Chapter 22 - The Source.

Pairing: Naruto x Uchiha Mikoto.

A/N: It's today when I write this October 10th, the same day that I realized chapter 21. Let's see how long it takes from when this is written, to when the chapter is actually finished and published.

I know the past couple of chapters for a while have been very "light" in terms of action. The first half of the story was a bit more full massacre mode with missions and kills, so I thought this could balance it all. It'll return eventually though, but I do apologize if you mean it takes too long. I also just need to come up with some more... "original" missions.

Hokage's Office.

"So? What do you think caused it?"

Hiruzen took a puff of his pipe and leaned back, "It's not a real question about what caused it, but more how you achieved it. You see, it isn't a bloodline, but it's… a pseudo version of one."

"Could you please not speak in riddles, Oji-san?"

"Hmm, I'll try. Though, it's my first time encountering a thing like this.."

Naruto scratched his head, "So, what is it exactly?"

"From what I can determine out of our… tests, during spars then I'd go as far and say it's definitely a yin release variant of lightning. Like how water and wind natures would mix to create ice, your unique situation caused you to create this new type of lightning release that seems to be unique to you. Aside from two known others."

"There are two other people that can do it?"

Hiruzen sighed, "There is one person alive. The other was the Sandaime Raikage of Kumo, he could do it. The other one is also a Kumo Shinobi, I've had Jiraiya look into him so we could figure more out, but with no luck."

The blond sighed, "But… I don't understand, why is it so different then?"

The Hokage nodded, "Due to the properties of the yin element, it's gotten increasingly more strong and… piercing, in terms of power. One could say that added element of yin made the lightning you produce focused on raw destructive power and speed."

Naruto felt a bit uncertain, "There's something else I'm curious about… Why does it harm me so much then? I mean, I'm the Jinchuuriki, I usually heal in no time at all."

With a small grunt, Hiruzen leaned forward in his chair, "Since it's that much more destructive than normal lightning, it's bound to have an effect on even you. That's also why you almost broke through an ANBU barrier during your rampage."

"Do I have to be angry to use it? I've only ever drawn it out in battle while I was angry or frustrated since you always beat me up."

The old Hokage could only chuckle at the misery in his student's voice, "No, fortunately, you don't. Though seeking help from a Nara may help you master it, their clan techniques are yin manipulation of their shadows. So if their help makes you able to draw out this power, then we can definitely be certain and continue from there."

"You can't help me?"

"I can, but since I'm often busy, it may do you good to seek out Shikaku for some guidance every once in a while. You subconsciously draw onto yin chakra when you're angry or frustrated. It seems, it's pure coincidence that you managed to create black lightning, it's like an almost impossible chance. You did it anyway." Hiruzen finished with evident pride in his voice.

He had always expected great things from his boy, but he always amazed him. Despite the sad circumstances, the blond now had a powerful tool at his disposal. Now all he needed was learning how to draw upon it, the right way.

"I'll do that, do you think I can mix it with everything else you've taught me?"

Thoughtfully, Hiruzen gave a shrug, "Time will tell. All we know is that it's very powerful, with great destructive and piercing ability, normal metal may not be able to contain it. We should perhaps look into getting a more durable sword for you."

"I can probably get that, the one that supplies ANBU gear should be able to make it out of chakra conductive metal. It's a bit expensive, but I have more than enough."

Hiruzen raised a brow, "Why haven't you gotten it sooner then? It could've helped earlier in your training."

"I had one, but eh… I kinda sorta broke it."

"You did... what?" Hiruzen asked with a deadpan expression.

Naruto scratched the back of his head, "Itachi and I were once on a mission with ANBU to Yuki no Kuni, and eh… they have this weird chakra armor we told you about, I tried going for an attack but as that weird armor absorbed my chakra the blade broke."

Cupping his cheek, the old Hokage leaned back and gave a thoughtful hum, "We may have to look somewhere else then, should you encounter something similar again we can't just have your weapons snap by chance. I may know someone, but it's a bit far from here. It'd be at least a couple of days worth of traveling."

Naruto sighed at that, "I can't go then… At least not yet."

"Hmm, why not?"

