A/N: Well, here we go again with yet another new story because it is a necessary process in the writing of my other stories. I can't help it, I read a story and an idea will come to me and I can't focus on my other stories until I write it down and get it out my head, so forgive me if you don't like it. Anyways, I noticed that Naruto is read as Naruto U. so in a sense, this is a perfectly logical thing. Also, because I still haven't found a way to 'properly' translate jutsu, I'm still writing them in English, sorry.

-Old Business-

One week had passed since the incident known as 'The Fall' to Naruto and Naruko. Naruto had reluctantly agreed to train her, but said to wait about a week to get settled into the apartment and to take care of some business.

Naruto hadn't really been all that surprised at Naruko's revelation, something he made known to her and demanded that she not tell anyone else unless it was absolutely necessary. He had questioned her on the fox, who she said refused to speak to her after she had met it one night in a sewer that Naruto told her was her mindscape.

Now, here the pair was one week later, one ecstatic, the other lethargic, but still ready to get down to training. They were at one of the lesser used training grounds, located about a half-mile from their apartment complex.

"Now then, can you actually use chakra at all?" Naruto asked as Naruko tilted her head in confusion.

"No… and I can only use the fox's chakra in life and death situations like falling off the cliff, and even then, it was a miracle that the chakra came when I asked for it." Naruko answered, rubbing the back of her head.

"Well, then, there isn't much we can do, but I could teach you some Taijutsu, which is essentially hand-to-hand combat, help you meditate to try and access your chakra pool, teach you some stealth skills, those would be useful with the mobs chasing you. I would prefer to not begin teaching you how to use that sword just yet, but there's also trying to form a bond with the Kyuubi, that's a whole other can of worms that shouldn't be open in the foreseeable future." Naruto said as he submitted and rejected each idea.

"That's about it, and chakra would be a very useful tool so, I want you to meditate while I go do some business in town. I'll be back in about two hours if everything goes okay, but if I'm not back in 4 hours, I want you to go home and lock the door. I have a key so I can get in, okay?" Naruto suggested as Naruko nodded before Naruto showed her the correct form for meditation.

"Now, you'll know that's it's chakra by the slightly warm and comforting feel to it. I want you to grasp it as best you can, you probably won't get it today or even tomorrow but it never hurts to try." Naruto explained as Naruko nodded and closed her eyes as her breathing leveled out.

As she settled into the meditative state, she vaguely heard Naruto leave the area and head back towards town. She calmly breathed in and out as she felt a slight warmth surround her, and almost jumped up in joy before the feeling disappeared as quickly as it had appeared causing Naruko to frown.

-(With Naruto)-

Naruto was currently standing in front of his destination, the Uchiha compound. He had promised that he would visit and he intended to keep that promise as he skirted the area to come up in the backyard of the Uchiha compound, where many Uchiha's practiced their jutsu and some just sat around and read books or spoke with their friends. Sighing at the peaceful feel of the compound compared to the tension in the Red Light District where his and Naruko's apartment was located.

Walking up to the door of his former house, the door was answered by a small boy about Naruto's age but about one inch shorter than him. He had the black Uchiha hair, and onyx eyes but the difference between this Uchiha and the others was that this one was his younger brother.

"Hello, there Sasuke-ototo. Aren't you going to come out and explore with me?" Naruto asked his younger brother.

Sasuke looked down with sadness. "I can't, Tou-san found out that you were 'killed' and went ballistic. I'm currently confined to the compound, and he's been yelling at Itachi-Nii-san and Kaa-chan for about an hour now about how they let you die. The way he's talking, I don't know if I'll ever get to leave again, or even if he will." Sasuke mumbled under his breathe before Naruto nodded and turned to leave.

'Okay then, tell Kaa-chan and Itachi that I'm sorry for bringing this down on them. And, that I love you." Naruto said as he disappeared into the shadows somehow, despite there being no shadows around.

Naruto sighed at his lack of companionship before he heard a slight buzzing sound in his ear, rubbing it to try and remove whatever was causing it, he didn't find anything and the buzzing was still there. Getting annoyed at the sound, he stuck his fingers in his ears, trying to block out the noise, but it also did nothing to help.

Sighing once again at how nothing seemed to be going his way today, the buzzing got louder before finally turning into a voice.

"So, I said I wasn't going to help you with your training, but just sitting around her with Mata-chan is making me depressed so head to the nearest bookstore and buy an empty journal." F. Naruto said in Naruto's head, before Naruto sent an image of him nodding back, then turning to head towards a bookstore.

After buying the book, Naruto just looked at it with confusion as to what he did now. "So, what now?" Naruto asked mentally to his older self who paused before responding.

"Now, with your blood write 'knowledge' on the cover and push your chakra through it." F. Naruto instructed and as Naruto did so, he sent his chakra through the blood to form a link with it.

After Naruto had finished, he pushed his chakra through it before awaiting the next order. Deciding that he shouldn't do this in the streets, he slipped into an alleyway where it was dark enough for him to hide himself.

