Chapter 2: Mother

"Excuse me? Did you just say you were Kami?!" he screamed.

"Yes, I believe that is what I said, young one."

"So I did die after the sealing. At least I made the Juubi go with me." he said, looking at the ceiling, while a few tears slid down his face.

"Yes, the Juubi is now gone. But we have more important matters to talk about."

"Like what Kami-sama."

"Well, all the Gods and I have agreed to give you a second chance because of your heroic actions." she stated.

"What! Why would I want a second chance? I can now rest in peace knowing that I have brought the Elemental Nations to a new era of peace. And I can finally see all of my fallen friends." he said.

"You should be honored to be gifted a second chance mortal!" bellowed Tsukuyomi.

"Silence Tsukuyomi, he does not yet understand. Gaki, like Tsukuyomi said, you should be honored with this chance, but I understand why you would refuse such an offer. But before you say anything else I want to show you something. Follow me" said Kami.

As soon as Kami said the last word, she slowly stood up, straitened her clothes and started walking towards the large golden doors. Loud booming steps echoed around the room but stopped when she looked over her shoulder.

"Are you coming or not?"

Wordlessly, Naruto started to get up, but fell right back down due to dizziness. After using a few seconds to steady himself, he stood up again and succeeded. Taking a few shaky steps, he started to walk faster to catch up with the tall goddess. When he caught up, he looked up to her and saw the slightest of a nod.

As she opened the golden doors, he saw a long hall with several magnificent statues lining the walls. While he was admiring the view, the goddess started towards the other end of the hall. When he finally snapped out of his trance, he saw that the goddess not by his side any more, but almost to the end of the hall, where there was 2 huge silver gates. While, he sprinted to the goddess, he noticed that there were human sized gods wandering the place, and some of the female goddess were pointing at him with blushes on their faces.

"Hmmm… I wonder why those girls are so red? Hinata does that a lot when I'm around her. Ahhh! Girls are so troublesome!" he thought.

-Somewhere in Konoha-

"Achoo! Hmm. Seems like somebody has found some troublesome women." Said a certain pineapple haired Nara.

-Back to Kami's realm-

As he finally caught up to Kami, she started to open the bright silver gates. He tried to look through but the bright light emitting from the inside was too blinding, so he had to look down and shut his eyes as tightly as he could. As soon as the brightness fell, he started to open his eyes and looked up. What he saw kind of resembled Konoha's streets when there was a festival, it can also be described as chaotic. The room was filled with many smaller gods and all of them were busy walking around with their nose in what looked like a small book, scribbling word after word then erasing. Most of the gods were beside numerous complex machines as tall as they were, and they were all talking among themselves. The floor was littered with sheets of paper and empty boxes of chocolate pocky.

"It's amazing that they don't run into each other." he thought.

After scanning through the room for several minutes and observing the gods, he finally noticed the giant floating orb in the middle of the room.

"Here we are! Well Naruto, welco-"

"Forgive me for my interruption Kami-sama, but I was wondering, what is that?" he asked, pointing to the floating object.

"That, Naruto, is the Kamino me (Divine Eye). That orb allows us Gods to see every single thing in the human realm, dead or alive. That is also why we are here right now. You see Naruto, something very disastrous is happening right now in all the villages." she said with a solemn face.

"Wh- what's happening there?"

"I will tell you the shortened version right alright." she said as he nodded.

"Well Naruto... Madara regrettably survived the final attack you and the five kages performed."

Absolute shock. This was the only feeling that could be described through the raging storm that was Naruto's emotions.

"Y-you're lying! There's no way he survived, it's just not possible!"

"I'm afraid it is possible, and as you can now see, completely truthful…"

Naruto stared into deeply into the depths of the liquid like sphere, unable to tear his stare aware from the hell being projected through this orb. As he stared he felt bile poking at the back of his throat, helpless as Madara tore the arms off a Konoha villager. The shinobi of the village were powerless against the human force of nature that was Madara Uchiha.

As Kami turned the projection off and everything went silent, he slowly turned his gaze towards her. There was a slight flinch in the faces of gods standing behind her, but she kept facing him, even as his gaze met hers. There was something in that look that just sent shivers down her spine, it was the look of someone who had lost everything, and had no way of avenging what he'd lost. It was the look of a completely broken man. As he stared he opened his mouth to speak.

"Send me back" He said this in a whisper, no emotions leaking into his voice or shown on his face.

