Chapter 22

After Naruto and his two companions had left the Hokage's office, Rin politely excused herself, saying there were a few things she wanted to check out, but promised to meet up with them again before they went to Ichiraku's. Naruto was about to protest - but Rin silenced him, stating that he needed to spend some time alone with his mother.

Mother and son watched as Rin waved at them over her shoulder, walking down one of the paths leading away from the Administration building.

"Well, I was hoping Rin would want to meet this person too, but I guess it will have to wait. Let's go to the Academy."

Naruto grabbed Kushina's hand and started dragging her along, she stumbled for a moment before managing to keep pace with her son. "Whoa! Easy there. Why are you in such a hurry, and why the Academy?"

"The person I want you to meet was the first person to really acknowledge who I was without being assigned to look over me, and he treated me just like every other kid. He works in the Academy, and classes are over soon, so I don't want to miss him."

Kushina nodded, but something was bugging her. "What do you mean he was the first to acknowledge you? You were supposed to be respected for the burden you were going to shoulder... so I don't understand."

"The road to hell is created from good intentions."

"W-What?!" Naruto looked to his side, to see his mother with a completely shocked look on her face. Her hand was gripping his so tightly that it was starting to hurt.

"Da-," Naruto hesitated before continuing, looking around to see if anyone was within hearing distance, "The Yondaime may have had the best of intentions, that I would be looked after and respected as a hero for holding the Kyuubi at bay."

Naruto looked up into the clear blue sky as he continued. "It didn't quite happen that way. The Yondaime created the road, but I had to walk on it. I can't really ask him anymore, but I'm sure the way I lived wasn't what he had in mind."

"What did happen, then?" Kushina's voice was muffled. Glancing at her, Naruto saw that her head was hanging down, causing her hair to cover the sides of her face, so he couldn't see her expression.

"I'll explain later. This isn't the place. Besides, with people like Yuugao-chan, Iruka-sensei, and Sarutobi-jiji, it wasn't all bad."

His mother raised her head and nodded, but he didn't see her smile. Naruto knew he'd have to explain his childhood to her sooner or later, even though he didn't really want to. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't exactly good either.

They dodged a few children who were running around, several of them staring at Naruto curiously before continuing along. A few of the younger girls could be seen pointing at him and giggling to each other.

"It looks like you're popular with the little girls."

He didn't have to look at her face to know his mother was smiling now. He could hear it in her voice. "Well, thats probably because I'm holding hands with a good looking lady, and you know how it is with girls and gossip. They just don't know you're my mom."

Naruto turned his head slightly to look at her out of the corner of his eyes, and she was looking down again. He made a show of leaning over to see her face, only for Kushina to bring her other hand around and gently push his forehead away.

Naruto grinned. She was blushing.

It didn't take them long to get to the teachers offices. Most of them were shared among the faculty, at least seven or eight teachers sharing an office. Apparently Iruka had become more of a regular teacher, since he now only shared an office with one other person. The door had a note that the other person had been pulled back to active mission duty, so he currently had an office all to himself.

Naruto simply stood in the doorway for a moment, watching as his old teacher - and sometimes older brother figure - graded papers, completely unaware of the presence in the doorway.

"So how are your students, Iruka-sensei?"

The man jumped in his seat a little bit, the marker he was using made a big line across one of the papers. He turned his head to scowl slightly at Naruto, then shook his head and chuckled before standing up.

"Hey there Naruto, it's good to see you. I hope you aren't thinking you can show up while you're on a mission just so I can pay for a few bowls of ramen." Iruka was casually walking over to his old student with a small grin on his face.

"Wouldn't dream of it, Iruka-sensei. I'm here to report my mission progress to the council, but I've got some free time before they are ready. I want you to meet someone... and if you have some free time later, we can go get ramen, my treat.

Iruka laughed as he grabbed Naruto's hand in an offered handshake, "That's right, I'm pretty sure you make more money than I do now." His teacher proceeded to give him a once-over, just like Tsunade had done not too long before. "You're looking good, Naruto. I bet the ladies must be all over you now... unless, of course, you finally caught Sakura's eye."

Naruto blushed and scratched at his cheek. "Well... I sorta did."

Iruka gave his old student a big grin. "Well, it's about time. I'm happy for you."

Grinning now, the blond nodded for a second before his eyes went wide. "Oh, I already mentioned it, but there's someone I want you to meet."

One of Iruka's eyebrows arched. "Oh?"

"Yeah. Let me go get her." Naruto backtracked a few steps and looked down one side of the hallway. "We're ready!"

