I'm glad so many of you seem to like this story and I want to thank everyone who's taken the time to review.

Now there's something I want to address. This story will have dark moments and will certainly be more mature in nature, but it definitely won't always be all doom and gloom so just bear with it for the time being.

As the cog-shaped sky split open to reveal light, two hundred years worth of debris began to rain down on them. Reacting quickly to this, Naruto wrapped his arms around Miranda, forcing her into a huddle beneath him. He used his body to shield her, grunting when a particularly large rock collided with his back, around the lower left side of his ribs. It hurt far more than he expected but it was not enough to disable him for the moment.

Miranda was immensely grateful for his consideration in that moment and gasped hearing him release a rather loud and pained grunt. She felt his entire body lurch above her own and saw the melon sized rock rattle on the floor beside her.

"Are you okay?" She asked worriedly.

Another grunt was her only response.

When the rocks stopped falling Miranda tried to check on Naruto, but was held back when he simply put a hand up and shook his head, saying he was fine. Though worried, her attention was drawn to the sun that now brightened the platform.

Both were equally relieved to know its presence was not shielded from them in a nuclear winter. However their relief was short lived when the elevator finally reached the surface, revealing the true cost of war.

The landscape before them was charred and appeared to be clinging dearly onto life. What little grass grew presented in a sickly yellow color which blended drearily with patches of the graying of bushes and the occasional patches of green.

Then there were the structures. What little remained of them standing bore nothing more than their skeletal innards, exposed through years of decay and dilapidation.

Naruto tried gathering nature chakra to both feel for life, and in an attempt to accelerate his natural healing. Instead all he felt was ill and immediately released his hold on the dying nature.

He may not have been of this world, be it from another time or space, but even he felt burdened by the apocalyptic sight before him. A renewed sense of helplessness began to creep into Naruto and no matter what he did to steel himself, he could not keep the feeling repressed.

The world was dying.

"Are you okay?"

Miranda's soft voice was a welcomed distraction.

She noticed the disturbed look on his face and it greatly concerned her. Knowing the seemingly hardened young man visibly shaken, frightened almost, made Miranda al the more nervous about what was to come.

Then again, maybe she was expecting far too much of the man younger than herself. He was as much human as she, after all. Miranda had allowed herself to become presumptuous in the short time she'd been observing him. He handled the pistol he carried as though he'd done so all of his life as he dispatched the overgrown insects with relative ease.

This painted him in a picture that may have been obscured by her circumstance. This realization only made her own reality all the more daunting.

"I'm fine," Naruto began after a moment. "I honestly didn't know what I expected. I knew it was going to be bad but I didn't know it would be this bad."

Miranda silently agreed with him. Two hundred years could help to either heal or destroy the earth under such radiation and circumstances. She did not have to know much of the invisible substance to understand just how harmful it was to both humans and nature alike.

Naruto stepped forward and discretely activated his eyes, looking for anything and nothing in particular. He spotted a gathering of homes in the distance, the neighborhood Miranda lived in before she entered the vault.

He deactivated his eyes and turned to Miranda. "I see some homes down there. They seem to be in slightly better shape than anything else around."

"That's where I… well, where I used to live. It's uh," Miranda was plagued with memories of her pregnancy living in the suburbs, where they had moved to upon discovering she was with child. It was surreal seeing its current state of decay. "It's called Sanctuary Hills."

"We'll go there first," Naruto decided. "See what we can scavenge in terms of food and water. We'll decide where we go from there."

He began in the direction of the homes, prompting Miranda to follow after him at her own sedate pace.

She was lost in troubled thoughts as proven by the distant look in her watery eyes. Naruto felt a growing sympathy for the woman as he knew all too well the despair of losing everything in such a short time. Though her husband and previous life were all gone, her daughter was still within reach.

Or so he hoped. Naruto was well aware of just how cruel hope could be.

But it wouldn't do anyone any good for Miranda to get herself killed as a result of her wandering mind. He could not allow her to be constantly distracted in a world unfamiliar. For both their sakes, he had to find a way to refocus the woman trailing numbly behind.

Eventually.

He would allow to grieve for all that was lost. For the time being, Naruto was ever vigilant as they continued their tedious pace. Though he didn't realize just how lost in her own world she'd become until he had to save her from falling multiple times down the steep incline of the hill.