The blond scratched the back of his head, "I've promised to take Sasuke to the academy tomorrow so he'll feel better about it, I plan to have a chat with his Sensei as well. And… I got plans for the festival."

"Ah yes, the festival is this Saturday, is it not?"

With a sheepish chuckle, Naruto responded, "I didn't actually know which day it was, but now I do. That'll make things easier. After that, I'll have time, but I do have a small request."

"Which is?"

Naruto smiled, "As you may or may not know, Mikoto-chan is planning to get medical training. If we got this assigned as a mission, she'd feel get an easy time getting back into the hang of things. I'd like to help her."

"Yes we did talk about that, but she did express severe denial about going back on active duty aside from medical work."

"I know, I know, but I think she's warming up to the idea after I said that I'd maybe leave ANBU, at least for a little while. If we were to form a team, I think she'd feel better and safer about it."

Hiruzen gave an insecure grunt, "I'd have to speak with Mikoto personally first, but you two being a team shouldn't be much of an issue. You're already close, and could have a good dynamic if you were to work together."

Naruto grinned, "We already sparred earlier, I think it could also be fun."

The Hokage matched his pupil's grin, "I don't doubt that. Well, I'll leave it up to you to convince her then. After the sad events that happened with the Uchiha, we could use some more hands in the field. Getting some retired faces back into the folds could do the trick."

At the mention of the massacre, a frown spread across Naruto's face. He had been a bit distracted lately, so he hadn't thought much about it. It still hovered through his thoughts ever so often, but he tried to quiet it down to appear strong for the people around him.

Noticing the expression on the blond's face, Hiruzen folded his fingers and closed his eyes, "Have you given your plan about Danzo any more thought?"

"Huh?" Naruto blinked, too caught up with his own thoughts to notice the question.

Hiruzen opened his eyes, "The room is clear of ANBU, so we're safe to talk about it. You still want to kill Danzo, don't you? No reason to dance around the issue."

"More than anything else. It's the only way I can get Itachi back into the village, I can make up for my mistakes this way and heal the Uchiha family."

"Despite my attempts at telling you otherwise, you still seem to think it's your issue to solve. I admire your consistency, but if you lose yourself along the way then all hope is lost. I know your priorities are in a more correct order now, but if you go after Danzo as you are then you'll lose."

He had heard this talk a couple of times now, but it still infuriated him. "You think I'll lose to an old man?"

"You lose to me, don't you?"

Naruto couldn't stop a small smile from the joke, "So?"

Hiruzen chuckled, "Taking on Danzo also means taking on ROOT, even with the power of black lightning, you may still lose. You don't have infinite chakra, and that power hurts you. You'll either have to get stronger or need backup."

"But backup would mean telling someone the truth about the massacre… that'll be a risk in itself, right?"

"Yes, it would be. This means that should you need that backup, then we'll need to think long and hard about this. There are a couple of names that come to mind, but I'd rather cross that bridge when we come to it."

Naruto also had a couple of people in mind that could help him, some of the only few he knew he could trust. They had had his back on several missions before after all, and even on a personal plan.

"Very well then, when will our next training session be? Now that we know the source of black lightning more properly, we can do more, right?"

"Yes, and I thought it would be fitting to go training after you follow Sasuke to the academy. I'll be done with a political meeting after that, and since those are so boring, I could need some time out of the office."

Naruto chuckled, "Sounds like a plan then. I also have a… more personal question."

"Which is?" Hiruzen asked with interest.

Naruto scratched his cheek, "Well, it ties a bit back with the Tsume situation. She said some… things when she approached me and Mikoto at lunch."

"Ah yes, you reminded me of something. You should likely go take out the next planned camps you have, if you stop the moment after she complains, she may know that something is up. She just took two other missions that I'll give you copies off, so you can form a plan."

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, she'd likely think it's weird if I suddenly stop doing my mission just because she complained to you. It'd bring unnecessary attention."

"Correct, I'd suggest taking one of the camps she and Hana planned on. But that should be it, we don't want to sabotage our own Shinobi, but keeping appearance is a must with your goals." Hiruzen finished, taking two small scrolls out from a drawer in his desk, and handed them to Naruto.

"I'll take your advice." Naruto nodded, accepting the two scrolls before pocketing them.

