For the second time, Kushina Uzumaki had astounded Naruto. He had never seen the volunteers or workers this excited in all this time in the orphanage. They were crowding around her, passing each other succulent food he'd also never seen before. He didn't recognize some of the people. News of a famous Ninja being in the Orphanage might have spread to the nearby shops, and those who had heard wanted to see what all the fuss was about. So strange, Naruto thought, that people would join things that weren't any of their business.

"It's very hard work, but it's very fulfilling, of course nothing compared to what you do Uzumaki-san," one of the volunteers said to Kushina. If Naruto remembered, this was called sucking up to someone. Naruto could point out all the disparities that they spoke about, but he learned that didn't do much.

Naruto thought he would never see her again, or not for a very long time, yet here she was.

"Oh I'm very sure, No thank you, I've already eaten," she declined one of the treats, waving off other offers as well. She smiled as she locked her eyes at Naruto. He was still as she stood up from a very comfy chair. The workers began to follow her eyes and found Naruto as the target, and a subtle change in the worker's face happened. Naruto was well-versed in awkwardness, he could feel it well in the room.

"Kushina-san, " Naruto said with a small bow. What else was there to say?

"Naruto, if you don't mind, I want to talk to you," Kushina asked.

"Of course," Naruto replied.

She started slowly walking away toward the door. Naruto followed her pace, ignoring the gazes of the others. In most cases, he wouldn't follow someone if he had no reason, but he felt this case was the exception.

The city was getting more busy even in the orange sunset. All walks of life leaving and getting to work. Naruto took a glance at each of them as they walked. Some bore faces of dread and others excitement. He could guess their occupation based on what they wore, from their work boots or their expensive garments. Naruto always took the least busiest pathways and in the dead of times, he never saw the rush of people so close. Maybe he had at one point, but that had probably made him find a different way to through the village in the first place. They were walking faster as the people in sight lessened until it turned into a full sprint.

She was becoming blurry as she increased her speed, and so Naruto ran as fast as he could. Their steps become leaps. Fresh, green forest crowded Naruto's view and they were silent as they ran on dry, rough dirt. Abruptly Kushina stopped. No one could be seen, it was only a few minutes ago that they were dodging people, and now it was only two of them. She then turned to face him, no sweat or signs of weariness, just like when they fought. Naruto dared not show any change of breath, but he could not help a single drop of sweat on his brow.

'You kept up pretty well, we went through some thick branch,' she said, dusting off a stray left from her shoulder.

Naruto knew there had to be a reason for this. He hoped he'd done nothing wrong, but he quickly tossed the idea out, it was no use guessing at this point. And so he waited for a purpose for all this.

"It's been a while since I graduated from the academy, but I don't remember Kenjutsu being taught to that extent, where did you learn?" Kushina finally asked, eyeing Naruto's sword. Her son wasn't very interested in Kenjutsu when she had offered to teach him. What Naruto showed wasn't basic, but showed that he had a decent amount of time into training.

Naruto thought for a moment, trying to remember why he picked Kenjutsu. He had spent every day practicing, studying from books, and watching. He could only come up with blurry memories of picking up a sword and nothing in between.

"It was the first method of combat I remember ever seeing," Naruto replied thoughtfully, finally remembering something. "Maybe when I first spied on some Chunin training, yes, I think that was it." Naruto's eyes slightly widened. He realized he had said something he maybe shouldn't have. Spying on your comrade couldn't look good on him, right?

Kushina smiled with a small laugh, "Oh, so you have a mischievous side to you. I didn't expect that." She learned stealth to do the same, but she became more broader. Spying on her classmates after class. She has spied on Minato one time or maybe more.

"I've never been described as mischievous, so I couldn't say that's true," Naruto replied. He was confused about where this was all going.

"What have you been called then?"

"Weird and strange"

"Do you think that's true?"

"I don't know," Naruto replied, after a short pause.

Kushina sighed, "Kids can truly be cruel. I guess some things don't change." She had probably been cruel as well when she was a kid, but like some people, she had forgotten when she grew up.

