A/N: Ah Ah Ah Stayin alive, stayin alive ← what I've been doing the past couple of months.
XVLII: Family
Naruto's Mindscape, Present Day:
Naruto reappeared inside his own mind as the landscape created by the seal faded away, leaving four figures standing in a blank white space. "Ready big guy? Ready dad?"
"Ready." Kurama replied.
Naruto frowned and turned to see why Minato hadn't responded. His attention was fixed on the fourth person in the seal, a woman with long blood-red hair, violet eyes, and Naruto's face. "K-Kushina?" Minato stuttered out.
"Wh-What's going on Minato?" the red head replied, "Did something go wrong with the seal?"
"M-Mom?" Naruto almost choked. "What are you doing here?"
"Wait if I'm here then... It worked!" Kushina cheered, grabbing Naruto in a bone crushing hug. "I get to see my baby all grown up!"
"We don't have time!" Kurama roared. "Save the touching reunion for after the seal is fixed!"
"Wait... the Kyuubi wants to be sealed? What did I miss?"
"There's no time to explain dear, we have to re-seal Kurama now!" Minato shouted as he began preparing his half of the sealing, "If you can, I need help making two Eight Trigrams, with a double filter extension, a soft lock gate and a perpendicular anchoring mechanism."
"I... I'm not sure I have enough chakra for that, I only left enough so I could talk to Naruto once..."
"It's okay Mom here use some of mine." Naruto placed a hand on his mother's shoulder and willed some of his chakra into her. "That should be enough for a while right?"
"Ye-Yeah, it's plenty..." Kushina stuttered out.
"Good," Naruto gave his mother a warm smile, "Now I need to finish the Torii Seal, before I explode and Konoha gets flattened again."
"Does he realize how impressive it is to just give someone chakra like that?" Kushina whispered to her husband, while she began work on the second Eight trigrams seal, "I mean even if we are related that takes serious skill... and a lot of chakra"
"He insists he has terrible chakra control, but I from what he's told me of his story so far he just has to much chakra for the small stuff, the more chakra something uses the closer he gets to perfect control." Minato whispered back. "And this seal... It's genius."
"You two done yet?" Naruto asked in between muttered calculations, "I can feel the Seal-space shattering, with out the hard gate lock the seal is collapsing in on itself."
"You unlocked your seal?"Kushina nearly shouted, "Why would you do..."
"We had to re-seal Kurama, The old one was collapsing, Orochimaru kind of broke it."
"Ah I kind of forgot to ask about that," Minato interrupted "You got all the way to the start f the Chunin exams but you haven't mentioned him once. What ever happened to the old snake? I figured he would be the Godaime after I died."
"Um... he kinda... went evil and started experimenting on children? Something about cloning the Shodai and Senju genes."
"WHAT?"
"Yeah Danzō and Jiji caught him red handed."
Minato nearly ruined the seal in shock, "Was his lab under the Hokage monument?" He asked in a quiet voice.
"Yeah I think so."
"That doesn't make sense," Minato shook his head, "I've been to that lab, it was a medical research lab. I mean, sure there were children there but they all had the disease he was trying to cure."
"Huh." Naruto stretched as he put the finishing touches on his portion of the seal, "Well, that's...weird. I have an idea, but..."
"Is everyone ready?" Kurama growled, "We can continue this discussion later."
"Yep." Naruto bounced twice on the balls of his feet, "Lets get this over with."
"Yes." Minato nodded once grim-faced at the news that a trusted friend and adviser was apparently branded as a traitor.
"Ye-Yeah." Kushina replied nervously, she had used most of the chakra Naruto had given her and was concerned she might dissipate before really getting to talk to Naruto.
"Then let's go." Kurama rumbled holding his massive paw like hands in front of him, "Remember Naruto..."
"Yeah, yeah don't let your chakra mix You only said it half a hundred times." Naruto grumbled grabbing each of Kurama's hands with his own.
"Trust me it's important."
"Okay..." Naruto grunted as he began to pull on Kurama's hands, "Here. We. GO!" with a massive heave he seemingly pulled Kurama in half. For a split second Kurama disappeared, leaving only to massive glowing spheres of chakra one bright gold, the other pitch black, grasped in Naruto's hands.
