14 Chapter 13

It's about time you showed up, Naruto. Do you know how uncomfortable it is being held like this? I know you needed to take your time for obvious reasons, but it was starting to get ridiculous."

Naruto winced as he looked at Kurama's condition. The fox was being held up against a huge earthen-looking sphere. Large stakes had been driven through each of his four extremities, all of his tails, and a large one right through the middle of his gut. If that wasn't enough, to add insult to injury he was also being held down by Kushina's chakra chains.

The blond turned to his future mother, only to see her staring at him, open-mouthed.

Naruto simply stared back, nonplussed. "What?"

Her mouth opened and closed a few times before she pointed at him and exclaimed, "The fox knows you! How? Why did this never get talked about all those times before when we were training?"

"You mean you still haven't told her anything yet? Idiot!"

Naruto shot Kurama a small glare. "You know I couldn't. We talked about it before. Besides, it's not like you said anything either. Can you see anything from here at all?"

"No. It's too muffled, unless Kushina decides to visit me for some reason. But since she has no reason to other than to check the seal, I don't see her much. It's not like we ever really talked, either. You know my history."

Holding back a sigh, Naruto instead frowned slightly before nodding at the fox bijuu. Turning back to the redhead, the frown was quickly replaced by a smile at the utterly flabbergasted expression on her face. She focused on him when she saw him point at the fox.

"Do you think you can let the poor guy down? That looks uncomfortable."

"Damn right it is. Nothing like getting an itch and not being able to scratch it. Not to mention a constant stomachache."

Kushina looked too stunned to be able to say anything coherent, though her expression eventually evened out as she sighed. Rubbing her forehead, she simply looked back and forth between the fox and the person she looked towards as an older brother. "This is a dream, right? It's all a dream, and I'm going to wake up any minute."

Naruto couldn't stop the chuckle that escaped his lips. "I'm afraid not. There's a bunch of things I need to tell you, but first... don't make me get down on my knees and beg you to let Kurama down."

"Why do you want... wait, wait... Kurama?"

"Yeah." Naruto jerked his thumb back over his shoulder, in the fox's direction. "That's the fuzzball's name after all."

"Hey! I'm not a fuzzball, brat! I swear, when I get down from here..." the fox let out a decent growl, but it amused Naruto far more than it scared him. Even if Kushina was willing to let the bijuu down, it appeared as though she was quickly deciding to keep him chained up.

Realizing he had to do something about it, the blond thought of something that he believed would make Kurama seem a little less... imposing. Leaning forward conspiratorially, Naruto cupped one of his hands and held it against the side of his mouth, whispering loudly, "So he says. I just think he's a big fuzzball that likes to be rubbed behind the ears, but you didn't hear that from me."

His whisper, if one could call it that, wasn't quiet in the least, and Kurama's enhanced hearing could easily pick it up. The bijuu continued with his low growl, but didn't say anything. Kushina, on the other hand, was now staring at the fox with something resembling awe.

"Pet... behind the ears, you say?"

Naruto nodded slowly as he leaned back and away, looking like the cat who got the canary. "Uh-huh. If you get the right spot, sometimes his back leg does this little kicking thing..."

Kurama stopped growling and quickly looked away, scowling but obviously embarrassed. At almost the exact same time, Kushina let out a squeal, then immediately removed the chakra chains without another thought. Lifting up her shirt so that her midriff was exposed, she made a twisting motion in front of her abdomen. Naruto observed as the seal darkened and the swirl in the center extended, stretching out beyond the boundary line of the original seal. Before it got too far, however, a fancy script appeared around the outside of the old seal line, stopping the swirl before it expanded too far.

Naruto turned to look up at the bijuu, and watched as the stakes disappeared one by one. The earthen ball behind Kurama began to crumble, and then both it and the bijuu fell to whatever invisible surface it was that they were standing on.

As Naruto moved over to greet his old friend who began to stretch, he beckoned for Kushina to follow him. She did quickly fall into step behind him, though she still kept her distance.

Once he got close enough, he held up his fist at Kurama, who had finished stretching and settled to look down at the blond.

"Yo! Sorry it took me so long to get here. I've tried to get as much done as I could before I came to get you, since I knew that once I did that things would begin to change drastically."