"Now open the book to the first page." F. Naruto said before the connection went dead. Naruto looked at the book with some scrutiny before doing exactly as ordered. The page was still as blank as it was the first time. He pulled out a pen and wrote on the page, only for the ink to sink through the page and disappear.

Annoyed, Naruto snapped the book shut, thinking that he would figure it out later. He had too many things he had to get done today to be trying to figure out the cryptic gift from his older self. First on this list was upgrading his training regiment. He needed better chakra control, needed to learn how to channel his wind affinity better than he currently could, his speed could be better, and he wanted to practice with his Sharingan some, but since he was keeping a low profile, which might be a bit difficult. Then there were his concerns about his chakra pool, sure it was larger than most kids his age, even the other clan kids, but when you use elemental attacks like Naruto did, it quickly caught up with you.

Deciding that chakra control was his primary concern since he couldn't manage better jutsu anyways if he had a larger chakra pool since his control would be shot, Naruto turned towards the best place to get info, the library.

Slipping into the library proved to be a more daunting task than Naruto thought as the librarian refused to let him enter it, referring to a sign that read, 'No Demons Allowed'. Below the sign was some spray paint that read, 'Lovers may also be denied entry'.

Maintaining his calm exterior, Naruto slinked away before using his stealth skills to squeeze through an open window on the second story. Of course, he had scratches and gravel in uncomfortable places, but he had managed to gain entry where he was denied.

"Okay, now where is the shinobi section?" Naruto asked himself quietly as he disappeared into the shadows, using his naturally dark clothes to blend in.

-(With Naruko)-

Naruko was still struggling to access her chakra pool while Naruto used his skills to enhance his powers. As she collapsed after another failure to catch her chakra, she breathed out before screaming at the top of her lungs.

"HOW CAN IT BE THIS HARD TO USE CHAKRA, NARUTO USES IT LIKE IT"S NOTHING SO WHY CAN'T I GET IT RIGHT?" Naruko screamed before trying once again to reach her chakra. She sat silent for about five minutes before once again yelling as she failed again.

"Oh well, he said that I probably wouldn't get it the first day, or even tomorrow, but I wanted to show him just how good I am. If I give up now, then what did my request mean, if I quit when things don't go my way?" Naruko questioned herself before looking at her sword sitting by her side.

"Naruto told me not to do anything but focus on accessing my chakra, but Naruto isn't here, now is he? If I practice with my sword, than I won't need to use my chakra. I'll just be a samurai." Naruko said as she stood up before grasping the handle of her sword and pulling it free form the sheath, only for the blade to not budge.

"Oh, come on!" Naruko cried out as she looked the scabbard over before finding a seal with read 'seal'. She didn't know how she knew what it read, or even how she knew that Naruto didn't possess this level of Fuinjutsu. She just chalked it up to a hunch.

"Really, I can't even use my sword without chakra?" Naruko said as she hung her head in disappointment before falling to the ground with a silent cry of 'why?'. Looking up at sun, she decided that she should head home to see Naruto, who was most likely waiting for her.

Tromping up the stairs on the outside of her apartment complex, the metal creaked ominously before falling quiet once again. Sighing at the rundown building, Naruko pulled out her key before unlocking the door and entering her apartment. Hearing the shower running, she slumped into her beat up couch, which release a puff of dust into the air as Naruko began sneezing.

"Why *achoo* me? I haven't *achoo* done *achoo* anything wrong." Naruko said aloud as she shut her eyes as she let the heat of the room wash over her. Hearing footsteps behind her, she opened her eyes to see Naruto walking across the room, drying his now flat hair with a ratty towel. With his arm in the air, Naruko could see the slight muscle on Naruto's arm, something she couldn't do normally because of his casual attire.

"Oh, you're home." Naruto said as he dropped the towel, covering his arm once again. "There isn't any hot water left, a repairman is supposed to come tomorrow and fix the water heater, or so I was told when I complained about it. Anyways, go take a shower and then we'll have dinner." Naruto said as he turned towards the kitchen.

"Wait," Naruko said causing the blonde to face her once again, "Can we go out tonight, there are some people I want you to meet." Naruko asked as she stared intently at Naruto, who simply nodded under the stare of his red headed roommate.

Naruko smiled as she walked off to the bathroom to clean off all the accumulated grime on her. As she stood under the shower head, the water rushed out of the device and flowed over Naruko as she gave a small 'ahh' at the freezing cold water that better suited a polar ice cap than an apartment shower.

Hurrying through her shower because of this, she jumped out the shower before wrapping a towel around her nude body in an effort to warm herself. Shivering through the whole process, she slowly dragged the cloth across her wet body, effectively drying it before rushing to her room and putting some warmer clothes on.

While pulling her skirt on, it occurred to her that Naruto hadn't even been shivering after taking a shower; in fact she could tell from his gait that he was relaxed, like he took a warm shower instead of a frozen one. Shaking the thought off that her new roommate had stolen all her hot water, since the hot water was regularly shut off in her building.

