MERRY CHRISTMAS PEOPLE!

CUBICREATES THE SANTA IS HERE!

WITH A PRESENT IN THE FORM OF A NEW CHAPTER! - CAN I BE YOUR GRANDSON?

BTW

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In The Sea

It was dark and the Tides were high when Naruto suddenly woke up. There were storms clouds and thunder woke him up. He went to the deck to see tides that were at an all-time high, on that rocking boat went Naruto tried to see far away but thick mists were covering it, "Shit! Can't see anything, Kyuubi a little help!"

"Brat, the mist has no chakra in it, but there is a layer of chakra after it," Kyuubi said, Naruto hummed and sighed in relief knowing that, they were not in Kiri's territory. Then the layer of chakra intrigued him but he decided to file it for later. Right now he was trying to stabilize his boat in these dangerous tides, the boat rocking was not helping him, sticking his chakra to the surface he started packing, and put everything in the seal that was on his chest, which was waterproof in the case of a shipwreck he could always run on water.

"Okay, this is getting worse!" He exclaimed in frustration as the boat started drifting wildly while he failed to steer it. Suddenly the boat was pushed towards the mist while he was trying to steer it out of the mist but was failing miserably. "Come on! Come on!" He shouted trying to steer it but failing at it miserably then suddenly lighting stroked at the water near the boat which was already damaged due to the waves so the lightning was a cherry on top. "That was very close to my liking!"

As the roaring waves carried the boat he saw something that almost looked like a ship, a big ship that was made of Iron! "Hey um, buddy you seeing that?" Naruto said to the fox. "Yes, certainly it is weird, never seen a metal ship! in my life!" The Kyuubi exclaimed. Naruto was a bit surprised by that statement as he thought the fox would surely know about these kinds of ships since he lived for so long. Then suddenly he saw the huge ship ride a massive wave towards them, and as it rose to the highest point it exploded. Naruto was frozen at the spot because of the explosion and did not see a huge shadow over him and was too late when he heard, "Brat look above! Watch out!"

At the 'Metal ship'

Mearsyr was a cargo ship that left the Surat port days ago, bringing some cargo to Japan, usually, they took the route of the South China Sea but due to border tensions, they had to choose the long route. From the Panama strait, a route that most sailors said was cursed during the rainy season and it being early August the season was there but still they thought it to be a legend and carried on their journey. On the journey, they did feel the air change a lot of time. Sometimes it was as hot as the wind blowing in the desert or sometimes as cold as it is in a snowstorm but did not seem to mind it since they thought it was due to the oceanic currents, so, they continued their voyages not heeding to the legends.

Legends are often stories that are passed down from generation to generation as stories to be told to their children as a type of bedtime story, but if one takes a closer look at them one can find that in every moral in any legend, there is a warning or teaching in there, so when they left without heeding the warning of elders and thought it was going to be ok, they were being the biggest idiots one could find. Oh well, money does blind people (anyway back to the plot!).

They started their journey from Surat, their route was from Surat to Maldives then to Indonesia then touching Australia they reached Japan, as they set course one thing they did notice was there was an extra engineer on board but thought nothing of it, as they say 'the more, the merrier' so they let him in, not knowing they were letting someone in that would tow with their lives and kill them.

As the pit stop at Maldives came to an end, the beginning of the end for Mearsyr started. Once they left the Indian peninsula and crossed the Lankan waters to the international waters of the Indian Ocean, the waves started to increase in length and intensity and the ship started swinging and oscillating. Then they entered a misty area where their visual range dropped to zero, the only thing they could see was the dense mist. Then as to mess with them lightning raining down on them.

Then cherry on top the crew heard several gunshots, some of the crew on the deck went to check the sound, and this time shots were fired from both sides. As it turns out the extra engineer they had on the deck was a terrorist trying to cause a war between India and Pakistan by posing as an ISI agent (which the crew did not know and thought Pakistanis were attacking them). As the firing continued the crew lost all control over their ship and let the waves carry the ship. As the ship reached a high point of a wave, two sudden bomb blasts made sure that all the crew were dead and the whole ship was destroyed.

With Naruto

"Brat look above! Watch Out!" Kyuubi warned him, but the warning came in too little too late as the first metal piece hit Naruto's head and pierced his left shoulder blade. While the adrenaline was flowing he dodged the second metal shard which pierced his boat destroying it in the process he lost consciousness of what was happening and then suddenly and piece hit him sideways and punted him out of the mist also experiencing that his body might have passed through a barrier and then floated in the endless water of Indian Ocean as the Kyuubi starts healing the wounds while clotting the blood and keeping them afloat.

In Devanagari

The deity of destruction was moving down the roads of Devanagari acknowledging the Apsaras that were there and moving towards one certain location, it was the temple of the god of water and seas Varun.

