Advice and a Question

"It's not a problem that I invited her is it mom?" Naruto asked as the four of them were heading back from the academy.

"No, honey of course not. I want you to make friends. You are welcome to invite whoever you like home just let me know." She stopped to pick up a couple of pebbles. "Inviting friends over is fine." In a blur she threw the two pebbles at a large tree they were passing underneath.

"Ow!"

"Ow!"

Two eight year old girls dropped out of the tree onto the street. Kushina stood over them frowning with arms crossed. "Why are you following us?"

Dellona looked up in a panic for her life. "Please don't kill us!" She wailed

Kushina shut her eyes and shook her head. "I'm not going to hurt you. But don't stalk my son. If he wants to see you after school he'll invite you. But if he doesn't I expect you to leave him be."

"We weren't stalking Naruto-kun! We just wanted to see where he was going!" Dellona said.

"Did he know that?"

"Uhm no." Dellona said weakly.

"That's stalking, don't do it again. Now go." The two girls wasted no time running away. Kushina returned to her son's side. "Tell me something Naruto-kun, how many girls had lunch with you today?"

"Not counting Hinata, seven."

"Well its official then." Kushina said in a flat voice.

"What?"

"You have a fan club." She took out a kunai and tossed it at a trash can. The can flipped end over end spilling garbage over the eight year old girl who had been hiding behind it.

"Eek!" the girl shouted in terror.

"Go home and don't follow my son again." The girl fled. She gave her son a look that was amused and annoyed at the same time. "My son the heart throb."

"It's o.k. mom I'll just tell the girls to leave me alone tomorrow."

Kushina, Kurenai, and even Hinata looked at him as though he were an idiot. "Uhm, Naruto-kun I really don't think that will do any good." Hinata said quietly.

"Why not?"

"Because Naruto-kun you're not a person to them, you're an ideal." Kushina said as she picked up another pebble.

"Huh?"

Kushina threw the pebble and a young girl in a yellow dress fell out of a tree. "You, stalking, bad, don't!" She shouted as the girl ran for her life. "Now as I was saying, except for Hinata did any of those girls today really know you? I mean other than your name, your ambition, and the fact that you are all ready powerful?"

"Well no." He said.

"Yet they're willing to risk a terrible and painful death." She shouted the last part and came to a halt. "Every girl who has been following my son has until the count of five to get out of here before I take out my sword and start cutting off heads… five!" Immediately six different girls came out of their hiding places and began to run away screaming. She looked at her son. "None of these girls actually think they're going to get you. So just telling them you're not interested won't help. You're an ideal to them now."

"An ideal?"

Kushina nodded. "They look at you and see the perfect and unattainable. Being with you is a magical quest. They know the attempt is bound to fail but they still want to try because you represent an ideal to theses girls of everything they imagine they want in a boyfriend. They want to pursue you because in an odd way they think it brings them closer to this perfection they can never really have."

"So what can I do mom?"

Kushina frowned. "Well if you'd known what to do you might have nipped this in the bud. But I neglected to tell you how to handle things." She sighed. "Unfortunately now that the fan club has actually formed you're left with only two options. One option would be to ruin the reputation you have now. You could answer every question wrong, try to be loud and obnoxious, start playing a bunch of annoying pranks, and maybe replace the Hokage cloak with a bright orange jumpsuit."

Naruto looked at her in horror. "Mom don't even joke about that!"

Kushina grinned. "Well that leaves option two. Get a girlfriend."

What?! Hinata thought.

"What?!" Naruto cried out. "Mom I thought I was trying to get the girls to leave me alone."

Kushina nodded. "That's the goal Naruto-kun."

"How does having a girlfriend help with having girls chase after me?"

"Simple, by having one girlfriend you immediately ruin the ideal all the other girls have. Even if you are unattainable they still want to only chase boys who are unattached. If you have a girlfriend that will take the steam out of most of the fan girls."

Naruto frowned at her. "I don't know mom. I mean even if I wanted to which girl would I pick?"

Kushina raised an eyebrow. "Well son who would you feel comfortable spending time with, being alone with, and maybe even walking around hand in hand with?" She glanced to where Naruto and Hinata were holding hands.

Naruto seemed to struggle. "That's just it mom! I don't feel comfortable with any of them! The only person in the whole class I feel comfortable around is Hinata-chan."

Kushina just looked at her son blankly for a bit and waited. He didn't seem to get it. Finally she asked. "Who?"

"Hinata-chan."

She cupped a hand to her ear. "Who?"

He frowned at her. "I said Hinata-chan! I feel comfortable around Hinata-chan!" And then the light seemed to come on. "Oh! I could have Hinata-chan be my girlfriend."

Kushina smiled. "Why Naruto-kun what a wonderful idea! Asking the girl you know and trust."

But Naruto frowned. "I don't think it would work though."

"Uhm, why n… not Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked.

He looked at her in surprise. "Come on Hinata-chan! Can you see me as your boyfriend?"

Hinata hung her head and didn't bother to answer.

