~1 year later~

"Well, this is me," Narumi said, gesturing at her home. She'd been reluctant to let Jin visit her house even after their months of friendship. They were both 9 now, with Jin having a few months over Narumi.

"It's…homely," Jin said diplomatically.

"It's a dump," Narumi stated casually, "You can say it as you see it, ya know?"

"I think with some work, it'll be good as new in no time," Jin smiled.

Narumi shivered, remembering Jin's relentlessness in doing chores while Sayuri was away. He'd made a habit out of tidying up—if you could even call it that. After Jin was done with his chores, Narumi suspected there wasn't even a speck of dust on any surface of his house. It was beyond terrifying, his obsessiveness with the state of his home.

"Shall we go in?" Jin suggested.

Narumi hesitated but in the end, she nodded. She'd thought this over for a while—about letting Jin into her home and, consequently, into her troubles. She'd question whether she trusted him, whether he would turn his back on her when the state of her…life was revealed to him. After all her thoughts, she'd concluded one thing: She was being stupid. Not a single point during her year being Jin's friend that she'd once doubt his intentions. Even when her classmates ridiculed her, even when they ridiculed him, he stuck with her.

Narumi felt her heart clench and an odd feeling filled her stomach. It was uncomfortable but not… unpleasant.

"Let's go," Narumi said, "But, Jin?"

Jin paused in his step, turning towards her questioningly.

"Don't be too harsh okay?" Narumi pleaded.

"Eh? what do you mean—"

Just as Jin questioned her, he was interrupted by the door creaking open. Out of it, came a woman with vibrant red hair, violet eyes, and pale porcelain skin. Yet, for all her exotic features, Jin saw that she looked far older than she was. Her eyes were sunken, and her figure was thin, if not lanky. She showed signs of a person who wasn't sleeping or eating right, whether by choice or medical condition.

"Naru-chan?" The woman said, her voice containing the energy of a thousand-year-old turtle. So lacking in life and emotion was that Jin was sure she'd left her soul somewhere far away; all that was left was a dried-up husk of her former self.

Jin felt sorry for her.

"Hi mom," Narumi responded.

….

…

Mom? Jin thought. As in her mother?

Whatever sorrow Jin felt for the woman was overwhelmed by a sudden sense of dread. His 'Bob' senses told him that something was wrong again—that something was not as it should be. Truth be told, Jin didn't need the feeling to tell him that something was wrong, he could see it.

For whatever reason, all this time he'd assumed that Narumi was an orphan, hence why he often invited her to his home for lunch or dinner whenever he could—he'd thought she was embarrassed to tell him that she lived in an orphanage. He didn't pressure her and was patient for her to open up to him. He remembered that she made a comment a while ago about him not being her mother but he only thought that was in jest.

Little did he realise that she did have a home, even if it existed in this decrepit state, and not only that, but she wasn't an orphan at all. He understood that trust and friendship took time. Yet to realise that Narumi's mom actually existed and he'd heard no word nor whisper of it.

It was shocking. It was also…disappointing in a sense. He felt as if the year he'd spent with Narumi was but the tip of the iceberg when it comes to truly knowing her. That their relationship was still merely in its infancy.

Jin shook his head to clear his thoughts.

"Good morning, Uzumaki-san, I'm Narumi's friend, Jin Takeshi," Jin said.

"Oh?" Narumi's mother looked at him, "Un."

Then she promptly walked past him and Narumi, took out was seemed to be a pipe, lit it, and began smoking.

Jin's feeling of dread, once again, transmuted into a tinge of irritation.

…That was rather rude…she didn't even say hi. I'm pretty sure I'm the first friend Narumi ever brought home and all I get is an 'un'?

Jin felt someone grab hold of his clenched hands and turned to see Narumi's concerned face.

"Don't think anything of it," Narumi said, "She's just…tired."

Jin nodded.

He allowed Narumi to drag him into her home, and the moment he entered, he could see that the inside of Narumi's house wasn't much different from the outside. Old, worn, neglected—much like he suspects that Narumi, too, was neglected.

"Let me show you my room," Narumi said cheerfully, trying to return to her usual cheer.

Narumi's room, thankfully, looked much more vibrant than the rest of her house. If anything, it was…too vibrant.

"Everything…" Jin muttered, "Everything's orange."

"Did you expect any less?" Narumi snickered, her pigtails bouncing with her small laugh.

Jin smiled. "No, but I had hoped it wouldn't be too bad."

"Hey!" Narumi said, tossing a pillow at him, to which Jin caught. "Orange is the best!"

