus he was my dad so that obviously comes with bragging rights on who my dad was.

"We made some beautiful children together, Aiko." Inoichi spoke and it wasn't hard to hear the affection in his voice, "I'm also relieved that our little Hoshito-kun isn't so sad anymore. It's good to see him as a happy baby - as he should be."

Aiko? Was that my mother's name?

Thinking back on the anime, I don't think they ever mentioned the head matron of the Yamanaka clan. Hmm, I didn't know much of anything about her character but from what I could tell she was very loving. I was actually very interested in getting to know her more. Hoshito-kun must have been me. I noted the use of the endearing term of "-kun" and mentally cheered. Thank god I was a boy. In my past life I had been a boy too and it was just a relief that I was a boy in this world as well.

"His smile really brightens up his face doesn't it," Aiko's voice held warmth but it was tinged with a somber undertone, "I hope his smile never changes."

The tone of her voice made me pause from my riveting conversation with Ino. My parents were obviously talking about me, but I had no clue of the context of their conversation. I was suddenly pulled out of my thoughts as something wet engulfed my hand. I squealed, a high pitched sound that was half-disgust and half-amusement, as I tried to pull my hand out of Ino's mouth. My parent's laughter filled the room, Aiko's bell-like giggles and Inoichi's surprisingly deep chuckles, which only served to spur my twin into chewing on my hand in earnest. I made an indignant sound as her single tooth met my skin, but fortunately the feeling it brought was not a painful one. It was more like a poke, if anything. I made a series of noises, urging Ino to let my hand go, and tried to pry my hand out of her grip. But Ino was surprisingly strong and my hand was the rope in our mini tug-of-war. I like to think the reason why I couldn't successfully free my hand from her grip was because I had the strength of a baby. Yes, that's what I will tell myself.

I really shouldn't have lost myself in my thoughts, because at that moment Ino decided to attack.

Ino gave me a one-toothy smile, her periwinkle blue eyes sparkling at me with joy, and the image was just too damn cute I lost my focus for a second. That second was enough for her to yank my hand towards her mouth. My eyes widened when I realized what she had planned. Ino was only a baby and she had already managed to trick her way into getting what she wanted.

I think I'm going to like having her as a twin.

Well if this was how she was going to be, then two can play at this game! Just as my hand neared her mouth, I flipped our hands' positions and watched in satisfaction as her own hand landed in her mouth. Score! Ino, however, didn't realize that I had switched our hands and happily gnawed away at her own hand. I watched in amusement as her drool quickly covered her hand and how in between bites she would pause just enough to babble at me in gibberish. I hummed and patted her head, but my aim was a bit off and it resulted in me patting her forehead instead. Dang, where was my physical prowess ability when I needed it?! I just used it not even a couple of seconds ago with the whole hand switch thing!

Geez, being a baby again will take some major adjusting to get used to.

My parents' laughter filled the air again and Ino mummored happily against her hand. So this was my life now, huh? Reincarnated into the Naruto world with full knowledge of all the events that were bound to happen. No, not bound; they were events that could happen. So far I already changed something and was now the twin brother of Ino. Sitting there, listening to the sounds of joy coming from my new family, I made a promise. I would do my very best to protect the light and love in this world, just like the light and love I was feeling in this room. There was too long a list of terrible and tragic things that had happened in the Naruto world. I knew it was impractical and illogical to think I could stop everything bad that was supposed to happen. Also how unlikely it was for me to have such strong feelings on the matter, but here I am.

I wanted to protect them. I wanted to protect them all, as many people as I could from a future that could be so dark. It was a daunting task, I know.

But, I had to try.

So try, I will.

A/N: A nice warm cup of hot chocolate for your thoughts about this so far?