Anko was asleep on her bed as Naruto was in the living room, he was folding clothes and stretching as he began to get ready to do crunches. He wanted to keep exercising and keep his mid-body and lower strength growing.

The blonde took a moment to make a game of balling his clothes up and tossing them into a rolled-up pile, trying to see if he could make them stack as he did crunches. He so far didn't manage to make one land on top of each other.

Rolling his eyes as he finished with his clothes, the blonde just grumbles as he gets up from the floor. He jogged in place, he never was one to like being cooped up in small places, did he have claustrophobia?

The boy took a deep breath, he had lived by himself two years and he never needed anyone else before now.

Getting on some black sweatpants and a blue long sleeve shirt, Naruto tucked walked over to a drawer and opened it before he took to looking at his survival knife he packed almost every time he went somewhere. Taking a moment, the blonde just slides the drawer back to close.

He got his father's scroll, however, quickly grabbing a pen and writing down the time he was going out. Putting down that he should be back within a couple of hours, he reached into a sack that was on the table, pulling out a few liens that had an orange mark on them.

His liens.

Walking out toward the door that was in the kitchen, Naruto took a moment and looked around, sighing as he exited out the door.

Naruto was walking around the city, making landmark notes mentally as he looked around the middle and upper quarters of the city. He smiled, taking a look as aircraft flew over, Bullheads.

He never got to see one at Busan, but here in the big city he could, they were much bigger than he imagined.

Mesmerized as he took in all of the sights, the other children running around and happily playing with some sort of ball. The ball was white, it had black spots in the shape of hexagons. The kids were playing a wide street, having two nets at the end of it.

He even noticed another Faunus playing with them, a rabbit Faunus with long bunny ears.

The ball was kicked hard, missing the net, ending up near him. The same bunny girl ran over toward him, just as his foot hit the ball, he picked it up and looked at her.

"Hey, hey, can we have our ball back?" the bunny girl questioned as she looked at him.

Naruto looked at her long brown hair, her chocolate brown eyes, blushing slightly as he held the ball out toward her. "What game are you playing?"

"Oh, its soccer mate wanna join. Bit lob sided we are, but, my best mate Yats makes up for it with his size as a goalie." The girl tells Naruto, she smiled as she looked at him, "how old you chap?"

"I'm eleven, you?" Naruto inquired as he rubbed the back of his head, his tail unfurling from around his waist.

"Oh, me, I'm twelve mate. Wanna play could always use another pair of hands, Fox isn't too terrible with Coco and Reese." She held out her hand and smiled, "I'm Velvet by the way…nice seeing another Faunus running about."

"Hear that, I'm from a small village called Busan, I was the only Faunus there." Naruto told her as he rubbed the back of his head, "I'm Naruto, by the way, Naruto Uzumaki."

"Well, Naruto, like I said I'm Velvet. Velvet Scarlatina, now c'mon, we'll grab Arslan out of the roundtable to balance the teams out."

"Arslan?" Naruto questioned Velvet as they walked over toward the game area.

"Yo, Vel, who's this guy?" A very tall, very broad shouldered young teen questioned as he walked over toward Velvet.

"Yats, this is Naruto, Naruto this Yats." Naruto looked up at the taller boy, "Yats we got the room for another with Arslan in our game, yeah?"

"Guy's a midget Vel, Co, what'cha think?" Yats questioned the young teen girl who was walking toward them, she had a pair of sunglasses on her head.

Coco looked at Naruto, "Yats is right Vel. Fox here is almost short as me, and this guy must be like three foot."

"I'm three-two," Naruto argued, "I'm still growing, didn't hit my growth spurt yet!"

"Well then, I guess the midget wants to play with us. Hey midget you in for it, get with Velvet's team!" Yats yelled out as he smiled and ran back, "alright, let's get guys!"

Yats, Coco, Velvet, Fox, Arslan, Reese, and a black-haired boy all got in the center.

