I'm back! With another chapter! And I know it's small, but please go ease on me. I got a life outside of this too! Anyways. I am happy how much you all liked this story! And I hope you keep liking it as it progresses! I know that a major deviation has occurred with Ai being alive, but I honestly believe the story could work with even the canon version, with the revenge bit toned down a bit.

And to the one reviewer who said Ai was toxic. I disagree. I think Ai herself was a victim given the fact her mother was abusive and was even sent to prison to do time. We know for a fact that Ai didn't like people given her environment that she was raised in and its very much possible that she herself was manipulated by her killer considering who he was and what he does in the manga (I'm not gonna spoil it, but the man's a murderer, even after what he has done).

I do not believe Ai to be toxic, rather she doesn't understand the concept of love and what it is to be loved and to love. She does so in the manga right to the end when she realizes just how much she loved her children. The situation is kind of like Gaara. People around Gaara saw him as a monster, and when one of the only peoples that cared about hit tried to kill him, he embraced the nature of a monster. For the longest time he thought that he could prove his existence by killing his way to the top. Point being, being broken doesn't mean they are toxic.

Ai smiled sheepishly as she was being chastised by her manager, Ichigo Saitou, for being so careless as to not even see who was at the door.

"Honestly, you have to be more careful. What if that man wasn't there to subdue him? Then what?" Ichigo questioned, as Ai chuckled nervously.

"Well, um, he would have stabbed me…" She responded to which Ichigo nodded.

"And with no one here but the children you could have died…" Ichigo said as he leveled a stern gaze at her. He'd have to get better door security for the future.

"I understand…" Ai trailed off. The fact that someone would have wanted to kill her was baffling for her. Then there was the fact about how he knew about her children. Something wasn't right.

"And on another matter, someone else knows your secret, someone outside our circle." Ichigo stated as he glanced at his wife, Miyako Saitou, who nodded at him. The situation was very fragile. While very few would believe the words of a delusional fan that almost killed an up-and-coming Idol, the main question was what Ai's savior would do.

"Eh, I don't think Uzumaki-san would do anything." Ai chimed in as Ichigo shook his head.

"We don't know that. The fact is, there is very little we know about this Naruto Uzumaki." He countered as Ai raised an eyebrow at that.

"What do you mean?" She questioned him as her manager shook his head. Ai was far too innocent to understand what he was talking about.

"Listen, I looked into this Naruto figure. I used a lot of my connections within the industry and out to find out more about him, but they found nothing but the basics." Ichigo started as he pulled out a file. The two other occupants, plus the kids focused on him.

"And what did you found out?" Miyako questioned him as she took a seat, now curious too.

"Naruto Uzumaki, a 20-years old male, apparently he's an orphan, so no family to speak off. Apparently, his parents died on the day of his birth. He isn't part of the industry, so he's not an actor or anything. He has no occupation that is listed, other than freelancing and doing side gigs. And that's all I could find out." Ichigo listed off all the information he gathered, which wasn't much.

"Orphan huh." Miyako said as she glazed over to Ai. While Ai wasn't an orphan, her childhood wasn't all that glamorous that people assumed it to be. Ai for her part could only look down at the file that contained all the information.

"We also know that he lacks a right forearm. How that came to be is unknown. But think about it: his past, lack of a job, and lacking an arm? For all we know, he might be a former Yakuza member." Ichigo said grimly as everyone looked at him in surprise. That was an extreme assumption.

"I don't think so." Ai started causing Ichigo to frown.

"Like I said, we don't know his true intentions." He said, trying to reason with her. Was she not concerned about the situation at all?

"Then why don't we just go ask him ourselves?!" Ai shouted with a grin as she stood up and headed to the door. Ichigo almost fell at her suggestion.

"Idiot! Don't just go out like that!" He shouted at her as he followed after her. After what had just happened, no way was he going to let her out of his sight for a while. Miyako sighed as she looked at the two kids, Aqua and Ruby.

"Don't worry. I'm sure your mother won't get involved with the Yakuza. I'm not sure he even is Yakuza." She said with a chuckle as she went off to the kitchen. She might as well get some food, leaving the two kids on their own.

"You really think that man is Yakuza?" Ruby questioned her brother, who was deep in thought. He had almost witnessed Ai being stabbed.

