40 Early Surprise

-Natasha's Safehouse, New York-

-March 31, 2008, 0600h local-

Jessica woke up alone in the bed. She remembered sleeping with Natasha in her arms. Natasha must've been drained because the moment she laid on the bed, she went straight to sleep. Jessica woke up intermittently throughout the night, making sure that Nat's okay and the creatures of mass destruction haven't decided to go into the room. The feeling of sleeping so close to something that could wipe out all life on earth is really disconcerting.

Jessica got out of the bed, still wearing what she wore yesterday, and got out of the bedroom. She saw Natasha sitting on the couch, staring intently on Naruto's figure being surrounded by the puppy-sized bijuu.

"How long have you've been awake?" Jessica asked when she sat down next to Natasha.

"Not long. Maybe an hour..." Natasha answered, still gazing at Naruto. "Thanks for being with me, Jess." She continued while looking at Jessica.

"No problem. That's what friends with benefits do..." Jessica said, trying to put some levity on the situation. It seemed to work since Natasha let out a small chuckle. "Aren't you going to work today?" She asked.

"Right. I should probably call Fury..." Natasha replied, not realizing she said the name of her boss out loud, although Jessica doesn't seem to give it any importance. Nat picked up her phone from the center table and dialed a number. A few moments later, Natasha spoke. "Boss. I'm not going to be able to get in today. Maybe tomorrow too."

"Give me a reason Romanoff. I can't just put in nothing." Fury replied from the other end of the line.

"It's personal."

"Ok. That's what I'll put in..." Fury said while typing it into the leave request form. A small burst of static was heard after Fury pushed a button on his phone. This sound indicated to both him and Natasha that no one would eavesdrop on the conversation. "Now. Tell me what happened." He ordered.

Natasha debated to herself whether she should answer or not. In the end, she decided to do something in the middle.

"Naruto did something stupid last night that incapacitated him for a bit. Apparently, he stopped a series of disasters previous night, and that wore him out. I'm just going to shoot him a few times today to warn him not to do something like that again without telling me." Natasha explained, using only half-truths.

"Huh. Who knew something could take him down." Fury mused, filing it away for future use.

Natasha quickly understood Fury's words, but she doesn't care right now. And even if they find a way to 'take him down,' it won't last for long because of the whole immortality thing.

"I'll call you tomorrow, boss if I'll be able to come in." Natasha informed Fury before closing the phone and tossing it.

Jessica noticed Natasha tensing before tossing her phone away. She decided to throw caution into the wind and ask her question.

"Your boss didn't take the news well?"

"No. He took it a little too well. He probably is already planning a whole bunch of stuff that can 'takedown' Naruto in the future." Natasha said with more bite than she wants to let out.

"Damn. He's cold." Jessica exclaimed.

"That's his job. He's just really good at it." Natasha stated.

Jessica nodded and decided to look around the apartment. She was surprised that it looked clean, especially the kitchen where Naruto was cooking. Who knew the bijuus knew how to clean.

It's been three long hours of waiting. Jessica decided to takeout some breakfast for both of them when she started to get hungry awhile back, but the pair didn't move away from the couch as much as possible.

Naruto's statue started to show some cracks that slowly gets larger and larger. The bright orange light is leaking through the cracks. Pieces of stone started falling off his body, making the light significantly brighter.

Jessica and Natasha are already covering their eyes, only peeking through the gaps of their fingers. The lights intensity peaked before slowly dying down enough to look at Naruto directly.

Naruto is covered by black overall with an orange circle at the abdomen, a jacket and a pair of boots seemingly made of orange flames, and his whole body is glowing with orange light. His eyes are in that special mode he calls Shinigan.

Slowly, the orange flames retreated into his abdomen, revealing Naruto as he was last night, wearing a white shirt, orange shorts, and flip flops.

Natasha seeing that the situation is finally defused, stood up from the couch, and decked Naruto hard on the face. Naruto can do nothing else but take the hit since he didn't saw it coming. She grabbed him by the collar and brought him close to her.

"You're not ever going to do something like that again." Natasha said with conviction before kissing him. She can't contain her emotions anymore and cried again on Naruto's arms.

"Shhh. Shhh. Everything's alright. I'm fine. Everything's fine." Naruto continued whispering to Natasha's ear until she finally calmed down.

"Don't think you're in the clear yet. You have a lot of explaining to us." Natasha said while tilting her head towards Jessica.

Naruto nodded, seeing no other choice in the situation. He took a moment to observe his surroundings, particularly the bijuu. He noticed they're a little nervous, especially Kurama. That's something he needs to talk with them for another time.

Naruto called the bijuu back into him, seeing no point in letting them out for an extended time for now. He walked back towards the living room and gave Jessica a nod and a smile. Naruto sat on the armchair so he could create an atmosphere that the ladies could use to ask questions freely.

Natasha understood Naruto's intentions and sat on the sofa next to Jessica.

"What do you guys want to know?" Naruto asked.

"I want to know what happened yesterday." Natasha replied plainly.

