As Mumei slowly returned to consciousness, his eyes darted around the still light room ensuring his and the child's safety. No shadows yet laced the furniture like dark doilies. Looking downward, all he saw were big blue eyes staring up at him in wonder. The boy reached out with one hand and poked him quickly in the cheek.

"What was that for?" Mumei chuckled.

"I wanted to make sure you're real," he whispered.

Mumei smiled gently. "I'm not going anywhere, Taiyou-chan," he said affectionately.

Naruto giggled happily; he had never received a nickname that wasn't monster before. He really loved his uncle and he barely even knew him.

"Ne, what was my father like, Mu-nii-chan?" the boy snuggled deeper into the shinobi's flak jacket as if it were a mountain of blankets.

"Let's see... he was brave and strong. He was the kindest and goofiest man I've ever met. He loved you and your mother very, very much."

Naruto looked at the man in fascination. "What was his name?"

"Namikaze Minato."

"And my mother's?" he added.

"Uzumaki Kushina."

The child took a minute to ponder these names. They sounded kind of familiar but his six-year-old knowledge only extended to the current Hokage. He had yet to learn about the previous Hokages and how they died. At least this way Mumei could break the news of his heritage and status as a jinchuuriki gently.

That reminded him. Mumei partially entered his mindscape and tugged on the red string connecting him and Kurama. Kurama, he called with another tug.

What do you want, meat sack? the beast's glowing ember eyes appeared in the darkness and loomed above the man.

How does this work? You inside me and the other Kyuubi inside Naruto? Are you separate entities or do you share the same chakra?

I'll explain this simply so even your dullard brain can handle it. Somehow you managed to end up with the Yin portion of my chakra while Naruto has my Yin portion.

Mumei considered this. The Yin portion of Kurama's chakra must have reformed at some point. It made sense that it would reform after the war that decimated so many lives. Or maybe the Shinigami simply ran out of room with all those deaths, and kicked Yin Kurama out. Either way, it appeared that Yang Kurama had sacrificed his life in order for Mumei to go back in time. The damn Kyuubi pretended that he didn't care, but Naruto had always been his priority.

That explained why Yin was so hostile as Yin had been in the beginning. That made him wonder...

He reached out for the green string that led in the opposite direction, twisting through the trees of the meadow and down into the ground. It led to a sewer and weaved through the tunnels with ease. Hesitantly, Mumei gave it a tug. Kurama? he called into the open air as if he were talking to a person that wasn't actually there.

A grumbling sound rumbled out of the darkness and up through the ground, shaking it like an earthquake. Trees quivered where they stood, shedding green leaves upon the dewy ground.

Where have you been, my child? I've been waiting for you, the voice rasped as if it had not spoken in centuries.

Kurama! Mumei shouted in excitement. I thought you died!

I did. My memories came back with you but the me that you knew is dead.

Mumei took a moment to grieve but the loss did not leave him feeling empty like the others had. Maybe it was because his life-long companion seemed to be right in front of him or maybe it was because he had nothing left of himself to give up. Either way, he was pleased that his friend had his full set of memories. He wasn't alone in this world!

Suddenly the world around him began to shake violently, not like the earlier rumbling earthquake, but a world-shaking, earth-cracking moan that came from the ground. His eyes snapped open.

In front of him was a concerned little boy with bright cerulean eyes and a questioning look on his face. "Are you okay, Mu-nii-chan?" he asked, worried about his new-found family member.

"Sorry, Taiyou-chan. I got a little lost on the road of life," he mumbled, instinctively quoting his favorite copy nin.

The child looked even more confused now but ignored it. In fact, he looked a little abashed as he asked, "Can I see my room now?" with a glance downward.

"Of course!" Lifting the child off of his chest, he used his abdominal muscles to pull him into a kneeling position. With his hands firmly under the boy's armpits, he spun him in a circle before placing him on the ground. The boy sprinted off in search of his room and quickly found it by his name colorfully painted in orange on the door.

Pressing his palm against the knob, he twisted it hard in excitement and shoved the door open. The wonderland in front of him made him squeal in excitement before diving into a pile of stuffed animals. Never before had he seen such a beautiful room and it was all his!

