Once more, thanks to the awesome kylekatarn77, Serious Sam, Leaf Ranger, and all the rest of you guys who helped in the (re)making of this chapter.

PREVIOUS CHAPTER: During the time Naruto guarded Shiro, the old man observed his impromptu guard, taking note of his characteristics and the bizarre things that he did. But ultimately he relented, allowing Naruto to follow and guard him. And after they reached his house, he dismissed him, but Naruto pleaded to stay and work under him. He rejected him at first, not wanting to take a secretive stranger into his home, but he judged Naruto to be a capable and honest worker and took him in as his worker. As Shiro went for a siesta, Naruto trained with Kurumi in his mindscape.

CHAPTER 13: FAMILY

UPLOADED: 13 DECEMBER 2015

-CHAPTER START-

The one hour he spent meditating with Kurumi in the middle of the hallway was very beneficial indeed. In just a short time, he managed to absorb seal-theory like a dry sponge to water, quickly increasing his library of seals and its mechanics. Although they were just for basic seals, he didn't need Kurumi teaching him about it to know that they were the building blocks of powerful seals that could change the world.

As he himself trained his seal-making, all one thousand of his clones that was created later followed Kurumi's orders and trained in their chakra affinity, going for broke by practicing all 5 elemental transformations at the same time. The single clone that was sent first found a nice isolated space for them to train, a large open lake in the forest located about 10 minutes of high-speed travelling from old man Shiro's house.

During the training, they hadn't manage to do anything that Kurumi told them to: make a leaf crumble for earth element, make it dry for fire, slice it in half for wind, hydrate it with water and create sparks between two fingers for lightning even with two hundred clones working on each. Kurumi wasn't too sure about the elements, but she had the basic feeling of what each element should feel like, something that her previous containers all taught her. She used that and what little they taught her as the basis of the elemental training. However, their insane chakra capacity, perfect chakra control, immense regeneration, unlimited perseverance and sheer numbers would allow them to learn it easily, Kurumi said.

During the training session as well, Naruto found out something special about his clones. Because each clone had Linker Cores, this gave them chakra regeneration as well, allowing them to stay indefinitely even though they were not actually supposed to, since the jutsu was supposed to disable the clones' chakra regeneration. It looked as if the Astartes bloodline had more benefits than both he and Kurumi initially thought. This allowed them to stay and continue their training even late through the day, maybe even until they collapsed from lack of sleep.

Naruto's meditation and teaching session was interrupted as he heard the sound of footsteps coming closer to the house. Ignoring the voices, he continued his study session with Kurumi before a voice caught his ears. "Hello! Husband! Are you here?" the voice, one of a lady's, spoke.

Naruto then heard the voice said to someone else. "It seems that your father isn't here."

"Whaaaat? Really?" said a smaller voice, one he identified as a boy's.

"But mom! Ki is back!" said another voice, a girl's this time.

"Really?" the woman said before Naruto heard her stepping towards the pathway beside the house, the same path that he walked down before. "Yeah, that's his footprints." Naruto then heard the voice opening the front door before entering the house. "Husband! We're home!"

Naruto just ignored these voices, intent on completing his teaching session with Kurumi. Suddenly, he heard the steps of the boy as he ran into the house, kicking his footwear at the same time. "Dad! We're-" his voice stopped as he saw the small figure of a cross legged Naruto sitting on the floor of the house. "Who are you?!" the boy yelled before running outside. "Mom! There's a weird boy in the house!" he yelled out loud.

"What?" the lady entered the house before she saw the same sight as her son. "Wha – Who are you?!" she said in surprise at Naruto.

Slowly opening his eyes, Naruto looked at the people interrupting his meditation. The lady was a nice looking woman, with round brown eyes with a slim figure, her long black hair flowing behind her purple coloured shirt with a brown coat on it. The boy was hiding behind his mother's left leg, while the girl was behind her mother's right. Both of them had white hair, showing that Shiro's white hair wasn't due to age, but genetics. Both of them also had their mother's round eyes of the same colour. From the way they looked, together with their similar brown shirt and black pants, Naruto assumed that they were twins.

Standing up, Naruto said to them. "Oh. Sorry. Old man Shiro told me to wake him up when you came back. Please wait." Naruto then headed straight towards the room where Shiro entered and knocked it loudly. "Hey old man!" he yelled. "Your wife's back!"