"Very well then. You had a question, my apologies for interrupting but I'd rather have this out of the way before we forgot about it."

Naruto waved his hands in front of him, "It's okay, it was important after all. And eh… it's a bit embarrassing I guess, but what do you think when you think of me and Mikoto-chan?"

Now, this had Hiruzen both confused and interested at the same time, "I see two people that care very much for each other, and would go any lengths for the other. Why do you ask?"

A soft blush fell onto Naruto's features as the blond's azure eyes flicked down to the side, "Eh… Tsume had some interesting comments. Like… she called me lover boy, and said that we were on a date and… y'know, similar things."

Hiruzen couldn't help but chuckle. Naruto was blunt by nature, he often said what he meant without caring much about the consequences, though he knew when to keep his trap shut.

Though it seemed like the Inuzuka brashness had met his own, and it had left him quite in the turmoil.

If this wasn't amusing, then he didn't know what was.

"Hmm, I see that you're flustered. But why bring this up to me?"

A small smile fell onto Naruto's features, "Well… I've never dealt with such thoughts before, and you're the closest thing I have to a father figure after Tou-san passed away. I thought you'd be able to give me some advice…"

The old Hokage's eyes widened at the revelation as a warm smile graced his features, "It honors me that you think of me in such a way. All I can ask first, is… how does it make you feel?"

"What do you mean?"

Hiruzen crossed his arms, "Tsume brought up the topic that you and Mikoto were doing something of romantic interest, and it has brought confusion and doubt to your thoughts. How does what she said make you feel?"

It made Naruto think for a few seconds, "I mean… I don't know. I never thought about it that way, also, wouldn't it be weird if it were to actually be a thing?"

"I don't see why it would be."

"Huh?"

Hiruzen sighed, "Naruto… We live in a world of Shinobi, we never know which day is our last. That's why my biggest advice to you is to find someone that you'd be able to spend your days with."

"Geez, you make it sound like we're actually dating… It's Itachi and Sasuke's mom Oji-san, what kind of homewrecker wouldn't that make me? And… the Uchiha clan just died, it'd be more than just inappropriate." Naruto stuttered out, rolling his eyes to try and dismiss the idea.

The Hokage kept a watchful gaze over his student for a long while. He could understand the doubt in his head, there were many reasons why he'd have so much doubt about it.

He could also see why Naruto would likely also feel like he was betraying several people if he were to think of it that way. But there was something that Naruto probably hadn't thought about.

"Naruto… Have you ever considered that if it were to come to that, that it'd also make her happy?"

"I thought I asked you to stop speaking in riddles…"

"Listen, Mikoto is probably having a hard time. Even if she doesn't voice it openly, having a special someone to confide in, more than what she could do with a friend, wouldn't that help her?"

Naruto groaned loudly, "That doesn't change the fact that she is Itachi's damn mom! And also Sasuke's. I've known her my entire life, she probably just thinks I'm like a surrogate son to her or something. She was also my mom's friend."

"I can't solve this issue for you, and you can only find answers to those things yourself. I'll give you the best advice I can though if you feel like Itachi could have issues with it… or even Sasuke, then you should take it up with them."

With a small roll of his eyes, Naruto stood up, the conversation being quite uncomfortable, "You talk like it's already set in stone."

"You brought it up, and I gave you my view on it. It's just theoretical my boy, should it have been the case."

"Right… Anyhow, I better get going. I need to plan where I end up going tonight."

Hiruzen nodded in response, "Keep me posted, we might have to take a further look into who you're going after. It may be more benefitting for both you and the village if you target Konoha missing-nin instead of mere bandits and the like."

Giving a nod of agreement, Naruto gave a casual wave and waltzed out of the door. Sighing, he closed it behind him, and felt, almost immediately after, the presence of the ANBU reappearing inside the Hokage's office.

He ran a hand through his messy blond locks, 'Is everyone going senile or something?' He grumbled a bit, as he tried to dismiss the mere thought of it.

The simple thing was just that he couldn't. It was like an anchor weighing his mind down as he walked down the corridor to unlock the door to his small office.

He had known Mikoto his entire life, and while he would openly admit he thought she was a beautiful woman, he had never actively thought this far into it.

