A/N
I removed the final part of this chapter. I don't know why I added it anyway. It wasn't supposed come at this time. Sorry for letting down the people who saw it.

The tears were in his throat. Mucus dribbled down his nose and his body shuddered. His wails had died down into quiet sobs as the thoughts he'd been trying to avoid came back tenfold

They were dead. They were dead. Teuchi, Sakura, Kakashi and even Sasuke. Yes Naruto had heard his head crack against the walls of the valley of the end but he'd hoped. He'd hoped that he'd survived. As much as the possibility was little it was still there but now? His mother had ripped away all possibilities without care.

He'd had so many hopes. So many naive, idiotic hopes. He'd hoped that Shinobi were just separated from the world and they hadn't known about each other for four hundred years but from how his mother spoke it sounded like Shinobi didn't even exist anymore. His dreams and aspirations were down there in the dirt like his friends, his family, were.

He choked on the tears. He coughed and struggled but they just wouldn't budge. They were lodged in his throat. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't fucking breathe. Tears welled up in his eyes. His lungs raised up and down too quickly, increasing each time and leaving him with less and less air.

The blood pounded in his ears. His heart thudded in his chest. The room darkened and started closing down on him. His hands shook. He tried getting on his feet but they tingled like electricity was flowing through them. His vision swayed, as if he were looking through a magnifying glass and moving his head.

His chest tightened and a cold sweat formed on his brow. He felt two… somethings, he couldn't really think, envelope his sides and stop him from falling on his face. The objects were fleshy and big. They easily stopped him and pulled him closer to the owner. A dark short figure. The figure had dark black hair positioned backwards like a duck butt and glowing red eyes with three tomoe spinning around a black pupil. He looked young, as young as Naruto but he knew this person- no age revert could change. But he also knew it couldn't be him; he was dead. He tried pushing away but fake-Sasuke kept reeling him in.

He wasn't so easy though and used his momentum to push fake-Sasuke backwards with an elbow to his nose. By the crack of the nose and the loud crash they were pushed quite far and hard. He started moving to the door. The room swayed like it was jello on a rollercoaster.

He needed to get out! His breath quickened, if that was even possible. Less air got to Naruto's lungs and his lungs moved even quicker to get more oxygen furthering the problem. The room swayed one final time and he fell to the ground. His head knocked on the floor and he felt a burning hot sensation on his nose before the world around him collapsed into darkness.

He awoke to the feeling of water on his neck and a weight to the side of his shoulders. His eyes gently opened and examined the room. Directly in front of him was a plate with leftover chicken curry. There was a similar plate there but it was empty with few food scraps and a small spoon in it.

The weight shifted and snuggled into his shoulder. He looked at the weight. Persea was sleeping while leaning on his shoulder. A sliver of drool escaped her mouth and to his shoulder.

Naruto grimaced at the drool. He was tempted to wake her up but decided against it after seeing her peaceful expression.

They were against one of the walls. It faced the only window in the room. Through that window Naruto saw that it was early afternoon. He had been asleep for that long.

Persea grumbled something and leaned a bit forward. Due to her angle that just pushed her to his lap. The impact knocked Persea awake and she started incorrigible muttering before getting up.

"Oh you're awake," she said excitedly, the 'I-just-woke-up' look instantly fading. Her head was weirdly wrapped with a bandage with a pack of ice on her forehead being held by the bandages. The bandages kinda looked like a Shinobi headband with it wrapping around her head and the ice pack looking like the metal plating. Though it was slightly to her left. He smiled at the fond memory of getting his headband.

Persea's nose was also covered in a bandage. She looked kinda beat up. "What happened to you?" he asked. She raised an eyebrow and tilted her head to the side as if to say, 'Seriously?'

He just kept looking at her. She seemed to grasp the concept that he didn't know and he was wondering why she would assume he did. He was not going to accept sass from a four year old.

"Ah well when your mom left you were upset and stuff and you started crying and falling everywhere."

He blushed. So he cried in front of a four year old. Sweet. He didn't know why she was mentioning it. To embarrass him? Unless his falling had something to do with her getting hurt. Had she decided to join the club and fall too? After knowing her for a few days it wasn't an impossibility.

"Then I tried helping you get up and hold you in place but you did this awesome thing and hit me with an elbow and like you should have seen your strength. You were incredible. You're so cool!... Uh what was I talking about?"

Despite the guilt of cracking Persea's nose like an eggshell he couldn't help but smile. Persea stopping to talk about his strength even after he hurt her was heartwarming. Cute even, if not slightly concerning. He was really starting to like this girl. Despite her temper tantrum and four year old-ness.

How had he mistaken Persea for Sasuke? Persea was remarkably like Sasuke but had tweaks to her that made her completely different. She had a cocky smile when she won but it was more friendly like she was challenging you to do better than that instead of showing her dominance.

Even in her appearance the same was true. Her hair was in a ponytail with bangs on the side not unlike Sasuke's duck-butt hair but slightly different. Devil in the details and all that stuff. Her hair was dark black like his but purple at the ends and it was slicked back into a ponytail instead of whatever Sasuke was trying. I think you get what I'm saying.