Ignoring their glares on him, Naruto heard the sound of a bed creaking, a person leaping before scrambling towards the door. Stepping aside, Naruto let the door open as Shiro rushed outside to greet his wife. "Yumi! You're back!" he said loudly before hugging his wife, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

However, much to his chagrin, his wife, now named Yumi, pushed him away before yelling at him. "Shiro! Who's that?!" she yelled out, pointing a finger at Naruto's figure.

"Oh that?" he said. "That's Naruto. He saved me from some bandits, and I took him as my worker since he had nowhere to go to."

Yumi looked at Naruto from top to bottom, taking everything about him in. His oversized clothing, his looks, everything about him as she kept her glare. Finally, she relented with a sigh. "Okay then," she said. "Though I am angry with you letting in a stranger into the house, I trust your judgement." He was never wrong about it anyway. "So who's this?"

"As Shiro-san said before, I am Naruto," he said with a respectful bow. "I hoped to be able to work with Shiro-san as his assistant or whatever, and thankfully, he accepted me. Good day to you, miss Yumi."

"Naruto-chan, good day to you as well," she said, returning the bow and the greeting. "I am Shiro's wife, Yumi, and these two are twins, our son and daughter, Koutarou and Kagami."

"Nice to meet you too," Naruto said, flashing a smile on his face as he looked at the terrified kids behind Yumi. He slowly walked towards the two before he offered the two a hand. "Come here, you two. I don't bite."

The twins slowly peeked their heads from behind their mother's legs before they slowly, with fearful steps, went towards this strange boy in front of them, his figure sending a feeling of fear within their young hearts. However, the boy, Koutarou, braved himself and slowly walked towards Naruto, a hand outstretched to Naruto's own. Kagami, seeing her twin head towards the frightening figure despite his trembling legs, joined him as they both paced slowly towards where Naruto was.

Naruto was smiling as he saw the twins slowly overcoming their fear as they walked towards him, his outstretched hand ready to meet theirs. He had a large smile on their face as they came closer to him, their childish behaviour something that he found refreshing in comparison to the hostile and angry looks he always received. And as soon as their fingers touched, Naruto felt something. An electrical sensation between them, almost as if there was some kind of understanding as he grabbed their hands with his own, feeling their skin on his.

Still with the same megawatt smile on his face, he shook both hands at the same time, feeling their fearful gaze on him disappear as they felt the strange being in front of them. "I'm Naruto!" Naruto introduced himself. "And starting from today, I'm going to be your father's worker!"

The boy's frown flipped into a smile as fast as lightning as he saw Naruto's happy face before he introduced himself as well. "I'm Koutarou! I'm 9 years old!"

"I'm Kagami…" Kagami said, still fearful of Naruto, not to mention that weird thing on his hand that seemed to coat it like a thin film. "Koutarou's twin."

"Nice meeting all of you," Naruto said after he stood from his crouching position, giving another bow. "Thank you for letting me stay here, Yumi-san."

Watching Naruto's interaction with his wife, Shiro grumpily said, "You give my wife a good greeting, but you still called me an old man."

"That's because you are an old man, dear," Yumi said, a small giggle floating from her mouth. "But you're still my love," she said with a smile before returning Shiro's kiss on his cheek.

At this, Shiro stood still for a while, stunned, before he said with a very wistful tone, "I'm home."

"Welcome home, dear," Yumi replied with a smile.

Naruto watched this scene together with the twins, a feeling of homeliness unlike anything that he ever felt before radiated from the family of four as he watched the two kids looking at their parents with smiles on their face.

'So… this is a happy family, eh?' Naruto said, the warm and fuzzy feeling shining brightly from the family of four.

"Naruto…" Kurumi said in regret, still not letting go of the fact that she killed Minato and Kushina.

'Don't worry, Kurumi-chan,' he tried to calm her down, though the sadness in his voice would still be apparent to anyone listening. 'I forgave you already, remember? You did nothing wrong. It's not your fault.'

"But still…"

'It's alright,' Naruto said with a sad smile on his face. 'I'll make sure to use everything in my life to replace that lost happiness later.'

Wiping a tear, Kurumi just nodded at Naruto's words, understanding what he meant by that. "Alright Naruto. Live your life well, and don't fail your parents."