But, now the thoughts were forced upon him. From left and right. Tsunade had made her comments, which had somehow brought Akari a bit into the loop. And Tsume too decided to put her thoughts on the table, which then led this conversation where Hiruzen had just shrugged with a casual 'why not?' response.

Well, that wasn't exactly what he had said, but it was close enough.

As he entered his small office, or his base of operations pretty much, he made sure to close the door behind him before smacking his forehead up against the wall.

'Am I the only one that thinks this is absurd? ...I wonder what she thinks though…' He grumbled a bit over that. She could be thinking about it, or not at all. Why did it bug him that he didn't know?

He shook his head to rid his mind of further thoughts. And it worked… especially once he saw the load of papers on his desk.

A large sweatdrop fell from his forehead as he comically crawled across the floor. His head was rising along the side of the desk until just his eyes were above the surface.

And then he just glared at the stack of paper. A merciless glance of death as he slowly turned his head to the walls that separated his office from Hiruzen's.

"Well played old man… So this was your plan with giving me this office all along."

Evening crept over the village as Akari and Mikoto put the food on the dinner table, the sun was about to go down. They had postponed dinner because a certain someone was missing at the table, but it had to be sooner than later. They had kids in the house after all, and one had to attend the academy tomorrow.

"Still no word from him?" The Uzumaki woman asked as she placed a bowl of rice in front of the two kids at the table.

Mikoto shook her head as she sat at the end of the table, "No, not yet… I wonder what's keeping him." She trailed off, gazing toward the front door. A small frown on her face.

Akari hummed as she also sat down, tapping her chin thoughtfully, "Well, didn't the Hokage summon him? Maybe he has a mission."

At those words, Mikoto could sense the mood of Sasuke dropping. As she turned her face, her sixth sense had been correct.

A large frown was present on the boy's face as he picked at his rice aimlessly with the chopsticks.

Mikoto gave a gentle smile and reached over to rub her son's shoulder, "Don't worry, he'll be back. I doubt he'd leave without at least sending a summon, even if it was urgent."

"You sure?" Sasuke asked in a soft tone, slightly comforted by his mother's gentle touch.

"Certain of it." She reassured, "In fact, I'll go see the Hokage and look for him."

"You don't want to eat first?" Akari asked curiously.

She shook her head, "I'll eat when I find him, he needs food too. We got interrupted at lunch, so I doubt he has eaten yet."

"Then I'll wait too!" Came the unison shout of the two kids, that quickly threw a glare in each other's direction.

As if it was fated, both mothers gave a calm "No."

Karin whined and popped her head into her hands, mouth filled with rice, "Eh? Why?!"

Akari rested her cheek in her palm, "Don't speak with your mouth full," She started, pushing Karin's mouth shut by her chin, "And it's getting late. You both have an early morning tomorrow, and we don't know when Naruto-kun will be back."

Sasuke could only pout at that, "He promised to follow me to the academy tomorrow… So he better be back before then." He grumbled slightly.

"And he will, don't worry, I'll make sure of it." Mikoto giggled, unable to deny that her son looked rather cute when he was being pouty like this.

"If you say so," Sasuke sighed and slowly started to eat his food as he watched his mother get up from the table.

"Will you make sure that the troublemaker also gets to bed?" Mikoto smiled at Akari, pointing a thumb at Sasuke.

With an undelighted snort, Sasuke glared at his mom's back, "Hey! I'm not the troublemaker here, she is!" He grumbled and pointed his chopsticks accusingly at Karin.

"What did you say duck butt?!" Karin screamed back, having a small fight to the death with her chopsticks against Sasuke's.

The room suddenly got chilly as shivers ran up their spines, their heads shakily turning to see two way too kind smiles on the mothers' faces, making them slowly drop back into their seats.

Akari gave a mild chuckle, satisfied with the effort before turning to Mikoto, "Of course, just go find the blondie."

The Uchiha woman nodded in return, gratefully, before going for the hallway to put on some sandals. She opened the door, and soon she was out on the streets. Looking for probably the biggest troublemaker in the house.

The raven-haired woman eventually got to the Hokage tower, pushed the door open, and ascended the stairs. She greeted the few people she met on the wave with a polite nod of her head, before getting the green light from the secretary to enter the Hokage's office.

