Chapter 14 - A Salty Dinner.

Pairing: Naruto x Uchiha Mikoto.

THIS WILL NOT BE A HAREM

A/N: Despite the current situation in the world, I hope all of you got to experience an amazing Christmas if you celebrate that. If you don't, well, hopefully, you had an amazing day anyway, ^_^.

Warning: The main character's age has been adjusted.

Konoha's Streets.

As nightfall seemed to fall upon the village, and the sun was nowhere to be seen in the sky anymore, Naruto was waltzing through the streets of Konoha with dirt and sweat covering the visible areas of his skin. His clothes were torn, and his expression was tired beyond belief as he sighed in annoyance, trying to make sure that the last bit of his cloak would stay together until he made it home so that he wouldn't have to drag it along instead.

Despite how annoying his damaged clothing was becoming, the thing that was irritating him, even more, was that he was starved. Despite what had been said earlier about going home early, Naruto had crossed his fingers behind his back. Ever since Hiruzen returned to the village, Naruto had taken it upon himself to get stronger. While he was more than happy with all the help he was getting, since being the Sandaime Hokage's apprentice was kind of a huge deal, he still felt that any extra effort would be good for him.

As he neared his favorite place to eat, he suddenly stopped in his tracks and looked down at his current state of both his clothing and hygiene with a very deadpanned expression. As if he would ever be allowed in while he looked like he had been run over by Gamabunta chasing after a drink.

While it was only a ramen stand, it still didn't mean he could just show up looking and smelling like yesterday's garbage. So with a sigh, he held up a half ram seal and shunshinned back to his house and landed on the front porch. He had to be quiet since it was probably around midnight at this point and people were, without doubt, asleep at this point. Because of course, he had completely lost track of time while he was training…. as usual.

When the thought repeated in his head, that it was indeed midnight, his entire body shivered as a familiar sense of fear rushed through him. Though this time, it was doubled. Because how many times had he gotten a verbal spanking because he was late or forgot about dinner? Way too many times to count at this point. And not only did he forget this time, but there was not only one mother in the house now, there were two of them. So with a nervous smile on his face, he gulped and started to mentally prepare himself for the verbal abuse he would face in the morning.

Scratching his cheek briefly as he decided that the front door probably wasn't the best idea, Naruto snuck around the house until he was right below his bedroom window. He hadn't been in that room for a few years now, and he still had to put his furniture in place, and that wouldn't be loud at all... With a defeated look, he walked up the wall, using his chakra to stick to the wall's surface. Placing a hand on the window, he pushed it open and snuck inside his old room.

The first words that came to his mind when he looked it over for the first time in years were, "It's smaller than I remember." That wasn't the case, in fact, the only thing that had changed for him to view it this way was that he had gotten bigger. He had grown up since the last time he had stood in this room. As he looked the place over on repeat, short sweet memories started to play in his head.

How his mom had sat on his bedside when he couldn't sleep, stroking his hair gently while telling him a bedtime story. Her warm gentle eyes only having him in their focus, and that mesmerizing motherly smile that only she could ever give him. It made him smile sadly, he had missed her so much, but being here made the feeling so much more intense.

Another precious memory of this room was how he had worked on homework from the academy as he sat at the desk in the corner, which was, along with the chair, far too small by now. And how his father had sat beside him on a chair from the dining room, helping him with the stuff that he wasn't exceptionally good at. No matter how bad his mood got, his father had always been patient with him. Explaining it as many times as he had to until he had fully understood it.

Shaking his head clear of the memories he was reliving, he walked over and flicked the light on in the room. He could stand there reliving his past all night, which he frankly didn't have time for. No matter how much he would like to go back to a time where things were simpler, and everything was still intact.

The light flickered a few times before it lit up the room, and without looking he placed a hand on the door and applied a silencing seal to the room. It was one of the more practical seals he had learned, which was seemingly becoming quite useful.

Turning his head toward the other end of the room, he waltzed over and opened the empty closet that too was becoming a bit too lacking. Seemed like he had to get some new furniture for this place unless he wanted to keep living within his apartment instead. He hadn't fully decided where he wanted to live. While he wanted to be around the family he had, he also didn't want to burden people. Like today, he doubted there would be many days he'd actually be home in time for dinner. Much less breakfast. And at lunchtime he would probably be out on a mission, doing work in the village, or training.