Moving back into the room, Naruto just gave his teacher a grin, then pivoted so he could look out the door and wait for the other person to enter.

Kushina entered the room a second later, and looked at Naruto. Her eyes roamed around the small office for a second before they settled on Iruka, and his rather surprised expression.

"N-Naruto? Who's this? I know you want me to meet her, but I thought you said that Sakura-"

Before he could finish, Naruto started laughing. Iruka scowled as he looked at the young man, only to notice that the attractive redhead now standing next to him was blushing slightly and grinning.

The grin was a very, very familiar one.

"Iruka-sensei, I know what you're thinking, but that's not it. I'd like you to meet my mom, Uzumaki Kushina."

Iruka's face went through a myriad of expressions, before settling on a tight smile. Without a word, he stepped forward and offered his hand to the woman, who returned the handshake. She did looked extremely apprehensive about the meeting though, and it became more evident when she spoke.

"Iruka-san... I wanted to thank you for helping my son through the Academy, and being a good teacher. He... Naruto says you were like an older brother for him at times... and I cannot express how much it means to me to know that you cared, even a little."

Some of the few more scalding comments Iruka had been thinking about saying immediately shriveled up and died when he looked at her and heard the way she was talking. It was extremely hard to fake genuine sorrow, and the woman in front of him was literally oozing sadness.

"It, uh, was no problem. Really. Naruto just needed some guidance when he was younger, and it was my job. I mean, yeah I did go out of my way sometimes - but Naruto was a good kid and it was worth it. Besides, we did have in common that we were both orphans-"

Iruka's mouth snapped shut, "I-I'm sorry, I just started going on a roll, and..."

Kushina waved him off as she gave him a sad smile. "No, no... I understand. I'm assuming you lost your parents in the Kyuubi attack?"

Iruka winced at the memory, but nodded.

"I see. I'm sorry."

Nothing was said for several moments afterward, and the two of them stood there shifting on their feet. Naruto crossed his arms over his chest and started grumbling something, though neither of the other two could hear what he was saying.

"What are you saying, Naruto? I can't hear you."

Naruto looked at Iruka. "I was just saying that this gloomy mood wasn't what I had in mind when I wanted you to meet my mom. I guess I messed up."

Both of them expressed surprise, though Iruka's was more remorseful. "I didn't mean for it to get like this Naruto. I just wasn't expecting it, and I will admit that I was a little angry at first that she reappeared now... but I can't hold that against her. At least... not yet. I don't know what happened."

Kushina shrank back and hid herself a little behind Naruto, surprising Iruka. The teacher started to stammer out an apology, but Naruto shook his head. "It's okay. We've both talked about this, and my mom understands that the people who did care for me will probably be upset with her until they know the whole story."

Iruka waited for Naruto to continue, but Naruto turned around to comfort his mother instead. They exchanged a few mumbled words for a moment that Iruka couldn't really decipher - not that he was trying to pry - and Naruto eventually turned back to face him. Kushina had moved closer, and had both of her hands grabbing one of Naruto's forearms while she was half-hiding behind him.

If he didn't know that she was his mother, Iruka would have sworn they were dating, the way she held onto him.

"Baa-chan didn't tell me not to tell anyone about my mom, but I think the less I say before we meet with the council, the better it is."

Iruka nodded, agreeing. There wasn't exactly any formal procedure, but he figured that it would be better if the information came down through official channels, rather than being started as a rumor from someone who happened to overhear.

"I can tell you two things, though, that everyone will know sooner or later anyway. First, my mom wasn't around when I was little because of mental trauma she was put through. Some might even call it low level torture. Whatever it was, it was a genjutsu, and it put her under a lot of pain."

Iruka looked at the woman who was standing next to Naruto. She had her eyes closed and her forehead resting against her son's shoulder. After what Naruto said, he couldn't help but feel pity for the woman... and it also explained why she seemed to cling to her son. The sensation of touching him was likely the only cure for what she had endured... whatever it was.

"The second thing... my father was the Yondaime Hokage."

There was complete silence for several seconds, and it took about that long for Iruka's mind to start working again. "What?! Your father was Yondaime-sama?! Not that I doubt you, even I would have to be a fool to deny the resemblance, but why was it hidden?! You were supposed to be the hero of the village, not its pariah!"

Naruto inhaled sharply as his head quickly turned to look at his mother. It wasn't until Iruka noticed the downturn of her lips and tear streak on Kushina's face that he thought back to what he had said. "A-Ah... I'm sorry... I wasn't thinking..."