"Didn't Kurama explained it?" Naruto inquired, genuinely confused.

"He did, but we want it to come from you." Jessica answered.

Naruto gathered his thoughts and tried to make an easily understandable explanation of the whats, hows, and whys.

"Every living being produces chakra inside its body. From the smallest of ants to the largest of trees, each and every one of them generates chakra. When chakra is created while the container is full, the excess is released to the environment. In our world, the first usable chakra produced by humans manifested in the Otsutsuki brothers. In this world, however, I have no idea who first gave humans chakra. But all I know is that it's been left alone for so many generations that it slowly atrophied, leaving just enough to keep a person alive." Naruto explained.

"So, like the appendix." Jessica interjected.

"Yeah. Exactly that..." Naruto agreed. "The excess chakra released to the environment is transferred towards the Earth, which naturally transforms into Nature Chakra. Natural Chakra networks or leylines are produced around the world, connecting hotspots to each other, making sure that nature chakra across the globe remains equal. I noticed when I arrived is that there is no flow of nature chakra anywhere. Pockets of it are forming everywhere, only helping the locale where they are produced. That's why when I traveled, I left clones of myself in these places to force a flow to happen, to kickstart the whole thing, and regain flow." Naruto said.

"I kept hearing clones since yesterday. What are you talking about?" Jessica asked.

"Haven't I showed you?" Naruto created a single clone when he saw Jessica shake her head no.

"What the hell!? So you just have copies of you running around?"

"Yeah, but I mostly use them to scout or do boring stuff..." Naruto replied. "As I was saying, my clones started mixing my chakra with these pools so they can be controlled to flow outside of it. It took three years of slow progress to achieve the flow that is needed. What I didn't expect is the massive overflow of nature chakra streaming out of the hotspots. If any amount of undiluted nature chakra made contact with a human, they would immediately turn into stone. That's why the clones decided to absorb all of it, which eventually transferred all to me. I had no time to control the nature chakra properly inside me, so I turned into stone."

"Why didn't you say anything about the other bijuus inside you?" Natasha asked in a professional tone. Naruto had enough sense to look ashamed.

"Keeping that a secret is a terrible move, but there's no real point in revealing that until there's something to say like when I can summon them. It just so happens it coincided with the accident..." Naruto explained. "Those guys are massive chakra beasts. With no proper chakra network in place, the local hotspot would quickly overload with chakra that comes out from them." He continued when he saw the confused expressions the girls adopted.

"Tell me the truth..." Natasha's expression turned more intense, pinning Naruto with a hard glare before asking the big question. "Why didn't you tell me you're an immortal?"

Naruto finally understood why the bijuus were so tense. They probably accidentally revealed his 'condition,' most probably Kurama. He decided it's best to be honest in this situation.

"Because I didn't want us to break up." Naruto confessed.

Natasha was taken aback by Naruto's answer. She expected him to give an excuse or merely not answer the question.

"Why would you think that?" Natasha asked, not understanding how Naruto could think something like that.

"It's because that's what a reasonable person would do..." Naruto said before looking at Jessica. "Back me up here."

Jessica went wide-eyed when she was suddenly included in the conversation.

"Hey, hey, hey. I'm not part of any of this..." Jessica asserted while raising her hands. "But, he's right." She continued while looking at Natasha.

"I just want for the bubble to last as long as possible." Naruto admitted while unconsciously flashing his puppy dog eyes.

Natasha's righteous anger slowly ebbed away, but she had to know one last question.

"Were you ever going to tell me?" Natasha asked.

"Yes. Around three years from now." Naruto replied.

"Why? What's happening in three years?"

Naruto sighed and stood up, pacing back and forth in front of the couch.

"Remember when I asked for a safe house?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah. Something about a secret you'll show in three to five years." Natasha answered, remembering that particular morning.

"I think it's best if I show you..." Naruto said, offering a hand to Natasha, who quickly took it. He then extended another hand to Jessica, who looks surprised. "What? You think I'll just leave you here?"

Jessica flashed a shy smile before taking Naruto's hand before they suddenly vanished.

-Jaun, Switzerland-

-March 31, 2008, 1600h local-

The trio appeared in the middle of the living room. Jessica saw the beautiful scenery outside the window after her lightheadedness died down. She saw the mountain ranges, trees, and grass filled valleys.

"Where are we?" Jessica asked.

"Switzerland. A safe house near Jaun..." Natasha answered. She took her turn of looking around and noticed that the place looks lived on—a sweater on the couch, boots by the door, and jackets hanging on the coat rack. What Natasha noticed though, was every item she saw are for women. The smell of perfume in the air only served to support her observation. "Naruto. Are you hiding a woman here?"

"Yep." Naruto replied with a bright smile while shaking off the feeling that he forgot something important.

"A mistress?" Natasha asked.

"Don't we need to be married for that to happen?" Naruto asked, genuinely confused. Something from the back of his mind is screaming at him that he forgot something important.

"Naruto." Natasha said, threateningly.

