A/N: Wow! I'm really surprised by the divided viewpoints surrounding the Naruto x Mikoto pairing considering most of you wanted to see the pairing. Maybe you guys didn't like how I set up the weird dynamic they currently have and how it would eventually fall into romance? Anyway, here are some important questions/statements you guys have been asking/made in the review section.

Q&A Section:

MonkHerrick: Is Shisui Uchiha going to be in the story at all?

He is teased in this chapter, but I'm still trying to figure out how much of a pivotal role he will play. Itachi will play an important role in Naruto's character development, so you will see some Shisui appearance. How much is currently undecided.

Angsty Naruto: Not a huge fan of the rifle...but as long as it is used maybe once or twice, I can live with that.

The Chakra Rifle will only be used in small unimportant skirmishes. I planned on using the rifle to advance the plot a little a couple of times in the future. Currently, it doesn't have much widespread use except for assassination missions since Third Shinobi War warfare isn't WWII style fighting. I mainly included it in there considering that logic that if I would go back in time, I would try to replicate my current technology in the past in hopes it would give me some sort of an advantage.

Writter with bad Grammar T-T: Are you telling me a married woman/mother fell in love with Obito who is currently twelve at the moment? Naruto isn't immoral enough to steal someone else's wife.

In the note section of chapter 5, I mentioned that you won't see much instant romance development between the two characters. For a good chunk of the story, Obito and Mikoto will have a brother to sister relationship until a major plot point occurs. Anyway, I'm frown upon cheating in a relationship so you can rest assured that you won't see any of that stuff here.

Akira Stridder: Why does he not spam Kage Bushin with the rifle and form his own army?

You brought up a good point that I kinda addressed in this chapter. Your idea is a valid one, until you realize that Naruto currently isn't a jinchuriki anymore. So, he doesn't have the endless amounts of chakra he used to have. It would cost lots of chakra and time to form Kage Bushin and Kage Bushin the rifle, and then using Chidori lightning to fire the weapon. Instead he could just use a Rasengan jutsu for a close range attack or manipulate the battlefield to make the enemy come closer to use his close/mid range jutsus.

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Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Chapter 6: Mirrored Love

Naruto was proud to say that Mikazuchi Mark II, painted with a mix of orange and baby-blue stripes (Halo 5 Dying Star Light Rifle), was a success. The liberal use of Fuinjutsu seals painted on the outside allowed him to achieve two important things: it allowed him to infuse his Chidori lightning quietly and place a blood identification tracker on the weapon. Anyone else that would attempt to use Mikazuchi without his approval would find themselves being electrocuted.

Showing his creation to Koharu-jiji, Uchiha Naruto pretended the weapon was instead a model of a futuristic flying ship - detailed with the highly advanced technology of Sky Village - that happened to light up when lightning chakra was applied. While Obito knew plenty about the man's trustworthy nature, the time-traveling shinobi didn't want word getting out about the capabilities of chakra rifles too fast or he might miss the slim window of opportunity to shoot through Madara's brain. Hiding the weapon in his new favorite place, Kamui's Dimension, the Uchiha swiftly returned home.

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There, Naruto was engulfed with the warm feeling of companionship when he saw Tsunami waiting patiently for him at the dinner table. Entering the doorway, he announced his presence. "Tadaima (I'm home)!"

"Okaeri (Welcome Back)." The female replied as she turned to seeing Naruto walking in the house dressed in a simple yukata with some soot. She gave a demure smile as she stood up to meet him.

"I'm sorry Tsunami-chan. Clan business took a little longer than expected." Naruto informed bashfully as he reflexively rubbed the back of his head. The shinobi ignored the sharp feeling of betrayal when he just lied right in front of the kind-hearted person in his old dimension.

"It's alright. I'm glad you're back." Tsunami admitted as she happily hugged her savior - ignoring the soot on his person. The ex-farmer took the time to enjoy the warmth of his presence and took a small sniff of her companion. She unconsciously smiled at the comforting scent of Naruto's earthy smell of Maple Trees along with a fresh tint of coal, ash, metal and perfume.

Wait, what?

Sniffing again to make sure she wasn't imagining things, she let out some extreme expletives mentally when she confirmed she smelled a slight but feminine chrysanthemum perfume on the man.