On the other hand, if he even dared to mention that he wouldn't live there, then he would probably get castrated. Rephrasing that, he would get castrated. And that would be the light punishment without a doubt in the world.

With a deep sigh, he figured… best idea would be to stay in the house. It would feel more like a home here too. And with that thought, Naruto felt the last few threads of his cloak giving up on him, letting the cloth fall down to the ground as he sweatdropped with a deadpanned expression.

Without a second thought, he threw the filthy torn cloak, or what was remaining of it, into the trashcan and prepared himself for a shower. With how much he smelled at the moment, he wouldn't even need to make noise to wake up the house. So, with a fresh set of clothes and a towel under his arm he snuck into the bathroom that was luckily placed right in front of his own bedroom door.

Applying another, momentarily, silencing seal to the bathroom Naruto stripped out of his dirty clothes and stepped into the shower, letting the hot water and soap rinse his body from dried blood, dirt, and whatnot, as he started going over what he had learned during the day. It wasn't that he had learned a ton, more like he had practiced the basics more, and getting more into mastering what he already had.

As Hiruzen stood over Naruto who was panting harshly on the ground with sweat dripping from his forehead, the older man extended a hand down to help his new apprentice up. Naruto gladly accepted it and came back onto his feet as he dusted his cloak off for what felt like the hundredth time this training session, but immediately frowned as one of his fingers went through a newly torn hole in the fabric.

"Being your apprentice is going to be a lot more expensive than I thought, a few hours in and I'm already in need of a new cloak…" The blond commented dryly as he used the back of his hand to wipe the sweat off of his forehead.

Hiruzen snorted followed by a click of his tongue as he patted the blond's shoulder, "I doubt it will be that bad, I'm sure Mikoto-san or Akari-san will be more than happy to sew it back together."

Naruto sweatdropped as he scratched his cheek, "If there will be anything left to sew together maybe." Hiruzen almost choked on his spit at that comment, maybe he was going a bit too much at training his blond apprentice. No, not possible, if anything he was taking it too lightly. He would have to step it up a notch at some point.

"Now, now, don't look so glum. If anything does indeed get too damaged beyond repair, be it your clothes or your bones, I'll make sure to pay either bill that may come." Hiruzen joked, but Naruto had a few sure gut feeling that was saying, that both would probably become a reality sooner than later. No wonder Ero-sennin had become so strong, Hiruzen must have been grinding him into the dust like he was right now.

With a shake of his head, Naruto cracked his neck and knuckles, preparing himself for either the next round of sparing or a potential new lesson, "So what's next? Are we learning something new soon, or are you just going to keep bullying me?"

Tilting his head slightly to the side, Hiruzen let out a loud laugh, "Well, you have to understand something Naruto. I'm sure you already have a good idea about this, but just to be sure I'm going to say it. In order to become a strong and dependant Shinobi, you need to have a good solid foundation. Master the basics, and what you already know, and you'll be able to succeed in most situations. It's better to have complete control and understanding of what you know, compared to learning tons of techniques with no clue of how to successfully utilize them in combat."

For some reason, Naruto felt the need to think about Kakashi after that lesson. "Alright, well, I mostly use lightning jutsu and I'm getting more familiar with a sword. I've even tried mixing them a few times since my sword is made out of chakra conductive metal that has an easier time absorbing the charka I feed it."

Hiruzen nodded approvingly, "Two things are quite good for a start, well, make it three if you also count mixing them together. Not that it matters, it gives us enough to work with without making it boring. Go get your sword, let me see the stances and katas you've been using."

Without objecting Naruto stretched his back, and gathered his sheathed sword. Strapping the scabbard onto his waist where it was usually placed when he was wearing stuff as a cloak, Naruto moved one hand up to firmly grasp the hilt and placed a thumb under the crossguard to help push the blade up. With a light pull of the hilt, the ringing noise of the metal scraping against the scabbards insides wincing in the air as he freed the blade and started to go through his respective stances and katas.

The old Hokage watched intensely as Naruto went through his swing, slash, stab, and the following. Each move carefully inspected, checking his attacks and defensives for flaws as he started mentally noting down what he saw. As Naruto had repeated the process a couple of times, Hiruzen moved his palm up to stop him. "As far as I know, you are self-taught?"

