"Mom, where are you?! Help me!"

"I'm coming, Naruto! Hang on!"

I entered the burning house as I tried to see through the flames. "Naruto! Naruto, I'm here! Where are you?!" I called. "Mom! Help!" I heard Naruto from his bedroom. I quickly ran down the hall and made it to his room. 

I tried to open the door, but it was locked. "Naruto, it's me! Open the door!" I said, pounding my fist against it. I rammed my shoulder into the door a couple times until I managed to knock it down on the third try. 

I shielded myself as I could feel the flames' heat. "Naruto?!" I called, looking around. "Naruto, where are you?! I'm here! I'm here, Naruto!" I called. "Mom..."

I turned around as Naruto stood behind me. "Naruto!" I said in relief before falling to my knees, hugging him. "You found me. You came for me, Mom." Naruto said as his chin rested on my shoulder. "Of course I did, Naruto. I would never leave you behind." I said, hugging him tighter as I closed my eyes. 

"Do you mean that?"

"From the bottom of my heart." 

"Then... why didn't you save me?"

"What?"

I broke the hug to look at Naruto, bracing his shoulders, and gasped when I saw his face rotting and holes in his skin. His body looked decay and was nearly in the form of a skeleton. "You left me to die!" Naruto yelled before tilting his head back, as if he died.

What happened?! What happened to my Naruto?! He was fine just a second ago!

Terrified, I let go of Naruto and his body fell to the floor with a small thud. "Naruto!" I went to pick him back up, but his body turned into dust the moment I touched him. "No... No! Naruto!" I screamed. 

*****

I snapped my eyes open and blinked a couple of times before slowly sitting up. I looked out the  window as the half moon was still shining upon the house. "It was only a dream." I said, sighing. "What time is it?"

I looked at the clock as it five thirty in the morning. "Hmm..." Just to be sure, I got out of bed and checked on Naruto to be certain that he was safe. 

"Naruto?" I opened the door slightly as it creaked and noticed Naruto wasn't in his room. "Naruto?" I called as I stepped into his room. Where is he?

I looked towards the hallway when I heard a thud. "Ow! Dammit..." 

"Huh?" I walked into the living room and turned on the lamp. "Naruto?" I said as I saw him on the ground. "Ow..." He moaned in pain as he rubbed his knee. "Huh? Hehe... Hey, Mom." Naruto greeted, sheepishly.

"What are you doing out here?" I asked as I kneeled down beside him. "Kakashi-sensei wants us to meet him in the training grounds at 6 AM. I wanted to be quiet and not turn on any lights because I didn't want to wake you." Naruto explained.

"That's very considerate of you, Naruto. But why does your sensei want you to be at the training grounds this early in the morning?" I asked. "I don't know." He shrugged. My gaze went from him to his knee. "Are you okay?" I asked. 

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just bumped my knee into the couch. Nothing really damaged." Naruto said. "Hmm..." I rolled up his pants leg and noticed a small bruise forming. "Your knee is started to bruise up." I informed. 

"Yeah, but it's not big deal." He said. "It is to me." I stated. I placed my hands over the small bruise on his knee and began to heal him. "Whoa! I didn't know you could heal!" Naruto said, amazed, making me giggle at his reaction. 

When I was finished healing him, I took my hands off his knee. "There. That should do it. As your mother, I'd advise you to be more careful in the future. Okay?" I said, giving him a closed-eye smile. Naruto unexpectedly hugged me, bringing both of us to the ground. 

"You're the best, Mom!" Naruto said. I giggled again and hugged him back. I think this is his way of saying, 'I love you'.

"I love you, too, Naruto," I said before sitting the two of us up. "You should get going. You don't wanna be late, do you?" I mentioned. "Oh, yeah! That's right! See ya later!" Naruto said, running out the door. I smiled as he left and stood to my feet.  

"Naruto mentioned that he and his team were due for a training exercise. But what kind of exercise, I wonder?" I said to myself as I moved the couch so it was back in place; It had moved when Naruto bumped his knee into it.

"Hmm..." I got dressed and decided to follow Naruto to the training grounds. I sat on a high branch as I watched Naruto and his team sit/stand by each other, back to back. "Where is Kakashi?" I asked, quietly. 

Two hours passed and Kakashi finally showed up. "Hey, you're late!" Naruto and Sakura scolded him at the same time. "Well, a black cat crossed my path, so I had to take the long way around." Kakashi explained. 

"Liar." I mumbled, bluntly. "What's the point in having his students arrive so early in the morning if he's going to arrive late?" 

I slowly kicked my legs back and forth as I listened to the objective of the training exercise. They had to get a bell by noon or they fail. However, there were two bells and three of them. 

"Oh, I see. So, they have to work as a team in order to grab the bells from him." I said as I figured it out. But Naruto doesn't know that. Should I tell him? "Ready... START!" Kakashi said, and the three ninjas split up.

But Naruto didn't hide. He intended to face Kakashi head on. So, why did Kakashi take out a book? Is he trying to say that Naruto's boring him? "How insulting." I said. I was trying to be quiet so they wouldn't hear me. 

"Leaf Village Secret Finger Jutsu: One Thousand Years of Death!" Kakashi said as he harshly poked Naruto's behind.

"Oh, my." I said, covering my eyes with one hand. Naruto splashed in the river as I sighed. "I suppose now is the time to help Naruto. Let's see... What can I do to help Naruto?" I mumbled as I noticed a bell dangling from the waist of Kakashi's pants. 

"Ah, I got it." I said. I closed my eyes and made hand sign. "Freeze."

The atmosphere turned blue as everything froze in place. "Secret Technique: Time Manipulation." I said as I lowered my arms. Just a simple technique my grandfather taught me. However, the technique doesn't last long, so I have to hurry.

I jogged over to Kakashi and grabbed the bell from his pants. Once I had the bell, I put it in my bag and headed back to my hidden spot in the tree. As I jogged back, I spotted Sakura hiding in the bushes and Sasuke hiding high in the trees. 

"Instead of hiding there, why don't you try saving your teammate?" I said to them with a deadpan expression. I shook my head, disappointed, then walked back to my spot. Once I sat myself on the branch, I unfroze time. 

I sighed and leaned the side of my head against the trunk of the tree while closing my eyes, with a small sigh.

"Now, let's resume the show." I said, opening my eyes. I undid the jutsu and unfroze time as the blue atmosphere disappeared, the colors of the scenery returning to normal. I looked at Kakashi as he mumbled something.

"I wonder how long it will take him to notice one of the bells are missing?" I wondered. Probably not long.