บท 19: Chapter 19

"Happy late Birthday, Son!" Kushina said, giving Naruto a gift before they had dinner that night.

"Wha?" Naruto said, surprised.

Kushina looked on guiltily. "I know it's a week late, but I wanted to give you something for your birthday!"

Naruto looked at the package the Kushina had given him, unable to process what was going on. When he did, he felt his eyes become glassy. He'd received gifts on his birthdays before mainly from Jiraiya but he'd fully expected to receive none this year.

"I even got cake!" Kushina said excitedly, taking his hand and leading him to the kitchen table. There was a feast set up, and a cake that was placed in the middle with a one tall candle and seven smaller ones.

Naruto gently put the gift down on the couch and surprise attacked his mom, taking her in a fierce hug. She yelped in surprise before she laughed. She hugged him back of course, eager to receive the hugs owed to her after years of missing him in her life.

"Thank you," He said into her shoulders, "I didn't expect to receive anything this year."

Kushina also felt her eyes becoming glassy. "For this year and all the years to come, my son, I'll always be here to celebrate it with you."

"I–I love you, Mom," He said.

She hugged him even tighter, burying her face into his chest. "I love you more, son!"

A knock on the door broke them from their moment and as they both composed themselves, Kushina made her way to the door and greeted the expected visitor.

"Welcome, Hiruzen," She said warmly.

Hiruzen smiled. "How is he doing?"

"He…he's very happy about his small birthday party," She replied.

"Good…that's good," Hiruzen said, "After all he's been through, it's a miracle he found a peace of mind to allow himself to be happy."

Kushina nodded, gesturing him in before closing the door. "I think that meeting his friends again and the fact that all his loved ones are still alive, despite lacking memories of him, is easing the burden off of him."

Hiruzen sighed, agreeing. "I wish we could do more for him than giving him another identity, he deserves to be recognised for who he is as well as the incredible things he accomplished."

With that, they both made their way towards the dining room.

"Jiji!" Naruto said, catching sight of him, "Look! Mom got cake!"

Hiruzen chuckled at his childish enthusiasm. Despite being a veteran of war, Naruto still held the youth energy of a youngling. "Good to see you, too, Chuunin Naruto. By the way, you wouldn't mind if I put today down as your real birth date in your identification papers would you? Just to dissociate you further from the Naruto of this world."

Naruto nodded at that. "That's fine by me, dattebayo. I'd rather have it be a day of celebration with my mom rather than a day where Kurama was tricked into attacking this village."

Kushina glomped on him again at that. "Oh, Naruto! You're so sweet!"

Hiruzen smiled at the two of them. "I'm starving. Let's eat, shall we?"

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Naruto unwrapped the gift Kushina had gotten for him.

It was a book that read: "Fuinjutsu and Uzumaki Clan techniques, By Uzumaki Kushina, for her son, Naruto."

"M-mom…" Naruto said, lost for words.

Kushina gave an embarrassed chuckle. "It's the project I told you I was working on. It'll help you while I teach you."

"This is…this is amazing!" Naruto said, clutching on the handmade gift like his life depended on it. "You made it for me?"

Kushina blushed lightly glad that her son took her gift so appreciatively. "It wasn't too hard, just a bit of referencing other books and simplifying the information down to the important parts."

She was met with another hug and she laughed along with him. She hadn't felt this happy since…since ever really. Even during her honeymoon with Minato, she'd never felt so…fulfilled in her spirit before. Like a part of her soul had returned to her after all these years.

Naruto was everything she'd hoped he would be and more. Kind, a bit goofy, strong, handsome…a perfect combination of Minato and her. Even growing up without his parents to take care of him, he found a path by himself and saw it through to the end. She was proud! Beyond proud, even.

Hiruzen reached into his robe and brought out his own gift. It was a small package in the shape of a box. Naruto released his Mom from his embrace much to her reluctance and immediately got to opening it.

He almost dropped it in surprise when he saw what it was.

It was his father's Hiraishin kunai. Naruto looked at his grandfather figure, eyes wide.

Hiruzen smiled. "I've kept it as a memento for years. Now, it's yours. While Kushina already knows how the Hiraishin works and I have no doubt she'll teach it to you, you can keep this as something to remember him by."

"J-jiji…" Naruto said. Naruto gave Hiruzen a hug as well, though it was more manly, just a short embrace and pat on the back.

It took Naruto a few moments to settle down from gushing over his gifts before he wanted to speak what was on his mind.

"Jiji," Naruto addressed, his tone more serious, "I'd like to get started on that Root problem we're having."

