I do not own Naruto or any of it's characters.
In the middle of the night two figures could be seen quickly running through the Konoha forest carefully so nobody would see or detect them since this mission was top secret. In a few hours they would be in Kusa near the area where their mission would take place and they had no intentions of stopping. All you could hear was the sound of the nightly wind blowing the leaves on trees that helped keep both of these ninjas from being heard by anybody they passed. Neither wanted to talk right now as they were both focused on getting to Kusa and waiting for their mission to start.
The night before was still fresh on their minds, but it was mainly Kushina who couldn't wrap her mind around what they just did. She knew it had to be done, but she ultimately wished it never came to that. Menma didn't even know what happened to him after his talk with Naruto, but he still carried on like he usually does and it was worse when Minato told him he was suspended again. Minato told Menma that the third time he gets suspended he'll be removed from the ninja program and relegated to a civilian, losing his clan heir status. This time to keep him in check, Minato placed a tracker seal on Menma without him knowing and basically put him on house arrest for his suspension. Few hours went by for both ninja and they finally reached their destination.
"This is the spot." Naruto said
"Anybody close by?" Kushina asked
"No. It's just us." Naruto said
"When are they supposed to be here?" Kushina asked
"Tomorrow night." Naruto said and she nodded
"We'll set up camp here, but keep the fire to a minimum." Kushina said
"No need for that. I can cast a wide range genjutsu with my sharingan that keeps us undetected. People will walk through here, but won't see anything other than a regular forest." Naruto said
"Do that." Kushina said and Naruto activated his sharingan
"It's done." Naruto said and they set up camp
"Funny. This is the first time we're actually camping together." Kushina said
"Yeah and before you started to help me train I never thought I'd ever spend time with you." Naruto said and she raised an eyebrow
"What's that supposed to mean?" Kushina asked
"Just what I said." Naruto said
"Care to explain?" Kushina asked
"Sure. When we were growing up it was clear that you favored Menma and Narumi more than me." Naruto said
"That's not true. I cared about the three of you the same." Kushina said
"No you didn't. I understand now why you were like that, but before everything changed you were just Menma needs this, Narumi needs that, Menma should do this, Narumi would like that, I wonder if Menma would be okay with this and I wonder if Narumi can use this. Not once did you ever stop to ask me if I wanted something or if I would like something." Naruto said
"I knew you liked books and it's not like you tried. You were always distant towards us and spent most of your time with Mikoto." Kushina said
"Because she actually sat down and wanted to know me. You didn't even show up to the hospital after I was attacked before our fifth birthday and didn't bother to check on me when you finally saw me." Naruto said
"I didn't know you were in the hospital until after it happened." Kushina said
"That's a lie. Mikoto told me she had Shisui go tell you what happened to me." Naruto said
"Naruto, I never talked to Shisui the day you were attacked. I didn't see him until the party." Kushina said
"Were you even worried that I wasn't home? Let me guess, the party was too important because you had the clan head coming and Minato was announcing the clan heirs." Naruto said
"I was worried every time I saw you leave the house. I always had a shadow clone following you until it was always you going to see Mikoto. I figured you were with her and I trust her more than anybody else to look after you. I looked for you before the party to ask if you wanted anything specific, but you weren't in your room and I saw a bunch of books. Listen, Naruto. Mikoto pulled me to the side and pretty much grilled me about how I was towards you the day before you started the academy. I was focused on Menma and Narumi personally while watching you from a distance. She told me that you personally asked to be added into the Uchiha clan to feel wanted. Is that true?" Kushina asked
"Yes. I was distant and even when I was around everyone was focused on Menma and Narumi gushing over them. So I asked what it would take to become part of the Uchiha clan. They always asked me how everything was going and what I was up to for the day. Sure they knew I wasn't an Uchiha by birth, but they respected me for going through the trial to actually become an Uchiha." Naruto said
"Why didn't you ever say anything?" Kushina asked
