Chapter 7

"What now? I'm alone, I don't remember anything, I have no money, people will surely be after me, either hostile or friendly or both, and you say I can't let anyone find me, what am I supposed to do, what to do you expect me to do?" the host asked as he walked through a village market in the pouring rain. He hadn't eaten since he had left the village, he was exhausted, lost and without any money any hopes of food seemed a bit farfetched.

"You make it sound like you have nothing! You're a ninja you idiot, stealing some food from any of these stands without being noticed should be a walk in the park for you." Snarled the fox.

"Steal? What are you nuts? I'm not stealing."

"I admire your resolve you'd let yourself die rather than steal, well then have fun."

A first the blonde kept walking, but despite his best efforts his gaze did wonder here and there and there was so much to eat. The stands were full… He shook his head, he wasn't going to start stealing now was he? However the temptation was strong. As he walked on his stomach reminded him of how famished he was. Finally he gave in, surely just one of those apples, no one would care right? Slowly and carefully he laid his hand and felt the cold roundness of it. Contracting his fingers, ordering his hand to close on it, the feeling of his muscles tensing, he could take it and no one would notice. He was after all a ninja. But as he started to feel the weight of it, as he started taking it away, he relaxed his muscles and the apple returned to the stand. Slowly walking away he sighted, even though he couldn't remember anything something told him that he shouldn't, sure it was just one apple, no one would have noticed or cared but something kept him from going through with it, it just felt wrong to him.

"Hey kid." Stopped him. The man from that very stand had stopped him. "Why don't you take that apple?" he proposed. Taken aback Naruto didn't answer immediately.

"B-but…"

"Had you taken it, I would have bashed your face in the wall, but you didn't, you seem hungry enough so, well let's just say this one's on the house." The boy smiled and thanked him happily. Losing no time he ate leaving nothing. "Well if you're that hungry why don't you come by my fields? I could use a hand, help me out and you'll have to eat, seems fair?" he asked.

Naruto took another look at the man, he was around Kakashi's height. His brown hair was messy and unorganized, clearly this man didn't spend more than a second taking care of his appearance before getting up. His eyes were black and deep, mysterious. He had a scar that went from above his right eye to the left of his chin. He looked muscular enough but he smiled, he was happy and for some unknown reason, it made Naruto smile, it was contagious. "Yes sir!" Naruto chirped.

"Christina, I'm leaving the stand to you!" the man exclaimed removing his apron.

Naruto followed him as they walked through the woods. The man was whistling a light tune, it brought peace to Naruto's mind, amongst all the chaos and pain and hatred there were some people like this man who were just happy, there good people that simply lived without taking lives or causing sorrow.

"My name's Aitosk by the way." The man said.

"Naruto." Replied the blond, he probably shouldn't have told him his real name, but, he couldn't lie to this man.

"Naruto? Like the stuff in the ramen?" he commented slightly amused.

"Yup!"

"Well it's certainly not a name you'd forget. It's a good name. Well here we are." The man said as they stood in a clearing. Rows of trees grew in line. Naruto was baffled, there were so many trees, how could this man possible take care of it alone? "Christina helps me out when she feels like it, she can be a real slave driver though." He laughed. "Well avoid picking up those who aren't ready, though most of them should be, we're looking for a good color, green isn't any good. Don't pull like a mad man, apples will come if they are ready. If you have to pull seriously to get it then leave it, it isn't ripe. Well then let's get too work." They got too work and started sorting out the fruits that were ready from those who still needed time. Even though it was hot, and he was sweaty Naruto was happy.

"You mind if I use some kagebunshin?" he asked.

"Ah you're a ninja, I thought as much, sure go ahead, let's see how many you can make!" And thus Naruto's appeared, they appeared everywhere, thousands of them. The man's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. Upon seeing his reaction Naruto chuckled and scratched his neck. "Well I'll be darned, that's absolutely amazing! We'll be done in no time." The day passed by and as night fell they had finished. "Well you'll come to my house tonight won't you? You can shower, wash your clothes and have a good night's rest."

"Hai Sir!"

"Ah don't sir me, makes me feel old. I was a ninja too once upon a time as well."

"You were sir?"