'I will' Naruto said, a small smile gracing his face. 'And I want you to be there with me at all times.'

Kurumi had a small blush on her face as he said that. Such a trust was definitely one of a kind, and there was nothing she could say that would make Naruto take it back. "I will, Naruto. Believe it."

After all, Uzumakis were as stubborn as a mountain.

"So, boss," Naruto said with a grin as he broke apart the heart warming moment between the family. "What's my first task?"

Shiro was snapped back to the moment as he heard Naruto speak up, cursing him for killing the moment. "Your first task… is to get the fuck out of here!" Shiro said, tossing a slipper towards Naruto as he dodged with incredible dexterity. "Stop bugging my nice moments!"

Naruto quickly dashed away from the house through the back door, but not before blowing a raspberry towards the fuming Shiro before disappearing through the back door, his last laugh echoing through the kitchen. Sighing, Shiro said, "Seriously… That boy's a handful."

"I can see it," Yumi replied with a gentle smile of her own. She looked at her husband's face, noting the faraway look he had in his eyes. "You seem fond of him."

"I… have to admit I am," he returned with a bit of hesitation in his words. "He's… different. He's strong, which means that he could help a lot in my job. And he's tenacious, that boy."

"But he's too young to be your assistant," she said after a moment's hesitation. "Why did you pick him?"

Shiro remained silent for a while, trying to reply to his wife's question. It was a good question, and he cannot deny it. "He... is different," he spoke. "He's not a regular boy, that's for sure. Despite his young age, he managed to drop multiple bandits alone."

"How..." Yumi gasped. "How can someone his age do that?!"

"I'm not sure," he shrugged. "He's trained in combat, but I'm not sure how experienced he was. I assume that he was only recently trained, yet the way he moved doesn't really show it." He remained silent for a while before adding. "He kept some secrets though. I don't need to be a mind reader to know that."

"What do you think about him?"

"Despite his secrets, he's a good kid," he replied without hesitation. "All his movements and words were honest. He's as honest as they come. He came from Konoha, which was quite strange."

"Konoha?" Yumi questioned. "They should take care of a child that age, not leave him running in the world without assistance!"

"Anyone should, not just Konoha," he nodded, agreeing with her statement. "Yet I believe it's tied to his secret. Or secrets. The only other thing that I know was that he called himself Astartes, whatever that means."

"That's a strange word."

"It is," he nodded in agreement. "I never heard of it." Both of them stopped their speech, letting the wind entering their house blew around them before Shiro continued. "But he can keep his secrets. He's honest, strong, hardworking, and very energetic. I don't think there's any issue with him living with us."

Yumi smiled. She trusted her husband's assessment wholly, and he never failed her. Not once. He was a master at judging people, and so she just deferred to him if need be. "He sounds like a good boy. Maybe you could teach him your forging skills, take him as your apprentice."

"That will have to wait. I can't just teach anyone my skills, you know." Shiro chastised his wife.

"I know, and we'll have to wait and see," his wife said. "Now, let's see… Lunch?"

"Oh so very much, my love," Shiro said before heading outside as well. "No orders today?"

"No."

"Then I better have that new pair of hands do something useful," Shiro replied as he walked outside, going to meet Naruto.

Meanwhile, Naruto was outside, already stretching his small body to perform some exercises. "Well, if that old man won't give me any work, I'll just have to move my body a bit!" he said aloud.

"Not so fast, youngster," came Shiro's voice from behind him. "We got a job to do. You need to help me cut some lumber for firewood."

"Alright," Naruto said. "Where's the place?"

"There," Shiro said, pointing towards a small shed that stored firewood, if Naruto's sense of smell caught it right. It was the same kind of smell from the store beside his at the orphanage, so it was quite familiar to him aster Kurumi explained about it to him. "The axe is beside that stump over there, so go ahead and start chopping. I'll need that shed filled."

"Alright." Rolling his arms within their sockets, Naruto went towards the shed. It wasn't big, but there were a lot of logs to chop. The stump looked worn from the constant cutting that it went through its life, an axe lying beside it. Picking the axe up, he observed it. The axe looked like a very high quality one, from the way the edge glinted in the sunlight. Testing its sharpness, Naruto licked his finger before running it over the edge. "Oh!" Naruto exclaimed as he saw that his finger was bleeding slightly afterwards, though it healed in an instant. "Wow! That was sharp!"

