5 Chapter 5

Naruto was ready…He just needed to figure out how, exactly, he was going to introduce himself.

'Hi, I'm Naruto, but not the Naruto you know because he's dead–or at least that's what I've heard–but a different Naruto from another world entirely that's sort of similar to this world but not really. Anyways I didn't really have a mother in that world but saw you in my mindscape after trying to unseal kurama and now I'm here in this world, and you're alive and I'm alive and I thought it would be a great idea to get to know each other.'

…He would sound like a nutcase who was henged as her son.

Did he even want to introduce himself as her son? That would be terribly strange for both him and her. What if…what if she didn't accept him?

Should he just stay as Yuki Naru forever, wearing a mask he carved for himself since day 1?

No. He was not that type.

He was overcomplicating this.

He was just going to introduce himself like a normal person and then slowly introduce the idea to her, without overwhelming her with mind blowing information that's, frankly, not quite believable–even to him at this point.

Naruto went back to observing her. She seemed to be done with visiting stalls and was now on her way home.

She showed no signs of detecting him but that was already a surety with his skill in stealth. If he could hide from the Anbu as a 12–year–old wearing a bright orange jacket, he could hide from practically everybody. That wasn't arrogance talking, but experience.

Speaking of orange outfits…perhaps it was time to say goodbye to what he's currently wearing sooner or later. His henge had also covered his clothing and changed it to regular civilian wear. Underneath it, however, was the same old jacket he wore since he returned from his 3-year trip with Jiraiya. Only now, it was cut up and in rags due to the war and his fight with Sasuke. With all it's been through, he was surprised that the clothes were still even on him.

He made a note to get a fresh set of outfits later on. Maybe an orange T-shirt this time, or even orange tiger striped pants. Or an orange blazer…and an orange eyepatch perhaps?

Or he could pull a Kakashi and just cover his rinnegan eye with his headband–of which since his arrival here, he had removed and stored it safely within the storage scroll in his pouch. He'd rather not henge over it in case if the henge fails, he would be caught as a civilian illegally practising ninja techniques (which happens occasionally from overeager civilians) rather than suspected as a spy from an enemy nation and get sent to T&I.

Kushina had made her way to the clan district. He had seen some compounds here through his clones that he didn't recognise and were unidentifiable as they had no signs or symbols displayed on their walls. Perhaps she'd lived in one of those?

It took a few minutes of tailing her but she eventually made her way to a rather humble home opposite of the Nara clan. It was a two-story building with a wooden roof and had a sort of stacked cylindrical shape with a rectangular area protruding from the side.

It was in a word: Cozy. Something that perhaps he would one day build himself had been in his old world.

Kushina entered the house and now, Naruto was truly left with two options. Enter the house now, and get it over with, or come back later and do it then.

He walked towards the door.

When he arrived at the footsteps leading to it, he stopped, thought about it, then turned back to the gate entrance, thinking it was a terrible idea.

Then, he stopped at the gate entrance, then turned around to walk back to the door, thinking that he was no coward.

Then he turned back to the gate, then to the door, then to the gate, the door, the gate, the door…

This lasted for 10 minutes.

Then, on his final trip to the door, he was just about to turn away from it again for the last time and call it a day, thinking that perhaps he could allow himself to be cowardly just this one time and bail once and for all, before the door opened and a glowing golden chain shot out, wrapping itself around his right foot and dragged him in with a force too strong for his startled self to resist.

"Gah!" He shrieked as he was catapulted inwards. His backside smacked against a wall and left him almost boneless on the ground from the shock and sudden change in momentum. The chains then proceeded to turn him into a human sushi roll.

"Yeowch! Ow–good kami–that hurts more than Sasuke's chidori to the chest…" he choked before looking up to find the unimpressed stare of his sort-of-mother.

"Uhm, H-Hi?" Naruto hesitantly greeted.

"Why have you been following me?" Kushina asked, her voice flat, completely unimpressed with the state of her stalker.

Naruto took a look at her before he answered. Now that she was there, right in front of him, he could see the details of her visage that he hadn't before. At…whatever age she was now, she was still as beautiful as his vision of her was portrayed to him was. She had vibrant, crimson hair, and unblemished porcelain skin. Her violet eyes looked like they contained thousands of stories untold, yet it was dim and pained, almost as if covered with a gown of despair.