"Well, it's definitely believable after everything we just heard. However, if he wanted to do anything against us, he would have after finding out, but nothing's happened so far. Nothing on social media or anything." Aqua reasoned as he crossed his arms. Truthfully, he was more concerned about how exactly that stalker found out about them? He was sure that his mother had covered her tracks, she even had three phones!

"Well, I'm just glad that he was there to save mama." Ruby muttered out with a sigh of relief. Yakuza or not that man saved Ai's life.

Naruto's Apartment:

"Just you average other day…" Naruto muttered out as he looked down at complex seal. To anyone else it would look like a masterful piece of art, but to Naruto it was another attempt, in a long line of failed attempts, to find a way back. He sighed as he picked up his brush and brushed all over the seal. It was another failure. He crumpled up the seal and tossed it aside.

"What am I doing…Do I even want to go back home?" Naruto thought dejectedly. Did they even want him back? The only reason they liked him was that he saved the village once, and even still he suspected many people harbored resentment against him. After all, he was the reason why Pain attacked the village anyways. But he had ignored them and simply basked in the glory.

"I have always wanted to be Hokage…but…that was always a lie…" He thought as he looked up at the ceiling, thinking about his childhood. He only wanted to do so that people would notice him, to know that he existed. He sighed as he shook his head. His current situation was depressing as is, no need to dig up the past.

"Well, I better finish up the next volume and delivery it the editor." He said with a yawn as he stood up to find the final draft of Icha Icha. He cringed internally as he had to edit the countless drafts that the old pervert had written that never saw the light of day. While Naruto was glad that he had a source of income, very good income at that, he was annoyed that it was via such perverted books.

"Now where was it?" He went through multiple drafts looking for it, however, he was brought out of his search when he heard the doorbell ring. Naruto raised an eyebrow, wondering who it was. More so considering that he had no friends in this world or any coworkers to hang out with. He cautiously approached his door as he slipped out a kunai from a seal on his left forearm. As a child he had many break-ins at his crappy apartments and after he began a Shinobi he learned how to deal with those situations.

"Uzumaki-san! It's me, your neighbor Ai Hoshino!" Naruto heard from the other side of the door. He released a sigh as he withdrew the kunai. The last thing he wanted to do was stab his neighbor who almost got stabbed. He opened the door to find Ai and another old man standing behind her to which he raised an eyebrow. The man was glaring daggers at him.

"Can I help you, Ai-san?" Naruto questioned her to which she smirked as practically made her way into his apartment.

"Well, I never really got to properly thank you for saving me! Oh! This is my manager, Ichigo Saitou." She introduced Ichigo as Naruto gave her a blank look.

"I didn't invite you in." Naruto said flatly. She simply waved him off as she walked deeper into his apartment. Naruto sighed as he turned to Ichigo.

"Is she always like this?" He questioned him, to which the man sighed too as well.

"Ai can be… very energetic at times…" The manager responded carefully as Naruto let him in.

"Your place is a mess, Uzumaki-san!" Ai complained as she looked around his apartment. Everything was all over the place, there was trash everywhere and a pile of papers littered all over a single desk.

"Ai! Don't be so rude!" Ichigo shouted at her. Didn't she realize that she was complaining about the man who had saved her from a stabbing and knew her secret?!

"Uh, no need Ichigo-san, if I may call you that." Naruto said casually, not bothered by the criticism. Growing up no-one ever taught him much and after being a Shinobi he was too busy with missions and then the war to tend to such trivial things.

"My apologies Uzumaki-san. Sometimes Ai just runs her mouth." Ichigo apologized profusely. If this man was really former Yakuza, then he could afford to piss him off.

"Please, call me Naruto. I'm not too big on the formalities. And no need for apologies. Nothing Ai-san said was incorrect." Naruto dismissed it with finality as he waved his left hand. Ichigo nodded at that as he now properly got a good look at the man. He was tall, most likely around 5'11" and he could tell that the young man worked out as well if all those muscles were an indicator. The biggest feature that struck him was the fact that one, he lacked a right hand and forearm, and two, he had three whisker marks on each side of his cheeks. His sun-kissed blond hair was kept untamed, causing two bangs to fall around each side of his face and his blue eyes were cold and calculating.

"Why do those eyes remind me of Ai?" The manager thought to himself. Ai might be cheerful and all, but he could tell that she kept along of facts a secret and her eyes to him told him just how lies she had wrapped herself around. After managing her for so long he had come to learn that fact about her. Now he was seeing something similar within this young man's eyes.