If Naruto heard, he didn't show it, as he had wrapped his mother in his arms and had his chin resting on the top of her head. She had wrapped her arms around his waist, and he appeared to be mumbling something, though once again Iruka couldn't understand it. The muffled sobs were not hard to miss, however.

He stood there and kept his mouth shut, believing he had said more than he should have already. He gradually shuffled back over to his desk, muttering apologies as he went, and started organizing the papers that he had left scattered about when Naruto showed up in the doorway moments ago.

"Iruka-sensei... sorry about that. She doesn't know much about my childhood yet."

"I see. I apologize."

Naruto shook his head and was going to say something, but Kushina moved up to Iruka, and bowed deeply in front of him, surprising the two males.

"T-Thank you, fo-for helping my son. If you'll e-excuse me..." She stood up straight and gave him a watery smile, then quickly walked from the room while rubbing at her eyes. Naruto was worriedly watching her the entire way, and looked at Iruka momentarily before leaving the room.

"We'll be at Ichiraku's later... if you want I can send you a toad to let you know when if you'd like to join us?"

Iruka considered it for all of two seconds, before shaking his head and offering Naruto a sad smile. "I think I've already done enough damage, Naruto. I appreciate the offer, but I also have a lot of extra work since the school is short on teachers. Thanks for stopping by, though. Congratulations, as well."

Naruto gave the older man a sad smile and a nod, then disappeared from the doorway.

Iruka sighed and sat back down in his chair once again. Leaning over his desk, he propped his elbows on the desktop, then placed his face in his hands. His big mouth had inadvertently ruined what could have been a nice meeting. A small part of him sighed with relief, however, because otherwise he probably would have stumbled over his words. He suddenly shivered at thoughts that casually assaulted him. Even though she was the mother of one of his old students, and she had a sad expression throughout their meeting, he couldn't help it.

Naruto's mom was hot. The Yondaime was a lucky man. He could only guess at how radiant she must look when in a good mood.

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Naruto sighed to himself as he walked down the street towards his next destination. He had caught up with his mother near the exit of the Academy, and she looked completely miserable. Her tears had stopped, but she absolutely refused to talk, because her voice kept cracking. He did hear her keep muttering the word 'pariah' over and over, like a mantra, and decided he'd have to do his best to distract her from thinking about it.

She refused to talk to him, but walked behind him and placed both hands on his back, then started pushing him forward. Looking over his shoulder at her, she merely pointed in the direction he was walking, so he shrugged and kept walking forward down the road. Every once in a while during their journey, Naruto would look over his shoulder to make sure she was still there. She was, and was watching him very carefully - or not so much him, but more the way other people interacted with him.

To ease her mind, he tried to be as friendly as possible with the people he came across. It went without saying that he was rather infamous, not just because of what was sealed inside him. He was only 'popular' with most of the older generation because of that. Most of the shinobi and civilians around his age or a few years older knew him for his own feats as a shinobi of the leaf, while most younger than him knew him not only for those feats, but some of his legendary pranks as well.

As they passed a park, some of the children there recognized him, and ran over, asking if he could play ninja with them. He got down on one knee near them and gently explained that he was waiting to be called by Hokage-sama, and that she had given him an assignment, so he didn't have time to play. The sad faces pulled at his conscience, and he knew he'd probably never get the chance to make it up to them, but said that he'd play ninja with them if he ever got some free time.

That cheered most of them back up, and they went running back towards the nearby playground. He caught the eyes of a few of the parents as he stood back up, and most of them had something resembling a smile on their face. There were a few guarded expressions, but no frowns and nothing openly hostile. It was definitely progress.

"You know, if you wanted to play with them for a little while, I wouldn't mind."
     
Naruto turned to look at his mother as she walked closer to him. She had her arms crossed, and was watching the kids playing amongst themselves.

"I don't know exactly how much time we will have, so I'd rather spend it doing things with you. I don't know if I'll really be able to play with them later, but if I can find the time, I will."

Kushina looked at her son, giving him a small smile. "So... where to next?"

Naruto looked around from where they were standing. "Let's go over to the nearby training ground. I want to see how you did that technique of yours, plus I want to show you mine."

His mother agreed, and they walked towards the training area. The trip was quiet, but Kushina had finally decided to move up and walk next to Naruto, instead of following behind him. Apparently she had seen enough in regards to how the other villagers interacted with him.

They were most of the way there when they passed another spot that was familiar to Naruto. It was one of the places where he could always find Kakashi if the man was late, and there was currently someone else standing there, which caused him to do a double-take.