"Varun I need your assistance with something," Shiva said

"Lord Shiva, a pleasure, How may I help you?" Varun asked.

"Do you know about the ship that got destroyed today?"

"Ah! The cargo ship."

"Yes."

"I knew about it, but the poor ship had to poke its nose somewhere not required and paid the price for it."

"Yes, but there is another thing due to that ship wreckage there is a person of the moving continent that has escaped its barriers."

"So what do you need my lord? Drown him?"

"No guide the child towards to shores of the beach of Digha in West Bengal."

"At once, my lord."

"Fine."

As soon as Shiva left Varun searched for the boy and looked at him, the boy had blonde hair and was covered in blood so he raised the water speed such that the boy could reach the land in 5 minutes.

"You did not ask any question to lord Shiva about his motives towards the child. Why?" asked a female voice behind Varun.

"Sometimes I don't get his motives myself, Gauri," Varun said looking at his wife.

"Then why assist him?" She asked again

"I don't doubt him at all. All the mortal champions he or lord Vishnu and Lord Brahma have chosen till this date have only helped us and the mortals"

"Ravana"

"Exceptions are always there my dear."

"Hope this child is not one of them."

"You know it too we cannot write anyone's destiny. It is only their's to create. All we can do is hope for the best."

"Yes, dear." She said as she looked at Naruto drifting in the water.

At Digha Beach

Dhriti might be a lot of things but athletic at her age was not one of them, as she reached the shores of Digha, she waited there thinking that some kind of boat would come with a child in it but saw nothing of it. While she was thinking all that Varun had transported Naruto towards a remote shore of the beach. While leaving a little blood trail towards Dhriti.

It is a ritual in the Hindu pantheon to have a moral test for the guardian or the champion to see his or her moral compass. Is he or she selfless for his or her cause or are they doing it for their gain? If the person is a selfish person they will immediately eliminate him or her. So now the test was for Dhriti, will she wait for a boat or something for his arrival or will she follow the blood trail to save him? If she does not then Naruto will not only be cured but also be taken care of along with Dhriti's granddaughter in Naruto's care when he is mature enough.

As Dhriti was waiting on the beach oblivious to the ongoing test, she saw the beach water having a little bit of red tint to it which blew alarms in her head as from her husband's occupation she knew this was blood so without a second thought she followed the trail to the remote part of the beach, when she reached there she gasped at the horror as she saw our protagonist bloodied and battered. This site might have caused panic amongst common people but then again when was she a common person without a thought she picked Naruto up and ran towards a nearby hospital.

Most of the divine intervention receivers might have been at a cross between helping him or waiting for the champion but Dhriti was not one of them, for her the champion could go and complain to her lord all he or she could but she was not going to sacrifice a person's life if it was it her power to help them, this was one promise she made to herself after losing her son and daughter in law. If that day she gave her son the necessary shoulder he required maybe his life wouldn't have been forfeited. So without a second thought, she brought him to the hospital.

At Hospital

Old Digha Oghorkamini Hospital, one of the oldest hospitals near the Digha beach, and a hospital in which she knew some of the doctors, so they would not meddle with the bloodied boy hence she carried the boy towards the hospital. As she entered the hospital the receptionist recognised her, "Oh Army Dida (endearing term for 'grandma') (pronunciation of 'D' is as that of 'th' in them) what bring you here?"

Once Dhriti saw the receptionist she sighed in relief, "Oh Akriti thank god you are here!"

"What happened?" the receptionist asked alarmed.

"I need you to take this boy to the emergency room immediately!" She said in a panic worrying about his open wounds and blood loss.

"Ok yes me doing just that!" She said she called the team of nurses as they took him from Dhriti to the emergency room and then a doctor came in the room and operated on him while it was going she just prayed to Shiva wishing for that unknown boy's recovery. As the doctor comes out of the room she approaches the doctor, "Abhijit what happened? Is he fine?" she asks in rapid succession.

"Yes he is fine but the thing is where did you find him?"

"A remote shore at the beach"

"Odd, but do you know him? Because he might be a spy or illegal immigrant due to his blond hair and blue eyes."

"Oh no, I very well know him. But how is he?" she diverted the question by telling a half lie, in her mind one thing was going on, "He might be the one! A boy whose hair shines brighter than the sun, his eyes deeper than the sea! Yes, he is the one!"

"Well he is doing well but the injuries were severe, it is a pure miracle that he survived." The doctor's voice broke her out of her thoughts, "Those injuries were life-threatening, about an inch of the wound on the right chest along with 2nd-degree burns and multiple slash wounds."

"So what is the recovery time?"

"A week or two in normal care with one must day in the emergency room."

"Ok today he stays here, and then take him to my house there I will take care of him."

"Ok as you wish Dida."

"And Abhijit don't register this operation and mention it too" To this the doctor only nodded acknowledging her, "Also tell Akriti the same along with the nurses."