"Uh, Naruto-san. I wanted to personally thank you for your timely interference a couple of days ago. If it hadn't been for you, Ai might have been fatally wounded." Ichigo bowed deeply expressing his gratitude. Naruto simply sighed.

"It's fine. I did what anyone would have done." Naruto countered, knowing that all he did was stop a murder.

"That may be true, but you still saved my life. For that I am in you debt." Ai spoke up as she bowed too.

"It's fine. You don't need to thank me." Naruto stated as he waved his left hand before Ai gently grabbed the right sleeve of his shirt, where his right hand would have been.

"Still, you risked your life, despite your situation, to save mine. I never assumed that my life would be worth saving…" She trailed off as Naruto stopped at looked at her before he brought his left hand down onto her head. She was quite smaller than him.

"Idiot. Why wouldn't your life be worth saving? Don't you have kids to look out for? What would they do if you were dead?" Naruto reasoned with her as her eyes widened at that.

"B-But what if you had gotten hurt?" She questioned him to which he shrugged.

"I have been through worse." He responded as Ichigo stiffened. Was this man really a Yakuza?!

"You say that because you were once part of the Yakuza, no?" Ai questioned as Ichigo felt like his soul had just left his body. She wasn't subtle at all!

"It's a miracle she managed to hide her kids for this long…" He thought as he waited for some kind of outburst from Naruto, but none ever came. Instead, Naruto started chuckling before it turned into full blown laughter.

"Hahahaha! You think I was Yakuza?! Hahahaha! That's the best joke I've heard to date!" Naruto laughed as the two looked at him with a blank look. It seemed like they were way off target. Naruto calmed himself as he wiped the last of the tears.

"No, I'm not Yakuza. Although I can imagine why you would think that, but no, I am not." Naruto stated as Ichigo sighed, relieved at that knowledge.

"See manager-san! I told you he wasn't!" Ai smiled in triumph at the fact that she was correct.

"Yes, you were. I apologize once again Naruto-san, it's just that Ai's children are a secret from the public and media. We didn't know what you would do with that knowledge, and I assumed you were Yakuza with your looks and your history." Ichigo said, coming out truthfully. Naruto raised an eyebrow at that.

"Oh? You investigated my past?" Naruto questioned him, not like that man would have found anything. Anything that was official was planted by Naruto himself. He had fabricated a past, with some elements of the truth, to blend in.

"Yes, but you must understand. As Ai's manager, it is my responsibility to protect her from the public and the media." Ichigo said firmly as Naruto nodded at that. He could tell that the man cared deeply for Ai.

"I understand." Naruto said simply as Ai looked at him curiously.

"So, what will you do with the information that you have?" She questioned him, asking the question that was on Ichigo's mind as well. Naruto looked at her, staring right in her eyes and he could see just how serious she was when it came to her children.

"Nothing." Naruto responded as the two blinked at him.

"Nothing?" Ai questioned, to which Naruto nodded.

"I have nothing to gain and I not so petty go about doing such things. It's your secret to keep and I have no right in disclosing your secrets. It's yours to do as you wish." Naruto answered truthfully. On some levels he could relate to her, and he knew the effects of secrets and the power they held. Ai for her part searched his eyes, to find the lie, but she didn't. She smiled as she stepped back.

"Well, there's that situation handled! Now let me help clean your apartment!" She proclaimed, to which Naruto got a tick mark.

"Hey, wait a minute, I didn't agree to that!" Naruto shouted as she started to rummage through his work.

"Wow, Naruto-san! I never thought that you wrote books." Ai started causing Naruto to panic as he realized exactly what book she had picked up.

"H-H-Hey put that down!" Naruto tried to stop her as she opened the book and read some of it. Her face slowly became red as she quickly closed the book.

"I-I didn't realize you were into that kind of stuff Naruto-san." She said embarrassingly as held the book up to her face. Naruto felt like dying at that moment. He was not a pervert!

"I-It's not my book…" Naruto let out defeatedly, trying to defend whatever shred of dignity he had left. As the two engaged in their antics, Ichigo shook his head.

"No way this man is Yakuza." He thought as he looked at the blond man and then at Ai and smiled. Maybe some good will come out of this.

Well, that's a wrap! I'll come out with another chapter next week hopefully and I am all caught up with the manga, which seems like will end soon as the endgame approaches. I'll see you all later now!

Chapter edited: 6/9/2023.