"Oh. I was talking about what happened. Then I crashed into the wall and your mom gave me this and then my mom brought me food then I stayed here until now." she said quickly and then looked at him apologetically. "Sorry I fell asleep on you."

"It's fine"

"And for drooling on you"

Now that one he was upset about but didn't feel like complaining about it. Too much energy required.

"Sorry about your head," he instead said. Persea waved him off. "It's fine," she said,."It'll probably fade by tomorrow.

Naruto lifted a brow. "Fade?" he asked. Persea nodded excitedly. "Just like this one," she said pointing at her palm wound. Or what was left of the palm wound. Which was a small little scratch that was almost imperceptible.

'What?" he asked incredulously. Did this girl have regenerative powers as well? Now that was a level too weird for Naruto. "Does that happen often,"

"No. It only happened this once. I woke up today and boom it was almost gone"

That actually made sense now that he knew that information. Persea's mother had brushed off going to the hospital and they'd come here. She must have known this would be a better alternative. So this was more of his mother's secrets. And somehow Persea's mother knew.

He sighed. No point trying to figure out adults. He looked at the curry in front of him. He took a bite and marveled at the taste. It wasn't hot but it wasn't cold either. Naruto could go and stick it in the microwave but he didn't have the energy or patience.

Naruto was in the middle of taking a bite when Persea started talking. "Your mother cares for you," she said. Naruto stopped mid bite. He was not going to get lectured by a four year old. Nope.

"You really like dropping bombs while I'm eating, don't you?"

Persea didn't smile, instead she looked wistfully at the other wall. Naruto furrowed his eyebrows. From what he'd seen of her the Jackson matriarch was a pretty good mother.

"Is there something going on at home?" he asked, slightly concerned. Persea picked up the implications that he was implying. "No it's not that. It's just-"

The door opened before she could continue and both of their mothers came in. His mom was clearly avoiding his gaze and interestingly Persea's gaze too. Oh yeah he'd forgotten Persea was in the room when she'd said that she didn't really care if Persea died as long as he didn't.

Which was a fact for basically any parent but no one actually said it to the kids. Persea didn't really look like she blamed her and was just looking at her mother like 'why did you come at this moment'. Which Naruto could relate to. He really did want to find out what was bugging Persea.

For all it was worth; he was avoiding his mother's gaze too. He had said a few hurtful things that he would have slapped his friends upside the head for saying that to their mothers. But it was complicated. He was still upset she lied to him and didn't teach him earlier but he didn't actually think she didn't love him. Heat of the moment and all that jazz.

"Wassup," his mother said without her usual pizzazz. "Hi," he said. The tension in the room could be cut by a butter knife. Sally, Persea's mom, broke the silence with a cough. "So chakra," she said. Naruto rolled his eyes. Obviously she knew. Why wouldn't she? That would make it too easy.

This whole situation was kinda like being told after twelve years of your life you've been doing arithmetic wrong and two-plus-two actually equals one. Your world is so rocked it's hard to convey it. You have to wonder why all your teachers lied to you about it. Why they would create such an elaborate system? Those plethora of questions just swirl and each question answered creates a new one.

Like now he was left wondering. One of his theories was that chakra was top secret and just knowing of it put him at risk. That explained the monster's attack and everything about his mother not telling him. But now that Persea's mother, someone who was normal in his eyes- except her purple hair and green eyes cause those were apparently weird here- knew about chakra; it was weird.

His theory still could be true but it was weird that Persea's mom would be involved.

Sally explained chakra better than he ever could. Even his mother was looking towards her direction in awe. She explained concepts even Naruto didn't know about like Yin and Yang release and nature chakra. Stuff Naruto never had a thing about (though that might have been from skipping school).

She also explained about the history of the Shinobi villages and clans (where Naruto learned he was, or I guess used to be, part of a clan. Why had nobody told him this?)

In a few moments they were practicing at unlocking their chakra which created problems cause him knowing how chakra worked didn't stop his chakra from blowing up the house to not happen.

He approached Sally after she was done, not willing to talk to his mother yet. "Um. Hi Mrs Jackson," he said. She looked at him warily as if wondering if he was going to tear into her like he did his mother. "Yeah?" she asked, attempting a smile.

"I don't know if my mother told you but I have a fox in me that gives me a lot of innate chakra and chakra like comes out in a burst so it might not be safe if I unlock it in an area with lots of people or like objects and stuff."

She smiled, the tension seeped right off her shoulders which Naruto thought was the opposite of how that was supposed to go.

"Yes, your mother mentioned that. We could arrange a trip somewhere for you to do that."

He smiled before his mother walked over to them and his smile faded. "No need," she said, "We'll do it here."

He frowned. "You don't understand," he said, "I could blow up the entire house. And you would get hurt."

"Try me"

He rolled his eyes. His mother's confidence in herself was foolish in his mind but agreed that his mother was weird and probably had a trick up her sleeve to survive. But he wasn't going to risk Persea's and her mother's lives like that.

