"Normal conversation "'

internal thoughts'

After meeting up with Tsunade and asking her to be his sensei, Naruto went back to his apartment, freshened up and went straight to his bed, with everything that happened at Kagami's house, learning his and Sasuke's mom both having a crush on him, he just didn't have any mental energy left to study fuinjutsu that night.

'I said that I would accept their love, if they still feel the same way about me in the next three years, but if they do feel the same way even after so much time, am I ready to really date my mother?' Naruto thought to himself as he laid in his bed.

'I guess I am really ok with dating Mikoto since I didn't know her at all in my previous life so there is really nothing to be guilty about but with Kushina, she is my mother, well, she is not really my mother now since my DNA was altered by the soul king and I didn't know her very well in my last life since she was already dead,The only time I met her was in the seal and the woman she was then, is not the same women she is now. Plus, I have really stopped thinking of her as my mother for a while now. But my father, Minato from the future, said that she was his love on first sight and I can't bring myself to be cruel enough to take his love. I guess, in the end it is Kushina's choice'. With that he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

The next day, Naruto woke up early, freshened up and realized that today was 10 July, Kushina's birthday, he had totally forgotten about that but he had the perfect gift for her.

Storing all the required material she would require for "It" in a scroll, he then wrapped the scroll like a birthday present and wrote a little note on it, wishing her a happy birthday and placed it on the table of her apartment, both of them had an extra key of each other's apartment in case of emergencies.

With his work done, he headed to the hospital where Tsunade worked. Arriving in her office, he saw her busy with some paperwork so he just knocked on her door to get her attention, she looked up and motioned him to sit on the chair in front of her desk.

"So, why did you turn down Jiraiya's offer for being his apprentice?" Tsunade asked, still not looking up from his paperwork.

"I didn't want to learn what he was teaching, he is a strong shinobi no doubt and he has lots of knowledge but his attention would be well spent on someone like Minato who actually wants to learn something he has to offer than me who has no interest in it. " Naruto explained.

"That's bullshit and you know it too, if he didn't have what you wanted, you would have refused him then and there, instead you agreed to be his pupil but later refused because of some fight you had Minato "

"It wasn't a fight, I just wanted to know why he was being such an asshole to me but he wouldn't tell, we would have fought had I stayed with them longer but I chose not to cause problems for Jiraiya and bowed out from his apprenticeship. "

"It was because the brat liked Kushina and he had heard her say that she loved you when they were out in the forest" Tsunade answered after few seconds of silence.

Naruto widened his eyes, so that was the reason. He could see it now, the glaring and the snarky replies started only after the kidnapping incident.

" He is jealous of you" Tsunade explained "Jiraiya told me after he talked with him, since you were one upping him right from the academy, he couldn't take losing his love to you too, anyway, that's a conversation between you and him, I am not some love-guru to solve your love problems"

Pointing to the scrolls layed out on the table she said, " Read all of those, I will be done by the time you finish". Naruto did as he was instructed, to speed up his reading he created 5 clones and made them read it too. Tsunade looked at him in surprise but didn't say anything and continued her own work.

Few minutes later, she heard the sound of clones popping and looked up to see Naruto who just smiled and replied "Finished".

"That was fast" she replied, not entirely surprised any more.

"To be fair, I have most of the theoritical knowledge on medicines already memorised, all I really need is some hands on practice." He explained.

"I'll take your word for it. Since you seem to already have most of the knowledge needed, and you also seem to have decent enough chakra control, there will be no need for me to train you physically or waste time with making you read stuff. So then lets get right to the healing part" With that she got up and walked out of the room telling him to follow her, they soon reached a room which read "training room" , it was mostly an empty room with a large table in the middle and some scrolls on the shelves.

Tsunade picked one of the scroll and unsealed it on the table revealing some fish, taking one of the fish, she cut it and placed it on the table.

"Now observe" she said as she quickly activated her healing jutsu over her hand and placed it on the fish " this is called the Mystic palm, using this technique user uses their palms on the wounded part of the body and send chakra into it, accelerating the body's natural healing abilities. Although, its most obvious use is as a way of treating external wounds, it can also be used to treat internal illnesses. You must be careful to only use as much chakra as is needed for the specific injury. If too much chakra is sent into the body, it can disrupt the body's chakra circulation, putting it into a comatose state and too less chakra would do nothing. Did you get all that? "she asked

Naruto nodded and took a fish, made a cut and proceeded to heal it just like Tsunade had done before.

