I do not own Naruto anime, manga, games or other materials. This is a fan fiction
The few next months were pretty ordinary. He did missions, spent some time with Kirimitsu playing shogi and a few hours each day talking to Mito. This last he started doing the request of the Uzukage, it seems that his daughter would get into a really foul mood if she did not get to spend some time with him. The missions were nothing to difficult or exciting. No matter how much Kira decided to show off her figure, or her cleavage Naruto showed no interest what so ever.
Kira even joked that her brother might be more his style. That is when he told them both that he was in fact a widower. To cut him some lack, it was not that long since he had to deal with the death of his wife and child. Kira apologized, Kora asked how long since his wife died? Naruto told them a little over two years. Kira was about to say that it was long enough when a group of Senju appeared from behind the bushes.
Hashirama Senju was leading them. "So you are the so called Naruto Uzumaki. I been trying to find you for a long time, so we can talk about a few things." Naruto told them he was on an important escort mission and that he needed to find some dignitary and take him to a secret meeting with the Uzukage. Hashirama flat out told him he was the dignitary and the whole meeting was a sham to get to meet him.
"Well here I am, so what you want to talk about? and while we are at it you might want to tell your cousin to come down from that tree over there." Hashirama told him that all the Senju were by his side, who was Naruto talking about. Naruto told him that Madara was sitting on a tree branch a few feet away from them. That he might as well join in the conversation, saved him the time by stopping the next trick mission to have yet another meeting.
Madara jumped down from the tree branch and it was clear to see his eyes were indeed active. "And before you even think about it? I wouldn't try putting us in a genjutsu, you might see something you would latter regret." Madara put his hands together ready to do a jutsu, when he stopped when he saw Naruto's glare. He activated his eyes to the maximum he could. The Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan was clear as to see, and the iris were spinning. "Try it and I shall give it back a hundred times worse."
Madara smiled, "So it is true you do have the sharingan, and have the backbone to properly use it. So Hashirama what is the topic of discussion?" Hashirama looked at both men as their eyes turned back to their normal black. "Mito Uzumaki, what else? I want to know what he wants with her?" Naruto smiled and Madara could not help but to laugh. "So the topic is the woman we three want. Typical, just typical. Can you pick a better topic than that?"
Hashirama asked what he wanted to know. "Well for starters why did he kill a fellow clan member? If he has the sharingan he should know better than kill a fellow Uchiha." Just then Hashirama told Madara that the person in question claimed to be an Uzumaki. "I would think that he would, if he wanted to woe Mito. After the daring rescue what else could he be after?"
Hashirama told him to stop the Uchiha from kidnapping the daughter of a Kage. Madara called him naive and too trusting for his own good. "It is obvious that he wants something from Mito Uzumaki, why go to such lengths to rescue someone he never met or known about?" Naruto was getting pretty sick of them talking about him,right in front of him no less.
"I want the safety of my clan, the safety of Mito Uzumaki and her family, and lastly I want to make sure she lives a happy life." Hashirama called him a romantic, Madara called him a power hungry fool. "Since I answered the question mind telling me what you both want from Mito?" Madara was first and told them he wanted the famed longevity of the Uzumaki to make his clan stronger. Hashirama wanted to unite their clans and maybe move to a place that was more accessible to traders so that their clans could both benefit.
Naruto looked at Madara and told him he wanted to treat Mito as nothing more than breeding stock, and Hashirama wanted a political marriage. "In the end what we want is meaningless, Mito will decide what she wants for her own life. You two talk like naive bachelors that never even known what marriage really is like. But me, I am a widower. I know the hardships of maintaining a marriage, and the way a married couple is to each other. I suggest that both of you do some more growing up before thinking about it."
"Well Hashirama, I expect an apology to the Uzukage for your little deception. Madara you want to talk send me a letter and I might meet with you, if I have time. I tend to be rather busy, and do not have time for juvenile concerns." Naruto left and the two men looked at each other. "I get the feeling that he is right, we both didn't consider Mito's feelings into account when we both made our plans." Madara said that no woman could refuse the charm of an Uchiha Elite like him.
As the team made it back to the Kage's office, Naruto gave a detailed account of what happened. Kirimitsu had mixed feelings. One the one side he was happy how they managed to turn around a situation without it turning into a bloodbath, on the other he was proud that Naruto saw through the situation and managed to keep his calm, and lastly he was frustrated that Hashirama, a boy he onces saw as a potential match for his daughter, act in such a way. "Kira, Kora you may leave, I want a word in private with Naruto." Both of them excused themselves.
"So now that we are technically alone, mind telling me what you and one of my ANBU were discussing so late in your home?" Naruto looked at his Kage and simply told him the past and training practices. "You know it is against ANBU protocol to reveal their faces, right?" Naruto looked at the ceiling. "She looks like my late beloved wife. Her eyebrows, nose, lips, chin, jawline and even the shape of her eyes. If I offended you or this ANBU I apologize, but my wife and I often talked together till we both fell asleep together. It was our way to relax from the daily troubles."
Kirimitsu had to agree it sounded like a good way to prevent going to sleep angry, or frustrated. "You miss your wife, don't you?" Naruto closed his eyes and tears began to flow down his face, "More than I could ever put into words, it's like my life is so empty. You don't know it, since your wife is still very much alive, but I certainly wish you never find out how this feels. Some people once told me I train like I do, because maybe I am trying to train myself into my own grave. But they would never understand, training is the only thing I have left."