Kurama smirked, then moved his large fist to bump against Naruto's, symbolizing their friendship after years of working together."Well, you weren't an idiot for once and actually followed the plan, so I can't complain too much."

Chuckling and shrugging off the barb, Naruto looked over at Kushina, who was pretty much just looking between the two of them in amazement. Waving his hand in the direction of the fox with a great flourish, he said, "Kushina-chan, allow me to introduce you properly to my best friend and partner, Kurama. Also sometimes known as 'His Demon Lordship', 'The Nine Tailed Demon Fox', 'Fuzzball', and- oof!"

Kurama lightly flicked him in the back with a fingernail, sending him sprawling a few feet.

"What have I said about calling me Fuzzball, Birdbrain?"

Naruto climbed back to his feet, dusting the imaginary dirt off his pants as he scowled up at the bijuu. "Hey! I'm not a Birdbrain!"

"Oh yeah? Well what about that time when-"

Kurama's voice trailed off as Kushina bent forward, holding her stomach as she let out peals of laughter. Both Kurama and Naruto looked at each other and grinned, it seemed the first part of their plan to get her to open up had passed.

Still, Naruto couldn't help but feel a bit nervous about what was to come. It was strangely easier with Mikoto, if only because they had no previous interaction, so anything that happened would just happen. His relationship with Kushina was much different though, and he didn't want to strain anything between them. Unfortunately since he took so long to tell her anything about where he came from, it just might.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto decided to begin his tale. If he managed to get away in one piece if she came after him, he'd consider himself lucky. Maybe Kurama would be able to save him. Maybe.

"So let me get this straight. You're from some sort of alternate universe future where I was your mother, Minato was your father, Rin and Obito were dead, Kakashi was a tardy pervert, and you only ever met Mikoto once but were rivals with and eventually ended up killing her son Sasuke. After sixteen years you and Kurama made up when the Fourth war started, and had been fighting it for a few more years before using an old seal from Uzushiogakure that sent you back in time."

The two of them were slowly walking around one of the deserted training areas (Naruto had some clones make sure of that), talking quietly. Naruto nodded slowly, as that was a fairly decent summary over what he had explained in her mindscape. They probably spent about four or five hours talking in the seal, and luckily since their brains worked so much faster than if they were conversing in the real world, to anyone who happened upon them it would have only looked like they were meditating for about fifteen minutes.

Now that they were out, she wanted a quick recap just to make sure that she didn't dream the whole thing.

"That about sums it up, yeah."

Kushina snorted, "It sounds ridiculous. If it wasn't for Kurama agreeing with everything, I don't think I'd believe you. Even having Kurama willing to talk to me after all this time is really weird, but I gave to admit to having known about some pretty crazy things. This is definitely at the top now, though."

Naruto wasn't surprised. He likely wouldn't have believed himself either. Hell, eventually it took him dragging Mikoto to the Hokage to get her to finallybelieve that everything he told her was the truth. She had believed him at first, or so he thought, but over the course of several weeks he began to realize that she likely had a hard time believing every word he said about where he was from. Luckily for him a visit to Hiruzen was all he needed. Hopefully he wouldn't need another for Kushina. Minato would be next, but he had a feeling Minato already knew more, or at least believed he knew more than he let on.

"So, um... Naruto..." Kushina stopped walking, and brought her fingertips up, pressing them together in a timid gesture. "Is it strange for you to look at me and not call me your mother?"

The blond's head shifted to the side a bit when he noticed she was no longer next to him. Her posture was very closed off at the moment, and it reminded him strongly of the Hinata of his time. She was still looking straight ahead, but he could tell that her face had a slightly reddish tint to it.

"At first, yeah," he chuckled. "But it didn't last very long. I had only met you very, very briefly from within my own seal that contained Kurama. I never really knew the you from where I come from. But when I got here I sort of settled into the role of your big brother. It was comfortable, and I could still be close to you without having to worry about messing things up with the timeline."

A short laugh from Kushina cut him off. When he turned to look at her, she shook her head and looked away, trying to hide her face.

"What is it?"