"Will do."

She nodded and then stayed there, "Tell me when he gains consciousness, I am here" He nodded

As everything was going on she stayed there and dozed off on the chair outside his room. As she dozed off she had a divine dream, "Dhriti my daughter" Shiva started while Dhriti expected him to be disappointed not doing her job. "I am very proud of you"

"My lord you are-. Huh, what?!"

"I said, I am proud of you"

"So you are not disappointed with me for not waiting" Shiva nodded while she was doing a victory dance like a child would do when they are not scolded but praised for something. Shiva chuckled at the display "Now, now easy Dhriti" Shiva lightly chided while she had an embarrassed blush on her cheeks Shiva continued, "I have come to congratulate you on your recent achievement, not only you have brought the champion to safety, but but passed the test."

Dhriti nodded to this that her assumption was correct on the champion thing but then something that Shiva said felt weird "My lord what do you mean by me passing the test?"

"Oh we give tests to every champion and caretaker of the champion to see their morality, should you have not taken care of him you would have failed the test," Shiva stated while Dhriti nodded.

"My daughter guides him. Guide him towards the path of righteousness." Shiva said.

"I will my lord," Dhriti said as Shiva left her dream giving her the rest required for her.

As the night passed she woke up the next morning with a bit of sore back. When she woke up she saw that Abhijit was walking up the hallway towards the room, "Is he fine?"

"Slept all night without any complexion, surprisingly high rate of recovery so you can take him by afternoon." He said. "Okay, then get him ready."

While this all was happening in the patient's room Naruto was slowly waking up. His whole body was sore to say the least, thinking only one thing why was he getting such comeuppance? What has he done wrong?

"So you finally woke up brat," Kyuubi said in his mind. This made Naruto open his senses a bit more, "Hey Kyuubi where are we?"

"Don't know Brat wherever we are it is not the elemental nations. It seems we cross the veil." Kyuubi said, "What veil, what are you talking about?" Naruto asked

"Nothing! Forget about anything I said. All I can say right now is that we are in some other part of the world and it is not in elemental nations." Kyuubi said while thinking "The brat needs not to know about the veil right now. When the time comes and if it comes then I will tell him."

As the fox thought, Naruto was trying to move every muscle of his body, trying his level best but to no avail. Then he saw in his blurred vision two people walking into his room, he wanted to ask them where he was but felt extreme fatigue from even opening his mouth, then one of them approached him and said something he could not understand as if they were speaking a different language. From what he could gather the person was a female and her words were very soothing along with the head caressing, she made him sleep instantly once again.

Dhriti when entered the room, she saw Naruto stirring up so she went to him, knowing the extent of the injury she soothed him by telling him to go to sleep. Abhijit was there standing by the door staring at the old woman, he had never seen such maternal love, since her son's death. He knew that the child was someone from her family but the question begged who?

"Dida I wanted to know, if it is not too personal. What is his relation to you?" Abhijit asked curiously, which put Dhriti in a bind. If she did not answer the question it would arouse suspicion in their mind so she had to think up on a quick and a good lie. So she started her melodramatic sob story in her way to divert the attention from people.

"He is my grandson." She said in a manner that was like dropping a bombshell. The reaction was as expected Abhijit's eyes widened and mouth agape, "How?" was his only question.

"Well, when a man and a woman-" Dhriti began but Abhijit cut her off, "I know that but I am asking how? He has blonde hair and as far as I can remember neither your son nor your daughter-in-law had blonde hair." The only response he got was "He is my grandson, nothing more, nothing less." The Abhijit what she meant and asked, "Illegitimate?" and he got a nod as his answer, confirming his suspicions but he did not pry further due to the amount of respect for the woman he had, as someone who set his career as a doctor from a petty thief in his teens.

"So when can I take him home?" She asked him.

"In about an hour." She nodded at that response.

As an hour passed, she was still outside Naruto's room. Abhijit then came to her, "Okay he is ready for the release, we will get him in a wheelchair and you can take him home."

Then a team of nurses came inside the room and manhandled him to get him into the wheelchair as that happened he was finally brought out of the room, he was, in a semi-conscious state almost looking like a zombie with his pale complexion. Dhriti took him in his wheelchair and then moved him towards the gate of the hospital. As they were moving him not many people queried about Naruto since they had seen her in the Hospital quite often, helping random patients sometimes bringing them to a taxi, escorting them to their houses. So they thought it was the same for this person too.

Then Abhijit called a taxi and stopped it, the driver peeks out of the window and asks, "Where?" then Abhijit said "Army Lady's house" and the driver nodded. This was one beauty about West Bengal, if you are renowned in your area then every other locomotive driver would know your house, and the locality is like family, so they would know everything about your home and family and all the family becomes relatives to the point the kids call the adults, Uncle and Aunty while the Elderly grandpa and grandma.