Recognizing the cloak the person was wearing after a few seconds of inspection, Naruto gently nudged his mother and pointed over towards where the person was standing. Kushina nodded and fell in behind him as they approached the person. As they got closer, Naruto could hear a distinct scratching noise.

"Rin?"

The person's shoulders went rigid for a second, then her head turned as one of her hands pulled back the hood from her face. Her eyes showed recognition when they rested on Naruto, then Kushina, and she pulled the hood back all the way.

"Hey, Naruto, Kushina. I heard about the Memorial Stone, and I wanted to take a look at it for myself."

Kushina walked around Naruto and approached the stone. "Memorial Stone? For what?"

Rin didn't answer, but instead looked at Naruto. He noticed, and walked up towards the stone as he began explaining.

"The stone was put up as a memorial to those who gave their life in service to Konoha since the beginning of the Third War."

Kushina was standing up close to the Memorial, fingers dragging over the names inscribed on the stone. "I recognize some of these names..."

Her voice trailed off as her fingers stopped moving. Naruto looked over, to see what name her fingers were resting on, and when he read the beginning of it, his eyes widened.

Namikaze Minato.

He leaned back again, and rested his hand on his mother's shoulder, letting her know that he was there. Kushina didn't say anything else, but she wasn't shaking or trembling or anything, which had Naruto a little worried, even if he wasn't about to say anything.

Naruto turned to look at Rin just in time to see her move to another side of the stone, and start scratching away at it with a kunai.

"Rin?! What are you doing?"

Rin looked at Naruto with a nonchalant expression, and shrugged, before resuming what she was doing. "I'm scratching off my last name from the Memorial. It doesn't belong."

Naruto wasn't sure what to say to that, Rin had never told him what her surname was. He looked at his mother, who merely returned his look for a moment before closing her eyes and shaking her head. Figuring it best to let Rin do what she wanted, he stepped back from the Monument.

"We're almost at the training area if you want to keep going."

Kushina cast one last glance at the monument, then nodded and fell into step next to Naruto once again.

"Oh, are you two going to show your techniques?" Rin had stopped scratching at the monument, apparently she had managed to finish her task in a relatively quick manner. Considering that she was skilled at using the wind element, Naruto found he wasn't as surprised as he might have been otherwise.

"Yes. It shouldn't take long, besides, I'm getting really hungry. We haven't eaten yet at all today." Kushina rubbed her stomach and closed her eyes as she said this, almost as if she could smell and taste the ramen without even needing to be nearby.

Naruto chuckled as he looked at her, nodding vigorously in agreement. Rin smiled, watching the duo as she moved over to walk on the other side of Naruto. They were already near the training ground that Naruto had wanted to use, so it didn't take more than a minute for them to arrive. As they passed some rather familiar poles, Naruto pointed over in their direction, causing Kushina and Rin to look.

"I was tied to that pole in the middle, for our Genin test."

Kushina laughed outright as they continued walking towards the nearby pond. "Your father was tied up there as well, though I don't know if it was that exact pole. From what I remember hearing, ero-sennin was tied up by the Sandaime Hokage too."

"Whoa, really?! I didn't know that!"

Kushina nodded, grinning as she turned her head to look at her son. "Yep! Seems like a tradition, doesn't it? The great one always gets tied up!"

Naruto chuckled at that, then turned his head to look at Rin. The grin dropped from his face when he saw the somewhat perturbed look on her face. "Hey, uhm... Rin? Did Kakashi-sensei ever get tied to the pole?"

Rin looked back at Naruto, her face now looking rather solemn, and slowly shook her head to the negative. "No... our third teammate, Uchiha Obito... was the one tied to the pole. Kakashi was too much a stickler for the rules and had the personality of a stick in the mud back then. Not to mention he was an acclaimed prodigy." There was no emotion in Rin's voice, it was as if she was giving a lecture, her voice was completely neutral. "The great ones were always tied to the pole... I wonder what would have happened if Obito lived..."

Naruto looked up to the sky, unsure of what to say. The sun was starting its descent in the mostly cloudless sky. Rin's voice had trailed off, but she didn't seem to be unwilling to talk about her old team, and Naruto had always been curious. "Kakashi-sensei never really talked about his team, and always deflected the questions about it. Yuugao-chan has mentioned to me that she has heard Kakashi-sensei talking to someone named Obito at the Memorial Stone before. Supposedly, thats why he was always late to our team meetings."

