Chapter 3: This is my apartment right?

Naruto sighed, as he left the clearing again for the last time in the week he had been staying out in the woods waiting for the celebration to die down. It was time to go back to his little apartment back in the village and at the same time he was certain that it would probably just be better to live out here for the rest of his life. It was only because of Kivira that he was even going back to the cheap apartment and to try and deal with the villagers and ninja alike.

Last night in the clearing she said "You will be safer in the village for now, more so than you would trying to live in this world at least." Naruto just scoffed as he watched her while she sat in the firelight with all her tails puffed up soaking in the warmth. He kept finding himself entranced by the tails as they reflected and shimmered in the light. Every time he would start to space out and wouldn't hear a word Kivira was saying until she would wave a hand in front of him drawing his attention to her again.

Kivira found it amusing that he would get so sidetracked by her tails when they were talking or making plans for the upcoming months that at first it wasn't a problem but after a few days she was so annoyed with him that she would only allow him to come see her during the night. That was the second reason he was put in a bad mood because he enjoyed seeing her all day and night and she had limited him on how much time he could be around her. She did say at that it was only until he could stay focused and not get distracted by "shiny objects" as she put it when she tossed a small ball of fire at him bringing his attention back tenfold.

Otherwise though he loved listening to her tell him about what she had done prior to ending up inside of him.

"I used to pose as a traveler back when the villages hadn't been formed. Just a bunch of little towns to travel and trade with, money wasn't exactly around back then. Everything was on a barter system" when she looked at Naruto she just saw a blank look as he tried to figure out what that meant.

Laughing at his unknowingness she continued

"It's where people would trade items, like vegetables for meat or animals for equipment or clothing. Stuff like that" She said as she tried to make him understand. He just nodded in acceptance of what she was saying and left it at that. It was with the end of that conversation that a new one started up about why he, Naruto wanted to become a ninja. He just got quiet for a moment as he thought really hard about it. It was several minutes before he even looked at Kivira again and he had a strange look on his face.

"I dont really know, I have this dream now and then about two people, a red haired woman and a blond man, and I see them fighting to protect me, and I want to be like them, no I mean I want to be stronger than them so I can protect them, whoever they are..." He trailed off as he went back to thinking about why he wanted to really be a ninja. He hadn't a clue really but he felt it in him that that was what he had to do at least at the start anyways.

Kivira just smiled and nodded as she watched the moon drift on overhead. Tonight was the last night she would be out like this for a bit she felt as she again looked at her hand again and could see that it was solid and yet, she was like a ghost, still she was partially out of the seal, like a clone perhaps and this tree was what let her be out and about she was certain of that.

"Naruto, can you do me a favor once you're back in the village?" She asked as she continued to stare at the sky.

"What is it?" Naruto asked curious as to what she would want.

"Oh just the simple request that you stay safe while in the village, I can protect you a little bit but you are so young now that any chakra shift could harm your body if used to much." She said as she looked at him and smiled.

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine..." he said as he then got swatted upside the head again.

"Gahhhh... why do you keep hitting me!" Naruto yelled as he jumped up and looked at her with a serious expression on his face.

"Because I can" she said with a smirk as she too get up and extinguished the fire that had been roaring on the ground.

"It's time for you to go home ok." she said with a tone that meant no arguing. Naruto just nodded went back to his camp to rest for a few hours before he would venture back.

Naruto was drawn out of the memory as he saw the village walls up ahead and hurried to get back into the village. Hoping that no one would spot him and that he could get home safely, Naruto ran through the gate and down the main road as it was still early in the morning and people where still just getting up. He had slowed to a walk at this point as his apartment came into view and was amazed that graffiti didn't cover the walls, and even more surprised as he climbed the stairs that his door was intact.

Naruto was on high alert because something wasn't right, usually he would come home and the door would be off its hinges, the windows would be shattered and garbage and debris would litter the area. Edging the door open Naruto stood dumbstruck as he got his first glance at what he thought was his apartment. It was completely redone; the entrance opened up into a large open room that Naruto guessed was his entire flat, had been cleared out and replaced with an entire exercise area along with a few training dummies and combat stands. Along the wall were shelves that were mostly empty but one held kunais stars and a few shurikans. Beyond that the room led to another door, which as he opened it up found that the neighboring apartment had been attached and sealed to his.

His bedroom was on one side taking up half of the apartment and he had a new bed that was twice as big as his old one although he was happy to see his blankets and items of random collecting where all on top of it. Ducking out of the room he found that the next room was a bathroom with a larger shower that had two heads and enough room to fit probably three people comfortably. Smiling he went to check out the final room an wasn't too surprised to find it was a kitchen, although he was surprised to see everything in it was new although some of his older salvages still remained but he was ok with that.

Naruto felt slightly overwhelmed at this point and wondered who would do something so nice for him. He only had one friend who nobody could know about, not that he wanted to share her with anyone else anyways but it definitely wasn't her. He thought hard about it and decided that the only one who could have done this was the Hokage but then, who would have rebuilt the two apartments into one? The question ran through his head for a while he checked to see if there was anything else in the house he missed, and it wasn't until the third time through that he realized there was a door that blended into the wall, He walked up to it but couldn't find a door handle and was unsure how to go about opening it. After a half hour of trying he gave up and went back to his bedroom to sleep in a bed again.

Kivira smiled as she saw Naruto appear outside the house she had spent the last few days working on. She was content so long as she was occupied and it had been a little project to do although now that it was nearly complete she wasn't sure what she would do in the future. The freedom from the cage had worn itself strongly on her and now she was desperate to keep her second enemy away, boredom...

