Chapter 37

One week had passed by since Naruto's blunder with clones and many things had happened in this time for his clone.

He had learned a lot about Mary and she had become a good friend along with some of the other neighbors.

Even in this difficult time with limitations, Naruto lived freely following his desires as he connected with the people around him.

Helping them out in the smallest of things like moving items, letting them borrow some things, give them a conversation partner and giving them advice when needed.

In one week he had managed to connect neighbors that didn't even know each other. His positivity was contagious and people followed some of his steps as it became easier to interact with each other.

There depressing lives had found some light and they quite enjoyed their time with Naruto after work.

Especially when they could share their problems and burdens, letting out the painful memories to lighten the heart.

But not everything was sun shine as Naruto some time had to sleep on a hungry stomach as he couldn't properly support his physique.

His powerful body required a lot of nutrition and with his limited finances, it was a difficult step.

Even then he shared his resources with the less fortunate around him who had children to support.

They were having difficulty supporting themselves but children made it even worse for them.

Choices were important and sadly their choices had led them here but that didn't mean nobody could help them reach a better destination or they couldn't hit an opportunity.

Sadly not everyone could reach that state of achievement and Naruto saw it clearly, here and there.

His desire to change the negatives of the world only get reinforced the more pain he saw the people go through or the pain he had experienced.

He knew the pain of loneliness, pain of hatred, paid of loss, pain of powerlessness and so much more.

How could he want these things on others when he didn't want it himself?

Desire for others what you want for yourself was his way and Naruto fed the neighbor living with a little boy.

He had heard the cries of the little child about food and rushed with what he had.

The single dad had definitely not expected it and was expecting complains about noise but Naruto passed him the food while convincing him that he had enough so it was no problem to share some of his supplies.

It wasn't wrong because if he had a normal body than he wouldn't be going even a little bit hungry since he had made enough friends to share his burden with him but he never ate more than normal with them.

According to the data, more than 42 million people now suffer from hunger throughout the nation. The fact remains that nearly 1 in 7 Americans still goes to bed hungry each night.

That was a really painful reality and it hurt him deeply since he had experienced hunger for a time. Only the saving grace of kindness of the Ichiraku family saved him.

These kinds small kindness shown along the way showed him that only a little bit of kindness from people could do so much more than people think.

Some of the most evil men only needed some kindness in their life to lead them away but life was cruel and the people even worse.

Talking about people's negative emotions, Naruto was fired from his job accused of not doing his job properly.

One of the cleaners had left the premises without permission and missed a room so one of the officers took the chance to blame it on Naruto because of perceived arrogance and pride by the new cleaner.

Naruto was a smooth talker and got along with people. He stood out even when his job was in the background.

This led to many people liking him and some people disliking him.

They thought he was arrogant and prideful.

He didn't know his place and was ruining the reputation of their employees by conversing with them.

The employee who was the actual culprit learned about this but didn't step up because he really needed the job and Naruto knew about it so he didn't speak up.

"Everyone can make a mistake and I doubt you haven't made any. In my short time here I believe my work has been stellar. Could you not find any kindness in your heart to give me another chance?"

His tone and expression pretty much had the man the fuming so Naruto was thrown out but he went out with dignity.

Saying his farewells to everyone and even talking with the employee to not worry about it. He was just leaving the job, not breaking ties with the people.

They knew him and he knew them.

His positivity and style was unforgettable.

Regardless of the job loss, Naruto talked to his friends here and got one of his neighbors recommended for the morning shift while he moved on to another job he had looking at already.

He never planned to stay in one place so he had been searching for something better and Naruto found a good job.

A Japanese restaurant that needed someone that spoke Japanese to work in their kitchen.

Naruto wasn't some professional cook or anything but his cooking was above average since he had been cooking since many years.

He knew many of the dishes so it won't be a problem for him to adjust. Fortunately there wasn't any certificate requirement or he would have to choose another one.

Plans weren't always going to succeed and Naruto ended up getting a job as a door to door salesman because of his talking skills.

It was job introduced to him by the cook since he liked the way Naruto talked and Naruto agreed to try it out.

Following the random path, Naruto found himself dressed in a borrowed suit from his neighbor and knocking on doors selling house appliances for a new company.

Naruto had read all the details properly and made notes.

Talking with the interviewer with a proper method, Naruto had managed to show his worth. He was lacking some skills but his way of talking was very engaging and made people want to listen to him.

It felt like he was going to give out some wisdom.

For the job they told him the details and the area of interest but Naruto didn't really trust these things 100% since people made mistakes.

So he didn't go directly to the houses and dressed casually as he ended up talking to the people in the area with the finances and proper houses.

He utilized his talking skills to pull him through and find the people that might be interest and guide them to try out his products.

Obviously the first day was spent just gathering data and he didn't sell anything but he managed to impress the people with his step as they hadn't expected him to get a sale on the first day either since he was a noob.