Jin laughed and Narumi laughed, too. Much of the tension between them was released.

Yet…Jin could not let it go.

"Narumi…" Jin said, coming to sit beside her, "It's not my place to judge…"

"It's about mom, isn't it?" Narumi said sullenly.

"Yeah…" Jin nodded.

"I don't know what to tell you," Narumi replied to the unasked question, "she's always been like this."

"Neglectful?" Jin said, unable to hold back his spite.

"No!" Narumi defended, "She's trying her best, alright! You said you wouldn't judge!"

Jin held his hands up apologetically. "Sorry, that was…insensitive. I should know better than to draw conclusions so quickly. I just…I worry for you, Narumi."

Narumi nodded. "I know…you say that all the time."

"And I mean it all the time," Jin said, then his eyes softened. "Narumi…why do you think that I'm so obsessive with cleaning up my home?"

"Eh?" Narumi tilted her head in confusion.

"A clustered home is a clustered mind," Jin said, reciting the words he heard long ago, "our mental state is often reflected by the things we control around us. "

Narumi frowned.

"It's not the be-all and end-all of rules, but why don't we spend today cleaning up a little?"

Narumi sighed but she reluctantly agreed.

And so, they spent all day cleaning up the kitchen, bathrooms, living rooms, and any part of the house that they deemed a priority. There were bags and bags of trash that's been sitting there for…Jin struggled to guess how long.

During that time, Jin and Narumi talked. It wasn't about Narumi's relationship with her mother, the house, or anything important. They just talked about nothing and everything, having a conversation that held no meaningful topics yet soothed their soul regardless. It was the first time Narumi showed Jin her home, and it was the first time she felt truly accepted by her friend.

Contrary to what she thought, Jin didn't flee the sight of her…admittedly filthy house but offered to help clean it up instead. If that didn't cement her trust in him then she didn't know what would.

Throughout it all, Kushina didn't leave her office. Not once. She didn't check up on Narumi to see how she was doing, she didn't even come out for a drink of water. Jin didn't ask about it, but it was just something he observed.

Cleaning up Narumi's house was too much of a task to get done in one day so Jin came back the day after, then the day after that, and then the day after that. He'd come after school, in the evenings, early mornings—anytime he could spare from when he wasn't training or studying.

It took two weeks to make Narumi's house look like a liveable space again.

"Aaaaand, that's the last one," Jin said as he lifted the trash bag into the bin. With the amount of trash to get rid of, they had to distribute it through a few dumpsters in their neighbourhood. The trash collectors only came once a week after all, and a single dumpster was nowhere near big enough to house all of Narumi's disposables.

"You really should have told me earlier," Jin said as they started their trek back, "I'd have never let that much filth slide."

Narumi looked sheepish. "I—I'm sorr—"

"No," Jin interrupted, "I was only joking. Never apologise for your circumstances, and I like cleaning up."

Narumi only smiled and nodded.

"And besides, I'm just glad that you trust me enough to tell me about it now." Jin smiled as he turned to look at Narumi. "I'm not gonna get scared away by some filth you know. You'll have to try harder than that to get rid of me."

Narumi stopped in her tracks, looking at him wide-eyed. Now that Jin thought about it, Narumi had a smidge of purple in her eyes of blue sapphires, a trait she gained from her mother he supposed.

"I wish you'd never leave," Narumi mumbled.

Distracted, Jin didn't catch what she said. "Sorry, what was that?"

Narumi blushed. "Nothing! Jin-baka!"

Then she ran off, back to her home.

"Wait!" Jin called out. "What did I do this time?!"

He rushed after her.

It was later that day when Jin was putting up the finishing touches on the now clean home, dusting one of the bookshelves when a certain book title caught his eye. It read: Basics of Fuinjutsu by Namikaze Minato.

"Hey, Narumi!" Jin called out. "You have a book written by the fourth?! That's amazing!"

Narumi bolted out of her room, slamming open the door with all the grace of a three-legged bulldog, with a rag in her hand. "I heard you call my name. Did something happen? What is it?"

Jin only laughed. "Relax. It's just a book I found."

He showed her the book and to his surprise, Narumi scoffed and turned away. She'd never scoffed at any book he showed her before even if she wasn't much of a bookworm as he was. Most of the time, she showed feigned interest only to dose off when he started explaining what the book actually contained.

"It's my dad's. He wrote it," Narumi muttered.

It took a while for the information to sink in. Then Jin dropped the book in surprise.

"You're?!" Then Jin covered his mouth with his hand in shock. "Oh, it's so obvious now. How didn't I put two and two together?"