"Naruto, your sleeping again... did that little walk tucker you out" She said playfully as he drew near.

Naruto stopped and looked embarrassed before trying to deny that he wasn't tired but couldn't think of anything to say otherwise, to which Kivira laughed and beckoned him inside. Naruto wandered through the door and finally got a good look at what she had been up to the past week. She hadn't let him in with the reasoning that she wanted it to remain standing when he was visiting. He could only look at her with a grumpy face as they walked over to the only tree that had grown next to the lake and sat down in the shade.

"Naruto it's only until it is finished so you don't destroy it by accident." Kivira had said with a mischievous look on her face.

That was two days ago and now he was glad he had waited, the inside was just aweing of the fact and detail that was cut into the wood. The most prominent one was the drawing of the Nine-tails in the middle of the ceiling with its tails fanned out in a circle around it. Connected to those tails where the other eight tailed beast with a tail linking to the Kyuubi's tail as they looked to be reaching out to their own little worlds. It was interesting to see how it started with the one tails on the left and circling down and around to the right side up to the eighth tail.

The angle made it seem like a swirl or a whirlpool with the Kyuubi being the center, the ninth tail itself showed a person standing on it but Naruto wasn't sure who it could be so he didn't dwell on it long. As he looked further from the tailed beast he could see a circle that wrapped around the center like the world, in the top part it showed fire burning through a forest until it came upon wind where the fire arched backwards as the air pushed it in on itself. Below the wind, mountains rose up reaching into clouds where lightning bolts arced back down from the clouds striking the ground as the clouds extended over the water bringing rain into the fire completing the circle.

On the farthest part of the drawing there was just village symbols, two of which Naruto recognized but one that he wasn't sure what it meant. The one he knew was the Leaf village's symbol, the other one was the swirl on his shirt. He was surprised to see it here because he had yet to figure out what it meant and hadn't heard of it being anywhere outside the village.

Turning to Kivira Naruto pointed at the swirl and asked "What is this symbol Kivira?" She turned and looked at the one he pointed at and smiled.

"That represents Whirlpool... they were allied to the Leaf village back before you were born but they were destroyed by other ninja nations." Kivira said as she watched Naruto's reaction. It wasn't much but she saw a look of sadness briefly cross his face before it came back with a inquisitive one.

"Are there any ninja left from that village? Are they here in the Leaf?" Naruto asked as he

"Are there any people form that nation left?" He asked curiously as he wanted to know, the thought of an entire village being completely wiped out scared him and although he didn't have much sympathy for the leaf village itself he would never wish that upon the same people.

"There are a few who are a part of the village that remain and others who have the blood of village still pumping through their veins, you yourself are amongst those few, if that was why you wondered." Kivira said as she watched Naruto's face get slightly sad.

"Di...d...did they die with the rest?" Naruto asked with a slight quiver in his voice as he realized this could be why he has no family here in the Leaf Village.

Kivira just looked sadly at his state but was glad to at least tell him that no they hadn't died during the villages destruction. She explained that they had died defending the village from her when she was forced into a rampage but decided to hold back on who they were for the time being. Naruto just smiled as he let the thoughts float away for the time being and just hugged Kivira as she smiled and wrapped her arms around him in return. He was happy to at least have her so for now things where ok in his mind.

After that they went about talking about plans for the academy and how Naruto planned to get through the next few years of training to become a ninja. He wasn't really sure what to expect besides being able to use jutsus and fight with people a lot to defend himself and the village he represented. He figured that it was still his home for the time being and decided that it would be his place to protect besides himself and Kivira.

They spent another hour talking it over before Kivira told him that she wanted to rest so she told him to head back out and get a start on the day to which Naruto nodded and walked back outside with Kivira following him. She gave him a hug as he began to fade and a moment later was gone.

Naruto woke up and was confused at first as to where he was because his room was reversed. It took a moment for everything to come back to him from earlier in the day and remembered that his place had been remodeled randomly while he had been gone but he was happy that nothing was stolen or broken for once so he wasn't about to call attention to it and ask around.

Hopping out of bed Naruto went to the kitchen and made some ramen before leaving the apartment heading towards the Hokage's building. He arrived after a short time, and quickly run up and through the building before bursting through the door into the office where Sarutobi sat waiting.

"I see someone has forgotten how to knock again..." Sarutobi said with a smile as he rose from his chair and walked over to Naruto placing an arm on his shoulder.

"Hey old man, yea sorry about that I just wanted to come see you about starting at the academy this year" Naruto said with a sheepish look as he hoped that it would be allowed.

"Naruto I'm surprised you changed your mind, I thought you were going to learn how to be a ninja all on your own but I'm glad you finally see it my way. Of course you will be allowed to attend and all the paperwork is already done and processed so you will start in one week." Sarutobi said as he patted Naruto's head and then sat back down.

Naruto just smiled and thanked him before turning and running out the door again. He was happy that at least he could start to learn the basics and then hopefully he could learn enough to survive on his own.

"Finally I can get stronger" Naruto thought as he walked home.

Author note

Sorry guys that it took so long to get this up i had the worst writers block trying to make this longer before realizing i could just end it where it was and just start a new chapter which already took off so hopefully i can make up for my absence with 4 sooner then projected.

Also sorry that the chapter is shorter then the others I was spending to much time on word counts and yea time became my enemy. sorry guys again lol

Noblesse Oblige MG