She was…suffering, he realised. He could see it in her posture, the rings under her eyes. Yet she was…alive.

"I–I" Whatever Naruto wanted to say was stuck in his throat.

"Don't even try to lie your way out of this, boy," She said sternly, "We Uzumaki's are sensors, and I've sensed you watching me ever since I went into that fruit store down in the civilian district."

Naruto could only stare at her as she scolded him, mesmerised. He was no sucker for pain–despite his experiences with Sakura–but the very act of his mother scolding him was so unfamiliar of an experience that it made him wondrous rather than scared.

Kushina tapped her feet impatiently. "It's been a long time that anyone would have enough interest in me to send an assassin–"

"–Not an assassin," Naruto interjected, before practically swallowing his tongue at how terrible an idea to interrupt her.

Kushina's eyes narrowed and she promptly smacked him on his forehead.

"Ow!" He yelped, incredulous.

"Don't interrupt me, you're the one who's being interrogated here," She scolded once more.

"Y-yes ma'am," Naruto said, leaning away from her irritated expression, though only to partial success as his bindings held him tight. He figured that if he wanted to he could try to break out of this but…

…that would probably leave a terrible impression on his mo–...on Kushina. He decided to just call her Kushina for now.

"Like I was saying before you rudely interrupted, even if you weren't an assassin, that would imply that you're a creep who likes spying on old widowed women. Either way, it's not looking too great for you. So talk."

"Uhhh…" Naruto tried to formulate the words but it took a while for his brain to process the situation he found himself in.

Kushina's foot-tapping increased in cadence.

"I…I met someone who told me I sort of looked like you so I decided to check if it's true," Naruto said, sticking to the bullshit route.

"So instead of coming up to say hello, you stalked me until I got home?" Kushina deadpanned, unconvinced.

Naruto winced, "Right it looks bad but–H-hey! What are you doing?"

In the middle of his sentence, Kushina reached out and grabbed his cheeks, smushing them together and turning his face left and right, examining his features.

"Wait a second…" She muttered, before her eyes went wide in realisation. "You have a henge on you!"

Naruto gaped. "How did you–"

"–I'm an Uzumaki," She interrupted before he could finish, stating it such that it was almost obvious that she could detect henges.

"...I could never do that…" He mumbled.

"What was that?"

"N–nothing," he smiled guiltily.

"Drop the henge," She insisted, smushing his face even harder with her right hand.

"W-wait you don't understand–" Naruto tried.

"Drop it, or I'll make you drop it and turn you over to T&I," Kushina commanded.

"A–alright!" Naruto said…then he substituted with his clone that was perched on top of the building.

…or at least he tried to.

For some weird reason, he felt as if the chains had blocked his chakra from doing what it was supposed to, almost like a suppressor.

Kushina smirked. "Nice try, but that won't work…"

Naruto snapped his head to the window behind her and shouted "Now!"

Kushina turned her head around, fully expecting to face another foe. Yet, two things she absolutely didn't expect to happen, happened.

First of all, there was no other attacker. Classic trick that she shouldn't have ever fallen for–but give her a break, she was a long time retired.

Second of all, the chains that she so proudly conjured and perfected over decades to hold down even bijuus were pried off the young man by his very fingers. He'd somehow made enough of a gap to squeeze himself out and in the blink of an eye, he was free.

"Sorrygottagonowbye!" He said before scrambling off, much like the move Hinata pulled earlier in the day.

Oh no you don't, Kushina thought.

Just as Naruto tasted freedom as he bolted to the door, he grabbed the handle and then proceeded to slam face-first into it when it didn't open.

With the momentum he was going, the door should've at least been unhinged or more likely, destroyed, rather than stop him outright.

Before he could regain his bearings, he found himself back in the chain sushi roll and hung upside down this time.

"Ever heard of fuinjutsu, boy?" Kushina snickered, "you should try it sometime."

"Drats," Naruto muttered. His final bailout plan…down in flames, buried in ruins. Granted, he could have tried a lot harder in his attempt but again, he'd never want to potentially do anything to hurt his mother…or worse, make her have a terrible opinion of him and thereby never wanting to talk to him again.

