Here's the latest chapter... a bit of an update. i will be taking a week off due to writing a naruto d20 campaign I'm turning into a fanfic down the road so I'll be back next week.

Chapter 10

A Mother's Love

In a hospital bed, they were saying it was a miracle. The fallen Kushina Uzumaki had miraculously come back from the dead. Sakura was tending to her injuries as Naruto sat in a waiting room. That name, how come it sounded so familiar? He was the only one in the waiting room.

"How, just how does she have my last name? This just doesn't sit well with me. He walked around the waiting room hoping to hear about any news about the woman named Kushina. Sakura would soon leave the hospital room where the woman was stationed. "Sakura-Hime, any word about the woman?"

"It's amazing, from what I've been told, that she's been dead for years. But it's like she was resurrected. But when I healed her, her vitals were normal. It just seems weird to say the least."

She saw her boyfriend sit back on the chair. She knows how confused he was about the woman. She would sit next to him and would rub his back. Both teens placed their heads on each other's shoulders.

Kai and Ino would spend the rest of the afternoon looking through the books that he brought with him. Kai caught a glimpse of the seal that was placed on Kushina's stomach when Sakura removed a piece of the chakra armor on her body and saw the Komoto family crest within the seal on her body.

"Kai-Kun, just what are we looking for?" Ino asked.

"Simple, whatever those bastards did to that woman. Had to have some affiliation to my clan. So the technique that was used on her had something to do with an advanced seal." Kai said, determined to find it. Ino looked at all the books that Kai would give her. "Did you find anything yet, Ino?"

"No, sadly the information written in these books doesn't seem to be anywhere close to what Kushina has on her." Ino said, throwing a book on the ground.

Kai was frustrated, he sat defeated, he just didn't know what to do about this. His eyes went to the empty book once again. Kai flipped through the pages again and tried to get something like this.

"Is that the book you were talking about?" Ino grabbed it. She flipped through it, seeing the blank pages. But she noticed something about the pages when you flipped them, they had an illusionary glimmer to them. "Just a hunch Kai, but I think that someone placed a strong genjutsu on the pages."

"I had a hunch that was probably the case, do you know anyone who could possibly break the genjutsu?"

Ino smiled and grabbed her boyfriend's hand.

"I think I might know the person in question." She said, winking at him.

"Well then Ino-Chan, lead the way."

Kushina's eyes soon opened, she slowly lifted her head and rubbed her eyes. She looked around her surroundings, there she saw Sakura still tending to her injuries. Sakura made eye contact with her.

"You're awake, that's good to see," Sakura said, with a quiet tone.

"Where am I?" Kushina said, still trying to awaken from her sleep.

"You are in the recovery room in Konoha General Hospital."

Kushina panicked a bit, searching for something. Sakura came to her side and tried to calm her down.

"Hold on, what are you doing?"

"Has anyone seen my baby, where's Naruto?"

"Naruto? What are you talking about?"

Kushina stopped and saw the young girl who was tending to her injuries, she had never seen her before.

"What year is it?"

Sakura would relay the year to her, Kushina gasped and started to sob hard. Sakura tried to console her and Kushina hugged her.

"Shh, it's alright, just relax and tell me how you know Naruto?"

"He's my son."

"Son, you mean your Naruto's mother?"

"Yeah, the last thing I remember was holding him in my arms before I died. Or what I thought was death."

"Oh my, so now how did you arrive here with us? I mean if you're supposed to be dead, how are you alive?" Sakura asked, still in shock over her saying Naruto was her son.

"I don't know, like I said, the last thing I remember is seeing him crying as a little baby before I passed."

Sakura placed a hand on hers and would give her a warm smile.

"Would you like to meet him?"

"Please, if you could," Kushina said, with a mixture of excitement and fear. Excitement with meeting him, and the fear that he would hate her.

"I'll be back, don't go anywhere." She said, heading out.

.Sakura enters the waiting room, Naruto got up from his seat and approached her. She would tell he was waiting for more information on the woman that she was tending to.

"So Sakura-Hime, did you gather any information from her?"

Sakura gently grabs his hand and sits down with him. She looks into his eyes and smiles.

"Naruto, what I'm about to tell you is something you will have to find out yourself, the woman who calls herself Kushina Uzumaki told me when she awoke that she claims to be your mother."

"What did you say? Sorry, you will have to repeat that last few words."

"She is claiming to be your mom," Sakura tells him.