Hiruzen's eyes widened. "You don't have to feel pressured into doing it, you know. In fact, I was you to take things easy for a year, just to get a handle on your rinnegan abilities and learn fuinjutsu from Kushina. From your memories, although we can't know for sure, things only begin to start during your class's chuunin exam, which won't be until they graduate next year."

Naruto nodded. "I know, Jiji. I'm not saying to go out there and deal with the root right at this moment but considering how important of a mission this is, we should start planning it from now so that I will go without a hindrance. I'll even take some time this year to scout just to confirm that everything related to root is where Sai had said they were in my world."

Kushina smiled sadly at him. "Son, you don't have to carry this burden yourself, dattebane? As I said, you'll have to include me in your missions. I'm not letting you out of my sight."

Naruto returned that sad smile. "Of course, Mom "

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~less than 3 months later. Dec 27th.Tuesday.

Hinata looked at the evening sky from the wooden walkways of her clan compound. Today had been…wonderful, just as it had been for the past few months. It was her birthday today, along with her twin sister's, Hanabi. They had a small celebration in the clan compounds, though most of the attention was placed on her younger sibling.

But Hinata hadn't really minded it.

In the morning, she'd trained with her three…friends. She still couldn't believe that she had that many friends now. She, Sakura, and Ino had gotten close to each other over the many group training sessions as conducted by their blond haired sensei.

She'd grown leaps and bounds to an extent that was still…frankly ridiculous to her. It was like Naruto knew even the most minute details that were wrong with her technique and style, and gave her exercises that were tailored to help her improve in an aspect she didn't even know she thought needed. Even today, she'd learnt so many new tricks and subtleties of arm to arm combat. Even Lady Kushina, who frequently accompanied Naruto to the training sessions, had taught her the basics of water manipulation techniques..though she was still in her very early stages in that regard. All in all, she'd gotten faster, stronger, as well as having better stamina and durability.

It wasn't just her who improved drastically.

Ino had initially talked down on how non versatile and limited her clan jutsu was…which made Naruto go on about how much potential Ino's bloodline abilities truly had, listing out possibilities that were astonishing to the three academy students. Long range telepathic communication? The ability to split one's mind to control both your own body and an opponent's at the same time? Of course, he then proceeded to give Ino thinking exercises that would've turned any non-yamanaka's brain into a puddle, stating that this was what he'd used to do when training on the mind aspect of his shadow clones jutsu. Now, Ino was far more competent in her taijutsu as well as being quicker on her mind swapping technique, proving a much more formidable opponent in their spars.

Sakura on the other hand, while she didn't have a bloodline technique, had been introduced to medical ninjutsu by Naruto, of which she absorbed like a sponge, as well as working on her own taijutsu style. When she had mentioned her diet one time in the early days of training, Naruto had sat them all down and talked about how important it was to have a balanced dietary plan with all the necessary macro and micro nutrients needed for an active Shinobi lifestyle, almost as if he was reciting words that were spoken to him once upon a time. Lady Kushina was also helpful in this regard in showing what an experienced kunoichi ate on a daily basis, though her Uzumaki nature allowed her to have far more cheat meals than a regular shinobi could.

Regardless, the talk had changed both Ino and Sakura's views on what it meant to be healthy and after a few weeks of new diet adjustments, they had been far more energetic when training. Hinata was fortunate that her clan's chefs had already taken care of this aspect for her.

Naruto was an incredible sensei, though he denied it quite vehemently. Hinata was sad that their meetings would be less frequent when the academy started once more in a few days time.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a knock on the bedroom door.

"Come in," Hinata said.

It was none other than her twin sister, Hanabi.

"Hey, Hinata," Hanabi greeted, "Uhm, I know that we just celebrated and all but…I just wanted to wish you a happy birthday personally."

Hinata smiled at the rare meekness of her sister. They'd grown apart…or forced apart rather, by their circumstance but Hinata knew that Hanabi still loved her to death, just as she did her.

She stood up and approached Hanabi to give her a hug, much to her younger sister's surprise. "Thank you Hanabi, Happy Birthday to you too."

It took a moment for Hanabi to return the gesture, but when she did, her arms were shaky. "Look, I'm…sorry that I'm took all the attention today, I didn't–"

Hinata cut her off by giggling. "It's quite alright. I don't mind it as much nowadays."

Hanabi blinked at that, before giving Hinata a relieved smile. "You…do seem happier these days. I'm sure it's to do with whatever it is you're up to when you sneak off after training for like…everyday the past few months."

Hinata blushed at that and brushed her long raven hair behind her ears. "I've made…friends."