"Nothing... really." She turned to favor him with a shy smile before looking away again. "It's funny to think about it now, but after Mikoto-nee and I heard you talking about us to Ero-Sennin from the hot springs, I started to crush on you a little bit. Of course it was a bit weird because I still loved Minato at the same time, but I was also really interested in you."

Not quite sure what to say to that, Naruto simply settled for scratching at the back of his head and grinning. "Err... I'm flattered, but it wouldn't have worked out."

He listened to her laugh and watched her nod in response. After that, silence settled between them for several moments before she spoke again in a somewhat halting tone.

"U-Um... Naruto... is it still okay if I call you Aniki?"

The blond was quick to nod. "Of course. Besides, when you and Minato have kids I want to be the uncle that gets to spoil them."

When Kushina didn't immediately respond, he was going to ask if something was wrong, but she turned her body in his direction and moved forward quickly, grabbing him into a tight hug. Naruto was surprised at first and eventually came to his senses when he felt her hands clutch at the back of his shinobi vest, hugging him tighter.

He eventually returned the hug. "Kushina-chan?"

"Thank you, Naruto-aniki. Thank you..."

"O-Of course."

They remained like that for a few moments, simply holding each other. Naruto looked around where they were. It was a rather picturesque scene – a few fluffy clouds in the bright blue sky, plenty of green grass below them with trees scattered about here and there. A small stream that acted as a tributary to the Naka river wasn't too far away either, he could hear the faint noise of moving water from where they were.

"So what should I do now?"

"Hm?" Naruto was curious as to what she was referring to.

Kushina released the hug and backed away a step, wiping at her eyes. "I mean, am I the only one that knows this other than Hokage-sama? Of course Hokage-sama knows all this, right?"

"Yes. He was one of the first to know. There are seven others that know... maybe eight, though I've only told five."

"Can you tell me who?" Kushina stopped rubbing at her eyes to stare up at him, obviously eager to find out if it was anyone she knew.

"Sure. Other than Hokage-sama, there is Shimura Danzo, Hatake Sakumo, Yamanaki Inoichi, Mitokado Homura, Utatane Koharu, and Mikoto."

"Inoichi-kun? Really?"

Naruto tapped his temple with a finger. "When I arrived here, he was the one I trusted most from my time to walk my mind. I wanted to extend that trust to now because I know the type of man he will become."

Kushina nodded, tapping at her chin as she looked away. "Mikoto-nee also knows? I know I shouldn't be surprised, but I am. She hasn't said a word to me about it."

"Well, she is my wife, and I didn't want her to marry me and not know who I really am. I think her father also knows some things, but I don't know how much Mikoto and Hokage-sama have told him. I haven't told him anything though, and he hasn't asked either. He just seems to know things. As for not telling you anything... you're the one who does all the talking."

Sticking her tongue out at hime for his last comment, Kushina gave another nod, but didn't say anything further. Silence settled between them once again until an idea popped into Naruto's head. "Hey, I was thinking that it may be possible to change our jinchuuriki seals a bit to allow Kurama's consciousness to travel between us."

"What? How?"

"I still have at least some of Kurama's chakra inside of me," Naruto rubbed his stomach unconsciously, "Though I haven't used any of it, obviously. I didn't need people to start asking questions even though it looks like you've wanted to ask from time to time... I'm pretty sure my control has slipped and you felt it." Naruto grinned a little as Kushina gave him a knowing look and a small nod.

"I didn't really think too much about it before, but now that you mention it... yes."

Naruto grinned. "Anyway, I don't know if the bijuu chakra I have will regenerate without him actually being in my seal. I was thinking of using something similar to Minato's Hiraishin that would allow Kurama to travel back and forth between us. If I can do that, if Tobi ever comes for you then Kurama can just move over to me and there won't be anything to remove from you. He'll just be confused as hell."

Having heard the horrid story of her death, Kushina immediately brightened. "You think that will work?"

"Well, I don't know for sure since I've never heard about anything like that being done before, but it's better than nothing, right?"

Kushina thought about it for another moment before finally agreeing. "You're right. It's been a while since I've bothered doing any fuuinjutsu research, and it beats simply training to beat someone that I may never have to fight if we can get it to work. I promise that no child of mine will be without a parent."

