Chapter 2: Things to Discuss

"Twenty Kage Bunshin are more than enough," Minato told, with a small smile. "I require only one Kage Bunshin," he looked at his wife, "while Kushina will take the rest."

"That's right," Kushina crinkled her nose, imagining the noise a large group of Kage Bunshin would produce. "No need for an overcrowded party here."

"Got it," Naruto spoke, the smirk gone. Immediately, nineteen of her Shadow Clones went to her mother, while one went to her father. She was surprised, however, when she saw that her parents made a Kage Bunshin each and their Kage Bunshin starting to lead her Kage Bunshin away from them. "Eh?"

"We still need to continue to discuss your situation," Kushina sighed as she grabbed a hold of her daughter's hand. "Sit down, let the Kage Bunshin handle the training."

Naruto let out a nervous chuckle, "Don't tell me; I need to change more than my looks?"

"I know you're a sharp one," Minato let out a small grin as he spoke. He briefly shook his head when Naruto's face became resigned. He hurriedly assured, "But you don't need to."

Kushina quietly said, "That's right. Because currently, it's been only six years since our deaths."

Six years. Uzumaki Naruto was supposed to be six years.

Naruto glanced down and uttered, "So I don't need to change my name, right?" She raised her arms behind her head as she mutedly continued, "I didn't start pranking people until Sasuke got all gloomy and dark."

It was probably after Itachi murdered the Uchiha―excluding Sasuke―when she noticed that some villagers started to acknowledge her existence; some even go as far to yell at her to scram or go away. The bookstore owner near the edge of the village even saw the need to tell her off for sneaking into his bookstore. Gradually, it became a routine for the people around her to start calling her 'Naruto' when she was about nine.

Before that, everyone simply acted like she didn't exist. No matter what she did, they ignored it, like she was a ghost, a being that was invincible only to them. She figured that she didn't matter much to the people around her except for Hokage-no-jīchan. She even started to think that she didn't deserve to breathe the same air as them until Sasuke entered her life.

Once she noticed his dark eyes boring into her, with the hidden desperation and loneliness that he kept only to himself, he somehow became her goal, the person she aimed to surpass. Similar to Sakura-chan and Ino, Sasuke was her goal.

Although, unlike the two girls who always competed for Sasuke's attention, she had only wanted him to acknowledge that she was better. That she was stronger than him, that her method in handling the loneliness they both had was superior to his. She wanted to prove it to him that once she became Hokage, that; by goofing around and connecting to people instead of doing something as pointless as avoiding people or vengeance, were the correct way to channel all the horrible feelings they had bottled up inside.

As a result, she pushed him away; by acting like a total jerk that was easily triggered by his petty insults, which he spewed when he had just woken up from his coma. Only later on then Naruto learned a small fraction of what Sasuke had been feeling all this time when Ero-sennin―Jiraiya-sensei―died in a battle against Nagato.

When Sasuke went to Orochimaru in order to fulfill his ambition to kill Itachi, she knew instantly that she was wrong somehow, without knowing why. She knew she had repeatedly shoved her newfound strength in his face; not properly trying to have a bond with him. It made him went over to the edge and Orochimaru was just an easily accessible, useful power source for her friend to ignore.

Naruto realized one thing; she didn't need acknowledgments from the villagers the first time he tried to break the tie by putting his hand through her chest. She had wondered many times on her training trip with Jiraiya-sensei about her actions. She had wondered if it was possible for them to just have each other's company to survive the loneliness they similarly had. When her heart ached so much at the thought of him dying and being possessed by Orochimaru, she found that he became someone that can't be replaced, for he saw through her smiles, like she saw through his calm demeanor.

That was why she was prepared to die, to handle all the resentment and loneliness Sasuke still felt even when they battled Kaguya together. When Obito snatched her away from dealing with the Sasuke she knew, she couldn't think of anything else other than;

"I'm a failure," she unconsciously said, eyes closed painfully.

Kushina grabbed Naruto's hand and softly tighten her grip on it, trying to reassure her suddenly distraught daughter.

Naruto looked up to meet her mother's blue eyes. "Kā-chan." She smiled slightly, her erratic thoughts calming down considerably.

"I know it's a lot to take in for you, but we don't have much time," Kushina stated, with an apologetic smile. "We still have a lot to discuss."

Minato grimaced as he said, "The problem of keeping your name is going to be the 'Ne' side of the ANBU."

"A branch of ANBU called 'Ne'..." Naruto rubbed her chin. "Is that the Hokage-wannabe Old Geezer with bandages all over his body's organization or something?"

"Hokage-wannabe?" Kushina smothered a laugh with the back of her hand.