Each time he did so Miranda would utter half-hearted thanks but was lost in her thoughts.

After descending the hill they came upon a clearing in where the forest met suburbs. Naruto stopped his trek to further asses the situation.

There were no immediate signs of life but he couldn't be sure. Naruto didn't want to draw in anymore nature chakra for how corrupted and sickening it felt. His previous attempt had left him feeling almost physically ill and he didn't want to press his luck any further.

Naruto decided to rely on his base survival skills alone.

"We need to be careful around here. There's no telling what we might — " Naruto found himself giving chase after Miranda. She was running in a full on sprint towards what appeared to be a flying machine.

If not for the memory of their home care contraption he would have destroyed the machine long before she could have reached it.

"Codsworth! I can't believe you're still here!" Miranda called out happily.

"And I am glad to see you in good health, ma'am!" Codsworth sounded just as happy. "Oh, but where is Mr. Fawkes? I say, my scanners aren't what they used to be. Is that him over there? Did he do something to his hair?"

Miranda glanced behind herself to Naruto. With pistol in hand, he was scanning the area in a constant sweep. They locked eyes for all of a moment, his hard stare confusing her for all of a moment before he continued with his watch.

"No Codsworth, that's not Nathan. He," her voice broke with sudden emotion. "My husband, he's in a better place now."

Codsworth, as a personal care robot had installed into him a vast vocabulary and in many languages. Included in his base operating system were algorithms aided in deciphering any possible double meanings, referencing a vast library of pop culture and literature alike.

From the look on her master's face and the tone in which she spoke, Codsworth knew there was little probabilities he would see his other master again. But there was still someone missing from the family under his care.

"What of the young misses?"

"They took her, Codsworth," Miranda stated sadly but the expression was replaced by determination. "But I'm going to find her!"

"I see," Codsworth spun its mechanic arms about. "Then enough with the somber mood! Would Mrs. Fawkes and the gentleman like anything in the meantime?"

"Some food would be nice!" Miranda answered immediately.

"Unfortunately I cannot provide that at this time, Mrs. Fawkes!" Despite his words, Codsworth remained cheerful. "I'm afraid all the food within the home is terribly out of date and therefore, unsafe for human consumption. May I interest you in some coffee in the mean time? I hear it has a much longer shelf life!"

"No thanks," Miranda muttered uncertainly. "I'm going to talk with my friend to see what we can do about getting some food."

Naruto heard everything and met her halfway. He was both awed and disturbed by the machine's seeming sentience. Talking summons were an oddity in his world but one generally accepted as they were rumored to be the reincarnation of past warriors.

However, seeing a manmade construct of metal with emotions was a very hard concept to accept. A creation of man beyond which nature intended.

"So, what now?" Miranda asked. "How am I supposed to find my daughter? I don't know where I'd even begin looking."

It seemed she could no longer contain her tears as the reality of the situation continued to further cement itself as daunting.

"I think we should begin by looking for the largest vill — city in the area. The man who took your daughter; his presence means there has to be other people out there. Someone out there has to know something," Naruto said.

"But what if we can't find her?" Miranda began to lose her remaining composure. "What if we never find her? What if she's not even alive anymore?"

Naruto felt awkward watching her cry. In fact, he didn't want to see her cry. It brought to mind memories he would much rather forget but he could not ignore her despair. He acted before he truly realized what he was doing.

Miranda stiffened feeling a single arm wrap around her upper back. She looked up, wide eyed to see Naruto trying his best to look anywhere but back at her with the same expressionless demeanor she was growing accustomed to. It was obvious to her he was having a hard time dealing with her overwhelming emotion and for some odd reason, it seemed to work. As awkward and out of place as the gesture was, it showed he did in fact care.

In his own way.

She smiled at him briefly, the gesture going unnoticed by Naruto before she lay her head against his chest, wrapping her arms around him tightly. He had to have been almost half her age and that helped tremendously in taking comfort in the arms of a man not her husband. With that in mind she proceeded to sob without restraint within his stiff embrace, letting out what she had been holding in since first meeting him.

