Beneath the Surface

by Darkauroras

Summary:

Uzumaki Naruto’s life was what many people wished they could have had. A home. A loving Mother and Father. Wealth. And everything was great.

Except it wasn’t.

Naruto inherited his mother’s illness. Who was also so overbearing and protective that he could hardly see a decision done by himself. His Father was around when he could be, but he was distant when it came to her. And it all boiled down to him being the centerpiece of their relationship and dynamics of their marriage. Without him there was no marriage, yet his Mother treated him like an emotional anchor. When all he wanted to do was make his own choices.

Chapter 1: Hot Water

Every son adored their Mother, it was natural. Who didn’t enjoy hugs and tasty meals from the woman who brought you into this world? And she had all the affection in the world to help you become who you were today. She clothed you, fed you, took care of you, and she was half of you. Who didn’t love their Mother?

He always did, ever since he could remember her first.

The scorching water of the shower was the only thing that settled him. He would soon be learning the ropes of the Konoah Company; that’s where his Father worked as CEO and his Mother encouraged him to follow in those steps. 

It wasn’t like he was dumb or not capable of learning school stuff. But college wasn’t for him. The idea of sitting there for four to six more years studying books sounded far from what he imagined as ‘fun’ for anyone but Sakura.

Speaking of her, he saw she updated her social media status to currently in a relationship with Uchiha Sasuke. His best friend and brother in all meanings of the word. He always told him to just do it and go out on date with her. 

“Naruto! You’re going to be a wrinkled old man about time you get out of that shower!”

He sighed, he had two choices, deny or accept. 

The water crawled to a halt and Naruto shouted, “I had a long day, Mom! I’ll be out in a little while, promise!”

“I’m making your favorite meal today, so you better keep that promise! Your Father should be home in another hour or two!”

The water started again and he closed his eyes, the comforting sensation back on his skin which made it easy to continue his thoughts.

His Mother was in every sense of the word a hothead. Whenever something happened and someone tried to blame him she was there, denying every allegation, lawyer on speed dial, and protecting him as a Mother would her kid, especially her pride and joy, her only son.

He couldn’t lie and say that it made him feel special, as special as a kid like him could be. With an illness that would follow him for the rest of his life. The Kyubi Strain; that’s what Doctor Grandma Tsuande called it. His Mother had it, and her mother had it, and so did he. 

It was a mental problem that affected the development of the left cerebral cortex of their brains and some other things she said. But it was livable, his great grandma had lived until she was 140 his Mother told him, and she was always sweet and very intelligent. And really liked ramen, which she must have passed through her genes. His Dad didn’t like it as much as they did, but he certainly ate a good amount whenever it was on the dinner table 

“Naruto!”  This time her voice was closer, she was inside his room and banging on the bathroom’s door. “Get out of the shower! Don’t make me come in there!”

The time he estimated since he had turned on the shower again was only like 15 minutes and here she was again.

“Mom let me be. I’m trying to clean real good.”

“No. It’s almost been two hours and you’re still in the shower, it’s time to get out.”

“I’ll get out in a minute.”

That was the wrong answer, because he soon heard the lock of the door’s knob jingle and twist before the creak of the door followed, which sent out the massive clouds of hot steamy air that had condensed inside his bathroom.

“Do you think this is a sauna like the one at the TeaSpring Hotel?”

“Ma-”

“Don’t you even think about answering that; it was  rhetorical.”

Naruto sighed and turned the water off for the last time, wiping the shower glass off enough to see his Mother glaring at him with her arms cross and violet eyes that spoke for themselves.

“Towel,” she handed it to him.

“Aren’t I too old for this?” He reached and took the towel, wrapping it around his lower half.

“Apparently not, because ever since you flunked out of university you have been moping around here. What happened to my son that always had a big goofy grin like his Mother?”

“Maybe because I didn’t want to go to university and you two made me,”  Naruto muttered the words under his breath. But it was true, they wanted great things from him. His Father rose from the bottom up to get to where he was today, but he wasn’t him. Not in the conventional sense. 

“What was that, Mister?”

“Nothing, Mom.”

Kushina closed the door behind her and walked directly up to him, despite her son towering over her, she didn’t fear him in the slightest. He was still her child, but disrespect wasn’t tolerated.

She grabbed his face and forced him to look at her, “No. Since you have so much to say. Tell me. Tell me how we made you go to university?”