Oh...so someone hugged Obito-kun as well. Who else could like him? No, no Tsunami...It could just be a friendly hug. One side whispered to her angelically. The other side spoke in a sensual voice that gave her an opposing idea. On the other hand, it could be someone marking OUR man. Tsunami, you must move in immediately and make your presence felt. I recommend using the bed to show how much you LOVE him... At that extremely suggestive thought, Tsunami broke into a very prominent blush that covered her face like a future Hyuga.

While Tsunami was going through the possible scenarios that led to Naruto acquiring female perfume on his person, Naruto was happily enjoying the mental comfort Tsunami provided him through the hug. Ever since the time-traveler landed in this new dimension, he was feeling very homesick since none of his friends were even born yet, and Jiraiya-sensei was nowhere to be found.

But most importantly, Naruto felt very out of place in Team Minato. The Obito part of him disliked Kakashi's recent animosity while the larger Naruto part could not reconcile the laid-back and perverted Kakashi of the future with the current stick-in-his-ass Kakashi. Even with the whole Uchiha Clan treating him as family, Naruto still felt lonely since he never really had a family in the first place.

So Tsunami was steadily becoming Naruto's rock of stability since she was the only constant thing in his life. Her kind and motherly attitude was something Naruto could expect everyday from the past and the future. Furthermore, she was doing a great job healing the mental wounds he had. Everything else in this parallel or alternate dimension was too alien for Naruto, even the Hokage - who did not act much like the grandfather figure Naruto remembered him as.

Naruto reciprocated the hug before separating. He raised an eyebrow at how scarlet her face was but he decided not to pry and went to the dinner table to sit. Watching the female walk back to her respective chair across from him, he was quickly reminded of Hinata with her embarrassed ruby face and meek body language. Naruto hastily drowned that thought into the ocean mentally as he definitely did not want to open another can of emotions; he was not ready to deal with more baggage at the moment.

After both saying a quick "Itadakimasu", Naruto and Tsunami quietly enjoyed Tsunami's stew together. There was not much talk between the two individuals considering that Naruto was gratified to enjoy the multitude of flavors that burst in his mouth from the farmer's cuisine. After all, he used to live solely on military rations. Tsunami, on the other hand, was just content to observe Naruto enjoy her food.

After minutes of eating, Tsunami stood up with her plate and utensils and placed them on to the side of the sink. Turning on the faucet, Tsunami started to wash the dishes and place them on the drying rack. When Naruto finished the rest of the stew, he poured himself some tea while Tsunami gathered his dishes.

Taking a sip of the warm liquid, Naruto decided to break the peaceful silence first. "Tsunami-chan, you have been staying here for two weeks. I am very much grateful for all the help you have given me, but... don't you want to buy your own house if you plan to live in Konoha?"

He received his response in the form of a plate being dropped. Tsunami yelped when a shard cut her finger. Naruto quickly moved to see her finger bleeding. But before he was about to say something, the words halted in his mouth when he saw the hollow look in her eyes.

Ignoring the pain of her injury, Tsunami muttered dejectedly, "Do you want me to leave?" as she remembered the horrible incident with the bandits. She could still feel the phantom hands of the men that wanted to have their turn to violate her and enjoy her suffering. The only silver lining from these reoccurring nightmares was waking up to feel Obito's comforting warmth as he reassured her that she was safe. If Obito wanted her to leave, she would be all alone again.

She did not know what was scarier: reliving the moment where she was almost sexually assaulted or not waking up to be comforted by Obito.

Naruto quickly realized that she was having her flashbacks again - based on his past experience with shinobis reliving a traumatic experience. Hugging her, he rubbed her back in soothing circles. "No, you don't need too if you don't want to." Naruto whispered apologetically as he did his best to alleviate the mental pain his companion was suffering from. "Although it would be a lot more lonelier in this house if you wish to do so."

"No. Um, uh...no...I am fine living here." She replied distressingly before she trailed off uncertainly. "I feel much safer with you...here." Closing her eyes, she hugged Naruto tightly as she inhaled his comforting scent as tears fell from her face.

Naruto was speechless and - instead of putting his foot in his mouth like he tended to do in delicate situations - he quietly kept his arms around the anguished woman. He didn't know who was in the worst shape. Him, who could not absolve himself from the sins of the past. Or Tsunami, a peaceful civilian who was abortive in her attempts to forget how powerless she was in the face of her sexual assault.

Nevertheless, it didn't matter to Naruto. After all, we have each other to get through this together.. I am not alone anymore…thank you Rikudo Sennin.