"Because everytime I would say I wanted to talk to you, I would get told to hold on because my siblings needed something and I would wait hours or days to finally talk to you. Minato was out of the question because he barely knew I existed, fuck Jiraiya and Tsunade was always out traveling or focusing on Narumi. Hell, up until she died, Mikoto was more of a mother to me than you were and you birthed me." Naruto said and Kushina looked down
"I'm sorry. I was just caught up in the whole child of prophecy thing until Mikoto talked to me and that night I decided I would be more hands on with you. I mean I watched the stars with you, helped you with your fuinjutsu and even just walked around the village with you." Kushina said
"I appreciate that, but it would've meant a lot more had you done that yourself and not needed somebody to tell you to do it. Mikoto stayed with me in the hospital for two days and you never even came looking for me." Naruto said
"Naruto, I've only known that you go to the Uchiha district and back home. Sometimes I even know that you stay there overnight if it's too late for you to come back. My question is why didn't she send a shadow clone?" Kushina asked
"Because she couldn't. You don't understand how much blood she had to offer me in order for me to live. I lost over 50 percent of my blood that night and Mikoto nearly died trying to save my life. She physically couldn't make a shadow clone or leave the hospital. Your motherly instincts must've sucked when it came to me because you could sense Menma and Narumi were in danger from like 2 miles away, but nothing when it came to me. Do you think I didn't want my actual mother in my life? You didn't even give me the book on my birthday out of your hands or even tell me happy birthday. You had Mikoto give it to me and I bet I know why you didn't." Naruto said and Kushina was silent
"Yeah. Speechless is pretty much how I was when you basically ignored me growing up. That Uzumaki saying that family sticks together no matter what didn't mean shit to me for the first 6 years of my life. It should be called all Uzumaki that are special stick together no matter what. Narumi, Menma and Minato were all you were concerned about really just brushing me off because I'd rather spend time with Mikoto. It never once popped in your head to just sit down and talk to me all because of some stupid prophecy." Naruto said
"Naruto, listen to me. I really did care about you and I still do, I just didn't know how to approach you. You're just different from Menma and Narumi. They were easier to talk to while you just had this Kakashi look going for you. A blank face that seemed uninterested in everything. I knew you were allergic to seafood, I knew you stayed on the roof late at night and you don't even know how much joy I felt in my heart when Mikoto told me that you were interested in fuinjutsu. I always wanted to spend time with you, but your brother and sister were so needy growing up that I forced myself to focus on them. Your fuinjutsu lessons gave me an outing to spend time with you and then kenjutsu lessons became part of our training. The night of the Uchiha massacre I was terrified because I didn't know where you were and I couldn't find your chakra signature. I spent the entire night looking for you myself with nobody around and nearly lost it until you came into the house. I thought my first child had left me so early in his life that I didn't know what to do with myself. I just lost my best friend that night and I just couldn't lose one of my children as well." Kushina said and wrapped Naruto in a hug
"That's when I knew you actually cared about me and not just showing sympathy with my training." Naruto said
"What do you mean?" Kushina asked
"Around that time I was still getting used to my sensing ability and I could read a few emotions based off of someone's chakra flow. Yours were pure love after the fear went away and then I heard what you said to Jiraiya. You don't know this, but you're responsible for me not being like Sasuke or Menma." Naruto said
"What do you mean?" Kushina asked
"The Uchiha clan's sharingan is also known as the eyes that reflect the heart. The sharingan grows more powerful with the emotion you're feeling. If you hadn't spent time with me and got me out of my phase at the moment, I would've fallen into the curse of hatred." Naruto said
"That's just a myth." Naruto said
"It's only a myth because it really only happens to members of the Uchiha clan who's sharingan reach a certain level." Naruto said
"Has yours reached that level?" Kushina asked
"Yes, but I don't use it. Had I been fueled by my hatred of the massacre towards the person who killed Mikoto, I would be public enemy number two behind Itachi, but you came in and made sure I didn't fall into that darkness." Naruto said
"So, you're sharingan is fueled by what emotion?" Kushina asked