"That's some strength you got there," she commented. "You've just informed me that you're a real threat, despite your age."

"What does my age have to do with any of this?" Naruto asked, blood was rushing to his head now, both from being upside down and being squeezed by the chains. With the definitely-more-than-single layer of chains she was putting on him now, she was taking no risks in him escaping again.

Kushina raised a delicate eyebrow. "Every shinobi nowadays only starts their career at 18 or above. It's from the Kage Summit ethics pact. Any less would be barbaric. Everyone knows that.

She looked at him.

"Are you one of Danzo's?" Kushina asked.

"No!" Naruto said, making a face.

"Hmm," Kushina hummed, "don't you think it's about time you dropped your henge now, mister? I'm going to call the shinobi patrols"

"W-wait, just let me explain!" Naruto scrambled, "I wanted to ease you into it!"

"Nope. You have one chance. Unhenge in three seconds or it's to T&I you go Mr. Stalker."

"But–"

"3"

"Hold on a minute!"

"2"

"Alright Alright!"

Naruto unhenged, closing his left eye so his rinnegan would remain a secret for just a bit longer.

…and Kushina dropped him on his head out of shock, releasing him from the chains.

"Ow!" Naruto yelped, rubbing the point of impact on his head. "Dammit–Mo–I–I mean, Kushina-san. You're going to give me permanent head damage!"

Kushina's brow furrowed, her shock still present. "W–what was that you were about to call me?"

"Uhh…N–nothing?" Naruto stuttered immediately, taking back his slip in words.

"Are you a relative of Minato's?" Kushina asked, approaching him slowly, eyeing him as if he was an endangered animal.

Naruto crawled backwards until his back was at the door. "W–well sort of, yes."

"You look very much like my late husband…" She said, as she stopped right in front of him to peer at his, now, unhenged face.

Then, her eyes widened as she saw the marks on his cheeks.

She paled considerably, a thought so impossible flashed into her mind.

"N–no. I–it can't be." She said, voice shaking.

Naruto could say nothing as he felt the caress of her palm and fingers when she ran them down his cheek, feeling the small whisker-like indents.

Her eyes become glassy, yet still wide in disbelief, almost like she was seeing a ghost. "Y–you. Y–you're"

Naruto was taken aback by how much of a one eighty her reaction to him was from but a moment ago. Her guard had dropped ever since he revealed himself. It was as if he immediately turned from being an unknown threat to being a potential relative the moment she saw his blond hair and blue eyes.

"H–hi," Naruto said, "We got off on the wrong foot, didn't we? Which is mainly my fault but–"

Kushina fainted.

"Eh!?" Naruto shouted, catching her limp self as if she was a puppet with her strings cut.

"...Uhm…Kushina-san?"

He stared at her unconscious form in his arms. She was still breathing, thank kami, but it seemed that his appearance had scared the life out of her.

'It could have gone worse…I suppose.'

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Kushina was out for 15 minutes, and Naruto was about to step into the "worry" stage before she woke up.

He'd checked on her condition so he was sure that she wasn't in any danger. He'd seen many people have the same reaction to things they simply couldn't comprehend during the war.

Still though, she was his sort-of-mother. He was worried that the Kushina of this world had some rare condition that he had no idea about. Maybe she faints often and needs to be hospitalised immediately. Is she truly just cold out? Or is she in need of immediate help and every minute he delayed, she could potentially be in worse and worse danger?

As the questions and doubts bounced around in his head, he heard, to his relief, the sounds of awakening from his mom where she laid on the couch.

First there was a deep inhale, then her eyes snapped open. She didn't seem to have spotted him yet.

Then she yawned.

"That was a strange dream…" she muttered.

Naruto opened his mouth to object but had decided to see how she'd react first.

Her eyes took in her surroundings, initially bouncing over him as if he was a random household object.

Then she did a double take as her eyes shot back to him.

She stared at him, bewildered.

He stared back at her, apologetically.

"EEEE!" She screeched, almost falling off the coach.

"H–hi!" Naruto responded. This must have been the third or fourth time he said hi to her now in this single interaction.

"Y–you're real?!"