She was staring at him so seriously when she said that, he couldn't help but let out a sigh and immediately relax. "Thank you."

Frowning at him for a moment, Kushina asked, "The way you sighed, was that your objective all along?"

"A part of it. I don't want you, or Minato, or Mikoto to die, obviously. But there may come a time or two that I need to borrow Kurama for a mission or to take care of someone or something before it becomes a problem, you know? Assuming we get the transfer to work, I mean."

Thinking about it for a moment, the redhead crossed her arms over her chest as she stared at the blond with a piercing gaze. Knowing what responsibilities he had as a jinchuuriki, he knew Kushina had the same ones on her. The thought of transferring the bijuu to another, even if it was just temporary... Naruto would have immediately shot it down in his time. The only reason Kushina likely hadn't immediately done the same was because of both who he was and who he claimed to be.

"I'm okay with it, on one condition."

One of Naruto's eyebrows raised slightly, "Which is?"

"Teach me to use Kurama's chakra."

Even though that caught him by surprise, he managed to keep his face even. "If you think back, I've already been trying to train you in a way to prepare to use it. I have no problem training you more, and I'm sure Kurama will be more than happy to stretch his legs again. However, there is a condition to your condition. You'll need to befriend Kurama on your own and prove yourself to him before he'll consent to working with you."

"So how do I do that?"

Naruto shrugged. "Start by talking to him and getting to know him. That's what I did, and he's pretty much one of my best friends now."

As soon as he finished talking, Kushina dropped down to the ground and sat with her legs crossed, taking up a meditative pose. "Alright, I'm gonna get started then."

"Don't take things too fast or he'll just get annoyed. Get to know him normally, because he's just gonna ignore you if you try too hard."

Kushina went to reply, but before she could say anything she froze and her eyes went wide. Then she began to laugh.

Needless to say, Naruto was a bit confused. "What's going on?"

"Kurama heard you. He says 'Tell that brat Naruto to shut up, I'm tired of listening to him talk about me.'"

"Tch, next time I see that furball I'm gonna teach him a lesson," Naruto grumbled.

The redhead grinned at him but didn't really say anything, closing her eyes as she shifted into her meditation. Taking this as a cue to leave, Naruto glanced up at where the sun was in the sky. It was high above, which meant that it was probably about time to get to a meeting he was not really looking forward to.

Looking at Kushina one more time, he bent down and gave her a gentle kiss on the forehead before heading off towards the Hokage's office.

"Enter."

Quickly entering the room and closing the door behind him, Naruto took a look around. He wasn't surprised to see that he was one of only three people in the room, the other two being the Hokage and Orochimaru.

A part of him was always antsy whenever the pale man was nearby, but over the years he had gotten used to it. He had been expecting to have some kind of confrontation with the man regarding the status of Anko, but surprisingly nothing happened. That made him wonder why Orochimaru had chosen the girl in the first place. The Anko from his time had remembered nothing about it, but had lost most of her memories of that time anyway and tried not to dwell on it.

"Ah, Naruto-kun. Thank you for showing up. Since you're both here, we can just go ahead and get started a little early."

Naruto nodded his head as he stepped up next to Orochimaru, while the man himself replied with a quiet 'Yes, sensei'.

Seeing them both standing there, Hiruzen leaned back slightly in his seat and crossed his arms over his chest. "Orochimaru, would you like to explain the purpose behind your laboratories?"

The snake summoner's head tilted to the side slightly, but he appeared otherwise unperturbed. "I've already explained their functions to you, sensei."

"Yes, about most of them." Hiruzen stared straight at his student. "I'm talking about the two we discovered in sector B4, as well as the one in C7. I don't recall you telling me anything about those."

Naruto was trying to observe Orochimaru without appearing too obvious; currently the man was acting as if there was nothing at all wrong.

"My apologies, sensei... these labs were not really being used for more than storage, so I didn't really think they needed to be mentioned."

The Hokage simply sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Perhaps I should start this conversation another way. Orochimaru-kun, let me formally introduce you to Uchiha Naruto, the Rokudaime Hokage."

Orochimaru turned to look at the blond, first with surprise, but then pure confusion worked its way ontos his face. Naruto would have laughed had the situation not been so serious.

