AAAAAND, I'm back! With chapter no.3

This chapter took a really long time to write and post as I had multiple tests to tackle in between and now I finally found some time to write.

This chapter is gonna be amazing, even I was looking forward to this chapter as I had so much to write.

Anyways, thank you all so much for the comments as they really help me improve the quality of this story and as a writer as a whole.

Thank You, Wolf FallenSerpent, for the comment and I should be thanking you actually! Your suggestion helped a lot to improve my story.

Thank You, gunzen, and yes I think many people guessed it, Naruto and Kushina do have a romantic and incestuous relationship, in-fact there also gonna be my OCs as well that enter into an incestuous relationship with him. I am comfortable revealing it now.

Thank You, for your comment, it made me rethink my future plans for this story as initially I was planning a big chunin exam reveal for everyone, but now, I think I'll let Jiraiya and Yugao see Naruto without his mask.

Anyways…

READ ON AND ENJOY!


Konoha

2 Days to Chunin Exams

Naruto was feeling a bit lighter now. Why? You may ask. Well, a couple of things:

The past few weeks his training had been at its highest efficiency and that is not something he would ever say lightly, considering his shadow clones and mindscape training.

He not only received training from one of the SANNIN! But also from a trained kenjutsu specialist who happened to be an ANBU captain. Who also had become one of his precious people, his nee-chan.

And last but not the least, he had dropped his mask! Yes, he had dropped it in front of the two people who made the past month the happiest time of his life, i.e., ero-sennin and Yugao nee-chan. Now you might be thinking, how? How'd you do it? I thought you were never gonna do it?

Well, apparently hiding things from an ANBU and a sannin especially while they are training you in the things you are trying to hide from them, definitely does not bode well. Both had decided to confront him on his mask while collectively training one day.

(Flashback)

Training ground 17 was destroyed. Naruto had been training there for close to 4 hours and was ready to drop dead due to the intense training. He was literally running on fumes for energy and, guess what? A decent store of chakra left. At this point, the trio had learned not to question his chakra stores.

Though, while he was sparring with Jiraiya to wrap up the session, it was hard not to use his true skills. Sure, he would still probably get his ass busted up by the pervert, but, at least he could gain some ground and hold his own or at least try. Though while he was a bit busy at the moment due to trying to maintain a façade from a superior ninja while trying to fight said ninja while holding back, Jiraiya and Yugao were looking at him in concern.

While blocking a punch, Jiraiya made eye contact with the ANBU and both discretely nodded knowing each other's thoughts. They had both noticed the weird and random changes and unreasonable bursts of emotion on Naruto's face and both knew that he was holding back, the only question left unanswered was why?

"Hey Gaki, stop for a second," Jiraiya said while blocking an overhead kick. "What happened?" Naruto retreated. Jiraiya sighed, made eye contact with Yugao and both nodded. Though this motion did not go unnoticed by Naruto who narrowed his eyes, a sour feeling rising in his chest.

"Look Gaki, let's get some things cleared up. Firstly, all of us present, i.e., you as well know that you are holding back, stop doing that as I feel insulted. Secondly, drop the mask." Jiraiya sad while ordering the latter part in an authoritative tone. "What are you talking about I do not have a mask, or whatever it is you're talking about." Naruto tried to play dumb while subtly trying to look for an escape getting panicked.

Yugao tensed seeing the panic, then sighed and tried to convince Naruto, "Naruto, we both have years of experience in the field and have seen countless shinobi put up a façade, just like you, trying to bottle up their pain. Trust me it never works, now please Naruto drop it for your nee-chan."

Naruto looked at them, panic rising in his throat. He found himself backing away. That was his mask, while he loved them, that was still the one thing that had protected him for years and they wanted to take that away? Did they actually want him facing even more ridicule when he finds no control over himself due to the loss of his mask? Why was everything getting blurry? Why was it so hard to breathe?

Yugao's eyes widened seeing the actual panic attack incoming, she shouted his name running towards him seeing him fall down. Eight minutes later…

Splashhhhh…

Naruto groaned feeling cold and wet all of a sudden, he opened his eyes blinking slowly. Jiraiya and Yugao looked down on her lap to see an emotionless expression on the blonde's face, this shocked them as they had never seen such an expression on the blonde. Jiraiya looked at his once vibrant and pure sky blue eyes. They looked dead, having lost all their vibrance. How did Jiraiya discern all this you ask? Well, he had seen the same look on the faces of various veterans in villages. Shinobis, who had retired after seeing too much death.