"Okay, we've got a newcomer, so Ren. You'll be in, get ready, alright?" The black-haired boy nodded, he had a single pink strand of hair over his right eye.

Shinobi of the new age!
Chapter four: Mistral City Part One: The Loneliness We Share.

Velvet's team had herself, Yats, Arslan, and Naruto.

Coco's team had herself, Reese, Fox, and Ren.

Naruto was put at goalie; his sole goal was just to keep the ball from getting in the net. The blonde was just standing in the middle of the goal, he could use his full body if he wanted as explained by Velvet, who wanted to "break him in" as a player.

The blonde watched as Coco got up in Velvet's face as she kicked the ball away, right toward Reese who was shuffling it between her feet to keep it away from Arslan. Yats was coming up when she managed to slip past him and run for the goal with the ball shuffling between her feet.

The girl smirked as she looked at the younger kid in front of her, "hey, foxy, where's it going!"

She kicked it hard, expecting Naruto to get sent back with it, she had a hell of a kick after all. Only Naruto surprised her when he caught the ball relatively easily, he then tosses it toward Yats who smirked as he began to charge.

Ren came behind Yats, sliding and kicking the ball away from him and toward Coco. Coco smirked, kicking the ball in a curve that was sure to go in the goal, Naruto, however, surprised her when he merely jumped up and caught it.

The blonde chuckled, "this is fun!"

He threw the ball toward Velvet, she smirked as she kicked it up and hit with her knee to make it go over Ren. Ren watched as Yats jumped and then slammed his leg into it. Fox's eyes widened, their near white pupils expanding heavily as he was hit with the ball.

Fox groaned, getting up, "really Yatsuhashi, really~"

"Sorry bro," Yats yelled out, "but if any consolation you managed to catch it!"

"Gah, screw you, Coco!" Fox yelled out as he tosses the ball.

Coco shuffled the ball between her feet as she got it, smirking as she managed to pass Velvet and then passes it to Ren. Ren was shuffling the ball between his feet as he advanced toward Naruto, kicking it between Yats legs as the ball curved.

"I got it!" Naruto screamed out, jumping for it.

However, he ends up getting smacked in the face with it. Making everyone wince as he hit the ground, making everyone walk over toward him. He got up, his nose was bleeding from he got busted just right. But, instead of a sniveling mess like they expected, he was smiling brightly.

"Told ya!" He declared as he Ren, "gotcha!"

"Um, Naruto, your nose is broken." Velvet disgustingly points out, grimacing at the amount of blood flowing from it.

Naruto put his hand up, seeing the thick blood on his fingers, he merely shrugs as he noticed a nearby fountain.

"Hey guys, I'll be right back!" Naruto tells them, but not before straightening his nose with an audible crack.

Something that even made Yats wince.

A couple of hours passed as he was now not the goalie, but playing in the line, he shuffled the ball rapidly between his feet as he spun around and then kicked the ball. Fox's eyes widened as he barely missed the ball before it went in the goal.

"GOOOOAAAAL!" Yats screamed out as he held up Velvet, running around with her, putting her down both just did a tease toward Coco's team.

Arslan smirked, but Naruto just rubbed the back of his head.

"This is the best day off school, ever," Yats yelled as he looked at Naruto, "good job little guy."

"Thanks, um, Yats!" Naruto yelled out.

The fox Faunus tail wagged as he rubbed the back of his head, "wanna go another round?"

"Nah, we're good, we got school in the morning. Hey, Naruto, aren't you apart of Sanctum?" Arslan questions as she looked at him.

"Um, what's Sanctum?" Naruto bashfully inquired as he lightly held up his hand.

Everyone stopped, looking at the boy, with Arslan looking at Velvet.

Velvet rubbed the back of her head, "you know, the prepping academies for Huntsman. There's one in every city, you got Signal in Vale, Sanctum in…Atlas in Atlas…."

