Healing the Broken Fox

by Al-Rex01

Rin Nohara has had to help many in her time as a ninja. But now she has to help the one person that she thought she and Kakashi had lost after her master's death. Will she be able to help the small boy, or will he only grow deeper into dispear. Sequel in progress

5. Work Day

Chapter 5: Work Day

Rin felt the sharp kick to her side as she opened her eyes. Looking out the window she noticed how the sun still hadn't risen as she looked at her clock.

"4:35, man." She groaned as she looked to her son who was sleeping across the bed with his legs against her side and his arms dangling over the edge of the bed. Rin chuckled at seeing him sleeping so soundly as she got up and walked to the bathroom to get ready. She would let him sleep for as long as she could since once he woke up he wouldn't be going back to sleep. As Rin got finished and was dressed she looked out the village and noticed the leaves on the trees were starting to fall. Knowing how cold it would get she went to Naruto who was still fast asleep and then looked at her alarm clock.

"5:20, huh guess I was getting ready for a while." She whispered as she got a bag and filled it with everything that she knew Naruto would need including some of his favorite toys and his little frog wallet that he loved so much along with a few days worth of clothes for him. She then picked up Naruto as best she could without waking him as she wrapped him in his orange blanket and put on his jacket so he wouldn't be cold. Holding onto him she felt him snuggle into her chest as he smiled, enjoying his mother holding him. Rin grabbed his bag and all her supplies for her mission as she locked the door to their apartment and left.

XXX

Rin walked through the village as Naruto slept soundly in her arms, much of the village only now beginning to wake up as shop's began to open and the sun began to rise over the horizon. Walking as quietly as she could to let Naruto rest as much as she could have him, Rin came to an apartment building she knew all too well. Walking up the stairs she came to a door and rang the doorbell. Waiting for a moment Rin heard the sound of someone walking through the inside as she heard the door unlock and looked to see Kurenai looking a little sleepy with her pajamas still on.

"Hey." Rin said as she looked to her friend.

"Hey." Kurenai yawned as she greeted her friend.

"Sorry if I woke you up."

"It's fine. I needed to wake up early anyway."

"Well if you say so. Anyway, thank you so much for watching Naruto for me. I really appreciate it." Rin said while looking at her friend with a grateful smile.

"No problem. I love seeing him. So what are you doing anyway?" She asked as Rin handed her Naruto's bag.

"A Chunin team needs a medic for some help going through the Land of Rice to take care of some bandits and I was the one that got picked. Apparently the bandits have a shinobi as they're leader hence why a medic was picked just in case."

"Sounds fun."

"Yeah I guess you could say that. OK so his bag has a few pairs of clothes for him and his toys and stuff like that. Also I have a list of stuff for you in case you need help cause this boy seems to be picky with everything at the moment." Rin paused for a moment before sighing. "He also is going through a little phase where he likes to wear this little fox costume I got him so if he wants to put it on just let him. Trust me, fighting him will just make things worse." Kurenai chuckled at that as she looked into the bag and saw said costume. "He should take a bath by 6 and his bedtime is 7. If he gets up just stay with him until he falls back asleep. He's been having these nightmares lately so just be aware of that. Also he still has trouble going to the bathroom at night so I got some pull ups for him when he goes to sleep. If he wakes up he'll ask you to take him to the bathroom but this is just in case. Oh and finally he still doesn't like to sleep by himself so if he asks just let him sleep with you." Rin made sure she got everything before she looked to her friend to make sure she got everything.

Kurenai repeated her instructions as she gave her friend a smile. "He'll do fine, you have my word." Rin smiled at her friend before she looked down to Naruto who was still sleeping soundly. She gently shook him as his eyes slowly opened. While still very sleepy he looked up with half lidded eyes to see his mommy staring down at him. "Hey I have to go to work so you're going to be with aunt Kurenai for a couple of days ok." Rin said as she watched him cling to her but nodded.

"OK mommy." He said as she hugged him tightly.

"I promise I'll be back very soon. I love you baby." She said as she kept him close.

Naruto held onto her tightly as he didn't want her to go but he knew she had too. "I love you mommy."

Both stayed together for what felt like an eternity before Rin handed Naruto to Kurenai who held him at her hip so he could wave goodbye to his mother. Naruto had a few tears as he watched her leave but didn't cry as he watched her disappear into the village.

Kurenai stood there for a moment before she looked down to him. "She'll be back in no time. You want to get a little more sleep?" He nodded as she wiped away his tears. Both entering into the apartment to get a little more rest.