Naruto sheepishly smiled, "He was put as a temporary Rokudaime before Sasuke came and defeated him." She hesitantly added, "The guy had the nerve to order Itachi to kill his own clan. When Sasuke knew that from," she was reminded of the orange mask Obito had used before the Fourth Great Ninja War, "Obito, he went all crazy to avenge Itachi's sacrifice and then, boom! The Geezer failed to keep the Hokage seat. It's actually great because Tsunade-obāsan woke up in time to prevent any more temporary Hokage."

Sighing, Minato massaged his temples, "I know the circumstances from the conversation the Sandaime had with Sasuke-kun. The Uchiha had been planning for a coup. The Sandaime had put all his efforts to negotiate with them; which failed every time. Deeming it too late to stop them, Danzō was determined and planned to annihilate them by using the most Konoha-loyal Uchiha at that time," he exhaled, as he continued morosely, "Uchiha Itachi."

Kushina quietly gasped as the image of a quiet, reserved boy fresh in her mind. "Mikoto's eldest son, the little smart rascal..." She put her hand on her mouth. "To think someone in the higher-up would force him to eliminate his own kin," she spat, lips pursed as her face scrunched up in distaste.

"Even if he has the mindset to protect Konoha at all costs, Danzō's method in keeping peace inside Konoha is way too extreme," Minato lamented, sighing tiredly.

Naruto sighed, mentally exhausted, but forcing herself to ponder the nagging feeling in the back of her mind.

"Ah, that's right," Naruto exclaimed, her fist on top of her palm. "I remember that Itachi said something about that Danzō guy taking a Mangekyō Sharingan eye from his friend that he claimed has the same belief as me." Naruto shrugged when her mother pointedly asking her with her eyes. "I don't remember the name, though."

Minato looked above, trying to recall the recent memories the Yin Kurama had. It was easy for him to do that as his soul in the Shinigami's belly had the Yin Kurama's chakra sealed inside him. He informed his daughter, "If it's Itachi-kun's friend, Sandaime said it's Uchiha Shisui; the descendant of Uchiha Kagami, the only Uchiha in the Nidaime's Guard Platoon."

"That sounds awesome, but," she nodded to herself, "if that guy's alive, I don't want to meet him." Naruto shivered. "I practically ate his eye, dattebayo. It would be so weird to look at his left eye."

Kushina guffawed, hands clutching her stomach, "To think that I have received that particular memory of you swallowing that crow," she said, chuckling, "Minato and I only received the memories you held the most to your heart; or the most memorable for you to remember. It's pretty funny until the part where you gagged on the," she tapped her chin, "crow," she ended, lamely.

"I have a toad, a crow, and Iruka-sensei's letter shoved down my throat." Naruto grimaced. "And it's only Iruka-sensei's letter that I voluntarily swallowed," she said, caressing her throat and winced.

"Hmm, Naruto," Minato addressed out of nowhere. "Can you still use the Rikudō's Yang power?"

"The Rikudō-no-ōjīchan's?" Naruto repeated, baffled by the sudden change of subject.

"Your eyes are still orange with slits and the mark the Rikudō Sennin has given you in the 'future' are still on your..." Minato pointed at her hand, eyes on it as well.

Naruto scratched her cheek, looking down at her palm and then at her father. "Er..." She looked back and forth at her hand and her father, confused. "So?" she finally questioned.

"Why don't you try using it to change your looks with it? Rather than having a seal changing your DNA; which would not be an instantaneous result, I'd presume," Minato looked at his wife for a confirmation.

Kushina nodded, "Yes, it wouldn't be, and she will have to learn the jutsu Jiraiya-sensei taught me to speed up her hair growth because, once the red hair genes became dominant, it'll be only the roots."

Naruto was still staring back and forth at her father and the mark on her palm. "But Kaguya isn't in this timeline, why do I still have it?" she tilted her head, questioning him.

"I don't know about that, but how can you not feel the power?" Minato expressed, eyes slightly wide with surprise.

"It's... a familiar power that I don't feel that different. It was pretty exhilarating at first; feeling like I can change anything I want to..." Naruto blinked, pausing on that. She bonked her own head after the realization hit her. "Aww, man! Of course! God, I'm so stupid!"

In the background, a bunch of orange wearing Kage Bunshin were crying openly when a red-haired woman announced that they didn't need to learn the reversal DNA seal, which needed three hundred and sixty-four hand seals to perform, anymore.

Author's Note: So... faster update or longer chapter? Because this chapter is shorter compared to the first chapter.

I always read the review on the comment section. So; a review, please? You can even say harsh things because I actually wanted to improve my English and the way I write this story. Even though it's still only on chapter two, I think, if on average it has 2000 words per chapter, it would be like, more than one hundred and fifty chapters for this story. This is an adventure, after all.

See you!

-Tonegawa Rie

P.S. If anyone has suspicion that I'm holding back chapters, no. I write, and then I post. Yeah, sucks to be me, I guess.