Naruto needed to change out of his blood caked and tattered vault suit but knew better than to greet Miranda wearing her recently departed husband's clothes. The nearest home was only a few feet away but after his encounter with the monster from the day before, he was cautious of what they could encounter next.

He was also reluctant to leave Miranda on her own and though he was recovering, a shadow clone was out of the question. Naruto wanted to conserve every bit of chakra he had should he have to fight another dangerous creature, or something worse. He was very much in the dark regarding the current world's mutations.

He couldn't get Kiba to stay but thankfully he was able to find Codsworth loyally patrolling the home, who revealed to him the reason behind his improvement. Miranda happened to find some Rad-X, as well as some antibiotics. He also learned Codsworth kept his word and Naruto was grateful for the robot's discretion as he was still far from being out of danger.

A secondary scan revealed the radiation within him was still fatally high. Rad-X was a mere suppressant; no more than a momentary fix. However, it was a relief to discover that even after over two hundred years, the medicine's efficacy remained. All he had to do now was find some more, and more preferably some Rad-Away.

After a quick rummage through the direct neighboring home, Naruto discarded what remained of his vault suit and was now wearing all he could find not effected by time and weather and was hating every moment of it.

He returned to find Miranda awake, heating up the chili he found the day before.

She almost literally dropped everything she was doing and ran to him, coming to an awkward stop before him, her expression troubled. Naruto suspected she aimed to hug him because her arms wide open quickly became wrapped around herself.

"You should be resting," Miranda eventually muttered.

"I had to find a change of clothes," Naruto said.

It was then Miranda seemed to take notice of his new clothing. He was wearing a lime green button up with equally blinding pink flamingos pattering the shirt. The humor ended there as he wore a pair of beige dress pants but that wasn't enough to distract her from the stoic young man dressed like a tourist in a costal state.

"I started on breakfast," Miranda announced, her few words warped with humor as she motioned towards the pot of food, turning to hide her grin. Despite her best efforts she wasn't able to fully suppress the snorts which quickly became hushed giggles.

Naruto rolled his but decided to allow her to have a laugh at his expense if it made her feel better. He was also never one to dance around a subject, one of the few personal traits the horrors of war hadn't taken from him.

"Thank you for taking care of me, Miranda," Naruto said.

Miranda turned to find his expression was as serious as his words, putting an end to her laughter.

"I also wanted to apologize for what I said to you. I was in pain and didn't mean it, but that's not really an excuse; I shouldn't have taken it out on you," Naruto continued.

She silently cursed Naruto for having disarmed her so easily. Despite her worry for him she'd compiled a list of possible comebacks to any of his claims. If only in her imagination, Miranda was given the satisfaction of seeing how the blond writhed beneath her witticism, begging for her forgiveness, maybe even on his knees. Of course she knew she wasn't brave enough to openly say most of what she wanted to say, but the scenarios played out nicely enough within her imagination.

However, hearing his words now; Naruto's face may have remained in its hard default, but there was a subtle yet genuine change in his tone. His voice was still low, just above a whisper with a masculine coarseness. Only now there was a warmth previously absent.

Naruto seemed genuinely apologetic and Miranda couldn't find any reason to remain angry at him.

"It's okay," Miranda sighed. "It's not like what you said isn't true. I haven't exactly been a big help so far."

"I wouldn't say that at all, Miranda. I would have probably died if not for the medicine you found, and you helped cleaned my wounds. I could barely even breathe before. There's no way I would have been able to help myself. You saved my life," Naruto said honestly.

Miranda felt oddly shy at his words. "You would have done the same for me, and it's not like I can always stay behind and patch you up every time you get hurt, Naruto. Not that I don't want to help you, or that I wouldn't, but I need to learn to take care of myself too! I can't always just rely on you!" She finished with some steam behind her words.

"I know," Naruto agreed calmly. "That's why I'm going to teach you how to defend yourself."

"You will?" Miranda asked in momentary confusion. Her eyes lit up when she fully processed what he was suggesting. "You will?" She repeated louder yet.

Naruto was aware that was where she was trying to lead the conversation before his offer. Seeing her large hopeful eyes shine in anticipation reaffirmed his belief. Miranda could be quite immature at times and it oddly didn't annoy him. Her enthuse and drive reminded him of himself in his childhood days.