Naruto stopped moving and sheathed his sword with a nod of his head, "Yes, well, mostly I am. Genma-sensei had a few pointers since he used to wield a tanto, but the stuff regarding a tanto is a bit different compared to a katana but it still helped. Mostly I've been reading books and scrolls, and sparred a couple of times with my former teammate Yugao."

Nodding his head, Hiruzen cupped his chin and spoke, "It's quite impressive so far, though it's easily see-through. While all of your self-taught progress is beyond impressive, you lack an overall style to fully dedicate yourself to the use of a sword. With these moves, you mostly just show that you have a sword because it has a dependable length compared to a kunai. So you got to ask yourself, are you going to master your sword, or completely discard using it. Because wielding a blade with no intention of actually mastering it, is worse than having no sword."

"Of course I want to master it, it's just hard when no one can actually teach it to me. ANBU did give me pointers, but since I wasn't a complete idiot they didn't spend too much of their time trying to make me better." Naruto groaned slightly. ANBU was great, it had given him a lot of possibilities and the biggest paycheck he had ever gotten before in his career, but while they were not expected to teach them that much, it still annoyed him slightly that they didn't at least go further than they did.

"Good, that gives me something to work with. The best thing a Shinobi can have is not a thousand jutsu, sorry Kakashi, but resolve and determination…. Or, what we like to call it. The will of fire. So try and go through your stances again, since you say that you like to use your kenjutsu mixed up with your ninjutsu then infuse your blade with lightning chakra as you go through them. After that, I'll try and see if I can find a comfortable style for you. If not, we can always work on a style that isn't just brawling like your current one."

And with that said, Naruto went back to doing his katas once again. Swinging the lightning enhanced blade around in the air, the crackling electricity running up and down the edge of his sword as he moved through the katas, each stance feeling a bit more difficult to perform as he had to maintain the constant correct flow of chakra.

Hiruzen had to stand and admire how Naruto's sword looked like a sparkling blue windmill as it moved through the air, nin-kenjutsu just as deadly as it was beautiful to look at. Maybe they could even come up with some actual sword techniques that released new techniques or used what ninjutsu he already knew. An extended blade of lightning, or throwing a lightning bolt from the tip of the blade. The possibilities were endless.

The only thing he had to realize was that the common katana you could get at ANBU, which Naruto was currently wielding, was looking a bit worse for wear and the blade seemed to be duller than it should. Which of course was the effect of a sword that had been used much, but maybe just perhaps he could find a better solution for Naruto. Could also be a good gift, a good luck present perhaps as they went on this new apprenticeship journey.

And that had been how most of his evening had been spent, along with part of the night considering that it was quite late at the moment. As he finally got into a fresh set of clothes, Naruto felt way better and more relaxed compared to when he had originally snuck into his house. Quite ironic that he had to sneak into his own home, but oh well, what he didn't do to stay alive.

Removing the silencing seal from the bathroom, Naruto exited through the door and found himself in the hallway when his stomach decided to backstab him by growling so loudly that even the Kyuubi tucked away into the seal would have woken up. Yeah, maybe it hadn't been the best idea ever to train without getting any kind of food throughout the day except lunch.

Speaking of lunch, perhaps he could be lucky that there were still some leftovers from earlier in the fridge. If there wasn't, he'd just have to go visit his favorite ramen stand. "What a tragedy that would be." He whispered to himself, the sarcasm dripping from his tone of speech.

So with those two options in mind, he snuck down the stairs to the most classic Shinobi way. By tiptoeing each step going down, flinching at every creak of the wood before he finally entered the kitchen, wiping some sweat off his forehead, mentally wondering when he had become so nervous he started sweating.

It wasn't like he had committed a crime he had to sneak away from. Well, maybe according to the others living in the house. Karin had after all been quite loud about how it had been his turn to do the dishes. When had that become a thing anyway?

Dismissing his trail of thoughts, Naruto snuck up to the fridge and opened it, momentarily flinching as the bright light exploded into his eyes. Tilting his head in between the shelves, he started moving stuff around, unable to find his target. The lunch from earlier.

"Where have you been?" The sudden sentence caught the blond off guard so he slammed his head up into one of the shelves and stumbled back from the fridge, rubbing the back of his head as he turned his head toward the kitchen table where a very serious looking ravenette sat with an icy look in her eyes.

