Hey everyone! Wow. Eight reviews in 24 hours and over 300 hits. Most of you guys really enjoyed my work (I think) and someone is planning on my demise. But a flame every once and a while doesn't hurt, but an overflow is just a buzz kill. Anyway, I want to thank darktank, Demon32835, RasenganFin, nmcrazy, JSai, kreanna211, and TGChaos for reviewing the chapter and also Cyber-Porygon for adding my story to his C2. And now onto the next chapter in Aura.

Stranger

Five years later…

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Naruto's eyes burst open at the shrieking noise that has filled his apartment. He jumped out of bed ad rushed to the sores, panic growing within his heart.

"Aura!" He shouted, nearly breaking down the door of a room to find a little girl, cowering in the corner screaming for dear life. "Aura, What is it? What's wrong?" The blonde girl pointed to a spot in the middle of the floor with a shaking hand. The shinobi looked down, but couldn't see anything. After concentrating on the spot for a few seconds, he spotted a small spider making its way towards the small girl. "Aura, its only a spider, nothing to be afraid of." Said Naruto, picking up the arachnid and throwing it out of an open window.

"Oh…okay…" whispered the little girl, embarrassed about how she reacted earlier.

As you may have guessed, this little girl is Aura Uzumaki. She was just like what she was when she was born, lavender eyes, blond hair, cream skin, and a face that can melt even the coldest of hearts. She grew out her spiky blond hair and wore it in pigtails and her father even notices faint marks on her cheeks, similar to his own. Aura's personality was definitely something she shared with her parents. When meeting someone new, she would be shy and cautious, just like her mother. But once she becomes familiar with the person after a while, she becomes hyperactive and loud as well as hotheaded, just like her father.

Naruto noticed that his daughter felt bad about blowing the whole situation out of proportion; after all it wasn't her fault that she was afraid of spiders. A thought crept into his head.

"But now that I think about it, it could have been a deadly juju spider." Aura looked and her father with confused eyes.

"What's a juju spider?" Naruto slowly walked up to his daughter, a devilish glee in his eyes.

"Why they tickle you of course!" The shinobi picked up the girls and began to tickle her profusely, produce an abundant amount of bubbly laughter.

As few minutes later after all the tickling and laughter had died down, both Uzumaki stomachs growled very loudly. "Hey kiddo, I'll go get dressed and we'll go out and eat breakfast, okay?" Aura's face lit up and she cheered, running out into the hallway to get her shoes on.

"There going to be here any second now, you ready?" Teuchi asked his daughter, heating up the stove for the customers. She smiled and nodded, looking at the clock hanging on the wall. It was almost nine o'clock and the Uzumakis were due any minute now. Ayame began to remember how much work and effort Naruto had to do in order to take care of not only himself, but also a child. When she was born, Naruto cut down on everything in order to make time for him to spend time with and raising his daughter. Missions, training, even coming to the Ichiraku Ramen Bar almost disappeared from his schedule since he spent most of his time taking care and raising his daughter. Even through all that he still manages to squeeze in a mission or two and always managed to train, but still spent a majority of his free time with his little girl. But as she became older and began to eat more adult foods, Aura discovered the joys of ramen and now comes to the ramen bar as often as her father when he was younger.

As Ayame continued to reminisce about the past, both Aura and Naruto took a seat and were ready to order. Naruto changed out of his pajamas and slipped into a black shirt and his orange pants while his daughter wore a yellow sundress with a little green toad embroidered near the bottom of the skirt.

"Morning old man!" greeted Naruto with his usual smile.

"Hi pretty lady!" chimed Aura, her cheerful voice bringing a smile to the old man's face. Ayame smiled, she loved how Aura follows in her father's footsteps of coming up with names and still stays true and kind.

"Hello cutie, now what can I get you two?" Naruto thought for a second, not needing a menu since he knew it all by heart.

"I'll have shoyu with kamaboko." Ayame nodded and turned her attention to Aura.

"And what would you like, sunshine?" The blond took a few moments do decide, but came up with an answer.

"Chicken with cinnamon." Teuchi gave a gruff chuckle upon hearing this order, not that it was unusual but on how all the girls orders had that one ingredient. Cinnamon. Most children her age would always have something like ketchup or salt added to their meal, but Aura always added this particular spice to her meal no matter how bizarre it sounded.

The cook finished both bowls and handed the dishes to the famished customers. He couldn't help but chuckle as he saw both father and daughter wolf down their meal in the same manner, as if the two were mirror reflections of each other.

As the ramen cook was about to prepare a second course for the Uzumaki family, he noticed another figure take seat at the bar. Teuchi looked up to see a man, or at least from what he could guess, wearing a very large overcoat and every part of his body, except for a right emerald eye, covered in bandages. Ayame approached the customer with caution, feeling a negative presence emanating from this character.

"Can I get you anything, sir?" The bandaged man looked at her for a moment and replied in a gravely, yet calm voice.

"Yes, I would like soy sauce with teriyaki beef, please." Ayame nodded and had her father cook up the order. As the bandaged man was waiting for his meal, couldn't help but to study his surrounding. He soon set his eye on the little blond girl, finishing up the last of her meal. For some reason, this child seemed somehow familiar, but what truly raised his curiosity were her lavender eyes.

"Oh my, sir?" Said the masked man to Naruto, who was slurping up the last strands of ramen. "Is this girl your little sister?" The shinobi didn't like the sound of that question; he hoped that this guy wasn't some pervert.

"No, she's my daughter." Said the genin somewhat coldly. The stranger seemed to pickup on his unwelcomed presence.

"Oh, join the club." He said, pulling out of his robes a few pictures. The genin at the pictures and saw various shinobi, all ill in their late teens. But he couldn't tell if they looked like the guy, since he was bandaged up and all. "But I must admit, her eyes are absolutely stunning, where did she get them?"

"From her mother," said Naruto calmly, trying his best to be respectful of this strangers prodding questions.

"Ah, I see. Oh miss can I have my order to go?" Ayame nodded while the bandaged figure reached into his robe and pulled out quite a few coins. "I would also like to pay for their meals too." He said, handing the coins to the waitress. The man took his meal and bid the group farewell. As he went off into the other direction, Ayame noticed something odd about one of the coins.

"Hey, what is this?" She said, picking up a single coin. This sparked interest in Naruto.

"Mind if I take a look at it, Ayame?" The waitress tossed the coin to the ninja. Naruto examined the coin closely to see on one side, a snake biting its own tail on the border with a pentagram and a small ruby in the center. The other side showed some symbol that he didn't recognize. "Hey old man, can I borrow this for a while?"

"Sure, hell knows I can't take that as payment. The genin nodded and looked down at her daughter.

"C'mon Aura, we're going to have a visit with Granny Tsunade!" As the words left his mouth, the little girl wiped he mouth clean with the back of her hand, a habit she learned from her father no doubt, grabbed his hand and began to lead him to the Hokage's residence. The employees smiled at the child's antics and waved goodbye, but Naruto was already deep in thought. Whoever that guy was, he didn't come here looking for good ramen.

That was certainly interesting. Now I'm going to guess that you were expecting something that actually showed Naruto raising Aura and don't start ranting. I'm already finishing up the next chapter and it has a few flashbacks that helps explains a few things. And for the record, I don't hate Hinata, I really support the NaruHina couple, I just felt like trying something different. If you have any questions about where this is going, PM me and I'll try my best to answer without spoiling the story. See you next time.