He wanted to sigh again but he knew it would only make her more upset. She would cry and throw stuff, then not talk at all for the entire day until his Father showed up and made him apologize.

“You know I wanted to go to the military. Join the Anbu.”

“What does that have to do with what you just said?”

“You told the recruiter about my condition.”

“Because…” Kushina let go of his face, “I didn’t want you to get hurt.”

“So you lied and told me in my eyes you didn’t know why I got rejected all of a sudden? After all my paper work was almost done and cleared?”

Naruto could see the red disapaiting from her face, the guilt hidden, but he knew. Sasuke went. Itachi went. Hell, even Kiba joined the military. Everyone but him. 

“Mom.”

Kushina turned her head back to look at him. And there it was… the waterworks that he could see building up in her eyes.

He wrapped his arms around her and held her close, “Here it goes.” Every time he mentioned this subject, this is what she did. She would get mad, then upset, then cry. And he would have to man up and make her feel better.

“I’m sorry. I know you want the best for me.”

The words did little to stop the constant sobs that were coming from her, but at this point, it was routine and what sympathy he once had was turning into apathy for the entire thing. Still he felt like the bad guy. Who made their Mother cry? Him, apparently. And while didn’t say anything. Just holding while the steam curled around her like a phantom. The towel slipped from his hands, forgotten, as guilt and irritation twisted together like barbed wire in his chest. 

He felt guilty. He was never allowed to be angry—not really. Her tears always came first, and it became a script: her pain, his apology, her forgiveness, his guilt. Then his Father would come in and everything would be fine, eventually. He often wondered how his Mother was before he came into their life; was she as protective of his Father, as she was with him? He didn’t want to say controlling, but there was a point where he wouldn’t answer when she called. 

“I have to get dressed for dinner, Mom. I’ll be down there soon, okay.”

“…Alright,” she finally said, her voice softer now, like she regretted how loud she’d gotten earlier. “Just don’t make me call you twice. And put on the blue sweater, your Father likes that one.”

She then closed the door behind her with that same slow, deliberate care she always used when she was trying not to slam it. A peace offering in itself.

Naruto stood there in the fogged mirror, towel still clinging to his hips, watching the water trail down his neck and collarbone like tiny rivers. He didn’t feel clean. Not really.

Just… empty. 

And when he came out of the bathroom, the blue sweater was already laid out on his bed.

Notes:

Chapter 2: Middleman

Chapter 2: Middle Man

The table was already set when Naruto came downstairs. 

Kushina’s hands were hard at work, placing chopsticks and adjusting the dishes until the steam rose like incense. Her hair was pinned up, a few strands falling loose from the rush of preparing dinner. She always cooked like it was a holiday, even when it wasn’t.

“You wore the sweater,” she said, without turning to look at him. Her voice carried something like relief. Or victory.

Naruto gave a noncommittal shrug and took his seat. The chair creaked under him. Familiar.

“Where’s Dad?”

“Almost home,” she said, stirring the miso soup. “He said he’s just finishing up at the office. Important meeting with the board. He’s trying to make more time lately, you know.”

Naruto nodded, eyes drifting to the clock. It was already past eight. His Father and being on time were like oil and water, not that he blamed him for not wanting to be at home. 

His Mother sat across from him. Her eyes lingered a bit too long. Her smile was tired. Ever since she quit working, since she gave birth to him, after complications with her pregnancy because of the attack on the hospital, she had been home. At least, that’s what his Dad told him.

“I made pork cutlets. Just how you like them.”

“You didn’t have to—”

“Of course I did. You haven’t been eating right lately. You’ve lost weight. Look at your face.”

“I look the same.”

“You don’t.” She reached across the table, brushing his bangs aside with her fingers. “I can always tell when something’s wrong.”

“Maybe I’m just tired.”

The door opened in the distance. Footsteps. Then the soft clink of keys in a ceramic bowl.

“Smells amazing,” Minato’s voice called from the hall. “Did I miss the feast?”

“In here!” Kushina said, standing quickly to greet him, wiping her hands on a towel. Naruto stayed seated.

Minato came into the dining room, loosening his tie. His smile was easy. Relaxed. He looked at Naruto and gave him a nod. 

“Hey, kiddo. You okay?”

“Fine.”

“Long day?” 