"Happiness, love, serenity, amusement and hope. That and I only surround myself with people who genuinely care about me. I know it's a double edged sword, but I'll just remember the good times instead of being stuck on hatred if I were to lose one of you." Naruto said
"What do you mean by a double edged sword? All those emotions are a good thing." Kushina said
"When a man learns to love, he must bear the risk of hatred." Naruto said
"Right." Kushina said
"You don't have to worry about me being like that though. I have you and Shizuka to keep me balanced, I guess you can say." Naruto said and Kushina smirked
"You like her, don't you?" Kushina asked
"Really? That's what you took from that?" Naruto asked
"You're not denying it." Kushina said
"Now isn't the time." Naruto said
"You're right, but I do need to say something." Kushina said
"What is it?" Naruto asked
"I'm really sorry about how I made you feel and not being a good mother the first five years of your life." Kushina said
"Don't worry. 7 years of being a good mother sort of outweighs 6 years of being a bad one. As I got older I understood that you were a new mother as well and didn't really know what to do." Naruto said and she smiled
"You're right." Kushina said
"Can I bring up something that's been bothering me?" Naruto asked
"Sure." Kushina said
"Mikoto brought this to my attention and I just remembered it during our talk. She told me that at the party she had a brief conversation with Jiraiya and he mentioned the attack on me. Of course he said something rude which she nearly killed him for, but up until I told you, only me, Mikoto and Shisui knew about it." Naruto said
"You think Jiraiya set it up?" Kushina asked
"No, but I do think he's the reason you never spoke to Shisui. What if he intercepted Shisui on his way to tell you and just kept it from you?" Naruto asked
"Why would he do that? It doesn't make sense." Kushina said
"Well, he does think Menma and Narumi are the children of prophecy. What if he thought I'd get in the way and would rather sacrifice me to fulfill the prophecy? I mean he basically wanted you to forget about me to focus on them and Minato is just wrapped around his finger." Naruto said
"I mean given how focused he is on this prophecy it's possible, but we'd have to gather evidence. I can't just kill him on a gut feeling." Kushina said
"Shisui did keep a journal about important events in his life and I'd assume that day was pretty important. Maybe I can look for that journal to see if he wrote about it and then confront Jiraiya about it." Naruto said
"I would say no, but I know you'll do it anyway. Just don't get caught sneaking into the Uchiha clan district." Kushina said
"I got it. What are you going to do if I'm right about him?" Naruto asked
"Oh I'm going to kill him." Kushina said
"What do you think Minato will do?" Naruto asked
"Now that is the million ryo question. I have no idea how he'd react, but he better let me kick Jiraiya's ass." Kushina said and looked up at the sky
"Maybe we should get some sleep. It's late and we need to rest up for the mission tomorrow." Naruto said
"Yeah. Goodnight, Naruto." Kushina said and gave him a hug
"Goodnight, mom." Naruto said and she smiled
Next night
Following the heart to heart conversation between them, Naruto and Kushina really spent the time training, laughing or making plans on how to go about the mission. Of course they finally settled on one and it was a typical Kushina Uzumaki plan. They were just going to wing it and see how it goes from there. Eventually they saw a dark haired man dragging a red-haired girl by her hair and tossing her into the door at the house they were waiting at.
"Tomorrow, you'll do the same exact thing. We have more wounded coming in and I don't want any complaints." The man said
"If I'm supposed to help them, why do I have to stay out here? It'll take us a day to get back and then you'll just blame me for people dying." The girl said and he kicked her in the face
"You're an outsider! You live outside of the village!" The man said and threw her into the house before leaving
"Ready to go?" Naruto asked
"Let's do it." Kushina said and landed in front of the door
"Should we knock or just go in?" Naruto asked
"You obviously knock. You can't just walk in on a girl. She's probably naked and we're basically kidnapping her." Kushina said
"If we're kidnapping her then what's the point of knocking?" Naruto asked and Kushina knocked
"We should've come up with a better plan." Kushina said and the girl opened the door
"Yo." Naruto said and Kushina smacked him upside the head
"That's not how you greet somebody. Hello, there." Kushina said
"Who are you?" The girl asked
"Somebody here to help you get away from this place and live with the remaining members of your clan." Kushina said and her eyes went wide
