Chapter 9
Disclaimers: I don't own the anime/manga Naruto in any way, shape, or form
Naruto looked at Kushina and was surprised, 'I thought Itachi massacred his whole clan besides Sasuke. So why is she alive and who is she?' Kushina walked up to Mikoto and kneeled by her, taking Mikoto's hand in her own, 'Mikoto is Sasuke's mother.' Naruto was shocked even more, 'Sasuke's mother?' Naruto stopped talking and began to think for a few seconds before speaking thoughtfully, 'I wonder what Sasuke would do if he knew his mother was alive?' Kushina looked back with a thoughtful expression that was mixed with happiness that her closest friend was alive, 'I wonder that too. From what you told me, he was an arrogant prick.' Naruto chuckled and nodded, 'Yea he is quite the bastard.' Kushina giggled and looked back at Mikoto, 'I'm sure if Mikoto knew what Sasuke was up to, she'd be furious at him but at the same time sad that he turned out that way.'
Naruto nodded and looked at the woman who was smiling at Kushina. The woman spoke up, 'This woman was brought to me by a friend of my deceased son. I believe his name was Itachi like that boy said. He asked us to watch over her and that she would most likely wake up sometime within a few months after today exactly.' Kushina and Naruto looked at each other and back at the woman, surprise etched on their faces. The woman laughed softly and smiled, 'He said for me to bring her back to Konoha when she woke up but since you are her friend and a shinobi as well I'll let you take her back to Konoha as long as you protect her and make sure she wakes up and knows what happened.' Kushina smiled gratefully and nodded her thanks to the woman. Naruto smiled and looked at Mikoto while thinking to himself, 'She's beautiful. Honestly, if she is anything like my mom then Sasuke doesn't deserve to have her as a mother.' Naruto looked at Kushina and then at Mikoto and blushed a bit at her beauty.
Kushina looked out of the corner of her eye and saw Naruto looking at Mikoto and blush a bit. She smirked and giggled to herself as she thought, 'Never knew Naruto had a thing for older women.' Kushina then blushed as her mind began wandering on if Naruto liked her but she pushed the thought out of her mind and focused on her friend. Naruto looked at Kushina and suddenly felt a strange attraction towards her. He was confused as he thought, 'What the heck? Why does mom suddenly look so beautiful? AH! I must resist this feeling, what if she gets pissed at me? I don't want her to hate me or worse leave me alone again.' Naruto looked back at Mikoto and decided to leave the room and put up the groceries. The old woman came and helped and they finished quickly. Naruto and Kushina told the woman that in about two months they would be going back to Konoha so they would get her then and bring her back with them to Konoha. The woman nodded and said she would take care of Mikoto until then.
Time skip, the day the group returns to Konoha…
The group was almost to Konoha and was wondering what had changed in the village. And Jiraiya was wondering what Tsunade's reaction would be to the two new Konoha shinobi members and the reappearance of Kushina and Mikoto, who was being carried on a stretcher by Darian and Lexi. They arrived outside the gates and Kotetsu and Izumo looked surprised and greeted them, but when they saw Kushina and Mikoto they were beyond shocked and Izumo left to tell Tsunade of the development at Jiraiya's request. Needless to say, when Tsunade heard that Kushina and Mikoto were alive she was happy for both women's returns. Kushina learned from Jiraiya that when she had gone missing and Minato was found dead, they were informed that their son died as well and that Naruto had had the fox sealed in him and Tsunade left the village in depression with Shizune following her so she could take care of Tsunade.
Meanwhile in the Hokage's Office…
Tsunade was reading the note she received from Jiraiya
Tsunade,
Hey Tsunade, you won't believe what's been going on. First Naruto found a very sacred area, the Tomb of the Rikkudo Senin, and had retrieved scrolls on the Gravity element techniques that the Rinnegan is capable of using. Soon after that we arrived in Kumo to get Naruto trained in controlling the Kyuubi since their previous Raikage was kicked off his seat of power and a new Raikage, A, took his place. We trained with the Raikage's brother, a Jinchuuriki named Killer Bee, who was close to mastering the Hachibi, and his student, a young woman named Yugito Nii who was learning to control her tailed beast, the Nibi. Before they started training however, Naruto rescued two Kumo shinobi who were framed for an attack on A since he didn't desire to steal the Byakugan like his predecessor did. The attackers had framed these two shinobi for a reason unknown, but why they framed them is unknown, especially since these two kunoichi, Darian and Lexi they said, both possess the Kekei Genkai for Storm Style.