'Those eyes man, they seen too much' Jiraiya grimaced internally

"Are you just going to sit there watching me all day or are you actually going to help me up?" Naruto said in a monotonous tone, though both experienced ninjas caught the hint of snark and sarcasm in it. They grimaced so this was the real Naruto

After a few moments, Jiraiya decided to test something else. While he was sure that the Gaki was around mid to high chunin before, now he was actually curious about it. "Gaki, now that you're going to stop holding back let's see how much you can truly push me." Naruto stared at him following which he got up and took a different stance this time.

It was his main stance, he decided to let loose this time. "Rules?" Naruto asked, "Anything's allowed until either one of us gives up or falls unconscious." Naruto nodded and tensed in his stance before launching himself at Jiraiya arm cocked back for a punch.

'This time it's different, that speed was at-least low to mid jonin.' Jiraiya thought. Naruto threw the punch with surprising force though it was blocked. While he followed it up with a roundabout kick turning his body in mid-air, Jiraiya ducked under it expecting Naruto to pass over without any obstruction and the momentum being the reason.

Naruto suddenly tensed then with great effort and abdominal strength he turned 180 degrees horizontally, while his right arm was extended then curled launching a downward punch straight at his head.

Jiraiya was disoriented for a few seconds due to the force of that punch and stunned due to the fact that an overpowered genin, but still a GENIN, had been able to hit him a SANNIN?

Naruto, wanting to take a breather due to the sudden immense pressure he put on his abdomen launched himself back and landed.

Both fighters stared at each other with a shocked audience staring at the blonde one. Both started going through hand-seals at high speeds. "Wind Style: Air bullet" Naruto inhaled while using chakra to expand his chest storing compressed air in it, then expelled it out in the form of bullets through chakra. "Fire Style: Great Fireball" Jiraiya expelled a giant fireball from his chest which while encompassed the bullets, was too slow to stop their speed. Thus the two attacks canceled each other out.

Naruto quickly threw three Kunais while going through hand signs, "Kunai Kage Bunshin no Jutsu", the three kunais multiplied into fifty overwhelming Jiraiya, who just smirked.

"Fire style: Phoenix Sage Flower", Jiraiya shot down around twenty of the kunais in the middle, creating an escape for him, Jiraiya then said, "Earth style: Earth Spikes", Spikes erupted from the ground below Naruto who… wasn't there anymore, rather a log of wood remained impaled.

Jiraiya's eyebrows shot into his hairline at the seal-less Kawarimi. Suddenly Naruto jumped and engaged him in Taijutsu, while Jiraiya quickly rendered him immobile, he smirked down at him but Naruto just smirked back while glowing and said, "Bunshin…Daibakuha"

Jiraiya's eyes widened while he jumped back though was hit a bit by the explosion. 'This Gaki's amazing, a few more years and he could hold his own against me at my best.', Jiraiya was forced to dodge as he heard a cry of "Lightning style: Lightning ball", this launched him into a boulder obstructing his path. He looked up to see a, seal! attached to the rock, he jumped right before the rock caught fire.

Jiraiya was pulled under where he landed when Naruto used it as a momentum to pull himself up with a cry of "Earth style: Double suicide decapitation". He landed smirking down at Jiraiya who was looking at him shocked.

"Guess the sannin aren't that strong." Mocked Naruto though Jiraiya just smirked then poofed in a plume of smoke, while Naruto felt the cold steel of a kunai press into his neck. "You're still years behind on touching me Gaki." Naruto looked at him shocked.

"When?" Jiraiya smirked and said, "When I went through your hail of Kunai, you're not the only one who can do seal-less clones." Naruto just nodded while looking at Jiraiya with something akin to respect. "Guess I'm still pretty we…" Naruto was interrupted by Jiraiya, "Stop it Gaki, you're not weak with all your skills, unpredictability, and adaptation, you could easily give high jonins a run for their money. Hell, the only thing stopping you from being high jonin is experience.

They both heard clapping behind them and looked to see Yugao with wide-blown eyes, "Damn Naruto didn't know you were holding back so much." Jiraiya chuckled then looked at him with a serious expression, "jokes aside, tomorrow you're going to stop holding back and give me an assessment of ALL your jutsus and skills, I will then train you in everything I can."

Naruto nodded but then frowned and asked, "Why are you so invested in training me, don't you have other things to do besides wasting time with me." Jiraiya winced at the indication of deep-seated issues, self-confidence, and worth being one of them, "Don't worry Gaki, this is good even for me and I don't have anything getting side-tracked."