" Nice, you got it on your first try, you used sharingan I presume? " Tsunade asked.

"Does everyone know I already have the sharingan" Naruto replied, irritated "anyways, yes I saw what you did with the sharingan and replicated everything" He explained

"This makes teaching you even easier for me" Tsunade remarked with a smirk on her face.

"I'll be able to teach you every form of medical justsu I know in about a month then you will need another months worth of practise to finally master them all, you can get that experience by working here at the hospital".

Naruto just nodded.

"Why do you want to learn medical ninjutsu anyway, I have seen your reports, you have scored a perfect score in every form of ninja art and with the level of skill you show now, by the time you reach your prime you won't have any difficulty even with dealing multiple enemies at once". Tsunade asked wondering.

"My skills won't save a dying persons life nor will they heal anyone in need" Naruto explained. "And this is the only ninja art I am weak at, might as well make my resume perfect, you know what I mean?"

Tsunade nodded, then continued to teach him till the end of the day. After which he headed back to his apartment. Kushina was already waiting for him when he entered his apartment.

" Do you usually sneak into my apartment Kushina? "Naruto asked as he sat down besides her. She just gave an embarrassed laugh and replied "I got hungry and didn't want to cook anything, by the way thanks for your gift, I have already started to practice it. Its so different from Uzu here, nobody even knows that today is my birthday" Kushina finished with a sad look.

"Well, its only been few months since we moved here, nobody probably even knows who you are, just give it time" Naruto explained but she still looked sad and he knew what would cheer her up.

"Come, lets go get some ramen" He said getting up from the sofa.

"Really" Kushina asked, her sadness already forgotten " let's go, but you are paying" with that she quickly ran out of the house.

"Hey, Wait up!"

After eating an absurd amount of ramen, they both decided to go top the hokage mountain and lie down for a while, looking at the stars.

After a while Naruto finally broke his silence

" Minato likes you", Kushina looked at him in surprise, "Tsunade sensei told me, Minato told Jiraiya and Jiraiya told her" answering her unasked question about how he knew about that.

"But, I dont like him" Kushina said turning away and looking back at the star.

"Why? He seems like a good guy" Naruto answered.

"He is too girly, weird and completely unriable, unlike you"

"You should atleast give him a chance"

"Why do you want me to date another guy when I already told you that I like you" Kushina yelled "Do you not like me, am I not beautiful enough for you or is it because of the demon in my gut!", she was breathing hard with tear flowing from her eyes.

"You know that is not true Kushina, I like you alot, but the two of us didn't exactly have a lot of friends growing up, I just don't want you to regret your decision later in life" Naruto explained "Marriage between me and Mikoto is going to happen, no matter how much I try to delay it or avoid it, both of us don't have a choice in that matter, not anymore, her father made sure of that. But you Kushina, you have a choice, you can choose to marry me but later on you may feel regret and start to hate me for it, or you won't. But if you find another man who can make you just as happy if not more than me, then what is wrong with that. I want you to have that life, not because I dislike you but because I want you to be happy" Naruto said trying to make her understand.

"So you want me to marry Minato?" Kushina asked feeling betrayed that Naruto would suggest such a thing.

"What? Hell no, I will not let you marry some punk! " Naruto yelled making Kushina snort a laugh.

"What I am trying to say is, you should atleast give him a chance, we are still young, what if he is 'the one' for you, the one who can make you the happiest without having to share his love, even if it won't make me happy, I'll still want that life for you" Naruto explained his point of view.

"But what if you are 'The one' for me" Kushina asked countering him.

"Then, in the end, you will always end up with me" Naruto replied.

"I understand what you are trying to say", Kushina started "You are looking out for my happiness, I appreciate that." she had now switched position to sitting, Naruto had done the same "But my happiness is tied to you now, I have been truly happy since the day we met and every day that followed after has just increased my love for you."

"But," Naruto started.