"You'd be surprised by just how few actually realise the connection," Narumi scoffed.

Jin placed his hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry," Jin said, "I didn't mean to bring up a sore subject."

Narumi placed her own hand on his and shook her head. "I never knew him anyway. I…I don't really want to know him."

Jin felt Narumi lacing her fingers around his and he responded in kind.

"I've read stories about him. The things he did. Did you know what they called him?" Narumi asked.

"The yellow flash," Jin answered.

Narumi snickered. "Figures that a bookworm like you would know."

"He was a hero," Jin said.

"Was he?" Narumi retorted. "I know what you're going to say. It's war, people did things they had to do on both sides to win. Else, we'd be under the rule of Iwa right now."

They both shivered at that.

"He was strong," Jin said, "He protected the village from the fox, didn't he? He saved my life."

Narumi had that pained look about her when the fox was brought up. She grasped her shirt, right where her stomach was with the hand that wasn't holding Jin's. It was shaking.

Jin squeezed their digits together harder, catching her attention.

"I don't blame you, Narumi. I've told you a million times," Jin said, "you're no monster, you're a hero just by existing."

Narumi sniffed and only nodded as she tried to stop herself from tearing up.

Jin thought on his feet.

"Did you ever read it?" Jin asked, gesturing to the book.

"I did once, years ago," Narumi replied, "I didn't understand a thing."

Jin hummed, then a spark of memory lit up in his mind. "Isn't your mother a fuinjutsu expert as well? Why don't we ask her to teach you?"

Narumi was already motioning to retort when Jin held out his hands.

"Have you at least tried asking her?" Jin enquired.

"…she's busy. Too busy for me," Narumi muttered, "She runs a fuinjutsu shop in the ninja district. That's mainly where she spends most of her time anyways….either there or in her home office."

"So you haven't asked her?" Jin said.

"Fuinjutsu isn't something I'm interested in," Narumi retorted, "what good is it when all it does is make me an outcast."

Jin sighed and brought her to sit down on the couch. It was old and worn, a subject of neglect just as was everything in this household.

"Maybe you could give it a chance," Jin said as he picked up the book on the way and opened the first few pages. Or he would have before he noticed that their hands were still locked together. "can I have my hand back, Narumi?"

"O-oh, sorry," Narumi stuttered.

Jin went on the read the contents of the book.

It was…complicated, much more so than he imagined. It was a harsh starting point, especially for something considered basic fuinjutsu. After a minute of skimming, he concluded that the art of sealing mainly consisted of four things, calligraphy, array formation, empowerment, and activation.

It was difficult to put heads and tails together as he read through. It was as if he just stumbled on an astrophysicist's notebook which claimed to be comprehensible to toddlers. It very much was not.

"I can't understand any of this…" Jin muttered.

"Hm?" Narumi said, and it was only now that Jin realised she was reading along with him…and she was right next to him with her head leaning over his shoulder.

Jin cleared his throat and Narumi was once again aware of the situation she put herself in.

She promptly jumped up and scuttled backwards. "Eeeep! I didn't realise I was that close! Sorry, Jin!"

Jin snickered. "I don't really mind Narumi. Did you understand a thing you read?"

It took a few seconds for Narumi to regain her composure before she replied. "Well…sort of. I recognise some of the repeating patterns from page to page.

"…patterns?" Jin puzzled, "I didn't see any patterns."

"Here, let me show you."

Narumi proceeded to explain to him the reoccurring patterns that she saw. To Jin's surprise, he found that she was right! He hadn't noticed it at all. In fact, he barely even noticed even after she pointed it out.

"Narumi…" Jin said, "I think you have a gift for this thing."

Narumi looked taken aback, and then she grabbed one of her pigtails and twirled them around her fingers awkwardly. "Not really, this is just the basics book."

"Do you think I'm dumb Narumi?" Jin deadpanned.

"What?! No! You're the smartest person ever!" Narumi panicked.

Jin chucked. "That is very much a reach but I appreciate the compliment. Anyhow, Narumi, I couldn't understand a single thing even in the first few pages. I barely even got the basic ideas down. You on the other hand…"

At Jin's look of amazement, Narumi blushed. "It's nothing, at least compared to what mom's able to do…"

"Then why don't we ask her to teach you?" Jin pushed.

"She's busy and—"

"Let's go now!" Jin said, grabbing her hand once again and pulling her towards the door of her mother's office.

"Jin! Wait—" Narumi exclaimed.

"You'll never know if you don't try, Narumi," Jin said.

Before long, they were at the door. It seemed intimidating for some reason—a door that was not to be opened unless necessary.