"Yes, I wanted to start off by showing you how to shoot a handgun. When I'm feeling a little better I'll show you some self defense techniques in case you find yourself without a weapon. We'll see where we go from there," Naruto explained.

"That's great! We can even start now!" Miranda reached into the deep pockets of her vault suit and produced the gun she'd retrieved earlier. "I found your gun earlier and even reloaded it! See, I already know how to do that, and I also know how to aim too!"

"Wait don't — "

Her excitement got the better of her and she did what her husband warned her never to do, what Naruto was about to scold her for doing, and placed her finger on the trigger, accidentally pulling it.

He quickly took the gun from her, dropped the magazine and popped the chambered round, catching it as it soared through the air. He returned the single bullet back to the magazine and set the gun down on the counter.

"Sorry!" Miranda cupped her mouth, feeling embarrassment burn her.

Naruto sighed seeing what was going to be his breakfast splattered on the floor, being eaten by Kiba. The pot was now ruined by a bullet hole and he couldn't help but feel he might have his work cut out for him.

Or maybe not.

Miranda surprised Naruto by proving herself to be a quick learner, if clumsy at times. A simple afternoon of target practice using whatever they could find to line up and now she could accurately fire from a respectable distance.

Moving targets were another matter all together. To simulate as best as they could Naruto had Miranda begin taking aim and firing whilst on the move, beginning at a walking pace. She increased the speed of her stride until she could hit an average of six out of ten objects in a light jog.

She still had much to learn but made great progress for how little time she practiced.

"I think that's enough for today," Naruto announced after she shattered the last empty nuka-cola bottle.

"Aw come on, I was just getting the hang of this!" Miranda whined. "Watch!" To prove a point, she fired off three shots in near rapid succession, only managing to hit one of the three intended targets.

Miranda chuckled in embarrassment at her failed attempt but was relieved to see Naruto showing no signs of disappointment. Not that he displayed any real expression other than his default, but he at least wasn't frustrated with her.

Naruto as it turned out, was a very patient teacher.

Much more so than her husband when he tried and failed to show her how to use a hand gun. Miranda only obliged him knowing how much firearms played a role in his life. Otherwise she would have cared for learning how to handle one and it was something she now regretted. In that moment she had her reasons. They had worked so hard to get into the Sanctuary suburbs where crime rate statistics were none existent outside the occasional spousal spat.

Which the two proceeded to get into once it became apparent Miranda wasn't taking the lessons all too serious; a mistake she would never make again.

Naruto noted the hand she was using to hold the gun was trembling from overuse. "There's no need to overexert yourself. You're making great progress but we can't keep using up our bullets. That and I don't want to keep making too much noise. Codsworth mentioned a few people camping out in the area a few days ago. They were on their way to Concord but I'd rather not risk it."

"Concord? There are people in Concord?" Miranda asked.

"Yes but — "

"Then what are we waiting for? They may know something about my daughter, hell, they may be the ones who took her!"

"No," Naruto emphasized the word heavily. "Neither of us are ready to travel yet. I haven't recovered and you're still learning to defend yourself. It would be irresponsible to go now. We'll only manage to get ourselves killed."

"But my daughter," Miranda stated with a frown.

"We won't find her if we both die, Miranda. You have to think with your mind, not your heart," Naruto's face and tone softened back into their default. "We will find her."

Miranda briefly looked down and away from him. As hard as it was to accept it, she understood what he was saying. Naruto knew what he was doing, she trusted in that. "Hey Naruto, can I ask you a question?"

She didn't miss the subtle shifting of his eyes along with the stiffening of his posture. It was obvious he didn't like personal inquiries.

"Yeah, go ahead," Naruto said.

And she appreciated he was willing to talk with her.

"That thing you killed back there, that monster. How did you do it?" Miranda asked the question that had been on her mind for some time now. Not even in her wildest imaginations could she think of a weapon with the ability to punch such a clean, round hole through such a creature.

"You saw it then?" Naruto acknowledged. He disposed of the monster's corpse as soon as he was able so as to avoid any further questioning but he suspected she had already seen it. He foolishly left the gun next to its body and it had been lying near the center of the cul-de-sac.

"Yeah," Miranda trailed off as she nervously held herself.