"Indeed," Kurumi said. "That was really something else. Whoever this old man is, he isn't your run-of-the-mill smith. You better learn everything he could teach you, Naruto."

'Yeah,' he replied, agreeing. Placing a log on the stump, Naruto took the axe and lifted it two handed, the size of the handle unable to fit his tiny hands. "Hah!" with a shout, he brought the axe down with extreme speed, his pure strength pushing it ahead. Much to his surprise, the axe not only split the log with a loud thwack, but also the huge stump underneath it, cutting through it without much resistance. "Damn!"

"You need to-"

'I know, I know. I need to learn to control my strength.' Naruto looked back towards the stump, the gash on it looking like a gaping wound. 'But I never expected it to be that sharp.'

Taking the split log, Naruto continued chopping it, controlling his strength this time, before he finally split it to eight equal pieces. "That's one down!" he yelled out before picking another log up and continuing his task. Secretly, Naruto's clones were all actually training somewhere else, not wanting to waste the chance given to them by Naruto's job.

A bit farther away, Shiro stood watching Naruto as he boisterously chopped the logs. He saw how shocked he was when the axe actually cut his finger, and he understood why. When he fought the bandits, their dagger, dull as it was, was unable to pierce his skin, which showed him just how tough his skin actually was. 'What are you, Naruto?' Shiro said to himself, though he knew the answer already.

"I am Astartes."

He remembered Naruto's words to the bandits as he knocked the final one out. What is that? What's an Astartes? Who was he? These and many other questions float around in his mind as he entered his house again, satisfied with the way Naruto was doing his job. 'You are a complete mystery, Naruto.'

-BREAK-

Finishing his task, Naruto placed the strangely sharp axe back where it was, at the stump beside the pile of firewood in the shed. He then headed straight back to the house. Pushing the wooden door open, he yelled out, "Hey old man! Anything else?"

Shiro popped from his room at this before he said, "Nothing! That's all so far."

"Where's your wife?" Naruto asked.

"She's looking for your shirt," he said.

"Wow thanks!" Naruto said out loud in gratitude, his happiness sparkling on his face. He then said to Shiro. "I'm going out for a bit. See you later." Immediately, Naruto turned around and exited the house, intent on continuing his training.

Shiro watched warily as Naruto left. He still couldn't shake off the suspicion he had of the kid. He was too… silent. He appeared like death, and disappeared like it too. What kind of life did someone lead to have such silent steps? Steps that seemed like they were made due to fear, of avoiding discovery.

-BREAK-

The sun was setting as Naruto headed back to the house. Along the way, he recalled what his clones have learned. Though they hadn't advanced too far, they managed to perform all the elemental nature exercises at a minute level. This actually showed that the training method had promise, and he replaced the clones he made before, just to gain their knowledge, something that would help when he made the next batch of clones. He hadn't started on any jutsu yet though, Kurumi not wanting to let him learn them until he had the basics down pat.

However, his sealcraft was proceeding without a hitch. Everything that Kurumi taught him was quickly absorbed, both theory and design. Just by seeing a seal's design, when combined with his chakra sight, it allowed him to understand how they function, allowing him to crack seals in a very short while. Or at least, that's what Kurumi theorised, since seals, at its basis, were just lines of chakra flow.

"I'm back," Naruto said as he pushed open the back door of the kitchen, only to meet the angry face of Yumi.

"Naruto!" she yelled out. "Where were you?!" she added, the ladle in her hand shaking from anger.

Naruto was visibly shocked at this. Why was she angry?! "Uh…" Naruto stammered out. "Somewhere…?"

Yumi kept her glare on him before she finally relented, sighing in defeat. "At least you came back," she said. "We're about to have dinner, and you're welcome."

Listening to this jolted Naruto out of his shock. "What?!" he gasped. "I… I'm invited to dinner?" he slowly questioned.

"Sure are, kid," came the voice of Shiro as he leaned on the doorway between the kitchen and the front area of the house. "You're my worker now. And since you have nowhere to stay, you're welcome to stay here."

"I… I can?" Naruto slowly stammered out, not believing his ears. "I… I was expecting to have to stay outside!"