(Flashback end)

Well, that was it. He had revealed all his skills to the two, needless to say, Yugao was proud while Jiraiya looked at him like a goldmine to exploit.

He had then brushed up and trained on all his skills, though this month had got him three main power-ups. One, his kenjutsu skills had gone up tremendously to the point Yugao had told him that he could potentially rival her in a few years.

Two, his fuinjutsu had gotten a boost under Jiraiya, he also had been brushing up his speed by a lot to try out an idea. He would reveal to everybody at the chunin exams, he had also developed a new powerful restraining seal that he incorporated into the trick.

Three, he had asked Asuma Sarutobi, about wind release for advice, while the jonin had been shocked at the question from a genin, he had still told him to imagine wind chakra as two halves grinding against each other like two knives sharpening each other. While that had helped him a lot, he had also wondered how one would imagine different forms of chakra whether fire, water, lightning, or earth.

After a lot of jutsus of each, he got a vague image further refined by his own imagination. This not only made all elemental jutsus easier, but he also had a boost in chakra control and mainly he thought, why not incorporate it in other forms like releasing elemental chakra like with lightning, he had small sparks which became larger gradually, coming out of his body, a while later he found out he could gather chakra at any body part or edge which he could manipulate into the elements and release.

This required drop-dead training in chakra control but it was worth it and he got another idea, to be revealed at the exams.

Jiraiya Pov

While Naruto was taking a two-day break before the finals. Jiraiya was sweating profusely, he had just spent a month with Naruto and it looked like the Kyuubi had not taken over. The seal was intact and he now had a problem on his hands. What? you may ask…

Well, to understand it you're gonna have to go back to the day of Naruto's birth. You see, Kushina Uzumaki, i.e., Naruto's mother was…

ALIVE! Yes, she was alive

(Flashback)

Kushina was exhausted, well giving birth after 8 hours of labor and having a Biju ripped out of you right after does that to a person. She had just been giving birth in an isolated cave with her midwife Biwako Sarutobi, Minato, and her two elder daughters, Natsumi and Mito, the latter having been named after Mito Uzumaki.

Little Naruto was just in her arms when they were attacked by a masked man. "Hand over the Kyuubi Jinchuriki to me or else..." The man threatened, holding 2-year-old Mito hostage, "Don't you dare touch her! You hear me, Bastard!" Minato yelled while hiraishining to Mito with the Hiraishin seal she had on her shoulder.

He slammed a Rasengan in the man's upper torso but to his shock, the Rasengan phased through the man, thankfully this freed Mito as well. He grabbed Mito ad Hiraishined to his family grabbing Natsumi and his blonde sunshine, giving a last glance to Kushina who understood that the kids came first, he Hiraishined to a random room in the hospital, where he placed the kids on the bed. He Hiraishined back but was too late.

He heard a thunderous roar before an immense bloodlust filled the village. He saw Kushina on the ground exhausted but alive, though barely, after having the Kyuubi ripped from her, and looked up and saw the giant paw of the Kyuubi coming down on them. He saved Kushina and Hiraishined on top of a tree. He looked back at the masked man with a death stare so intense, that the man tensed. (AN: I'm not going to write the whole fight between Tobi and Minato, nor the Kyuubi, it is a skip to when Minato seals Kyuubi and dies.)

The Kyuubi roared with anger, it was not going to be sealed into some worthless Ningen again. It looked down at Naruto and tried to impale him with his claw. But at the last moment, Minato jumped in front of the claw along with Biwako who had run the whole way after she failed to protect Kushina from Tobi.

Both let out one loud gasp which was muted by the anguished wail of Kushina after seeing Minato. "Arigato Biwako san," said Minato to Biwako who nodded, then he reached around her to finish the seal. With one last cry of FUIN, Minato looked at Kushina who was staring at him, crying, he smiled and mouthed the words 'love you' one last time, and with that and the coldness of the Shinigami, he died.

Hiruzen came running in a while later and looked on with anguished eyes as he had also lost his successor and his love.

"Hi…Hi…Hiruzen, take care… o…of our young friend here." And with that Biwako died as well. "I promise Biwako, I'll take care of him to the best of my ability…" though he was interrupted by Kushina, "Naruto, his name is Naruto." Hiruzen smiled trying to comfort her. Kushina picked up Naruto with glassy and distant eyes, then Hiruzen shunshined her to the hospital where Natsumi and Mito were.