XXX

Rin leapt through the village as she came in sight of the village gate she would be leaving with her team through. Stopping a few hundred meters away from the gate she walked through an alley as she saw her team waiting for her.

"Sorry I'm late. Needed to drop something off at a friend's house." She said as she came in sight of her team.

"It's alright, I only just got here." Asuma said as he greeted his old friend.

"Asuma! I didn't know you were on this mission." Rin said, shocked to see him.

"Just found out yesterday. Anyway let me introduce you to the rest of the team since I don't think you got a proper introduction as of yet. This is Genma Shiranui," Asuma said while pointing to a man next to him with a bandana covering his medium length brown hair while he had a senbon in his mouth "this is Yūgao Uzuki," he said as he pointed to a smaller woman with purple hair and a sword strapped to her back "and this is Hayate Gekkō." He finished pointing to a man who seemed ill, much to Rins dismay. "Everyone, this is my good friend Rin Nohara." All three gave her a smile as they were introduced to each other.

"It's nice to meet you all." She said as she smiled at her teammates.

"The same for you." Hayate said before he began to cough a little. "Sorry about that." He apologized as he cleared his throat.

"It's fine." Rin said as she looked to her other teammates.

Yūgao looked at her for a moment before deciding to speak. "I'm sorry if I intrud but you said you were late because you had to drop something off. Am I correct?" She asked, curious of her answer.

"Yes. I did. Why?" Rin asked as she looked at the younger woman.

"I don't mean to be rude but what was that if you don't mind me asking?" Yūgao asked.

"Um well. I had to drop off my son before I came." Rin said as the others apart from Asuma became very surprised to hear that.

"Your what?" Genma asked, speaking to her for the first time.

"Um, my son." Rin said as she was a little confused as to why they all acted this way until she realized that they probably thought she looked a little young to have a kid.

"How old is he?" Yūgao asked.

"He just turned three." Rin said with a smile as she then realized that the three were even more surprised at hearing that.

"When did you have him?" Hayate asked.

Rin took a second to let that go through her mind before she then began to clarify. "Oh no, he's adopted."

Upon hearing that, the others seemed to calm down a bit as they looked to her. "Oh well congratulations then. What's his name?" Yūgao asked.

"Naruto." Rin said with a smile.

"Wait, like the crab cake?" Genma asked.

"I thought it meant maelstrom?" Hayate said as they all began to wonder which Naruto's name was based on.

Asuma decided he had enough fun listening to them argue as he got their attention. "We can ask that later. For now we have a mission so let's get started." The rest of the team immediately listened to the Sarutobi as they began to follow him out of the village.

XXX

Naruto sat on the couch in Kurenai's living room as he looked down at his orange blanket and fiddled with it. He didn't like being away from his mom but she had told him that it was important that she went to work otherwise she couldn't get money for them. Naruto didn't understand money all that well but he did know it was important and if she needed it then he knew he shouldn't complain After all she promised him she'd come back very soon and so he waited.

"You ok there sweety?" Kurenai asked him as she came up to him. Naruto only nodded as he fiddled with his blanket some more. "You hungry?" She asked hoping he would at least look at her. Naruto shook his head to say no but his stomach growled at the same time. Blushing, he looked to Kurenai as she tried her best to stop herself from laughing. "Sorry, Sorry. I didn't mean to do that, it was just kind of funny to hear your stomach answer for you. But I'm guessing that's

a yes?" Naruto nodded as she led him to her kitchen and picked him up, placing him on the counter.

"Want some cereal?" She asked.

"Yeah!" He said enthusiastically.

"OK what kind?" She asked while getting out some boxes.

"Ummmm, that one." He said pointing to a box with a tiger on the front.

'Of course he'd choose the one with the most amount of sugar.' "Ok then." Kurenai got a bowl and poured the cereal and then the milk as she got a spoon and placed the bowl on her coffee table as Naruto sat on her couch and began to eat.

Kurenai decided to make herself a bowl as she sat next to Naruto as they both ate.

"Can I watch cartoons?" He asked.

"Meh, why not." Kurenai grabbed the remote to her TV as she changed the channel to one for him to watch. At that very moment she heard a knock to her door but before she could even get up it swung open as Anko came into the apartment with an entrance.

"The amazing and sexy Anko Mitarashi is here too…!" Anko looked into the room as she saw Naruto holding onto Kurenai about to cry from being startled by the girl's loud entrance.

"Anko!" Kurenai yelled.

"Sorry, I didn't know! Why does this keep happening?" Anko said as Kurenai held Naruto. However instead of crying he held in his tears as he remembered his mom tell him that Anko was just a loud person and wouldn't ever hurt him.