"Who the hell do you think I am?!" Shiro said, his voice a little bit angry. "I won't let my worker, a homeless kid, stay outside! The weather's terrible around here, and you might just die from it! I cannot lose an employee who hasn't even learned the basics of the trade to the bloody weather!"

"I…" Naruto said, no words could express the gratitude that he felt right now. "…Okay," he finally said, entering the house from the back door before following Shiro towards the dining table, where his two children were already waiting for dinner. However, Naruto realised a problem. A simple conundrum, one that hadn't reached his mind before:

Where would he sit on the table? They had enough chairs for themselves, and none for another extra.

As if expecting this line of thought, Shiro went to a door close to the dining table. A closet, Naruto thought before he took out a wooden chair from within the closet. He carried the chair towards the table where Naruto awaited, his eyes wide at his hospitality. "We don't get many visitors, so we usually store the chairs," he said, turning away from Naruto's wide eyes. "Don't look at me like that."

"T-thanks..." Naruto stammered out as he sat on the chair, feeling the obviously handcrafted feel of the chair as he sat on it. Shiro nodded before he pulled his chair and sat on it, observing Naruto's reaction to everything with a keen eye.

"Dinner's ready everyone!" came Yumi's voice from the kitchen as the delicious aroma of home cooked food wafted from the kitchen into the dining area, causing everyone to salivate in hunger, but no one more so than Naruto. Yumi came towards the dining area, carrying a large pot of rice, the smell nearly making Naruto's Betcher's Glands accidentally secrete their acidic spit in his mouth as he almost drooled in joy.

"Naruto? Why are you like that?" Yumi asked in confusion as she looked at the absolutely rapacious look on Naruto's face, almost as if he smelled a piece of heaven itself.

"Oh!" Naruto choked in surprise before he used a part of his already tattered shirt and wiped away the drool on his face, the part sizzled a little as a drop of the potent acid from his Betcher's Glands made its way to the shirt. "It's nothing," he replied. "It's just that no one ever gave me some cooked food, ever."

"Ever?!" Yumi said in surprise.

"Uh… yeah," Naruto said, scratching the back of his head. "I usually hunted small animals in the forest as my food and ate them raw."

"Y-you ate animals raw?!" Yumi choked out in shock. "H-how?!"

"That's… that's just how I am, miss," Naruto answered back truthfully.

Shocked beyond words, Yumi could only nod as she went back to the kitchen to take everything that she cooked and placed them on the dining table. She then placed a large bowl of rice in front of Naruto and placed everyone's respective bowls in front of them before placing a pair of chopsticks on every bowl.

Naruto looked at the flimsy pieces of wood that he was given in his hands. He quickly glanced at the other occupants of the table and observed the way they held the wooden sticks before he immediately tried to copy them. Unfortunately, with just a gentle squeeze, the stick shattered, causing a shocked look on everyone's faces.

"Eheh, sorry," he said sheepishly. "Never used these before."

Yumi was completely speechless at Naruto's honest words. She was about to ask him how he ate before when she remembered what he told them about his previous eating habits. Pushing her chair back, she stood before walking to Naruto's back and held Naruto's tiny hands within her own gentle hands, one that Naruto can feel the roughness, calloused from countless hours of housework. "These are chopsticks, Naruto. This is how you use them."

Naruto gaped as he felt her hands on his own as they guided him on how to hold the two pieces of sticks, how to use them to eat, and how to care for them together with the general behaviour of using it. All that time, Naruto couldn't help but feel her warmth as it seeped through his thin Mucranoid coating.

Not only physically, but the warmth only a mother could emit to their son.

After a while of Yumi teaching him how to use the chopsticks, Naruto finally felt confident enough to use them on his own bowl of rice. Picking up the large bowl of rice that was larger than his tiny hands, he took a piece of the fried fish on the table that was the side dish and poured some of the miso soup on his rice before, with a trembling hand, he picked the rice with the chopsticks before placing it into his mouth.

The taste of the simple dish exploded in Naruto's mouth like a supernova. The way the miso soup's slightly tangy flavour melded with the fish's fresh taste, together with the flavour-enhancing oil within it as the rice seeming to combine all the flavour into one, single union of culinary delight. So much so, that Naruto's hand immediately froze as his jaw continued chewing.

Yumi saw Naruto's frozen face that quickly prompted her to ask. "What is it, Naruto? Is there something wrong?"