“He’s just being mopey again,” Kushina was already setting rice in front of them. “Too much time in his head.”

Minato chuckled; he always did when he didn’t want to take sides. “Ah… well, he gets that from you.”

“No, he gets it from you,” Kushina said as she sat beside him. “But you’re both here. That’s what matters.”

Naruto stared at the steam rising from his plate, the smell of soy hitting something in his chest. He was here. That’s what mattered. That was always the message, wasn’t it? Be here. Be good. Don’t push too hard. Don’t pull away.

He picked up his chopsticks, chewing slowly as his parents began talking about board meetings and weekend errands, as if everything in their lives was planned out already. As if he had nothing to say.

Minato took a sip of his tea, barely hiding the sigh behind the rim of his cup.

“So,” he said carefully, eyes on Naruto, “did you give any more thought to the opportunity? I sent the packet over email this morning. You can start shadowing me tomorrow.” 

Kushina’s head turned. “I thought we agreed to wait a little before pressuring him.”

Minato didn’t respond right away. “It’s just a suggestion, Kushina.”

“He just came back from a doctor’s appointment. I told you that. His levels have been off.”

Naruto looked down at his bowl. He didn’t want to be here. And yet, this was exactly where they always placed him, between his mother’s worry and his father’s expectation.

Minato’s chopsticks clinked against the plate. “I wasn’t aware you were his physician now.”

“I know my son,” she said, turning fully to face Minato now. “I don’t need a lab coat to see when he’s struggling.”

“Struggling?” Minato looked at Naruto now. “Is that true? Are you still having episodes?”

Naruto stiffened. The word— episodes —felt clinical, detached. Not angry. Just… distant.

“I’m fine,” he muttered. “Can we not—”

“He’s not fine,” Kushina cut in, voice rising just a notch. “You should’ve seen how long he stayed in the shower today. Practically cooked himself alive. You wouldn’t know that, though, would you?”

“Because I was working. Like I always do.”

Naruto pushed a piece of pork around his plate, his appetite long gone.

“Can we just eat?” 

Neither of them heard him.

“I’m not the enemy here, Kushina.”

“No, but you’re barely a father sometimes.”

That was the kind of thing she said that made Naruto feel like air. Like furniture. A placeholder for a marriage that didn’t quite fit anymore.

Minato rubbed the bridge of his nose. “We’re not doing this right now.”

“Right. Because we never do it. We wait until it falls apart and expect Naruto to clean it up.”

And that was the moment the silence hit, sharp as glass.

Minato looked at Naruto. So did Kushina. Like they both realized, again, who was caught in the middle.

Naruto didn’t speak. He just stood up slowly and carried his bowl to the sink. He didn’t say he was finished. He didn’t have to. Behind him, the sound of cutlery faded. Then the chairs moved. He was over it.

“I’ll be in my room,” he said, not turning back. 

He walked faster than his Mother could pull herself up from her chair; he didn’t want to be chased. It was a waste of time when he didn’t want to be bothered with any of this bullshit right now. His room, being upstairs, was his hideaway from it all. The portraits slumped on the wall, their family during happier times, better times. Or that’s what he thought of it anyway. Maybe he was too young to see how things were really like then, false portrayals of the two people he had grown to love all his life.  

Soon enough he found himself in front of his room’s door, twisting the knob and closing the door behind as he fell face first into the oasis of comfort. This was home. This is where he wanted to be when nowhere else felt like home. One arm over his eyes, his sweater still clinging damp to his back. The ceiling fan spun lazily above him, too slow to be useful, too steady to distract. His phone buzzed once, a text from Sakura.

“Hope you're okay. Let me know if you wanna talk.”

He didn’t reply. It was about yesterday. He didn’t feel okay. But more than that, he didn’t feel like explaining why . How could he when relationships with people were like learning a new language? 

A knock at the door came, two soft taps. The kind that gave you a chance to pretend you were asleep.

Dad .

“Naruto?” his father’s voice called, muffled. “You okay?”

Naruto didn’t move, not at first. But the door cracked open anyway, and Minato stepped inside. His blond hair was slightly mussed, jacket still on.

“I was thinking,” Minato said, voice too casual, “maybe we take a drive. Just you and me.”

Naruto slowly lowered his arm and looked at him, “Where?”

“No place in particular. Just needed some air. Figured you might, too.”

He didn’t say because of your mother . He didn’t have to.

