The Otsutsuki residence was an elegant residence located on the outskirts of the beautiful town of Kuoh. Encompassed by a rich biome of flora and fauna, the manor was an elegant product of craftsmanship and care.

Currently, the garden of the reasonably sized manor was inhabited by the mother-son duo of Layla and Naruto, who were attending the aforementioned place together, hoping to turn it even more beautiful with the help of new plants that they had recently purchased from the nursery.

"Here, let me help you, Naruto." Layla, the beautiful mother, whispered as she took the saplings from her son's hand and placed them in a small pit that she had dug up earlier. "You have to carefully place them in the pits; otherwise, their chances of survival will decrease drastically."

Her eyes that were focused on the saplings a while ago, drifted towards her son who was watching her carefully with a small pout on his lips.

"Aww…" Raising her left hand a little, she slowly guided it towards her son's face and squeezed his cheek within her fingers, "is little Naruto angry because of his mama?" She asked, smiling when he tried to look away from her.

"I'm not angry!" Naruto huffed, his eyes trying their best to remain away from her beautiful face. It was magnetic, at least that was what the boys from Kuoh Academy had told him when they first saw her, a fact that when coming from them irked him greatly for some reason. "I'm just frustrated because I can't do it as well as you do."

His whining earned him a beatific smile from his mother, one that could melt ice if it wanted to.

"Because you are still a child, Naruto, and children take time to learn things."

The pout on Naruto's lips got even bigger. "But I'm already 10 years old, mom!" He grumbled, clearly not pleased with the fact that he still could not help his mother in gardening, which coincidentally was her favorite activity.

Layla let go of his cheek and blinked when she noticed that she had left dirt marks there. Smiling at herself for her mishap, she put forward her other hand and began to clean her child's face, all while humming a soft hymn.

"Did you even listen to what I just said, mom?" Naruto looked at her hopefully but had to let out a groan of discontent when his mother failed to answer his question again. It was as if she was trying to play with him, which of course was her usual pastime. Teasing and annoying her son. "Fine, don't answer me!" He flicked her hand away from his face and began to murmur something under his breath.

"Naruto…"

The boy did not heed her words and continued to dip his sulking face to the ground.

"Naruto…" Layla whispered, yet again meeting with nothing but silence from her child. Mustering her most hurtful tone, she leaned over and whispered into his ears, making sure that he heard her voice clearly. "Aww… are you going to ignore your mama like that?"

"Y-yes!" Naruto was not faring that well either. No matter how hard he might try to look sometimes, deep inside he clearly knew he could never get, let alone stay, angry at her. It was impossible for him to do so because she was his family, or whatever was left of it. Ever since he had learned to understand more nuanced concepts, his mother had never left his side, not even when that man tried to take her away from him. The love she had for him was far greater than anything he had ever seen, be it in fiction or real life.

So yeah, getting mad at her was impossible. Instead, all he could do was put on an act in front of her and hope that she fell for it, which was a very slim chance.

"Really?"

Naruto nodded his head frantically and was about to speak something, but stopped when he felt a pair of hands engulf his small body in their warm embrace from behind. It was amazing, as usual.

"Is this enough to change your mind?" He did not need to turn his head to know that her mom had a teasing smile on her face.

"No!" He refuted.

"Then this?" Layla asked as she gently laid down a kiss on his right cheek while making sure not to stain them yet again with dirt.

Naruto gasped, red beginning to emerge on his face now.

"W-what are you doing?" He yelled, trying to sound annoyed, but his mother effortlessly caught the sliver of affection hidden within his voice.

"I know you love it, Naruto. So do not try to act tough in front of me. The more you will resist, the more I will tease you~!"

"Love it?" The boy blurted out in fabricated shock. "What are you talking about, mom? I don't like your kisses. They are embarrassing, especially when you do it in front of the school gate in the morning!" He pitifully whined.

A sly chuckle escaped the plump red lips of Layla. "My my, I did not know that you were so embarrassed by my actions, Naruto. If you had told me before, then..." Her slender finger trailed down his cheeks, making him shudder and twitch in fear.

"Then what?" Naruto asked her, fearing the words that were about to come out of her mouth.

Layla tilted her head and rested her chin on his shoulder, her mouth an inch away from his ears now. "Then I would have teased you even more!" She finished her statement with a wink and began to laugh softly when she saw the sea of red that had emerged on his face out of nowhere.

"I- I- never mind." Whom he was kidding. His mother was a hopeless tease when it came to him and there was no way she was going to change anytime soon. So expecting something innocent from her mouth was like expecting his former cousin Riser to differentiate rape and consent as two completely different concepts.