As Tsunami pulled back reluctantly after the pair stayed together for a couple of minutes, Naruto remembered the bleeding finger. Going through the nearby cupboards for the first-aid kit, Naruto put the bleeding finger in the mouth. Ignorant of the deep crimson flush that painted Tsunami's face, he took out a simple red band-aid with three tomoe. While he was taking the finger out of his mouth and putting the band-aid on, he asked candidly "I have been meaning to ask you this. Do you want to eat out for dinner tomorrow night?"

"Like a date?" She said with great alacrity before she covered her mouth in embarrassment. The pain on her finger was quickly forgotten as she focused on his next words.

"Sure." Naruto acknowledged playfully as he stood up. "It could be a date if you like. I imagine cooking dinner and cleaning the house for the two of us everyday is very exhausting. I think you need a night out."

"Oh…" She squeaked. Mustering up her courage, she looked up at Naruto and stared in his eyes like a shy mouse and whispered. "Can it...?"

"Of course Tsunami-chan." Naruto suavely moved his face so close that Tsunami could feel his warm breath brush against her face, inadvertently tempting her at how close his alluring lips was to hers. "It can…" He hummed thoughtfully as he ignored the pain in his heart at acting like this with another woman beside her.

It was then Naruto saw the image of Tsunami overlap with a feminine Hyuga wearing a blindfold stained with blood. Pulling back instantly, Naruto went to the sink to pick up the pieces of shattered glass while trying to ignore the haunting acrid images of another person he failed. She reminds me of a mix of Hinata-chan and her… he thought wistfully.

He turned his head to look back at his female companion - who was currently berating himself for not taking the opportunity Obito presented to her. His voice brought her back to the present. "We need to dry the dishes you know, Tsunami-chan." Shaking herself out of her stupor, she bowed her head in embarrassment before joining Naruto at the sink to wash dishes together like a married couple.

There wasn't much talk after.

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The pair quietly walked upstairs. Undeterred by the darkness, the moon did a fantastic job shining the path for the pair to effortlessly move through the house to their respective futons. As if the house itself was holding its breath, the only sound that could be heard was the pitter-patter of Tsunami's movements.

When they arrived in the hallway, Naruto was about to head into his room to get some rest. But before he was able to enter, a feminine hand grabbed his arm. "Naruto-kun."

As he turned to see his companion with her luscious locks covering her face, he widened his eyes and activated his Sharingan in shock. The Uchiha shinobi had his breath stolen; the nearby window allowed the moonlight to highlight Tsunami's ethereal beauty that made her look just like her before she sacrificed her life so he could live another day.

Before Naruto could say something, Tsunami closed the space between them in a couple of steps. She touched Naruto's angular cheek, with a dainty hand hesitantly, as she observed his reaction.

Meanwhile, Naruto berated himself for comparing Tsunami to her. Closing his eyes for a moment, he took a deep breath to focus only on the image of Tsunami's glistening ebony eyes. The Sharingan did a marvelous job deciphering the collage of emotions in Tsunami's eyes: love, passion, hope and determination.

That must have been all the encouragement Tsunami needed - since she noticed Naruto's lack of rejection - because a moment later, she leaned in and kissed Naruto.

Tsunami's lips were velvety soft and the kiss was gentle, but that didn't lessen Naruto's response to his first true kiss. Instead of feeling contaminated with the kiss that involved Sasuke, his legs instead suddenly felt as if he was using legs made of ramen noodles. To remedy this, he wrapped his arms around her and clutched her modest pink nightgown.

Naruto had no idea how long the simple kiss lasted - it could have been minutes, days, years or even centuries, for all he knew - but then, finally, almost reluctantly, Tsunami pulled away from him, breaking the kiss.

"Good night, Obito-kun. And thank you." Tsunami whispered voice carried throughout the hallway before she quickly went to her room and closed the wooden door.

Naruto stood in the hallway for several minutes, steadying himself, allowing his heavy breathing to subside as he absently touched his lips with a finger. As he put his hand on the door, he muttered, "No...thank you Tsunami-chan...for everything." An unbidden tear fell from his right crimson eye before it splattered to the wooden floor quietly. And I'm sorry...Hanabi-chan...my beautiful Yuugao (Moon-Flower).

Then, he closed the door quietly as the moon continued to shine its radiance on the house.

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Waking up to see the sun rising, Naruto smoothly left his warm futon to go train in order to clear his mind from last night events. Writing a note to Tsunami to not make him breakfast, Naruto was greeted with the mild calming atmosphere of Fire Country.

