Naruto: Ai Youkai

Realizing his mistake, but knowing he can't ignore the question, the former Anbu captain quickly thought over how best to answer. "Umm... I was just surprised, because the Yondaime did have a girlfriend named Kushina Uzumaki."

"Really?" Naruto asked, caught off-guard by this. 'Could this mean that wasn't a trick? Was she really my mother?'

"Naruto, where did you hear that name?" Kakashi asked. 'Just how informed is he? I thought he still didn't know who either of his parents were.'

Kakashi was well aware of who sired and birthed Naruto. Being the last student of Minato Namikaze did have it's advantages. He knew his sensei was secretly married; he was one of the witnesses to it. He also was one of Naruto's protectors, ensuring those that wanted to do harm to the boy growing up would not succeed. His only obstacle was that he was not allowed to raise Naruto without news of Naruto's parentage being required to be public to settle the nosy public, and Sarutobi would not allow that. As long as Naruto was anonymous, he was relatively safe. As a Namikaze, he was a target to everyone, especially the mysterious person Minato said attacked during Naruto's birth. That concerned Sarutobi more than Iwa. If Iwa invaded, Konoha would fight back to defend themselves and save Minato's son. But if the masked man who knew about Kushina and the Kyuubi came back, that was too unpredictable for the Sandaime's likings.

"After the fight, when all I could see for some reason was an orange light. A woman with long red hair and violet eyes came to me and called me her son. She told me her name and said she was coming back to me." Naruto answered. "She also sounded a little upset, saying something like someone she didn't like kept her away all this time and she thought she'd be here sooner."

'Wait. Is it possible Kushina... didn't die that night?' Kakashi asked himself. 'But then, where did she go? And why is it only now she can come back.' "Naruto, if this woman does show up, promise me you won't go anywhere with her until I get a chance to speak with her."

"Do you know her?" Naruto asked.

"I did know a woman by that name, but she's been dead for a long time. If this somehow is her, I want to know."

"Was she really Naruto's mother Sensei?" Sakura asked. Even Hinata looked curious to know.

Kakashi withheld the need to sigh. "I'm afraid I'm forbidden from saying anything. Naruto's origins are kept unclear for a reason, a reason I'm not at liberty to say. But if this woman does show up, I suppose that reason will become moot."

Naruto and his visitors soon went back to sleep and stayed with him that night. Hinata had to reluctantly let go of him and sleep in a chair. In the morning, Kakashi had to go check on Sasuke to make sure he wasn't anywhere he wasn't supposed to be. Sakura and Hinata didn't have anywhere to be so they stayed with Naruto and played a few available games. For a brief time they did leave so Hinata could check on Kiba and Sakura could check on Lee, but both came back.

The entire time they were there, Hinata was not ashamed to be close to Naruto and he did nothing to keep her away. Sakura was still confused but avoided asking anything so they wouldn't begin to feel bad about what they were doing. But the strangest thing of all was she found herself feeling a bit jealous. Not an angry territorial jealous like she felt when Ino got around Sasuke, but more of a yearning desire to be treated special by Naruto too. She didn't understand it, but she did know that for some reason Naruto actually felt a bit more appealing to her.

Night came and this time the two girls had to go home. Fortunately Tsunade declared that was the day he could go home too. She didn't understand how, but Naruto was almost completely healed of his injuries. The only abnormality was a strange condensation of orange chakra at the base of Naruto's spine that Hinata pointed out. Tsunade couldn't make any sense of it and wanted one more look tomorrow morning, but as long as it wasn't doing anything she saw no reason it would keep him in the hospital.

Naruto laid awake in his bed, wondering about the possibility of seeing his real mother again. There were so many questions he had for her. Where did she go? Why did she go? Why couldn't she take him with her? Was she really the wife of the Yondaime, making him his son too? Did she love him? And... what was her favorite flavor of ramen?

Naruto was currently looking out the window as the sun was setting, as if hoping his mother would come in thru the window like Jiraiya was known to. Oddly enough, the pervy sage hadn't shown up yet. 'Probably just busy looking at girls, trying to see their nice wet... WHOA! Where did that come from?'

A knock at his door was a welcome distraction. "Come in." He said.

The door opened and two girls walked in. One was older than him and the other younger, and the younger immediately came up to him. "Boss!"

"Hey Moegi, nice to see you. I heard from Konohamaru and Udon you were busy when they came by earlier." Naruto told his follower.

"I'm glad to see you're doing better Naruto." His other visitor stated. He saw this was Moegi's mother whom he's seen off and on throughout town.

"Hi Shinju-san. Thanks for coming by. Though would the other 'honorable' civilians get mad at you for seeing me?"

"Oh screw them. It's not like I need their permission for anything. Besides, my daughter's allowed to see her rescuer." Shinju told him teasingly. She knew her daughter admired Naruto, but ever since before the chuunin exams when a disguised Iruka kidnapped her and Naruto saved her, Moegi seemed to admire him almost to a Hinata-degree. Shinju thought it was cute given her age, and saw no harm in the young girl liking Naruto. It probably wouldn't last, and she could do worse.

"Oh, before I forget, the real reason I came by was because I was given this by one of the other council members." Shinju added before pulling out an envelope. "I mentioned I was going to see you tonight, and one of them asked me to give this to you. I thought it was weird since given their attitude most of them don't want to give you anything less than death, but I took it and brought it here." Naruto took it. "Umm... Naruto, before you open it, could you maybe make a clone and have it open the letter away from here? Just in case it contains a bomb or anthrax or something like that."

Naruto nodded and created a clone. When he did, he noticed his chakra acted a bit weird this time, but he brushed it off. The clone went outside to an empty training ground and opened the envelope. There were no explosives or dangerous substances inside but after reading the contents, the clone was so shocked and offended that it lost it's balance when running back and it tripped and landed hard enough to be dispelled.

Naruto immediately got the clones memories and gasped. "Those bastards!"

"What is it?" Both Moegi and Shinju asked.

Naruto threw off his blanket and rushed to get dressed in a spare jumpsuit Kakashi had brought him. "I need to get out of here and to Baa-chan before they get started." In his rush, he completely ignored the fact he didn't know why he had his clones memories.

Tsunade was sound asleep in her house, with Shizune in the next room. Fortunately, years of experience as a sannin and a lack of heavy drinking allowed Tsunade to still be alert when sleeping. She opened her eyes the moment the window downstairs was opened.

'Someone's trying to get in, and my gut tells me it's not Jiraiya hoping to see me in my nightgown.' She told herself, silently getting on her feet and putting her gambler's jacket over her white nightie. She wouldn't open her bedroom door, knowing the sound would alert the intruder and make them act faster. At the same time, she was cautious that this might be a diversion and the real problem would come from behind.

Soon there was no noise, and that made Tsunade all the more unsettled. 'Ok, either a silencer jutsu has just been performed, or they're not being careless. Either way, it's ninja who know what they're doing and they're in the hokage's house. This can not go unpunished.'

Not wanting to scare them off, because she can't prosecute them if they escape, Tsunade as careful as humanly possible opened her door and got into the hall. The first thing she saw was Shizune, just as alert and dressed in a pair of black pajamas with a nervous Tonton at her feet. The two women made eye contact and nodded, both knowing what to do.

'Now it feels like a waiting game. We're both waiting for the other to make a move so we can retaliate as desired.' Tsunade thought after noticing there still was no sound. She was getting impatient. 'Well I'm not going to wait forever for something to happen.'

Fortunately, she didn't have to.