In that moment Naruto decided there was no benefit in keeping his abilities a secret. Miranda would inevitably witness them and he couldn't have her freezing in either awe or terror because of his actions. She needed to know and understand what he was if they were going to survive alongside one another.

With his mind made up, Naruto was not looking forward to the explanation less, the questions bound to follow.

"I'm going to be honest with you, Miranda. Like, you, I'm not from this time, maybe not even from this world," Naruto began slowly. He was trying to gauge her reactions so as to find the best way to explain himself in a way she would believe. He was mainly hoping he wouldn't have to put on any demonstrations.

"What are you trying to say, Naruto?" She asked.

"I don't know how I ended up in that vault. I only know that this isn't the world I know, and I don't mean because of the nuclear war," Naruto tried his best to explain without having to reveal too much.

"So, you're saying you're from another world or time?" Miranda reiterated in clear disbelief. "That still doesn't explain how you were able to kill that thing because I didn't see any bullet holes, just the one in its chest."

She was observant, that much was good.

"Miranda, I'm a Shinobi," Naruto decided to be even more direct.

"Shinobi?" Miranda tried the word slowly, drawing from her memories for any indication as to what that was.

"Yes, Shinobi are special ninja from my world with superhuman abilities. That's how I was able to kill that thing. Ordinarily I wouldn't have even gotten hurt but my chakra's still very low," Naruto explained, already knowing her follow up question.

"Superhuman ninjas, chakra? Naruto, what are you talking about?" Miranda asked, now thoroughly confused.

Naruto understood her what he was saying must have sounded like near nonsense and he was never adept at explaining himself so he decided prove himself by example. "Chakra is a Shinobi's life force as well as their source of energy used to perform techniques such as this," he said as he raised his right hand and formed a base Rasengan.

Using the chakra belonging to one of the most powerful beings in existence motivated him to learn a semblance of control. After Kurama's extraction, it became a necessity. While his reserves were still among the highest of his world, Naruto could no longer afford to be so reckless with his power.

The Rasengan was a technique built upon control. He could create one with little draw on his chakra; the takeaway being a reduction in the technique's power.

Miranda's eyes doubled in disbelief. Many questions flooded her mind as she studied the beautiful glowing orb. However, she simply couldn't put to words any of her thoughts and in stead, allowed herself to become entranced by the swirling ball of cerulean light.

She reached forward to touch it but just before she could, the ball disbursed in a small burst of air, ruffling her hair and breaking her from her semi-trance. Miranda blinked a few times, questioning whether what she had just witnessed was real or not.

"What was that?" She asked.

"That was called a Rasengan, my favorite technique. It's capable of destroying most matter, which is why I had to end before you lost a finger," Naruto explained.

"Impossible," Miranda said as she held her finger in the palm of her opposite hand, as if to confirm she had not lost it.

"I can understand why you would have a hard time believing it, but it's the truth," Naruto said.

"No," Miranda shook her head. "I mean you can't destroy matter. It can't be destroyed or created, only reshaped. I learned that in school," she offered.

"Good to know, I guess," Naruto muttered dryly.

Miranda hummed, taking his words at face value in her wonderment. "Is that why you're able to heal so fast? I mean, you weren't doing too well just yesterday and now you're up and walking."

"I can't tell you for sure how the Shinobi and Kunoichi from my world differ from the humans of this world," Naruto admitted. "But yes. I've always healed faster than most."

"What's a Ku-noe-ichi?" Miranda asked, struggling to pronounce the word as with the other.

"A Kunoichi is the name referring to a female ninja. Shinobi are male but the word is also used as more of a broad term for ninja," Naruto said.

"What do ninja do, actually?" Miranda asked. Her knowledge of ninja began and ended with a single terrible film she'd watched, and since forgotten, with Nathan early in their relationship.

"Many things," Naruto began, reluctant to give the full range of duties. "But we were mainly our village's military forces, similar to soldiers."

"So you're telling me women were allowed to fight alongside the men in war?" Miranda asked excitedly.

"Yes," Naruto confirmed, taken slightly aback by her reaction.

"Girl power!" She whispered, almost squealed, to herself.

"Yeah," Naruto felt the corner of his lips twitch ever so slightly. "Now, with that out of the way we really should — "

"What else can you do?" Miranda asked with a slight turn of her head and the wonderment of a child.

