He recognized Time Red's voice as Tatsuya's. And then of course when Tatsuya's helmet was busted open there was no doubt who Time Red was. And when he heard Takku telling the Timerangers to search for the V-Rex's control device, he determined to find it, get control of the wild robot and return to the City Guardians too powerful to ignore. What he didn't know was that the control device would turn him into a Timeranger, and that there were other responsibilities that go along with that, than simply working for the Asami Group.

The first thing he had to learn was not to try to kill the enemies, as those were merely escaped prisoners, not really monsters. It took Sion's raw determination to get through to Naoto, when a friendly prisoner's life was in danger and Naoto soon takes it to heart. He has since been forced to a form of choice. Naoto is always feeling excluded. He controlled and guided the City Guardians under the watchful eye of Mr. Asami. He himself kept a watchful eye on the Timerangers. Perhaps at first he was spying on them, but he came to think himself their guardian, in a way. He began to let himself get drawn close to them. Naoto had followed and been in hearing range when Tatsuya was forced to tell the others that Ayase was dying. His affection was in part because of an instinctive empathy for Ayase. When Mr. Asami was in the hospital, the former captain of the City Guardians betrayed Naoto and the Asami Group scientists altered the V-Commander to remove the voicelock that belonged to Naoto. Naoto had two pet birds and gave them to a neighbor girl when he moves out of the apartment. When Naoto came back, the Zenith came and threatened the girl, Naoto jumped in the way and was wounded, eventually dying.