"Huh?"

He snapped out of his stupor and glanced at his mother, who was looking at him in utter confusion, probably because he had ignored her for more than five seconds yet again.

"I said I don't have faith in you anymore, mom" He whispered.

Layla narrowed her eyes at him, urging him to continue with his statement but when he did not, she decided to ask him again. "Why have you lost faith in me?"

Her voice was a little soft this time compared to before as she did not want to tease him further.

"Not in you, but your behavior. You are a hopeless tease, mother."

Everything finally made sense in her mind and when they did, she quickly looked at him and smirked. "You are trying to act as if you are any better, Naruto." She retorted, earning a gasp from her child.

"W-what do you mean by that? I'm not a tease, mom!"

The smirk on her face widened, propelling Naruto to step back in fear. Whenever she smiled like that, it only meant one thing—things were about to get embarrassing.

"Have you forgotten about your extreme fondness for maids and their dresses, huh, my little Naruto?" And she did not disappoint. From the depths of the vale of his dirtiest secrets, she brought out the one that always made him feel most humiliated.

Naruto gulped, shades of embarrassment blazing on his little cherubic face. "I don't know what you are talking about, mom!" He exclaimed in denial.

"Really?"

He paused for a second before offering a lame denial. "Y-yes."

Layla could not stop herself anymore. With a hand on her abdomen, she began to laugh loudly at the expense of her son. Her laugh increased when Naruto started to sputter nonsense from his mouth to stop her from embarrassing him further, but that only made her laugh more.

Although she was making fun of him right now, times like these never failed to make her realize just how much better her life was with him in it. Before him, her life was bland like oatmeal. However, when she found him, he changed everything for her. He filled her life with a palette of happiness and love. Now, Layla could not imagine her life without Naruto; it was simply incomplete without him in it.

"Oi, are you even listening to me, mom?"

Naruto's weak outcry brought her out of her stupor.

"What?" She blinked at him, confusion evident in her voice.

"Nothing!"

In the past few years, Layla had learned everything about her child's behavior and his likings. So when she saw a scowl on his face, she immediately knew he was sad. For what? That she needed to find out.

"What happened, Naruto? Why this sad face all of a sudden?" She inquired in a light tone as she did not want to fluster him any further.

"I don't know what you're talking about, mom. I'm absolutely fine." Naruto tried to argue but found himself losing the battle when his mother hugged him from behind and positioned her chin on his left shoulder. It was hard to argue with her when she did that.

"Now, now, if you are sad because I made fun of your fondness for maids, then I promise, I will not do that ever again, Naruto."

The boy melted within her warm embrace and allowed himself to rest on her breasts, blushing slightly when he felt her soft and massive mounds of flesh on his back. "I'm not sad because of that, mom" Snapping out of his lewd thoughts, he replied.

"Then?"

Naruto paused for a second before an uneasy sigh escaped his mouth. "I don't know, mom. I can't describe it in words, but when I see you performing these chores all alone by yourself, I can not help but feel badly." He looked down at the ground, fingers twirling in uncertainty. "I feel like I'm useless because you have to do these things all by yourself and there is no one here to help you. That's why I try to participate in them, but my stupid brain always betrays me!" The hurt in his voice was as obvious as the Sun in the sky above. There was no way he was feigning those emotions.

Layla, who was listening to his every word with undivided attention, gasped slightly in grief. "Naruto…" She looked down at her child and had to hold herself back from sobbing loudly when he peeked at her with those beautiful and moist blue eyes of his. "My Naruto!"

Not able to hold herself any longer, she engulfed him in a tight hug, one that took the boy by surprise as he was not expecting it at that moment. "You do not have to worry about anything, my child. I can never feel lonely with you being on my side. You are everything I need, Naruto." She whispered, her soft voice soothing the pain inside the boy's heart.

Both the mother and son remained like that for a while, before Naruto abruptly untangled himself from his mother's hold, surprising her with how fast and easily he was able to do so. But then again, Naruto was no ordinary child either. He was special, very special when it came to flames and their uses. His prowess over flames was unparalleled, to such an extent that people of the Underworld used to mistake him as her biological son, something that she liked very much. Although considering what she did to ensure her baby boy grew up to become healthy and full of vitality, those ignorant boors were not entirely right in part.

Speaking of unique flames and abilities, Layla still did not know how her son was able to inherit her flames. Was it her milk? Or was it her queen piece and that demon? She still could not understand but, one thing was clear, he was heavenly amazing with them. His natural talent and those beautiful red eyes of his always ensured Naruto was able to use his colorful flames just how he wanted to. Like her, he could easily form different shapes and semi-sentient creatures with those flames. That fact alone was enough to make her proud.