Naruto sighed, knowing it would be a very long evening.

For the following two days, Naruto worked on training Miranda in the capacity his injuries would allow. This consisted mainly of a few simple selfdefense techniques and continued weapons handling.

When they weren't training the two scavenged the surrounding homes further. It took all of an afternoon to survey every remaining home within the small suburb. Their search proving fruitful in finding necessities such as more food and water, as well as another handgun for Miranda to use.

Naruto acquired some more appropriate clothing in the form of a simple black button up. It didn't offer anything in terms of protection, giving him the idea of constructing armor. They would both need it, after all.

In his current state, Naruto couldn't use his superior speed and was susceptible to getting hurt. His lack of Sage mode left him vulnerable. Fortunately Miranda knew how to sew and offered to try to and create some armor, so all they lacked was material. The monster's razor sharp claws aside, the vault suit appeared to be composed of versatile and resistant material, so plans involving the suit as a base were in the making.

Nearing the end of the third day, Miranda's impatience began to boil over and Naruto was of a similar disposition. He could now run at a moderate pace and fire his gun with minimal pain. Time was truly against them if they wanted to find Miranda's daughter.

Something that had been weighing on Naruto's mind was how he used his eyes to invade her privacy in the worst of ways. He was relieved she'd yet to inquire as to how he knew most of the workings of her world, and how he knew english in general and was dreading the moment in which she made the connection.

As to his illness, his supply of Rad-X was beginning to run dangerously low. With only a three day supply remaining and it seemed as though the radiation was somehow keeping his chakra restricted. After the first few days his reserves ceased growing at what he estimated to be a tenth of his full potential.

This was more than a reasonable cause for concern. A single Shadow Clone would use more of his reserves than he would like and his eyes more so if he used their abilities. Normally he would feel little to no drain if using his eyes to view further distances or objects in greater detail. His chakra usage increased when he tried to use them for combat applications, as he came to learn when watching Miranda shoot.

He used his eyes to see how they perform in tracing a speeding bulled should one take a turn in his direction. The legendary Rennigan did not disappoint. He was able to successfully follow the bullet on its journey from the barrel of Miranda's gun to the empty Nuka-Cola bottle, seeing in great detail the directional burst of shattered glass.

How he sympathized with Kakashi now. In his intrigue he failed to feel the drain on his chakra until he was on his knees, gasping in an attempt to regain a steady breathing rhythm. All while trying to convince Miranda that he was not dying. At least not in that moment.

He could no longer use another of his favored techniques so liberally.

In light of his recent discoveries, Naruto was beginning to believe all of his fortune was spent in his childhood and all that remained was an ever-growing streak of misfortune. Because of his radiation poisoning, he was left severely debilitated and heavily reliant on firearms until he succumbed or triumphed against his ailment. Until then, making the best of a bad situation was proving more difficult than he wanted to deal with.

Naruto decided they would be leaving Sanctuary early the next morning. He had no other choice if he wanted to live.

"Naruto," Miranda softly called out.

The two were currently in the backyard of her home, making their final preparations for their departure the next morning.

Naruto hummed his acknowledgment and welcomed the distraction from his detrimental thoughts.

Miranda watched Naruto for a moment as he dismantled and reassembled the hand gun many times over so as to better understand it. Truly she was fascinated by his ability to learn something utterly foreign so quickly. Especially being a super soldier from another world.

Despite his first demonstration, Miranda had her doubts. Doubts Naruto buried with more displays of the impossible. Walking on water, breathing flames, cloning himself, and even cloning her in a mirror image. These were but a few of the many displays she admittedly pestered him into showing her.

Miranda justified her behavior in the absurdity of it all. How often did one meet a man capable of such amazing abilities? Now more so than ever she felt confident that he would be able to help find her daughter.

But there was something she had to do first.

"Back at the vault," Miranda began tepidly.

Hearing emotion waver her voice, Naruto stopped what he was doing to give her his full attention.

"Back at the vault you said you would help me bury Nathan," she finished sadly.

"And I will. We'll do it first thing tomorrow morning before we leave for Concord," Naruto said. He also wanted to return to the vault to retrieve some more vault suits for their journey but such details were better left unsaid.

"Thank you, Naruto," Miranda said in a low voice as she wiped a stray tear.