Swiftly heading to the Uchiha Training Ground 83 which was becoming his own personal training location, Naruto kindly greeted the various Uchihas he met along the way. He still couldn't believe how kind the Uchiha family was to him, considering he believed they were stuck up bastards in his past dimension.

Entering the familiar grassland plains, Naruto used his budding Sage Mode to check he was alone. Then, he opened the scroll Uchiha Kagami gave him. Raising an eyebrow at the unreadable scribbles, Naruto instinctively applied a ram sign and muttered "Kai" but to no avail. Realizing he had something that was immune to genjutsu, he activated the crimson dojutsu and saw the scribbles transformed into elegantly written kanji.

It read:

"To Uchiha Obito,

You have been summoned by the noble Uchiha Elders to the Naka Shrine at midday. Enter the shrine and lift the seventh tatami mat from the far right. You will see our mighty doujutsu depicted around various seals. The hand seals to unlock the barrier is: Snake - Ram - Monkey - Boar - Horse - Snake - Tiger.

Ensure that no one sees you entering or exiting the shrine.

Furthermore, this message does not exist."

With a quick Katon, the message was disintegrated into ashes. Patting down his clothes to remove to flakes of burnt paper, Naruto looked up to the sky to see that he had a couple of hours before he had to attend this "secret" meeting.

He was about to head to the meeting place of Team Minato but decided not to. It was obvious his presence would cause tempers to flare once again and instead decided to skip the session. He could be there tomorrow, hopefully with Kakashi-teme being nicer to him.

Instead, he decided that it was time to continue working on his chakra affinities - mainly his Uchiha one. Starting with the Tiger seal, Naruto went through twenty-six seals adroitly, ending in the Horse seal. Kneading the fire chakra in his body, Naruto learned to relish the familiar burn that accompanied a successful Katon jutsu. Slightly opening his mouth, Naruto muttered Katon: Goka Mekkyaku (Fire Release: Majestic Destroyer Flame). The red fire of destruction burned through the grasslands effortlessly as it continue to rapidly spread across the training ground until it reached 35 meters in length.

Checking his chakra reserves, he frowned when he saw the jutsu took out a huge chunk of his reserves. Although he glad Kurama wasn't here to pick on him every chance he had anymore, he was still very annoyed by how little chakra he had to work with. Merging with Obito's body provided him with much denser chakra that allowed all of his jutsu to be more devastating, but it was still irritating that he had to be a lot more economical with his jutsu. If his new body could handle the stress of Futon: Rasenshuriken (Wind Release: Spiralling Shuriken), he doubted he could do anymore than two - considering his lack of wind affinity.

He figured that he needed to adapt and decided to work on his one main weakness he had in his past life that would allow him to increase his jutsu repertoire: chakra control. Taking a kunai, he applied a steady stream of chakra to the imbalanced piece of metal and attempted to make it turn clockwise on the palm of his hand. Cursing loudly when the kunai almost landed in his skull, he brought out another kunai for another attempt.

Then, his acute instincts indicated that he wasn't alone anymore. He sent the kunai flying into the bushes behind him and was rewarded with a yelp.

He turned to see an unusual Uchiha boy with short, unkempt black hair staring reverently at him.

"What do you want now Shisui?" Naruto said with a hint of annoyance.

"Teach me how to do that fire jutsu you just did." The boy yelled to the him - as if Naruto wasn't a feet away - and pointed his finger at his face, mirroring what he did years in the future to Jiraiya.

Putting a pinky in his ear, Naruto could only sigh at how loud, how very much annoying, the brat was.

Which said a lot about how he was in the old peaceful days before everything went wrong.

~ o ~ X ~ o ~ X ~ o ~ X ~ o ~ X ~

A/N:

So that was my first real romance moment. Do tell me how I did and any areas I can improve on for future moments!

Currently, I'm trying to figure out a timetable for updating this story once I go back to college. I still have one and a half weeks of free time so rest assured that a couple more chapters will be released. Information about the progress of future chapters will be listed on my profile page.

Speaking about college, I plan on taking the GRE in the future. To those who don't know, the GRE is a standardized test that is part of the college application process a student needs to take in America for a Master's Degree. One part of the GRE is the vocabulary section, so I figured that a fun way to learn these words is try to apply them in my story instead of trying to straight up memorize them. I'm sorry if seeing unknown words will annoy you. But hey, at least you get to learn something new! :D