Chapter 6: The aura

Right when Minato, Kushina and Tsunade opened the door and locked eyes with the three children inside, they all were completely taken aback by what they saw. Naruto's form when he was unconscious was one thing, but to see him wide awake and even moving his tail around was a whole other story entirely. Kushina was the first to react as she rushed inside and immediately hugged her three children as tight as she could.

"Oh my babies." She nearly sobbed out in pure joy seeing the three awake and uninjured by the looks of them.

"Hi mother." Natsumi answered with a big smile as she hugged Kushina back. "Mom, mother look at Naruto." She managed to wiggle free of Kushina's grip just as Minato and Tsunade had entered the room and shut the door behind them.

Aoki and Naruto also broke away from their mother and it was then that Naruto showed the three women that he could move his tail freely. It brought a wide smile to the three children as all Naruto did was move his tail to wrap around his mother, much to Kushina's subtle shock. Minato and Tsunade were surprised by how easy Naruto was able to move his newly acquired tail despite just waking up now.

"Big brother's tail is so fluffy and soft." Aoki spoke with absolute wonder in her eyes as she snuggled back into Naruto's new appendage.

Kushina felt it with her own hand and was genuinely surprised herself. "Wow it really is soft."

Minato and Tsunade couldn't help themselves and went in fully after closing the door. They each went over and felt Naruto's new additions to his body. Mainly his tail, his new fox ears, longer and smoother hair, and even his muscles through the gown. It was amazing how different he felt than before.

"Naruto," Minato started in a worried tone, getting her son's attention. "How do you feel right now?"

"Ticklish." He answered since everyone was touching various parts of his body.

This caused everyone to begin chuckling which turned to full blown laughter. To the adults in the room, they were happy that at least he was okay now with no apparent changes to his psyche.

Everything was fine until Naruto actually stopped to ask them a question. "Oh, mom what happened to miss Aika? She was next to me when I blacked out. I hope she's okay."

Minato took a sharp breath as she really wanted to have that woman executed for even looking in her son's general direction, but the fact that Naruto was worried for her caused some concern. The fact that an Iwa ninja was able to infiltrate the village so easily and kidnap anyone posed a major flaw in their security. Either that, or someone must've given her intel in some form or fashion. For now, Minato didn't know.

With a sigh, Minato answered her son. "Right now she is being held in the T&I department to be interrogated on how she was able to infiltrate our village. After that, I plan on having her executed for what she did to you."

Naruto went wide eyed out of fear at what his mom just said. "But she told me who told her to kidnap me."

"Who?" Kushina asked, curious just who her victims would be for daring to pay someone to take her son away from her.

"It was those same guys from last time who had me sent down river that one time." Naruto answered her, hoping that this helps Aika in some way. "Miss Aika isn't a bad person mom, she doesn't deserve to die."

Minato was both furious and intrigued. Furious at the fact those same men that got away with sending her son down a river in a box and got off with a slap on the wrist were the same ones who sent an assassin to kill Naruto this time around. Civilian council be damned, she was going to make those men suffer and make sure that not even the dust of their bones would be found by anyone. On the other hand, she was intrigued by the fact that her son didn't want the assassin punished in any way despite what she did to him. Her son truly was to good for this world sometimes and she knew it.

With a seemingly tired sigh, Minato relented as she looked into her sons determined eyes. "Alright Naruto, we won't execute her." All three children smiled brightly at their mom's words. "But," Minato quickly got their attention once more. "I will be placing her under arrest for a time. Can't really allow her to go unpunished for kidnapping ya Naruto." She gave her kids a bright smile as they each were overjoyed by what they heard. Naruto had told his sister's a bit about Aika and the two were excited to get to meet her.

Kushina stood near her lover and smiled herself. She let out a breath she didn't even know she was holding as she was just happy that everything seemed somewhat back to normal with her children. She knew exactly who were the ones her son spoke of that hired the woman and she would personally ensure that they would get exactly what's coming to them. The one thing that most people seemed to understand except for those men; never mess with an Uzumaki's family, especially a mother's children.

Tsunade was rather impressed by what she heard. She half expected Minato to deny her son's request and have this Iwa assassin killed without a moments hesitation. Seems that that cute face the boy has is just too damn strong for any woman to resist. While she watched the family interact with each other and even mess with Naruto's tail and ears, Tsunade was rather interested in seeing just what other changes happened to the boy. She would have to figure that out later as she didn't want to ruin the mood of the room.

Hours later, Naruto's room

It took much effort on the Hokage's part, along with trying not to disrupt the seal on Naruto's chest, but Minato was able to form a seal on her son's back that changed his appearance. He looked exactly like he did before the incident and was genuinely surprised and a little saddened at the loss of his fluffy tail. After that, Tsunade did a check up on Naruto and found that he was as healthy as an ox. When asked by Kushina and Minato in private if there was anything else that happened with their son, Tsunade surmised that Naruto may have much higher chakra coils than anybody in the whole village. She wouldn't fully know until she gets Jiraiya's perverted ass back here to check on that seal.

After that little check up, the Namikaze-Uzumaki family went back home, ensuring any concerned kunoichi that everything was fine for now. Minato had even assured her last student Kasumi that everything was fine for now despite what the copy kunoichi saw earlier.

Now that everything had somewhat settled down, Naruto was laying in his own bed now, fast asleep once more. After everything that has happened tonight, all the young boy wanted to do was sleep now. As he lay in his bed once more, hopefully this time without any interruptions to his sleep, he didn't realize a faint red glow resonating off of his body. He continued to lay there though, completely oblivious to what was happening right now.

As quietly as possible, his door opened and closed as two small figures made their way inside. The two went towards the bed the blond haired boy lay in and stood there for but a moment. Then, without wasting a single second as the red glow seemed to intensify to a slight degree, both figures crawled into the bed with the boy. They both snuggled into his warm form as the red glow cascaded over their forms as well. The glow seemed to die down as the three were sound asleep.

Feels good to update this one for the first time in a while.

The next chapter will either have a timeskip or show what the other Jinchuuriki are up to. Haven't decided that part yet.

Anyway, hope everyone was able to get through this horrible, no good year we've had. 2020 has just been the worst and while I'm glad it's over, I can only hope 2021 will at least try to be better. Oh well.

Stay awesome, stay safe, and as always...

PEACE!