Naruto and Sasuke finally reached the end of the tunnel and came out into a clearing with a beautiful meadow and bright blue sky above them. "This is it?" Naruto questioned with disbelief. "Yes, I see Sakura down at the bottom of the hill." Sasuke said as the two men started racing down it. "Sakura, thank God you're alright!" Naruto exclaimed happily as he ran downhill towards her. However he quickly skidded to a stop once he saw his mother step out in front of him so of course Sasuke ran smack dab into him.
"Hey! Watch it!" he snapped. "Mom?" Naruto questioned. "Is it really you?" he asked with disbelief. Even though Sasuke was still angry about the fact that Naruto didn't warn him when he had just stopped suddenly like that, he also understood how his friend must be feeling and that he would be feeling exactly the same way if he had found out that (any member of) his family was still alive. However with just one look into his mother's eyes he knew that she didn't even have to answer him because he knew right away who she was.
"Yes Naruto, this is our mother Kushina." Sakura explained. Naruto didn't know exactly how to feel, a part of him was relieved to see her, but another part of him was just plain hurt that she had lied to him for such a long time. He slowly took a step back from her. Naruto and Sasuke had been friends for such a long time it was as though all Sasuke had to do was look at him and he knew exactly how he thought and felt about a certain situation like this one. His mother seemed to sense her son's sadness and uncertainty about the situation as well.
"It's alright Naruto, I know exactly how you feel." She told him. "I'd act the same way if I was in your shoes, which is the whole entire reason that I didn't want you and Sakura coming after me in the first place." She explained. "I know but I had to come, and I never told Naruto anything about it." Sakura said. "I know, that's because I did." Sasuke told her. "You know what I don't get?" Naruto began. "Why people that are supposed to be in my family and the ones that are supposed to love me tried to keep something like this a secret from me in the first place." Naruto said as his voice started to crack but he fought back his tears with all of his might.
"I'm sorry darling, I know how you must be feeling but_" his mother began. "Oh yeah!? Then why did you lie to me!?" Naruto shouted not being able to fight back his tears anymore. "How could you hurt me like this!?" he yelled at her before he turned around and started running towards the woods. "Naruto." Sakura said with a gasp. "Naruto!" Kushina yelled. "It's not safe for him to be all alone out there by himself. He could get hurt in this dimension." She said.
"Don't worry, Sasuke and I will go after him won't we?" Sakura asked her husband. "As usual." Sasuke answered as he exchanged looks with his wife. "Come on, he probably hasn't gone far." He told her before the two of them started running alongside each other while they dashed towards the woods. All Kushina could was watch and pray that they got back safely.
As soon as they got inside Sakura came to a sudden halt. "What is it?" Sasuke asked as he stopped beside her. "I hear something." She said quietly as there came muffled sobs inside the distance. Sasuke quickly grabbed ahold of her hand and raced towards where he thought the sound was coming from. Sure enough Sakura caught sight of her brother sitting at the bottom of an oak tree and with a sniff wiping his nose with the back of his hand.
Sakura suddenly felt her heart break for the sadness that he had been feeling. Sasuke walked over to him with her and watched as she sat down next to Naruto. "Are you alright?" she asked him worriedly and tried to put a comforting arm around him but he just quickly pushed it away from her. "No! Just go away!" he exclaimed as he continued to sob. "Don't be ridiculous," Sasuke began. "we're a team remember? And we're not just going to leave you all alone here by yourself." He told him.
"Why not? It's where I belong." Naruto said. "No it isn't, you belong with Hinata and the rest of us back in the hidden leaf village." Sakura said. "I mean you're the hokage." She told him. "So that's why you need me then." Naruto said with another sniff. "No, we don't need you because you're our leader even though that you are, we need you because you're our friend and our brother and we love you." Sakura told him. "Yeah well you have a funny way of showing it!" Naruto snapped. "Listen Naruto," Sasuke began. "If we didn't love you why would we risk our lives going after you in the first place?" he asked him.
"Then why didn't you guys just tell me the truth?" Naruto questioned back. "Well Sasuke didn't have anything to do with this so you can't blame him. But the only reason I didn't tell you is because our mother didn't want me to, she knew that you would be feeling like this and she was trying to protect you. I mean she's always wished for a chance to come back and be with us inside the village, but she knew she couldn't since she was trapped here." Sakura explained.
"Oh." Naruto simply began. "I'm sorry Sakura." He apologized. "It's alright," she began. "Yeah, you just need to learn to stop jumping to conclusions until you have all the facts straight." Sasuke said. "So, does that mean that we're still friends?" Naruto asked as Sasuke squatted down and did his famous poke in the forehead while he grinned at him. "What do you think?" he asked him back as Naruto slowly smiled back at him and Sakura smiled over at the both of them before Sasuke pulled his hand away.
"Besides I made a promise to Kakashi to always be your brother and look out for you, and so I'm stuck loving you. I don't have any other choice. That is unless I want my ass kicked by him for eternity in the afterlife." He told him before he gave him his hand and helped him back up to his feet before doing the same to Sakura. "Now come on let's go back, your mother must be worried sick about you both." He said as they ran back out of the woods and Sasuke stopped and watched Naruto and Sakura run over to their mother and tightly embrace her and once again thought about his own mother. "I'm sorry Mother." Naruto said as a tear escaped his eye and rolled down his cheek before he closed both of them while his mother emotionally hugged him back.
Next Time On Naruto The Next Generation; Kushina returns to the hidden leaf village and the first child of Naruto and Hinata Uzumaki is finally born