Chapter 40 The Question

Morning came and Naruto woke up feeling happy. He checked, and the new Sakura-Hinata fusion still remained with Sakura and Hinata returned. That was good, though this did raise questions.

"This ability is very weird." Sakura said after they all got cleaned up. They were finishing the last of cleaning out Naruto's apartment so they could move him into the new place. With yet another person in the group, he'd need the room now.

"It's kind of like having kids but you're never pregnant and they're born adults." Naruto claimed.

"I bet there are some lazy parents out there that wish they were this lucky." Hinata noted.

Sakura laughed. "Yeah, I can completely agree there's some deadbeat dad or miserable mother out there wishing that their kid was just born 18 years old."

"Too bad for you guys. I'm only 16, so to speak." The new fusion remarked.

"Yeah but we're not your parents Sanata." Sakura replied.

"I thought we were calling her Hikura." Hinata countered.

Sahino turned to the whiskered blonde. "You're the tie-breaker Naruto-kun."

All eyes were on him, making him a little uncomfortable. Still, he crossed his arms, closed his eyes, and thought it over. "Hmm... how about... Hinakura?"

"Hinakura?" All the women repeated, confused.

Naruto opened his eyes and nodded. "Yeah, I like the way that sounds when I say it out loud."

"I don't want to be a bother." The new fusion claimed, shrinking into herself a little much like how Hinata used to.

"You're no bother. You're family." Sahino told what was essentially her sister. Or was it her cousin? Either way, it was nice to not be the only fusion anymore.

"Hinakura, I like it." Hinata said, nodding.

"In a way, it does fit." Sakura admitted.

"Then Hinakura Uzumaki it is." Sahino proclaimed, patting the girl on the back.

"Alright, with that settled, are we ready to go?" Hinakura asked.

"Yeah, let's go."

With that, everyone left and Naruto locked the door. This kind of reminded him of the day he left for his training trip, but he felt different this time. He wasn't sure how to describe it. It was almost like when he left the Academy for the last time to have the first official meeting of Team Seven atop the roof. One chapter ending and another beginning.

"We should get Ino and have a sleepover at the new place. Help it feel more like home." Sakura suggested.

"Oh, are you going to try to make another fusion?" Sahino asked.

"The thought has crossed my mind, I'll admit it." Sakura confessed. "But we still don't really know how this happens or why. My ancestor who I think discovered this ability didn't leave a lot of information about it."

"I wonder if there was something they were trying to hide. Maybe they didn't want anyone else to figure out how to do it." Hinata considered.

"Like what? Are we going to turn evil or mutate into something?" Sahino asked.

"Oh dear." Hinakura said quietly, looking over herself as if expecting deformities to suddenly sprout up.

"I don't think it's going to be anything like that." Sakura insisted.

"You think? Or you know?" Hinakura asked.

The group walked on, but now there was a feeling of discomfort over them. Though after a bit Naruto stopped and looked down another road.

"Girls, I promised a friend that I'd see her day when I could. I've been kind of caught up in other things so I felt like I was neglecting her, and I want to make it up to her."

"Another girl? Who is it?" The group asked, though each member had their own way of saying it.

"Her name's Yakumo Kurama, I think Hinata's the only one who would know her."

Hinata blinked. "The painter? Kurenai-sensei's other student?"

Naruto nodded. "I kept in touch with her ever since... that incident. But with all this we've been doing, I haven't seen her since I got back from Suna. I don't want to make a friend feel like she's not important anymore."

"Still, I bet you'd be less in a hurry to see her again if she wasn't a pretty girl." Sakura joked.

Naruto wasn't sure how to react to that, so he just shrugged. The girls in turn decided to go along with him towards the Kurama household, curious to see this new girl for themselves.

Inoichi was on his way to his secondary job. Shinobi and clan head was his primary one, and his wife did the majority of management for the flower shop. So when Inoichi wasn't out risking his life on missions or his patience in meetings, he worked in the Konoha mental health clinic as a psychiatrist. And if anyone claimed that shinobi weren't in need of mental health check-ups, he'd be the first to tell you they were lying or in denial.

Pretty much everyone who ever took a mission above B-rank and came back alive at some point had to come to his clinic at least once. Some took longer than others, but he could safely say more than half of Konoha's forces had sought out aide from him or another Yamanaka.

'Now that I think about it, I don't recall ever hearing anyone tell me if Naruto ever had an appointment with us. That boy is bound to need it. I should probably make sure Ino and her friends get a check up too, though I'm sure she'll take it the wrong way.'

"Inoichi?"

Stopped before he actually got to his office, the Yamanaka head paused and turned. There greeting him was Kakashi, who looked like someone had kicked a puppy in front of him.

"Kakashi? This is a surprise. Are you here for business or something else?"

"Business. I need to talk to someone who can be unbiased."