So when the taxi arrived there along with Naruto in it everyone was curious as to who had come into her home. Then she took him inside the house, on the ground floor inside a room, she had already a guest room ready so it was not an issue, then he was dismantled from the wheelchair and onto the bed then let him rest as sleep took over him, then she went to satisfy the quires of the locality.

One thing that was odd about Dhriti's house was that, though being in her late 50's she did not have any house help. One thing she always insisted on was not having any house help. She always said that she did not want any help until she had kicked the bucket or had some illness. So till then, she wanted to do everything on her own. However, from time to time, some people from her locality insist on helping her out of their admiration and respect for her.

So after she had settled some queries of the locality by stating that Naruto was a friend's son who had paralysis, she went home. And locality bought it since she had a lot of foreign friends, so having a cripple son of a friend in her house was not a problem.

Dhriti entered her house and after freshening up she went into Naruto's room, where he was still sleeping. She gave him saline water while giving him a massage to relax his muscles which was contracted beyond belief. And then gave him acupuncture to restore the muscles, as this was going on Naruto who was in a semiconscious state was feeling relaxed like never before. It was like heaven on Earth for him.

After a week of the same treatment for him, the saline water, massage, and acupuncture. His face was now regaining color while the muscles were relaxing a lot, which gave Dhriti a glimmer of hope that he was recovering. During this period she also got a feeling, she had long since forgotten. Caring for him had awakened the feeling of maternal love. Her only granddaughter was sent to a boarding school by her, which both of them understood as she wanted some alone time to cope with her parent's death, so she was sent. But she always came here during Durga Puja and Summer Vacation to spend time with her grandmother, a time when both felt happiness in the company of each other.

So when she saw Naruto she had one thing in mind, "You work in mysterious ways, my lord. You might be a champion for god but for me, you are not. You might be a warrior, but I will not treat you as one but as my grandson. Thank you, Lord, for giving me the chance." As she said that as if it was like Naruto had listened his facial muscle had turned into a smile, which fluttered Dhriti's heart as she smiled at him with motherly love.

This treatment lasted three more days and after ten days, Naruto fully became conscious. The first thing that he saw was the ceiling with something circular that looked like it was rotating (a ceiling fan) that was providing him air. Then the next thing he noticed was that he was on a much more comfortable bed than he had back in the village next thing he saw there was a wooden door in front of him and a glass beside him on his left.

"You are still a bit weak so refrain from a lot of movement please." He heard what sounded to be a female speaking something gibberish as he turned around he said. "{Who are you?!}" (please note that { With Italics}means that I am writing Japanese as I do not have the patience or mind to translate English to Japanese, so yeah!) Dhriti first tried to speak with him in English, seeing his blond hair and blue eyes she got the idea he might be from the West. But when she heard him, he was speaking Japanese which was weird for her due to his hair and eye color.

The Dhriti with a heavy accent spoke, "{What is your name?}"

Naruto was shocked when he heard her, speaking something he could understand. He quickly replied, "{My name is Uzumaki Naruto, what is your name, old lady?}"

Dhriti chuckled at the old lady's remark and then she said, "{Well my name is Ghosh Agarwal Dhriti.}"

Then he asked, "{Um where are we, old lady?}"

"{We are in West Bengal, India}" She replied.

"{Where is India, is it in the land of water}" He asked. Being the airhead he is, he forgot that Kyuubi said that they were NOT IN ELEMENTAL NATIONS. Kyuubi hearing the answer face palmed, "Idiot!".

"{Land of water?}"

"{Land of fire, land of water you know? Elemental nations?}"

"{I am sorry my child, but where is elemental nations?}"

This shocked Naruto, and then Dhriti walked out of the room leaving him alone. After some time she came with a piece of paper with her, "{Naruto please tell where is elemental nations are on this map.}"

As Naruto frantically searched around on the map to find the land he could not find it there, "{It-It is no-not there!}" He said shaking while sobbing a bit thinking about the mess as the situation was a bit to handle. Dhriti seeing this wrapped her arm around the sobbing boy and caressed his hair, "{Shh, it's okay, everything will be fine eventually.}"

As his sobbing came to an end, he suddenly asked the question whisperingly, "{Why?}"

"{Why what?}"

"{Why do you CARE FOR ME?!}" His sudden shout did shock her but the question made her more inquisitive, "{Why should I not care for you?}"

"{All of you old people are the same, you all manipulate and use me!}" He snarled still hurt from recent events that happened to him so the trust department was a little- oh well mostly closed for now. When Dhriti heard this all she could think that what kind of life he had to live he was paranoid to this level. While most people would have maintained their distance from him, giving him space unfortunately or fortunately for Naruto Dhriti was a Delhiite, so she would not leave him alone. She would make him he would feel safe and would become a parental figure in his life.