Naruto placed his pistol into his already brimming vault suit so he could hoist Miranda into his arms. Sometime along the release of her emotions she had succumbed to her exhaustion. She was now snoring rather loudly, her eyes moving randomly beneath their shutters, indicating a deep yet restless sleep. He did not feel right interrupting her much needed sleep by waking her.

"Sir!" Codsworth saluted Naruto as he entered Miranda's home.

"She fell asleep. Where should I lay her?" Naruto asked the machine.

"Right this way, sir," Codsworth said in a much lower volume. "I just made the bed with fresh lining. Well, as fresh as can be, I suppose."

The Mr. Handy robot led Naruto into the largest room, which he assumed to be the master bedroom. It was heavily deteriorated by time and weather with the pungent stench of mold permeating the air. Despite this the bed was in hospitable condition and with new sheets, as Codsworth said.

He gently laid her down in bed as Codsworth held the sheets up. He covered her with the thin sheets and motioned for the robot to follow him into the living room.

"Watch over her," he instructed. "I'm going out to look for something to eat."

"But of course, sir!" Codsworth saluted. His arms abruptly dropped as he floated slightly closer to Naruto. "Erm, sir?"

He almost sounded nervous.

"What?" Naruto asked. He continued to feel unnerved by the machine's human-like behavior.

"May I have your name, sir? You see it is within my protocols to refer to my masters friends in a respectful manner," Codsworth explained.

"Naruto Uzumaki," he said.

"Very well, Mr. Uzumaki," Codsworth saluted him again. "It is my honor to make your acquaintance and I would also like to take this opportunity to properly thank you for taking care of Mrs. Fawkes."

Naruto only offered a nod of acknowledgment.

"One more thing, Mr. Uzumaki," Codsworth called after him. "Do be careful while your out. There are all manner of creatures in the area, unusually large buggers they are. Ordinarily I leave them be as they tend to keep the riffraff out of our neck of the woods and they do ignore my presence all together. However, now with the Missus back, well you seem capable enough to rid homes of the creatures yourself. I respectfully ask you clear the surrounding homes of the vermin."

"There are other people around?" Naruto asked following another acknowledging nod.

"Not recently, no. I've seen a few people here and there over the years, though none ever stay more than a couple of days," Codsworth explained.

This gave Naruto hope of a grander civilization.

"Did any of those people happen to have a child with them?" He asked.

"None that I recall, Mr. Uzumaki," Codsworth reported.

"How long has it been since you've last seen anyone around?" Naruto continued his line of questioning.

"Not too long ago, actually. There were a rather unsavory bunch of rapscallions whom camped out in one of the homes down the cul-de-sac. That was no more than four days ago, I believe. But worry not, they're gone now. I do routine sweeps of the neighborhood you see," Codsworth stated proudly.

It was a start.

"Did you happen to see the direction they were heading?" Naruto asked.

"No, I'm afraid not but I do believe I heard one mention the Museum of Freedom in Concord," Codsworth said.

"Concord?" Naruto muttered the semi-familiar name aloud. It was a nearby town by his acquired memories but they were already beginning to grow hazy in his mounting fatigue. "Is that far from here?"

"Not too far, Mr. Uzumaki. Its just northwest of here; shouldn't be more than a half hour's drive," Codsworth made a noise of sheepish contemplation. "Erm, about a four hour walk?"

Putting aside the rather long trek, this new information mostly concerned him. Whoever it was that Codsworth saw, he didn't paint them in a favorable light. Knowing this he couldn't risk straying too far from Miranda in the event some lingered.

"I'll be back soon. Don't let her out of your sight," Naruto reiterated. Whatever that constituted to the robot.

He had gone through most of the deteriorated homes closest to Miranda's own and his search had proven relatively fruitless thus far. The only item he'd discovered of use was a dull green military backpack, which he used to lightened the load of his pockets.

Most of the creatures he encountered in his search appeared to be mutations of the common pest such as flies, and even mosquitoes, reminding him of his dislike for the latter. Naruto hated mosquitoes almost as much as he did spiders.

Fortunately he never encountered any spiders and what vermin he did were easily dispatched by the weapon he was quickly growing to appreciate. He almost preferred his handgun over the kunai of his world. The projectiles traveled quicker, though that depended on just who was throwing the kunai. One of the few downsides to the weaponry was its disposable ammunition. He couldn't just pick up and reuse the projectiles once he fired them.