Kushina looked on but decided to not say anything. If he doesn't see it there's no point trying to force things. Well they're both young. All good things in time. "Well Naruto-kun I hope you enjoy being an ideal."

"Great." He began looking around wondering if there were any more girls following him.

Kushina picked up a pebble. "Well on the bright side this should be good preparation for when you become Hokage. Most of the villagers never met your father but they loved and idolized him." She threw the pebble into some bushed in the front of a residence.

"Ow!" the bush cried out.

"Though the villagers didn't stalk him."

XXXXXXXXXX

They made it back to the Namikaze estates without saying much more. They also made it running into only two more fan girls.

"Naruto-kun go on in I'll be a minute." Naruto nodded and went in through the gate. Once he was out of hearing she turned to Hinata. "Hinata-chan I would like to talk to you for a minute."

Kurenai looked at Kushina. "Would you like some privacy?"

Kushina shook her head. "I don't mind if you hear this Kurenai." She smiled at Hinata. "This will just be between us girls."

"What is it Kushina?" Hinata asked morosely.

Kushina reached out and gently put a hand on each shoulder. "Hinata-chan don't give up on him."

She looked surprised. "What do you mean?"

"Just what I said, don't give up on him or on the idea of being with him eventually. I know it doesn't seem like it right now, but Naruto thinks the world of you. And I know just how deeply you care about him too."

She sighed. "Naruto-kun doesn't even see me as a potential girlfriend."

"Right now he doesn't, but Hinata-chan you are both still so very young. Things can change with time. But the important thing is that today wasn't a decisive moment so don't worry too much."

"Decisive moment?"

Kushina smiled kindly. "In all of our lives Hinata-chan there come a certain number of decisive moments. These are crossroads in our life's journey. They are times when your life can move into one or another very different path. Would you like to hear about mine?" Hinata nodded eagerly. "Well not too surprisingly mine involved a certain man. Would you like to hear how Minato and I came to be?"

"Oh yes please!"

"Well he was in Whirlpool country commanding a small force of Leaf nins that were there to help us drive out some damn Rock nins from our territory. I worked with him closely and from the very start we flirted with one another mercilessly." She stopped and smiled fondly at the memory. "Any way after a month the Rock nins had been driven out and Minato was going to lead his men back home. We were saying our good byes. And as I was saying good bye to him I just knew it was a decisive moment in my life. He wasn't Hokage then, but he was the Yellow Flash of Konoha, a ninja legend, and the most beautiful man I ever laid eyes on. I knew that I would probably never see him again and my heart ached at the thought. It was a decisive moment and I decided to follow my heart."

"What did you do?" Hinata asked wide eyed.

Kushina's eyes warmed. "I grabbed him and gave him the most passionate kiss of my life."

Hinata gasped. "You didn't!"

Kushina laughed. "Oh yes I did! And you should have seen the look on his face! But you see Hinata-chan everything else that happened; our falling in love, our marriage, and the birth of our son all started from that decision to follow my heart. I took a chance and if I hadn't then none of it would have happened. Do you understand what I am telling you Hinata-chan? When your decisive moment comes listen to your heart and follow its dictates, no matter how frightening."

Hinata looked down again and began pressing her fingers together. "Wha… what if yo… you're not strong en… enough to fo… follow your heart?"

Kushina paused for a bit and really regretted what she was about to say. "Then you don't deserve him."

Hinata gasped and her face shot back up. "What?"

Kushina went down on her knees while keeping a gentle hold on Hinata's shoulders. "Hinata-chan you are a dear sweet child and I am very fond of you. I do not doubt that you will grow into a fine woman and one day be a fine wife. But Naruto-kun is no ordinary person. He is going to be an extraordinary man just as his father was. And for such a man an ordinary wife will never do. Until now his life has been hard and it will only get harder. There are things about him that you do not know, terrible things. Within him is an unlimited potential not only for greatness but for the tragic as well. From the day of his birth until the day his life ends his life will be a bitter struggle against enemies you cannot imagine both within and without. I believe he will triumph in the end no matter the odds, because he has within him his father's courage. He has that rare strength to do what must be done whatever the cost." She paused for a bit and Hinata was entranced, she hung on every word. She knew this was vitally important. Kushina's green eyes bored into Hinata's lavender ones. "When I took my marriage vows I pledged everything to be with him. My life, my heart, my very soul; I offered everything I was and ever would be so I could be with the one I loved. For to be with a truly great man nothing less would ever have been enough. Can you do the same Hinata-chan? Can you pledge everything to be with him? Can you offer your life, your heart, and your very soul to stand beside him? Do you love him that much? Because if you cannot give him everything that you are and ever could be then you do not deserve him."

The little girl looked at her stunned and lost. "Kushina I… I…"

"Shhh," Kushina put a finger to her lips and shushed her. "You don't have to answer me now. In fact you don't have to answer me at all. But one day Hinata-chan, likely years from now, your moment will come and you will have to answer then." She leaned forward and gave the small child a kiss on her forehead. "Good night Hinata-chan. I will see you in the morning." With that she left to return to her home and her son.