Somersaulting out of the mountain of plushies, he launched into Mumei who had followed faithfully behind the child to check out his reaction. Naruto wrapped his skinny arms around the man's waist and weeped tears of joy. Mouth buried fully in the flak jacket, he mumbled out a quiet "Thank you," before burrowing deeper into the confines of the man's vest, his hold tightening.

Mumei's heart thudded in his chest, overfilled with joy. So many emotions rushed through his head. Should he be feeling like this? Did he have a right to feel anything at all when everyone he loved was dead in the future? It had been a long time since he had felt anything but anger and grief. This outpouring of positive emotions felt brand new, like nothing he had felt in his entire life.

A tug on his flak jacket pulled him out of his reverie. "Nii-chan, can we train now?" the boy hopped up and down in his excitement at the prospect.

"Eager aren't we? You haven't even put your stuff away!" he chuckled.

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Naruto shouted enthusiastically before shoving the scroll with his belongings into Mumei's hand. The man considered having Naruto do it, but the child did not yet have the chakra control to channel only a little bit into the seal. Instead of the contents appearing, the scroll would poof a burst of smoke and the items sealed within it would be gone forever.

The shinobi placed the scroll on the floor and inserted a minute amount of chakra into the center of the matrix. Out popped all of Naruto's belongings and the boy scrambled to find homes for every item. The box of items that he had collected the placed under the bed. As Naruto went about putting his clothes and knickknacks away, Mumei tapped a storage seal on his forearm and removed the scroll with Naruto's ninja clothes.

This scroll too he rolled out on the ground. Again, chakra was added and the mountain of rumpled clothes appeared. Naruto shouted in excitement and took out one set of clothes and put the rest away. He raced into the bathroom with the items piled in his arms and barely closed the door before he shucked off his old dirty clothes.

First, Naruto pulled on his new black ANBU pants and secured them around his waist with the drawstring he found on the waistband. These pants were meant to accommodate a growing child, although they would have to visit the Ninja Store quite a few more times in the future to ensure Naruto's comfort in his clothing. Pulling out some white tape, he secured the pant legs from his calves down to his ankles. Next, the boy pulled on the blue skin-tight t-shirt that Mumei had picked out for him. The fabric would stretch and allow for excellent movement without getting in the way. Then he donned his burnt orange vest that reminded him a bit of his nii-san's flak jacket. The vest seemed to warm him from the inside out and he beamed at himself in the mirror. Next Naruto picked up his black sandals and quickly shoved his feet in, checking to see if they pinched and then hurrying onto the next item. Grabbing more tape, he taped around the middle of his right thigh. He quickly located one of the child-sized shinobi pouches and fastened it to his leg. Picking up the remaining two pouches, he added them to the back of his pants so that they were easily accessible. Only a few items remained now. He then grasped the forearm protectors and slid them on over his arms; they were a perfect fit. Finally, he picked up the fingerless black gloves with the Konoha emblem emblazoned on the back and slipped them onto his small hands.

The child looked at himself in the full-length mirror on the door and squealed in excitement. He turned the knob quickly and bolted out to show off his new look to his uncle.

Mumei gave the bouncing sunshine locks an affectionate gentle tug and gestured towards the stairs. Naruto bounded ahead of him and down the stairs. He followed behind at a steady pace, wondering where they would start. The boy was only six, after all. He would start him out on a basic training regimen, target practice in the morning followed by physical exercises including running and taijutsu. After lunch, he would start up with chakra exercises and then fuuinjutsu practice. Mumei decided that Naruto was still a little young for ninjutsu but certainly not for henge, kawarimi and bunshin. After the boy gained more chakra control they would start on those, finally culminating in the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu and Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu as well as Nature type Jutsus.

One day the child would be able to use every nature type as well as several kekkai genkai but until then they would work only on his natural affinities. There was so much to teach the child and he was doing so from scratch. He would shape Naruto into a fine ninja. He himself hadn't turned out poorly but this Naruto could reach even further with proper instruction from a young age. Even if the Fourth Great Shinobi War happened, this boy could stop it all with ease. Nobody would die in vain. Mumei was determined. Naruto would be the strongest ninja to exist and would unite the world in peace, dattebayo!

Aah he got over excited in his thoughts and his verbal tic came out. He would have to be careful not to actually say the word. That would indicate a direct relation to Kushina and be quite hard to explain.