Coming out of her room, she saw Naruto's shirtless body and snuck up behind him before jumping on his back, causing the blonde to gasp and crumple under her weight. Naruko giggled as she helped her friend to his feet before punching him.

"I don't weigh that much." She said with a lethal undertone that spoke of horrendous torture if Naruto decided to argue.

"It's true that you don't, but I hurt my legs jumping out of a second-story window at the library, when a pile of books landed on me." Naruto said as Naruko looked down and saw the numerous marks from the books impacting his back and legs.

"Oh, sorry." Naruko mumbled as Naruto waved it off as he opened the door for his roommate, which she took with what little dignity she had at the moment. Looking back, she saw Naruto pull a shirt on as he winced at it rubbing his wounds.

"Now then, where are we going?" Naruto asked as he locked the door and felt himself get pulled along by Naruko towards wherever they were going for dinner.

Naruto saw the multiple glares the young pair got as Naruko pulled him through the streets towards their destination. Finally stopping, he saw that they were at a ramen stand which Naruko seemed excited to be at as she skipped under the cover ed and hopped on to a stool, a motion which Naruto imitated with less hopping, skipping, and emotion as he simply climbed on to the seat since he was two inches taller than Naruko and could reach the top of the counter to pull himself up.

"Ayame-nee-chan, Teuchi-jii-san, I'm here, and I brought company!" Naruko yelled as a teenage girl came to the counter from the back. She had long brown hair that went down to her shoulder blades and a smile that showed compassion for the girl at Naruto's side.

"I see that. Is this your boyfriend?" Ayame asked teasingly as Naruko blushed and shook her head demurely, something that Naruto didn't think she could even do.

"No, this is my roommate, Naruto." Naruko mumbled as Ayame chuckled and turned to face Naruto.

"Hello, my name is Ayame and my Tou-san owns the stand so I'll be taking your orders tonight. What will you be having?" Ayame said as Naruko's face lit back up.

"I'll have two bowls of pork ramen, 1 bowl of miso, and three bowls of salt ramen, and two bowls of vegetable." Naruko ordered, adding the last one after a glare from Naruto that spoke of pain otherwise.

"And for you, Naruto-kun?" Ayame asked as she missed the glare from Naruto to Naruko about eating healthier.

"I'll have two bowls of vegemtable, and one salt, please." Naruto ordered as he nodded as if confirming with himself causing Naruko and Ayame to giggle at his mispronunciation of vegetable.

"Okay, they will be ready it a little bit." Ayame said as she handed the order to Teuchi in the back, who jumped on cooking so many bowls immediately.

"So, how have things been with you lately, Naruko?" Ayame asked, making small talk to pass the time as she was genuinely curious about her adopted younger sister.

"Oh, you how it is, villagers try to kill me, dashing knight in shining armor, or dark cloak as the case was, shows up to save me, takes me home safely, and becomes my new roommate. Just like in all those manga that you let me read." Naruko said as if this was normal, which prompted the two other people to face fault.

The three continued like this, Ayame getting to know Naruto and Naruko getting to complain about the villagers, until their orders came. Naruto and Naruko both thanked the man and Ayame for the meal before breaking the provided chopsticks and digging into the ramen.

While Naruko ate like it was her last meal, Naruto ate at a more sedate pace, yet seemed to consume just as much as Naruko, a fact which Ayame and Teuchi found incredible as no one, aside from the Akamichis could eat like that.

After the young pair finished their bowls, with Naruto finishing before Naruko, they got up to leave after thanking the Ichiraku's once again for the food before Naruto pulled out the money to pay for the meal. However, Ayame waved it off as on the house, something that probably happened a lot, Naruto noted, at least in the case of Naruko.

Sighing, Naruto jogged to catch up to Naruko who seemed to walk with a purpose now lending more speed to her steps. Getting in front of her, Naruto saw her face which was smiling, but her eyes were drooping, and reacting quickly, he caught his sister on his back, before chuckling low under his breath.

Carrying the young girl home proved to be an easy enough task since they only lived about a half-mile away from the stand. Shouldering Naruko's limp body, Naruto fit his key in the slot and opened the door, bringing the sleeping red head in as well before dropping her on the bed and returning to the living room, where he laid down to sleep on the couch. However, he just tossed and turned at the vivid images provided by the other night.

Sitting up after yet another bad dream, Naruto wiped his brow to find his hand wet, whether from sweat or tears, he couldn't tell. Climbing off the couch, he walked to the window before climbing out of it and on to the roof.

Lying down on the cool tile under the moon, he yawned as his eyes drifted closed once again. His last words were simply in observance of the moon, "What a beautiful nya-ight."

A/N: Another one down, and I'll be honest with you, I don't know about this one, I just couldn't seem to make myself sit down and write it. Also, Monday is back to school, so my uploading schedule while be screwed up, but I'll try to keep it up best I can. Another thing is that, my cousin died yesterday, so my family is going through a rough patch right now. Anyways, have a good day and stay safe.