"M-My clan?" The girl asked
"Yes. I'm Kushina Uzumaki-Namikaze and this is my son, Naruto Uzumaki." Kushina said
"Sup." Naruto said and gave a two finger salute
"I-I'm Karin. How'd you find me?" Karin asked
"We actually stumbled upon your existence on a mission and somebody planned on kidnapping you before selling you to somebody else. We're here to offer you a home and better life away from all of this. Plus, with the help of Tsunade Senju, we can get rid of all of those bite marks from your heal bite ability." Kushina said
"What do I have to do? I know you want something." Karin said
"I just want my family to be whole and since you're an Uzumaki, you count as my family as well." Kushina said
"Yeah. What she said." Naruto said
"Even if I wanted to leave, I can't. There's a tracking seal on my neck. They'll know where I am." Karin said and Kushina cracked her knuckles
"Piece of cake. A tracking seal is child's play for an Uzumaki. Turn around." Kushina said and Karin turned around
"Will you abuse me like they did and force me to use my ability?" Karin asked and flinched when Kushina broke the seal
"No. Our medical team is quite capable of handling things and Naruto here is coming up with a way to combine fuinjutsu with medical ninjutsu to cut down casualties. You don't really have to be a ninja if you don't want to. You can just be a regular civilian." Kushina said
"Can we leave now? He'll be back tomorrow morning." Karin said
"Sure. Hop on." Kushina said and Karin climbed on her back
"Should I blow up the house?" Naruto asked
"Wait!" Karin said and packed a few things inside of a large bag
"Here. I'll seal the bag away for you." Kushina said
"Thank you." Karin said
"Alright. Blow it up and catch up with us. We need to get out of here quickly." Kushina said and took off running
"Hmm. Small house." Naruto said
He placed explosive tags all around it and then blew it up after he was a safe distance away. He eventually caught up with Kushina and they traveled back to Konoha in silence only stopping for bathroom breaks and to get Karin some food since she didn't eat.
Uzumaki-Namikaze estate
"Woah. This is where you live? This place is huge." Karin said
"Well, I live here. Naruto moved out." Kushina said
"Why would you ever move out of this place? It's perfect." Karin said
"You'll find out soon enough." Naruto said
"Well, let's go inside. You can take Naruto's old room, but we'll have to go buy you some stuff later. It's completely empty." Kushina said and they entered the house
"What about my bite marks?" Karin asked
"Tsunade should be back next week and I'll let her know what's going on." Kushina said
"Mom? Who is this?" Narumi asked
"This is Karin Uzumaki. She's going to be living in Konoha." Kushina said
"She hasn't met Menma yet, has she?" Narumi asked
"No." Kushina said
"Good. Because he's even worse since he's on house arrest." Narumi said and Minato came into the room
"You're back already? I wasn't expecting you to be back for a few more hours." Minato said
"Well, we blew up the house she was staying in to make it look like she was dead. We had to move quickly." Kushina said
"You could've just buried the house with an earth ninjutsu." Minato said
"Oh yeah. Oh well. This is Karin." Kushina said
"I'm Minato Namikaze. The fourth hokage." Minato said
"Why are you wearing a pink apron?" Karin asked and Kushina snickered
"Well, I was preparing some lunch for Narumi and I, but I guess I'll have to make extras." Minato said
"I can understand that, but why pink? Not saying that there's anything wrong with it, but I never pictured the yellow flash would cook wearing a pink apron. Kind of ruins the image, y'know?" Karin asked
"He said he likes the pink one because it's comfortable. That's supposed to be my moms, but he took hers and she wears his." Narumi said
"Can I leave?" Naruto asked
"You aren't staying for lunch?" Minato asked
"Do you not remember the last time I stayed over, Minato?" Naruto asked
"No you can't leave. We have to talk to Minato about your suspicions." Kushina said
"About what?" Minato asked
"In private. Narumi, can you show Karin Naruto's old room? That's where she'll be staying and please try to avoid Menma. I don't want my house destroyed again. Speaking of that, where's Shizuka?" Kushina asked and they heard a loud crash followed by Menma's scream
"Beating up Menma again. Honestly mom. His mouth is just too much and he's making lewd comments towards her now." Narumi said and the crashes got louder
"Will you please stop them? This is really important right now." Kushina said and then Menma came flying into the room
"You motherfucker!" Shizuka said, as she walked up to him with a kunai
"Aren't you going to stop her?" Narumi asked and looked at Naruto
"Why me?" Naruto asked