'Still…' Her mind refused to forget about those red eyes and wanted to unravel their secrets. How only her son could use them and why had not she seen them anywhere else before? Were they one of those stupid Sacred Gears? She hoped not because if that was the case, then Fallen Angels and Devils would never leave him alone.

"Woah…."

Layla blinked when Naruto's distinctive and warm voice entered her ears. Confused, she lowered her head a little to look at him and gasped when she saw something alarming there.

Right in front of her, where she had planted a small sapling earlier, stood a huge tree, covered with beautiful leaves which were flailing softly in the gentle breeze.

"N-Naruto, what did you do?" She could only ask in shock as her mind stopped working at that moment.

Naruto looked at his mother and gulped loudly. "I don't know, mom. I just channeled my energy inside the sapling for fun and it began to grow on its own." He answered as best as he could.

"Oh…" Layla whispered, sounding very tired for some reason.

Now, she had one more reason to protect her child from supernatural beings.

-oOo-

Getting ready and walking to school on his own was always a drag for Naruto. Usually, his mother would accompany him to the school, but there were always these rare days when she would either be too busy or tired to walk with him. Unfortunately, today was one of those cursed days.

No matter what Naruto might say about his mother's obsession with him and his life, deep inside, over the years, he had begun to cherish the attention she would lavish upon him. Her teasing and actions, no matter how weird they might look to others, were a part of his life now. He had gotten used to them and now he dreads a day without her teasing and the smile she would flash him afterward.

"An obsessive beautiful mother and an innocent child, huh?" Turns out these two things did not go well with each other and Naruto himself was a prime example of that notion. "But then again, she doesn't have anyone else to talk to. She left everyone for me" The guilt from before returned, this time even more vicious than earlier.

Tease and childish as she might be, Naruto knew his mother was a very kind woman, even more than the Angels above. According to him, she was born in the wrong faction. She was supposed to be an Angel, not a Devil.

Devils were evil and scheming creatures, who in the end, would always do things that benefited them. They hardly cared for anyone, not even their own families. Their hunger for power was well known and they were too eager to make sacrifices for it, be it in the forms of Humans or other Devils.

His mother was not like them. She was different, way more than he could even appreciate at this moment. Unlike those hellish creatures who so willingly sacrificed others, his mother sacrificed her luxurious life for him. She left her home, parents, prominent clan, and even husband for him. Why? He still did not know, but that fact alone was enough to make him happy beyond measure, because he knew she would always be there for him, no matter what.

"Naruto!"

The voice brought Naruto out of his surprisingly mature thoughts and his blue eyes sparkled with mirth when a familiar voice reached his ears. It was warm and delightful as usual.

"Sōna…" He veered his head around a little and smiled when the beautiful face of his friend appeared within his vision.

"Naruto…" Sōna said, staring at the boy intently.

"What are you doing here? Aren't you late for your school?" Naruto cut in before she could finish whatever it was she wanted to say.

The girl looked away from him, a small patch of red covering her cheeks momentarily. "I-I'm not-" her explanation was prematurely cut off by the interruption of her best friend.

"Yes, she is, but she wanted to meet you, Naruto!"

Looking away from the black haired girl, Naruto blinked when he saw another familiar face standing beside him.

'How?!' His mind froze for a second as it could not understand how the girl was able to get so close to him without him noticing her presence.

"Rias!" He recalled her name from that meeting years ago. "What are you doing here?" His question was accompanied by a slight tilt of his head, confusion evident in his voice.

Usually, Sōna would always come alone to meet him before school, especially when his mother was not accompanying him. There had never been a single day when she had brought someone with her, so to see Rias beside himself was a little surprising for him.

"Nothing. I just decided to tag along with her-"

"Liar!"

Rias' eyes twitched a little. "I'm not lying, Sōna." She smiled at her friend but nothing about that smile was placid. It had nothing but irritation and annoyance hidden behind it.

"Sure…"

The twitching increased, but Rias controlled herself before she could say anything stupid in front of the two. Naruto had already seen her being unreasonable for no reason in the past and now she did not want to repeat the same mistake again. She wanted to appear mature and friendly, at least in front of the person who never called her Princess or Gremory.

The boy might not be aware of it, but when he first met her and said those harsh words to her, he made her realize how stupid and childish she was for hating the whole Phenex clan because of one person. So in order to correct her wrongdoings, she began to treat everyone with an open mind, hoping that one day the boy would see her improved mentality and forgive her.