Inoichi nodded. "I usually keep my first hour open in case of things like this happening. Let's go in. I'm still charging you though."

The two men went inside and sat down, Inoichi in a chair and Kakashi on a couch. Inoichi made sure to get a notepad and pen while at the same time turning on a recorder.

"Alright, Kakashi, start with what's bothering you."

Kakashi hung his head, finding it hard to make eye contact. "I haven't been the best sensei to Naruto, but I never wanted him to die. And yet everyone seems convinced that I did."

"Who's everyone?" Inoichi asked.

"Mostly Naruto, but Hokage-sama and a couple others agree. You see, I asked Naruto if he thought I was a bad sensei. He said he believed that I felt nothing regarding his life or death. Then later Hokage-sama slipped and told him who his parents were, and now Naruto is convinced that all this time I wanted him to die and I just didn't have the guts to kill him myself."

Inoichi wrote a note about this. "Kakashi, it's natural for you to take that badly and even feel guilty for making your student feel this way, but you sound like this is eating you alive. Why is that?"

"Why wouldn't it? My sensei's son thinks I wanted him to die!"

Inoichi raised an eyebrow. "Why did you phrase it that way?"

"Huh?"

"You said 'my sensei's son'. Not 'Naruto' or 'my student'. What do you think Minato would say if he were here right now?"

Kakashi looked like he really didn't want the conversation to go in this direction.

"When Naruto said all those things to you, did it hurt because there was some truth to it? Or was it because in your mind, it wasn't him insulting you but instead your sensei insulting you?"

The cycloptic jounin hung his head in shame, looking like he wanted to cry but at the same time wouldn't let himself.

"Kakashi, who are you more afraid of disappointing? Naruto, or Minato?"

"Why do I feel like there's a right answer to that one?" Kakashi asked back.

"There isn't, but if I was the one being asked I'd say Naruto. While I admit that I'm not the biggest fan of the kid, you can't disappoint the dead."

"You can if you believe in an afterlife." Kakashi pointed out.

"True, but no matter how disappointed Minato is in you, he can't do anything about it until you're dead. But Naruto, he can do something now. So the way I see it, it sounds like you were willing to put up with any anger Naruto feels as long as you could tell yourself that Minato would understand. But now you don't believe that anymore. You believe that your sensei is angry at you from the other side, and deep down, that is the real problem here. It's not what you did or who you did it to, but that this time you feel judged by the one person you don't want to be judged by."

"So you're saying that Naruto is right? All this time, I've never cared what Naruto thinks or what happens to him? I've just put up with him for the sake of Sensei?"

"Well, would you have bothered with him at all if he wasn't Minato's son?" Inoichi asked, and Kakashi said nothing. "Kakashi, does the name Fu Yamanaka mean anything to you?"

"No, should it?"

Inoichi frowned. "Yes, it should. You see, years ago Fu was one of our most promising kids. He was almost a prodigy, we all thought for sure he'd excel as a ninja, but then when it came time to become a genin his team failed and they were held back. Fu was not used to failure and took this hard, and then Danzo recruited him into the other training regime. The one for genin who get sent back to the academy for more learning. Despite our pleas, Fu accepted Danzo's offer, and now the bright cheerful boy I once knew is a soulless emotionless husk that no longer takes any joy out of the thing he spent years learning how to do."

"That's a real tragedy. It really is, and I hate that Hiruzen-sama allowed this at all. But why bring this up now?"

"You really don't get it, do you?" Inoichi asked, putting down his notepad. "You were the one that failed Fu's team, Kakashi."

The cycloptic jounin acted like he had just been stabbed with a sword. "What?"

"Yes. You failed him. You know how you failed several genin before you finally had the Uchiha under your wing? You do know that most of us believe you deliberately failed the others because you were only interested in teaching Sasuke. Was that true?"

"Of course not!"

"Then why did you fail Fu? Was he really not good enough for the job? Or was it because teaching him didn't ease your own guilt?"

Kakashi could only sigh. "I'm... not going to solve this in one hour, am I?"

"Why do you think we charge by the hour?" Inoichi chuckled.

Naruto and his companions reached the Kurama clan household. It was fancy, but nothing like the Hyuuga stronghold. If anything, it was more artistic. The Kurama compound could be described as 'pretty' while the Hyuuga compound was best described as 'expensive'.

Naruto went around to what looked like a storage unit, albeit one as big as a house, with a smoke stack. He saw a red sign with the word 'In' on it, so he knocked. After some time, the door opened.

"Ah, good morning Naruto. Glad you could make it." Yakumo greeted, standing there in messy denim overalls over a white shirt.

"Hi Yakumo. Hope you don't mind but I brought some company along."

Yakumo looked and saw four girls with the whiskered blonde. "Oh? I don't think I have enough room in my studio for this many."