"She likes you and listens to you the most outside of mom." Narumi said and he sighed
"Fine. Shizuka, if you stop, I'll take you out on a date." Naruto said and she stopped
"W-What?" Shizuka asked
"Yeah. You can be my date for the summer festival in a few weeks." Naruto said
"You better not be lying!" Shizuka said
"Have I ever lied to you before?" Naruto asked
"No, but still." Shizuka said
"Fine. I'll take Hinata then." Naruto said and the room went cold
"What did you just say?" Shizuka asked in a deadly voice
"You heard me." Naruto said and took his mask off
"Oh wow. You're hot." Karin said and Shizuka grew a tick mark
"HE'S MINE. BACK OFF." Shizuka yelled
"SAYS WHO?" Karin yelled
"ME." Shizuka yelled
"Will you calm down? I'm just joking. I'll take you to the festival." Naruto said
"Isn't that like a month and a half away or something?" Kushina asked
"Yeah. The festival is a few weeks before the chunin exams." Minato said
"You better not stand me up." Shizuka said
"Whatever. Can we go and get this talk over with now?" Naruto asked
"Oh right. Let's go." Minato said
Minato's office
"So, what is it that you're suspicious about?" Minato asked
"Your sensei." Kushina said
"Jiraiya? Why would you be suspicious of him?" Minato asked
"Mikoto told me she talked to him at the fifth birthday party you threw." Naruto said
"A lot of people talked to him at that party. That isn't something to be suspicious about." Minato said
"No, but it's what he talked to her about that has me suspicious of him." Naruto said
"I highly doubt Jiraiya is suspicious." Minato said
"He knew about the attack that happened a few days before the party. Except I was under the impression that only myself, Mikoto and Shisui knew about it." Naruto said
"I'm not understanding how this is making him suspicious." Minato said
"Mikoto told Shisui to find mom and let her know that I was in the hospital after the attack." Naruto said
"I never spoke to Shisui until the party and he must've figured I already knew about the attack so he didn't mention it." Kushina said
"Did you see Shisui at all that night?" Naruto asked
"No. I sent Jiraiya to give him a mission for me." Minato said and then started to understand what was going on
"It's possible that when they met, Shisui told Jiraiya about the attack and to inform me about it, but he never did." Kushina said
"Are you sure you didn't forget?" Minato asked
"You think I'd forget if somebody told me my own child was fighting for his life in the hospital?!" Kushina asked
"No. I just can't see why he'd keep something like that from us." Minato said and put his head in his hands
"I know why. It's because of that prophecy. It's possible that he sees me as a threat to that prophecy and wouldn't care if I was gone. He could use my death to push you two further into making sure Menma or Narumi make the prophecy happen in a good way and bringing peace to the world." Naruto said
"Minato, let us look into this before we say anything to Jiraiya." Kushina said and Minato was silent
"I know Jiraiya and I know for a fact that he wouldn't be capable of doing something like that, right?" Minato thought
"Minato!" Kushina said and he snapped his head up
"Huh?" Minato asked
"I know it's hard for you to believe, but this is serious. If we're right about this Jiraiya nearly let our son die and if it wasn't for Mikoto, he would be dead. Let us look into this, please." Kushina said
"What do you need?" Minato asked and sounded so defeated
"We need permission to search Jiraiya's home and Shisui's as well. We'll need to look for anything that would put these pieces together." Kushina said
"Alright. Naruto can check the Uchiha district while you search Jiraiya's home." Minato said and Kushina placed a hand on his shoulder
"I'm sorry, Minato." Kushina said
"Yeah." Minato said and looked at Naruto
"I'm not apologizing. I didn't do anything wrong." Naruto said
"I want both of you to be honest with me. Do you think Jiraiya would be capable of introducing Menma to Danzo?" Minato asked and they just looked at each other
"Given that he's been against me my entire life and he possibly hid my attack from the two of you, I wouldn't put it past him if it meant the prophecy happens how he wants it to." Naruto said
"Maybe they cut a deal or something. Danzo would have the root anbu teach Menma ninjutsu and taijutsu while Jiraiya focuses on the nine tails chakra. They both get what they want. Danzo has somebody in our family on his side and Jiraiya helps him control the nine tails chakra. When is he supposed to come back?" Kushina asked
"He's not scheduled back until the chunin exams start." Minato said
"That gives us about two months to find whatever we can before I kick his ass and kill him." Kushina said
"Let me talk to him at least." Minato said