During the following days, Naruto was still recovering. While physically he was improving, mentally, the story was very different. The paranoia was on the next level, the first day, he didn't eat at all thinking the food might be adulterated, but in front of food his mental barriers crumbled and he ate, what was a simple fish curry but for him it was simply heaven (shows what hunger can do to people). As all of this was going on, he had a small talk with her.

From all the small talk she had with Naruto, she got to know that he was an orphan, and had no relatives, this small piece of information only strengthened the fire of determination to be a strong parental figure for him. It was a way to give the young child a good future and a path of redemption for the failure of the mother she was. The next few days followed the same pattern but this time Naruto was a bit warming up to Dhriti, he was still as cold as he was during meeting her for the first time but had mellowed out a bit with now the answers being one-liners from the past 'hn's. During this time only Dhriti jokingly propped a question to get a reaction from Naruto "{Will you be my grandson?}" Only to get a cold rebuttal in the form of 'No' and 'Forget it' but in all, from Dhriti's point of view, their bonding was beginning.

What Dhriti did not know was that tomorrow would be a day she would not forget in her life, a day which would not only skyrocket the bond between her and Naruto but also her chance of redemption and his getting a parental figure will increase.

It was a normal morning, nothing out of the usual for anyone. It could be said the same for the Ghosh house too, as Dhriti and Naruto woke up, greeted each other, and then ate their breakfast in relative quietness, a thing that they both appreciated very much. During his stay here Naruto was familiarized with tea, a drink he has quite taken a liking to.

During his stay here another thing Naruto now wanted to do was training, so he went to the roof to do that. Since his tenant was still sleeping and recovering he thought to use summons then he remembered one crucial thing he did not have any summons now, his mind was going through one thing what would he do now, then a memory popped up in Naruto's mind. It was off when he and Jiraiya went to retrieve Tsunade, that time while they were resting near a shrine, Jiraiya told him about his team meeting and test, at least Sarutobi Hiruzen was a competent teacher that Hatake Kakashi, he could not help but give a jab towards his so-called sensei.

When he hears those stories from Jiraiya, he remembers how Jiraiya got his summons, it was not through a summoning scroll but by doing the hand signs to check which clan he has an affinity towards. So taking a page from Jiraiya's life he started doing the same thing knowing this could be very dangerous but then again his name was Uzumaki Naruto. While doing the hand signs for the summoning jutsu, he chanted only one thing in his mind "Not the toads" because he knew that if he popped up on Mount Miyoboku his life would be, in short words, fucked, completely fucked. Since the toads were allied to Jiraiya and Jiraiya to Konoha using Euclid's Axiom (not that Naruto knew about Euclid or his Axioms) Toads were allied to Konoha. So if he reached there he would very well get deported to Konoha making his escape a big fail.

With that in mind he drew his blood required for summoning and then went through the hands signs Boar Dog Bird Monkey Ram (in order), then slammed his hands to the ground while saying 'summoning jutsu' which is where a seal matrix appeared and in a he disappeared.

As this happened Naruto had still one thing in mind 'NOT THE TOADS', once he reappeared somewhere the smoke cleared and he was in some kind of a jungle. As the smoke cleared it was more obvious he was in a jungle. Without much in his mind, he went forward exploring the jungle. One thing that was very peculiar for him about the jungle is its uncanny resemblance with the training ground 44 also known as the forest of death or Anko's stomping grounds in his village. Keeping the thoughts aside he went deep inside the forest and was thankful about not having giant bugs or rouge snakes in the jungle as the events of chuunin exams resurfaced in his mind, causing an involuntary shudder.

As he was going inside the forest he saw a quicksand. Looking towards the center of the quicksand, a small indent on the surface of the quicksand made him realize whoever it was, was already drowning in the sand and would meet their death in a matter of moments. It felt scared and helpless and Naruto had to help whatever it was.

By channeling the chakra at the bottom of his feet Naruto ran across the quicksand towards its center and channeled the chakra into his arms to give him more strength before he put his hands into the quicksand and wrapped around whoever was sinking.

With great strength, he fought against the quicksand and pulled whoever it was out.

He stumbled back a little and landed on his butt. He took a deep breath since he had to use more strength than he thought he would against the quicksand, something many shinobi hated since there were very few ways to get out of it.

Whoever it was in the quicksand was very small, so small in fact that if he squeezed them any tighter then they might have popped. He looked down to see the person he just saved.

Though who he saved was not a person at all.

Looking down he saw it was a small cat, so tiny in fact that he could probably put her on top of his head. The little cat was completely white and had black stripes all over its body. Its paws were tiny, almost as tiny as a baby's hand. A pair of sharp teeth was protruding from its mouth.