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Getting back from work, his neighbors had decided to join him for the night and drink while cracking some fun.

Mary would always join in and then he got together with some dudes called Clark, Ralph and Terry.

These were the closest to him in this week but he had managed to get close to others as well. They were now a group and even shared the costs for something's to make life easier for each other.

Naruto had even talked about making his room into the fun room where people could gather when they wanted while he could stay with one of them.

The idea was well received and Mary had no problem with it except the guys didn't like it since they were very much enamored with her personality.

Regardless of their lecherous personality the guys were nice and fun to hang out with so today they were doing a skit while drunk.

Terry was a fan of the old anime series Yugioh and he managed to convince them after some shots to act.

"Since I seem to have fully recovered from my life-threatening coma, I'm gonna challenge Clarko to a card game." Terry said with a funny accent

"Wasn't playing a card game what put you in a coma in the first place?" Naruto played along

"Yeah, but like my dad said right before he died of alcohol poisoning: "What doesn't kill ya only makes ya stronger." Hey, Clarko."

"My name is not "Clarko"." Clark muttered as he took a sip

" Since we both lost in the semi-finals, we should Duel to see which of us deserves to win the bronze medal."

" Win the bronze medal? Ohoho, that's cute. I like it. Hilarious. You're a funny guy, Terry." Naruto laughed

"Terry's right. There are no real losers in Duel Monsters." Mary said as she felt this experience was unique with the addition of Naruto in their lives

He was making them do things hidden deep inside their hearts without feeling ashamed.

Naruto: Ha!

Clark: Ha!

Ralph: Ha!

"Ralph, why are you laughing?"

"Your hair looks like a box."

"Look, all I wanna to know is whether I got what it takes to beat you after all this time."

"Pfft, I'd be surprised if you have what it takes to beat Jerry." Clark held up the can

"I would kick your ass, white boy!" Jerry spoke in a squeaky tone

"Play nice, Jerry."

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" Poooooor Terry. Clark is going to slaughter him. I'd be surprised if he even broke a sweat."

"How would playing a card game make you sweat?" Mary asked and the answer got a chuckle from all of them

"Clearly you have never played the Dark Magician Girl."

"Don't go easy on me, Clark. Just 'cause I was in a coma and probably suffered extensive brain damage, that doesn't mean I'm not gonna give it my all."

" Trust me, Wheeler. Even if you did have brain damage, I'm sure none of us would treat you any differently."

"Good. Wait, what?"

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"I summon Gearfried in Attack mode, ya sonofabitch!"

"I activate Enemy Controller, you assclown!"

"Rich boy!"

"Hecker-wuss!"

"Money-bags!"

Idiot with blond hair!

I hate you!

I hate you a slightly larger amount!

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Finishing up the act and watching a movie to pass time, the gang slept while Mary and Naruto stood on the balcony looking down at the city.

"Your friend died."

"I know"

"I thought you would be down after knowing about it."

"Wallowing in tears isn't going to bring him back and I can just add him to the list of people I will bring back. I am worried about the dark atmosphere in the area. The news about vampires is spreading somehow and you can notice the fear in the people."

"What do you plan to do? Are you going to watch while the original does his job?"

"What are you implying?"

"What do you think?"

"You want me to act as a hero and join me as my partner."

"Bingo"

"You got too much time on your hand."

"Are you telling me your heart isn't asking for it? I thought your heart beat for justice and hope."

"I am already fighting for my goal in the regular way. I promised not to break laws in this form."

"Che so boring, enjoy your boring dreams than goldy locks." Mary slapped his back playfully and left the sausage fest

Naruto watched her go before focusing on the night sky.

He wasn't aware of the massive deaths but only knew about the deaths of some heroes so his mindset was still focused.

Looking at the night sky for a while, Naruto went to sleep since he had work to do and couldn't have his body hurting.

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On the other hand, his original was looking for a way to solve this problem as the cure wasn't found yet nor were the vampires.

Even though he was stressed out Naruto wasn't doing anything stupid or letting negativity grow.

He made time for others since he knew it was affecting everyone very badly but sadly the clones couldn't be used for this job since talking like this required deep thoughts.

In these times of death and depression, Naruto stood out along with Clark as a beacon of hope as they both did their best to keep everything under control especially Clark since he felt useless in this time but didn't show his problem.

Naruto also noticed some other important things after the deaths of friends. He kinda cared more for Kara, Raven and Veritas like he did for his mother.

'I guess its love.' Naruto felt happy that he found love but this was too complicated.

'Why is everything so difficult these days?'

'Where has the fun gone? Everything is becoming so depressing. I feel like i need to overwhelm everyone with my chakra to get them to loosen up to avoid making mistakes.'

'Don't forget about yourself. In such times you might make a mistake. You aren't infallible.'

'I have you for that.'

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