Naruto sat up, legs dangling off the bed. “Yeah. Okay.”

Minato gave a small, relieved smile. “I’ll start the car.”

The hallway was quiet. His Mother was either cleaning up or stewing in silence downstairs. Probably both. Naruto had long since ditched the blue sweater, opting for his hoodie from the back of the chair, which was still warm from the dryer, and slipped out the door without a word. His Mother wouldn’t be happy, but when was he?

---

The inside of the car smelled like leather and pine-scented air freshener. Minato drove with one hand on the wheel, the other tapping lightly against his knee.

The city rolled by outside, neon signs bleeding across the windshield, orange from the streetlamps trailing them like ghosts. They didn’t talk for a while. The city’s light told a story of its own. They trailed the highway passing through the city and its sights. 

Then, Minato said, “You know your mom… she worries.”

Naruto stared ahead. How wouldn’t he know? She spared no opportunity to tell him those words. 

“I know.”

“She’s always been that way. Since before you were born. When that man attacked the hospital… I-She just is always on edge about something. I think... It’s how she shows love.”

“It feels like control.”

Minato didn’t argue.

“Yeah.”

“I’m not great at this. Talking, I mean. But you’re not alone, Naruto. Even if it feels like it sometimes.”

“It doesn’t feel like I’m alone,” Naruto said. “It feels like I’m two people . One for you. One for her.”

That landed harder than either of them expected.

“I’m sorry, kiddo.”

Naruto looked at him. Not angry. Just… tired. “You always say that. And then we go back to the same thing.”

Minato didn’t answer. He just kept driving.

And Naruto turned to the window, watching his reflection blur against the city lights, half boy, half ghost. Always somewhere in between. 

“I always wonder how you dealt with being an only child, Sakura?” 

She was the first person he texted or called when things weren’t going well. It created a divide in his past relationships, but he needed his best friend’s advice, which was blunt and straightforward, and whether he wanted to hear it or not, she spoke her mind. Which was appreciated when everyone around you said things for you but not to you. He could remember how they met at the private school and how she and Ino were a popular duo. While he and Sasuke were popular in their own right, something they weren’t focused on, only beating each other in sports.

Minato turned off the main road, headlights casting shadows as they pulled into a small lot tucked between two older buildings.

Naruto blinked, recognizing the bright red sign before they even parked.

Ichiraku Ramen. A little run-down, a little forgotten, but it always smelled like heaven. The air around it was warm, even in the chill of night.

Minato cut the engine. “I didn’t get to eat much at dinner,” he said. “Thought maybe I could make it up to you here. It’s been a while since we did this.”

Naruto cracked a small smile, barely there, but real. 

“You hate ramen.”

Minato shrugged, smiling back. “I’m not the one eating six bowls every chance he gets.”

“You got me there, Dad.”

“Right on, but if we keep sitting here, Old Man Teuchi is going to close on us.”

“The Old Man wouldn’t dare?”

“Trust me, he would. You should have seen your Mom’s face back in the day when he did it to her.”

Naruto gulped. If he closed down on his Mother, he was certainly in no better position.

“Let’s hurry then. I love their ramen.”

They walked in together. The bell over the door gave a cheerful jingle, out of sync with the steps they both carried in. The place was nearly empty, just an older couple in the back and a man hunched over a newspaper at the bar. A sign that they were close to closing. 

Teuchi, the old owner, perked up behind the counter. “Well I’ll be damned. Look who wandered back in.”

“Hey, old man,” Naruto called out. It was instinctual here, easier. The aroma of food certainly made it easier to take the mind off.

“Still breathing, I see. You want the usual?”

“Yeah,” Naruto said, slipping into the booth near the window. “Double miso pork. Extra narutomaki.”

Minato took the seat across from him. “Make that two,” he said.

Teuchi raised a brow. “Since when do you eat like your Son and Wife for that matter, Minato?”

“Trying something new,” Minato replied with a smile.

The man wandered off, muttering about “kids these days,” and Naruto leaned his head back against the booth. “You didn’t eat anything?”

“Wasn’t hungry. Not for food, anyway.”

Naruto looked out the window. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to feel anymore.”

Minato tapped his fingers against the table, then stopped. “You don’t have to feel anything for us. Not right now. I think you’ve been feeling too much for both of us for too long.”

“Then why do I still feel like I’m disappointing you? Her?”