Naruto did not answer. Instead, he robotically scooped more of the food waiting in front of him into his mouth, not a word coming from him as he slowly chewed, savouring the absolutely delicious food with his enhanced senses. His facial expression looked as if it was carved from a block of rock as he ate and ate, his pace steady and his quantity many.

As he finished his dinner, he placed the chopsticks on the completely empty bowl, devoid of even a single stray grain of rice before he downed the bowl of miso, sipping it with slowness almost devout. Placing the now empty bowl on the rice bowl, his head slowly turned to face Yumi, his mouth gaping.

"That… that was delicious," Naruto said to Yumi, his face nearly shining from the happiness in his words. "That… I have no words for it. That's just divine, Yumi-san. Is that how all cooked meals taste like?"

"Oh, Naruto, you flatterer!" Yumi said with a blush. "That's just a regular dinner! Sorry I cannot make it any better. The town's quite tight with supplies right now."

"A… regular dinner?" Naruto said, placing a finger on his lips, the flavours from the dishes just still lingering within his mouth. "Is this… is this what regular people eat?" he said slowly, though his words were still heard by Yumi and Shiro within the silence of the night.

"What do you mean by that?" Yumi questioned. Surely he was not speaking the truth when he said that he never had cooked food before, was he?

"I…" Naruto's mind immediately went back to the time when he was at the orphanage, a time that felt like it was so long ago. He remembered the aromatic scent of dinner as the matron cooked for the kids. He remembered the matron's terrible way of feeding him, not to mention the terrible 'food' he was fed with during his time at the orphanage. He remembered the first food that he actually had for himself: a live rat that he bit its head off raw, remembering the hot blood dropping down his chin as he ate it.

Nothing that was in his memories could even compare to the small piece of heaven that he was being given today, such was its taste to Naruto. Everything about it from texture, taste, feel and looks, all of them were so far away from what Naruto ate before that in his mind, nothing, absolutely nothing could be better than what she just made. His mind promptly shut down as he reached this conclusion, unable to take in any more surprises today.

"Oh yeah," said Shiro as he stood up from the table, his dinner finished as well. "Naruto, I have something for you," he said, ignoring Naruto's utterly shocked look. He headed into his room and took out a small bundle before standing beside Naruto. "This is for you."

Snapping out of his surprise, Naruto took the bundle with trembling hands and opened it. The bundle was actually a small shirt, made according to his size, black in colour. Another package dropped from the cloth bundle, causing Naruto to pick it up. Opening it, he saw that it was actually a pair of denim trousers made to fit his tiny legs, also black in colour.

"My wife saw that you had nothing but those rags on you, so she decided to give you one pair of clothing, and even modified it for some extra stuff!" Shiro said in pride. "My wife here is the town's tailor, you know. She's so good at it that with just one look, she could determine a person's size and could stitch up something for him!"

"It was easy," Yumi said next with a smile of pride on her face. "Fortunately, I have some leftover denim and fabric for a pair of trousers and a shirt for you."

Naruto was absolutely speechless. In just one day, the entire family trusted him so much that they would be willing to give him a pair of clothing, hand sewn by Yumi herself, even when he already had food, shelter and a job from them? Naruto's voice was cracking up at this point. "Why?" he whispered.

"Hmm?" Shiro responded, a sure sign that he heard Naruto's whisper.

"Why did you do this for me? Why are you so kind? We just met!" Naruto said out loud, tears of gratitude brimming in his eyes.

"Well," Shiro said, scratching his chin. "When you've lived to be as old as I am, you will become a good judge of character. And through the three days that we're together, it's enough to make me say that you're a good person. Combined with your answers during my short QA session just now proved that even more. I don't mind the part that you didn't answer. Everybody's entitled to their own secrets."

"And that is why we had you stay with us," Yumi said with a smile. "We decided that you are a good person, and you could just stay here."

Naruto slowly stood, the shirt and trousers in his hands as his entire body trembled. Without warning, he shot towards where Shiro was before enveloping him in a hug as best as his body could.

"Wha- get off me!" Shiro said out as Naruto's small hands tried circling him as he tried in vain to struggle from Naruto's immense strength. A wet feeling on his shoulder stopped his actions and caused him to look towards the source. Naruto's face was buried in his shoulder as his small body shook from the sobs that he made as tears of his gratitude poured onto Shiro's shirt. Immediately he relented, stopping his struggle before he reached with his hand to Naruto's back, patting him to calm him down. "Hey, enough of the waterworks," he said jokingly, albeit with a tender voice. "It doesn't fit someone as strong as you to cry like a baby."