"What about Mito? You could ask her to start a relationship with you. Hashirama wants to use her to join both of our clans as one, Madara wants to improve his own clan with what he sees as a bloodline trait. I am not like them. I consider Mito to be beautiful, serious, and focused. She would indeed turned my life around. But I will not force it or use her. I will let her decided. If she wants me, she will have to make the first move, or I will simply continue like I have, I have done so for a while now, it's nothing new."
"But that sound like you are frozen to others." Naruto got up and walked to the door. This was the time when he for the first time he showed his true self, cold, stoic and loyal, almost like the faithful sword a master would use. "That is only partially true, what froze is my heart, ever since I lost the warmth of my beloved wife, I truly hope you never get to experience it, like I am. Life is so cold, without someone that loves you."
Naruto left the office and began walking towards the business sector, he had been helping the contractor to repair and add room to the academy, his shadow clones helped the blacksmith, and other shadow clones helped carry the heavy supplies down by the hospital. Mito walked behind him, following him, as saw that Naruto seemed to always work with the same look in his eyes, one that was always focused on the task at hand, and ignored everything else.
Kirimitsu wondered why he had cried if his heart is truly frozen. When he asked his wife she told him that he was not crying out of sadness but out of pain. If his hearth was indeed emotionally frozen, that did not mean he could not feel the pain of loss. "Mito is not so direct as to tell him how she feels, she might not look it, but she can be rather shy." Kirimitsu told his wife if that continued she might lose her chance to be with the one man that is interested in her happiness. His wife told him that they would simply need to give some subtle hints, and push their daughter to see what her shyness would cost her.
The ANBU lady was a lot more open with Naruto ever since he told her his reasons for not training or using the power of his eyes more frequently. She was even seen talking about tracking, and trap strategies with him. He had even been seen talking to each other by their first names. Deep down this seemed to upset Mito for some reason that she still was unable to figure out. Kira knew what it was, it was the green monster called jealousy. Kora simply looked at Kira and mentioned the pot is calling the kettle black.
Naruto and his team were allowed a few days to rest, so Naruto decided to visit his mother's old hunting grounds. Thanks to his father's jutsu he could go and be back before anyone knew any different. He left 20 shadow clones to help the doctor and the blacksmith. To make sure the project was continuing and to make sure the doctor has every patient had a proper file was important after all.
When he reached the old hunting grounds he saw something he did not expect to see, the marks that a rather large fox was in the area. He entered his sage mode and began to smell his surrounding, and sure enough, there was the smell that he knew so well. He ran towards the direction and saw the one and only Kyuubi No Kitsune eating a large dear like it was a small snack. He ran up a nearby tree and jumped to a tree branch so that he could get a better look.
"So Human, are you waiting for me to finish my meal before you try and kill me?" Naruto looked at the fox like she had asked something completely crazy. "Actually I was wondering if you needed another deer, I could scare on towards you if you want?" The large fox looked at him and smirked. "No, I like having a light breakfast." Naruto called that an absolute lie, he told her he knew very well that she could eat a dozen apples and 10 fish and that was what she would call breakfast.
"Or maybe I don't want to eat while a human I don't know is watching me eat." Naruto jumped down and looked at her. "You might not know me, but I know you. You like things more sour than sweet, you eat your apples when their a little green. You will bake an yam but boil a potato. Your hair in human form is so long it can reach your ankles and you have the most difficult time getting men to stop looking at your breasts when in human form because they are simply that big. Most call you Kyuubi, or the Fox Goddess, but I know your real name, Kurama."
"Who are you and how would you know so much about me?" Naruto smiled and turned his sage mode off. "I am Naruto Uzumaki and how do I know so much about you? Well you will have to talk to me some more to find out, but I will tell you this I know you as well as a child knows his own mother." Naruto left a very confused looking Kurama and he went back towards his home. "As a child knows his mother, that's weird, I don't have any kids. I guess I will have to look for him to get to know him."
When he got back to his room, he was truly happy that he found his mother, even though she had no clue as to who he was. "Something good must have happened for you to behave like that, where is the usual serious guy that I trade tricks of the trade with?. Come on, I am a friend and as a friend I want to know what happened to make you smile like you were." Naruto simply told her that he found a relative he was not aware that he had. "Like who? a godmother?" Toya clearly having fun with this. "Alright she could be considered my godmother but she was also my mother's sister in everything but blood. So she could be called an Aunt too."
"Well you are not going to be so alone, in this big house. Congratulations, guess you are not as alone as you believed." Naruto corrected her, that he was alone, because he could never tell her where he lives. He made a solemn promise to the Uzukage that he would never reveal the location of the village. "But this is someone from your family." Naruto thanked her for being happy for him, but he told her as she left. "Never means Never, and I do not break my word. I can meet her where she lives, but I shall never mention where this village is."
Toya couldn't believe this guy, he found someone to bring a little warmth and joy into his life, and because of a promise he would never tell this person where he actually lived. She imagined this lady asking and him flat out lying through his teeth about being a traveling merchant or not having a permanent residence. And the scary thing is that he could do that, and almost make anyone believe him. "Well in the end we all have our cross to bear, I am no different."
Toya's lover had abandoned her after he found out she was pregnant. The bastard actually killed her child when her daughter was four years old. She became an ANBU to hunt the bastard down and make him pay. She managed to do it, but she found that she had nothing else to live for, so she dedicated her entire being to being the best she could be with her fellow ANBU. "Something tells me that lady is going to find a way to find where he lives. If she is as smart as I think she is, she will find a way."