Minato didn’t answer right away. The steam from the kitchen began to rise, curling around the edges of the room like ghosts from old memories.

“Because we’re not doing a good job,” Minato said. “That’s not on you.”

Naruto didn't say anything, but for the first time in a while, the silence between them didn’t feel strange. It was…

The bowls arrived, hot and heavy, loaded with all the nutrients for a growing man, their scent rich and grounding.

Naruto stared at his for a second before picking up his chopsticks.

“Mom would be mad if she knew we were eating this late.”

“Then it’s our secret.”

They clinked chopsticks like a toast. Then started to devour the bowls like fresh water in the desert, Father and Son both had little worry without someone breathing down their neck. And while their bond had been distant, Minato knew how to get his son’s happiness: a hot bowl of ramen from his and Kushina’s favorite place. He’d just have to remember to bring her takeout as an apology.

“Whatever happened to that girl you used to bring around?” Minato looked up over his chopsticks.

Naruto paused mid-bite. “Who?”

“You know… quiet one. Long hair. Always bowed at everything.” Minato waved his chopsticks vaguely. “Uh… Hinata, was it?”

Naruto dropped his gaze to the broth, swirled it absently with a spoon.

“That ended a while ago,” he muttered. “Didn’t go well.”

“Sorry to hear that.”

Naruto shrugged, trying to play it off, but the dip in his lips gave him away. “It wasn’t anything crazy. She just… let her dad walk all over her. It got hard to watch. I’d say something, and she’d just nod and try to make peace.”

“Like someone else you know?” Minato offered.

Naruto didn’t answer. Just sipped at his broth.

“I don’t mean that as a jab,” Minato added. “It’s just… you notice these things when they’re familiar.”

“I didn’t want to fix her. I just didn’t want to be someone else who stood by while she shrank.”

“Did you love her?”

“I think I loved the idea of us. But it didn’t last.”

Minato watched him for a long second, then smiled. “I always liked her. But I get it.”

“After that, I got close to her sister. Hanabi.”

Minato raised an eyebrow. “You dated Hanabi?”

“Off and on. She’s nothing like her sister. Loud. Brash. Says whatever she wants. You never know where you stand with her.”

“Sounds exhausting.”

“Eh. But at least I don’t feel like I’m the only one with a spine in the room. Mom didn’t like her as much as she did Hinata, but it was cool.”

There was a long pause, both men staring at what was left in their bowls.

“Do you think,” Minato said, “you’re drawn to people who make you feel like you’re not your mother’s son?”

Naruto didn’t look up. “I think I don’t know who I am outside of her.”

Minato nodded, quietly, as though he’d been waiting to hear those words.

“I think,” he said, “that’s the first honest thing you’ve said about yourself in a long time.”

“Can I start shadowing you tomorrow, Dad?”

“You want to?”

“Yeah. I need to get out of the house.”

“Cool. We’ll leave early in the morning to get ahead of the traffic, and I’ll introduce you to some people. I’m proud of you, Naruto. I know I don’t say it a lot, but I am.”

“Thanks, Dad.”

“Want another bowl?”

“Yes!”

---

Upstairs, the house was too quiet. Kushina hated the silence. It made her think too much. She would’ve preferred the usual noise of the television, the clink of plates at the dinner table, or Naruto’s voice calling from his room. But for now, it was just her, wandering through his things. After all, she didn’t get invited to take a ‘ride’ from the house. 

It wasn’t like she wasn’t used to being alone. Cleaning and taking care of the house, more specifically, Naruto’s room. She had done it a million times before, folding his laundry, straightening his books, wiping away fingerprints from his desk. She was his mother; this was her territory. Her home.

She found herself at his dresser again, just a habit now, checking the small corners of his life that seemed to accumulate over time. She opened the drawer absentmindedly, eyes scanning his things. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust him; it was just that he sometimes left things lying around like pieces of a puzzle, and she liked knowing where all the pieces fit.

But today, something caught her attention.

At the bottom of the drawer, wedged between a pile of old, mismatched socks, she found something she hadn’t expected.

A necklace.

The chain was delicate, silver, and the fan-shaped pendant caught the light as she picked it up, her fingers brushing over the metal. She recognized it instantly—the Uchiha clan crest. Her heart stuttered, a jolt of surprise running through her as she held it. Her thoughts immediately raced back. It had been one of those summer nights, years ago, when she and Mikoto had stayed up late talking. Mikoto had always been calm, composed, so different from her. And yet, she was someone Kushina had trusted completely, an anchor when the world around her was a whirlwind.