However, what is most amazing happened a year after we left Konoha. We found a person who we all believed to be dead, Kushina Uzumaki, the Red Death of Konoha! She said that some man in a mask attacked her and released the Kyuubi within her, then left her for dead. She was picked up by a caravan of nomads sometime after and developed amnesia. She regained her memory soon after meeting Naruto and convinced us to let her travel with us, which we agreed especially Naruto when she said she was his mother. As we traveled Kushina gave Naruto some resistance seals and started training him in Kenjutsu. He doesn't have a katana of his own yet, but trust me, with his training he could give Hayate Gekkou a run for his money.
And here is the last surprise: you remember the Uchiha Massacre right? Well Itachi didn't spare Sasuke only. He also spared Mikoto Uchiha, but put her in a coma, most likely with Tsukiyomi. Don't tell anyone, this is top secret and could possibly put her in danger. Naruto and Kushina said that Itachi purposefully spared her but I don't know. We are close to Konoha now and we will discuss the situation more in private.
From, Jiraiya
To say Tsunade was surprised was like saying she loved sake and gambling. Kushina and Mikoto, two powerful Kunoichi who were thought dead. Kushina, who was known as the Red Death of Konoha because of her mastery of Kenjutsu and her incredible speed and Mikoto who was the Goddess of Substitution, she found out that she couldn't rely on the Sharingan all the time so took time to make herself famous for another reason. She was so skilled with the Substitution jutsu that she could take on twenty shinobi and have them attack, and possibly kill, each other within minutes, all within minutes of engaging them in combat. Tsunade smiled and allowed Shizune to look over the note. She was happy for several reasons, happy as a Hokage to get back two very experienced and skilled shinobi, happy as fellow Kunoichi that Mikoto and Kushina two powerful kunoichi returned, and happy as a regular person that Kushina and Mikoto were alive since she was friends with them and, unknowingly to her at the time, close cousins with Kushina. She heard Shizune gasp and laughed softly as Shizune spoke up, 'Is this true Lady Tsunade? Are they really alive?' Tsunade nodded and looked out the window, 'Yea, it's true. Me, you, and Jiraiya will discuss it later and I'll call a council meeting soon afterwards.' Shizune nodded and they walked out to the village gates. On the way she ran into Izumo who told her that Jiraiya, Naruto and several others had arrived and she smiled nodding and continued walking towards the gate.
At the village gates…
Naruto was talking to Kotetsu and Jiraiya, Kushina, Darian, and Lexi were talking and taking care of Mikoto. Naruto smiled and said, 'So, has anything changed while I was away?' Kotetsu sighed and smiled a bit, 'Well I can certainly say that without your pranks it's been very quiet.' Naruto and Kotetsu laughed as Naruto spoke, 'I don't doubt that, I am the King of Pranks so everyone must've gotten lazy while I was away, I might have to go around and get people back in shape and on their toes.' Kotetsu laughed harder at the thought of people covered in paint and other harmless pranks that Naruto might have planned. Kushina walked up and saw Kotetsu chatting happily with Naruto and smiled. Darian and Lexi walked up to Naruto and hugged him making Kotetsu smile at him perversely as he said, 'Well well Naruto, since when did you become such a ladies' man?' Naruto blushed and Darian and Lexi giggled and held onto him tighter. Kushina wasn't paying attention to the scene as she was taking care of Mikoto but Jiraiya did and he giggled a bit at the possible research.
