Chapter 4 - A change of heart

"Gaah! Why is nobody coming?" Naruto yelled and let himself fall heavily with the head on his desk...only for him to disappear in a puff of smoke! It was a Shadow Clone.

An aggravated voice came from the upper floor:

"Kami, I swear my clones are 3 times more stupid than I am!" the original Naruto growled as he climbed down the stairs.

'Come to think of it, it was kinda risky to send just a clone at the first meeting with the Magic Council. Things could've gone really bad.'

He made another Shadow Clone and then turned around to go back upstairs.

"Heh. Very nice! You get to lay in bed and have wet dreams about that hot Magic Council chick while I stay here like a slave to greet the non-existent customers! Even if I'm just a clone, I also have rig-"

Whatever the clone wanted to say was cut off as it was forcefully dispelled, courtesy of a punch from the original body. He made another clone but, before he could even say a word, the clone dispelled itself instantly.

"Looks like I can't cheat my way out of this," he muttered to himself.

Shadow Clones were copies of himself. Just like he was bored to death and didn't want to stay at a desk and wait for the customers to arrive, his clones felt the same too. They were the same person after all. Thus, in the end, he had to stay there himself and do his job properly.

Following his discussion with the Magic Council, Naruto rented a house in Magnolia, in a rather central position. It was a two-storey house with a commercial place on the ground floor and the living quarters above, on the 2nd floor. On the front, there was a masterfully painted signboard. Written with black ink on an orange background were the words: "Odd Jobs Uzumaki" and several blue swirls were painted with Pict Magic which allowed them to move like whirlpools. It was a very eye-catching signboard and given that the building he had rented was located in a place where many people passed by every day, Naruto had expected the customers to flood in. However, they weren't. It was the 2nd day after the opening and nobody had come yet, not even out of curiosity. His disappointment was over 9000.

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A white-haired young girl could be seen coming out of her house with a serene smile on her face. She was humming a happy tune and there was a spring in her steps as she started to walk on the side of the alley. A hand-wrapped package was slowly swaying as she carried it in her hand.

Passing by a shop's shiny window, she stopped and turned to check out her appearance. Her long white hair was tied in a high pony-tail with a large dark red ribbon, she was a wearing a dark red sleeveless top with black leather shorts and a pair of black thigh-high boots with stiletto heels. A black choker and a black bracelet with demonic motifs on them completed her outfit - a dark, gothic outfit which greatly contrasted with the expression of innocent happiness on her face.

She nodded in satisfaction at herself and then started to walk again. Fishing out a small note from a pocket of her shorts, she muttered:

"If Reedus gave me the wrong address, I swear I'll freaking skin him alive!"

On the other side of Magnolia, said Pict Magic-user felt a terrible chill going down his spine when she said those words.

Mirajane continued to walk on her way, unaware of the three naughty children that were stealthily following her from behind.

"I-Is that Mirajane? The Demon?!" One of the three following her, a pink-haired boy, said not wanting to believe his eyes.

"Maybe it's Lisanna using Transformation Magic just to fool us. I've never seen Mirajane smiling like that." a half-naked boy said, having the same thoughts as Natsu.

"Quiet, you idiots, or she'll hear us!" a red-haired girl dressed in a black ninja attire shushed them out. It was a magical suit supposed to increase the user's stealth by 10%.

However, when they heard Mirajane threatening to skin Reedus alive if he gave her the wrong address all of their doubts vanished.

'Ok, that's Mirajane,' they all thought at the same time.

After a while, they saw her stop in front of a two-storey house with a bright orange signboard.

"Is this the place? This...this looks like one of those places where people get scammed!"

Mirajane may have been only 13 but she had not survived until her age with her siblings too, by herself, as orphans by being clueless. The signboard certainly looked suspicious. But she decided to go in. The dangerous smile that appeared on her face made it obvious that she was waiting for whoever was inside to just give her a reason to beat them to a pulp.

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Naruto was half asleep when he heard the bell above the door ringing as it was pushed open. He was just about to give the newcomer the custom greeting he had thought about beforehand but it was said newcomer that greeted him first:

"Naruto-san!"

Small, skinny, big blue eyes and long white hair. There was no way that he forgot the girl that just yesterday had jumped into his arms. He looked at her with an uncomfortable feeling bubbling within him but the girl seemed oblivious, too lost in her happiness at seeing him - and that only intensified that uncomfortable sensation he felt. His goal was to avoid forming bonds with others again. He didn't want to be betrayed again... but little Mirajane was making it very difficult for him to not like her. In his eyes, she was like an adorable little puppy - what's there not like at that?