A moment later and Kurama was back his massive paws cradling the spheres of his chakra like a pair of overgrown Rasengan. "Good You didn't let them mix." Kurama nodded while helping Naruto align the spheres.
"Alright Mom, Dad! You're up!"
Kushina and Minato slammed their hands down on the seal diagram and shouted "Fuīn!" in unison. Immediately thick iron bars sprung up around the swirling balls of chakra sealing it safely within Naruto.
"Stage two done." Naruto grunted beads of sweat dripping down his face, "Now for my part." He too slammed his hands on the diagram and with a shout of "Fuīn!" Massive Torii gateways fell from above locking Kurama in place and ringing the cages that contained his chakra forming vaguely gazebo like structures made of interlocking gateways.
A moment later the ground rippled forming small hills and valleys centered around the three structures, which now were much farther apart. When the ground stopped shaking it began to fade, losing its blinding glow and revealing bright green grass. At the same time to sky began to darken into the deep blue of a summer afternoon.
"It's beautiful..." Kushina whispered as everything seemed to settle and water began bubbling up turning the valleys into canals filled with crystal clear water. At several intersections the water shot into the air in a dazzling fountain that filled the air with sparkling rainbows.
Minato took a quick count as the fountains stopped appearing, "Three hundred and sixty one, huh? One for every Tenketsu... I take it the water is a representation of your chakra network?"
"You... counted all of them that fast?" Naruto asked.
"What you thought they let me found a clan just 'cause I'm pretty?" Minato struck up Maito Guy's patented Nice Guy pose, "I have... or had I guess, a kekkai genkai. It's nothing fancy, just chakra flowing through my nerves increasing my reaction time and reflexes to literally off the chart. It's what let's me use the Hirashin so efficiently most people would be disoriented after teleporting like that, but not me! Also yeah, it lets me think faster than your average shinobi..."
"What it doesn't do," Kushina interrupted her husband's bragging, "Is help him come up with good names." She shook her head and sunk onto the ground, "Whenever he tries to give something a name he comes up with an overwrought stupidly complex mess."
"What?" Minato affected a hurt expression, "My names are perfect!"
"Yeah mom!" Naruto agreed, "Hirashin, Rasengan, Naruto! All those names are awesome!"
"What you don't know is that he originally wanted to rename Hirashin into 'Instantaneous transmission of matter through holes in space/time', Rasengan into 'Variable Advanced Rotating Implosion Spheroid,' and if I hadn't let slip that I hoped you'd end up like the main character of Jiraiya's first book, you probably would have been named Ichigo..."
Naruto's brows furrowed in confusion, "Isn't that a girls name? Who names their son that?"
Minato sighed, "One-Who-Protects, Naruto, One-Who-Protects. Not strawberry..."
"I take it back, you suck at names."
"I don't get no respect, no respect I tell you." Minato grumbled halfheartedly.
"As amusing as it is to watch you pick on the Hokage I would appreciate it if, you let. Me OUT!" Kurama, who was still pinned underneath the Torii, thundered. "My nose really itches and I can't reach it..."
"Oops, sorry Kurama, I'm just so excited to finally meet my parents I completely forgot about you! Kai!" The massive gateways that had pinned Kurama down vanished upwards disappearing into the sky, leaving Kurama inside a ring of seven interlocked Torii in the shape of an octagon, with the last side taken up by an open gate. "That wasn't very fair of me, I mean you've been there for me longer than anyone else..."
"No problem Kit," Kurama said while rubbing his nose with the back of his hand, "It's good to finally be able to stretch out." Kurama ambled out of his enclosure and flopped down on the largest island in Naruto's new mindscape, "Ahhh... I missed the sun... " Kurama glared at Minato and Kushina, "And thanks for the help I guess, even if it was your fault I was stuck there..."
"Naruto, come here," Kushina waved Naruto over to where she was sitting, "There's a few thing I need to tell you before I dissipate..."
"Dissipate! Why would I let you do that?" Naruto place a hand on his mother's shoulder again, "Here, have some more chakra."
"As long as you don't use any, theoretically you could stay here forever, Kushina." Kurama sagely opined from his lounging spot.