Naruto inclined his head and returned to his task.

For as much as Miranda was dreading the coming day, it could not come sooner. Once it did, so too did the time for their departure.

"Do be careful out there, Mrs. Fawkes," Codsworth said with emotion altering his generated voice.

"Will do, thanks for everything, Codsworth," Miranda surprised both Codsworth and Naruto by hugging him.

Codsworth, when not speaking, displayed emotion with the gesturing of his arms. They dropped while the apertures of his three eyes widened in a very human display of surprise. Finally, he returned the hug as best he could with his mechanical arms.

"You as well, Mr. Uzumaki. I wish you luck in your endeavors," Codsworth said, his words carrying a meaning only he understood. "And do please look after Mrs. Fawkes for me."

"I will," Naruto acknowledged.

"Oh, and one more thing," Codsworth presented a small yellow tape he'd been holding to Miranda. "I believe this was to be a gift to you from the Mr. I found it in one of his drawers."

Miranda accepted the tape with great care and burning eyes.

"Miranda?" Naruto called her name in her extensive silence.

"I'll listen to it later," she said as she wiped away what little tears had accumulated in her eyes and pocketed the tape. "Let's go. Goodbye again, Codsworth."

It didn't take them long to reach the vault again, their walk traveled in complete silence.

"The lift, Miranda," Naruto said in an attempt to nudge her against her prevailing reluctance.

Wordlessly Miranda approached the outer control terminal and linked her Pip-Boy and initiated the cog shaped lift.

Silence continued to reign as they made their way through the vault and into the room where it all began. Naruto respectfully maintained his distance and silence as Miranda faced her husband. She was crying as she pressed her hand to the viewing window.

"I can give you some time alone if you want" Naruto offered. Truthfully he was never one to offer comfort simply because he wasn't very good at doing so. He felt out of place, almost as if he was intruding and would much rather not have to try and have to navigate her emotions.

Miranda didn't say anything in response. In the end Naruto stayed and she couldn't be more grateful. He didn't offer any soothing words nor physical contact and for that she was also grateful. It simply wouldn't be right in her mind. Not in front of her husband. His presence was more than enough for her in that moment.

Nearly an hour passed before Miranda was able to compose herself. By hen she could no longer physically continue crying and all her memories of her husband, both the good and the bad, had been revised many times over. All that remained was finding their daughter, Samantha, the living half of her husband.

"I'm ready, Naruto," Miranda announced.

Naruto didn't speak as they crossed paths. Miranda left the room, leaving him alone in the task. A sudden idea occurred to him as he waited for the pod to disengage its lock and lumber open.

Naruto brought a bleeding thumb to his left wrist and in a plume of smoke, a bottle of ink and a thick stack of parchment paper appeared. He quickly drew a seal on a singular piece of paper and resealed the ink and remaining paper. He then approached Miranda's husband and placed the seal on his chest but gave pause to his intended task to regard the man.

"I'll make sure your wife and daughter are safe. I promise," Naruto said.

He sealed the man's body away. On his way out he caught sight of his own pod and recalled Miranda skimming over his file. Even though computers existed in his own world, Naruto never had the chance or the need to use one, so even now the machine felt foreign to him as he used it to further search for any indication of how he came to be in the vault.

Simple deduction led him to the file name Unknown.

Name: Unknown.

Date of birth: Unknown.

Sex: Male

Height: 6'0

Weight: 203

Hair color: Blond

Eye color: Blue

Status: Offline

Condition: Unknown

There was a summery extension Miranda had not explored. Naruto hesitated for the slightest of moments, his idle eyes focused on the green curser as it blinked beside the selection. He didn't fear what he could come to discover, but rather what little was to be answered.

Naruto hated being in the dark, a byproduct of the many deceptions which surrounded his childhood. From his containing Kurama to the truth behind his parentage, all revealed to him under forced circumstances; all kept to him by those who purported to care for him.

He would do whatever he needed to do to find answers to all of his questions. With this decided, Naruto pressed the action key.

Summary: Subject A, an adolescent male, was uncovered at the Northern Pole when a Vault-Tech construction crew detected an unknown source of power emanating from 103 feet beneath the earth, alive. The subject has been shipped to Vault-Tech's Boston Cryostasis facility for containment pending further analysis. Subject B, a pubescent female, was of a similar state of being and dress as the male subject, insinuating a possible connection. She was sent to the Boston Commonwealth Institute of Technology for primary analysis. Subject A is to be delivered to CIT upon the successful reanimation of Subject B.