When had she gotten here?

Cold sweat started running down his body as he smiled nervously, "Uh.. I've been out training…?" He answered insecurely as the frown on the woman's lips seemed to grow wider, her expression lowering toward the table surface.

As there didn't seem to be a reply from her, Naruto looked a bit around the room trying to change the subject somehow. His eyes gazed toward the sink, where he could only spot three plates within. Akari had no reason not to eat, and with two mothers in the house, there was no doubt either that Karin and Sasuke had gotten dinner as well.

Naruto moved his head up and looked at the woman whose gaze too was directed at him, his azure eyes locked with her deep onyx ones. "You haven't eaten yet?"

"I didn't want you to eat alone... and since you decided to come back so late, I had to wait for you to come back.." Was Mikoto's response, her arms moving up to cross over her chest as she frowned a bit more. This boy never really did take a break, did he?.

Naruto started feeling guilty at that and frowned a bit to himself, checking his pockets real quick for his wallet before he ran over and took a gentle hold of her wrist and started to drag her with him toward the hallway, "You, me, ramen stand, now." He ordered as Mikoto tried not to stumble over her feet as the overly energetic blond dragged her away. How the hell did he have so much energy at this time?

"W-Wait Naruto! It's so late, I could just cook something up here!" She tried to reason, but Naruto had already stepped into his sandals and opened the door, a new cloak that had appeared out of nowhere around his form as he stepped impatiently in place.

The blond got a grin on his face as he shook his head, "Nope! It's indeed late, and you have without a doubt had a long day. So to make it up to you, for being so late, I'm going to treat you to ramen! It's not only the tastiest food around, but it will be on me."

Mikoto sighed as she realized there was no reason to argue with him, Naruto had after all the same amount of stubbornness as Kushina once had, if not more than her. The blond had made up his mind, and whether she liked it or not he was going to treat her to food.

But even as she was forced to comply with the blond, she couldn't help but smile a little. Naruto would always be Naruto, no matter how dark the days had been, her enthusiastic blond moron always managed to make her crack a smile,"...Fine." She gave up.

And just as she had gotten into her sandals too, Naruto had once wrapped his hand around hers and dragged her out of the house. Using his foot to kick the door shut, completely forgetting for a moment that there were still people sleeping inside, but when Naruto's mind was set on ramen, not even a hurricane could bother him.

Mikoto couldn't help but let out a couple of loose giggles as she got into a jog to keep up with the blond and to make sure he didn't pull her arm off in his conquest for a bowl of ramen. Before long they were already arrived outside of the ramen stand that still had open, it truly made her wonder how they had the time to keep the stand open for so long almost every day of the week.

Naruto led Mikoto in through the flaps hanging down at the entrance and gave an excited wave to the old man that was standing behind the desk, "Teuchi-ojisan! It's nice to see you again." Naruto greeted with a smile.

The older man turned around from the stove and raised a hand to greet the energetic blond Uzumaki, "Naruto, it's been far too long without our favorite customer. How have you been? Seems like you brought a lady friend this time."

As Naruto heard that comment he looked down to notice he was still holding onto Mikoto's hand, before letting go carefully with pink cheeks, the older woman, too, blinked with a bit of a flustered face. "Could be better, but nothing makes a better mood than a couple of bowls of warm tasty ramen."

The two took a seat at the counter and Naruto didn't have to look up at the menu before putting up three fingers, "You know the routine, three bowls of miso ramen with extra pork. What do you want, Mikoto-obasan?"

Mikoto couldn't help but laugh that sweet laughter that Naruto had come to know, "That's a lot of food, but you haven't eaten today so I'm not surprised. Well, if these miso ramens are so good then let me get one of those too."

Naruto smirked slightly and held up two fingers, "Make that two for her, she hasn't eaten either."

The woman pouted and gave him a smack on the arm, "Naruto, I couldn't possibly eat that much, plus it will be too expensive for you to pay alone."

The blond shook his head and gestured to Teuchi to just continue cooking the ramen, "Yeah yeah, and the moon is a block of square-shaped cheese, you haven't eaten today either Obasan! Don't worry about me, please, it's okay."