"Ah yup, one of the best! And don't sir me. Let's get home, I can tell you stories tonight by the fire."

The house was a modest one but it had a warmth. There was an old fireplace along with a rocking chair next to it. A small crib was in the middle of the room and a little girl lay in it sleeping peacefully. "Christina, we're back!"

"Ah good, I was about to finish dinner, so how much did you get done?"

"We pretty much finished everything, this kid created about a few billion clones it made it much easier." He said picking up his daughter. "Hey there." He smiled. "Well I'm starving!"

"That may be so, but neither of you are getting anything to eat until you wash up!" Christina ordered to which they both nodded and went upstairs to wash up. They let Naruto some clothes they were however a bit too big but it didn't matter. As they sat around the table by the fire they talked small talk. Aitosk cracked a couple of not funny jokes but Naruto laughed anyway, it felt good.

"…Kit…" whispered the beast saddened to have to remind the boy.

"I know… Don't worry, just, let me just enjoy this night."

"So which village are you from?" the father asked.

"…" seeing that he wouldn't answer his wife scolded her husband. "I'm sorry." Naruto said quietly.

"Don't worry about it, we may not look like it, but we were ninja's too once upon a time, we understand."

"Why did you quit?"

"… You undoubtedly know about the third ninja war yes?" Naruto nodded. "Even though we formed one of the best duo of our nation, we were captured at one point. A party was sent out but it wasn't too rescue us. We had knowledge about our army our defense system, everything so spies were dispatched to silence us for good. We understood it was war, we never held it against our nation but we couldn't accept it either. We escaped and after the war we left the ninja life. We took a loan and started growing plants, fruits and vegetables. We're not the richest people in the world but we're happy. Our little Sakura was born 6 months ago." He said.

Naruto looked at the baby. "Sakura huh?"

"Something wrong?"

"No, I just knew someone named Sakura. It's a good name."

"Of course it is." Christina replied. "Well it's getting late and I'm tired, I'm going to sleep." She finished.

"Yup me too." Aitosk followed. "Come on kid, there's a guestroom on the second floor, you can sleep there." The room was fairly small with just a single bed. Something caught Naruto's eye though, in the corner next to the window, between some furniture and the wall stood a scabbard with its sword. The man followed Naruto's gaze and understood. "Ah my blade!"

"What's its name?"

"Name? Well I guess I should have given it a name but I never found one. Though it was well known. I remember there was this once, a morning, it was quite cold. I drew it out and the enemy soon had steam coming from his pants! He peed himself and ran away!" Laughed Aitosk. "Well that's enough for one day. Go to sleep." Naruto nodded, he was absolutely exhausted.

As soon as he hit the mattress, he feel in a deep slumber. He dreamt of apples, of laughter, of joy.

Having not slept in days he didn't wake at the sound of the front door being taken down, yelling and fighting ensued. Calm came back briefly before yelling woke him up. He jumped to his feet and ran downstairs where he found Christina and Aitosk crying on the ground.

"What happened?!" he rushed.

"You remember when I said we took a loan? We should have known better, he had promised us a good price and despite being cautious we fell for it. He took Sakura and says he won't hand her back until we pay him back!" Christina cried.

"But aren't you ninjas?" Naruto pressed. Aitosk looked down and lifted his shirt.

"You see this?" a seal appeared, it was a seal of the five elements. "The war had just ended when we quit, they couldn't let us disappear with all our techniques, so they sealed all of them away." He explained help Christina to sit in a chair before letting himself fall on the sofa. "Right now we're nothing but civilians, there isn't anything we can do, be it little or big."

"And you let them do it?!" asked Naruto astonished.

"Understand, we wanted to leave the ninja life…" he said clenching his fist.

"In any case we have to get your daughter back." Naruto said.

"Yes but how? We don't know where they are and we can't fight…"

"Tell them to give us something with her scent, I'll find her."

"Thank you."

"Do you have anything with her scent?"

"Yes, her clothes but what are you?..."

"I'll find her."

"I don't know what to say…"

"Then don't say anything, you have shown me kindness, don't you guys worry, I'll have Sakura back in your arms before you know it!" Naruto smiled at them and gave them a thumbs up before dashing in the darkness.