Chapter 15

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Naruto was staring at a beautiful woman with long red hair, wearing a green dress over a white shirt. She was facing away from him, but he knew that once she turned around he would be looking at the violet of his mom. Naruto knew he had to move, he had to get away, but he was stuck.

"Minato! Why didn't you tell me you were getting back today? I've been worried, ya know!" Kushina hit Minato over the head while she was talking.

"Kushina! W...we just decided to get some food first after all that traveling!" Minato was trying to soothe Kushina before she destroyed something. Then he remembered Naruto. "Hey Kushina, remember that new team member I was telling you about?"

Kushina visibly brightened. "Of course I do, ya know!"

"Well..." Minato pointed to somewhere behind Kushina. "He's right behind you."

Kushina spun around as fast as she could, noticing a young boy who looked to be in his late teens staring at her as if he was looking at a ghost. "You're Naruto, right? Minato's new teammate?" She waited for a response but the boy just kept staring at her.

You've gotta say something, Naruto! Anything! Naruto was still frozen in shock at seeing his mom. In his desperate attempt to not look stupid he just nodded at her question. Yeah, yeah I can nod. He was still trying to collect all of his spiraling thoughts when he heard her talking again.

"Oh my gosh, I have been so excited to meet you! Minato has told me so much about you ya know! And you are so cute! You're like a little ray of sunshine!" Kushina was so excited she started rambling. "And you look just like Minato, ya know. Why haven't we met before now? Oh, do you like ramen? It's my favorite! I make Minato eat it all the time, ya know!" She stopped talking when she heard a small sniffle. She looked up to see Naruto with tears in his eyes and streaming down his face. "Hey, are you okay?" She asked worriedly.

Minato was watching Kushina with affection when he suddenly heard her voice change. She asked if he was okay? What's wrong? Minato shifted so that he could see Naruto again, and was just as shocked to see that Naruto was crying. He stood up to stand next to Kushina. "Naruto?" He didn't need to repeat the question, but he wanted to get his attention.

"Naruto, talk to them." Kurama was trying to get Naruto to snap out of his fear so he would talk to his parents.

"It's... they... I knew she had to be alive but... it's too hard..." Naruto was having a hard time putting his thoughts together. "I don't know what to do!"

"Naruto... are you going to answer them?" Kurama was getting tired of Naruto not wanting to face the truth, so when he didn't answer again he started to get upset. "Naruto, snap out of it! You knew this was going to happen and I told you it would happen sooner than you wanted. So stop acting like a child!"

Naruto stared at Kurama like he had gone crazy. He hadn't seen him get mad for a while. "Kurama... you..." Naruto sighed when he realized he didn't have a comeback for what Kurama had said. "Gah! I hate you sometimes, ya know that?" Naruto ignored the smirk that Kurama gave him and went back to face his parents.

Naruto wiped his tears as he looked at his mom and dad. He wanted to tell them everything, but now just wasn't the time or the place. "Yeah I'm fine." His voice was a little hoarse, but it was all he could think of saying.

"Are you sure?" Kushina and Minato spoke at the same time.

"Y-yeah. I'm good, ya know." Naruto accidentally let his verbal tic out and tried to cover it up as quickly as possible. "So what's your name again?"

"It's Kushina, ya know!" Kushina stuck out her hand to shake the boy's hand.

Naruto laughed to himself. How many times has she said ya know now? She says it more than me. "It's good to finally meet you too." Naruto went to shake his mom's hand when she all of a sudden doubled over in pain, clutching her stomach. MOM!

"Kushina!" Minato caught Kushina as she was falling. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"I don't know... I just got an intense pain in my stomach..." Kushina was trying to explain what was happening. "Argh! I-it's not stopping..."

I've gotta get out of here... Naruto ran off as fast as he could. He couldn't bear seeing his mom hurting and he was fairly certain that he was the cause. "Dammit Kurama, you're past self just had to ruin everything."

Kurama felt bad, so he just sighed. "I'm sorry, Naruto."

"It's alright... I know it wasn't your fault." Naruto didn't stop until he was home, forgetting all about how he was going to report to the Hokage.

Minato noticed the scared look on Naruto's face before he disappeared. He wanted to follow him, but he had more important things to do. He stood up, pulled Kushina into his arms and rushed off to the hospital to make sure she was okay.

"Minato, I told you, I feel fine now. You don't have to worry so much, ya know." Kushina felt bad at the worried look Minato had.

"I always worry about you." Minato smiled at Kushina. "Though I am glad that you are feeling better. What happened?"

Kushina thought for a moment before answering. "This is just a guess, but it felt like the nine-tails was agitated and the pain was from it letting that anger out."

"But why would it get agitated?" Minato was confused.

"I'm not sure, but it seemed to react to Naruto." Kushina was thinking out loud as she spoke. "But it wasn't like anger, ya know. It was more like it was reacting to power."

Minato suddenly looked at Kushina as if he had just thought of something. "Well, Naruto does have an extremely strong chakra. I only got a glimpse of it on our last mission. But he is very strong." He thought about how kind Naruto always was, but how he always seemed to be sad and in pain. "But I can't see him being a threat. He cares deeply about those around him."

"Don't worry Minato." Kushina smiled at him. "I like him. He sort of reminds me of you, ya know."

Minato looked at Kushina with amusement dancing in his eyes. "Oh yeah? He reminds me of you. He even does the same thing you do and says ya know all the time." Minato was laughing now. "I'm glad you like him though."

Minato stayed with Kushina until she was released later that day and then he brought her home to rest some more. When he was sure Kushina was asleep he decided that he would go and look for Naruto to try and find out any more information.

Where on earth could he be?! Minato had checked his apartment, the training grounds, Ichiraku's, but no matter where he looked he couldn't find Naruto anywhere.

Naruto was sitting on the Great Stone Face of the Third Hokage again. It was the only place where he felt he could think. "Could it be because of the Sage of Six Paths power that made the old you act up?" Naruto was talking to Kurama to get some ideas.

"Yeah, that could be it. We were made by him, and he was the only one I respected before you." Kurama could see the truth in what Naruto was saying.

"The best option would be for me to just stay away for a while. What do you think?" Naruto was depressed that he would have to stay away, but he knew it was for the best.

"I want to say no...but yes, I believe that is the best decision for now." Kurama didn't know what else to say so he left Naruto to his own thoughts.

Naruto sat where he was until the sun started going down. He had made the decision that he would send out his shadow clones to try and find information on everything going on. He wanted to find out where Orochimaru was, if Nagato had lost Yahiko yet and he needed to find out about the Madara from this time that had corrupted Obito. He decided that going to the forest at the edge of the village was the best place to start so that his clones didn't alert anyone. "Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu." Naruto made four-hundred shadow clones and directed them to where they needed to go. "Alright, now we just have to wait."


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