"Actually, if you give her enough for her chakra reserves to hit critical mass she should begin to regenerate on her own."
Kushina's eyes widened to an impossible size, "But that would take an enormous amount of chakra! Like.. like... half a Bijuu's worth!"
Naruto smirked, "Well if there's one thing I have more than enough to spare it's Chakra!" Naruto placed both hands on Kushina's shoulders and closed his eyes in concentration, "Tell me when I've given enough dad."
"So how did all of this happen anyway?" Kushina asked while Naruto refilled her chakra.
"I guess everything really started on my seventh birthday..."
"Eh... Maybe you should start from the Chunin Exams..." Minato interrupted, "At least wait until Your mother's chakra is stable..."
"Eh heh heh... That's a good point..." Naruto chuckled nervously, barely resiting the urge to rub the back of his neck sheepishly.
Kushina narrowed her eyes, "What is so bad that you don't want to tell me, dearest?"
"Let's just say that if I ever get out of Naruto, I'm going to give more than a few people Rasengan Suppositories."
Naruto winced, "Start with Hiashi, the things he's said to Hinata-chan make me want to feed him to Kurama."
"Hinata-chan?" Kushina asked with a smile, "Who's that? Your girlfriend?" she teased. "And what did this Hiashi do to her?"
Naruto blushed, "Ac-actually she kind of is... And Hiashi is her old man. He's... not very nice..."
"He completely destroyed her sense of self-esteem before she even joined the academy, Naruto, that's more than 'not very nice.'" Minato growled darkly. "I can't believe Hyuuga Hiashi would do that to his own daughter."
"Wait Hyuuga Hiashi? That Hiashi? What happened?"
"Start where you left off with your father, Kit. There's more than enough examples in the last month."
Konoha General Hospital, Present Day:
Moments after Naruto unlocked his seal there was a bright flash of chakra that shook the whole building, blowing out the windows on the entire floor and setting off fire alarms in the entire building.
"Naruto-kun!" Hinata scrambled to her feet and into Naruto's devastated hospital room. Most of the medical equipment had melted into foul smelling puddles, the walls were scorched black and the only thing left of the hospital bed as a small pile of ashes in the middle of which lay Naruto naked as the day he was born. His hospital gown and bandages had been completely destroyed by the blast of Chakra.
"Please be okay Naruto-kun..." Hinata sobbed as she rushed to his side and began checking his vital signs. Surprisingly he appeared to be in better condition post explosion than he was when she last checked on him an hour ago. His breathing was smooth and even his skin had returned to its natural an instead of being pale and clammy and all that remained of his extensive injuries was a thick ropey scar that started at his solar plexus and looped around to his back.
Tsunade took one look at him and sighed, "After all that, by the time I get to him he manages to heal himself..." She shook her head and continued, "Blows up half the building and goes to sleep." Tsunade shrugged out of her green jacket and wrapped Naruto up in it, "Come on kid, lets get you another bed."
"Wi-Will he be alright Ts-Tsunade-sama?"
"As far as I can tell but we'll have to wait until he wakes up to find out for sure." Tsunade reassured Hinata, "Hey, Jiraiya, while we wait for sleeping beauty here why don't you finish telling us the story."
"I will just as soon as I remove those seals I found on him." Jiraiya examined Naruto for a moment and paused, "Or I would if whatever he did hadn't burned them out..." Jiraiya sighed, a put upon expression on his face, "Damn brat always surprises me..."
"The story Jiraiya-sama, please?" Shizune interrupted his grumblings.
"Well where was I? Oh... Yeah that night Gekko Hayate was attacked and killed, Naruto was with me when I was informed..."
A/N: So I'm going to leave it here, this is the last present focused chapter until the end of the chunin exams. Now for those of you wondering why I was delayed this time, my new laptop, while amazing, is 17 inches... which while very very nice to play games on... is too big for the bus or my locker at work... as I found out shortly after getting it. And as i've said before on the bus and at lunch are where I get most of my writing done. Now I have a vacation coming up so I can hopefully promise another chapter later next week, or more likely considering how my update schedule has been this year, in three months which I would like to note is better than four between the last chapter and this and the nine between the chapter before that...