"Hey there little guy. What are you doing in a big scary place like this?" He said as the little cat opened its eyes to reveal big green eyes looking back at him with a cat slit-like pupil looking back at him.

It stared at him for a moment before it let out a small meow and licked his cheek affectionately making him laugh a little.

"HA HA that tickles little fella." He said as he patted its head.

"Thanks, you mister. I thought I was going to die." The little cat said making Naruto look at it in surprise.

"You talk?" He asked as it bopped its head up and down.

"Yuh huh of course I talk."

"Wells that's pretty cool. I have never met a talking cat before. Talking toads and slugs yes but never a little cat."

He guessed he said something wrong because the little cat began hitting its tiny paws against him while it made a facial expression that he guessed was a pout.

"I'm not a cat you big dummy. I'm a tiger, a white tiger from the White Tiger clan. And stop calling me fella, I'm a girl." The little tiger revealed making Naruto look at her in surprise.

"Oh well, I am sorry about that." He said before he put his hand out to her. "My name is Naruto. It's nice to meet you." He said as the little tiger cub looked at him with her big green eyes before she copied his motions and placed her paw on top of his hand.

"My name is Kohaku, part of the White Tiger Clan." She said as Naruto nodded and stood he walked away from the quicksand with Kohaku still in his arms.

He held her close so that she did not fall back into the quicksand and he gently stroked her beautiful coat of fur, removing bits of sand from it as he did.

"You know I don't think I have ever heard of a White Tiger Clan before," Naruto said. "I am aware of the Toads, Snakes, Slugs, Monkeys, and Dogs but White Tigers are a new one to me."

Kohaku moved her little head to look up at him.

"Kaa-san doesn't like our kind going out in the world too much. She says long ago people killed the small Tigers for sport and lots of us died. So Kaa-san wants us to stay in our homeland since it is safe there and no one can hurt us."

Naruto smiled. "Your Kaa-san sounds very smart and she sounds like she cared a lot for her family."

Kohaku bobbed her head. "She is and she is very powerful. Kaa-san is the chief of the White Tiger Clan. A lot of the other Tigers are a little scared of her since she is very strong. But I think Kaa-san is a big softie."

'Yeah, I bet.' Naruto thought.

"If you are not allowed usually allowed to leave your home then why are you in this forest?" He asked.

Kohaku gave him a very toothy smile. "Kaa-san says I'm a very curious child and I always want to see what's outside of home. But Kaa-san likes it when I'm close by since I am Mama's only cub."

"So she's very protective over you." He said as Kohaku nodded.

"Very so she might be a little mad that I am out here," she said before she jumped out of Naruto's arms. "You should meet her. I think she would like you since you saved me!"

"I don't think that would be a good idea." He said waving his arms but Kohaku did not listen and placed her paw on the ground in front of them. As she did, a black marking appeared on the ground, and Naruto recognized the summoning seals.

A second later a large cloud of smoke appeared and it made Naruto very nervous. He thought the cloud would be small, about a man's size or bigger but instead, it was enormous, covering parts of the forest, and went far over the tops of the trees.

'Oh, crap.' He thought hoping that Kohaku's mother would not turn him into 'cat' food.

As the cloud began to disappear, Naruto unconsciously took a step back, and for good reason.

The creature in front of him was the very definition of enormous. She towered over the tree's tops and if he had to guess, he would say that she was even bigger than Gamabunta, at least a good head taller.

Her fur was like Kohaku's, snow white with long black stripes over her body but her coat had a shine that he guessed came with age. Her eyes were jade green as well and the claws on her paws were even bigger than his mother's. On the top of her head was what looked like some kind of tiara with an emerald in the center of it and her tail and shoulder muscles had this greyish silver armour to it.

The enormous White Tiger looked around in confusion. "Where am I?" she called out in a strong but very elegant-sounding voice. The voice had nobility laced all over it.

"Kaa-san down here!" Kohaku's squeaky voice called and at first, he wondered if the giant Tiger would even be able to her. But she did when her large head looked down and towards Kohaku.

"Kohaku." She said in a stern voice as her head lowered down to the ground to look at her daughter. "What have I told you about leaving Mount Taigahiru? You know I don't like you leaving our home without me knowing or at all."

Kohaku stood up on her hind legs, which would have reached to Naruto's knee, against her mother's enormous nose. "But Kaa-san it's so boring at home. And I met a new friend. See?" She said looking over at Naruto whose eyes went a little wide as the enormous eyes of the White Tiger chief moved towards him and narrowed.

A deep growl came out of her throat that made the area vibrate and Naruto could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

"Did this person hurt you my little cub?" She asked as the mother Tiger rose to its full height making Naruto wonder if anyone else from the village could see the enormous Tiger since he doubted anyone could ever miss her.

Naruto gulped and readied himself to defend himself if possible but Kohaku leaped in front of Naruto and looked at her mother with a pout on her face. "Kaa-san please don't hurt him. He saved me. I might have died if he had not arrived."