"Roku... but didn't you just decide upon the Yondaime? Not to mention a Godaime."

Hiruzen chuckled, "Well, I know who the Godaime might have been, but it's only a matter of waiting for the war to end before Minato takes up his position full time. But let's not wander too far and instead cut to the chase. Naruto-kun is from the future, and traveled to the past through the use of a very complex seal he discovered in the ruins of Uzushiogakure."

Orochimaru's eyes immediately began to glow, "A seal you say? Can we organize a group to go there and recover-"

The Hokage held up his hand, stalling the comment. "I've already long since dispatched a team to destroy that particular ruin. Naruto-kun is the only one here with the knowledge, and it will die with him unless a situation arises where it is needed. Like the situation he found himself in before coming here."

The pale man simply turned to Naruto, as if waiting for him to continue the explanation. Figuring he might as well, he began to explain, "We were in the middle of the Fourth Shinobi World War. We were losing. Badly."

"Konoha was losing?"

"No. The entire world was losing. It was all of us against one madman."

Orochimaru's eyebrows shot upwards before his eyes quickly narrowed. "Are you trying to imply that it was me?"

"No, you've been dead to the best of our knowledge – or were dead, rather – for about a year before the war started."

That comment completely stunned the man, who took an involuntary step backward. "Wh-What? Dead? How?"

"A man named Uchiha Sasuke."

Orochimaru looked between the Hokage and the blond, gauging both for a moment before speaking again. "Am I to assume this little meeting is to ask me for my continued cooperation with whatever I'm doing in exchange for having this... Sasuke... taken care of?"

"That won't be necessary," Naruto began, "since Sasuke will no longer exist as the person I knew him as. He was my classmate. But I'm from the future, remember?"

"Yes, and?"

"He's Uchiha Sasuke. I'm now Uchiha Naruto. Not to mention the fact that I've completely – if unintentionally – eliminated the chance of him returning to the way he was by marrying his mother."

"You mean... Uchiha Mikoto?"

"Yes. My wife now was his mother in my past. She had married Uchiha Fugaku."

"I see." Orochimaru was eyeing him warily now. "So what is my purpose for being here?"

Naruto sighed before sitting down in one of the chairs, trying to appear completely relaxed so that he wouldn't set the man any further on edge. If he made him bolt early, there would be no salvaging the situation.

"I convinced the old man here that while you became a monster in my time, you were still a genius. You came up with many incredible techniques that could see quite a few useful and practical applications. The only problem was giving you something that would keep you interested, as you didn't truly become a monster until you started experimenting on children and newborns – taking them from orphanages during the war and sometimes directly from their parents. Even I might have been able to overlook how distasteful that was if you had been taking them from places outside of Konoha... but you took them from in the village too."

To Orochimaru's credit, even he looked rather shocked and sickened from what his counterpart had done. Apparently he hadn't fallen that far yet, which Naruto considered to be a very good thing.

"It's no secret that you had aspirations for the Hokage position, but I'm going to tell you now that you'll have to give that up. It would be pointless to put someone with your talent behind a desk doing paperwork all day. After brainstorming a bit, the old man and I have come up with a few ideas that we'd like to run by you."

The two of them began explaining the situation to the snake summoner, starting from the very beginning of what they knew about him. Naruto had to fill in most of the information based upon the Orochimaru that he knew once upon a time. While they were adamant about him not experimenting on young children anymore, they were still alright with experiments so long as there were no abductions. Asking for volunteers and paying them for their service was something that even Hiruzen was willing to have the village fund, to a certain extent.

The Hokage was also willing to allow potentially lethal experiments on notoriously bad criminals, bandits, nukenin and their ilk. But even that would be under strict observation.

"Essentially we want you to be in charge of a new division within Konoha. You'll report directly to the Hokage, whoever the Jonin-Commander at the time is, and myself. You'll focus on medical advancements and the creation of advanced medical shinobi, while at times also operating under the radar and performing subterfuge."

Orochimaru was sitting there, obviously absorbing all this with glee. The more they put on the table, the easier it was for him to marginalize the loss of having stricter experimentation constraints. The ability to do his own thing

"We realize some experiments may be too risky to keep here in Konoha proper," Hiruzen began, "so Naruto-kun had a pretty good idea. At one point once you left Konoha, you created a village of your own called Sound in Rice Field Country. He says it wasn't a true village, but it was more a series of fortified bunkers and caves that you used for your operations."

