Luku Seitsemän

The young red-headed woman held her head as she groaned in pain. Faintly, she could hear the soft sloshing of water so she assumed that she had simply hit her head in the hot springs. However, when she opened her eyes that scenario was not the case.

She looked around with wide eyes at her unfamiliar surroundings. It seemed that she was in a sewer that had pipes running along the wall. Curious, she stood up on her feet to follow them. Hopefully they would either lead her to the exit or to someone who could show her the exit.

Unfortunately, the pipes did not lead to an exit or to someone who could show her the exit. Instead she had come upon a rather large cage with an unconscious blond boy in front of it wearing an awesome orange and black jumpsuit. She crept closer to him in the hopes of seeing his face when there was a large gust of warm air from the cage. She looked up only to scream in fright at the one big, red eye that was staring down at her along with rows of sharp teeth. The thing chuckled, sending a shiver down her spine.

"Ah. It's been a long time...Kushina."

"….Eh?!"

Katsumi sat there blinking at her mother and brother in shock. All of the things that could have happened, she could honestly say that she was not expecting that at all.

"What the hell?" She voiced after a full minute of silence. She Sasuke shrug from the corner of her eyes. She sighed in irritation. Couldn't catch a break without some strange shit happening? But, this is the kind of stuff that happened if you were around Naruto too long.

"Watch them. I'll be back."

She left before Sasuke could think to complain.

She was back a few minutes later in her green shorts, a belly tank over a long-sleeved mesh shirt and all her ninja stuff. Instead of her usual pigtails, she opted to put her blonde hair in a low bun.

"Anything change?"

He shook his head.

"Sheesh? What could have possibly happened? I mean...Oh. Oh, gods." She slapped her hand to her face and dragged it down.

"What?" Sasuke asked.

She sighed heavily before taking a seat on the ground. "It was probably Kyuubi. I hope that giant, ugly fur ball isn't about to screw this up!"

Kushina stared up at Kyuubi with horror etched into every line on her face.

"This isn't...my stomach is it?" She, rather embarrassingly, squeaked out.

"No. This is the kit's domain."

"Kit?" Kushina questioned then shook her head. "That's not important. How'd you get out?! The seal is supposed to hold until I die!"

"Hairless animal! Watch how you speak to me!" The great beast growled out, leaning his face closer to her to look her in the eyes. She took a step back but glared right back at him. This lasted for a while before Kyuubi let out a huff.

"I do not have time to waste on this foolishness. While I highly detest what I am about to, the kit and his team need someone, an adult, to get them through this. I will not tell you everything however and I will not be repeating myself so listen."

"What-"

"Don't interrupt me, human."

Kushina shut her mouth with a click.

By the time Kyuubi had finished telling her all that she needed to know, she was staring at the blond teen with a mixture of awe, fear, and sadness. It was strange knowing that she was his mother, with Minato as the father, and yet she was only a few years older than he was. She walked closer to the still sleeping boy and peered into his face.

She reared back.

He looked just like her but with Minato's coloring. Well, the skin and hair at least. He had yet to open his eyes so she couldn't tell if they were here blue gray or Minato's intense blue. She inwardly hoped that they were Minato's colors as she thought hers were rather plain. Then again, Katsumi had blue eyes so she would assume that Naruto would, too.

"So, he and Katsumi are my children? And Sasuke is Mikoto's youngest? And they came 18 years back into the past?"

"Yes."

She blinked before sighing. She could fully sort through this later.

"Will he remember this when he wakes up?"

"Yes." Kyuubi eyed her. "You're taking this rather well."

"Eh." She shrugged. "I'll probably freak out later once the information fully sinks in. Until then, can I go now! It's rather uncomfortable being in the presence of a great demon with nothing but a towel on."

She could have sworn he laughed before her world went black again.

Katsumi startled when her mother suddenly snapped into an upright position, red hair flying all around. The woman looked around before her eyes narrowed as they landed on a blonde girl. Katsumi gulped as she edged away from the crazy-looking woman. Whatever had happened while she was unconscious couldn't have been good from the way she was looking at her...and Sasuke?

The black haired teen raised a single eyebrow and Kushina's eyes went wide. She then turned her gaze to the ground and her hand went to clutch her heart.

"Kushina-san?"

At that moment, Naruto chose to wake up also. Her older brother sat up with a groan, rubbing his head. One bright, blue eye opened and caught sight of Kushina first.

Everyone nearly jumped when Kushina took one look at Naruto, screamed, and collapsed in a faint.

It was silent as they stared at the red-haired woman sprawled on the floor.

"What the hell just happened?" Naruto finally asked what everyone was thinking.

"So, we looked at each other and fainted?" Naruto asked again for the fiftieth time.

"Yes, dobe." Sasuke answered in exasperation.

"Shut up, you teme!" Naruto replied hotly before taking a deep breath.

"Do you know what happened? Do you think she maybe saw Kyuubi?" Katsumi asked.

"If she did, it was most likely nothing good." Naruto grumbled.

I actually did you lot a favor, you ungrateful brat, Kyuubi grumbled.

"Like what?" Naruto asked out loud, knowing his sister and friend wouldn't freak out like he was talking to himself.

I let her tell you when she wakes up.

"You suck."

"Judging by your answer," Katsumi began. "Kyuubi either knows what happened and doesn't want to tell you or doesn't know what happened and doesn't want to tell you he doesn't know."

That wretched child. How dare she-

Naruto effectively tuned the fox out.

"I guess we won't know until Kaa-chan wakes up." Naruto shrugged before a mischievous smirk overcame his features.

"Dobe.." Sasuke warned.

"It's just a bit of harmless fun." Naruto waved him off as he produced a marker from nowhere. "What's the worst she can do, anyway?"

Katsumi and Sasuke shook their heads.

"Clearly you weren't paying attention when Kaka-sensei told us those stories at Kaa-san."

"No way those stories were true."

"Naruto. We even went to one of the people she beat up for calling her Tomato-face." Katsumi deadpanned. "She ended his career as a ninja."

It was barely noticeable but his hand was shaking slightly as he went to uncap the pen. "He was pro-probably exaggerating."

"Don't forgot about the story where she even beat up Dad for spilling her precious, precious Ramen. He couldn't resume his Hokage duty for at least a week."

"Hehehe." Naruto laughed nervously. "Now that is an obvious lie. There's no way that could've happened. I bet Dad allowed that to happen. She's strong but not that strong."

Throughout that mini speech, Naruto took no notice to the fact that his mother was finally waking up. Katsumi began sweating and signaling for her oblivious brother to shut up. As usual, he was paying no attention and just kept digging himself into a bigger hole.

He finally stopped when he felt the oppressive killing intent leaking into the air from right behind him. Slowly, apprehensively, he turned away with a look of absolute horror on his face.

"What was that, brat?" She growled in a demonic voice as her red hair began to lift behind her and form something similar to nine tails.

Naruto screeched like a little girl and tried to run but his fate was sealed.

Katsumi and Sasuke winced as Kushina pulled his leg into a position it shouldn't have been in.

"I tried to tell him." Katsumi sighed.