Naruto slipped out of their grasp and they said 'Awww' from the loss of his body heat. Kotetsu laughed and looked around as he heard a cough. There was Tsunade with her pupil, Shizune, and everyone but Kotetsu and Mikoto (A/N: still comatose, so of course she didn't and can't notice :P) smiled and waved. Tsunade smiled with Shizune as Izumo arrived behind them and she said, 'Welcome back everyone.' Tsunade then looked at Kushina and was surprised and walked up to her, giving her a hug, 'I hoped you were alive, and I'm so happy you are Kushina.' Kushina smiled softly and hugged her back, 'I missed you too Tsunade.' Tsunade and Kushina separated and she looked down at Mikoto and went into medic-nin mode, examining her professionally and sighed in relief, 'If I go by her steadily rising heart rate, she'll wake up within a month.' Kushina, Naruto, Darian, and Lexi smiled and sighed in relief. Kushina because Mikoto was her friend, Naruto because he fell for her without realizing it, and Darian and Lexi because they knew Naruto had fallen for Mikoto and agreed that if she returned his feelings that they would share him with her as well.
Naruto and Jiraiya went ahead of everyone and walked through Konoha. Naruto walked up and jumped to the top of a random light pole and looked out at Konoha and smiled, 'This place hasn't changed a bit.' Then a voice below was heard, 'Naruto?' Naruto looked down and saw Sakura looking surprised. Naruto jumped down and landed beside her as she looked at him. He had grown taller than her and she was surprised by how his hair had grown, he looked a lot like the Yondaime Hokage, only he had whisker marks, his sunglasses that he got the day when he was released from the hospital and his hair was only a little bit longer than it was when he left. Sakura looked at his sunglasses and then smiled, 'Welcome back Naruto. Hey, you've gotten taller than me.' Naruto looked up and measured his height to Sakura's and said, 'Huh, I guess you're right.' Sakura then stood in a little pose and said, 'What about me, have I changed any?' Naruto smiled but the smile didn't reach his eyes, something that was noticed by Jiraiya, 'Are you kidding Sakura, you haven't changed a bit.'
Sakura looked a bit annoyed, especially since she had trained her butt off for three years. She lifted her fist, about to punch Naruto again when Naruto jumped back and she missed, slamming her fist into the ground making a crater appear. She picked herself up as Naruto gawked at the crater, 'Geez Sakura, you've got Granny's monster strength now!' Sakura had a tic mark and she raised her fist to throw a punch at Naruto again. However, she suddenly she saw a red blur and was met with a sword in her face, held by a woman with crimson red hair. Sakura gasped and froze as she saw the katana inches in front of her face and she looked at the woman looking at her with malice in her eyes. The woman spoke out, 'Is this that Haruno girl Naruto?' Naruto nodded, 'Yea, that's Sakura. I thought she'd grown out of the "hitting me" phase but obviously not.' Kushina stood up straight and pulled the sword away from Sakura, who was outraged, 'Who do you think you are? My mother will have your head for attacking me, she's on the council!'
Kushina simply took out a cloth and started polishing her katana with a bored expression and replied, 'You mean Sakumo Haruno? That whore couldn't touch me, she's pathetically weak and in our childhood she always followed my husband around the way you follow this "Last Uchiha" around. But look what happened, I married him and she didn't.' Sakura was confused, her mother wanted someone else besides her father and she acted the same way she does around Sasuke? This man must've been hot and famous and she didn't know why this woman got him instead of her mother. Sakura was interrupted from her thoughts when Kushina spoke up, 'And one last thing, don't you even think of attacking Naruto, if you do I won't hold myself and my blade back like I did this time.' Sakura was shocked, she held herself back? Sakura hadn't seen anything but a crimson red blur.