"You can talk to him, but he won't respond after I shove my foot down his throat." Kushina said and there was a knock on the door
"Come in." Minato said and it was Tsunade
"Tsunade? I thought you weren't supposed to come back for a few more days." Kushina said
"The chunin exams are starting soon and Narumi wants me to meet this Sakura Haruno. So I came back sooner." Tsunade said
"Welcome back." Minato said and it was dull
"What's up with him?" Tsunade asked
"Long story. Close the door." Kushina said and Tsunade nodded
"Talk." Tsunade said and Kushina explained everything making Tsunade's jaw drop
"That's what's going on right now." Kushina said
"I know I don't have a relationship of any sorts with Naruto, but I'd never do something like that even if I hated him like Jiraiya does." Tsunade said
"Thank you. That means a lot coming from somebody that's like a complete stranger to me." Naruto said
"You're really sarcastic, did you know that?" Tsunade asked
"It's possible." Naruto said
"Anyway, Jiraiya keeps his house protected with a lot of seals, but Kushina will get through them without a problem. He's a seal master, but nobody in this village is even close to Kushina in that skill." Tsunade said
"You might want to stay around if all of this is true. He'll need medical attention." Kushina said
"Why would I do that? Willingly letting a child die over some prophecy that was given to him by a toad that can't even remember its own name is not something I can get behind." Tsunade said
"This brings up another question, Minato. What are you going to do to Jiraiya if all of this is true? I mean I get you and Naruto aren't close, but he's still your son. Hell, he's our first born child. Granted that only lasted 30 minutes until Menma came out." Kushina said
"We don't know if it's true or not. I want to wait until I see if you can find something that proves he's guilty." Minato said
"Fair enough." Kushina said
"You all can leave. I need some space." Minato said
"Sorry, Minato." Kushina said and they left
"What would the past hokages do if they were in my shoes right now." Minato thought and just sat there
Jiraiya's house
Kushina waited until it was late at night to sneak into Jiraiya's house and start her part of the mission. She arrived and immediately found all of the seals made to protect Jiraiya's house, but she wasn't shaken at all. He had them all mixed up randomly to confuse somebody, but Kushina was an Uzumaki and she could break all of these and make it so he couldn't get into his own house if she wanted to.
She took her time going through his seals and breaking them to amuse herself before finally going into the house. The house looked like it was recently cleaned and that made Kushina suspicious that he's been in the village recently. She put up a barrier around the house to keep her chakra from leaking out and then let off a pulse of chakra to find any hidden compartments protected by a seal. She found one underneath his desk and when she opened it, lots of pictures fell out and so did his books along with some journals.
"That sick son of a bitch!" Kushina said
She was going through the photos and they were all pictures he took while spying on multiple women in the village as well as other villages. He had pictures of Anko, Kurenai, Tsume, Mikoto, Hana Inuzuka, Kushina, Yugao, Tsunade, Shizune, multiple women who worked at the brothel house in the red light district, a woman with auburn hair that she recognized as Mei Terumi and so many more. She sealed up everything she just found and put the house back to the way she found it before going to her house.
Shisui's apartment
Naruto wasn't having much luck at Shisui's home due to the fact that Shisui didn't keep much since he was a member of the anbu. His entire house was covered in dust which made Naruto thankful that he made sure to wear his mask this time. He searched the entire home only to see everything was burned. He even sent shadow clones to search all the other buildings, but nothing was found and when he was about to leave, he was surrounded by 20 root anbu.
"You guys again? Haven't I killed enough of you?" Naruto asked
"Our orders are to eliminate. Get him." The captain said
"Alright. Follow me." Naruto said and took off to the forest
"Don't let him get away." The captain said and they gave chase
Konoha forest
Naruto landed in the middle of a wide open clearing and then the twenty anbu landed in front of him. He unsealed two of his kunai and the anbu attacked in random patterns to throw him off. He took out 5 of them until they all came at once which proved difficult for him even with his sharingan active. He jumped over one and burned him to ashes with the Fire Style: Fireball jutsu before ducking out of the way from getting his head cut off. He pulled out his sword and before he could resume fighting, Kushina landed next to him.
