❹・Friendship

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The girl—Ayaka—seemed to be calm right now, thought Naruto as he heard the snores of his mentor, I wonder why she cried earlier. Shrugging his shoulders, he anticipated for the answer, possibly a no.

"Okay," she said, smiling. "But I'll have you know that I'm not used to this, uh, friend stuff. You're my first friend, after all,"

"And why is that?" Naruto noted that the girl subtly flinched but smiled nostalgically after wards.

"It's just that, well, after my mom died, my father nearly forgot about me. Normally, I stay cooped up in my bedroom and watch the outside world. It's a miracle that I was able to slip past my father and be able to reach the park without getting caught," explained the green-haired girl.

"It seems to me that you are implying that your father kept you locked up for certain reasons of his own," he responded in a tone laced with suspicion.

"N-No, that's not it,"

Naruto got the hint. "Ah. I apologize," he bowed slightly out of custom, causing the girl to flush slightly. "As it is a matter pertaining to your family and is clearly not my problem, I would keep myself from prying, Shimura-san,"

"Just call me Ayaka," the girl pouted. "Um, Naruto-kun was it? I was just wondering why are you here. Shouldn't you be in the orphanage?"

    "They kicked me out," responded the boy bluntly. "I'm staying over at a friend's place. Thankfully, neither of them seemed to be put out nor angry at my placement with them,"

   "Them?"

"My friend is a boy, and he had another friend staying in—though I highly doubt that they are just friends," Naruto lied. Ayaka's mouth formed an 'o', realization adorning her face.

"Well, I think they're very good people," she smiled. "What are their names, anyways?"

Naruto opened his mouth to respond, but closed it almost as fast as he opened it. He couldn't possibly say his parents' names, it'd be too obvious and suspicious. Plus, he was keeping up a lie in front of the Hokage, and saying a name would make the old man search for the person and keep a close eye on him.

"That's confidential," he decided to say instead.

"Oh," the girl seemed put down. He frowned a bit at the expression, but it turned into a scowl as the fox laughed in his head.

'Wow! You're really a clueless person, aren't you?' Naruto sighed and blocked the connection, smirking as he heard a hell of protest from his bijū. 'Ha. Serves you right,' he mentally sneered.

   "I see. Um, I guess I'll meet you tomorrow. . .?" Ayaka trailed off, uncertain. Naruto gave her a nod and that action seemed to brightened her mood.

   "Well then, goodbye, Naruto-kun!"

   Awkwardly waving, he muttered a "Goodbye," in return, but he wasn't sure that his new friend heard it.

   'Oooh~! Congrats, brat~ Now let's go back to your training,'

   'First, shut up. Second, whatever you say, sensei,'

...:::*:::...

   After the incident with Ayaka, Naruto decided to continue his training. The fox told him that the physical training was enough, and he needed to expand his chakra coils. Not that his chakra coils were small, but the fox said it was small for even a genin. So, obviously determined, the boy decided to meditate first to see how much chakra he had.

   He closed his eyes as he mediated on top of the Hokage Monument. He felt the powerful sensation, and pulled on it, not surprised when he felt himself being pulled into the recesses of his mind. Blue, red, and black chakra were combined together, swirling around. Although, they were separated into three by their color, running through his coils.

   Inwardly, Naruto felt confusion. He knew that blue was the common color for chakra, so he wasn't surprised, albeit disappointed as he felt that it was weak. The red came from the Kyūbi, of course it was dangerous and wild, but with the black one, he was drawing blanks. It was the most powerful out of the three, and he could feel it calling for him; to use it as he willed.

   He could see small particles of chakra entire his body. They were golden, and it hit him suddenly. He also had another set of chakra as well, but it was hard to locate; the gold color was barely visible, courtesy of the black chakra.

   Apart from his chakra, the boy could feel the energy in the air, and his chakra started to suck those energy particles and widen his chakra coils, with him not knowing. He could also feel the curiosity radiating from the fox inside him, and it caused him to wonder what got his attention.

   When he opened his eyes, he bit back a gasp. Everything was clearer than before. He could see the minuscule details up to entire terrain, with no problem on his part.

   'Brat. . .' said the fox slowly in his head. 'Do you know what just happened?'

   'I got my Sharingan?' he replied, although it sounded more of a question than an answer.

   'Yes, so you do know without a doubt. Uchihas,' Kurama said sarcastically. And apart from that, he has four types of chakra! The other two I can understand, but the black and golden ones are unheard of!

    Naruto paused. 'Hey. . .do you know why my chakra has four colors?'

    'No,' When the fox could feel the incredulousness coming from the boy through the link, he decided to elaborate. 'Honestly, I don't know. The blue and the red are obvious for the both of us, but the other two, well, I'm drawing blanks, although I have a suspicion about the black one,'

    'Well, what is it?' asked the boy curiously, intrigues as Kurama sighed. Both of them knew that there wasn't a subtle way to say it.

    'Demon magic,'

...:::*:::...

   It had been months since Naruto and Ayaka's meeting with each other. Everyday, they went to the park, played around and chatted. And for the first time, Naruto could say that he had his first friend.

   Ayaka had admitted that she didn't know her father very well; they were neither on good terms nor bad terms. They were neutral with each other, and didn't have the father-daughter bonding like most children do. Meanwhile, Naruto had admitted on knowing that he was a jinchūriki and was at least on par with a genin, which was surprising for his age, but didn't reveal his knowledge of his heritage yet. Surprisingly, Ayaka had smiled and congratulated him, replying that she was training to be one for half a year already, and said that she was on Chūnin-level as she had an ANBU for a tutor.

   At the mention of that, Ayaka and Naruto started training each other, with the latter catching up to the former in a matter of hours. Shocked at his progress, Ayaka laughed and joked about him being a genius, to which he blushed about.

   In his head, though, Kurama was glad that his jinchūriki had a friend, but was happier that he didn't have to "babysit" the boy anymore. He started to go back into the lazy, sarcastic fox he once was; which caused his jailer of groan.

   For Naruto, the days were passing by quite nicely, and for once, he was enjoying his life as a jinchūriki.

---
Know it's short so forgive meeee.

K, bye.

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