"Sorry, I'm from a village out in the west, so this is all new to me. Um, Velvet, are you all training to be Huntsman?" Naruto inquired, a hopeful smile on his face.

Ren nodded, "yeah we are, why?"

"How cool is it?!" Naruto giddily asks as he looked at them all and realized, "I went toe to toe with Huntsmen in training!"

"Yeah…" Coco rubbed the back of her head, "you see…um…"

"We only kind of play with people from Sanctum," Fox finished for her as he looked at Naruto, "so…um…"

Velvet looked at them, "well mates, he's good right, I mean c'mon."

"It's not that Velvet, we're just only supposed to play with other students just in case someone got hurt…like him." Naruto winced when he was being pointed at.

"Freak!"
"Get out of here fleabag!"
"No furry allowed!"
"Animal!"

Naruto sighed, he turned away from them, "I'm sorry…"

The blonde put his hands in his pockets, walking away.

Ren looked at Fox and Coco with a glare, along with Velvet and Yats. Arslan and Reese were indifferent, they could care less of what was going as they walked away to get some food. Coco looked at them, shrugging as she turned to her friends, then becoming aware of their glare.

"What?" Coco inquired.

Velvet just shook her head, "hey remember the talk we had about being subtle, that wasn't subtle!"

"Yeah, Coco, I mean c'mon the little guy is okay. He held his own pretty good actually, who knows, he's probably like Renny here." Yats pointed his thumb at Ren.

"I have a distinct feeling that is partially true, yes, wait where'd he go?" Ren asks as he looked around for Naruto before noticing a scroll on the ground.

Ren walked over to it, picking it up, "Minato?"

He pulled it open, discovering that it had Naruto's picture in it, along with someone who looked like him minus the vulpine traits. He sighed, looking at the photo, reminding him of the times he had with his own family.

He sighed, "better go find him, besides I need to pick up Nora's medicine anyway."

Naruto was wandering aimlessly through the city, taking a moment to just look at the various stores and families hanging out in the little eateries across the street. The blonde just sighed, watching as children laughed, playing around him.

Why did they get to smile, enjoy each other, but here he was cast out because of not being something…once again?

The sun was shining, the skies were blue, it was a warm spring day. It was perfect, save for the ending to it, Naruto's new friends apparently thought he was a student in a prep academy, but when they found he wasn't they just cast him out!

It burned him deep, it made him hurt, and it made him angry!

He was just trying to find his place in this lonely world, it seemed that it didn't belong anywhere now. Mistral just felt like a larger, more populated, Busan.

Save that instead of racism, he discovered a new cruelty, classism, and isolationism.

The world to him was full of isms, and if you didn't fit in one, you didn't fit anywhere.

The child stopped, taking a deep breath as he looked at the sun, it was hanging lower and lower. Soon it would be dusk, then it will fall tonight, it has been well over a few hours. He went to pull his scroll out of his pocket, only to find it wasn't there.

"No…" he reached into his other pocket, nothing, "no…no…no!"

He winces as he felt of his pants, he even looked in his shoes, no dice.

The blonde just looked at the sky, "why are so perfect, but today sucks so much?"

Slowly, he just looked at the street, he had ended up in the upper part of Mistral City. He saw the affluent houses, the families smiling, the world is perfect. But, he knew, he knew that below that the city was the exact opposite.

Night and day.

From highs scale on the literal level to the projects below.

He took a deep breath, unsure of where to go, he couldn't really remember his way back to Anko's safehouse.

"Hey!" Naruto snapped his head toward Ren, "I got your scroll."

Naruto walked toward Ren, the boy looked at him, "some number keeps calling it."

The blonde watches as the number calls it again, he swipes on it, "hello?"

"Bout fucking time Fishcake, damn kid, where you at!" Anko yelled over the scroll as her face came on it.

"S-sorry Mistress," Naruto apologized as he rubbed the back of his head nervously, "I'm just looking around Mistral."