"Yo, Mirajane!" he greeted back half-heartedly.

"Mou, Naruto-san, why did you run away yesterday from the guild? Do you perhaps hate me?"

Her big blue eyes became watery and she looked down while holding her hands behind her back.

'Damnit, now she looks like a kicked puppy!'

He scratched his cheek and said awkwardly:

"It's not that I hate you. I just don't like other people. You know why."

The girl came closer to him and left the wrapped package on his desk.

"But you said I'm not like other people... still, I understand what you mean," she said and nodded, despite that she looked like she was on the verge of shedding tears. "I cooked some food for you. I might not look like it but I love cooking... I hope that you will like it!"

One treacherous tear fell down her cheek but she quickly wiped it off.

"It's just -... just something in my eye. I'll... I'll go now!"

And with that, little Mirajane burst out of the shop running. When she came out, she saw Natsu, Grey and Erza just crossing the street to come closer and peek through the windows of Naruto's shop but she was too heartbroken to care about jeering at them. She just continued to run, tears falling down her cheeks freely now.

Naruto himself was left in an awful mood as well. No-one would feel great after making a young and honest girl cry.

'Why is she even so attached to me? I only said a few kind words to her back then when we met the first time in the forest.'

He honestly forgot about the fact that he basically saved three little children that got lost in the middle of a forest swarming with monsters and that he had given them enough money to live comfortably for a few months. Even more, Naruto did not immediately realize it, but those few kind words that he had said to Mirajane's have literally changed her life. By chance, his mind went back to a very similar scene from his childhood.

"You feel lonely and it hurts inside...and I could've been there for you more...I let you down, I'm sorry! No-one should have to suffer that much... no-one should be alone like that." a man with a large scar across his nose and cheeks said after just using his body to shield a young Naruto from a huge shuriken.

[...]

"Don't you get it? Naruto's just like me!" a white-haired man said mockingly. It was Mizuki.

"How is that?" Iruka asked.

"He wants the scroll for his own power and his own vengeance. That's how monsters are! He'll pour all his rage into the scroll and destroy everything!"

"That's right," Iruka seemed to agree "that is how monsters are... but that's not who Naruto is. He is nothing like that! Naruto is one-of-a-kind. He works hard, he puts his heart into it. Sure, he messes up sometimes and everyone jumps on him but his suffering only makes him stronger... that's what separates him from the monster fox. So you're wrong. He's nothing like the Nine-Tailed Fox. He is Naruto Uzumaki, of the Village Hidden in the Leaf!

It was Umino Iruka's words, the Academy teacher which Naruto used to dislike the most because he was always tough on him whenever he did something bad. However, those kind words that he said about him made young Naruto start viewing him with love and respect - almost like a father.

"I'm so stupid!" Naruto berated himself when he finally realized that Mirajane was exactly like he had been as a child when he was her age. Their situations were so similar to the point where it was eerie.

Standing up from his seat, he quickly left his shop without even locking the door and started running after her.

"Damnit, she's just like how I used to be! How did I not see it?!"

Many times he wished as a child that someone would take just a few minutes out of their day to speak with or at least smile at him. Only he knew how he had wished for someone to hug him when he felt down or say a word of encouragement.

'Very nice... form a bond with her... get attached... and then she will betray you... just like everyone else!' a voice said in his mind.

But Naruto shook his head.

"Even so, I will...!"

He understood that there was the possibility that someday Mirajane could turn on him too like his former friends and comrades had done but he just couldn't stay indifferent to her tears. Mirajane reminded him of his younger self too much, to the point where it hurt him to see her crying.

'I will be for her the person I wished to be there for me as a child!'

Even if it meant risking being betrayed and forgotten again, he couldn't ignore her tears. He wanted to become for her what Umino Iruka had been for him.

He jumped on the roof of a nearby house and then started to move like a shinobi like he used to do it in Konoha. Closing his eyes for a moment, he immediately focused on the sole signature of demonic energy in Magnolia besides him: Mirajane. With his mind firmly locked on her location, he started running atop the roofs at a very high speed. With his superior speed, it did not take long for him to catch up and when he did, he suddenly shunshined in front of her. Mirajane did not have enough time to dodge and ended up slamming face-first into his chest. Two powerful arms wrapped around her small body and before she could retaliate thinking that some stranger was randomly hugging her, she heard his voice:

"You were right, you're not like the others. I'm sorry, Mira-chan!"

The girl became still. But then, she sniffed and embraced him too in return.