"Well, yes, I'd like to believe it," He said, pinching his own cheek to check. "seems pretty real, dattebayo."

Kushina just stared at him like he was a rabid animal she found in her back yard and didn't know what to do with it. Then the gears clicked in her head once more.

"D-dattebayo?" Kushina mocked, her voice shaking and a half chuckle of disbelief escaped from her.

Naruto blushed a bit. His last meeting with his mother in his mindscape had engendered the same reaction when his tic came out.

"H–how is this possible?" She said, getting up and approaching him once again, arms shaking.

"It's a long story…" Naruto said, staring at her as she came closer. She was cautious, as if rushing to him could scare him off or destroy the illusion that she thought her mind and conjured up.

But he was real, as real as anything ever was. So he took a step towards her in return.

Her breathing hitched, as if she didn't expect him to do so.

"A–are you Naruto? M–my son?" Kushina let out, finally asking the question that brought out the hope she buried so long ago.

"I–I am, but not in the way you think," Naruto admitted, trying not to give her false pretences.

"What do you mean?" Kushina asked, finally within an arm's reach of him and stopping to stare wondrously at his face. "You're so handsome…"

Naruto blushed. "T-thanks, Mo–Kushina-san. Though I'm guessing you have a bias towards blonde haired and blue-eyed men."

Kushina let out a delighted giggle, feeling the knot in her stomach start to unravel itself with the subtle timbre of his voice. It was so…uniquely familiar, as if it was what she'd imagined exactly what her son would sound like had he grown up.

She…she did not want to wake from this illusion, this strange conjuration of her thoughts. "Well, you're probably right about that. But you…you have my cheeks, my cheek bones even, my forehead, my nose, and everything else…is Minato's. But…your eye, why are you covering it?"

When she was unconscious, Naruto had the opportunity to grab his head band from his storage scroll and cover it over his eye, doing what his sensei normally did, despite himself…Now, he only needed a mask to truly look alike. He traced his finger above the head band where his transplanted–no, apparently not just transplanted, according to Hagoromo– his other eye was.

Kushina gasped and grabbed his arm–his bandaged, cloth wrapped arm that he used to do so. "Kami, what happened to you?"

Then as if seeing a ghost and having reality catch up to her, she stepped away from him. Truly afraid that what she saw in front of her wasn't real, that she had been trapped in a cruel genjutsu for some odd reason. "I–I buried you. I saw you take your last breath. You died in my arms…"

Naruto gulped, seeing the grief on her face, the distraught expression she had. It was like seeing a dead person come back to life…something he wished he didn't have experience with…and something he and no doubt she knew about.

'Damned Edo Tensei.'

"I am Naruto Uzumaki…but not your Naruto Uzumaki. I'm from a different world–an alternate world," he said.

So much for taking it slow.

Kushina was unsurprisingly confused. Her crimson eyebrows arched together and a question in her eyes.

"It's…a long story," Naruto informed.

Kushina took a moment to gather herself, exploring the options she had. Then she snapped her violet eyes back to him, almost as if she was searching for something within his gaze.

Whatever it was, she seemed to have found it as her posture relaxed and she took a shaky breath. "...I…I have time."

Naruto was debating whether he should tell her at all. The full truth of his existence here. It was much to bear, much that rests on his shoulders.

Could he…could he trust her?

He gazed at her eyes in return, searching for his own sake. And what he saw was…uncertainty, nervousness…and hope. She hoped that what she saw in front of her was without a doubt real. She hoped that he was who she thought he was. He didn't want to disappoint her by beating around the bush.

If she of all people is untrustworthy–his own mother–then who was he to trust in this world? Sakura? –she didn't know him, even if he knew her; who knows how different she was from the girl he knew.

No. He had a choice now. A leap of faith.

Should he take it?

He kept his gaze on her and saw a spark of something that he could identify whenever he visited a friend's house later in his career. The way a mother looked at their sons and daughters.

Love.

Pride.

He took that leap of faith.

"Well…we might as well sit down, shall we?" He chuckled, and saw the relief in Kushina's eyes. "It's, I'll warn you, a tall tale. A very, very, unbelievable tale. Would you…indulge me, no matter how crazy it seems?"