Kushina cried and cried and cried to her heart's content, then looked down at Naruto and smiled seeing his blue eyes, but was startled by seeing a flash of red, slitted red. She tried again to see Naruto but only saw the face of the Kyuubi. She threw him away with a cry of disgust and anger.

Though thankfully, Naruto was caught by Hiruzen who was alarmed seeing her behavior. "Kushina what the hell was that? This is your son." Hiruzen asked, "That demon is not my son, my son died the moment he was born, just look at its eyes." Kushina spat with venom, Hiruzen frowned with disappointment but said, "Kushina you're getting delusional from Minato's loss, you were once its Jinchuriki as well, just like he is, don't throw him away."

Though Kushina, seeing only the demonic eyes and Minato getting killed, wailed delusionally, "He is not the container but rather the demon in human form, I'm never going to accept it. Hell, as of now, I disown it, keep it if you want Sarutobi, I'm leaving." Hiruzen seeing no way to convince the woman asked her where, "I'm going to take my true daughters, all my stuff, and leave for Uzushiogakure, where my family is."

While Kushina had believed she was an orphan, her parents and the rest of the survivors of the Uzu massacre had believed her dead and had holed up somewhere in the land of water. Years later, it had been a tearful reunion when Kushina stumbled upon her mother and found out that at least 25 members of her clan were alive. From then Kushina maintained regular contact with them.

Then they had decided to go back to Uzu as they had the support of Konoha again. Kushina was just about to leave when Hiruzen panicked and decided to play his card. "You can't leave Kushina, like it or not, Naruto is your offspring, and being from a clan, due to an old law created by Tobirama Senju to stop favoritism among sibling heirs, you are ordered to leave at least 4-5 scrolls of clan Jutsu, something which can be considered valuable by clan standards.

"AARGH! Damn you Hiruzen." And with that, she took out the scrolls and threw them before leaving after a death glare that had Hiruzen shivering and frowning, the former as she was still pretty scary, the latter due to how serious she was.

(Flashback end)

Jiraiya had found out a bit later, though was asked to keep it a secret. He had gone to try to convince Kushina but after various arguments he had also believed that the seal had failed as Kushina was the superior seal master, resolving to stay away by busying himself with research and his spy network.

Though now, he was really fond of Naruto and resolved to bring back the old Naruto, the one he had heard about from sensei. He had also drawn a detailed sketch of Naruto's seal. For now, he had an island and a mother to visit, while scary her reaction was something Jiraiya was curious about.

Uzushiogakure

Jiraiya had sent a messenger toad to Kushina, signaling his arrival, and had arrived in a few hours. He had entered and was greeted by the various members of the clan, it was a literal lake of red hair.

Then he saw Kushina and approached her asking for privacy for the talk. She was still as beautiful as all those years ago. Her hair had not lost its color and looked just as red. She had grown from 5'6 to 5'9 deciding to keep up her skills. Last he heard, she had advanced from low to mid-S rank to High S, and while it had not been official yet, but was still used, low SS rank. Meaning she could take him on and bust his ass, not that she couldn't before.

"Jiraiya, I read your message, what's up? Something wrong?" Kushina asked when they both had privacy in her room. "UMM, Kushina I want you to tell me something. Look at this seal and tell me what it could be used for."

Jiraiya gave her the drawing seeing which Kushina grew amazed "Jiraiya, this is a really advanced seal. It could be even used to seal Biju. It is an ingenious seal you have developed, though…I wish you had developed this seal all those years ago. Then maybe my sochi would still be alive instead of that demon." Emotions ranged on her face from excitement to bitterness to venomous rage.

"Umm, Kushina this is not my seal but rather Minato's seal. It is actually THE seal used on Naruto." There was a moment of silence after which the expected outrage came…

"WHAT! WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT IS NARUTO'S SEAL?" Kushina asked with outrage with a sinking feeling in her chest. "Kushina, it is Naruto's seal which I traced from his gut. He is not under the Kyuubi's influence in any way. Face it. You were wrong." Jiraiya said with crossed arms.

"Jiraiya, please tell me you're joking, I did not abandon my child, right? Please tell me." Kushina asked with desperation in her voice while the sinking feeling grew and her heart felt damaged, about to be broken. "No I'm not and yes you did."

That was all it took for the redhead to collapse, her heartbreaking in two as she finally faced the reality of the situation, that yes, Kushina Uzumaki, the orphan who valued family over any other had just abandoned her child to hell.