Rin looked at Naruto, eyes wide for a moment, before she frowned and looked away slowly. If she was going to say anything, she didn't, but they had arrived at the pond by then. Kushina had since crouched down, her hand feeling the cool water.

"I guess since my technique is probably the simplest, I'll explain what it does and show you first, okay?" She looked to Naruto for confirmation, who nodded and gave her a small smile.

Taking a deep breath, Kushina quickly went through a series of hand signs, and the moment she finished, a small stream of water stretched up from the pond and started circling around her. "I can do this technique with water in the air, but it takes a lot more chakra to do that. If I have a water source nearby, it gets a lot easier." Another series of hand signs, and the trail of water around her flattened, the ripples in it showing that it was starting to rotate around her as well.

"The technique itself lets me form needles of water that pierce the skin of my opponent, injecting water into their bloodstream. This thins the blood to a great degree, and can kill a person if a lot is injected. That's what I did to those bandits we fought before. Depending on how much I inject determines how fast the person dies, so I tried to be merciful to those bandits and gave them quite a lot."

Naruto frowned but nodded, remembering the pinprick red splotches that dotted the clothing of a lot of the bandits when he first arrived on the scene. Apparently their blood was too thin to clot as well, so if the abnormally-thinned blood didn't kill them, the overall blood loss would.

Kushina continued, "The water needles can't pierce metal, however... and even flak jackets like the one Konoha shinobi use can't be pierced easily. So it's not perfect. If someone is armored, my best hope is to use it defensively, when attacked I could find an opening. But I find it best used as a long range assassination technique. Thats about it."

She released the technique, and the water splashed down into the grass at her feet. Without wasting any time, she gave her son a big grin. "So that's mine! Now what were you saying about 'completing' the Rasengan?"

Chuckling at his mother and her apparent disbelief, he summoned two Kage Bunshin. "Since you know how to do the Rasengan, I'm sure you remember all the basics behind how to create one?"

Kushina slowly nodded at her son, but turned to Rin. "Basically, Rasengan uses pure chakra spinning quickly to produce a very destructive effect."

It was Rin's turn to nod, she looked back and forth between the two Uzumakis. "Sensei explained that much. Something about it being the ultimate form of spatial recomposition. Typical ninjutsu are just a form of elemental recomposition, using chakra imbued with an element to take form, while Rasengan just uses pure chakra and gives it a form."

"Exactly." Naruto smiled as one of his Kage Bunshin helped him to create a rather large Rasengan spinning in his hand, causing both Kushina and Rin to look at him with wide eyes – the most likely cause being that the Rasengan Naruto was holding was likely larger than any they had seen before. "The more chakra placed into the technique, the harder it is to maintain control of. I've always had so much chakra that I had a hard time even forming the Rasengan at first. I had plenty of chakra to give to the technique, but no matter how hard I concentrated, I couldn't make it spin while sustaining the power. However, once its made, since I no longer have to feed it any chakra, I have no trouble maintaining the rotation."

"That is... quite a large Rasengan you have there." Naruto chuckled at Rin's comment, and even Kushina tossed her a grin.

"It was Kakashi-sensei who gave me the idea how to go to the next step. I don't know if Dad ever confided in him about knowing there was still another step, but sensei understood, and helped me find the answer. There is no elemental chakra in the Rasengan now."

"Elemental recomposition? But to use elemental and spatial recomposition at the same time in a move like that?" Rin's eyes were open wide, fully aware of what adding elemental chakra could do to the move. Kushina was rubbing her chin with her hand, gazing thoughtfully at the Rasengan that Naruto was holding.

Nodding at Rin's comment, both Kage Bunshin moved over to Naruto this time, and placed their hands to hover above the Rasengan. "I complained that trying to use pure chakra for the power, then trying to make the chakra move, plus adding elemental chakra on top of that... it was like trying to look in several directions at the same time. Kakashi-sensei told me later that he was only joking when he did it, but he made his own Kage Bunshin to look in two directions at the same time. It gave me the idea to just use a third clone for the technique."

At this point, the Rasengan in Naruto's hand started turning a bright gray in his hand, compared to the multicolored blue that it was before. It was also letting out a wild screeching noise, and something resembling a blade that was spinning so rapidly around the outside of the Rasengan - it was leaving after-images. Rin and Kushina both had their mouths agape, looking at the monstrous technique in Naruto's hand, and barely registered that the wind around them had picked up slightly.