Just then a tsunami of emotions washed over him. He was at a loss for words. What if it's not true, if it's a ruse? He wanted to find out and if it was a lie he didn't know what to believe at that point. It was at that time Sakura stroke his hand, he looked at her and saw Sakura calmly looking at him.

"Sakura-Hime, is it true, I mean what if it's not, what if it's some sort of lie or something like that." He asked her, clearly losing his mind. She would then grab his face and stroke his cheeks, calming him down again.

"I don't know Naruto, I don't know if this woman could be your mother. But all I know is like I said you will have to sort it out. She said she wanted to meet you and if you want I can be in there to have your back if she's an enemy ninja posing as someone claiming to be your mother."

Naruto thought for a moment and declined her offer.

"I love the offer Sakura, but this is something I would like to tackle by myself."

Kushina sat in her bed, the silence sat in the room like a familiar friend. She snapped out of it once the sound of a door opening caught her attention. Sakura would enter the room first, and then the sight of the next person made her eyes as big as saucers. Naruto entered the room. She began to tremble, she gripped the blanket so hard that her knuckles began to turn white.

"I'll leave you two alone." She said, as she looks at Naruto with a warm smile and closes the door behind her.

The room was so quiet, both of them not murmuring a word. Naruto looked over at the woman, she looked so devastated. He didn't know if she was actually his deceased mother or an enemy agent sent to kill him like they were trying to take Sakura from him.

"So Sakura said that you are my mother?" He asks the woman in the bed. She shakes her head. "Sorry if I'm a bit hesitant to approach you, as a ninja I have to take precautions."

"That's understood, I understand." She said, tears starting to well in her eyes.

"How do you know Kakashi-Sensei, he said your name and it looked like you were a ghost?"

"Your father was their sensei as part of team seven. Obito, Rin, and Kakashi were part of his team. I would always go down to the training field to watch them work together. Kakashi wasn't one to work with Obito and Rin. It was always fun to watch."

"So my father was Kakashi's Sensei?"

"That is correct"

Naruto got closer to her and would even sit on her bed.

"So what happened if you don't mind me asking, how did you die?"

She didn't want to tell him, she saw the marks on his face due to the fact she felt responsible for placing the nine tails in him with Minato. But she felt he had to know. So she told him about that night. He heard every word she told him. It was quite the tale, he couldn't believe what happened that night.

"So I'm the son of the fourth Hokage?"

"Yes, and you look so much like Minato."

"If that's the case since you and my father passed, how did you come back from the dead?"

"I'm still trying to find that one out." She said as her thoughts went towards the last thing she could remember is that she was strapped to a cold steel table. A man looked at her, surrounded by black-cloaked individuals. She was fitted with chakra armor.

"Where am I, what are you doing to me, where's my baby?" Were three questions she screamed while the man laughed at her plight. Before a mask would be placed on her face.

Naruto saw the woman in a new light. He still didn't believe that she was his mother. He was still suspicious about her.

"This seems so unreal, not only am I the son of the fourth hokage, but my dead mother is now alive. Sorry if I seem skeptical about it but it just feels like a genjutsu or something like that."

"It's ok if you feel that way, I mean it's not every day you come back to life. I feel like the worst mother for abandoning you the way I did. It's normal to not trust a stranger who claims to be your mother. And I understand if you never trust me or if you come to hate me. But just know Naruto Uzumaki, I love you and I always will." She said as she started to cry hard. Naruto couldn't leave her like this. He went to her and pulled her into a hug, she clung on to him for dear life.

However, there was something about this hug though, it felt so familiar to him. He had to do one more thing, he looked into her eyes and saw the way she looked at him. Love, care, and protection are the things that a mother would emit from her eyes. It then would hit him like a ton of bricks falling off a skyscraper. She was his mother.

"Mom, it really is you." He said to her with tears forming in his own eyes. "Mom, Mom, oh my god Mom," He said as he buried his head in her shoulder.

"Naruto, I am so very sorry for leaving you," She said, as her paper gown was drenched from the tears the both of them shed at that moment. "If you would allow me to, from this moment I want to be there for you no matter what. This is a sign of the gods that would allow me to return."

"Yes, of course, your my mother," Naruto said, making her so happy.

Sakura would enter the room with a dinner tray. She saw them hugging and crying. A smile formed on her face, she was so happy for her boyfriend.

"Dinner's ready Kushina."