She still couldn't help but frown at him, but it made her heart feel warmer as he just looked with that pleading gaze, the look in his eyes showing that he just wanted to help. "Fine, but I'm making it up to you…"

Naruto groaned at that, "You have already done everything for me, you took care of me when I had no one left. Don't think about such things, I couldn't ever repay what you did for me anyway…"

"What nonsense is that? Being around you is reward enough, even if you don't believe it Naruto, you are a wonderful person." The older woman reassured as she reached over to squeeze his hand, trying to bring some sense of comfort over him.

He couldn't help but feel a warmth surfacing as he returned the squeeze slightly, and just then the food was served and placed before them, "There you go! Seconds on the way, along with your third one, Naruto."

That seemed to lighten the mood, as the two reached over to grasp a pair of chopsticks each and pulled them apart, with an audible "Thanks for the food." Said in unison, the two started to dig into their food, slurping the tasteful noodles with great vigor. Or well, Naruto with great vigor. Mikoto on the other hand was actually enjoying her food, compared to her blond counterpart that seemed to be inhaling it.

After finishing a mouthful of food, Mikoto leaned over to bonk Naruto on the head with a slightly annoyed expression on her face, "Slow down, you are going to choke on your food."

Naruto who had his entire face stuffed with ramen at that point almost choked on the food as he blushed with embarrassment, swallowing what he had in his mouth as he smiled nervously, "I-I'm sorry?"

She shook her head and patted the place she had bonked him a bit awkwardly, "It's okay, just… relax a little bit. Not only with the food, but in general please."

Naruto looked up a bit confused with that, lowering his chopsticks as he tilted his head a bit confused, "What do you mean?"

Mikoto sighed tiredly at that and placed her chopsticks in her bowl, lowering her hands into her lap, "You never take a break, ever. I mean it every time I say it, please take a break and stay home just once in a while. You are always working, either on some kind of high-rank mission or training till you collapse. Can… Could you please, just sometimes take an easier mission? Spend some time at home? I miss- I mean, we miss you. Sasuke, Karin, Akari, and I all miss you."

After that confession, Naruto almost dropped his chopsticks but placed them down as he ran his fingers through his hair. If he didn't feel guilty before, he sure as hell did now. "I'm sorry, I didn't know that it hurt you… I just want to do something useful, y'know?"

Leaning a bit toward his side, Mikoto wrapped him up in a comforting hug that caught him off guard at first, "You are useful just being you, you have one of the most important roles. You are the brother figure of not one, but two, they need you even more than the rest of us. Having an older sibling to hang out with and lean against in difficult times, were something I always wanted when I grew up."

"I suppose… I'll try my best to be more around. I promise." The blond eventually answered after a bit of thinking, perhaps what she said was true, but he was a Shinobi. He did have duties, especially since he was the one responsible for jobs regarding seals within the village when Jiraiya wasn't around.

Mikoto smiled at that and gave him another tight squeeze, which Naruto happily returned before they went back to eating their respective meals. As soon as they were finished, Naruto paid for the food while Teuchi seemed to have ryō signs in his eyes as the blond laid the money on the counter, making him sweatdrop a bit.

Soon they could be seen walking side by side home throughout the village, the chilly night air rushing through their clothes while they made their way through the abandoned streets of Konoha. It was indeed an odd sight that Naruto would never come to truly get used to. Konoha was always full of life, but at night everything was so deserted.

"You just had to pull me with you, before I could grab a jacket?" Mikoto seemed to complain as she rubbed her palms against her bare arms, a small yet significant glare at the corner of her eyes staring right up at him.

The blond seemed to start sweating, despite the cold temperature, as he snapped his fingers, "Sorry about that…" He mumbled with an embarrassed look, but then as if a light was turned on in his head he unclasped his cloak from his neck and with a swift move swung it over her shoulders. "Will this help?"

The ravenette accepted the cloak hesitantly but seemed to forget all about perhaps refusing it when the warmth of the cloak seemed to wash over her. "How in the world do you manage to stay so warm? I'm freezing but butt off here..." She sighed pleasantly as the body heat hanging in the cloak warmed her up, hugging the cloak to her from the inside.

Naruto blushed a bit as he scratched his cheek, "Not sure, maybe the oversized furball in my gut serves well as a radiator? If you are cold, I could always shunshin us home." He joked, and seemed to be satisfied with his effort at being humorous when he heard the lighthearted laughter from Mikoto who looked to be drowning in the oversized cloak.