The great tiger looked a little put back when her daughter spoke before her eyes narrowed again and went back down to look at Kohaku's.

"Start explaining daughter," she said though it sounded more like a command.

So Kohaku began to explain what had happened, how she fell into quicksand as she chased a butterfly around and drowned in it when Naruto arrived and took her out of the sand before it could completely engulf her.

Naruto stood to the side as the mother tiger scolded her little cub for foolish actions before her giant nose touched Kohaku's body.

"I thought I might have lost you." She said softly as Kohaku stood on her hind legs again and licked her mother's nose in comfort.

Naruto smiled. She is just a mother worried about her child.

The giant Tiger moved her head and looked towards Naruto before she stood at her full height again making Naruto take a gulp. No words were spoken momentarily as the mighty White Tiger chief boss looked down at Naruto with her large green eyes gazing right into him.

After a moment of silence, she spoke.

"Saving my daughter as you did has put you in a favorable light and your actions have gained my thanks, young man. Few would dare to risk saving another from death, less likely counting we are of different species. For saving my daughter, you have my thanks. I am Shirotora, Chief of the White Tiger Clan of Mount Taigahiru."

Knowing to be polite in this situation, Naruto bowed to the giant White Tiger leader. "I am Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze. It's nice to meet you." He said as Shirotora nodded to him.

"You will have to forgive my earlier rudeness to you young cub, my kind have had bad experiences with humanity so we tend to avoid interaction with them. You are the first human I have spoken to in many decades."

"He is real nice Kaa-san. He cleaned me and got rid of the sand." Kohaku said as she showed her mother her clean fur.

"It was no problem at all Shirotora-sama. I was just glad that I could help and save your daughter when I did. If not then I dread to think what might have happened."

Shirotora nodded her head and was about to speak when Kohaku was waving her paws in the air, trying to get her attention.

"Kaa-san we should reward him. I know how we can reward him. It is the best idea I have ever had." She said as Naruto chuckled at the little cub while Shirotora rolled her eyes but smiled a big toothy smile showing her large sharp teeth.

"What is your idea young one?"

Kohaku gave her a big smile and padded over to Naruto as she rubbed her head against his leg purring before answering.

"Let him become our summoner and sign the White Tiger Contract." She said as both Naruto and Shirotora looked at her in surprise.

Naruto did not have any words to say though inwardly he was bursting with happiness. He wanted to have summons that were not toads and they were giving him a chance.

Shirotora meanwhile narrowed her eyes to look at her daughter and Kohaku.

"Kohaku, might I remind you we have never had a summoner before? Why should we start now?"

Kohaku frowned. "But Kaa-san this could be a good way to get back into this world, plus Naruto would be a good summoner. Right?" She asked as Naruto quickly nodded his head.

Shirotora stood tall as she looked down at Naruto with her piercing green eyes staring intently into him, almost as if she was staring into his very soul and trying to see if he was worthy enough to be their first summoner.

"Hmm. Young one come with us to Taigahiru there the real test will commence to see if you are a worthy summoner or not." Then he was again pulled through space and time to a mountain this time it was filled with tigers. As they were they went inside there was a giant cave where the trio entered it. Then as they went inside Shirotora called someone "MA"

Naruto now anticipatingly waited for this 'Ma' person, then of one of the gates came a small bipedal tiger with a cane in hand, "Oh! Shiro-chan, Ko-chan!" as she came closer she suddenly left upwards in the air surprising all of them and then suddenly Naruto felt intense pain on his head by a cane and then his vision gradually went black. "Human be gone!" she yelled.

"Ma! What the hell?!" Shirotora exclaimed.

"What you know, he is a human and you know what humans have done with us don't you" Ma replied.

"But he helped me!" Kohaku butted in. This piqued Ma's curiosity.

"Explain," She said authoritatively, she might be an old tigress, but she would be damned if tigers did not respect her. Then Kohaku and Shirotora started explaining what happened from Kohaku getting trapped in a quicksand to Shirotora considering him a summoner. "So you want to have him as a summoner"

"Yes ma"

"Hmm okay Shiro-chan, do not take the second test."

"Why Ma?"

"He saving Kohaku was enough. Take him to my house I will take the first test and then tell you."

After settling him into her house, she made some hand signs with her paws, and then put her hand on his head and closed her eyes after some time Naruto opened his eyes to see the tigress that hit him in front of him.

"Ah don't worry Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, son of Kushina Uzumaki and Minato Namikaze, I mean no harm, Myself Baatora."

"Well action speaks louder than words, but did you know about my parents."

"Ah, that is due to a jutsu that lets me see your memories. Nifty don't you think?"

"What do you exactly want?"

"To ask you a simple question?"

"Ask away."