Jin did not care.

He knocked on the door.

"Huh?" He heard a faint voice call out, croaky and tired, almost as if the person behind had just woken up from sleep.

"It's Narumi and her friend, Jin," Jin said, "May we come in?"

"Hm," grunted a reply.

Jin turned the door knob and with a creak, pushed the door open.

He saw that this room, too, was a dump. It was the one room Narumi told him not to clean up and he respectfully obeyed. Now, he wished he was more stubborn. The filth made his skin crawl.

"You are…" Kushina said, trying to remember his name.

"Jin, my name is Jin Takeshi, ma'am," Jin responded.

"Right…you're the one who's been cleaning up my house the past week or so," she stated.

"Two weeks, ma'am," Jin corrected.

"Ah, right. Time moves fast when you're having fun, hm?" she jested, though her tone was lifeless and dull.

Jin did not laugh at her joke.

"We came here to ask if you're able to teach Narumi some basic fuinjutsu," Jin said, showing her the book he found.

Narumi just stood there awkwardly, looking as if she wanted the world to swallow her whole.

Kushina read the title…and read for a long time. It seemed as if she was lost in thought…or in memory.

Jin realised that perhaps showing her something written by her dead husband was perhaps a tad insensitive but he moved on regardless.

"This is…" Kushina said, her eyes suddenly wide in recognition, "it was something…Minato…wrote in his spare time. It was a joke of a book, actually—far too hard for those who don't have basic fuinjutsu knowledge to understand."

Jin nodded. "Right? I couldn't understand a word! but Narumi here said she could find patterns in the fuinjutsu."

"Jin, stop it," Narumi said, batting his arm.

"I think you should teach her," Jin continued, not acknowledging Narumi's attempt.

Kushina stared once again at the book…for a long while.

Then she sighed, "Sorry…I'm too busy. I just don't have the time to teach you, Narumi."

Something within Jin chose at that moment to snap, "Then make time! Kami forbid, but at this rate, you're going to die without ever knowing your daughter."

"Jin!" Narumi said, panic in her eyes.

Yet, Kushina just stared…it was as if her violet eyes held no life behind them.

Jin met her stare with his own. He was irritated, angry at her for the state of the home and, moreover, the state of her own daughter. Why was she turning a blind eye to her daughter's hardships?

It was a minute before she spoke.

"Get out."

"…what?" Jin said, questioning whether he'd just heard correctly.

Then, as if showing life for the first time in his admittedly limited interaction with her, she stood up and vehemently said: "Leave my home! You're just an 8-year-old boy who knows nothing of my suffering! Get. Out."

Jin gritted his teeth in frustration, but he complied. He had no delusions that, even as worn out as Kushina was, she could crush him like a bug.

"Hai, ma'am. Thanks for your time." With that, Jin took Narumi's hand once more and left.

"I'm sorry about that," Narumi said.

Jin was turning to leave after the end of the evening. He'd made dinner for Narumi, though his skills were inferior to Sayuri's. Narumi helped too, and he found that she was almost even better than he was, despite stating that she only cooked ramen.

"It's not your fault," Jin said, "I just wish she'd at least…hear me out."

"I know…" Narumi agreed.

Jin sighed, "we can try again next time but I have to head back now. I'll see you at school tomorrow, yeah?"

Before Jin could leave, however, he was met once more with the bone-crushing hug that Narumi gave him all those months ago in his backyard. His ribs protested against her strength.

Jin hugged her back, with less enthusiasm. Not by choice, though, as he felt he was losing the strength in his arms the longer he was unable to breathe.

"N-Narumi, I c-can't breathe," Jin let out in gasps.

"Oh! Sorry!" Narumi said as she let go of him.

Jin took a minute to catch his breath. Then he chuckled. "That's some prodigious strength you have there. Maybe being the strongest ninja alive won't be so far away a goal as I'd initially thought."

Narumi blushed. "Just you wait, Jin-baka!"

Jin laughed once more and waved goodbye. "Bye, Narumi."

Narumi's response was far softer and more delicate than Jin ever expected from someone so usually brash. "Bye, Jin."

As so, Jin went home.

That night, Jin stared at the ceiling of his bedroom thinking of the interaction he had with Narumi's mother. He…pitied her…and against his initial anger and irritation at the consequences of her inaction affecting Narumi, he only wished he could do more to help her.

He thought to the being who brought him here.

If you're out there…please tell me what to do. I want—no—I need to help Kushina. Narumi's going to keep suffering without her.

That night, he dreamt.

And he awoke to a place so familiar yet so…incredibly different.