"But…" he sobbed. "But no one has ever been this kind to me!" Naruto sniffed out, his voice distorted from the crying. "How can I repay you, old man Shiro?" he asked, his voice still cracked and coarse from his crying. "I… I have nothing. No money, no one, nothing. How can I repay you?"

"For starters, you could begin by letting me go. All this mushy stuff isn't for me, you know," he said. "Then, do your best to work under me. Learn everything you can from me. Be my apprentice. How's that?"

"Yes!" Naruto said, once again leaking tears of happiness from his eyes. "Yes, I will! You can count on me for everything, old man!"

"And stop calling me old man!" he yelled out.

Meanwhile, the twins were standing beside their mother who was watching the scene, holding on to their mother's long legs. Koutarou then asked her mother as he watched Naruto and his father interact. "Mom, why did Naruto cry?" he then felt small drops of water on his hand. Looking upwards, he saw that his mother was crying as well for some reason. "Mom, why are you crying?" he asked innocently.

Yumi just realised that she was crying as her son asked her that question and quickly wiped her tears. "It's nothing," she said as she watched the tender scene between her husband and Naruto. "It's just that… Naruto's so happy."

"Happy?" he said, perplexed. "But he's crying."

She smiled as she bent down before she hugged the twins together. "You'll know when you grow older. But whatever it is, I will not let you go through whatever he did," Yumi said, a hardness unlike anything in her voice as she said to her children. Naruto definitely was unlike anyone else that she had ever met. He really meant what he said with every word, being someone who was honest to a fault. Whatever he went through, she'd fight tooth and nail to ensure that her children wouldn't go through the same ordeal.

"Mom?" Kagami said slowly, wondering why her mother hugged her like that.

"Nothing. Just… let me hug you two a bit longer," she said to her two children causing them to return her hug in their smaller hands, the warmth of their small hands nourishing her very soul with love and care.

-BREAK-

That night, as both Yumi and Shiro were about to sleep, Yumi asked her husband. "So, you decided to take him as an apprentice?"

Shiro remained silent before he said to his wife, "I do. He's… he's different. I'm sure that whatever he learns from me, he won't use them for evil."

Changing into her sleeping robes, Yumi said, "But you said that it's cursed."

"It is," Shiro replied. "But I'm sure that no matter what, he'll be able to endure it. He lived until now with nothing, I'm sure that he'll be able to master everything."

"It's your choice, my love," Yumi said. "But I believe in your judgement, and what I saw myself."

"He is a good person, and the best candidate ever to inherit my arts." Hardness entered his voice as he added, "He won't fail, I'm sure."

"I'm sure he won't my love," she said before giving him a goodnight kiss. "Goodnight my love. We have a long day tomorrow."

"We sure do," he said before returning the kiss.

-BREAK-

The next day, Shiro observed Naruto sitting in the middle of the house, cross-legged. Giving a light nudge, he said, "Wake up. We have lots to do today."

Opening his eyes, Naruto wordlessly stood, his rags still on his body with the clothing that he received last night beside him. "Yes," he said simply as he stood, ready to begin the first day of being Shiro's apprentice.

Through the entire day, Shiro taught him the tools of his trade: the furnace, the hammer, the anvil, the smelter, everything that he used in his line of work. He also showed Naruto how to smith, though he began with nothing but a demonstration without an actual item. He watched as Naruto questioned him on the usage of each items, their materials, how were they used among other questions. Questions and attitude that further confirmed to Shiro that he made the right choice in having Naruto as his apprentice.

That evening, Naruto played around with the twins after watching how Kagami avoided him somehow. He took them for a walk, easily lifting them on his shoulder despite his small stature, an action that terrified both of them at first before it changed into something fun as Naruto ran around, letting them feel the air on their face. Shiro just watched as Naruto played with his children with a smile on his face.

Days changed to a week as Naruto lived with the family, learning the theories of the craft without practicing. Along the way, he helped with the hard physical work, lifting raw metals and firewood for the furnace by himself, saving quite some time for Shiro as he did so. Through the week, Naruto also met with some of the people of the town who were confused at first at Naruto's appearance, but learned to accept it once Shiro confirmed to them that he's his new worker despite his young age. The townspeople never stopped joking about him taking someone that young as an apprentice, even after he explained it to them.