"You think too much, just answer these questions" She interrupted him.

"Do I make you happy?" she started

"Yes".

"Do you find me attractive?".

"Yes" He blushed.

"Is there any other girl you like?"

"No".

"Do you like me".

"Yes"

"There you have it" she concluded "I like you, you like me, I am happy, you are happy, it all worked out in the end." Kushina concluded with a happy smile.

"But, what about minmmph" He couldn't continue as Kushina leaned in and kissed him, stopping any further discussion.

After few seconds she stopped and move back with heavy blush on her face.

"You think too much and now that you have stolen my first kiss, you have to take responsibility for it"

"But you..." He was interrupted again,

"You don't get a choice anymore, I have decided and it's final, you can't change my mind".

Naruto looked in shocked suprise as she laid back on the ground and started her star gazing again. Deciding to drop the matter for now, he too laid on the ground and joined her.

Both of them then recalled memories from their past and talked a while after which they headed back to their apartments.

With Naruto's mind cleared from the problem with Kushina, he spent the next 2 month completing his medical training and his fuinjutsu training, he was now at level 18 and he had created many new seals in his free time. He had even come up with a modified version of the 8 trigram seal, which was stronger and more efficient in holding back the nine tails. During this period Naruto had checked out his other summoning scroll and was surprised to find that he had been given a Dragon summons, but these dragons were of another dimension, he had learned they didn't have a concept of chakra there, they only used something that they called 'magic', It was similar yet different to chakra in many ways as It was made up of only spiritual energy and could be used to cast spells. Unfortunately Naruto didn't have something they called a 'container' in his body which naturally produced it. But they had agreed to train him in using the yin and yang release using which would give him powers similar to a sage mode, It would allow him to use their dragon techniques as well as kido but that would take almost 2 years for them to teach it to him, he decided he would come here and learn it later.

There was also a wolf summon who had informed him that his training of their arts will begin soon so he should get ready for his departure, this training would also take atleast 2 years to complete. So after finishing his medical training Naruto had informed the hokage about his new seal modification and with help of Jiraiya, who had returned from his training trip with Minato, had implemented it on Kushina's seal. There, he had finally met Kurama again.

"Hello, nine tails, I am Naruto" He introduced himself to Kurama again. He was currently in Kushina's mindscape, it was an open green field with a huge rock floating in the sky, where kuubi was impaled by 10 stakes, 1 for each tail and 1 in his chest, it looked brutal and painful. He was also binded by Kushina's special chains which kept him tied around the rock.

The nine tails didn't reply to Naruto's introduction, it merely snarled.

"Look, as opposed to popular belief, I know you can understand me and you are not a mindless monster".

"What do you want? "the kyuubi finally spoke.

" To help you" Naruto replied sincerely.

"Remove me from this chains and I'll help myself" kyuubi snarled again, with as much hate as he could.

"So much hatred, I can understand your point of view, being sealed into humans and used as an weapon will make anyone angry but that is why I am here, to help you" Naruto explained calmly.

"Then unseal me and let me back in the out side world, that would be really big help" Kurama tried manipulatively.

"I can't do that, not yet anyway, you will destroy most of the village, and with a war so close we can't afford that" Naruto denied him.

"And even if I do release you, you will get sealed again, sometime later by someone else. A being of your power will be hunted down just so someone else can claim that power, that is human nature, to attack everything that is different."

" I don't want to hear your philosophies, all they are in the end are just big talks, you say you want to help me but in the end you just want my power"

"How about this, you promise me that you will help Kushina, lend her your power in time of need and I'll remove you from that rock right now" Naruto offered.

"Sure, I swear I'll help her, now release me" Kurama was quick to answer.

"You can't fool me like that" Naruto laughed " Swear by the name of Hagoromo Otsutsuki, your father, your creator!! " Naruto exclaimed.

"How do you know about that?" kyuubi asked, mildly alarmed.

" I have my ways" Naruto explained cryptically "I even know about the ten tails".

"How do you know about that?, we have never spoken about it to any one, who are you?" Kyuubi asked, now completely hysterical.

"I am freeing you from up there as a sign of good will, this new seal will allow you to view the outside world from Kushina's perspective" with that said, Naruto proceeded to remove all the stakes and chains from Kurama making him fall on the ground, creating a huge crater.