"They weren't all like that. Other than a few problematic ones." It wasn't until recently that he had actually cared about what others thought about him and treated him.

As they conversed about different topics, Kushina realized that Naruto most likely didn't talk to others too much. You could call his speech wooden and bland, but she could see that he would try to spice his words, even if it turned out awkward. The topic came again to his Kenjutsu abilities, about the things he did right and the things he did wrong.

"I studied and practiced hard to be where I'm at." Naruto clarified, he didn't want to risk sounding arrogant.

"If you're worried about looking arrogant, don't be. I'm pretty good at spotting it on people, and didn't see a hint of it yesterday."

Naruto avoided her eyes for a moment. The blow was still fresh, from what happened the day before. Naruto focused on her eyes again. A pause stood between them until he spoke.

"Does that usually happen, I mean, in real missions?" Naruto said, quietly.

Immediately she knew what he was talking about. Grudges often caused issues on missions, and sometimes death was the result.

"Yes, some people can't separate their professional life and their 'regular' lives."

He didn't quite understand what that meant, but he accepted it nonetheless.

'But take this loss and mark it, and mark every other loss as well. Not to remind yourself that you failed, but to know that you aren't going to let it happen next time.'

Those words echoed in his mind when he got home that night. He wondered what would've filled his head if she had just left him there with silence, instead of those words of encouragement.

"I thought about what you said yesterday, you know. About not forgetting about your failures. I wanted to thank you for that. You didn't need to do that." Naruto said.

It seems he is taking it quite well, Kushina thought. Those who failed their first time sometimes give up the Ninja life entirely. The shame and humiliation being too much. Those who had continued after falling had the true will to become a Ninja.

"Why do you want to become a Ninja, Naruto?" The question popped into her head and she had asked almost immediately afterwards.

"What do you mean, Kushina-san?" He asked sincerely. The "san" irked her a bit, she had enough of it for the day in the orphanage earlier.

It was a tough question to answer. You can answer it however you want, from selfless to selfish reasons, and it would be valid if you got the job done. But Kushina was more optimistic and thought that if you have a strong reason for being a ninja that you truly believe in, you'll be a stronger ninja at the end of the day.

"People aren't born automatically to become a ninja. Things happen in your life that change how you want your life to be, terrible and great things. Revenge or peace sometimes fuels people, y'know?" Geez, she was really rambling, Kushina thought to herself. She didn't know if she was good at being inspirational.

"And why did you want to become a Shinobi?" The curiosity in his voice was radiant.

Answering a question with another question. "Well, I can't say I started off with a reason, but with time you find your it. When I ask myself now why I'm a ninja. I say to myself, 'to make the world a better and safer place for the people I care for.'"

Naruto looked at the ground and then to his fist. He had always wanted to be a ninja. Not because he wanted to be cool, or because others told him to. It was always something he wanted to do, he looked back at her. What could he possibly reply with?

"That's a really nice reason, Kushina-san," he replied with a real smile.

"Hey! I'm the one supposed to say that," Kushina said playfully. She wouldn't pry about his reason, he was still too young to truly find out for himself. He tried to hide his embarrassment.

But once he had composed himself, he looked at the sky and saw the sun was already leaving. He didn't really care too much what the orphanage worker thought of where he was, but he would rather go straight to sleep than endure a lecture.

"I apologize, Kusina-san, but I have to go back home. They're really strict with being late, especially at night." He said with a bow

He was right, it was already near night, and she didn't want to be the reason for Naruto getting in trouble. She had almost forgotten the whole point of this meeting in the first place. He was waiting for her to dismiss him.

"Wait a second, let me ask you something. You know, your potential in Kenjutsu is something else. It would be a shame not to develop more. I could help you with that." His potential overall is impressive, but better to focus on Kenjutsu for now.

"Kusina-san it would be an honor, I'll find time after the Academy."

"You wouldn't need to go back there anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"What I'm saying, Naruto, Is that I'd like you to be my apprentice."

