The day before Solaris's tenth birthday found the blonde haired boy sweeping Valiant's shop. Hearing footsteps he looked up to see Valiant holding a smartphone, technology they didn't have here but did where Valiant used to live. The device fascinated Solaris and Valiant promised to get him one at some point.

He watched Valiant frown as he tapped the screen. "What's wrong?"

Valiant looked up from the phone and sighed. "Nothing really, just some stuff going on back in the west. They want me to take back my old position."

"You told me about that, you were something called a detective right? You solved crimes and caught the bad guys." Solaris said putting the broom away and sat at the counter.

"Yep but after a very good friend told me that I would be needed here I decided to pack up and retire." Valiant told him.

"You came here because a friend told you to?" Solaris asked.

"Well the friend was also a sensitive that said I was needed here; I think she was talking about you." Valiant shrugged. "I'm glad I did or I wouldn't have met my cute little student…..Hey Solaris, if I was to ask if you wanted to go back with me what would you say."

Solaris tilted his head slightly and with a smile said. "I'd ask when do we leave?"

"Would you want to go back with me?"

"When do we leave?"

Valiant looked at him hard with his ruby eyes. "Are you sure? I'm not leaving until tomorrow night, so you have plenty of time to decide if you want to come. I just don't want you to regret anything."

"There's nothing here for me, I'm not Naruto Namikaze, and I haven't been for a long time. This place isn't my home, I have no friends and my family treats me like a stranger, they don't even notice I'm gone most of the time. Like I said, there's nothing here for me….I'm Solaris Horizon." Naruto said looking out of the window and watching the people walk past.

"Solaris Horizon huh…..that sounds ridiculous you know? But it does have a certain ring to it." Valiant mused with a smile. He started to wonder what would have happened if he didn't enter Solaris's life. Would have gotten so fed up and ran away? Would he have started to walk the path of hate and swear to take it out on his family? Would his family continue to ignore him or see the damage they were doing and try and bring him back to them? "There's a party tomorrow right?"

"There throwing one for Hikari and Madoka yeah, all the clan heads and children are going to be there, I'm just an afterthought." Solaris said.

"You don't sound to upset about that."

"I really don't care anymore, I know this isn't where I belong, I am angry at my family, my so called god parents, Minato and Kushina's students all of them. But it's like that doesn't matter." Solaris told him with a confused thrown.

"Awwww you're growing up." Valiant said leaning over and pinching his cheeks. "Well at least emotionally, you're still the size of a seven year old girl though. But anyway you're right, as long as you can close the chapter of that life, it doesn't matter how but as long as you do then you should be fine. Just keep moving forward with your life."

Solaris looked at him for a moment before sighing. "You couldn't resist being dramatic about it could you?"

"Absolutely not," Valiant smiled, the sparkles came back.

"Stop doing that!"

"Doing what?"

Solaris twitched "Go jump off a cliff."

"How can my own student say such cruel things to me?" Valiant wiped a fake tear and sniffled.

The day of Solaris, Hikari and Madoka's birthday came along with the Kyubi festival. They were going to go to the festival then head back home for the party. Luckily Minato and Kushina let them go on their own; they could go through the stalls, play games and by food. Instead Solaris headed straight into Valiant's shop avoiding everyone. He saw the unnaturally beautiful man sitting behind the counter reading a book.

"Not enjoying the festival I take it?"

"No but what about you? I thought you would be out there playing games and eating sweets. You love all that stuff." Solaris said. He watched as Valiant put the book away and move out from behind the counter hiding something behind his back.

"Well I need to get everything prepared for when we leave. I also was waiting for my cute little student." Valiant told him then held out a present, "Happy birthday Solaris."

Solaris took the beautifully wrapped present that Valiant held out to him and put it on the counter. He tore into the wrapping with all the energy he only showed around Valiant. For such a hyper child like Solaris to be able to restrain himself so much around his family just goes to show how much they hurt him.

Lifting the lid off the box showed a collection of items, including some clothing. Valiant reached in and pulled out the clothes and boots revealing black pants, a long sleeved black turtleneck t-shirt and a black trench coat with dark orange lining. He also pulled out a pair of orange glasses.

"I figured if you were going to come with me then you might want to work with me as my new partner, if so you would need a uniform so to speak. These clothes aren't just stylish but also near impenetrable thanks to them being enchanted. Stylish and practical." Valiant told him and stabbed the clothes with a knife not leaving a single mark. "I can't tell you how many times this type of clothing saved my life."

There were a few other gifts, a couple of books, two enchanted knifes and his own smartphone. Solaris couldn't get the smile off his face even if he tried to. This had been one of his best birthdays ever, especially when Valiant brought out a cake he made.

"So we leave in a few hours, if you want to go home and get all your stuff then now is the time to do so." Valiant said. "But before you go, create a reflection."

Solaris went to a full length mirror and used a piece of chalk to draw a symbol of an eye in a circle with a wavy line through it. "Surface speak, surface feel, surface think, surface real." A copy of Solaris walked out of the mirror.

"Tell the reflection to go with your family but to return here in an hour." Valiant told him and Solaris did so. "Now go and get anything you want to take with you from your house."

Solaris left the store and Valiant went to make his preparations. He needed to get this done perfectly, unlike the midnight hotel or a few other places Valiant could mention he didn't have this on his store as an automatic feature.