"How…how… is he? My sochi." Kushina asked hesitantly after her bawling was reduced to sniffles. "Kushina, he is 13 years old and is in the finals of the chunin exams. Skill-wise he is a hardworking prodigy in all areas. All in all, full out, he is actually a high jonin level genin with field experience and official rank placement being the only thing stopping him." Kushina smiled tearfully letting out another sniffle at the fact that her sochi was a prodigy in the shinobi arts but the fact that he had to do all that alone, she let out another sniffle.

"Tell me more, Jiraiya," Kushina asked,

"Here comes the bad part, Kushina, he is a lonely and closed-off boy who was abused, tortured, ignored, and isolated his whole life. Hell, even I don't know half of it. Some bastard revealed the fact that he had the fox in his gut after the council called for his death. He doesn't have anyone in his life to depend on except Sandaime and the Ichiraku's and to a great degree Yugao as well as she was his ANBU guard." Jiraiya continued,

"I also think even then he does not trust anyone as he has developed a mask of a foolish, rash, and loud boy who always smiles, rather than the emotionless and lonely, dark boy he is. Even the sandaime does not know. I think he adores you, but that could be because of the fact that he thinks you had died that night just like many others. He has no friends, is bullied, sold rotten food at ridiculous prices on the rare store he is actually allowed in, and has been living in an apartment in the red light district from the age of 4."

Jiraiya finished all his findings from spying on the gaki and investigating his files. Kushina's heart was in pieces right now. Her sochi, suffering from all that, ALONE! She wasn't there for his first word, walk, graduation, nightmares, hatred, loneliness and so much more. Why? Why did she leave him there? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? OH GOD, WHY?

No, she would not punish herself, she would go to Konoha and tell her sochi the truth. What he does then, it's his choice. Hit her, kill her, do whatever he wants with her, but before all that, she will see her sochi if it's the last thing she did.

"Kushina, did you ever actually tell your family about Naruto?" Jiraiya asked hesitantly, "No, but I have to tell them now, I'm going tomorrow only, to Konoha." Kushina declared. Jiraiya sighed, "Kushina think about the emotional strain that will put on Naruto and I can't let you do that to him a day before his finals. His shinobi career is on the line. Rather, you should all go as guests the day after in the exams and confront him once they are over."

While Kushina wanted to protest she did not but still resolved to tell her family.

10 minutes later

"WHAT! HOW COULD YOU DO THAT KUSHINA!" Uzuna shouted. "Kaasan, I..." Kushina was interrupted, "Kaasan nothing, you made a grave mistake Kushina, especially considering you're from our clan. You know our clan values family over everything. YET, HOW, HOW, HOW COULD YOU DO THIS." Uzuna could not speak anymore and just collapsed on Arashi, her husband who was looking at Kushina with utter disappointment in his eyes. Kushina hated it but suffered as she knew she deserved it all and more, a lot more.

"Kushina, while I'm utterly disappointed in you, I'm more worried about my Mago (AN: means grandson in Japanese.) I value family over any other yet I have a grandson out there burdened with the hate of an entire village on his shoulders. Think about how anguished his life has been. Now, the only thing you can do is just beg for forgiveness and hope for the best. Your punishment will be decided by Naruto only."

Arashi continued, "We will set out at early dawn tomorrow and travel to Konoha. We will be there as an audience and we five, i.e., you, Uzuna, me, tou-chan, and your brother Kenji, will be their private guests. Wake them up and tell him this, 13 years, but no more, Naruto will have a family by the end of these chunin exams."

Kushina just nodded, not knowing what to say, and left to go wake up Kenji and her jiji. "Jiraiya, go to Konoha and pass the message to Sarutobi, tell him that the entire Uzumaki clan is coming for these exams," Arashi ordered, Jiraiya just nodded and left without a word.

While Kushina was going up to their rooms, her thoughts were somewhere else entirely. 'Naruto, no matter how bad the situation is, I will get you to accept me. Just you wait, sochi. Kaasan's coming." She thought with a determined gaze…

Well, these chunin exams were going to be anything if not entertaining.


Whewwwww! And done.

Took a long time due to a lot of tests in between, but I'm done with chapter 3.

I felt bad for making you guys wait so long, so decided to make this chapter a bit longer. I hope you enjoy it regardless.

Kushina's character was something even I was excited for. Next chapter will feature the OCs, i.e., Naruto's sister and the Kyuubi as well.

Thank you once again to all reading this and yeah, PM me your future suggestions.

UHHH! BYEEEEEEE!