While deep in his thoughts Mumei had managed to guide Naruto down to the basement and into the armoury. On the wall to the right were blunt weapons including bo staffs, nunchucks and battle fans. On the front wall were a variety of katanas, tantos and ninjatos. To the left were throwing weapons in bins labeled kunai, senbon and shuriken. On the wall above the bins hung large fuma shuriken and Minato's three-bladed kunai, tags all intact.

Naruto's face lit up like a kid in a candy store. He bounded over to the swords and looked at them in awe. Mumei summoned the boy over to the throwing weapons and began to explain what each one did and their proper upkeep.

"Kunai are for thrusting and stabbing. They are not designed to be throwing weapons but can be used for such maneuvers." He picked up a blunted kunai and handed it to the lad. "Even blunt weapons should be treated like they are the real deal," he warned.

Naruto gripped the kunai strongly with one hand by the handle. It was heavier than he had imagined. Mumei continued, "By attaching a kibaku fuda to the kunai, you can create a kibaku kunai, making it much more dangerous as a thrown weapon."

Mumei moved onto the shuriken, picking up another blunted weapon and spun it around his index finger. "Shuriken are actually designed to be thrown; with enough accuracy you can maim or kill your target so they are not to be played with. They are best for distracting or pinning down an enemy." He passed the shuriken to his young charge and moved on to the next bin that contained spools of ninja wire.

"Ninja wire is useful for a number of techniques in which you manipulate other weapons such as kunai or shuriken. It can also be used to build traps and entangle or bind enemies. It is highly durable and very difficult to snap," he lectured, placing the spool back in the bin. "With the addition of chakra, it can slice through flesh and bone."

Mumei paused in his lecture, coming to the realization that Naruto probably didn't know what chakra was. He recalled a time in his youth when he didn't even know how to say chakra correctly. Working with Naruto this young really was creating a shinobi from scratch.

"Taiyou-chan, do you know what chakra is?"

"It has to do with being a njinja, right?" the boy tried.

"Yes, it is the energy that connects us all. By combining physical energy and spiritual energy, we can weaponize chakra in the form of jutsus as well as condense it into a physical form," Mumei tried to explain. The child furrowed his brow trying to take in the information as best he could.

Naruto was best at learning through doing but there were basic things that every shinobi needed to know that were best taught by books. Mumei would have to work on turning the boy into a book person. It shouldn't be too hard, the reason that he hated books as a child was because he could never understand them. The kanji seemed complex and some symbols looked too similar. Scratch fuuinjutsu training for now, he would just have to teach his charge how to read and write.

"Naru, do you know how to read and write?" he asked gently, already knowing the answer.

The boy blushed and looked towards the ground. "Only signs and kids books," he replied shyly, sure that he was about to be scolded.

"You taught yourself that much? I'm lucky to have such a smart nephew," he beamed at the child. Naruto looked up from where he was gently toeing the ground in surprise and returned the smile. He… wasn't dumb? Not some stupid monster that could only grasp basic thought?

"Will you teach me?" the boy shouted in his excitement, launching his small body into his uncle's side.

"But of course! What else are uncles for?" With one hand tangled in Naruto's spiky gold locks and the other in his own, his fingers massaged both scalps, the former in affection and the latter in abashed glee.

The day had drawn on and it was approaching dinner time. The reading and writing lessons would start tonight after he prepared dinner.

"Would you like to help me put together some dinner, Taiyou-chan?" he asked with a gentle pull of sunshine hair.

"Yes!" the boy exclaimed, rocking back and forth on his heels.

"Hmmm, what meat tonight?"

"Pork! Pork!"

Mumei chuckled in response, "Pork it is."

The blond man and child walked up the stairs from the basement side-by-side; it was a deceiving picture of father and son. What a mess their real relationship was. Child and his future-self masquerading as his uncle.

Mumei removed all the ingredients from the cupboards and refrigerator with ease and went about preparing a typical dinner.

"Naru, will you boil some water for 2 cups of gohan?" he instructed.

"Okay!" the boy replied cheerily and searched for a medium-sized pot. Once he found one suitable he realized that he didn't know exactly how much water to add. Because of his diet of instant ramen, he had never had to boil gohan before. "How much water?" he asked shyly, the opposite of his previous enthusiasm.