Naruto's heart dropped as his eyes raked the green lettering once again, twice over, thrice with his enhanced eyes so as to commit every word to memory.

"Naruto?" Miranda entered the stasis room with a suspicious glare.

He blinked a few times, returning his eyes to default to reluctantly remove his attention from the terminal.

"Where's my husband?" Miranda asked.

"Another of my abilities is sealing. I can seal almost anything within sealing paper," Naruto promptly explained.

Miranda noted his full attention was not on her. His words spoken almost as if in afterthought. "You sealed my husband? What does that mean exactly?" She asked with a scowl beginning to take form on her face.

"In means…" Naruto trailed off.

Who could they have found, he wondered.

"It means just that. Inside this seal your husband will be fully preserved until the seal naturally deteriorates or until it's destroyed," Naruto presented her the seal without having looked in her direction.

Was the person frozen too?

"How long would that be?" Miranda asked as she grabbed the paper, studying the complex array of ink.

Or was she traveling the world too?

"If well preserved, anywhere from sixty to eighty years," Naruto continued to answer subconsciously.

If so, then how could he find her? He was never a good sensor and Sage Mode was no longer a viable option.

"So, I could keep him with me?" Miranda asked slowly.

Her question garnered Naruto's full attention. He turned to face her with a frown. "It's best to let the dead rest, Miranda."

"No, you're right, I'm sorry," Miranda muttered, looking ashamed of herself.

"Don't worry about it too much. You aren't the only one who's thought to do that but it's like my master once told me; one can't truly move forward if they hold onto the past," Naruto sighed and shook his head. "If only he would have followed his own advice."

The two remained quiet as neither knew exactly what to say.

"Could you use those seals of yours to help lightened the load?" Miranda asked while shrugging the shoulder carrying her backpack.

Naruto truly wanted to palm his forehead for that massive oversight. "I can't believe I didn't think about it sooner," Naruto shook his head. "Instead of carrying around all of these supplies I could place them in seals inside our packs to carry more things."

"So you can do that?" Miranda asked.

"Yes, but smaller seals can only hold so much. Usually one or two items per seal, anything bigger requires an entire scroll," Naruto explained.

"That's amazing," Miranda said, her usual wonder dulled by the somber task as well as who it pertained.

"I can but the issue is I don't have very much ink or sealing parchment left. I don't really need the paper because I can seal virtually anything inside anything else, a gun in the lining of your bag, for example. It's the ink I'm worried about. Don't know if I can use any ordinary ink or…" Or his own blood. Naruto decided to keep that last part to himself. "I'll figure something out."

There was also the fact one needed chakra to activate a seal. Miranda, as far as he could tell, didn't have any.

Miranda only nodded in understanding. In theory, at any rate. She had other questions but they could wait for another time.

"Did you get the suits?" Naruto asked. It felt odd being the one offering the most conversation.

Again, Miranda remained silent as she patted her backpack, brimming full with the blue suits.

"Good, let's go then."

The chosen burial site was just above a small hill not too far from Sanctuary, beneath a large dead oak overlooking a nearby pond. Miranda looked away while Naruto buried her husband in the very grave he excavated the day before.

Trying her best to drown out the sound of the shovel cutting dirt, Miranda began to fiddle further with her Pip-Boy. With all of the previous day's happenings and revelations, she'd all but used the personal computer as little more than a heavy watch. There were times in which she was tempted to rid herself of the device but ultimately decide against the idea once she discovered a few of its many functions.

Among the one's she discovered so far was a flash light feature of sorts in which the screen became blindingly illuminating, a radio she couldn't quite get to make a sound, and a scanner linked to the vault suit itself, displaying real time readings of herself such as heart rate, temperature, and even the condition of each of her limbs.

Miranda didn't believe the last one to be true until she stubbed her foot on the doorframe of her room one morning. It was truly a groundbreaking piece of technology.

"It's done," Naruto announced.

Miranda didn't respond as she continued to turn the dial, scanning through a multitude of settings such as color until she could find what she was looking for.

"Miranda?" Naruto asked as he came to stand beside her.