Through the entire week as well, Naruto stayed together with the family, playing with the kids when he had the time for it when he's not helping Shiro at the forge. Living with the family, he learned to appreciate a constant availability of delicious food, something that he kept praising Yumi for. Through the week as well, the two kids finally trusted him completely as he played around with them, letting him feel some of the joys of childhood that he never had.

He never let up on his training though. He managed to master the Basic 3 completely, being able to use them without handsigns with minimal chakra expenditure in part thanks to his Linker Core. His elemental training also bore fruit as he managed to complete basic elemental nature training with all the elements thanks to his phenomenal endurance and his stubbornness. But before moving on to the next stage, he decided to master all the elements at his current level first, making it easier for him later on.

Weeks turned to a month, and he kept on with his current life of learning, playing and training as he lived with Shiro's family. In fact, he was inseparable from them with the kids clinging on to him at all times due to his strength and cheerful disposition, causing Shiro to cry mock tears at the thought of his children abandoning him.

Shiro observed just how quick Naruto learned the small stuff, and finally he decided to let Naruto forge something of his own, a simple piece of flat iron just to teach him how to actually forge something. Though it took some directions and teachings, Naruto succeeded with the task as his first creation. However, Shiro said that it will be used for something else by him later on, causing Naruto to cry fake tears at this, earning him a smack to his back.

Months turned to half a year, and Naruto was practically a part of the family now. He laughed together with them, he ate together, he played together, and his presence was considered a boon to Shiro, whose business exploded suddenly, forcing Naruto to learn to forge better items quickly. Thanks to his fast learning trait, he managed to take up the jobs that Shiro thought were easy in just a short while, allowing him to focus on the bigger, more profitable tasks. This gave the family more income, allowing them to have a better meal every day, something that made Naruto cry in happiness once again, causing the entire family to get together in a group hug to calm him down.

During this time, Naruto also became Shiro's guard as they travelled around, getting supplies from everywhere around them. Naruto's combat skills proved their worth during this time as he beat the attackers that tried to take advantage of them easily no matter when or where. During this time also, Naruto kept a lookout every time he travelled, avoiding the gaze of any potential ninja that would reveal his presence to Konoha. He was still not ready to return yet.

A year had passed as Naruto stayed with them and he was already skilled enough at forging that he sometimes took over the shop entirely from Shiro as he went out. Even the people of the small town liked meeting him. His friendliness and cheerful disposition allowed him to quickly make friends with the people despite his strangeness. And one day, Yumi announced that she was pregnant again, something that caused Naruto to tilt his head questioningly as Shiro fainted in happiness. Yumi actually said that the baby was due to Naruto's presence attracting more fortune than they ever had before. Much to his honour, he was asked to become the brother of the child, something that he gladly accepted.

During the nine months of Yumi's pregnancy, Naruto learned a lot more about women that he should. He learned how women tend to have sudden mood swings and weird cravings, how they became sick sometimes, how their actions differ, Naruto took everything in stride as new experiences for him, knowing that someday he'd have his own wife and will have to endure the same thing.

The baby, or babies, for they were twins once again was being watched by Naruto and Koutarou and Kagami as Shiro comforted his wife once the children were safely born. Shiro named the two Tsukasa and Tsubasa, their white hair and brown eyes almost similar to each other, a sure sign of an identical twin pair. The two were placed in the same crib, and from then on, would be inseparable until their death. Naruto swore on his name and his body that he would do everything he could to protect them, no matter what it took.

And so Naruto lived with the family, his entire life revolving around his adopted family, so much so that he stopped calling Shiro old man, but instead called him dad, something that made Shiro blush, though he didn't hate it. And with Yumi as his adopted mother, he lived a simple, happy life, still training as a ninja with his skills, and was waiting for the right time to tell his adopted family of his whole history: his life, his origin, what he was, and the being that he carried, his mind constantly churning to figure out how to tell them about himself, finally sure that there should be no secrets between them.

However, his happiness did not last, for in the third year, tragedy struck. A tragedy that would once again change Naruto's life, ending his innocence once and for all.

-CHAPTER ENDS-

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