"You lost the way back, didn't you?" She deadpanned, giving him a flat look.

"What…pfft, no…I…I…" Naruto looked down in defeat, "yes."

"For fuck sakes, give me an hour, just stay put where you are at." Anko ordered him as she rubbed her head, "I'm too hungover for shit…"

Naruto watched as the screen became clear, meaning that Anko was on her way, he took a moment and sighed.

Ren looked at Naruto, speaking as he noted the tired look in his eyes, "are you okay…who was that…your mother?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, no that wasn't my mother…that was my Mistress." Naruto tells Ren as he took a deep breath, "and she's angry I didn't call her sooner."

"Mistress…are you a servant?" Ren inquires as he looked at Naruto.

"Not exactly, I'm her student, she's training me to become a Huntsman. Anyway, um, Ren…thanks." Naruto rubbed the back of his head as his tailed wagged.

"No worries, well I need to get going, Nora is going to be angry if I don't get back soon with her meds." Ren looked at Naruto and then noticed the sad look on his face, "Hey…what's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing, nothing…" Naruto brushed him off as he continued to smile, "just thinking of what I want to eat tonight."

"Oh…okay, I'll see you around." Ren said as he waved Naruto goodbye, "take care."

Ren left Naruto as the blonde stood there, sighing, the child took a moment to look at his surroundings and then smiled.

He had made a friend!

Taking a deep breath, Naruto pocketed his scroll and then heard a child crying. The younger child was whining that her red balloon was flying away, and Naruto saw it slowly flow upward. Naruto took off running without as he looked at the balloon floating upward.

A man was about to move at the building, but Naruto's speed was a surprise as the blonde suddenly ran up the building and then grabbed the balloon just before it got out of reach. He was breathing hard, not because he was out of breath, but because at how fast he was going!

Naruto's training, though just a couple of weeks long, was already taking effect.

His body had a nasty habit of adapting to physical stress, the pain faded quickly with time, and it healed itself rapidly. Which meant that he was able to physically train his body faster any normal child, certainly any normal person.

Standing on one leg at the edge of the three-story building, keeping his balance thanks to his years of hunting and hiding in trees, Naruto then angled himself to where he could apply aura on the building and slide down.

Sliding down, landing with a heavy thump on the ground with his feet, Naruto hissed lightly at the "rug burn" he got on his arm.

The girl ran up to him, grabbing her balloon, "thank you thank you!"

She repeatedly yelled as her red and black hair bounced in joy, her silver eyes then turned toward a woman who was jogging over to her, "momma my balloon!"

"That's good Ruby, did you say thank you to the person who got it?" The woman asks as she looked around.

"Yeah, he's right here momma!" Naruto was pointed at by Ruby, whose mother looked at him.

"Wow, you must've been quick, she's been chasing that balloon for a good minute." The woman held out her hand, "my name's Summer young man."

"Naruto Uzumaki," Naruto greeted her all the same, "nice to meet you!"

"Well, nice to meet you, young man, here for your trouble." Summer reached into her purse and got a few liens out.

Naruto shook his head, "I didn't do it for the money mam, seriously!"

"Well aren't you just the little hero," Naruto's eyes widened as he turned to see Anko, "I thought I told you to stay put. If we go back out into the wilderness from here, then you better listen more than you do in the cities."

"So-sorry Mistress," Naruto rubbed the back of his head, "this is Summer and Ruby by the way!"

"Yeah-yeah, I've been listening, hey toots and tootsie." Anko waved at them as she spoke, "how's Qrow?"

"Wh-what?!" Naruto screamed as he looked at the two, "you know each other!"

"Of course we know each other, Anko, been a while." Summer said as she looked at the older woman, "why do you want to get in contact with Qrow?"