Kushina sheathed her katana and walked away with Naruto and Jiraiya walking close behind. Sakura was surprised at Naruto's attitude when he replied to the red haired woman. She watched as they walked away with a slightly annoyed attitude along with lots of fear of that woman. However she soon forgot about the woman when she saw Sasuke walk by and she ran off after him shouting, 'Sasuke, wait up!' Sasuke was only slightly punished since the Council voted that he not pass Jonin, though the shinobi half of the council voted him to be thrown in prison, they were outmatched by the civilian council since some of the shinobi clan heads on the council were out on missions and were replaced by clan members who secretly supported the Civilian Council and thought Sasuke Uchiha was the best thing to happen to Konoha and thought Naruto was the Kyuubi incarnate. Unfortunately for Tsunade she couldn't over rule the votes and had to comply with them.
Sasuke was slightly annoyed but dealt with it like he always did, brooding. Sakura still followed him around like a lost puppy because she was infatuated with him. She was weak in his eyes, even if a Sanin trained her, because she was a fan girl. However, despite that she was persistent, never gave up, 'kind of like that annoying blonde' Sasuke thought as he remembered Naruto's eyes. He had done some research but couldn't find out what it was. His entire eyes, even the whites of his eyes, had turned pale purple with multiple rings around a dot-like pupil, the thickest ring being where the color of a regular eye meets the white of a normal eye. Sasuke was anything but an idiot, he knew as soon as he saw Naruto's eyes that Naruto had a Doujutsu. It was the name of the Doujutsu that evaded him, and every time he closed his eyes he saw those eyes, they seemed so familiar and yet foreign to him. Sasuke sighed in annoyance when Sakura ran up and spoke up, 'What do you want?'
Sakura stopped beside Sasuke and said, 'Have you heard yet?' Sasuke didn't want to admit it but she had just caught his interest, he heard a lot of news around the village, so what could she know that he didn't? 'Heard what?' 'Naruto's back in Konoha.' Sasuke froze and had a shocked expression that turned into anger. 'So he's come back. Well now I can prove to him that I'm better than he is. Then once he realizes I'm superior to him he will help me convince that old bat Tsunade to let me hunt down Itachi.' Sasuke smiled a dark smile and looked at Sakura before speaking, 'I want you to tell Naruto in three days to meet me at the Chunin exam coliseum so we can… 'spar'. We can finish our match that you and Kakashi interrupted.' Sakura nodded and ran off, leaving a smirking Sasuke.
With Naruto, Kushina, Darian, Lexi, and Jiraiya in the Hokage Tower…
Naruto arrived at the Hokage Mansion with Jiraiya and Kushina and saw a waiting Tsunade, Darian, Lexi, and Shizune. Shizune smiled and waved at Naruto, who waved back after removing his sunglasses. Naruto looked around and Tsunade answered his unasked question, 'We moved Mikoto to a certain hiding place, your home.' Naruto was confused, 'Why my home it's such a small apartment?' Tsunade looked at everyone in the room and nodded at Kushina before speaking, 'No Naruto, not at your old apartment. You are moving into your father's home.' Naruto was surprised and smiled brightly, 'Awesome Dattebayo!' Everyone laughed at the way he acted and Naruto's stomach suddenly growled and he rubbed the back of his head embarrassed, 'Hehe, guess I'm a bit hungry, I'm heading to Ichiraku's, so I'll see you all later.' Tsunade told Naruto how to get to the clan house he would be living in and he left after putting his sunglasses back on.
Naruto arrived at Ichiraku's and walked in smiling, 'Hey Teuchi, hey Ayame, long time no see!' Ayame turned around and saw Naruto. She smiled and ran around the counter and hugged him, 'Naruto, it's been too long, how've you been?' Naruto smiled as he hugged her back, 'I've been good, I've gotten a lot stronger so now I have a better shot at being Hokage.' Ayame smiled and looked at his sunglasses a bit confused, 'Whats with the sunglasses? They look cool but why do you wear them so much? You even wore them before you left for your training trip.' Naruto looked around but Teuchi had just walked in and had greeted Naruto as well and then asked the exact same question as Ayame and after checking the area was empty, he took off his sunglasses. Ayame and Teuchi were shocked by his eyes but then thought that they looked very cool.