Unfortunately, her dreams were ruined when she heard the news that one of the Ladies Phenex had left the Underworld with her child due to unknown reasons. At first, Rias could not understand why someone would leave the Underworld, but as the days went on, she began to realize that her realm was not the utopia she had thought it to be. It had its pros and cons, something she was sure Lady Layla took under consideration before deciding to do what she did.

"Rias…"

Her eyes snapped open and dilated when they got locked with his blue orbs. "N-Naruto…" She stuttered, completely forgetting everything that was going inside her mind earlier.

Between her deep thoughts, she completely forgot about the fact that her heart, for some reason, cherished the boy to no end. It was like it wanted him and him only.

That's one of the main reasons she decided to tag along with Sōna this morning. Her heart wanted to see Naruto after all those years and she was glad the logical part of her brain allowed it. The boy was still kind and positive, even after what her influence had done to his social life in the Underworld.

"Are you okay?"

The girl stumbled and nearly fell backwards when the boy leaned over towards her.

"I-I'm fine!" She squeaked, unable to forge a satisfactory answer to his question.

"Ohh, but you are looking-"

Sōna, who was watching her friends from the sidelines, finally decided to intervene when she saw just how much attention Rias was getting from Naruto. It was unacceptable, even more so when she was standing beside him! Naruto was her friend, damnit! "She is fine, Naruto. Leave her." She firmly said, completely ignoring the look Rias was giving her, which was one of hurt, anger, and irritation, but she gave it no consideration.

Naruto turned his gaze towards Sōna and nodded his head. "Ok, Sōna." He answered and soon smiled at her when she adjusted her frames on her nose. She always looked really cute when she did that.

Sōna noticed his gaze on her and blushed a little when she saw a smile bloom on his face. It was contagious, just like the thousand other smiles he had flashed at her in the past.

His smile never failed to make her mirror his.

"Anyway," she began, "I talked to my sister about your enrollment, Naruto."

Her voice took a downward spiral as she remembered the conversation that she had with her older sister, Serafall. It was more of a debate than a proper conversation. All that were exchanged between them were arguments and foolish taunts.

Why?

Because her sister, in her capacity as the Underworld's foreign minister, refused to enroll her friend in her school. That declaration alone was enough to make Sōna mad and then she lost control over her awareness.

Arguments after arguments, she bombarded her sister with cold words because if there was one thing that she hated the most, then it was someone rejecting her well thought-out logical recommendations.

Naruto's enrollment was not only necessary because he was her friend, but it was more important because he was Lady Layla's son. The social and political position he had grown up in almost guaranteed that mothers of other powerful heirs would hesitate little to send their children to the human world if they heard that one of the most powerful women of the Underworld was sending her child to a human school.

"What did she say?!"

Naruto's loud shout brought her out of her thoughts.

Steeling herself, she looked at the boy and cringed when she realized what she was about to do. He would be angry, there was no way he would not be after hearing her words. "She refused-"

"Alright."

She blinked. "What?!"

Naruto smiled at her and ruffled her hair gently. "I said it's fine. I'm sure you tried your best, Sōna!" He answered.

Sona was speechless. For the first time in her life, she found herself at a loss for words. What just happened? Why did Naruto not get angry at her sister? Questions like that were flooding her mind at that moment.

"A-are you not angry at my sister, Naruto?" She finally decided to ask him because she wanted to know how he was able to keep his anger in check, when she, the ever calm Sōna Sitri, was unable to do so.

"Why would I be angry at your sister, Sōna?" Naruto tilted his head in confusion. "I'm sure she had very good reasons to do what she did, you know."

"But-"

"Also, she is beautiful and friendly. I can never get angry at such a person."

Her wonder at her friend's maturity came to an abrupt stop.

"B-beautiful-" Sōna was about to inquire more about that particular phrase but was unable to do so when giggles of friend Rias reached her ears.

"Hehehe!"

Rias was having the time of her life. Never in her wildest dreams had she thought that there would come a day when someone would be able to upset Sōna like that. Calm as she might appear on the outside, Rias was sure Sōna was fuming internally because there was no way her friend would like that compliment about her sister from Naruto.

"What is so funny, Rias?"

The Gremory girl looked at her friend and flashed her an all knowing smirk. "Nothing Sōna. Nothing…" The smirk only widened when Sōna glared at her.

Naruto, who was observing both the girls carefully, knew something crazy was about to happen. So being the smart boy that he was, he decided to take his leave."Umm… I think I should be going now. School is about to start and I don't want to be late again." He murmured softly, hoping that they would hear him somehow.

"Ok, Naruto."

"Hmm…"

"Again, I'm sorry-"

Naruto paused in his walk. "Shh… I'm not upset at all, Sōna. I can always join your school when it turns co-ed, you know."