"If you have a family, a wife, and children and you still lived in Konoha who would you have given preference to."

It did not even take Naruto a second before answering, "Family, I am not going to repeat the same mistake made by my father."

Baatora got the answer she required. Tigers are a proud clan, pride in always protecting their family and pride in selflessness and bravery, all the qualities this human in front of her had shown so she made her decision.

"Child, come with me."

As they left the cave, after walking outside they met with the mother-daughter duo, "So ma what is your decision?" Shirotora asked.

"Well, how about bring out the summoning scroll sound like?" She asked cheekily, and all of them smiled knowing she passed the test.

Shirotora looked down towards Kohaku and gave her a small nod which made the little cub bounce in happiness before she placed her paw on the ground and another poof went out, though this time was only a tiny one.

Out of the smoke was a large scroll, about the size of the one Jiraiya carried on his back for the Toads. It was grey and on each end had a silver tiger head while the Kanji for White Tiger was written on the side.

"Open it up," Shirotora said to Naruto who quickly nodded and did so. He opened up the scroll to show long empty columns, once again proving that they had never had any summoners before.

'Cool.' He thought as he went down to his knees and looked the scroll over as Kohaku sat beside him and Shirotora looked over him. Then Naruto knew what to do as he took his right thumb and bit into the skin. He saw a tiny bit of blood flow out of the wounds and quickly began to write his name into the scroll. After a few moments, he took his hand away and looked at the scroll that now had his name written in the first column.

"And that's it," Shirotora said as the name glowed for a moment before it turned black, now permanently becoming part of the scroll. "You are now officially the first summoner of the White Tiger Summons. Don't disappoint us." She warned as Naruto quickly nodded though he had a big smile plastered on his face.

"Kohaku, since this was your idea, you will be the boy's familiar."

Kohaku happily nodded before she jumped up and climbed on Naruto until she sat comfortably on his head while an amused Naruto looked up at her. After spending some time there he summoned himself to the house he was living in not before promising Kohaku that he would spend more time with her. (I mean how can someone deny something to such a cute kitty, I am sure will not.)

As he reappeared inside the Ghosh House, It had been about 4 to 5 hours in his journey. During that time Dhriti was frantically searching the house and locality while remaining as less suspicious as one could be. Then when she saw Naruto and ran towards him and hugged the life out of him, "{where were you Naruto? Did you know how worried I was?}" She exclaimed. In his usual cold tone he said "{it is none of your business}", this time something snapped in Dhriti, "{none of my business huh, I tore down the whole locality for you and none of my business!}" She raised her voice.

This snapped Naruto and in a raised voice he said, "{Why the hell do you care?!}" This enraged Dhriti, "{Why the hell do I care? I saved your life and then nursed it that is why!}" Naruto then replied in a snarky way, "{yeah let me guess! You did it out of pity, poor child no one to care for him, let me do it so he can become eternally grateful about it.}" This comment genuinely hurt Dhriti and it could be seen on her face as she yelled "{go to your room!}"

While they separated from each other, they were contemplating their words, Dhriti regretted that she took a hot approach to it while Naruto regretted his words after seeing the genuine hurt on her face. After some hours pass by while Naruto is resting a bit, his door opens which he senses to be Dhriti.

Dhriti, after contemplating for a bit thought to have a heart-to-heart dialogue with Naruto so when she opened the door and saw Naruto resting she decided to tell him a bit about her. "{Naruto I know you are listening, you know I had a son of your age when our relationship deteriorated after my husband's death. He also acted a lot like you, when I thought I could reconcile with him, everything was too late. He died in a terrorist attack. After I saw you, I saw myself having a shot at redemption. I know somewhere I was wrong and for what It's worth I am sorry.}" Dhriti tried to stand up Naruto caught the corner of her saree.

Dhriti had been right about one thing, he had been listening, so when he listened to her, he found out she was as broken as he was and this truly made him a lot guilty, as she tried to stand up he grabbed hold of the corner of her saree and then sat by her. He spoke up in a meek voice, "{you know the experience has built a lot of trust issues in me and I did not know who to trust anymore and judged you without thinking twice. I am sorry! Please forgive me!}" In return he got a hug from her as she said, "{Idiot! How can I not? The elders always must guide the younger and forgive and rectify their mistakes. So all is forgiven, now can we start a new chapter in our life with trust in it.}" She got a nod in response. Happy with that she walked towards the door, when she again got interrupted by Naruto,

"{Um Dhriti}" she turned around to listen to him, "{I do not know the level of trust we will be able to build moving forward, so in advance may I ask that can I be your grandson?}" In response Dhriti just opened her arms wide, Naruto getting the signal latched onto that hug like his lifeline as they accepted each other as grandmother and grandson.

That day Naruto also learned a valuable lesson that would help in his entire life, that there are two parts to every story.

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~Cubicreates