Hanabi looked elated at this. "That's amazing news! I'm so glad you're coming out of your shell, sis. Remember, if you get into any trouble, don't be afraid to come ask me for help, 'kay?"

Hinata only nodded appreciatively as Hanabi made her way out.

She was about to go back to her hobby of knitting, however, when she heard something rattle against the door that led to the garden. She ignored it at first, thinking it must be an animal, when she heard it again. It sounded like someone was throwing a small rock at her door.

She opened, just in time to catch the next piece of pebble reflexively.

She looked at the person who threw it and to her almost stunned surprise, it was…Naruto?

He looked sheepish hiding behind a rock in the garden but waved for her to come over.

She quickly did after checking the perimeter, and when she got close, Naruto immediately picked her up in a princess carry faster than the eye could see. He then proceeded to make a clone to henge as her and silently ordered it to go back to her room.

"Wh–what are you doing?!" Hinata asked frantically, though her voice was still quiet to not attract unwanted attention.

Naruto only smiled. "I'm kidnapping you for the evening…"

Then he winced. "Sorry, poor choice of words, but hold on tight."

Before Hinata could so much as complain, they disappeared in a shunshin.

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A few minutes later, Hinata found herself in front of the Uzumaki compound. She'd been promptly placed there before Naruto disappeared, telling her to go inside.

She was confused, but she was left with no other choice than to knock.

"Come in!" the familiar voice of Kushina called out.

She opened the door, to only see darkness before the door abruptly closed behind her.

Then…

"Surprise!" multiple voices said at the same time.

The light flicked on right at that moment to show a decorated dining room with a banner saying: 'Happy Birthday Hinata', as well as the presence of her three friends and Lady Kushina.

Hinata's eyes watered as she figured out what was going on. "G–guys. You didn't have to–"

She was interrupted as she was bulldozed by a squealing Ino and Sakura duo.

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~6 days later. Jan 2nd. Monday.

It was early in the morning where the Academy was crowded with parents and guardians. It was the entrance day for new first years and the returning day for older students. Naruto was here to see Ino, Sakura and Hinata off as they started up school again.

Naruto stood from his crouched position near the academy front gates, catching the attention of those who passed him by due to his strange visage. He was an unrecognised face amidst the crowd…and was also wearing a blindfold, thus proving an odd sight. His mother had told him that she was working on something to do with it but had refused to give him the details.

It was when Inoichi passed by and noticed him that he called out. "Naruto-san, it's good to see you again."

Naruto turned his head towards the unexpected greeting before seeing who it was and smiling. "It's good to see you again too, Inoichi-san."

He bowed to the man, showing respect for his seniors. To his surprise, Inoichi bowed back which was rare from someone of his stature as a clan head.

"It's been some time since our last meeting," Inoichi said, returning the smile and giving Naruto a handshake for a less formal greeting gesture, "I've remembered that I conducted a memory walk on you but nothing about its contents. I only know that you have left a great impression on our lord Hokage."

Naruto blushed a bit, embarrassed. "It–it wasn't all that special or anything, dattebayo."

Inoichi chuckled. "What the Hokage said about your character tells me otherwise. Regardless, is there a reason you find yourself here today?"

Naruto blinked at him…underneath the cloth. "Ah, Ino hasn't told you about me yet? I've been training with Sakura, Hinata and her for the past few months."

Inoichi's eyes widened as he took that in…before looking at him suspiciously. "Say…you wouldn't be the new boy Ino has been obsessing about, would you? The infamously dubbed "secret sensei""

Naruto scratched the back of his head guiltily, looking away and blushing, "I–I'm not sure but we're not like anything you're suggesting, Inoichi-san, so you don't have to worry."

Inoichi only harrumphed.

"Oh, Inoichi, this is where you were…" A voice called out, "Hm?"

Naruto took a second to realise that the man who was speaking was none other than Nara Shikaku, Shikamaru's father.

Naruto gave a bow. "Ah, Nice to meet you, Nara-san, I've heard great things about you."

Shikaku smiled in greeting.

"Oh? You must be the chuunin inducted a few months ago. Naruto, was it?" Shikaku asked and upon Naruto's nod, continued, "What have you heard about me? You can just call me Shikaku by the way. Too many Nara's these days…"

"You're the lead intelligence officer and Jonin commander of course. Incredibly smart and tactically sound, also very lazy when it comes to things you consider unimportant," Naruto said.

Inoichi burst out laughing at that last part.

Shikaku only rolled his eyes. "What are you laughing about, Inoichi? The kid isn't wrong…"

Then it was Chouza who joined the group. "Osu! S'up everyone! And how's it going, new kid?"

Naruto gave him the same respectful greeting. "Hello, Akimichi-san! Everything's going just fine."