"I call this the Rasenshuriken, a completed Rasengan with wind elemental chakra put in it. From what Kakashi-sensei and baa-chan tell me, it works similar to how your water needles work, mom. The Rasengan smashes against them, then the wind chakra breaks off from it, and severs nerves. Even if they somehow survive it, they won't be able to move." That said, Naruto quickly lifted his hand up, tossing the Rasenshuriken into the air. It dissipated almost immediately since it was no longer being controlled, and a strong gust of wind caused both Rin and Kushina to take a step back to brace themselves. "I can make a Fuuton Rasengan as well, if I use elemental chakra to make the Rasengan, instead of pure chakra."

"That was... was... definitely impressive. I've never seen anything that strong. The amount of chakra alone that I sensed..." Rin trailed off, looking in Kushina's direction. But the other woman wasn't looking at her, or Naruto... she had her hand stretched out, and was looking at it. "Kushina?"

There was silence for a moment before the redhead replied. "I wonder... I was better at ninjutsu than Minato, but he always had more chakra than me. I wonder now... if perhaps..."

Instead of saying anything more, Kushina made the hand sign that Naruto was very familiar with, and an exact duplicate appeared next to her. Almost immediately, both of them leaned over, hands on their legs just above their knees. Rin and Naruto moved to help, but the original Kushina held her hand up, holding them back.

"I almost forgot... this technique can be tricky to use, since it divides chakra evenly. Quite dangerous and draining, I just need a moment to adjust."

"Mom, if you're going to try what I'm thinking, I don't-"

"I probably am doing what you're thinking, and I don't expect it to work, but I've got to try." Kushina interrupted what Naruto was saying, fully knowing he would try to dissuade her. It didn't take her long to create a regular Rasengan in her hand, before her clone walked over and placed it's hands over on top. This was going to be tricky.

"I used to make fun of Minato, because he always said he believed it could go further, but I didn't think so. I was always better than him in ninjutsu, but not even I could take it any further. I didn't think about using a Kage Bunshin back then, though. Now, however..." Kushina's eyebrows scrunched together as she concentrated on holding her Rasengan together while her clone tried to add her water element to it. The Rasengan started becoming a darker blue, and it appeared as if water was starting to cover it.

Naruto watched in morbid fascination as the Rasengan changed color and shape, it started becoming more oblong, compared to the perfect circle it was before. The air around them became distinctly more humid, and a roaring sound was getting louder, as if one was standing near a cave that was on a beach while listening to the echoing crashing of waves.

The old Rasengan was a very dark blue now, and Naruto was about to ask how much further Kushina had to go before she felt it was complete. But before he could say anything, his mother's clone popped out of existence, and she let out a small cry.

The Rasengan in her hand appeared as if it would dissipate, because it shrank in size, but before it did the water that was covering it was thrown off. Naruto wasn't expecting anything from it, but the little bit of water that did hit him flung him off his feet and backwards a couple meters. He landed on his back after letting out a yell of surprise. Sitting up quickly and looking around, he saw that the same thing had happened to both Rin and his mother. Rin was a few meters further back than he was, and was sitting up, but she appeared to be slightly dazed. Kushina, however, was still lying on the ground in the other direction, one arm resting across her eyes and breathing heavily.

"Mom!" Naruto scrambled to his feet and jogged over to her, then got down on one knee when he arrived where she was lying. She moved her arm away from her eyes, and gave him a small smile. Her left eye was closed shut and she was breathing heavily.

"I'm okay... I was just surprised. It didn't really hurt... it was more like I got pushed... backwards really hard..." She tried to talk between gasps for breath. Slowly placing her forearms on the ground to each side of her body, she started pushing her torso upwards so she could sit up. Naruto caught on to what she was doing and helped her to lean forward. As she sat up and looked at the surroundings, Rin had managed to snap from her daze and was slowly walking over.

"I'm sorry about that, you two. I had no idea what would happen, but I wanted to try."

Rin and Naruto both nodded, the former squatting down to their level. "It's fine. It doesn't look like anyone was injured, only surprised and caught off guard. I wasn't expecting a few drops of water to throw me backwards. When I saw Naruto get knocked back, I braced myself slightly, but was still caught unawares. Though I think I was pushed to the ground more than I was thrown back."

Kushina looked up at Naruto, who was surveying their surroundings. They were far enough away from anything else, including trees, so nothing seemed to have been damaged.

"How did you manage to pull off your Rasenshuriken? You must have been training for a long time."

Naruto's attention snapped back to his mother, and he shook his head. "About three days of steady training, actually, but I cheated."

"Kage Bunshin?"