"We aren't here to stay. We're going to be helping Naruto-kun move into his new home today and he wanted to say hi before he got too busy." Sakura clarified.

"Oh, that makes sense. New home huh? You'll have to show it to me."

Naruto nodded. "That's part of why I'm here. MY new place comes with a business attached and I'm thinking of setting up a sort of club area. I thought who better to help me decorate it than the best artist I know?"

Yakumo smiled. "Sounds great. I've love to. Just let me change out of my clay clothes and we can get going." She then went back inside, leaving the door open.

"Clay?" Hinata asked, remembering Kurenai's former student was a painter.

"She's expanded her interests. I've seen her try drawing, weaving, origami, and last time I was here she had taken up sculpting. Girl likes to keep her hands busy." Naruto explained.

"Have you made any art with her?" Hinakura asked.

"Actually yes, I think there's some still inside."

Naruto went inside, acting like he was used to being invited here, and the four girls followed. Inside they saw an artist studio filled with various projects. Paints and canvases, large sheets of paper with penciled unfinished sketches, masks on the wall, a shelf next to a kiln, and a few mannequins.

"Oh, check this out." Naruto said, going over to another shelf and picking up a featureless clay head. "Yakumo actually made a replica of my head."

"Why?" Sakura asked.

"Oh, she was going through a mask phase at the time. We both used paper mache to make copies of our heads so we could use them to make masks that fit us just right. I think a few of them are on the wall right now."

He put down the head and went to a cabinet, pulling out a notebook. "Here's some drawings I made. Yakumo really helped me get better, and I think it helped me learn how to pay more attention to little details."

The four girls looked through the pages. It was clear that the first few ones were amateurish with Naruto struggling to copy whatever he had been looking at, but later pages did show improvement.

"I'm noticing that you drew her a lot." Hinakura noted, seeing Yakumo's image in the pages over and over.

"Well, who else was I going to draw?" Naruto shrugged.

"Talking about me?" Yakumo called, coming back into the room. Right now she wore a red blouse with blue shorts and black leggings.

"Naruto-kun was just showing us all you taught him." Sakura explained.

"You two seem to be good friends." Sahino added.

Yakumo added. "We are. He's helped me a lot."

"Would you like to go out with him?" Sahino asked.

Yakumo was confused. "Huh? I thought he has a girlfriend already."

"He does. Right now he has..." Sahino paused to count. "Well, four officially, and two pending. Would you like to have the chance?"

"Uh, girls?" Naruto tried to say, blushing and feeling rather awkward.

"Sorry, I'm going to pass." Yakumo replied.

The girls all looked a little surprised. "Really?"

Yakumo nodded. "Yeah, I mean, I'm flattered, but Naruto is definitely not my type."

"Yeah, we found that out before I went on my training trip." He confessed, trying to make it less awkward.

"What do you mean? Did anything happen between the two of you?" Hinata asked, eyeing Naruto.

'I just can't win right now.' He thought.

"No, not really. We hung out often, but I never once felt any attraction to him. I thought maybe there was something wrong with me, the whole Ido thing was still a fresh wound and I worried that maybe I lost more of myself than just that. Then one day when we were drawing, Naruto used his Sexy Jutsu to model for me and I... I felt something."

Hinata blinked then looked relieved. "Oh, I get it. You're into women, not men."

Yakumo nodded. "Naruto helped me realize that and accept it. And no, I don't have a girlfriend yet. I haven't exactly found someone who's my type yet."

"Guess I owe Naruto-kun an apology. Apparently that damn jutsu really does do some good after all." Sakura muttered, glancing at her blonde lover.

"Well, you're still welcome to come along and help decorate his new place." Sahino offered.

"I haven't gotten anything started yet. Lead the way."

Yakumo followed them out of her art studio and soon off the Kurama clan grounds into Konoha.

"So let me get this straight, you're all Naruto's girlfriends? Including that blonde girl I saw yesterday?" She asked them as they walked.

Sakura nodded. "Yeah, we're sharing him."

"Why?"

For a brief moment this made the four girls pause. Naruto didn't notice and kept going until he realized he couldn't hear their footsteps anymore. "Is something wrong?" He asked, rejoining them.

"What do you mean why? There's nothing wrong with it." Sakura defended.

"I didn't say there was. I'm just curious about why you decided to do it."

"Oh, you see, it started when we talked about it and realized that Naruto-kun wanted a girlfriend but wasn't sure what his type was. So we all sort of agreed to take turns dating him to give him exposure to different kinds of women, and in the end we decided we didn't want him to just pick one of us." Hinata explained with Sahino nodding.

"Why?" Yakumo asked.

"Why what?" Sahino asked back.

"Why did you decide you didn't want him to choose just one of you?"

