บท 11: Memories of the Past

Naruto, thought over his actions, ever since the fourth ninja war ended, and the Otsutsuki clan's hand behind every huge problem he had faced. He thought over his father's departing words and could only hope that things would work out in his favour in this world.

Naruto closed his eyes, once again appearing in front of Kurama,

"Latch your chakra onto me…" Kurama commanded.

Naruto nodded as he latched his chakra onto Kurama.

A red tail shaped chakra extended from Kurama's body, pulled over by Naruto's blue chakra.

Instantly a few chains appeared around Kurama, Immobilising all his tails and his body.

"These chains…." Naruto thought as the his surroundings changed revealing a woman with long red hair,

("Mom!!") Naruto trembled, unable to handle the happiness that had accumulated after he had met his mom, right after meeting his Dad.

"How have you been? I hope you didn't develop any weird way of talking, like I did….. Minato he didn't say anything did he?" Kushina asked as she smiled at Naruto.

"Thats right, I am your-" Naruto immediately hugged his mom, feeling he would lose her again, if he had let go.

"I have always wanted to meet you again...…ya know" Naruto said as he continued hugging with tears pouring uncontrollably.

"'ya know', huh?""You are really my child…" Kushina said as she patted Naruto's head.

("Did he just say 'again' ?") she thought, finding the sentence very weird.

Naruto jumped from Kushina's arms as he said with excitement "I have a lot of things to ask you"

"I'll answer all of them…..But before that, we have to deal with the nine-tails" Kushina said as she looked up only to find the atmosphere around her peaceful.

"Kurama is not angry, ya know" Naruto said.

"Kurama…..Is that Kyuubi's real name?" She asked curiously.

"Yes, and not only that, he is willingly going to give me his chakra" Naruto said proudly.

"Hanh...." Kushina stared at Naruto.

"You see, Minato sealed a part of my chakra in you, so that I could help when the time came for you to take control of Kurama's power….. Who knew you both would become friends, considering Kurama was an unruly monster in the first place."

"That time was when he was controlled by the masked man….." Naruto defended Kurama.

"Regardless, I will teach you the sealing jutsu in case something happens in future, one can only be prepared ya know." Kushina said, as she began teaching the seals and the ability that belonged to the Uzumaki clan, which also powered up the sealing technique.

"You got your hair, from your dad, but you've got my face….Sorry about that Naruto" Kushina smiled apologetically at Naruto while admiring his face.

"I am glad that you look beautiful, besides your hair is straight and has a beautiful red colour….. I'm sure I would have looked good in that too" Naruto said as he imagined himself with a red hair.

"You're the second guy to compliment me on my hair..."

"Dad was the first right…" Naruto replied, remembering the previous time he met his mom and the story of how she and Minato met.

Kushina started talking about the past as Naruto peacefully listened without interrupting his mom, as he wanted to spend the only precious moment he had with her.

After Kushina finished till where both she and Minato died, she looked at Naruto and said

"I'm sorry for making you Kurama's vessel"

"I'm sorry I couldn't stay by your side and shower you with love."

"Don't say Sorry" Naruto interrupted.

"Even though I went through some tough times as a jinchuuriki I never blamed you and dad for it, in-fact I only missed you guys even more….." Naruto said upon which Kushina ran to Naruto and hugged as she started crying.

Naruto's words brought both Pain and Love at the same time, but not being there for him made her regret this statement even more, to the extent that she hated herself and started crying uncontrollably.

"I know that you and Dad sacrificed your lives for me, and also for the village…..I'm glad I'm your son….." Naruto comforted his mom.

"My dream, is to become a hokage, ya know…." Naruto laughed

"When you combine the Yellow Flash with the Red-blooded Habanero….." Kushina left for Naruto to continue….

"You get the Orange Hokage of Konoha, ya know!" Naruto jumped up.

"That's really cool, ya know!" Kushina smiled back as she got up.

"Your dream is the continuation of mine and Minato's dream…."

"Yeah!, I'll never let mom and dad's dream end" Naruto declared.

"Naruto…." Kushina murmured as her form became a bit dimmer. She realised she no longer had the energy to remain in Naruto's presence.

Kushina took a deep breath, and then ran at full speed to Naruto and hugged him very tightly

"Thank you for being our child!" Kushina said as her body disintegrated into mots of light.

"There are some special words I'll give only to the men who compliment me on my hair."

"I Love You" these words caught Naruto by surprise once again, also reminding him of Hinata.

"I can finally go to where Minato is….."

Kushina said as she finally disappeared.

….

Kurama's chakra then poured into Naruto's body as he greedily absorbed it.

Later Naruto got up and climbed to the top of a tree, he sat down on the branch and stared into the horizon as he reminisced his encounter with his parents and began to contemplate on what familial love was as he compared it to the life he had spent with Hinata, Boruto and Himawari.

Tears broke out, as he cried silently missing everyone.

….

It was evening, by the time Sasuke had his lunch and walked a round through the village before he came back to the forest.

He scanned around looking for Naruto, only to see him sitting on a tree looking at the setting sun.

Sasuke climbed the tree and approached Naruto silently. He saw how worn out Naruto's eyes were with impressions of having cried a lot, he contemplated deeply for a few minutes before he disturbed Naruto.

"You are here Sasuke" Naruto commented as he got up

"I am ready to spar!" Sasuke said as he descended the tree, followed by Naruto.

"Before we spar, Do you remember how I said you could increase your speed with chakra by upto three times?"

"yes"

"Listen carefully, as I explain." "First - concentrate a fixed amount of chakra to the base of your feet"

"Second - release all that chakra in an instantaneous burst the moment your feet touches the ground…. Like this"

Naruto demonstrated by moving his feet up, the moment he placed it on the ground the ground burst apart as Naruto disappeared instantly appearing about a few metres away.

"Repeat these two steps for every step you take with your feet." Naruto said as he walked to the space in front of Sasuke.

"um" Sasuke nodded as he started imitating,

A few minutes later….

"I am ready" Sasuke said.

"Good" Naruto replied as they started to spar one another.

Sasuke smiled as he saw improvements to his speed, but frowned the moment he knew Naruto was still wearing those weights.

The evening went by as they kept sparring against each other.

….

"This is really fun!" "It has been a long time since we've had a meal with this many people!" Tazuna commented as he was happy having a large group eat together with him

Meanwhile Naruto and Sasuke ate like beggars who hadn't seen food for a long time.

"seconds please" they both raised their bowls up, upon which they glared each other, only to then bend down and vomit the food they just ate.

Naruto smiled, enjoying this rare moment of actually competing with Sasuke, as he didn't have the chances to do so, since he came to this world, while he hadn't done back in his previous world as well, considering how busy he was as a hokage.

"Stop eating, if you're going to vomit" sakura screamed at both.

"No, I'll eat" Sasuke commented clearly not willing to give up this time.

His reaction fired up Naruto even more as Naruto replied back "I have to eat even if it means enduring."

"But vomiting is different…" Kakashi commented while still approving the healthy rivalry.

….

"Excuse me, why is there a torn picture hanging here? Inari was looking at this all through dinner, this torn part looks like someone who was deliberately torn off, thats the feeling I get" Sakura commented.

Kakashi at this moment wanted to face palm himself, to Sakura's stupidity, but also looked expectantly for an answer in the the direction of Inari's mom who was busy in the kitchen.

"Its my husband…."