Naruto's gaze traveled to Rin, and he grinned at her. "Yeah. I've never really shown you guys just how many I can make, you've probably never seen me make more than fifteen or twenty at a time."

Kushina let out a loud sigh. "So what, you used about thirty or forty of them to speed up the training then?"

"Closer to a hundred."

Both Rin and Kushina looked at him, mouths agape, but neither said anything.

"I can make a lot more than that, but if I make more, the mental feedback is too great. It makes me pass out. I had to release the ones I had after an hour, two at the most, and it would knock me unconscious for five to ten minutes at a time. Any longer than that... and I would probably risk falling into a coma. My learning Rasenshuriken was urgent, so we couldn't really risk that during my training."

"Urgent? Why would it be urgent to learn something like that?! I think it was reckless." Kushina was clearly agitated, and it didn't seem as if Rin was faring much better.

"Because I managed to kill a member of Akatsuki with it, so it was worth it."

Kushina's eyes went wide once again, then she immediately adopted a somber expression and looked down at her hands in her lap. Rin was looking at Naruto with something more akin to respect with a bit of pity thrown in. Being one of Jiraiya's spies for so long, she undoubtedly knew what Akatsuki was.

Any further musings on the subject were interrupted by a large growl from Kushina. Naruto looked down at her once again, only to see her holding her stomach and looking embarrassed. A light laugh from Rin caused Naruto to grin down at his mother.

"I guess trying that out made you really hungry, huh?"

Kushina didn't reply, but meekly nodded her head affirmatively.

Laughing outright, Naruto and Rin each offered the woman a hand. "Come on, lets go get some ramen. Ichiraku's awaits!"

-------------------------------------------------------

"I don't mean to break your concentration, but I was going to let you know that lunch is being served in the mess hall, if you're interested."

Karin slowly opened her eyes and looked over her shoulder to address the person behind her. She knew that she was being approached, considering she was doing the exercises to expand her senses that Kushina-sama had shown her. "It's fine, I could sense your approach. Thank you for letting me know..." Karin let her voice trail off, she wanted to thank the other girl, but didn't know her name.

The girl realized this, and stuttered out a reply, "A-Ah! Haruno Sakura. I'm sorry, I know we met unofficially last night, but you didn't hear my name then, and I've been really busy since Naruto left this morning."

"Well thank you, Sakura-san. I can imagine what it must be like to be the deputy of this place." Karin slowly climbed to her feet from where she had been sitting, then moved over to where Sakura was standing and offered her hand. "You probably remember from last night, but as a reminder just in case, I'm Uzumaki Karin. Nice to meet you, officially anyway."

Sakura gave the other girl a grin as she accepted the handshake. "Likewise. How do you like it here so far? I mean, I know it hasn't been more than a day yet, but I wasn't sure if you needed anything."

Karin shrugged as she settled into step next to Sakura. "It's definitely livelier here than where I come from. I never really talked to anyone else there, Orochimaru-sama liked to keep people separated. The only other person I could really talk to didn't like to talk back, so I kept to myself most of the time. It was boring, but at least I had enough work to do to keep me occupied."

Sakura was looking up towards the sky as they walked, but was listening carefully. "Did you like working with... Orochimaru?" Sakura had a hard time saying the man's name without it coming out spitefully.

Karin sighed lightly before she replied. "I know that Konoha doesn't like Orochimaru-sama at all. But like I told Naruto-taichou, the man gave me everything I needed and only asked for my loyalty and cooperation. So I have nothing to complain about."

It was Sakura's turn to sigh. "I understand. If I was in your situation I would probably feel the same way. I just can't forgive him because he took my teammate away from me, and that was only because he wants his eyes."

Karin's eyebrows lifted a little as she looked at the other girl. The expression on Sakura's face was sour, but looked more sad than angry.

"Are you talking about Sasuke?"

Sakura stopped walking and stared at Karin with wide eyes. "You know Sasuke-kun? Uchiha Sasuke?!"

Karin's eyes narrowed slightly. "Yes, I know him. Sasuke-kun?" She purposefully stressed the 'kun' in her reply, asking another question in itself.

The pink-haired girl just blinked for a moment, then shook her head. "Sasuke was my teammate, years ago. It's been so long since I've said his name... it's now more of a habit than anything else."

Nodding slowly, Karin pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose, then folded her arms under her chest. "I see. That means he, you, and Naruto-taichou were all on the same team."

This time, Sakura's eyes narrowed. "How did you know we were all on a team?"