"Oh Mom, allow me to introduce you to Sakura Haruno, the most amazing girl I've ever met." He said, with Kushina introducing herself to Sakura.

Both girls shook hands and exchanged smiles.

"It's an amazing pleasure to meet you Sakura-Chan, take care of my Naruto," Kushina said.

"With my life Kushina, I promise you that."

For the rest of the night Kushina, Naruto, and Sakura would all get to know each other. She would get to know the kunoichi her son fell in love with, the stories Naruto would tell about his time in the academy, the adventures he had with Team Seven, the hellbent quest to get Sasuke back to Konoha. All Kushina was glad about is that she was home with her son, this truly felt like heaven.

Ino and Kai soon arrived at the location Ino suggested, she walked up to a door and knocked. Out came Kurenai Yuhi, one of the best genjutsu masters in the village. She had a baby bump on her belly.

"Well hello Ino, what brings you here by chance?" Kurenai asked the two teens.

"I have a book I would like you to look at. We think it has some kind of genjutsu lock."

Kurenai held her hand out and Kai would give her the book. She flipped through the pages and found that there was some genjutsu lock on it. It interested her, in all of her years she's never come across something quite like this. But after a bit of looking over it, she closed her eyes and would find a way to do it.

"Alright kids, this may take a bit but I think I can break it. I think the person who wrote this, placed this lock so no one can take the secrets inside of it."

"So you can break it right Lady Kurenai?" Kai asks her.

"One moment please." She said, charging some chakra, but not enough to hurt the baby.

The book began to levitate and the pages began to fly as text started to glow from the blank pages. And once that happened, the book lowered and safely placed itself on the table.

Kai was amazed by the genjutsu expert, how she was able to do that with no problem, but here he had tons of trouble trying to get it.

"Thank you Lady Kurenai, that should be good for now."

"No problem, and Ino if you Asuma, tell him to get home as soon as possible."

Ino gave her a thumbs up and the two teens left to look over the book. Kai and Ino would head back to Kai's apartment and both would look over the book.

Page after page would reveal different powerful seals that Kai at his level would be a fever dream to learn, even master. But Kai was tempted to learn it, there was one forbidden seal that he was more interested in. And Ino would be the one to find it towards the end of the book.

"Kai-Kun, I think I found the seal you were looking for."

There it was right in front of him, "Komoto Forbidden Seal, Eternal Resurrection!" Kai would read the components.

"In order to successfully pull off this seal you will need one dead body and one active body. You will need to sacrifice the active person's life force to a soul transfer seal (see pg 120) as well as drain of yours, then transfer the life force to the seal. Then place the seal on the target you wish to resurrect and fly through advance hand signs (see pg. 245) and once completed then the dead shall rise again. They will have the appearance like they never perished. If you wish to bind that soul to yours then the seal can be linked to you if you wish to dismiss the person you resurrected."

Kai couldn't believe that his father would create something this evil. It was like playing god. Kai threw the book against the wall. Causing Ino to jump.

"Kai-Kun!" She shrieked loudly.

"Damn it, how could he, how could he create something so evil. Why would my father do something so morbid?" Kai said, so mad he couldn't see straight.

Ino grabbed the book, and she could see why he was so mad. Kai sat back on his couch and placed his hands on his head, trying to think of why he would create something that was so taboo.

"Kai-Kun, it's ok, it's not your fault."

"I know that Ino, it just pisses me off that someone is using my clan for their sick, twisted game. I bet those two girls were brought back using this seal as well." He said, pounding the couch in anger. "This just sucks. Honestly, it just makes me sick. I wish that I could find out why!" He continued to rant as Ino walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his waist and placed her head against his back. He froze in place, feeling Ino's presence.

"Kai-Kun, please calm down, for me?."

Kai placed a steady hand on hers. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Alright I will, anything for you," Kai said, in a calm demeanor. "I love you Ino."

"I love you too Kai-Kun."

In a cave about 30 miles away from the destruction of the big fight. Kagome would awaken, her body bandaged from head to toe. She saw that Keiko was sleeping. Kagome tried to move but her body was in tremendous amounts of pain.

"What the hell just happened?" She said, lacking any memory of what just happened.

"I pulled you out of a pile of trees when Sakura hit you with a huge screech that sent you and a quarter of the forest a good five miles," Keiko yelled out.

"I screwed it up didn't I?"

"I didn't help in any way so it would also be my fault."

Kagome saw her partner and was saddened by her failure. Kagome would then pick up her hands and look into her eyes.