Mikoto shook her head in negative, a somewhat sadistic smile on her lips as she responded, "It's nice to take a walk away from prying eyes, plus you've got to suffer a little bit of cold as well."

Naruto sweatdropped with a hand running through his golden locks, "You do remember what I just said a moment ago that the furball is basically a radiator? I doubt I can get cold enough to actually freeze."

Mikoto shrugged from beneath the large cloak and whispered to herself, "A girl can dream Naruto-kun, a girl can dream. And, despite how cold it is, it isn't often that I got to take a relaxing night stroll with some good company."

Even if it wasn't any of his business, Naruto couldn't help but feel like there was more to what she was saying. He almost wanted to ask if she never had walked like this with Fugaku in the past, but seeing as the man just died, he thought that perhaps just this once he would use his head and keep his trap shut.

To avoid a possible awkward silence, Naruto just smiled and dug his hands into his pockets, "Oddly enough, I always liked the cold. Always had a soft spot for winter times, nothing like watching the village from atop of the Hokage faces while the snow is falling down over the place."

She smiled up to him with a nod of her head, "I hear you, though I don't enjoy walking around in it that much. I, however, always loved drinking tea or hot chocolate while watching from the inside!"

It really made him happy that she was still able to smile after everything she had experienced. He didn't know if she knew that Naruto had been told the truth by Itachi, he doubted it though. He wouldn't tell her at the moment, she had enough on her mind as it was already.

Even with that smile on her face, he knew better than anyone that she was probably more than likely putting on a brave face so people wouldn't be worried about her, or pity her. At least she was still smiling truthfully at times like these, if anyone knew how to see past a fake smile then it was him.

All of this just meant that his effort to make her feel better was working. As a person that had lost so much family, his first priority would be to do everything in his power to help and comfort what he had left.

"Never been the biggest fan of hot chocolate, though I'm a huge fan of tea. Ugh, speaking of tea makes me thirsty." The blond Uzumaki pouted.

Mikoto giggled at the pout on her favorite blond's face and shook her head, "I can fix us a cup of tea when we get back, well… if you aren't planning on heading to bed?"

"Me? Going to bed with tea on the line? You gotta be delusional Obasan!" Naruto exclaimed with fake surprise with a hand on his chest, trying to overexaggerate as much as possible which in return earned him a kick to the shin.

"Stop being so loud, people are asleep!" She scolded while Naruto jumped on one leg with his palm rubbing the sore spot she had kicked him.

"Itai! Alright, alright, but I'm an Uzumaki. Being loud is definitely in my blood." He countered, making her shrug at him. No point in arguing, Kushina had been louder than the Haruno family.

When they finally made it to the door again, Naruto skipped ahead with a sheepish grin and opened the door for her. Which in return gave him a snort in return as she returned inside, stepping out of her sandals while keeping the cloak on to stay warm. "I'm keeping this." Was her only response as she disappeared into the kitchen to start preparing some tea.

'That was my last cloak…' Naruto sulked as he flipped the sandals off of his feet. Oh well, he was still getting some tea for it. Even though, some people would say that wasn't exactly a fair trade.

So that wraps up today's chapter. I apologize for the wait, as usual. I got a couple of questions, and a bit of information that I would like everyone, that's interested in the story, to hear. First of all, there will without a doubt be a bunch of people telling me that they are too close. Well, they say it like it's suddenly forbidden to be affectionate with family members. Aside from possible psychical attraction from Naruto's side, there isn't much romance to get yet. It will come, but later.

Questions of the chapter:

Would you guys like to see some Naruto in the hidden mist? Like, an arc where Naruto is helping the rebellion fight against Yagura. Some Kyuubi on Sanbi action. Maybe or maybe not rule 34?

I have an idea of possible outfits if you guys would like to give me your honest opinion on which you'd like. There is the Urahara Kisuke outfit from Bleach, along with maybe the Kuchiki captain design. So far my Naruto's outfit has been kind of up in the air, nothing specific about it. I will alter the outfit chosen, so it isn't a direct rip-off.

So, as you may or may not have realized, the chapters have a certain amount of delay, that may or may not be caused by a certain rito chip named legends of leagues. Do you guys have anything that you enjoy playing, recently? Like maybe the new cyberpunk 2077, or maybe hunt the impossible to find ps5?

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