His continued search led him to the remaining homes where he managed to find canned chili and couple of cans of black eyed peas. Though neither seemed particularly appetizing, that was the least of his concern regarding the food. He could only hope they were edible being well over a century past their expiration date.

A noise outside of nature's own startled Naruto in the otherwise deathly silent environment. He readied himself, assuring he had a round chambered before carefully leaving the room he was in.

Glancing through the living room window, facing the street, but he saw nothing. The home had only one window in the direction of the sound and that being the living room window. Naruto knew better than to open the front door, further opening himself for a surprise attack should there be something more dangerous than overgrown bugs waiting for him.

Rounding around back, Naruto exited the home from the rear door. Slowly and all so cautiously, he circled the home until he reached the edge. Peeking his head around the corner, he found himself feeling foolishly relieved when he saw the source of the noise.

It was a large and rather haggard looking dog of a breed Naruto didn't quite recognize. It seemed to notice him, offering him a cheerful bark and a lopsided display of its tongue. With a wagging tail, the dog approached him at a leisurely pace, further showing its docile nature.

Naruto kneeled to greet the dog, a small smile playing on his face as he petted its head and scratched behind its ears much in the same way he used to with Akimaru. This earned him more happy yips and louder panting. If he hadn't already cleared most of the homes, he would have been concerned with the noise it was causing.

"You're a good boy, aren't you?" Naruto allowed himself to chuckle as the dog barked again, almost as if in confirmation.

If only he had food to offer the poor creature. After giving him a short few moments of affection, Naruto decided to return to his task.

As soon as his back was to the dog, he heard it growl. Naruto quickly turned his iron sights on the canine, only to come to the horrible realization it was not growling at him, but rather at a large creature which seemed to belong to the underworld itself.

The monster was large, almost as tall as the nearby home it rounded. Its skin was a dark gray in color, rough and almost scaled in makeup. Its head was large with an elongated maw lined with a single row of long and sharp jutting teeth. Above its head were a pair of thick and curved dark horns, splitting mutliple jagged dorsal spikes on its back, leading to a large tail. Its arms were outstretched and appeared just as powerful as the rest of the creature's musculature stature, its hands ending in five pointed pitch black claws.

It was snarling right at Naruto, ignoring the now ravenous dog, clearly sensing he was the most immediate threat.

He did not move, not even to exhale the breath hitched in his lungs. Naruto had faced worse monsters in human form but that was in his prime. As he was now, the beast before him truly frightened him because his every instinct was screaming he was in danger.

The dog, however, had no such thoughts of self-preservation.

"Shut up," Naruto released his own growl, low enough to be completely drowned out in the ones belonging to the dog and the beast.

The monster erupted in movement.

"Oh shit!"

Naruto's eyes activated instinctively as he began to rapid fire his pistol, unleashing twelve rounds directly into the monster's head. He could clearly see as each bullet struck and promptly crumpled harmlessly against the monster's thick skin, bouncing off as if they were mere pebbles. If anything, this only proved to further enrage the beast rather than harming it.

He snatched up the dog and jumped away from the monster's charge. He landed on the roof of the nearby home but was offered no respite as the monster came to a grinding stop. It immediately lunged itself on to the same roof.

It was rather fast and even more aggressive in its charge than he could have ever expected for such a hulking stature.

"What the fuck?" Naruto leapt away again, keeping his hold on the yelping dog. The next roof he landed on had been well worn by time and weather, giving way immediately beneath his weight, sending both crashing inside.

He fell on his back and through a wooden coffee table, landing hard.

"Fuck," Naruto groaned feeling the area on his back where he'd been struck by the falling debris spike in pain. He glared at the dog on his chest. "This is your fault."

It had no guilt as it barked happily and licked his cheek.

The beast growled again, drawing both their attention. It sounded to be on the retreat which was not a good sign. Naruto pushed through his pain to rush out and locate it before it could find Miranda. He doubted Codsworth was capable of handling the monster that was admittedly giving him trouble.

He paused at the door seeing the creature roaming around the cul-de-sac, steadily making its way in the direction of Miranda's home.