The pale man turned to look questioningly at the blond, who nodded. "It's true. I'd suggest that you recreate at least some of what it was soon after the war ends, and make better use of the Fuma clan than you did last time around. Not only that, but I have a list of people who you should keep an eye out for that worked under you before, and perhaps would be willing to again. Keep in mind a lot of them aren't even born yet, so you'll have to wait a few years for the largest bulking up of your division.

"Unlike when you made Sound, you'll have the backing of Konoha after this. A lot of the other villages will be upset with us making bases all over, but by the same token we've held back from this war because the other villages know how powerful we are now. Once we do enter the war, the ending will be swift and decisive, so no one will bat an eyelash when we tell them it's the best way to make sure peace is maintained."

It was a stretch to ask the man to wait that long, not to mention how obvious it was that they were telling Orochimaru he could do his own thing outside of Konoha proper so long as he didn't go against them. Naruto knew it, Hiruzen knew it, and it was obvious to the both of them that Orochimaru knew it. "I see. Is there anything else?"

Naruto and Hiruzen looked at each other, and the Hokage gave the blond a short shake of his head. Naruto turned to look at Orochimaru once again, "Not right now, no. Start coming up with plans and pass it by us, and if you have any questions about the future you can ask me. I'll tell you what I can, but keep in mind that I would still like to keep things as close to the original timeline as possible so we can have some kind of warning about what will happen. There are already a bunch of things that have changed so as time drags on, I'll be doing more guessing than anything else."

"I understand." Orochimaru looked towards the door, and then back at the Hokage. "If you'll excuse me, sensei, I have many plans to write down that I shall run by you and Naruto-san later. Am I permitted to ask Tsunade and Jiraiya for assistance?"

"So long as you do it tomorrow. My next meeting is with those two, to bring them up to speed."

"Yes, sensei. Thank you." Orochimaru gave Hiruzen a quick bow before turning to Naruto and doing the same. Once done, he promptly moved to exit the room, likely excited about future prospects.

"I think that went well."

Naruto nodded towards Hiruzen, "That it did. I was trying not to imagine all sorts of horrible scenarios. But since he'll be having constant consultations with the both of us, we will hopefully be able to keep him well behaved and helping us this time around."

"I agree. If not, I have confidence that you or I would be able to put him down. Anyway... would you like to go get something to eat before our next meeting?"

"Sure, anything in mind?" Naruto began to stretch as he stood up from the chair, trying not to think about what he was told the last time Sarutobi tried to 'put Orochimaru down'.

"Well, rumor has it that there is this really good ramen stand that you and Minato often visit..."

The meeting with the other two members of the Densetsu no Sannin went exactly as Naruto had expected it to. Jiraiya was all over him asking about the success of his novels, while Tsunade merely took it in stride, claiming that there were several suspicious things about him that never quite added up. Still, she chose to trust him considering his position in the village and the fact that her sensei obviously trusted him. It also explained why he insisted on continuing to use ridiculous nicknames for them.

Their meeting was shorter than the one with Orochimaru, but no less important. Tsunade agreed to start a regimen and work with Orochimaru to get more medical ninja into their active roster, while Jiraiya had agreed with Naruto about finding Nagato once again before the Third War got into full swing. Hiruzen, meanwhile, was going to have a long talk with Danzo and try to keep any ideas out of his head about conspiring with Hanzo. Naruto was fuzzy on the details, but he gleaned enough from the chat he had with Nagato to know that it was one of the man's major turning points – if not the most important one.

At least those meetings were interesting, if not only because he was changing fate, but because they were largely important and he knew that doing these things now would make the future a better place. The meeting he was in now, sadly, was nowhere near as entertaining.

"-all we were able to get from them, Mikoto-sama. My apologies."

The blond watched as his wife shook her head and sighed. "It's understandable, Takeru-san. I can understand why they wouldn't want to move. I'll go talk to them tomorrow and see if we can come to an understanding. Is there anything else?"

"No, Mikoto-sama."

"Very well. Dismissed."

