CHAPTER 1

(AMARU: BONDS OF LIFETIME) [PART 1]

[6 Months before Naruto took the mantle of Seventh Hokage]

The sun was shining brightly over the village hidden in the leaves. The sunshine fell on top of the 6 rock-cut faces of the Hokages that were carved into the hill, situated behind the infamous Hokage tower. The soft chirping of the leaves, caused by the calm breeze could be heard. Inside the Hokage office, Kakashi Hatake, the sixth hokage, was going through his laptop as he was typing emails, and doing his daily work.

'Being a hokage is truly tiresome…..' he thought as he sent the email which he had just written.

'Well, I'll do get my break, few months to go…..' he yawned as he closed the laptop and got up from his chair. Suddenly, he heard someone knocking on the door.

"Come in," he ordered, as the door opened and a Leaf messenger walked in. He handed a scroll to Kakashi as he undid the seal and opened the scroll.

'Hmm….' He mentally thought as he went through the contents of it.

'Looks like we have a mission for your team, Naruto.'

At Ichiraku Ramen shop,

The doors of the shop opened as a tall man entered. He seemed like he was around 26-27 years old and was wearing a formal ninja uniform, basically, black trousers, a grey shirt, and a black flak jacket. His hitai-ate was on his forehead, above which was covered with short blond hair. He walked up to the ramen bar and he took a seat. The sound of the seat made Ayame, who was preparing the noodles on the other side of the counter, turn back as she went to greet the customer.

"Welc- Oh hey, Naruto-kun! Good morning!"

"Good Morning Ayame-nee. Where is Teuchi-jiji?"

"Dad went to a nearby town to get some supplies. What about you?"

"Hinata suddenly fell sick this morning." His face fell off as he continued, "I prepared breakfast for her, Boruto and Himawari. Couldn't make anything for myself since there was nothing left in the kitchen. Sent one of my shadow clones to the market while I came here to get something to eat."

"That's sad…What happened to Hinata-san?"

"Fever…"

"I see….Well, what can I make for you? The usual one?"

"Yeah, one bowl of Miso Ramen."

"Coming right up!" Ayame said as she quickly prepared the noodles and put them along with the broth in the bowl, added the toppings on top, and gave it to Naruto, "Here it is!"

"Thank you!" he replied as he took the bowl of ramen and placed it on the table. "Thanks for the food." He murmured as he started eating the ramen.

"You can bring your students here, once in a while." Ayame said as she was preparing another bowl of Ramen for him and he replied, "I prescribed a diet for them so that they can eat healthy, y'know. They are genin under training, after all."

"Ironically, you used to eat Ramen all day, from morning to night!" Ayame giggled as Naruto chuckled after listening to her as he replied, "Well, I had a special liking for Ramen. Plus, this shop was the only place where I could sit and eat peacefully." Naruto smiled as he took another bowl of Ramen from Ayame's hand.

Her face faltered as she realized what he was saying. 'He did had a hard life, thanks to the mighty tailed beast which was sealed inside him' She thought as her mind went down a trip through the memory lane.

FLASHBACK BEGINS

It was raining outside. A younger Ayame was cleaning up the table of the Ramen Bar as the closing time of the shop was coming. After cleaning the table, she looked behind to check the rain, and her eyes fell on a young kid, who was peeking inside the shop from outside. He was all wet due to the rain, had messy blonde hair, and was wearing wet clothes with a despairing expression on his face. She walked up to the kid as she was speaking "You are getting wet, get inside!"

He quietly followed her words as he stepped inside the store.

"What is your name?" she asked him while kneeling down.

"N-Naruto" the kid answered slowly.

"You want to eat some Ramen, Naruto?"

"W-What's Ramen?" he asked innocently as Ayame was going all 'Awwww what a cute kid!' on the inside.

"It's the god of all foods! You will like it!"

"I don't have m-money….." he said as he opened his palms, revealing only two coins.

"Don't worry, free for you!" she said as she wiped his hair and face so that he didn't catch cold.

Ayame picked up Naruto and he made her sit on the stool as she went back to the kitchen.

"Dad!"

"What's it, Aya- who's this cute kid?" Teuchi came from the back as he saw Naruto.

"This is Naruto! Dad, can you make a bowl of Miso Ramen for him?"

"Of course! Coming right up!" He quickly started preparing the food.

'That hair….Minato, is that your kid?' Teuchi thought as he prepared the bowl and placed it on the table. Ayame took the chopsticks as she picked up some noodles from the bowl with some toppings.

"Say aaaa!" Ayame giggled as Naruto opened his mouth and she started feeding him with her own hands. After eating the noodles, his face lit up as he exclaimed, "It's so delicious! Thanks umm…" Naruto scratched his head.

"Ayame. He's my dad, Teuchi." She smiled as he replied, "Thanks teuchi-jiji, Ayame-neesan! Can I come to your shop every day?"