Kushina’s fingers trembled as she ran her thumb over the crest, memories flooding back. Mikoto had always kept things to herself, unlike her. She had never been one to share everything, always keeping her cards close. But there had been moments, here and there, between her and Naruto. Little things, subtle looks exchanged when they thought no one was watching, a shared joke at a family gathering. It was always easy to miss at first, but looking back, Kushina knew.

She remembered once, when Naruto had been particularly restless, talking about his future after the fallout with his university studies. Mikoto had placed a hand on his shoulder, murmuring something Kushina couldn’t quite hear, but Naruto had smiled in a way he rarely did when others were around.

Another time, after a particularly hard day, Naruto lingered in the kitchen, making ramen for himself late afternoon. Mikoto had just arrived, and without saying much, she had taken a seat next to him at the counter, keeping him company as he slurped. Kushina had been in the other room, watching through the doorframe, the two of them laughing as Naruto told her about something stupid he did. The way Mikoto's eyes softened, the way Naruto seemed to relax into her presence, it was more than just friendly. It had felt like something else.

And now here it was, a piece of Mikoto’s existence tucked away in his drawer, a reminder that her son had moments with her that didn’t include her. A part of him that didn’t belong to her.  The realization hit her harder than expected. She felt something hot stir in her chest, an emotion she couldn’t quite place. It wasn’t jealousy, not exactly. It was something worse, something that twisted uncomfortably in her stomach. She was his godmother, so it made sense that he kept something of her. Still, why didn’t she ever bring it up? Was it a secret? Or something else was going on that she didn’t know was happening?

She folded the necklace carefully in her hands, carefully turning it over, her thumb tracing the engraving on the back, Mikoto’s faint handwriting:

"For luck. You’re stronger than you think. Don’t let anyone put out your fire, not even her."
—Mikoto

The words felt too pointed. Too... intimate. It wasn’t just a necklace. It was Mikoto’s message to Naruto. A message hidden in plain sight, tucked away in a drawer. It stung. A wound she hadn’t even realized existed. Was her best friend sleeping with her, Son? It couldn’t be, but who was this ‘her’ exactly? An ex-girlfriend? Hinata? Ino? Hanabi? Someone she didn’t know? The world outside the small room seemed to stretch farther and farther away as the emotions hit her all at once. She had always known there was something between Naruto and Mikoto, something she could never fully name. A connection she couldn’t reach.

But this? This was different.

A shiver ran through her as she placed the necklace back in the drawer. Her hands were trembling, though she couldn’t explain why. She closed the drawer slowly, too carefully, too deliberately. It was as if she were trying to make sure nothing had changed.

But something had.

She glanced at the bed.

Naruto’s iPad was there, screen still lit, battery hanging on with a sliver of red. He must have forgotten to put it on the charger again. 

She stared for a second too long, chewing her bottom lip. He always left it around like this. And he knew how curious she was. So really, this was his fault, wasn’t it? She picked it up, brushing a wrinkle from the screen like it was dust. It opened without a password, something she once again scolded him for. He told her he didn’t care, he had nothing to hide.

Tapping through his home screen, her fingers hovered over familiar apps. Photos. Notes. Messages. Her nails clicked once against the glass, then again. The Messages app opened.

First, she saw Minato. Then Sakura. Then Sasuke. Nothing unusual.

But then there were others, names she didn’t recognize. An old message thread from Hanabi. A group chat called “Smoke Pit Idiots.”

She tapped faster, skipping around, reading fragments.

Hanabi: “You gonna come over tonight or is your Mommy still clutching your leash?”
Naruto: “Don’t call her that.”
Hanabi: “Why not? It’s true.”
Naruto: “It’s not funny.”                                      

Shikamaru : “Take it to the DM's seriously. You two are practically sexting right now.”

Kushina wanted to curse; she never liked that girl. She was nothing like her sister, who would never say a bad thing, never let her Naruto do bad things, but Hanabi was different. This chat would be another fault that she would try to get Naruto to see.

She backed out of that conversation and opened his Notes app. She told herself it was for his safety. He’d had episodes before, dark days when the strain made him spiral, and she needed to know what he was thinking.