Naruto knew he's in trouble when he heard Natasha's tone, but he has no idea why. Good thing, the universe decided to throw him a bone, but in the worst way possible.

"Naruto? Nat!? What are you doing here? And what is Jones doing here!?" Sharon exclaimed when she decided to check out the ruckus in the living room.

"Damn. I knew I forgot something." Naruto whispered to himself.

Jessica is standing on the sidelines, watching the scenario unfold, thoroughly enjoying the play by play. Somehow

Natasha looked shocked, seeing Sharon in her safe house. She quickly turned her head towards Naruto.

"You're having an affair with Sharon!?" Natasha exclaimed.

Jessica wanted to say that she's been doing it with the both of them, so that's not as big a deal as it should be but decided just to shut up and enjoy the whole thing.

"What!? No!" Naruto cried out.

"You're dating Naruto!? The Nine Tails!?" Sharon questioned Natasha.

Natasha quickly believed in Naruto's assertion, so she focused on Sharon. She quickly needs to make sense of the whole situation. The roller coaster of emotions she's been experiencing since last night is just too much.

"Let's calm down and discuss things without shouting at each other. We can just shoot Naruto after everything. Is that acceptable?" Natasha proposed, attempting to create some semblance of order. Sharon acknowledged Natasha's attempt and nodded. "Yes. I'm dating Naruto. We've been together for a little over a year..." Natasha answered. "What are you doing here?"

"I shouldn't be the one to answer that question..." Sharon stated before looking at Naruto. "He should be the one to answer that."

Natasha looked at Naruto, urging him to answer.

"The answer would come through the door in 3... 2... 1..." Naruto counted down. When he reached zero, the front door opened, revealing a woman.

"Are we having a party?" The woman asked with a thick British accent. She's wearing red, white, and blue winter running outfit.

Natasha took a hot minute before she recognized the woman. She only identified her after scanning through her memories of the SHIELD archives and history.

"Peggy Carter?" Natasha said in a whisper.

Jessica recognized the name went wide-eyed. Peggy Carter is a war hero. One of the most decorated women in the military and pivotal to Hydra's downfall. There's only one catch, though.

"I thought she's like 90 years old and, more importantly, dead." Jessica remarked.

The too young and mobile Peggy Carter removed her boots and coat, making herself more comfortable.

"For your information, I'm only 87 years old..." Peggy retorted. "And all of this is the fault of our blonde-haired friend. He offered me a chance that I almost refused." She explained.

"What? Make you younger?" Jessica asked half-sarcastically.

"Yes. That's exactly what he offered..." Peggy answered. "That and making me a super-soldier." She added.

Natasha thought quickly about why she would accept Naruto's offer. The last report on her reported that she's waiting for her eventual end, wanting to be together with her lost love. A tragic love story if anyone wrote about it. That's when she remembered who her lost love is.

"You know... You know the Cap's still alive." Natasha states with confidence.

Jessica, being the only one not in the know, was surprised for another time today.

"Captain America is still alive!? Don't tell me he's here too!" Jessica exclaimed before looking at Naruto. "Can't you just drop everything at once!"

"Hey! That's not on me! It's not my fault he managed to stay alive being half-buried in snow." Naruto stated.

Peggy, Sharon, and Natasha managed to pick up Naruto's strange use of words. The trio looked at each other and silently communicated before looking back to Naruto.

"Naruto. How did you know he's half-buried in the snow?" Peggy asked, all too sweetly.

Naruto realized his mistake. When they Hiraishined to Switzerland, Naruto decided to use his newly unlocked ability to find Captain Rogers. When he determined his location, he mentally sent a command to his clones mark the plane. The whole thing lasted only lasted for 15 minutes. Kamui sure is one hell of a cheat. He didn't intend for Peggy to be clued in that he knows where the Captain is.

"I guessed." Naruto lied badly.

Natasha hazily remembered Kurama's explanation last night. Something about finding anyone on the planet.

"When did you find him?" Natasha asked, ignoring Naruto's blatant lie. She doesn't understand how Naruto could act excellently but, at the same time, lying poorly.

"20 minutes ago..." Naruto admitted. "But we agreed I'll only get him when Coulson can't find him in two years." He reminded Peggy.

"Why's that again?" Sharon asked.

"Because Peggy here needs to be ready to face any consequence the Captain being alive might cause." Naruto explained.

The spies understood Naruto's reasoning, mainly because they know Hydra is still active. Captain America would force Hydra's hand to do something drastic one way or another.

Jessica decided to interject and circle back to one of the topics at hand and asked a question.

"So he decided to reverse your age, so you and Captain America have a chance to get together? That's sweet of Naruto, I guess." Jessica asked.

"Partially, but he did it mostly for Natasha." Peggy answered. "He wants to create a procedure that can regenerate and heal any injuries and ailments."

Natasha questioned why Naruto would make a regeneration procedure for her. The only reason she found was for what the Red Room to her.

Tears of gratitude and joy fell from her eyes. She quickly turned, and tackle hugged Naruto.

"Thank you." Natasha whispered continuously to his ear.

"Anything for you, Hime."