Sucking in his fear, Naruto looked at Anko for a moment, the room going quiet as the others waited for him to do something.

"Stop being loud, Scary Lady! It's not nice." Anko faulted a bit at hearing him say that to her as she tried her best to recompose herself. Kurenai was more shocked than anything, expecting him to just cry instead of telling Anko to be quiet.

"Hey I said I was sorry!" Anko said.

"Well it's not nice. Don't be loud like that, it's scary, Scary Lady." Naruto said as he looked at Anko.

"Hey my name is Anko squirt and don't you forget it."

"No it's Scary Lady cause you're scary. And I'm not a squirt, I'm a big boy!" Naruto said as he gave a pout.

"Could have fooled me squirt." Both glared at one another before they both began to shout incoherent nonsense at one another.

Kurenai just sat there as she was amazed at how similar the two were as the Anko just acted like a three year old right in front of her.

XXX

The group ran through the forest in silence as the sun beamed down on the team, all bored as they traveled. Genma looked to Rin as they ran through the tree. Getting closer to her he began to make conversation.

"So, how long have you had him?"

"Huh?" Rin asked, a little surprised at his question.

"Your kid. How long have you had him for? You said he just had his third birthday so I'm assuming you've had him for a bit." Genma said as he ran next to her.

"Oh, Well a few weeks now actually."

"Wait only a few weeks?" Yūgao said as she came up next to the two. "Honestly would have guessed you'd have had him longer than that."

"Yeah, well. When I found him he was in an alley all on his own. I couldn't let him just stay there so I helped him and fed him. After that I realized he had grown attached to me and in all honesty I felt the same way. So after a few days I adopted him. He's not very good around other people other than me and some of my friends so this is my first mission since I got him. But I know he's probably missing me right now and it kind of hurts not being with him." Rin looked down as she felt like she needed to go to Naruto and make sure he was ok, but she immediately put those feelings away as she knew he was fine.

"Looks like you got some mama instincts already huh?" Genma said as the others looked at him confused. "What? That's what my dad always called it when my mom went on a mission."

"Uh huh. Sure, let's go with that. Anyway you said he doesn't like being away from you right? Was his last family horrible towards him or something?"

Rin knew she couldn't reveal anything about Naruto and who he was. She had already lied to them and she knew Asuma knew she had lied as well. Now she just hoped he'd go along with it. "Um, well, I don't know about that actually. All I know for sure is that he lived at the orphanage before I found him."

"Hmm. Well I hope he warms up to people then. He seems good, at least I'm hoping he is." Yūgao said.

"Oh he is, though I've had to teach him how to do some stuff and he always wants to sleep with me at night. He says he doesn't like the monsters coming out and getting him while he sleeps."

"Aww, that's adorable." Yūgao said as she and Rin began to talk more about Naruto. Genma lept away from them as he went to run with Hayate. Asuma only listened to them as he gave a small smile to hearing the women talk about Naruto. He knew Rin was withholding information to them but he didn't mind. She had just met them so it was understandable she wouldn't tell them everything about the boy.

XXX

"Can we have some, pweeeease?" Naruto begged Kurenai as Anko was kneeling next to him begging as well

"Yeah what the squirt said. Can we please go get some dango?"

Kurenai was more shocked at the moment than anything else at seeing these two act like this, well more Anko then Naruto. " uhh, fine. But you're paying Anko." Both cheered as they clapped each other's hand excitedly.

All three entered Anko's favorite dango shop as they placed an order and waited for their order to arrive. Once they did Kurenai helped Naruto with eating his as his eyes had stars in them from how good they were. Unfortunately this meant that after a few more Naruto was on a sugar rush from the sweets. Kurenai was quite happy she had him eat dinner before this as she and Anko had to chase him around at the park nearby so he could lose the energy.

Luckily for them, after an hour Naruto's rush became a crash just as the sun began to set with Kurenai taking him back to her apartment Anko following them since her home was close to Kurenai's. Once they neared their homes both women said their goodbyes before going their separate ways.

Once she entered her home Kurenai put Naruto in his night clothes before she took him to bed, her getting ready soon after as having both Anko and Naruto around each other was somehow

the most exhausting thing anyone could do. Kurenai honestly wondered if Guy even had the ability to do it but that may have even been a challenge for him. Chuckling a little she went to bed as the day came to an end.

XXX

The team stopped for the night as they set up camp. Rin took the first watch but nothing happened on her shift so once Asuma told her it was his turn to go on watch she gladly went to her tent and almost immediately crashes of exhaustion. She had no idea she had been pushing herself the whole day and that kind of interested her as she really didn't do anything that wasn't uncommon for a ninja to do on a mission. Even most who had just come back from maternity leave weren't this tired after only running all day.