"Oh that won't do, everyone calls me Chouza!" The big man slapped Naruto's back and to all three's surprise, Naruto stayed rooted to the ground instead of being launched forwards like most people did after getting a back slap from the Akimichi giant.

Before they could question it, their respective wives and kids joined them.

"Naruto-kun!" Ino said as she launched herself at him. Her momentum ultimately stopped as she embedded her face into his chest, an action she'd perfected over weeks of training.

Naruto blushed at seeing the eyes of the Ino-shika-cho trio and their families on him. "I–Ino. Please stop doing that."

Ino ignored him and only dislodged herself after a few painful moments of silence.

Naruto sighed but now that he had the attention on him, he might as well use it for something he wanted to introduce to them.

He coughed.

"A–anyways." He waved at Shikamaru, Choji, and bowed to the three Matriarchs. "My name's Hagoromo Naruto, or you may have known me by my temporary moniker Yuki Naru."

Shikamaru and Chouji's eyes lit up at that, remembering him.

"Oh you're that guy we ate Yakiniku with!" Chouji said.

Shikamaru only nodded, thinking it too much of a drag to use words.

The three women introduced themselves with their respective names.

Then, after a few minutes of idle talk, he got to what he wanted to show. He lifted up a small box with seals written on it. "Lady Kushina and I have just come up with a new innovation recently in our fuinjutsu experiments. It's based on a camera, something that very few people have due to its complicated usage and high price."

Naruto gestured to what he was holding. "We call this the instant camera…"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"3…2…1, smile!" Naruto shouted, holding the camera. He'd taken multiple pictures for the Ino-Shika-Cho trio and their children. Hyuuga Hiashi had his own cameraman for him and his daughters. Though, Naruto suspected that he was doing this for duty and appearances rather than out of love.

He rolled the last of the three marked up film sections of a scroll and ripped it, flapping in the air so that the image could develop. This instant camera was made using the design of a regular camera after he took apart one of his dad's broken old ones he found in the attic. His mother had helped and with his fuinjutsu studies progressing in a pace unmatched by any she'd seen before, he was able to make this little thing within three months.

Now, he was taking a photo of the three girls he so often trained with. "Here's the last one for you, Sakura chan."

"You too, Naruto-kun!" Ino said, "Get in here!"

Naruto raised an eyebrow and pointed at himself.

"Yes you!" Sakura added, "you know any other Naruto's around here?"

Sakura wasn't wearing her usual hoodie and loose pants anymore. She was wearing what Naruto remembered her wearing when he saw her last. A sleeveless red top of a qipao, black gloves, along with grey elbow protectors and black shorts underneath a short apron skirt. With her lithe but now athletic frame, she looked gorgeous.

Naruto made a clone and ordered him to hold on to the camera while the original made his way there.

During his time here, he'd attracted many curious gazes, both from parents and students. The parents, mainly being jonin already, knew of his presence but none of the students did. He looked about the same age as them but was already wearing a headband. They'd guessed that he must have been a genin who graduated the year before.

"Smile!" The clone said.

The camera let out another paper film and the clone swiped it through the air for it to dry. Then the clone took another three shots for each of the girls to keep.

…make that six more shots for spares as per their request…then nine for spares to the spares in different poses.

Then Naruto was asked to take photos of just himself and each of the girls. It was repetitive but he didn't really mind it, with the occasion being a large cornerstone for their careers–their entry to their final year of the academy. They'd arrived here an hour early just for these small meetups and celebrations.

Naruto had gotten to see many familiar faces again. There was Shino who just arrived with his family and then…

Then…

A dark haired woman with stunning beauty so close to rival that of his mother's arrived at the academy. She had snow-pale skin and sharp dark eyes, her features aristocratic with high cheekbones and a sharp chin. She had a beauty mark on her left cheek right below her eye that made her seem…real, like she wasn't just a fantasy conjured up. She held herself like she was a queen.

Naruto overheard a passerby greeting her. "Lady Uchiha! It's good to see you. Greetings from the Hozoki family…"

The lady only nodded and was on her way.

Then Naruto noticed another person behind her. It was a young male teen, wearing clothes he was oh so familiar with.

'Wait…no, it can't be.'

"Tch, that's Sasuke, the asshole we've been telling you about," Sakura muttered beside him.

Naruto's jaw hung open.

His former best friend looked…completely different than what he remembered. Instead of a duck-butt hair, as Naruto so aptly liked to call it, this person's hair was smooth and his bangs covered one of his eyes. His clothing remained the same in a dark blue Uchiha uniform, but his appearance was softer, more…feminine almost as compared to the Sasuke he remembered. He was still in the realm of being a pretty boy–in fact he looked prettier than most girls here–and Naruto could see why he was so popular in the world as well. He was also smaller in stature, standing even shorter than the three girls next to him, with a very lithe figure.