This wasn't a suggestion, this was an order. He had lost everything to that monster, he'd get his revenge if it was the last thing he'd ever do. Looking around with his emotionless gaze he could see that most of the gods were disgusted at his order, the very thought of a mortal ordering Kami herself almost sending them into a violent rage. But as Kami raised her hand to stop the gods behind her, she kept looking at him, her stare every piercing, like she was looking into his very soul, which was the actual case.

She needed to make sure that he was still fit for this role; the information that had been shown to him had obviously traumatized him after all. But even with all her power and knowledge she couldn't decipher the mind of Naruto Uzumaki. His emotions were a whirlwind and his blank gaze left the gods guessing his real feelings. Kami gave him a pointed stare, not moving from her position and never moving her gaze from his face.

"Are you ready to be sent back? What will you do once you are back in the past?"

"It's obvious, I'm going to kill him before any of this can begin"

"Be warned, the time we are sending you to is long before your own, the world was a different place back then"

"I see, I'm ready to be sent back, anything I should know before I go?" Naruto's face still hadn't changed and he was still staring blankly into the eyes of a being obviously stronger than himself.

"In order to help you blend into your environment, you may be either younger or older. You will also be sent to an area close to the Konoha of the time."

That was all Naruto had to do, it was simple, he'd find Madara and kill him before he could begin any of his wicked schemes. The Juubi will never be reincarnated and Madara will never be able to cause the havoc he'd done in his own time.

"I'm ready, just send me back already" Most of the gods snarled at his blatant disrespect, preparing to wipe his existence off the face of their world forever. Before they could get the chance Kami stomped her foot down.

"Enough! He will be sent back and that's final! None will hurt him!"

Naruto continued to look apathetically as Kami, Inari and Amaterasu surrounded him, opening their arms as a circle of light appeared around Naruto. He gazed at Kami as she spoke to him, his form not wavering.

"You only have one chance at this Naruto, there will not be another. Oh and by the way, this might hurt a little bit"

That 'little bit' of pain was the most excruciating thing he'd ever felt in his entire life. Not even sealing the Juubi had come close to the pain of having his body torn apart and put back together in a matter of moments. It was all involved in the process of being reborn. Although he definitely could have done without this part. The gods all looked on impassively as he screamed, funnily enough, to the heavens. He could have been sent back without pain, although that would send him back in his own body, for their purpose he had to blend in with a certain age group, and that would require him to be of close proximity to that age.

The entire reason his body was being torn apart and replaced was because of his decrease in age, it was not fun to have ones entire body squished down into a younger self, having muscles contract and decrease, having bones snap and regrow in a younger size, having your face and brain break away. Although he was granted a small mercy, seeing as his little Naruto was untouched during this process.

It was at the end of this process when Kami spoke, his body having reached its final variation.

"The process is complete, farewell Naruto Uzumaki, do not fail us…do not fail me…"

-Elemental Nations-

Light and pain, this was all Naruto saw and felt as his body collided with obviously hard ground. The sudden force in his side prompting him to cough up blood as he rolled onto his back. He tentatively touched the wound on his side, nothing external from what he could see, although probably internal from the bruise forming on his side and the blood he'd coughed up moments prior.

Groaning, he slowly and painfully sat up, looking around he realized he was next to a river, one that went on for longer than his gaze could reach. He paused for a moment before looking at his hands; they were smaller than he remembered. His eyes widened as he crawled to the stream, and peered into its watery depths. What he saw didn't shock him as much as he thought it would. Kami had told him there might be a possible change to his look, with him possibly having his age changed.

He gave himself a once over, his hair that was once golden was now vibrant silver, as well as his bangs being shorter at the front, with significant growth on the back of his hair, with the style on the back looking more like Madara's. What surprised him the most were his eyes, what were once orbs as blue as the ocean, were now a startling shade of gold, with his iris being vertically slit. After finishing his overview he stood up slowly and tried to take a step, only to fall flat on his face.

He sat up groaning as he looked down at his feet, it was obvious that he'd decreased in height; this was going to take getting used to. Measuring himself up, he seemed to be 127cm in full length, that was a major decrease, and one he was sure he was going to hate. He moved onto his butt and tried flexing his muscles, and moving his arms and legs, getting a feel for their reach and way of movement. He grumbled as he once again stood up, taking a few tentative steps as he mulled over his situation.

He knew he was younger, but he had nothing to suggest at what point in time he was. It was obvious it was before his birth, as his job was to kill Madara before it began.

Madara

Even saying or thinking his name made Naruto's blood boil, he had to reel in his chakra and suppress his anger at the thought of that genocidal mad man. That was another point he noticed.

"Hmmm, my chakra seems to be as great as when I was fully developed, only a little bit below, but that's probably due to lack of training." He cast his cold eyes over the surroundings. To his back was the river, and in front of him was a massive forest of trees, usually found in the Fire Country.