Naruto told them everything that happened from the time at the VotE to the present and they told him what happened while he was away and he was annoyed that Sasuke was still an arrogant prick. When they were done Naruto sat down and said, 'Give me the Naruto Special!' Ayame and Teuchi smiled, he certainly knew how to cheer up a tense situation and Teuchi nodded and said, 'One Naruto special coming right up!' They started cooking and within a few minutes placed an extra-large bowl of mixed flavors of Ramen and Naruto started eating with his usual gusto. Ayame smiled knowing that Naruto would stop by often, she enjoyed his company ever since they first met eight years before. Within ten minutes Naruto finished the giant bowl of ramen and sighed as he felt content and said, 'man, I missed your cooking, I've eaten lots of ramen around the Elemental Nations but I swear, no matter where I go, this is the best ramen ever!' Teuchi smiled and Ayame giggled and hugged Naruto again saying, 'It's good to see you again Naruto, I'm glad you're back.' Teuchi walked up and laughed, 'I feel the same way Naruto it's good to see you again.'
Naruto had his foxy grin and he left after paying for his meal, even though Teuchi and Ayame said that since it was his return meal that it was on the house. When Naruto left Teuchi looked at Ayame and smiled softly as he thought to himself, 'Hehe, she really cares for him, who knows, maybe he might return her feelings one day.' Ayame felt her father watching her and looked. She was confused when she saw his gentle smile and she mentally shrugged, figuring it was for Naruto.
Two days later…
Naruto was asleep in his new home (A/N: Naruto had told all of the rookie 9 and team 9 about his heritage, but not of his Doujutsu) with Mikoto resting in the other room when suddenly there was banging on the front door. Naruto fell out of bed in shock and walked to the living room. However, due to his room being on the other side of the mansion that was his father's clan house, he heard the door being forced open and he grumbled to himself in annoyance and heard the person searching for him. He heard a shout of, 'NARUTO!' and knew right away it was Sakura. Suddenly the noise stopped and he came across Sakura standing in the doorway to Mikoto's room and she was looking at Mikoto and suddenly connected the dots as to who she was and she heard Naruto behind her and turned on him shouting, 'WHY IS SASUKE-KUN'S MOM IN YOUR HOME? SHE SOUNDS LIKE SHE HAS BEEN BEATEN UP AND IS JUST RECOVERING, WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?' Naruto looked behind Sakura at Mikoto who was waking up much to his surprise. (A/N: Nothing and no one can sleep through a session of Sakura's shouts LoL XD)
Naruto pushed past Sakura and ran to Mikoto's side and gently grabbed her hand as he gently spoke to her, 'Mikoto, Mikoto, are you alright?' Mikoto slowly opened her eyes and when she saw Naruto she blushed a bit but nodded and spoke weakly, 'Where am I?' Naruto sighed in relief, 'You're in the Namikaze compound, I was asked to take care of you along with my mom.' Mikoto looked closely and asked, 'Who are you?' Naruto smiled and gently let her hand go, 'My name is Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze.' Mikoto looked surprised and asked, 'Kushina's son?' Naruto nodded and Mikoto fell asleep again after sighing and saying, 'It's nice to finally meet you, I had heard about you and wanted to meet you for a long time, I wanted to tell you that I admire your strength.' Naruto smiled and blushed a bit before remembering Sakura and walked up to her, 'Sakura tell me what you needed and get out, and don't tell anyone about this, it's an S-ranked secret.' Sakura breathed and Naruto knew that what was coming wouldn't be good, 'First, Sasuke wants you to meet him tomorrow in the Chunin exams coliseum and second why can't I tell? This is Sasuke-kun's mother after all.' Naruto glared at her and held his hand out at her and whispered 'Banshou Tenin.' Sakura flew at Naruto and he grabbed her throat scaring her near to death, 'Listen Haruno, This was classified an S-ranked secret by Tsunade herself, it's to protect her from Itachi! Now leave!' Naruto dropped her and she got up coughing and ran away, fear plainly seen in her eyes.
End of Chapter 9
Done! Chapter nine took me awhile, I couldn't figure out if I should Ayame in the Harem, but I think that since they practically have a history then she should.