"Keiko-Chan, I'm sorry that you got roped into this. I know you don't want to die again, I know I don't but we must find a way to get the Haruno girl to the boss. Now we aren't heading back to the boss until we get her so I'll recoup and we'll try again."

"Thank you Kagome-San, that sounds like a plan."

Tsunade was in her office, rubbing her temples over the weird happenings that occurred in less than 24 hours. Not only did she have to report on the damage suffered to the forest outside of the village to the fire daimyo, but now Kushina Uzumaki was alive and well. She drank a glass of saki before there would be a knock at her door.

"Enter!" She yelled, as Kai and Ino soon entered. Kai with the book in hand. They saw her desk with a full bottle of saki.

"Did we catch you at a bad time Lady Hokage?" Kai asked, a bit nervous.

"Nah, it's just a lot of stress right now. What do you kids want?"

"I think I know what could be the reason why Lady Kushina is alive and doing very well," Kai said, putting the book right in front of her. She would then pick it up and flip to the page Kai left a bookmark on. And she continued to look at it and gasped. She saw that it was a stronger version of the infamous Edo Tensei.

"Interesting, so apparently your father was looking to break the rules of the living and deceased." She said, slamming the book down.

"To be fair, my reaction was the same," Kai said, as she got up and looked out the window.

"Kai, ever since you came into my village it seems like one problem after another seemed to have followed you. Sakura was almost kidnapped, and the chunk of the forest outside our gates was destroyed. And now Kushina is alive and walking around the living.

"Tsunade-Sensei, please don't place this on Kai," Ino interjected before Tsunade lifted her hand to silence her.

"But, you are giving us this book. This should help us analyze what kind of seals they may use. But I'm warning you Kai Komoto, so help me god if anything else happens while you are here, I will kick you out of this village. Do I make myself clear?"

Kai nodded his head, He looked up at Lady Hokage with tears running down his eyes.

"I know Lady Hokage, I know I messed up big time, It does feel like I'm some sort of catalyst to the trouble your student Sakura Haruno is now under. Hell, most of the time I debate myself that if I never came to Konoha then maybe this would have never happened. Maybe your village would have been safe. I never intended this to happen. But I know one thing is that someone found a way to use my father's forbidden seals to bring Lady Kushina back from the dead. And once I find out who is responsible I will stop them at any cost even if it means my own life." Kai said, bowing to Tsunade and leaving.

"Kai-Kun, where are you going?" She said before he left the door.

"Maybe I was a little hard on Kai, I know he means best," Tsunade said, sipping some of the booze on her desk. "Probably the Saki talking but…" She said before tears would fall from her own eyes. "She's back, she's back with us. Kushina is now alive and well."

Ino would leave her to find Kai, As Ino left Tsunade couldn't wait to tell Jiraiya about this.

Kai walked through Konoha, thoughts filling his head. The words that Tsunade said burned in his mind. He felt even more useless and wanted to get stronger so he could step in and help the village against this threat. He slammed his fist on a building out of frustration.

"Kai-Kun, are you alright?" Ino said, slowly approaching him.

"In a way, I'm not. To be honest Ino I just don't know right now. She has all the right to blast me like that, I am a failure. I didn't do enough to stop Ashimaru's stone from being taken. I didn't do enough to look for it, and now I feel like I'm the one that brought this chaos to your village, because I couldn't stop him."

"I told you, Kai, it's not your fault. You could never have guessed that it would get this way. In all honesty, anyone wouldn't have been able to predict what has happened. Just to let you know, none of us blame you. Sakura has told you this Kai. Naruto wouldn't blame you, and neither would I. We just have to have faith that we can find a way to help our friends and help this village." Ino said, standing firm in her resolve. She then walked up and grabbed his hands and looked into his eyes. "Stay strong my Kai-Kun, and all of us will stand strong."

Kai looked into her eyes and this would light the fire under his ass, he felt so strong when he was with her. Since they met, she has done everything to stay by his side and now when he needed her, she was right there beside him yet again.

"Your right Ino, I have to stop beating myself up. That was in the past, and now the future is now brighter than I could imagine. This is my resolve, I will never put myself down again and fight for not only Sakura's future but yours as well."

"That's it Kai-Kun, feel the fire in your soul. Together we can do this." She said, giving him a reassuring smile. He pulled her close and kissed her with fierce energy. And placed his forehead against hers.

"Baby, you're the greatest."