There was also one more thing…Sasuke was wearing…glasses?

It was red rimmed and looked like the one Naruto remembered Karin using.

'That's so…strange. Wow, of all the things that could be different in this world…'

Sasuke looked…lonely…and angry at the world at the same time.

Just like always. That wasn't something that changed between worlds.

Naruto deduced that the older lady standing near Sasuke must be his…mother then, from the matriarch comment earlier. Naruto was ashamed that he didn't know her name as the Sasuke of his world understandably never talked about his family.

After the photos were all taken for his friends, Naruto began to approach Sasuke and his mother, much to the other girl's surprise.

A hand grabbed his own, stopping him from going momentarily.

"Where are you going?" Ino demanded, "you don't want to stay with three sinfully beautiful ladies?"

Sakura and Hinata blushed at that, not having anywhere near Ino's level of boldness.

Naruto chuckled, blushing himself. "I'd love to but I just wanted to go over and say hi to that guy."

Catching the person who he was pointing at, Ino and Sakura scowled.

"You don't need to go say hi," Sakura said, "he'll treat you like shit anyway. Though, now that his mother is here with him, I suspect he'll be more tame when he's leashed up like that."

'Wow, Sakura can be…vicious with her comments.'

"Right," Ino nodded before adding, "Plus that broody perpetually pissed-off attitude lost its cool a long time ago."

Naruto shook his head. "I'm going to try anyway."

He continued his way to Sasuke, much to the girls' reluctance.

When Sasuke noticed Naruto approaching, he tensed up and his posture became rigid at having to interact with someone. Comparing this Sasuke to the one that took his arm off of him was like night and day. Naruto could see that the person in front of him was inexperienced and lacked exposure to the real shinobi world.

"What do you want?" Sasuke said curtly, and his comment caught the attention of his mother as well.

"Oh, nothing, nothing" Naruto said, "Just coming by to say hi. Do you two want to take a picture for this occasion?"

Naruto gestured with his camera.

Sasuke scoffed. "No."

His mother was more polite. "Thank you for the offer, but you don't have to go through the trouble of developing the photos for us. I've heard it can take days."

Naruto shook his head. "This is actually an instant camera. It's something Lady Uzumaki and I finished creating just a few days ago."

The Uchiha matriarch's eyes widened at the name. "You know Kushina?"

Naruto looked at her quizzically. "Yes…I'm the new chuunin who was announced under her care a few months ago. She's sort of my…guardian."

Sasuke's posture stiffened at hearing his title. The blond haired boy in front of her barely even looked older than he was…but he was already chuunin.

"Mah~ I've been so busy training Sasuke for the past months that I haven't heard of this. It's been…so long since I spoke to my best friend…" the matriarch responded.

Naruto's eyebrows jumped at that. His mother and this lady were best friends? "You know Lady Kushina?"

The lady nodded. "Ah, where are my manners? My name is Uchiha Mikoto, and this is my son, Sasuke."

Naruto bowed his head to formally greet them. "My name is Hagoromo Naruto, under the care of the Uzumaki clan so I will speak in their name. The Uzumaki clan greets Lady Uchiha and her son."

Mikoto's delicate eyebrows raised in surprise once more, so did Sasuke's.

"Hagoromo you say? If I remember correctly, they were an allied clan to the Uchiha during the warring states era, but I thought they had gone…extinct." Mikoto winced at the last word, having no delicate way to put it.

Sasuke just looked curious at the new development.

"Hai, it seems that through DNA testing, my blood is of theirs. It came as a surprise to me as well," Naruto said.

Mikoto smiled at him, the first smile that she put on that day, and it would have been enough to stop men in their tracks…and it did, Naruto realised, as conversation suddenly went quiet around him at the rare sight. Naruto, too, was stunned. Good thing Naruto had his lust seal, else his hormones would have gone haywire at the sight.

Mikoto raised her arm towards him, but not in a gesture for a handshake. She had her palms facing downward, and looked to be expecting something. Naruto realised what it was, after having started lady courtesy lessons with his mother.

He took the offered hand, bowed, and kissed it gently as he was taught.

Mikoto's smile widened at that, revealing an even more beautiful vision. "I see Kushina has taught you well. I will be sure to stop by to speak with her later. Hopefully, she is more…receptive to my reaching out to her this time. Now, what about this Instant Camera you were talking about?"

Naruto smiled and showed her.

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