The girls looked at each other as if asking themselves which one could explain it best. Naruto too kept his gaze on them, unsure what their actual response to this would be.

"Naruto-kun's got bigger problems to worry about right now, we decided not to make this another one of them, so we sort of decided that he wouldn't have to pick." Sakura claimed. Right now, she felt it was best to keep the origin of Sahino and Hinakura a secret.

"And that makes you happy?" Yakumo asked.

"Is something wrong, Yakumo?" Naruto asked, worried that his friend was going too far.

"Sorry Naruto, I'm not trying to judge or anything. It's just I'm not the sharing type. Even if I did like men, I could never share you like they could. I prefer to be with someone who will give me all their love, not just part of it. I'm just trying to understand how they can be happy doing this. I mean, it's obvious what you get out of this, but what do they get out of it?"

Naruto couldn't help but look at his girlfriends and feel like he had done something wrong. What did they get out of this?

"Years ago, I was selfish too." Sakura started. "I made a good friend, but I took her for granted. I decided that I couldn't have her friendship and a boy's love at the same time, and I decided she wasn't worth it. All I cared about was me. Not only that, but I threw away any chance of friendship with anyone else, and everyone saw me as some vapid angry fangirl. Even the boy I was doing all this for didn't respect me, but I ignored that and hurt so many in the process of trying to force life to give me the happy ending I wanted. This time I'm not doing that. I'm not going to act like my happiness is the only one that matters. That my dreams are the only ones that should come true."

The pinkette then put her arm around Hinata. "Hinata here loved Naruto-kun long before I did, and I knew that, but I didn't care. I owe it to her to give her the chance to love Naruto-kun too. And she's nice enough to forgive me and let me have a chance with him too. She's a better friend than I deserve, and I'm glad to have her in my life."

Hinata blushed and looked away.

"So what are we getting out of this? I'm getting love and a family here. I've got a boyfriend, some new sisters, a girlfriend or two, and my self respect back." Sakura proclaimed. "And hopefully someday, I've have a ring on my finger and some babies."

That made Naruto, Hinata, Sahino, and Hinakura all blush deeply. Even Yakumo looked a little embarrassed hearing that.

"She's right." Hinata added, taking Naruto's hand. "This isn't how I expected my relationship with Naruto-kun to be, but I actually am enjoying this. I'm happy, and that's all I need to get out of this."

"Though a few babies of your own wouldn't hurt to have too, am I right?" Sakura joked, patting Hinata's stomach and making her eep.

Yakumo looked to Naruto. "Guess you better find some space for a crib or two in your new place, huh Naruto?"

The whiskered blonde just sputtered, making them all chuckle.

Ino was at the flower shop, minding it on behalf of her mother. She didn't mind, during her period this usually helped keep her mind off things but allowed her close access to a restroom if she needed anything urgently.

'Wish Naruto-kun was here, but I had my date so now it's one of their turns. Besides, being so close to him like that was just so tempting, and I need to wait another few days before it's safe. But once this is over, I'm getting him to pop my cherry.'

The bell at the door rang while she was sorting some flowers so she got into customer service mode. "Hello, welcome to our shop. Are you looking for anything specific?"

"Yes, you." A pale boy with black hair and a smile said.

"Oh?" Ino asked, sizing him up. A part of her admitted he was kinda cute, in a way similar to how Sasuke used to be, but he was no Naruto.

"Yes. I'm been wanting to see those that my new teammate Naruto considers friends, and you are one, are you not?"

Ino got suspicious. "He never said anything about you."

"I'm not surprised, he doesn't seem to like me that much. So I thought maybe if I got to know his friends, he might see me as one of them."

Ino thought it over, feeling like there was something wrong here but at the same time not wanting to be judgy.

"So tell me about you, Ino Yamanaka. And what is it that Naruto likes about you."

Now Ino frowned and stepped closer to the store's alarm system. Even a ninja-owned business needed some security. "How did you know my name? I doubt Naruto-kun told you."

The boy kept smiling though it was clear she struck a nerve. "Please, I mean you no harm. I just wish to understand your connection to him."

"Yeah, and something tells me that you're not just curious or lonely. You want something, don't you?" She remarked.

"Oh, I don't want anything."

'But you know someone who does, and you're here for them, aren't you?' She thought, swiftly readying her hands. "Mind-"

Right away black snakes jumping out and wrapped around her hands, constricting her and throwing her off. She tried to shake free but they were too tight. And oddly they didn't feel warm at all. They were cold, like they never alive in the first place.

"You work for Orochimaru, don't you?" She asked, trying to trip the alarm under the register with her knee but she missed.

"Oh no, I am a dedicated follower of Konoha's true ruler. And he'd like to have a word with you."

The pale boy went up and grabbed her, and just before he could use a shushin to transport them both away, she successfully hit the alarm.