"Of course, Naruto! Why are you asking like that?"

"It's just…whenever I go to some other shop to get some food, they either b-beat me or throw me out of the shop…..I-I don't know why. Did I do something wrong?" the kid seemed like he was on the verge of tearing up.

Ayame hugged the little kid as she patted his head.

'Foolish villagers, treating a small kid like he's the demon. People don't even understand the difference between a Kunai and a Scroll…' Teuchi thought as he patted Naruto's back…

FLASHBACK END

Ayame looked a Naruto, who was enjoying his bowl of ramen. 'You did grow up, made everyone acknowledge you through hard work, inspiring the people around you' She thought as Naruto spoke up, "Ayame-nee, why are you tearing up?"

She jumped back from her world of thoughts as she realized that her eyes had watered up.

"It's…..nothing, Naruto-kun." She assured him as she wiped her eyes using a tissue.

Naruto's breakfast was over as he walked to the billing counter where Ayame waited for him to pay the bill. After completing the payment, he turned back when Ayame spoke up, "Do visit again!"

"Sure thing." He said as he opened the door and stepped out of the shop.

'Now, time to go meet her. Might be waiting for me on the ground…..' he thought as he was about to start walking when someone suddenly started speaking in his mind.

'Naruto!' He immediately recognized the voice.

'Ino?'

'I am connecting you to Lord Sixth through Mind Body Transmission, he asked for you. The conversation will be recorded.' She said as he replied with an 'OK.'

'Naruto, are you there?' he recognized the voice to be of Kakashi-sensei.

'Yes, Kakashi-sensei. Any help needed?'

'Actually, I have a mission for you. Report with your team in half an hour at my office.'

'Okay, sensei.' He said as the transmission got disconnected.

'Mission, that was unexpected.' He said as he disappeared in a flash, heading towards the Training grounds.

Half an Hour Later, Hokage Office

Kakashi was waiting for Naruto and his team, as he was reading his 'Icha Icha Paradise' book when he heard the sound of someone knocking on the door.

"Come in." He said as the door opened and Naruto entered the room, followed by Mirai Sarutobi.

"Where are your other students? Hideki and Akane?" Kakashi asked as Naruto replied, "Sorry sensei. I forgot to inform you. They won't be coming as they are on a short leave."

"Leave?"

"Yes Lord Sixth, both of them ended up breaking their legs yesterday during training and now are admitted at Konoha Hospital." Mirai spoke up as Kakashi nodded. He took out the scroll from the desk and handed it to Naruto.

"It's a C-rank mission. Naruto, do you remember the Village of Happiness?"

"Village of Happiness…..at the Land of Rivers?"

"Yes, Naruto. An Earthquake occurred there two days ago. The vibrations were also felt here at the Hidden Leaf."

"Yes, I felt that!" Mirai agreed as Kakashi continued, "So, they requested for help from us. Naruto, I want you and your student, Mirai, to go to the Village of Happiness and help them during their harsh time. Duration is of around 1 week."

"Ok, sensei." Naruto said as he sealed the scroll and walked out of the office along with Mirai.

"Village of Happiness struck by the earthquake? Sounds ironic, right? Naruto-sensei?" Mirai asked him as he nodded, agreeing with her statement.

"Mirai, pack your bags and meet me at the Village gates in 30 mins"

"Ok, sensei. Byee." She said as she started heading towards her residence.

Naruto arrived at his home using Hirashin. He had already got the memory of his clone delivering the groceries and food items. Entering, he met Hinata, whose fever had gone down. He informed her and Boruto of the mission and went upstairs to pack his things, which he basically did by sealing the things in scrolls. He also took another scroll which contained customized weapons made by Tenten for Naruto. After giving a kiss to his wife Hinata, doing a fist bump with Boruto, and patting Himawari's head, he left the home and hirashined to the Village gate.

There he waited for another 5 minutes when Mirai came running towards Naruto, with a huge backpack on her back.

"Okay, so let's start moving now. It will probably take us a day to reach the village." Naruto said as Mirai led out a 'Yosh!' and they started to walk outside the village. A few seconds later, they were nowhere to be seen around the gate, implying that they had already left the village.

ONE DAY LATER, THE VILLAGE OF HAPPINESS, LAND OF RIVERS

The village of Happiness got its name from the people of the village. Whoever came to the village, left the place with happiness in his/ her heart. The people were nice and hospitable, they were peace-loving people. They were prosperous and had nothing to worry about. Children went to school and played in the garden during the evening, the adults did their jobs with love, the elders were respected and in return, showed their affection to the people. But, things took a turn for the worse when the Earthquake hit the village two days ago. 70% of the village was destroyed, most of the buildings and homes were destroyed, parks got wrecked, and schools were turned into refugee camps. The people had fear in their hearts, all the happiness had washed off….