With a brief knock on the door, she waited for the 'come in' before she entered, "Evening, Hokage-sama." She greeted, with a small smile.

Hiruzen lifted his head from the dreadful paperwork, giving a smile in return, "Evening Mikoto-san, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

The woman gave a small sigh, "I may have a runaway blond running around the village, and I wondered if you knew where I could find him?"

Hiruzen cupped his chin, it had been a while since he had seen Naruto, "Have you checked his office down the hallway? He may have gone there after seeing me." He responded.

She felt like face-palming, but decided against it in the Hokage's presence, "I have not, but I will. Thank you for your help, I thought you might have known where he went."

"Don't mention it, and before you go, I have a quick question for you." Hiruzen chuckled.

Oh, what is it?" She asked curiously.

The Hokage leaned back into his seat, "Naruto-kun expressed a desire to form a team with you, I wondered what you thought of it."

Mikoto gave a small hum, "I mean… It's not a bad idea, and I think we could work well together, but it's been so long since I was an active Kunoichi… I'd probably just slow him down, and that would hurt his mission record."

"I doubt he thinks about it that way, I think he just wants someone reliable and someone he enjoys spending time with to be his teammate. Also, you're close, are you not? That weighs a lot, so perhaps it would improve because of that."

"You think it's a good idea?" She asked.

Hiruzne shrugged, "I think it's worth a try at least, nothing bad can come out of it. And should you decide that you'd rather not continue doing active duty work, then you have my word that you'll be able to withdraw with immediate effect."

Mikoto stood there thinking for a while. This indeed sounded like a good offer, it would give her at least the possibility to try it out. She had thought about it for a while ever since her interrupted lunch with Naruto.

And she had to admit that it sounded nice to be able to do missions with him. He had been such a big help through everything that had happened, and even if she didn't want to admit it openly.

It saddened her that he'd go back on missions again, leaving her fewer chances to see him and spend time with her favorite knucklehead.

"I'll… think about it, I'll answer as soon as I can, but I need to give it some more thought." She responded eventually with a small bow.

"As expected, take the time you need." Hiruzen responded, "Naruto's next mission will first be sometime after the summer festival, so you should have plenty of time to think about it."

"First then?" She asked surprised.

He nodded, "Yes, he expressed his desire to wait until then because of Sasuke's return to the academy, along with his wish to spend time with you all at the summer festival."

With a warmth spreading through her chest, a bigger smile spread on Mikoto's lips, "I see…"

"You should probably go find him before gets any bad ideas though, you know how he is." There was a hint of playfulness to the Hokage's voice.

Mikoto just laughed with a nod, "Very well, I'll go then. Farewell Hokage-sama."

"Farewell."

Mikoto exited the office after that, a hand to her chest as she thought over it again. That boy must really have meant it more than he gave expression for when he said he wanted to be more around.

It made her happy, and would without a doubt make the rest of the house ecstatic as well.

Upon coming to his door, she gave a small knock but found no answer from within. She tilted her head, hearing a small noise from within.

Grabbing onto the doorknob, she turned it and peeked inside, and immediately burst into a fit of giggles as she used the doorframe to support herself.

Draped across the desk, was Naruto. His face smacked down against a stack of papers, his eyes closed as he drooled onto a document.

A very faint noise of snoring filled the room as she entered, staring at him before cupping her chin, 'How should I wake him up?' She wondered.

She took a seat in one of the chairs in front of his desk as she watched him for a while, giggling even more as she ran her fingers through his blond locks.

It made her heart beat a bit faster as she saw a smile forming on his face, and his head subconsciously leaned more into her touch.

Eventually, an idea popped into her head.

She retracted her hand and fought the urge to laugh as he grumbled in his sleep.

Leaning back into the seat, she put her hands up to her mouth and shouted, "Ichiraku Ramen delivery for Uzumaki Naruto!"

With a bolt his eyes shut open, "Wait what?" He cried out and sat up with so much speed, that when his back hit his chair that it fell back over, and he rolled over the ground.

With a groan, he rubbed his forehead, "But I didn't even order ramen.." He mumbled and sat on the floor, opening his eyes to see the amused expression of Mikoto staring down at him.