"Looks like you could use some help." Kushina said
"Kill them both." The captain said
Naruto and Kushina both unsealed their swords to take out the remaining root anbu who stood no chance. Kushina would coat her sword in wind chakra to sharpen her blade and Naruto channeled lighting chakra through the blade to extend its range. Naruto and Kushina were back to back with two more anbu members. Naruto signaled for Kushina to get down and she nodded. Naruto channeled lightning chakra into his body then released it in a wave calling it the Chidori stream. The two anbu were hit by the attacks and their bodies stiffened up on them giving Kushina time a chance to finish them off for good.
"Well, that was interesting." Kushina said
"They were in the Uchiha district." Naruto said
"Why?" Kushina asked
"Like they would even tell me. They were there as soon as I left Shisui's home. Brought them here to fight so I wouldn't attract that much attention." Naruto said
"You caught my attention. I had a feeling you needed my help and I tracked your chakra signature here." Kushina said
"Right. Did you find anything? Shisui's place was covered in dust and the important stuff was burned. I tried to find any traces of chakra, but whoever did it must've used natural fire or a candle." Naruto said
"Boy did I ever find something. Get this. He's been here recently. His home was spotless like it was recently cleaned." Kushina said
"So he's been lying about being gone. I wonder what the hell he's doing on these so-called missions of his." Naruto said
"Let's go tell Minato." Kushina said and they vanished
Minato's office
"How long do you think he's been like that?" Naruto asked, as they saw Minato staring at the wall
"Since we left. Minato, we're back." Kushina said and Minato looked at them
"Let me hear it." Minato said
"Well, he takes pictures of women naked at the hot springs and keeps them. He even has pictures of me!" Kushina said
"Could've kept that to yourself." Naruto mumbled
"Shut it! It's pictures of women from different villages here as well. I have a few journals from him, but the most interesting thing to me is that his house was clean." Kushina said
"What's so bad about that?" Minato asked
"His house was recently cleaned. Like within the past couple of days, clean." Kushina said
"That's impossible. He's not even in the village." Minato said
"He's a spy master. He can sneak in and out of this village if he wanted to without being detected." Naruto said
"What about his journals?" Minato asked
"I wanted to wait until we were in the same room to read them." Kushina said and unsealed the journals
"It's only two of them?" Minato asked
"Yeah. They must be important if he had them sealed away." Kushina said and tossed him one
"Let's just get this over with." Minato said and they read through the journals thoroughly until Kushina found exactly what she was looking for
"I'm going to kill him." Kushina said
"What does it say?" Minato asked
Minato has tasked me with giving Shisui a mission to the border for a quick elimination of a few bandits. Something like this is beneath someone of Shisui's abilities, but he's the hokage. However, I bumped into Shisui who was looking extremely worried only for him to tell me Kushina's son was beaten within an inch of his life. I couldn't care less about this boy dying to be honest and it should happen. He's not the child of prophecy so he could possibly sway Menma or Narumi to cause destruction. I'll keep this from Kushina and the family as long as I live and hopefully I outlive them. That kid is nothing but trouble and I curse my sensei everyday for giving him the name of my character I created. Anyway, given what Shisui told me, the boy won't last through the night and I can use that to force Kushina into focusing harder on training Menma and Narumi. I notice how she watches Naruto from afar, barely paying attention sometimes and that can't happen right now. Menma and Narumi's training is a lot more important than Naruto's health. Why worry about one little boy when the fate of the world is at stake here.
"Maybe we should kill him slowly." Naruto said
"I agree. This one is dated back to about two years before you graduated." Kushina said
Menma's skills aren't progressing that much farther anymore and Narumi no longer trains with us, but she's ahead of him now. Minato is back in the office, Kakashi is back in the anbu and Kushina abandoned her children for that boy. I've secretly met with Danzo and he has agreed to help Menma train while I'm away in secret and I'll handle the nine tails chakra, but Menma is to keep his skills a secret. I don't know what Danzo will teach Menma, but he understands that he can't go too far or he risks releasing the nine tails and we can't afford to have that happen. Danzo has assured me that he will have some root anbu take out the boy and if they shall fail before I return to the village, I'll personally deal with him, making it seem like a foreign ninja attacked.