Rin got her reason for why she was so tired as she woke up on the ocean floor once more. Rin looked into the cave as at first she could only see darkness before finally seeing one giant red and yellow eye staring back at her. Rin didn't know what to do as she stared into the eye of the monster before she suddenly heard a booming voice fill her mindscape.

"Hello."

Rin was a little shocked at the voice but not for the reason most would think. She wasn't shocked at the volume, but at the tone. Even though the voice was loud it didn't have much energy to it and even more importantly it didn't feel like the owner of the voice was particularly good with conversation.

"Um, hello." She said as she looked into the bars of the cage.

"It seems we finally meet." The voice said as the eye stared at Rin.

"It seems so. I'm guessing your the three tails then?"

"Yes, I am."

"Well if that's the case then tell me why you brought me here." Rin demanded.

"I brought you here so we could talk. You may have noticed something by now correct?"

Rin was a little confused by that statement until she realized that she had remembered something. "Wait, I remember now. I didn't tell the Hokage about me meeting you before now. What did you do?" She asked as anger began to seep into her words.

The three tails only looked at her as it took a moment to answer. "Because if I had let you tell that old Kage about me then they would have separated me from you or separated you and that boy you took in. I knew if either happened I could have had to deal with many problems that wouldn't end well at all for me so I decided to keep them from you as to not worry aboutTanything bad happening to me. After all too much emotional stress on you or physical stress on the sealEcould lead to your one stabilizing seal breaking due to its low management after years of neglect."

Rin was honestly shocked at the moment as she made sense of everything she just heard. "Wait, wait, wait. Hold on a second. What are you talking about? What's wrong with the seal?"

"Your seal is breaking, and unfortunately if the first seal broke your second would break and if that happened then unfortunately for me die to it staying for way longer than it should the seal breaking would lead to its collapse and that wouldn't free me, it would kill me. And thanks to your life so far if you lost someone precious to you now the emotional distress could lead to the seal breaking. And thats why I called you here. You need to get your seal fixed soon if you don't want to die."

Rin was now even more shocked as she heard this. "Wait, is that why I saw you a few weeks ago, Because my seal was breaking."

"Yes. Your stabilizing seal was mostly fine and would have lasted at least a few more years. However whenever you brought that boy into your life the damage began to accelerate as I began to communicate with the Nine Tails. You had actually been in one of our meetings and he had decided to kick you out before you heard something he didn't want you too."

Rin was worried now as she looked at the beast. "Wait if that's the case then what about Naruto? What's wrong with his seal?"

"Nothing. His seal is far stronger than yours and will last for many years before repair would even have to be thought about. And due to him having the seal since just after his birth he won't have to worry about it needing to be replaced as often. You however will. Since you gained me after you had already grown to be an adolescent your seal will corrode much quicker. So fixing it will be very important for both of us."

"But why?" She asked.

"As I said. If the seal breaks I don't go free, I die and that won't be pleasant for me at all. So will you do it?" The three tails asked as it looked to her.

Rin took a moment as she thought the information over. Finally she nodded as she looked back at the creature. The large eye disappeared at seeing that as Rin awoke. A little shaken she realized that it was still the middle of the night as she decided to try to get some sleep. Hopefully this wouldn't go badly for her. Hopefully.

END OF CHAPTER

Author's Note: and with that I have returned. Man this one took a little longer then I would have liked to admit but meh.

OK so as you might have noticed there was a small time skip of a few weeks since the last chapter. Did that so it would make more sense for Naruto to be fine with Kurenai. I also just needed the last chapter for set up and I knew the timeline needed to be a little further on in the year. So if anyone was confused then I hoped this helped.

OK Review Time:

Prewishjay13: thanks for liking it so far and I'm happy you like Mama Rin. And yes for all out there who are wondering, yes it is going to be Mama Rin instead of big sister Rin or Aunt Rin. Honestly I just wanted to do a story were Rin is a mom instead, no slander to any other story that has her as something else but I never saw her as his mother when she raises Naruto in other stories even though I've seen many that have Kakashi as his dad so I tried something different. Also I'm so glad you got that. Was hoping someone would get that little reference and I'm happy you did.

OK hope you all liked this little change for reviews. Thought it would make it all look less crowded. And with that I'm off to make more stories. We're already reaching the half way point in this story so I hope you've all enjoyed it so far.

And with that I'll see y'all another time. Later.