"They", he pointed at Persea and her mother. "Would get hurt," he amended. His mother squatted to his level. "Look, I know after our little spat I'm not your favorite person right now but please trust me?"

Naruto looked at the woman who lied to his face who was also coincidentally his mother. Persea's words rang through his head.

"Your mother cares for you,"

Gosh, so young and already a role model. He was so proud.

He stood back to further the distance. He visualized the core. Something Sally had told them to do when trying to unlock their chakra. At the corner of his vision he saw Persea trying to do the same thing under her mother's watchful eye.

Despite deciding to trust his mother he still tried to minimize the chakra flowing out. He imagined a little puncture on a balloon. He tried to imagine restraining it and allowing it to come out slowly. Unfortunately the chakra wasn't feeling like cooperating and brutally opened his pathways and like floodgates had been opened the chakra burst out. It was like opening a pressure cooker when the pressure was still there; explosive. Very explosive. What was basically equivalent to a blue explosion formed in the Natit household.

Panic welled up in his chest. Time slowed down to a crawl. The chakra was expanding outwards and had no sign of stopping. Outside maybe a microsecond had passed but for Naruto it was hours as the chakra got close to Persea and Sally. He couldn't move to help but just watch as the technique inched towards them

Just before it could hit them a green light covered the technique like a holographic shield you've seen in movies. The scent of a forest filled the room and a feeling of ease and comfort trickled into Naruto. The chakra stopped moving forward and stayed there.

Naruto could feel chakra still leaving his body but the green shield didn't budge and kept the chakra staying there. The chakra was compressing more and more. If the shield gave way the chakra would probably blow up.. a lot of stuff basically.

The shield didn't give way at all. Didn't buckle, crack or even shake. After all the chakra was expelled it quickly got absorbed back into Naruto's core. The effort of breaking open his pathways was nothing compared to the energy the chakra itself gave him. He experimentally maneuvered the chakra through his pathways and reveled in the feeling.

It was like he'd taken a double shot of espresso. The chakra warmed any part of his body it passed through. It was amazing. Already he thought the Kyuubi's chakra was otherworldly but this was a whole nother level. The Kyuubi's chakra was vile in nature. This was soothing as well as invigorating.

Anyways back to the real world. The green shield-like thing was receding. Now without the overwhelmingness of the chakra pouring out of him he was able to understand the magnificence of the shield. It was powerful and imposing. Easily stronger than anything he could produce. The only thing he'd ever seen come close to those heights had been when the third Hokage had fought Orochimaru. Or when Sasuke's brother and that other guy had come for him. And even those guys didn't match the utter strength he could feel.

Chakra sensing, at least at the most basic level, is when you release some of your chakra and spread it out. The only reason people can sense their own is because it was formed in their bodies. When it's released you can sense said chakra when it's far. When it connects to another chakra source you would know about it as chakra is all connected. So the trick was to release your chakra and wait for it to touch another big amount of chakra.

You could improve on this by getting just the right level of chakra going out and pushing with force to make it go quicker but the best sensors could just feel the chakra without needing to release their own but I won't get into that.

Now there was a certain feeling when there is a lot of chakra being thrown around if it's close as the chakra is directly touching you

Now you're probably wondering why I'm telling you this. For the most part it is to brag about my knowledge but it's also to explain that it was very freaking easy to sense Naruto's mother's chakra. Naruto was in the category of people that weren't good at sensing. He would just throw out as much chakra and do it that way but that was a big red flag because everyone could sense that without needing to release anything.

If his chakra being released felt like it being pushed into your face his mother's was like a hydraulic press. He could feel so much without even releasing his own chakra. Eager to find out what it was like more in depth; he released a tiny bit if his chakra.

The first thought he had was it was suffocating. The second was that this wasn't chakra. First, I know this is going to sound weird but, it felt green. It was deadly focused on a few things. Most of them had nothing to do with elements like one of them felt like motherhood. A feeling he was sure he'd never experienced and shouldn't know how it felt.

It was hard but he focused on any other chakra. His mother's.. whatever it was, was like a wall. He spread out a lot of chakra and found Persea and her mother. Sally's chakra felt more in line with the concept of chakra but it still felt focused but on more Shinobi like things. Genjutsu and element chakra only.

Persea's was the most normal. It felt like regular chakra except it felt like water. For the other ones it was deadly focused but Persea's felt like she just had a crazy elemental potential in that route. Usually he wouldn't be able to sense the elemental type of someone's but he'd heard of people having such high elemental chakra potential that their chakra felt like that element. Tobirama Senju being one of them

When he examined his chakra it was different. It was less than before but that wasn't that wasn't the most eyebrow raising problem as he'd been told about the Uzumaki reserves. The honor went to the fact that just like his blood his chakra was different. It was targeted. Not like his mother's but like Persea. He had immense elemental potential in an element. Not one actually. Two. Earth and Water. Now this was interesting.

A/N:

I'm sorry for the shorter chapter. I was adjusting to a new schedule and put this on the back burner. Sorry again. Next chapter should get at least to five thousand words. Sorry again.

Thank you for reading. I'll see you next week with a longer chapter