"2 cups of water to each cup of gohan, so how many cups of water is 2 cups of gohan?" Mumei replied with another question. He was unsure how much math the child knew and decided this was the best way to determine his basic math skills.

"Um…" the boy paused to ponder the puzzle. 2 + 2. If there were two cups of gohan and you added two more, that made… "4!" he shouted proudly.

"Well done!" Mumei praised.

Naruto took his pot and a measuring cup and filled it up to the little 4 cups mark. He carefully carried the filled pot over to the stove and tried to turn the burner on. It clicked signalling that gas was escaping but no spark came. Naruto frowned at the conundrum. In such a nice house it would make sense for the burners to fully work; it was nothing like his run-down apartment with its broken stove.

Noticing Naruto's silence, Mumei glanced over to the child who was staring at the burner in confusion. A smirk came over his face. Striking his index finger with his thumb, a small fire ignited. He brought the pointer finger over to the burner and let it ignite the gas that was leaking into the open air. Naruto startled and looked at his uncle in amazement.

"Will you teach me to do that?!" he exclaimed.

"In due time," Mumei answered with a wink.

"What's next?" Naruto asked with a pout.

"You can take out the tsukemono from the jar," he patted the child's head before turning back to his own work with the pork. Mumei took each piece that he had just cut and placed it in an already heated skillet with olive oil. The pork sizzled happily in the heat. Each piece was thinly cut so it did not take long to cook through. He flipped the pieces and watched them carefully until they were perfectly done. With his chopsticks, he maneuvered the pork pieces onto a plate and placed it into the toaster oven to keep warm.

Naruto had arranged the tsukemono on a plate and showed his uncle proudly. Mumei ruffled his hair in acknowledgement and asked the boy to put the rice in the boiling pot. The boy picked up the rice and measured out two cups with ease. He planted one palm on the handle to keep the pot steady while he poured the rice in. While he was turning away to place the measuring cup back on the counter, his hand pulled the pot towards him. It slid down the burner and boiling water splashed out of the pot and hurtled straight for Naruto, its target barely aware of the danger.

Mumei's hand shot out as soon as he saw the danger out of the corner of his eye. The water hit his chakra-enhanced palm and with the help of some chakra control, became a ball of floating water.

Naruto squeaked in surprise at the swift motion and shoved the pot back onto the burner and dropped to the floor with his hands over his head. The child rocked back and forth and shouted quick bursts of "I'm sorry!"

The time traveler dropped the orb of water and gohan back into the pot and put the cover on it. He crouched down next to the balled-up child, not touching him. He was familiar with trauma and it wouldn't help to put a hand on the boy, friendly or not.

"Shhh it's okay, see?" he reassured, holding out his left hand for inspection. The child opened one eye and peeked through his arms to see if the adult was actually telling the truth. Seeing that he was unscathed, the child pushed into his uncle's arms.

"I'm sorry, I didn't think you were gonna hit me," he rushed out.

"It's alright to be scared, shinobi get scared all the time," Mumei consoled.

"Really?" the boy asked with wide eyes.

"Yep, but they have precious people to protect, so they push through it and do what they have to do."

"Thank you," Naruto murmured into Mumei's neck. The man simply rubbed soothing circles on the child's back in response. Wrapping his arms around Naruto's waist, he picked him up with ease and sat him on his left hip.

"Let's set that timer for the rice for 20 minutes and have a working dinner."

With his right hand, he picked up a little egg timer and handed it to Naruto who set it for the appropriate amount of time and handed it back to his uncle. Mumei placed it back on the counter and carried the boy to the breakfast nook. They each took a place on either side of the table and Mumei unsealed some Genkouyoushi writing paper, a brush and ink.

"Do know hiragana and katakana?" he questioned wondering if Naruto had managed to teach himself the very basics.

"Yes, and some kanji," the boy responded reservedly, still somewhat afraid after the water incident.

"Okay, let's start with the kanji for numbers. Write 1-10," he instructed, pushing the paper over to Naruto.

The child wrote each kanji easily, like he had practiced them a few hundred times. In fact, the child went on to write 1-100 with practiced ease. Mumei smiled fondly at Naruto. He tried so hard to fit in with the other children his age, going as far as to drill kanji into his head.