Sona looked away from him. "Hmm…"

"Bye!"

"Bye." The girl whispered under her breath.

"B-bye Naruto…"

His feet stopped again, but this time because of the red haired girl. Looking over his shoulders, he nodded his head gently at her. "Bye, Rias."

Rias did not think twice about it and smiled at him, her smile brighter than the Sun itself.

-School-

"Of course, I was destined to be placed beside her." An utterly frightened and disgruntled Naruto grumbled to himself as he stared at the brown haired girl who was sitting beside him, gazing and smiling at the random boys who went past their table.

Out of all the girls in the school, why was he placed with her today? Did not the teacher know who this girl was?

"Pervert."

The girl was already a full blown pervert at the mere age of ten. Naruto had seen the looks that she always gave to older boys whenever they visited their class. And believe him, they were bad news. Very bad.

"Hey!"

Naruto gulped when the girl finally opened her mouth.

"Hey, you!"

Sighing loudly, he finally glanced at the girl and blinked when he saw nothing but curiosity there on her face. 'Strange…' He noted because usually, the girl would just yell at the people if they tried to ignore her. Thus, to see her that silent was a little surprising, especially when she was sitting beside him. Naruto was sure that if the girl was going to start a conversation with him, then it was going to be about some random model or a female senpai.

It turned out today was not the case.

"Yes?" Naruto eventually replied to her.

"What is your name?"

He was again taken aback by her odd behavior. What was wrong with her today?

"Naruto…" Still, he decided to answer her question, but not before asking one of his own in return. "Also, how do you not know my name when we are studying in the same class for months now?"

The girl recoiled in panic, something that made him mildly cringe at himself because of the way he responded to her.

"I-I never paid any attention to you or any other student of our class…" She murmured, her vulnerable and timid voice furthering his guilt.

"I see…"

The girl lowered her head and hummed. "Umm…"

Naruto knew the conversation was over, but for some reason he wanted it to go on. He wanted to know more about her now. "Why though? Why don't you pay attention to your classmates?" He asked her immediately in order to rejuvenate the conversation.

"Because they don't like me." Came her blunt and immediate response.

And just like that, his heart shattered into a million pieces. 'She has no friends…'He grimaced, as her situation sounded very familiar.

'They don't like me, mama. They fear my eyes and make fun of me because I'm a reincarnated devil!'

"I-" He was about to speak, but paused when he noticed she was about to speak again.

"They make fun of me."

"For what?"

Every thought left his mind when she abruptly looked at him and locked her eyes with his blue orbs. "Because I hang out with older boys…" Before he could stare more into her eyes, the girl swiftly turned her head away from him and hid it between her hands on the table.

'Older boys…'Naruto visibly cringed at that part. His mind did not even want to know what those older boys were trying to achieve by hanging out with an innocent pubescent girl.

"You know…" he paused a little before continuing, "you should not hang out with unknown people, especially if they are older than you."

A small smile bloomed on his face when she peeked at him from the space between her hands.

"But they are the only ones who hang out with me and never make fun of me."

"Ehh…" Now how was he supposed to dismantle that twisted logic? He, too, had a lonely childhood, but time and his mother's love gave him some wisdom seldomly seen among young children. One such lesson was that more often than not, people in compromised emotional states will be taken advantage of. "You should try to make friends. I'm sure you will find people much better than those older boys." His compassionate nature urged him to dissuade the girl from her current path, lest anything unfortunate happened to her because of it.

"W-who would like to be a friend with someone like me? Most of the children here don't even know my name!"

"I know your name!"

The girl raised her head a little. "You do?" She asked, hope finally beginning to appear in her voice.

Naruto frantically nodded his head. "Makato Hyoudou." He firmly answered.

Makato's face finally left the confinement of her arms and she seized a clear glance at the boy, a faint smile appearing on her face as she did so. "Then will you be my friend?"

A suffocating silence fell upon the two for a second, but before Makato could interpret that incorrectly, Naruto stopped her by placing his hand on her hand.

"Of course I'll be your friend!"

"I-I see…"

In an empty hallway, with his clique rambling behind him, the leader of the aforementioned teenage boys scowled fiercely all of a sudden, not knowing the reason.

-EnD-

I hope you liked the chapter.

This chapter portrayed the daily life of little Naruto and his friends with a little twist in the end.

If you have any suggestions or questions feel free to contact me through P.M or discord (The link is on my profile).

Again, thanks to Hadrian for proofreading this chapter.

If you liked this chapter, don't forget to leave a review.

Thank you.

Have a nice day and remain safe.