Naruto sighed and pushed the approaching dog back into the home with his foot and shut the door despite its whines of displeasure. The last thing he wanted to do was engage the creature again due to his current state. His previous maneuvers and the use of his eyes had taken their toll on his already dismal reserves. He estimated to have just enough in him to wonder around, run if he had to. A physical fight was something he was hoping to avoid until he recovered.

Now he had no choice.

Naruto did not have to beckon the beast to catch its attention. He was hoping to use stealth as his advantage but the dog put an abrupt end to that plan when it began to bark loudly and aggressively, pawing at the door.

The beast was already charging at him before he could curse the imprudent dog.

He actively disengaged his eyes and formed a base Rasengan in his right hand. He immediately felt the drain on his body but ignored it as the beast neared. Using the home behind him as leverage, he kicked off the building with as much force as possible. The brick crumbling beneath his feet as he met the creature head on.

To his misfortune, his Rasengan quickly dissipated as soon as it made contact with the beast's chest. He was subsequently backhanded aside, sending him crashing through the brick mailbox of a neighboring home.

The hit and subsequent spin had Naruto feeling disoriented and in great pain. As he struggled to his feet he was charged once more.

Naruto let out an anguished shout as he was pinned against the home behind him. The beast's left horn had pierced clean through his right shoulder, while it's right had managed to tear the muscle above his left shoulder. His own attack had managed to bore a hole in the monster's chest which was now oozing obsidian blood but it was not enough to kill it, instead enraging it further.

His right arm was rendered immobile after having his shoulder pierced, muscle and tendons severed. Naruto desperately used his only working arm to parry the beast's wild claw strikes but it managed to cut into his chest a couple of times. He then attempted to kick the monster away and almost had his foot torn into by its sharp teeth, its head movement further tearing into his shoulders.

His eyes had activated again and he had no choice but to deploy a vastly underpowered push.

It was enough to knock the beast onto its back. It seemed to have trouble scrambling back to its feet, giving Naruto enough of a reprieve to jump onto the roof of a nearby home in which he made sure to land on the very edge in order to avoid any weakness in the structure.

He landed on his feet but immediately fell to one knee, his right arm swinging uselessly at his side. Blue bled back into his eyes as his vision began to blur. In addition to the hole in his shoulder, his chest and right arm now bore multiple burning lacerations, his vault suit left in little more than tatters.

In that moment Naruto came to the grim realization that he may very well die if he was not careful. On some level this was always apparent but to die to a mindless beast of all things, no matter how intimidating, was a major blow to his pride.

He did not kill a Goddess, only to die to a mutation.

Beyond his fractured pride, Miranda's own gruesome end briefly flashed in his imagination and it spurred him to his feet. A matter he didn't give too much thought as he prepared himself. Even if it did kill him, he was determined to kill the monster before it could hurt her.

It was only a matter of exactly how he was supposed to accomplish that. Though he wasn't given the time to strategize as the sound of shattering glass reached his throbbing ears.

The dog had crashed through a window and out into the fight, barking viciously at the monster, which in turn roared back in response, becoming its current focus.

"Fucking dog!"

He pulled at the remnants of his chakra to summon a clone which stayed behind as he leapt down. Naruto landed atop the charging monster, forcing its head into the ground with a crash before it could reach the dog. He pulled at the bottom of the monster's jaw to keep it from biting, pulling it back with its every attempted swipe of its claws. It growled and swiped at him but he used chakra to stay on its back and its arms could not reach him as he desperately fought for time.

"This doesn't feel right," his clone warned him, indicating it had served its purpose.

Naruto ignored the warning and dispelled his clone, feeling the nature chakra it gathered flood him, followed closely by an overwhelming sickness. But he pushed through the concerning feeling and used his advance strength to pull the beast's head back while forcing its neck down with his foot until something snapped.

The monster fell with a crash, immediately still.

Naruto stumbled off its back and immediately purged the remaining nature chakra within him by summoning as many clones as he could. Having performed the technique so often, he was able to do so without the use of hand-signs. However he realized something was horribly wrong when every one of the at least dozen clones looked like the ones he would conjure before he learned the shadow clone technique.

Despite this, he was successful in ridding himself of his remaining nature chakra but the sickness remained. Naruto vomited before promptly falling onto his back, the world swaying around him.