He streached for a bit, then suddenly lunged for Naruto.

"Are you sure you want to do that" Naruto spoke in a calm voice making the nine tails stop himself mere inches away from piercing him.

"What do you mean, if I kill you right here, right now, nobody will know about the ten tails' existence"

"What makes you think I am the only one who knows about it?" Naruto countered " besides I am the one trying to stop it from being created again"

"It's being created again" kyuubi asked in alarm, his previous thought of killing Naruto forgotten.

"That is their plan" Naruto answered.

"Whose plan?"

"Madara Uchiha"

After hearing that name, kyuubi immediately lost his temper but Naruto stoped him by asking him another question.

"Do you know how the ten tails is made? ''

This question made the kyuubi pause it's soon to be started rampage and calm down.

" Do you? " He asked after taking many deep breaths to calm down.

" Of course I know" Naruto answered "do you want me to tell you how?"

The kyuubi bowed down and stared directly into Naruto's eyes, searching for lies but did not find any.

"That will not be necessary, I believe you"

"Then I believe, that you know the most safest place for you in this world is this seal, once locked, it won't open with out a key."

"What seal, I don't see any seal?" Kurama asked looking around.

"That's because I haven't applied it yet, I wanted this conversation to happen without you feeling powerless" Naruto answered truthfully.

"Then, it means that I can just kill you and get out of here" He replied with a sinister smile but still didn't attack.

"Yes, you could do that, but then where will you run to, where will you hide, even if you fight off some of them Madara's people will find you anywhere you run or hide and once you are caught, you know what will happen to you, you will be stored in Gedo Mazo until-" kyuubi cut him off.

"I understand, no need to speak that name" He replied as he understood his situation.

" What do you want me to do anyway just stay sealed inside here till the brat dies and I get transfered into someone else."

" No, I just want you to help her and if you can try to make her your 2nd new friend" Naruto said with a smile.

"What do you mean 2nd, whose my new friend"

"Me of course, the second you didn't attack me after knowing you could escape, I considered you my friend" Naruto explained.

"That's preposterous, I will never accept you as my friend" The kyuubi roared.

"So much hate, How about I make you a bet, you could earn your freedom if you win"

"I'm listening" He grumbled.

"After this war is over, we will both fight each other, I'll not use any cheap tricks like genjutsu or anything like that. We will fight with pure raw power, if you win I'll let you roam the outside world freely without anyone from Konoha trying to attacking you. But if I win, you will have to be my and Kushina's friend, and you will have to shout that out loud" Naruto proposed.

"Like I would loose to someone like you" He boasted.

"Ya sure, but do you agree, you have to swear using the sage's name if you do, this way I know you will not go back on your word"

"Tch sure, I swear upon my father's name I'll honour the bet"

"Nice, now let me finish modifying the seal" with that Naruto sat down and started his modification, while the kyuubi just sat down on his legs and observed him work.

"What did you mean by illusions, the only level of illusions that will work on..." kyuubi stopped and widened his eyes" You have those cursed eyes, the sharingan!! " he realised.

"Oh did I not mention that" he activated his mangekyou sharingan (Sasuke's eternal mangekyou sharingan) and looked the kyuubi in the eyes who quickly averted his gaze.

"Please, if I didn't use them early, I won't be using them now" Naruto replied as he finished his modification and turned off his sharingan.

"Our conversation would have gone very differently had you chosen to attack me, I would have had put you under illusion and made you comply with all my wishes. But one moment of you putting your hatred aside has changed that." He spoke as he got up.

"I didn't get your name by the way"

"Thats because I don't have one" kyuubi replied.

"I guess I could always use my sharin-"

"No!" He shouted "Kurama, my name is Kurama, don't say it to anyone", he muttered in a grumpy way.

"Sure, it is your name and only yours to give, I'll respect your wish" Naruto said turning away.

"Protect Kushina, she is very precious to me and since you are my friend, she is yours to protect now too"

"I never agreed to be your friend!" Kurama shouted but Naruto was already gone, so he lied down into his huge cage like seal and closed his eyes" damn brat" he said with a small smile.