He sighed as he stretched his limbs for a final time; he seemed to be doing that a lot lately. Setting off into the tree line, he started off with a fast jog, but as he got the hang of his new body his pace picked up to that of an Anbu. He would usually be going faster, but even though the body was in peak physical condition, it wasn't built like that when he was at his peak. He tore through the trees in record time, making it to a walkway in only a few minutes. He was just looking up and down the path, remembering that it was too the left to get to Konoha.

He'd already readied himself, and was about to take off when he heard a scream coming from in front of him, past the tree line and probably a few hundred meters away, it was definitely feminine. A startled but curious look appeared on his face, before a shake of the head wiped it back to his blank stare.

"I don't have time to be checking out random screaming, I have a mission, and I'm going to complete it. Nothing's going to stop me from accomplishing that." It might have been a totally dick move, but still, he gave one more look at the tree line, before making a beeline down the road towards Konoha.

It was a little way down the track that the regret started to set in, slowing him down for the briefest of moments before his purpose knocked him out of it and kicked him back into gear. But he still couldn't kick that nagging feeling in the back of his mind, the feeling telling him that he'd made a massive mistake by leaving the supposed girl to her fate.

"God fucking damn my sense of justice!" He was about to turn around and go back when he heard that exact same scream coming just to the right of him. He gave one final growl before giving in to his conscience. Tearing off the path he made his way through the forest, honing in on the last position the scream was heard.

Naruto was mid jump to a tree branch when a red blur appeared in front of him and collided into him. The sudden shock left him with no time to react as he was sent tumbling down to the forest floor. Now he could have easily broke the neck of the one getting in his way, or killed them in one of the hundreds of ways he knew how to remove someone from the earth, but there was one factor that stopped him from doing just that. It could have been hesitation, it could have been shock, but there was something intriguing about that red hair that saved the person's life. As Naruto got a better look at the person, it was obvious that they were female; the other features were the tears in her clothing, rips that were obviously done by kunai and shuriken. He frowned as he noticed boil marks on her skin, most likely done by a Suiton jutsu. This was problematic, there was only one clan with vibrant red hair like this girls.

The Uzumaki

The girl in his lap was apparently coming to; she sat up and rubbed her head, a curious look on her face.

"What hit me Dattebane?"

Now that sounded familiar, he remembered hearing something like that before, from someone that looked like an older version of this girl, he had it, he just couldn't place it. She was apparently realizing where she was, in Naruto's lap, and reacted like any other normal stranger would.

"AHHH HENTAI!"

One smack across the face, one backhand, and another smack. The girl's actions explained what she thought of the situation, and it didn't really help Naruto's mood. But as the girl was coming to her senses, she became startled and nervous, jumping back from Naruto and watching her surroundings, twitching at every movement he made.

Something had happened to the girl, he was going to find out what. Wiping off his blank stare, he put a kind smile and gaze on instead. As he stood up and took a few steps towards her, the girl reacted and pulled out a kunai, brandishing it threateningly in his direction. He stopped in place as he put his hands up in surrender. His smile never faulted as he started slowly walking in her direction again, as he got another look at her face he couldn't help but shake the feeling of nostalgia that once again overcame him. He'd try and probe for information.

"Hey, what's your name? Are you hurt?"

The girl seemed to falter for a bit before readjusting the grip on her kunai and maintaining her position.

"Don't come any closer!" By her body language she still seemed to be afraid, she was still looking around the surrounding canopy. There were definitely enemy ninja's that he needed to be careful of.

"I just want to help you, you seem to be pretty cut up, let me tell you something, my name's Naruto, can you tell me your name?" Hopefully this would help shine a light on the situation, and get her to trust him.

"My name's Kushina Uzumaki! And there's nothing wrong with me! I'm perfectly fine!"

Now this is where Naruto froze mid-step, eyes wide open and mouth making a perfect 'O'. Everything was coming together, that long vibrant red hair, that unforgettable catchphrase, that tomato shaped face. There was no doubt about it, who would have thought the very first person that he would meet when he returned would be her?

Because she was Kushina Uzumaki, his birth mother.

Well shit on a stick…

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto

Finally chapter 2 is here! And I wouldn't be able to post this if it wasn't for my wonderful Beta Buttonspaz! (Go and check him out!)

Don't forget to REVIEW and check out the poll for Naruto's Harem!

So far the Harem consists of:

Kushina

Tsunade

Mikoto

Tsume

Pending... (Vote in the Poll)

KSU Signing out!