"I'm trying to turn the sound on. I want to hear what my husband left for me," Miranda said with audible frustration.

Naruto wanted to move things along but chose to accommodate her. The sun was nearing the middle point in the sky. They needed to leave Sanctuary soon if they wanted to reach Concord before night fell. He did not like the idea of camping out in open ground should they encounter whatever creatures prowled at night.

"I hope this thing's on."

They briefly met each others eyes.

Miranda once again teared with emotion as she turned to look down at the darkened overturned earth where her husband lay.

Naruto bowed his head in respect.

"Hey honey! If you're wondering why I'm making this, well you're taking too long at the grocery store and little Sammy and I are getting bored," there was a chuckle along with the giggling of an infant. "I also wanted to take this moment to tell you just how much I love you, Miranda. You and Samantha both. I know I don't say this as often I should, but I hope you know I do."

Miranda chocked out a sob.

"No, I know you know and that's why I love you so much. I know I can be a bit distant at times and I don't always share as much as you would like, and for that I'm sorry. But despite all my flaws you still somehow chose me. You still waited for me to come home from the army. You still gave me my beautiful baby girl. And above all else, you gave me a life I could have only ever dreamed of."

Samantha began to fuss in the recording and Miranda was now on her knees, openly crying.

"I'm rambling now and Samantha's getting hungry, or sleepy, or she might need a diaper change. It's kind of hard to tell but either way, I should end this soon. I know I've already said it many times but I love you so much. Never forget that. No matter what, I will always love you with all my heart. You are everything. My world. These past few years have been the absolute happiest in all my life and I look forward to the rest of our lives together."

By now Samantha was crying inconsolably and so was her mother.

"I know baby," Nathan soothed. "It's going to be okay. Well, I guess this is goodbye for now. I love you, Miranda. I'll see you soon."

Naruto felt his own eye's sting in emotion as his mind drifted to his own love. Subsequent thoughts of her death plagued his mind. The memory of her final declaration of her love for him before she lay down her life to prolong his.

There was mercy in cruelty. Hinata was taken from him half a year into the Shinobi World War. In her absence she did not get to experience the death of her friends and family, or the horrors of prolonged conflict.

In that moment Naruto wondered how things could have been different had he not failed. Would he have had a family? He wanted nothing more than to create a life with Hinata for what little time they loved one another. He could not imagine a more loving mother for his children. They'd even made plans for beginning a large family together once the war ended, four boys and three girls. His idea more than Hinata's but she was more than happy to oblige in his fantasies. They'd even began thinking of names for the children they would never have.

How naive they both were.

But there was bliss in ignorance. Mirroring the sentiment of Miranda's husband, the time spent with Hinata were undisputedly the best of his life. And they came to an abrupt end because of his inability to keep a promise. Even now his now his paternal instincts yearned to be fulfilled. Perhaps it was those same instincts which motivated him to so quickly offer himself to such a daunting task as recovering a child in an unknown world.

But, Naruto's cynical self thought, there were other possibilities for the infant's fate. That very well may be chasing ghosts. Samantha may no longer live. It was a possibility that made little sense. Who would go through the trouble of killing a man and taking his child, only to end its life?

Then again, humans could truly be warped creatures. They were the only beings in existence capable of true evil. He experienced much of it first hand and he was witnessing it now, feeling the fruit of their hatred for one another, poisoning him alongside the world.

"I'll find her, Nathan. I'll find our little girl, I promise."

Hearing Miranda's doleful pledge halted all of his cynical thoughts, leaving him feeling as if he was suddenly soaked with cold water. He could hear doubt eating away at what remained of her fractured spirit and it triggered something unsuspected within.

Naruto's cheeks bulged in anger and he clenched his fists.

He was done failing.

He promised Nathan he would protect his wife and daughter and he aimed to keep his promise. He wasn't able to keep his promise to all of his friends and that would forever haunt him, but he had no intention of failing again.

There was also someone out in the world that may be just like him and that gave him hope he wasn't alone in the world.

Without a word Naruto picked up the sobbing woman, taking no heed to the way in which she curled into him for comfort he couldn't offer and began for her home.

They didn't leave Sanctuary that day.

Not much to say other than we'll finally be leaving Sanctuary in the next chapter.

Until next time!