It took Iruka just telling Mizuki that he was not a demon for Naruto to start looking up at him almost like at a father. It took Naruto only telling Mirajane that she was not a demon for her to start loving him like the big brother she had never had.

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That evening, sleep seemed to elude Naruto. He couldn't stop thinking about that day's events. He wasn't sure he was ready to trust other people again. Not by far.

'But she's just like me when I was younger. She won't betray me! I know she won't... I hope she won't...'

Naruto understood that his budding friendship with Mirajane could prove in time to be the most beautiful thing he had experienced in his life. The two of them were similar in so many ways and they could understand what the other was feeling like no-one else. However, the higher the expectations, the worse could the disappointment become too. She could also become the drop that spilt the entire glass and made him lose it completely.

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A few days later, somewhere in the mountains in the north of the Kingdom of Fiore, a few miles away from Hakobe peak, a bizarre scene could be seen: four blonde-haired young men were carrying on their shoulders an enormous black metallic box. The box was cubic, with the length, width and height of at least 24 feet and on each of its lateral sides, there was a huge demonic face protruding.

"Alright guys, stop there!" another blonde man said and the other four stopped. It was Naruto, the original body.

The ground shook when the shadow clones let the Box of Ultimate Bliss fall to the ground. Its weight was ridiculous. In front of them, there was a huge chasm. It was bottomless. With a short grunt of exertion, Naruto personally lifted the enormous Box alone and threw it down into the chasm. It took nearly half a minute for it to reach the bottom but when it did, the force of the collision made the 2 mountains bordering the chasm quake like it was the end of the world.

However, Naruto was still not satisfied. A great magic power burst from his body and the muscles all over his body bulged to unsightly proportions, the veins on his arms, and neck appearing almost like small snakes. A savage battle cry escaped from his throat and the smaller rocks in vicinity cracked from its power alone. Then, with all the strength he was capable of, he punched the ground explosively!

A terrible shockwave cleared the whole sky of clouds for miles and the earthquake that ensued was felt even in Clover Town... with one punch he had levelled two mountains! It was the most destructive punch he had ever thrown, one that deprived him of his entire magic and strength. He had done his utmost to bury the Box of Ultimate Bliss under two whole mountains!

'The Box is indestructible.'

Ever since he took over Satori's soul and regained the control over his body, Naruto had tried multiple times to destroy the Box.

Since magic was a combination of nature's energy with the spiritual energy coming from one's soul, ever since Naruto awoke in this world, it was as though his body was continuously in the Sage Mode. The ethernano was being continuously absorbed by his body, passively increasing his already enormous physical strength and durability/endurance. His body was slowly but steadily approaching that of the legendary 3rd Raikage who could beat into submission the Eight-Tailed Beast with his body alone.

That said, he had tried to destroy the Box with his might for weeks; mountain-shattering punches, house-sized Oodama Rasengan, gigantic Rasenshurikens and even Evil Explosions which discharged all of his magic power into one beam or destruction while he was in his Satan Soul form... but nothing worked! He couldn't even scratch or dent the Box - it was virtually indestructible. The only way to keep it away from other people was to bury it in the depths of the Earth itself.

'Nobody has to ever find it again.'

The power of the Box transcended the laws of reality. In Elemental Nations the Box of Ultimate Bliss was also known as the Box of Paradise. It was said that it could make any wish come true. Before the emergence of the Sage of the Six Paths, the Land of Grass had even managed to conquer the whole world using the power of the Box.

And Naruto knew better than to dismiss those rumours as just rumours because the day he had died was as fresh in his memory as though it happened yesterday - he had been scared, terrified and most of all, unwilling. Unwilling to die before he reached his dream, unwilling to accept that after such a difficult life when things had finally beginning to look good for him too, he was betrayed and killed. The moment he was thrown into the Box of Paradise, there was only one thought in his mind:

"I wish I had a different life..."

And the Box of Ultimate Bliss fulfilled his wish, though in a twisted way. He did gain a different life, indeed, but under the control of a demon - Satori's control.

However, what was a curse in his past life - his status a jinchuuriki - proved to be the very thing that saved him in his current one. Naruto had plenty of experience in dealing with someone trying to take over his body and mind. And Satori was nothing but a puppet of the Box; it didn't have a will of its own. Satori's power over Naruto's consciousness was nothing like the influence that Kyuubi's rage and hatred had even despite the formidable seal holding it at bay.

It was because he used to be the jinchuuriki of the strongest tailed beast in his past life that he managed to wrestle control over his body from Satori. And once he managed to learn the Take Over magic, he subdued Satori for eternity. He took over its soul.