The leader of the Village was supervising the reconstruction of one of the buildings when a villager came running towards him.

"Akio-Sama!" he shouted as he stood in front of him, huffing.

"What is it, Motsu?"

"Konoha's shinobis have arrived, Kaminari is bringing them here."

"They arrived?"

Akio asked as two shinobis immediately landed on his left-hand side. He looked on his side as he saw the legendary Naruto Uzumaki and the granddaughter of the Third Hokage, Mirai Sarutobi.

"Oh my! The hero of the Shinobi world, Naruto Uzumaki? I am so fortunate!" Akio said as he shook hands with him. "I am Akio Akutame, leader of the village of happiness."

"Nice to meet you, Akio-sama," Naruto replied as he took out the scroll and handed it to him. "Our Hokage sent us here to help you reconstruct this village."

"I did send a request to Hokage-sama. But I never expected him to send you to help us!"

Akio then gave Naruto and Mirai a tour around the village. Most of the buildings were destroyed, and the people were living in tents, In short, the condition was bad.

"What do you think, Mirai?" Naruto asked as she replied, "These people need help, we need to do something."

After showing them the village parts, Akio went away to help his people reconstruct a building while Naruto and Mirai were standing in front of a huge pile of broken materials.

'Even the strongest man-made force bows down in front of Nature. That's the beauty….' Kurama spoke as Naruto entered his mindscape.

'Finally, you are awake, buddy?'

'Had a nice sleep…..' Kurama spoke as he rubbed his eyes.

'So, what do you think? What should I do?'

'Hmm, firstly, make some arrangements immediately for the villagers staying in tents.'

'I understand, Kurama.'

Naruto came out of his mindscape as he saw Mirai looking towards him.

"Did you get any idea, sensei?" She asked her as he nodded and started walking towards the villagers. Mirai followed him.

"What was this place used to be?" He asked one of the villagers, pointing towards the pile of materials.

"Umm, there were lots of residential buildings…." The man replied as he asked all of them to step back. Then he started to do some hand signs.

'Snake → Ram → Monkey → Boar → Horse → Tiger'

"Fire Style: Fireball jutsu" he mumbled as he fired a fireball at the destructed materials. After a few minutes, when they had been completely burned, he started doing some more hand signs.

'Dog – Ram – Snake'

"Wood Style: Serial Pillar Houses Technique" He mumbled as several fully built houses started to rise from the ground. In a few seconds, that barren land turned into a residential colony.

"Woah! Wood Style!" Mirai exclaimed as all the other villagers looked at the buildings in awe.

Akio arrived at the place and was stunned to see the beautiful, fully furnished buildings.

"This is one of my Kekkei Genkais, using this, I will rebuild the entire village. My shadow clones will help your people in their work." He said as he made that usual hand sign, due to which, 10 of his shadow clones appeared from the smoke.

A few days went by like that. Naruto, using his wood style, rebuilt most of the destroyed buildings and colonies, his clones and Mirai helped the villagers to set up shops, collect supplies, and prepare meals for the villagers. The situation slowly started to get Normal until one day, Naruto and Mirai were having lunch together after working on the interior of a shop when suddenly, one of the villagers came running towards them.

"Naruto-San! One of the old buildings caught fire all of a sudden!"

"What?!" Both of them stood up, completely shocked!

"There are people trapped inside the building! Please save them!" He pleaded as both of them nodded and jumped on top of the shop and ran at full speed towards the building. Both of them were shocked to see the building engulfed in flames.

"I did see the smoke but thought that the villagers were burning some old materials."

"Me too, sensei!"

In a few seconds, both of them landed in front of the burning house, surrounded by people who were terrified due to the scene. Immediately, they got into action as they entered the burning house and started evacuating all the people one by one. A few minutes later, most of the trapped people were evacuated.

"Mirai, I think there are two more people left on the top floor. I am gonna get them, take care of these people. I am leaving two shadow clones here." He said as he did the hand signs, creating two shadow clones. Then he sprung into action as he entered the burning house. Carefully and swiftly, he climbed to the top floor. It was all engulfed in flames.

"Please, Save Me!" Nauto heard the faint sound of a woman, coming from a room.

'Why does she sound so familiar?'

"Someone! Please save me!" He again heard the sound and located the room quickly. The door was locked from inside.

'Maybe the front is blocked' He thought as he concentrated a small ball of chakra in his hand.

'Compressed Rasengan. Stage 2' He thought as he slammed the small Rasengan at the door, completely blowing it off.

As he entered, he saw a red-haired woman, standing in the middle of the room surrounded by fire on all sides.

Without wasting any time, he used his godspeed to reach in front of the girl. Startled by his presence, she lost her balance as she was about to fall into the fire when Naruto grabbed her gently. Both of their faces were exposed to each other. The woman blushed as both of them looked into each other's eyes.

"N-Naruto-Kun?"

"A-Amaru?"