Naruto Littlespace!!!!

Team 8 Little Info

A/N: Hey! I talk about child abuse a little bit in the Hinata section of this chapter (because, easy to forget as it is what with how it's handles in the show, but her father's relationship with her is abusive!) So like, tread lightly if that's something that'll bother you. It's mostly mentioned in the first and third bullet and not anywhere else.

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Hinata

-is definitely a little. When she's young (original Naruto, not Shippuden) she has almost no control over when she regresses so she does it during school, during training, alone at night in her room etc. If her dad catches her doing it he'll shut down her chakra channels that are responsible for holding the transformation jutsu because "she needs to stop acting like a little kid" and sometimes she's still in the headspace she just isn't visibly little. It's a terrible experience.

-Her little age ranges from 1-4 (think, just starting to walk to starting to read kids books out loud.)

-When she regressed in class Iruka would send her to the nurse. Sometimes when he could get someone to watch the class for a few minutes he goes to visit her. He's deeply disturbed that she uncontrollably regresses because like, she has not seen combat yet. What's causing this? He is one of the only people to investigate the Hyuga clan before Neji's churn exam speech. He immediately went to the Hokage and told him she needs to be on Kurenai's team, because she will be a good and stable parent figure which Hinata DESPERATELY NEEDS and also because he doesn't know about Asuma but Kakashi and Gai would probably murder Hiashi for doing this sh*t.

-When she's placed on team 8 Keeb n Shino already know about her regressing based on the number of times she was excused from class. Unlike some of their other classmates tho, they do not make fun of her for it, Shino because there are members of his clan including himself who regress, and Kiba because when he asked his mom why Hinata kept turning into a preschooler she told him it was a trauma response and how he should treat her in that headspace: that is, like a little sister. He gives her a hug the first day of training (an awkward side hug, because he's still trying to be cool) but it comes with a murmur about how he's going to keep her safe.

-Thankfully, she doesn't regress during sparring ever. She seems a little bit in her element moving with and against her teammate's attacks, which Kurenai hopes will mean that she'll be fine in actual battle.

-Sometimes she'll regress shortly after sparring, esp if she was sparing with her dad recently because she's just Panicked. Kiba'll pick her up and coo to her, sometimes put her on his shoulders and run around or let her pet Akamaru (the last of which will instantly calm her down.)

-Shino will regress with her to be her playmate. He'll take her to a playground or a garden and point out interesting bugs. They do this mostly in their down time rather than during training or anything.

-If Hinata regresses toward the end of a training day Kurenai will take her to her house to hang out and destress before sending her back to the compound. Hinata loves it there! Kurenai is a good mom figure and she has activities for a little kid to do (early reader books, toys, even a wooden kitchen set and rocking horse—they were all in the attic because Kurenai's dad never got rid of anything and Kurenai inherited that trait)

Kiba

-Is a big more than he is a little. He would be a kickass older brother and I feel robbed that he interacts with kids so little in the show.

-He is a little bit rough sometimes, he will see three year old Hinata or Shino and be like 'y'all wanna wrestle in the mud??' just because that's how he spent a lot of his childhood

-HOWEVER he is still very ok with doing whatever the kid wants to do. Hinata wants to use the family sake set as a tea set? Shino wants to sit and watch ants carry food into their hill? Little Naruto wants to go paint Hokage Rock? He's there.

-He and Kurenai bond over being bigs. Both of them feel immensely protective over the little members of their group.

-As he gets older he experiments with actually regressing himself, but for the most part he has other ways to let off steam (like training or running with Akamaru.) He has achieved little once or twice while Shino has been around to be his Big. He likes feeling like a kid, without the responsibilities his adult self has, but at the end of the day he feels better caregiving.

Shino

-When he's young he goes little fairly often. It's simultaneously how he deals with being so different from his classmates and makes him more different, in that he's one of the only regressors and he is even more quiet and more covered in bugs than he usually is (his littler body forces more bugs out of himself and onto his skin and clothes than usual.) It's not as uncontrollable for him as it is for Hinata, like he'll be able to wait until after school to go little.

-In his clan this is treated as ok, more acceptable than in the Hyuga clan at least, but they try to ease the teenagers out of it as they get older by teaching them different coping mechanisms. They're like metamorphosing backwards is unnatural and a little concerning but if that's what you gotta do to be a functioning member of our hive clan you do you babe!

-His favorite activities are hanging out with people (his family or anyone who will spend time with him, cue Iruka again) and/or bug related activities. He will go to the river and count how many dragonflies vs damselflies he sees. He will bring crackers and leaves to anthills to crumble up and offer to the ants. He will find chrysalises and put his kikaichu there to protect them until the butterfly/moth inside emerges. Through all this wandering, he's really difficult to keep track of if you let him out of your sight for one moment because he is fast and completely silent.

Kurenai

-Like 99% big 1% little

-She loves taking care of any and all littles, including the ones in her team, the ones from other teams, the ppl from her generation, the list goes on. More than once Kakashi has come to her little just to vibe with her.

-Already mentioned it but her shelves are stocked with little kid stuff. People a little more ignorant of the little phenomenon just think she babysits a lot (which, in between missions, she will do)

-She had only regressed once before she n Asuma got together, and that was a couple of days after her dad died in the nine tails attack. Tsume found her and took her to her house to help take care of Kiba for the day, which helped her feel better.

-After she n Asuma started dating, he talked her into the idea of trying to regress. He poured some juice into one of the sippie cups she kept around for Hinata and got her a soft blanket, they cuddled up on the couch and he read her some kids books. it was relaxing but she wasn't sure she actually slipped into littlespace. When she asked why he wanted to do it he said he wanted to know what abt caring for people appealed to her.