"I'm only thirteen. It's weird that a grown man is that obsessed with me when all I want to do is just live my life." Naruto said
"Minato, it's your call, but I know as soon as I see him I'm going off." Kushina said
"Just give me a few days to figure everything out." Minato said
"You have one week." Kushina said and left
"Naruto, you're pretty smart. What would you do if you were hokage and you were in my position right now?" Minato asked
"I don't know. I'd have to be in that position to see what I would do. Now you see how Itachi felt when he had to do what he did to the Uchiha clan." Naruto said
"You know?" Minato asked
"Yes I know the truth behind the massacre, but I understand certain things are best kept secret so I won't say anything. You saw what Itachi did and the Uchiha clan was his family. You need to ask yourself who is more important, the village and your family or your sensei." Naruto said and left
"Look at me. Asking for advice from a thirteen year old." Minato said and chuckled
"He says things like that and has no desire to become hokage." Minato said
Living room
"So, did you two find anything?" Tsunade asked
"Yeah. Oh and you might want this." Kushina said and gave her all the photos Jiraiya had taken of her
"Where did you get these?!" Tsunade asked and quickly put them away
"Jiraiya had them sealed away with his journals. He had some of me and pretty much every female in this village as well as other villages." Kushina said
"He's dead when I see him." Tsunade said
"Get in line." Kushina said
"So, how bad was it?" Tsunade asked
"It's pretty bad. Minato clearly isn't taking any of this well. He just looks so defeated and lost. I mean he was basically a father to Minato and this is how he turned out. I gave him a week to make up his mind on what he's going to do, but I'm still kicking Jiraiya's ass regardless." Kushina said
"What about Naruto? How'd he take it?" Tsunade asked
"He offered to kill him slowly." Kushina said
"That reminds me. Do you even know why Jiraiya hates him? From my understanding, Naruto doesn't even talk to him." Tsunade said
"It's like I said when we got into that argument on their first day at the academy. He resents Naruto because he's the complete opposite of him. Naruto's a prodigy and Jiraiya was the dead last of his class. Naruto has natural talent like his father and Jiraiya's upset because it's a lot more than he'll ever have." Kushina said
"Then what about Menma?" Tsunade asked
"I finally figured that one out. It has to do with Menma's way of thinking. He thinks Naruto's weak because he doesn't flaunt his skills or boast about them and Menma thinks he shouldn't be around. That and he's the student of Jiraiya who also hates Naruto so it's possible that some of Jiraiya's hatred of Naruto rubbed off onto Menma." Kushina said
"Then that makes things harder for you to change Menma's attitude." Tsunade said
"What do you mean?" Kushina asked
"That girl Karin has the mind's eye of the kagura ability." Tsunade said
"So does Naruto." Kushina said
"Yes, but there's something Naruto isn't telling you about the ability. Karin told me she sensed Menma's chakra in the house and it was dark with no amount of light in it. She said his chakra gives off pure hatred and malice." Tsunade said
"So Naruto knew about it all this time and he still hasn't done anything to Menma knowing there's no hope in saving him. Why though?" Kushina asked
"My guess would be because of you. I know the two of you are extremely close and he probably doesn't want to risk losing you if he were to act on Menma's actions." Tsunade said
"I don't want to run the risk of you hating me for killing my own brother and I don't want Narumi to think I'm some kind of monster. I don't want you to look at me how the village sees Itachi." Naruto said
"How long have you been there?" Kushina asked
"Long enough." Naruto said
"You think I'd turn on you if you were to kill Menma?" Kushina asked
"It's a possibility. Narumi, despite her changing over the years, still cares a lot about Menma and this situation isn't exactly hard to see who has to kill him if it goes that far. Narumi can't do it, you can't do it, Minato can't do it, Jiraiya can't and Tsunade can't. All of you have the power to do it, but each of you has a certain bond that will hold you back unlike me. I've never had a bond or any kind of relationship with Menma so I won't feel anything if I were to kill him. My only concern is your opinion of me changing from what it currently is to something completely different. Your opinion matters the most to me in this village and I think you know that." Naruto said
"Naruto, my opinion of you would never change." Kushina said
"Yeah. You say that now, but nobody will know for certain until it happens." Naruto said and walked away
"He's pretty wise for his age." Tsunade said
"Yeah." Kushina said and looked at the direction Naruto went
Minato was depressed, Kushina was out for blood and Naruto finally revealed his feelings about him growing up to his mother that he kept bottled up inside of him. It was going to be a rough couple of months for the Uzumaki-Namikaze family.