The young man named Takeru rose from his kneeling position, and upon offering Mikoto and Naruto both a quick bow, he left the room and closed the sliding door behind him. As soon as the footsteps of his departure completely disappeared, Mikoto let out a huge sigh and leaned back, sprawling across the floor.

"Tired?" Naruto couldn't hold back a chuckle.

Mikoto simply tossed him a half-hearted glare. "Of course I am. Listening to people whine and complain would take it out of anyone."

"True. At least there isn't nearly as much when you first took over a year ago."

All he got in response was a grunt, causing him to smile. It was true that there was less and less for her to do, which he interpreted as a good sign. They'd been making huge strides in getting the clan to be rather self-sufficient and not reliant on those in charge to take care of everything. There were still complicated matters that had to be brought before him and Mikoto, of course... however they were slowly but surely shrinking in number.

"Mmmm... Narutooooo..." his wife moaned as she stretched.

"Yes?" Naruto graced her once again with an amused smile.

Mikoto rolled over so that she was facing him. "I've been doing some thinking lately."

Naruto waited for her to continue, but she didn't. She had her eyes closed and an expectant expression on her face, as if she was waiting for him to ask...

"About?"

Her eyes immediately opened and she smiled at him. "I want to start a family. Having Anko around has been making me think about it more and more."

The blond felt his heart lurch at that comment. It had always been a dream of his, and there was no doubt whatsoever that they could afford to start a family, but he had made a habit of respecting Mikoto's wishes and rarely pushed his own ideas upon her unless she asked for them. He had been ready for a kid six months into their marriage, but Mikoto wanted to wait until they had the clan firmly under their control. She didn't want either of them to have to deal with a child on top of their current responsibilities. It was a good choice, as the stress from her taking on the leadership of the Uchiha clan could have posed problems to her health and that of her child... something he wasn't willing to risk.

Ninja life was already stressful enough.

"If you feel you're ready, then I'm good to start whenever you are."

"Really?" Mikoto chuckled, and her smile turned into a sly grin as she adjusted herself from where she was laying. Rolling over completely, she got onto her hands and knees and started crawling towards him. "What if I said I wanted to get started right now?"

Naruto's eyebrows had almost jumped up all the way to his hairline. "W-What? Here? Are you serious?"

"Mmhmm." Mikoto was taking her time getting over to him, moving slow and sensuously while staring into his eyes. Where had the nervous Mikoto gone when they were first starting to get to know each other?

Oh, right. That Mikoto had disappeared once she and Kushina had somehow gotten ahold of one of Jiraiya's Icha Icha manuscripts - probably one he had been proof-reading for the man. Once she figured out exactly how much power she could hold over him, she never let it go.

Not that he was complaining. Of course not.

"Shouldn't we at least, I don't know... block the door?"

"I have no more scheduled meetings. No one else should even be in the building."

She had finally reached him, and slowly pulled herself up by placing her hands on his shoulders.

"That's true, but isn't there always that one last person that shows up with an emergency when you least expect it?"

"Hmmm... I'm still finding myself not really caring."

Mikoto had managed to climb up and into his lap now, and straddled him, wrapping her long legs around his waist. Her hands began playing with the zipper on the front of his vest, slowly pulling it down.

"We do tend to make a lot of noise, you know? I haven't put up silencing seals around here, so don't you think tha-"

His speech was cut off as Mikoto forcefully kissed him, pressing her body up against his. The kiss itself only lasted for a few seconds before she pulled back, and stared straight at him.

"I want a bed, darling."

All it took was a quick one-handed seal and they almost immediately appeared in their bedroom.

"I guess it's a good thing I know how to use the Hiraishin. Just don't tell Minato yet, okay?" The wink that followed caused a smile to break the look of surprise on Mikoto's face, but even that smile turned into more of a perverted leer as she forcefully pushed him back on their bed.

"You want my silence? It will cost you."

"How much?" At this point, Naruto knew she was just playing with him. He couldn't help but be drawn in and play along.

"Quite a lot, I'm afraid," Mikoto whispered before she licked her lips. Climbing over him, she started tugging on the zipper of her own jonin vest. "I hope you're prepared, because it's going to take all night to pay what you owe."