The redhead shrugged and looked away towards a nearby building, looking at other people as they entered. "When Sasuke dropped me off here, he and Naruto exchanged words and they told me their situation. Then he left again to go do whatever it is that Sasuke does."

When she didn't get a reply from the other girl, Karin looked back to see Sakura's face had gone pale and her mouth was slightly agape. "Sakura-san? What's your problem?"

"Wh-wha? I... I just can't believe that Sasuke was here... and Naruto didn't tell me." Sakura closed her eyes and moved a hand up to rub her forehead.

"So what? Sasuke told Naruto he'd be coming back to get me later, so thats probably why he didn't bother."

Sakura's eyes went wide again. "He's coming back? Really?" Suddenly, her eyes narrowed and she looked at Karin sharply. "Wait, if he's coming back... you're not going to be staying, are you?"

Once again, Karin shrugged. "I honestly don't know, Sakura-san. Naruto-taichou and Kushina-sama know the details of my staying here, beyond that, even I don't know what they might be planning. For now though, I'm staying here indefinitely."

Sighing heavily, Sakura nodded and started walking again, Karin readily falling into step beside her. "I still can't believe he didn't say anything, I thought bringing Sasuke home was important for him."

"Well, they did talk about that, and I recall Naruto-taichou telling Sasuke that he had a change in priorities, but that bringing him home was still on his to-do list. Beyond that, I don't know anything. As far as not telling you... I don't know how much you two talked before he left to report to Konoha, but I wasn't here for more than a dozen hours before he left. I'm sure he had a lot on his mind."

Sakura hummed to herself for a few seconds, blushing lightly as she recalled their brief encounter last night, but quickly composed herself and nodded. "You're right, there's been a lot going on. I'll talk to him when he gets back. Sorry about how I acted."

Karin gave Sakura a little smile. "It's fine. So long as you aren't vying for his attention, we're friends." Karin made a small pose, pumping her fist into the air, and an evil smile on her face. "Sasuke-kun is mine! Ha ha!"

Sakura was only slightly surprised to find she wasn't the least bit jealous. However, the likely cause for that was because of how absolutely ridiculous Karin looked when she held that pose. It didn't take long for the redhead to come to her senses.

"I can't believe I just did that in front of you."

"For love... we all do a lot of things we can't believe sometimes."

"That sounds as if it comes from experience."

Sakura glanced at Karin with a sad look. "Ask Sasuke about it, sometime. See if he gives you an answer."

Not liking the sudden drop in the mood, Karin cringed a little. "I... guess I will."

"If you're lucky, you won't get burned like I did."

Karin frowned, realizing there was probably a lot of history between Sakura and her team that she obviously was not privy to, and Sakura didn't seem inclined to elaborate further. The best plan was probably to change the subject for now, and inquire with Naruto-taichou later. He seemed friendly, and it helped that they were related. He seemed rather open regarding Sasuke when they were both near her last evening. "At least you have Naruto-taichou now, right? It's not too hard to see how he looks at you. I could pick it up, and I wasn't even around both of you for very long last night."

Sakura blushed a little, and felt a smile return to her face. "Right."

--------------------------------------

Naruto set his latest bowl of ramen to the side, smiling to himself as he watched and listened his mother and Ichiraku Teuchi chat away animatedly. The poor man didn't know what to say when he first saw her again, then spent a good few minutes in tears. Ayame was worried for her father, but he claimed they were tears of joy, and introduced Kushina to her. Kushina was all over Ayame after that, pampering her with words about how she was an excellent daughter to help her father with the best stand on the planet, and how she was every bit as beautiful as her mother ever was.

Rin had since excused herself to go acquire lodging for them for the night, and Naruto was fine with watching the two Ichiraku's and his mother get along splendidly. Suddenly, however, he was overcome by a rapid series of sneezes. The other three looked at him with concerned faces.

Ayame took the couple steps over to him while still behind the counter. "Are you okay, Naruto-kun? I don't think I've ever heard you sneeze like that before."

He couldn't say anything before he felt his mother gently pat him on the back and speak up, "I bet it's his girlfriend talking about how much she loves him to everyone else back at the outpost."

Ayame squealed so loud that Naruto thought she was Ino for a moment, then leaned over the counter, getting right in his face. "Who is it?! Is it Sakura-chan?! Ohhhh that's so cute!"

Naruto blushed and leaned back on his stool, listening to Kushina start going on about how wonderful Sakura was, and what an excellent couple they made, while Ayame and Teuchi both pressed her for details.

So this was what having a mother was like. Naruto couldn't keep a small smile from creeping onto his face.

It was nice.