/

Dinner at the Uzumaki household were fairly peaceful unless Sasuke made Menma very angry. But very often the Uzumakis enjoyed what Kushina had made, and when they were feeling celebrative, they would enjoy a nice tasty Ramen. This was one of those nights.

"Mmm, this one tastes soo good," Menma said with a mouth full of food, clearly happy.

"Menma, don't talk with food in your mouth!"

"Sorry," He replied meekly.

One of the advantages of being a Ninja was that Takeout food was still warm when you got home. The faster you get home, the warmer and better the food tastes.

"So how was he, Naruto I mean," Menma asked, already almost finished with his bowl. He was a little bummed out when he found out Naruto's team failed, he put up a good fight when they spared.

He was a little weird, but who wasn't anyway. In the rare times he listened in History class, he remembered there being some big-time weirdos, but they were strong ninjas, though.

"He was good, he's my apprentice now."

"Oh, that's cool." The last bite of a delicious meal was always the best. Menma would always save one piece of every ingredient, and eat them all together. He collected them all and took a big bite.

"HE'S YOUR WHAT!" he shouted, standing up from his chair, with his mouth left open. Bits and pieces of his food nearly dropping onto the table covers from his mouth. It took a second, but her words finally reached his brain.

"Menma Uzumaki, you better not get this table dirty!" She shouted with fiery temper.

"Oh, um, sorry," he apologized, sitting back down. He was already in trouble getting the couch dirty the night before, he didn't want to add to his trouble. But he was shocked, he'd thought she was just checking up on him. To make sure he wasn't down in the dumps.

"Is there something wrong?" Kushina asked in confusion. He was never this loud unless someone annoyed him.

"No, nothing. I was just surprised, y'know."

"Now that we're talking about this. Tell me more about him from the academy." She wanted to know more about him before graduation.

"Shouldn't you have asked that before making your apprentice?"

"Well too late" she sighed, but she wasn't worried about her choice. She had a gut feeling it would all work out.

"Okay, let me think," Menma said while tapping his finger on his chin. "Naruto

won against me that one time, wait no, that was Sasuke." A scowl grew on his face.

"That fight was so stupid. Sasuke was cheating somehow, I know it. I wanted to tell Iruka-sensei but I didn't want to seem like a sore loser. To this day I still don't know how he hid-"

"Menma, what about Naruto." Kushina reminded him. It was funny how much Menma said he hated Sasuke's guts but kept on talking about him. A good rival can do that.

"Oh, yeah. He's good, but we only really fought early on in academy days, so I don't know much."

"How about outside of sparring, did you ever talk to him?"

"No, I really didn't. Only one time during a group project."

"Hmm." Kushina knew Menma was very popular and tried to make friends with anyone. She was surprised he didn't talk to Naruto much. She let thought flow away, she would ponder on it later.

They let a comfortable silence settle as they continued their second bowl of food. She should savor these moments. Team 7 would leave one day for their first real mission. There would be days they wouldn't be able to do this anymore. Dinner where she was here alone, or days where neither she nor Menma would be home. She didn't know why an empty house made her feel melancholic. Thankfully Menma broke her train of thought.

"Mom, how long do teams stay Genin?"

"It depends on the teammates."

"Like how they work together?"

"Yeah, that's the most important part, if a team can trust each other." She thought of Naruto's team, and how it imploded.

"How was your team?" She asked, she knew that Sasuke was in it, but she didn't know much about the third person.

"Good, buut." Menma looked annoyed, she really didn't need to guess the reason.

"I swear Sasuke uses all his power to annoy the hell out of me." He was already standing up from his chair and moving his hands in frustration. "You know what he did today! Me and Sakura were talking about something and then he jumped in and.."

Kushina giggled throughout the story.

Nights like these may be rarer, but at least this night was guaranteed.

/

It was dark, and the stars and the silence of the streets made Naruto think more clearly. He laid on the roof of the orphanage.

"To make the world a better place.."

"Do I care for anyone?"