"Bas-I mean idiot owes me a fight, a drink, and some money. Anyway, I hope my young student isn't being a nuisance, though I guess being a little hero for the day isn't a bad thing." Anko then glared at Naruto, "when he is not sneaking out…"

"Oh, well, that is bad…" Summer weakly added, nervous at even Anko's glare.

Naruto nervously rubbed the back of his head, faster than before mind you, "I'm in trouble, am I?"

"Yes." Anko merely answered.

"So long legs," Naruto whimpered as he looked at them, "you've given me a heck of a run."

Anko laughed a little bit, "maybe not intentional, but funny all the same. Anyway, what you are doing here Short Stack, aren't you married in Patch?"

"My family is on vacation in the upper area, Taiyang is with Yang, and so is your student also your secret son…or…" Summer then realized something, putting her hand over Ruby's ears, "you didn't kidnap him, did you?"

"What…pfft…no," Anko laughs as she got nervous, "it's not like Qrow incident I swear!"

"I can attest that Qrow still calls you names, because of five liens." Summer pointed out as she still held Ruby's ears.

"Bastard stole five liens from me, my only regret is not hogtying him in front of your doorstep with a little bow on his ass. Oh, is here, by the way, ~" Anko deviously chuckled as she twiddled her fingers, "I've got a duel tomorrow."

"Anko didn't kidnap me," Naruto pointed out as he looked at Summer, "she's training me to become a Huntsman."

Summer blinked, removing Ruby's ears from her hands, "oh my God your training someone…"

"What, it's not that bad, I mean cmon. I'm Anko Mitarashi, what's the worse that's going to happen?" Anko questioned Summer, "seriously."

"He'll become a second you, only I don't know if a male version of you would be better or worse." Summer pointed out, "you are kind of creepy…"

Anko's face fell flat a little bit, deadpanning as she looked at Summer with her right eye twitching, "oh Summer…you should know."

A sudden fire lit in her eye, "there will only, always only, be one of me."

Summer sighed, "well we're heading out, Tai and Yang were wanting to explore Haven a little."

"Ooh, can I go, can I go!" Naruto suddenly yelled as he looked up at Anko, "please!"

"Sorry, you're grounded," Anko told him, much to his shock.

"W-what?" Naruto looked hurt slightly, "but I wasn't gone that long."

"Take this as a lesson in being punctual, now come on, we're gonna get something to eat and discuss this day a little bit." Anko grabbed Naruto's arm gently, "see you, Summer."

"See ya," she then smiled at Ruby, "c'mon my little petal."

Naruto was slurping down some rather cheap ramen back at the safehouse, taking a moment to look at Anko, "I made some friends…"

"Oh, really, orphans like you?" Anko inquired as she took a deep breath and took a drink of beer she had.

"I played soccer with a few, they didn't want to play with me when they found out that I wasn't a member of their school…but one did give me my scroll back when I dropped. Ren, and he said he a friend named Nora…I guess Ruby could be my friend as well…right?" Naruto inquired as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Probably not, just because you do something good for someone doesn't mean that they'll be your friend. Also, Fishcake, don't take this the wrong way…you smell pretty bad." Anko tells him as she wipes the air with her hand, "go take a shower."

Naruto nodded as he got up from the floor, taking his container with him and tossing it in the trash as he walked away.

Anko smiled at him as he turned his back to her, "I have to be cruel to you because you'll learn to take punches and roll with them. Summer is a good person, but she's not going to be seeing much of you…"

The blonde took a moment, stopping, "what's it like to have friends…I mean friends when you're also a kid…"

The question caught Anko off guard, she looked at him, "what?"

"I mean, besides Ayame and Teuichi, I never had any friends. You're my friend, I guess, but I don't know what it's like to have friends my age…" Naruto held his head down, "and I wanted to thank you…"

The young child smiled as he looked at her, the same dumb child's smile he gave her back in Busan. "You're the only other person to ever care for me!"

Anko watches as he walked into the bathroom after telling her that, she took a deep breath, smiling. "You too Fishcake, you too…"