A pout crept onto his features, "Very funny…"

She giggled and stood up, as she walked over she extended a hand down to him, "I'm sorry, but even if you looked so peaceful in your sleep I couldn't help it."

Naruto rubbed his head and took her hand, standing back onto his feet, "I was asleep?"

She nodded and pointed at the papers, "Oh yes, and you drooled all over the papers."

"Crap…" Naruto sweatdropped and waltzed over to start stacking the papers again, making a stack of finished, and one of the jobs that had yet to be done.

As he was doing this, he turned to Mikoto with a curious expression on his face, "Did you need me for anything since you came here?"

She gave a shrug and sat down in one of the chairs, "Well, we were making dinner but you never showed up, so I decided to see what was keeping you." She smiled and watched him organize his workstation.

"Dinner?" He questioned and turned around to look out of the window, almost immediately sweatdropping as he saw the sun setting in the background of the village, "I'm sorry about that… I had no idea that it was this late."

"It's okay, Sasuke was a bit anxious about whether or not you'd be able to take him to the academy tomorrow though."

He scratched his head, "I promised him I would, no way I'd miss it." He chuckled.

"I know, but he's within his right to wonder. You've wandered off before." She teased a bit, "That's an awful amount of papers." She mentioned after.

"That's just mean…" He chuckled and sat down, rubbing a hand through his hair, "Yeah… I'm almost certain that Oji-san did this on purpose so I'd take some of his workload off his shoulders…"

Mikoto giggled, "Well it's supposed to be 'teacher like student' so if you aren't also suffering, then how can you call it an apprenticeship?"

"I suffer plenty when we train… that old man is brutal!"

She shook her head with a small smile, "Why don't you call it a day? You need to eat after all, and I've purposely decided not to eat so I can blackmail you into getting a meal."

"Are you all conspiring against me or something?" He groaned and stood up, grabbing his haori before swinging it on.

With a mild grin of amusement, she joined him, "Not at all, I just have your best interests in mind. One of us has to after all."

"I do take care of myself!" He counter-argued.

She gave a disbelieving nod of her head, "Oh really now? And this comes from the blond knucklehead that fell asleep over his desk, without eating lunch?"

"I mean- Hey, how do you know I didn't eat lunch?"

She rolled her eyes, "Oh just a wild guess…"

Around five minutes later, they exited the Hokage building. Naruto stretched wide as he heard a few pops from his back and arms, a sigh escaped his lips as he slumped back down.

As he gazed at the woman that stood beside him, he could feel a lump in the back of his throat. The talk he had with Hiruzen earlier clouded his mind again, as he watched her.

She didn't seem affected, so he tried to play it off like he didn't either. But of course, he could never know what was going on inside her head.

He never did but was starting to get a feel of it after he started paying more attention to what was going on around him.

There was a lot more responsibility on his shoulders now, and he didn't want the trust in him to be misplaced.

"So what are we gonna do for dinner?" He eventually asked. Pushing the thoughts out of his head, and insisting his focus onto his grumbling stomach.

Mikoto tilted her head as she looked up at him, "We made dinner at home, but it may be cold now. I can just reheat it though-"

"Well someone mentioned ramen, so Ichiraku it is!" He yelled and pumped a fist into the air, startling Mikoto.

"Hold on!" She cried out, trying to stop him before he jolted away.

She seemed to have failed as she watched the blond jog toward the walls surrounding the Hokage tower.

"Race you there!" He yelled, before flipping over the wall.

Her eyebrow twitched, "You're cheating!" She shouted back before eventually deciding to follow after the blond idiot.

I didn't think I'd manage to finish a chapter this fast. Somehow I must've had either more inspiration or energy than usual. Which is quite odd, but oh well, I hope you liked it! It was a bit more lighthearted of a chapter with some interaction between the characters.

I'm building up toward some other arcs, but I hope you like that I'm focusing a bit more on putting the pairing in the spotlight for once.

I certainly enjoy writing it haha.

Questions of the day:

Will Mikoto and Naruto form a team and go on missions together? And if yes… What sort of wonderful moments couldn't that bring? I wonder…

Is Tsume going to figure out that Naruto is going to be the one at her mission against? Will her suspicion also bring his actions into the knowledge of Mikoto?