Mumei listed off several other words including up, down, left, and right and the egg timer went off. He went over to check on the gohan and prepare dinner for the two of them. As Naruto worked hard on his writing, Mumei placed the gohan into two bowls and brought them to the table followed by bowls of miso shiru and small plates of tsukemono and pork.

"Itadakimasu!" They both said before setting into their food. As if he were running late, Mumei shoved all his meal quickly into his mouth. While he quickly chowed down he created a list of kanji next to which were their hiragana equivalent so Naruto would know what the word he was copying was. He set the list in front of the child and told him to move onto that list when he was finished with the other kanji. The boy nodded his assent and moved between eating and working.

"I'm going to the library, I'll be right back," Mumei informed Naruto. The boy barely looked up, his concentration fully on the work in front of him. A small smile found its way onto the time traveler's face. The child's brow was furrowed and nose scrunched the tiniest bit. He was so dedicated to his work, he knew that Naruto would become quite the little reader with this tenacity.

During his walk from the kitchen to the library, Mumei realized that he didn't think of Naruto as himself anymore. He and the boy were two completely different people. In fact, he kinda felt fatherly towards the child. Mumei shook that thought from his head. The child already had a father; a father who was dead.

Rounding the corner to the library, he set about searching for the children's books that he knew that Minato and Kushina had stored there. Their adoration for their son almost guaranteed a newly created children's section. The library spanned two floors and even had its own staircase. Mumei had yet to fully explore it but he knew the general layout consisted of jutsu on the second floor and other general subjects and pleasure reading on the first floor.

Scanning the first level, Mumei eventually found the newest section of the library. He traced a finger over the titles and found a book on how to learn kanji. Damn they were good parents; he could never compare. He booted the self-deprecating thoughts out of his mind and went back to selecting books for Naruto. He picked out several children's storybooks as well as several more advanced kanji books for later.

Moving over to the general reading section he found a basic book on chakra and decided that Naruto could use some general reading. This book was a little advanced for his current knowledge of kanji but he could use the practice. Any characters that he didn't understand could easily be looked up or asked about.

He padded back back down the hallway and into the kitchen. Naruto was still hard at work and squinting at what seemed to be an unfamiliar character. Seeing that his uncle had returned, the child gestured for him to come back and give him some help.

Mumei ventured over to the table to see Naruto's pointer finger jabbing a character.

"This one looks like thousand but it says that it's dry," the boy stated exasperatedly.

He settled into his seat and drew the two characters on a fresh piece of paper.

"Thousand's top line is a slash to the left; the brush is lifted at the end. Dry is a stop to the right; you stop the brush completely and move on to the next stroke," he informed the bewildered boy.

"But they look the same!" he groaned.

Mumei chuckled and agreed, "There are quite a few kanji that look the same but aren't the same."

"Noooo!" Naruto slid out of his seat and onto his knees on the floor, over exaggerating his frustration with the written language.

"I brought you some presents," he gestured to the books with a wink.

"I thought you were gonna teach me to be a shinobi not how to be a civilian," Naruto complained with a pout.

"Reading is very important to a shinobi. What if you got lost on your way to Suna and ended up in Kiri? If you can't read you wouldn't know!"

"One has sand. One has water," Naruto stated, deadpan.

Mumei sweatdropped and slapped his forehead with his palm. Who made this kid such a smartass?

"Fine, how can you learn cool new ninjutsu if you can't read?"

"Fine," the boy sighed theatrically.

Mumei pushed the kanji workbook towards the child. "Now you have homework!" he said cheerily.

"Why, Kami-sama?" the boy cried to the heavens above.

Translation Time

Taiyou = sun

kibaku fuda = explosion tag

kibaku kunai = explosion kunai

Gohan = rice

Miso shiru = miso soup

Tsukemono = pickled vegetables

Yes I'm measuring things in cups. Only the US uses this trivial system, blah blah blah. I just don't feel like using ml, sorry.

Also, I won't be describing the cooking of every single meal, I promise. I'm just enjoying the pseudo-cooking since it's currently hard for me to cook in my abode.

Also, keep an eye on the nicknames, I'm going somewhere super fluffy and adorable with that.