The dog continued to growl at the beast, biting its horns until it confirmed it was in fact dead. After sniffing at it for a short while longer, it approached Naruto's sprawled barked happily once again and licked his face.

Naruto closed his eyes, his adrenaline having run its course he didn't even have the strength to push the dog away; its breath fowl. Some time passed but and his pain only grew more apparent. He realized he had to get up but somehow the bright sun above burned at his wounds almost pleasantly, prolonging his current pain in exchange of a much worse pain surely to come.

He grunted and rolled onto his chest first. With great effort, Naruto moved himself onto his knees before finally standing. He began his slow trudge in the direction of Miranda's home, recalling seeing a liquor cabinet in her living room. He only hoped he could find a source of fire to cauterize his wounds. Something he was already dreading but he didn't have the sufficient chakra to force his own natural healing.

"Mr. Uzumaki! What happened to you?" Codworth flew to his side the moment he entered the home.

"Ran into something big," Naruto allowed himself to fall onto the sofa, his remaining strength finally failing him. "Is she still sleeping?"

"Y-Yes sir!"

"Then keep it down. Also, get me some alcohol with the highest concentration, some clean rags, a clean knife, and a lighter if you can find one," Naruto instructed. He groaned as he ripped the remaining tatters of his vault suit to fully expose his chest and arms.

"Right away, sir!" Codsworth said in a whisper before quickly jetting away.

Naruto forced himself into a seated position and shook off the backpack that somehow remained attached to him throughout his encounter and reached inside to grab a bottle of water. He drank some and poured the rest on his wounds to clean the excess blood. Just then the dog padded in and comfortably seated itself at his feet.

"Asshole," Naruto looked at the dog, noticing it was male. "But I guess you did help. Or at least you tried. If you're gonna keep following me then I'm gonna have to name you, aren't I?"

The dog barked happily, as if to reaffirm the sentiment.

"Well, you almost got me killed but you were brave. Loud, brash, and annoying, it's almost ironic," Naruto sighed. "Guess I'll call you Kiba. Also, shut up or you'll wake her."

Codsworth flew in, holding what he was tasked to retrieve in a few of its arms and quickly pointed another at the newly named Kiba. "Is that what attacked you, sir?" He inquired, the saw attachment on his arm whirring to life.

"No, he helped me," Naruto muttered.

"Are you certain about that, sir?" Codsworth asked.

"Maybe. The alcohol, Codsworth," Naruto motioned with his working hand, wincing at the ache from his shoulder.

"I do apologize, Mr. Uzumaki, but I could not find a fire starter, but I do have this," Codworth said as he blew a concentrated jet of fire from one of his mechanical arms.

"That works. Use the fire to heat the knife until it's glowing," Naruto said.

Seeing where Naruto was going, Codsworth muttered some worried words but did as he was told.

Meanwhile Naruto poured the alcohol into his wounds and gasped as it burned his wounds. He was sorely tempted to take a drink but it would only thin his blood, which was not advised with how much of it he'd already lost. He poured the remaining alcohol onto the rag to soften it. Tepidly he began to clean his wounds, groaning in pain all the while.

"It's glowing, sir," Codsworth advised nervously.

"Okay," Naruto grabbed the handle of the steel knife with the now bloody rag and inhaled sharply a few times before pressing the broad side agains his biggest wound on his shoulder.

Kiba whimpered and Codsworth gave the robotic equivalent of a wince with every wound Naruto cauterized. The process was arduous and very much painful and by the time he finished, he was nearing unconsciousness. The room now filled with the horrid scent of burned flesh only he could find distaste in.

Finally, with the gruesome task done, he dropped the knife with a clatter and laid back on the sofa, using his backpack as a makeshift pillow and closed his eyes.

"Mr. Uzumaki?" Codsworth began cautiously. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah I'm…" Naruto inhaled raggedly. "I'll be fine. Just watch over the house. Wake me if there's trouble," he mumbled before falling asleep.

"Sir!" Low militaristic music played through Codsworth's speaker system as he patrolled the home containing the two survivors of Vault 111.

To get ahead of the curve, yes, a healthy Naruto would have been able to pretty easily take care of a Deathclaw, however he was near exhaustion when he woke up. Also as a reminder, while Naruto will still be extremely strong, he isn't all powerful.

Until next time!