Kushina nodded rapidly. "O–of course."

Then Naruto looked around, scanning his surroundings. "Is…is this place private. I don't want anyone to hear what I'm about to tell you."

Kushina made a hand sign, and Naruto saw some fuinjutsu scripts light up that were attached to the corner of the walls.

"None can hear, see, or even smell anything that happens within these walls now. I stake my life on it," Kushina assured.

Naruto smiled. "You don't have to go that far, I'd rather have all my secrets be told than have you absent from my life again. Your life is worth far more than anything I have to offer."

Kushina's eyes became slightly teary at that but she only nodded.

Naruto gave her a bitter smile and sat down on the old, rugged couch as she went and sat on the larger sofa beside it. "Where to start…"

So, from noon till night. Naruto spoke of his journey, from beginning to end. Some parts, he skimmed over. Some, he told in excruciating detail. He told her of his origins, his orphaned status. How he grew up in an orphanage before moving into an apartment by himself, given to him by the third Hokage. He told her of his journey to being a ninja, of Iruka-sensei, as his many battles against his adversaries. Sasuke, Gaara, Neji, Orochimaru, The Akatsuki, Pain, Madara, Kaguya, and Sasuke once more. He told her of his friends. Team 7, Team 8, Team 10, Guy's team. He told her of his crush on his teammate, of the crush another had on him, the very person he'd met today. He told her of…everything. He took his own advice he gave to Hinata. He spoke his thoughts to another soul, laying his heart out, he confided in the person whom he hoped to trust beyond anyone he ever had in his life.

Was he stupid in doing so?

He didn't know her. Even if she was his mother. Or a version of her.

But…but…he wanted to do this.

To take this chance.

To have hope.

Throughout it all, Kushina, though initially confused, seemed to pick up on the clues and details of his story. She sympathised at parts, was surprised at parts, was in disbelief at parts, and the range of emotions bounced back and forth as Naruto continued his tale. She was a great listener, engaged and sometimes asking questions about the specifics.

He told her of how he ended up here. Of his final fight with Sasuke. Of his transplanted eye, of which he lifted his head band to show her, much to her shock. He told of his friendship and separation with Kurama and his subsequent meeting with Hagoromo.

In the end, she could do nothing other than gape at him.

"I know," He said, "It's–It's hard to believe–"

"–I believe you," Kushina immediately interrupted, trying to clear any misunderstandings her…son may have.

"W–What?" Naruto looked at her.

"I don't care if you think that your tale is outlandish…literally…but don't you see Na–Naruto," She stuttered at his name, almost in disbelief that she was actually addressing him with the name of her dead son, "I choose to believe because in the end, this too big of a chance for me to simply let go…"

Her voice broke when she said the next words, her eyes locked on to his own and tearing up once more. "I have th–the ch–chance to get to know m–my son."

Then, she cried. It was as if throughout the hours he'd spent telling her of his story, she'd been slowly and surely convinced that he was…well, Naruto and had been holding back a torrent of emotions that struggled to break free. Now that he was done, now that she had confirmed who he was, she broke down in sobs.

Naruto scrambled towards her, and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"K–kushina–"

"Please," She interjected, voice pleading and quivering, "call me…call me mom."

"M–Mom," Naruto agreed, heavy emotions lacing his tone on what that word meant to him. He…he finally had a family now. A real family. "Mom, are you alright?"

"No," she said, "I'm better than alright. I–I'm so happy. So incredibly happy that I can't even explain it. So happy that I can't believe this is truly happening. This is truly real. You're–you're my son!"

She rubbed her eyes before looking at him. They were bloodshot and glassy, still streaked with tears. "You–you might not be mine in this world but you're still Naruto Uzumaki, born from a version of Kushina Uzumaki. You're as close to a son I can ever have and you're here."

Her eyes bounced back and forth between his own, between the faded purple and crystal blue. Naruto was also holding back his own dam of emotions.

She choked. "W–would you give your mother a hug, Naruto?"

With that, the dam could hold no longer.

He hugged her, letting out his own sobs, his own cries of relief.

She hugged him back, almost crushingly, as if holding on to a lifeline. "Oh my sweet boy, welcome home."

And thus, mother and son were reunited once more.

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