There was a note simply titled:

"Mom."

She tapped it. Before her eyes could read further, the iPad died. It was almost as if it were too private for her eyes to see. He was 20 years old already, when would she stop treating him like this? Downstairs, she could hear the front door creak open. Her heart skipped in her chest. She didn’t know if it was relief or dread.

“Back already?” she said to herself.

She straightened up quickly, wiping her face as if nothing had happened, then started for the stairs. The mask fell back into place.

The front door creaked open, followed by the muffled thud of shoes against the entryway floor.

Naruto’s laughter came first, “No way you told the guy that was your car!”

Minato chuckled behind him. “He shouldn’t have parked like that. Besides, you were impressed.”

“I was mortified,” Naruto said. “But yeah, kind of impressed.”

Their shared sentiment echoed through the hall, a fleeting snapshot of what things used to feel like when Naruto was younger, before things got... complicated. 

Minato set the keys in the dish by the door with his usual, almost ritualistic routine.

Kushina was already at the bottom of the staircase by the time they rounded the corner.

“Welcome home,” she said sweetly.

“Hey, Mom.”

“We stopped by Icha. Thought we’d bring you something, but someone”—he nudged Naruto —“forgot to ask if you wanted anything.”

Kushina’s eyes went toward the takeout bag in his hand, the one Minato held out like a peace offering.

“It’s fine,” she said. “I already ate.”

A quiet beat passed. She didn’t move to take the bag.

Minato looked down, then glanced at Naruto. “You should put the leftovers in the fridge, Son.”

Naruto, already sensing the current shifting, took the bag and headed toward the kitchen. He didn’t rush, but he also didn’t linger. As he disappeared around the corner, the silence between his parents closed in.

Kushina waited until Naruto was out of earshot before turning to her husband.

“Nice ride?” she asked, casually folding her arms. “Or was it more of a rescue mission?”

Minato sighed, dragging a hand through his hair. “He needed some air. I figured we both did.”

“You could’ve told me.”

“I figured you needed space, too,” he replied. “Dinner seemed tense.”

“Tense?” Her eyebrows lifted. “You mean the part where he could barely speak to me without checking your reaction first?”

Minato didn’t respond right away. That was the thing with him,he always waited, measured, tried to defuse without making ripples. It used to comfort her. Now it grated.

“I’m not the enemy here, Minato,” she added.

“I never said you were.”

Footsteps echoed as Naruto returned, phone in hand. “Hey, I’m gonna head upstairs for a bit—”

“Wait,” Kushina said as her smile returned mechanically. “Can I talk to you for a sec?”

Naruto wanted to run away. When his Mother had that look, it was only one of two things, neither being good.

Minato met his son’s eyes with a subtle nod, a silent cue to go ahead.

“Sure, Mom,” Naruto said, tucking his phone away.

As he followed her down the hall, Minato remained in place, watching them go, knowing, deep down, that whatever came next wasn’t something he could fix.

They stopped outside the laundry room, where the hallway light spilled yellow across the walls. Kushina turned to face him, her hands clasped in front of her. She was composed, but Naruto could feel the apprehension underneath, like a bowstring pulled too tight.

“You left your drawer half open,” she said, almost conversational.

Naruto blinked. “Did I? Sorry.”

“I was putting away some of your laundry,” she added, almost offhand. “Thought I’d help straighten things up a little.”

“Thanks.”

“I saw something in there,” she said, her eyes on his. “A necklace.”

His smile faded.

“The Uchiha crest,” she continued. “It was tucked under your socks.”

Naruto’s throat worked around a quiet swallow. He didn’t look away.  

“Yeah… that. Aunt Mikoto gave it to me.”

“When?”

“A while ago. A couple of years back.”

“Hm.” She folded her arms. “Funny. She never mentioned it.”

Naruto scratched the back of his neck. “It wasn’t a big deal. She said it was for luck. Thought I needed it at the time.”

“Did you?” 

“I guess I did.”

She came a little closer, not accusing, but... motherly. The kind of closeness meant to press, but unmistakably. “It’s sweet, you know. She’s always been kind to you. Supportive. She’s been around a long time.”

“Yeah. She has.”

Another pause.

“She’s also married,” Kushina added. “And your godmother, technically.”

He didn’t flinch, but he also didn’t answer right away.

“I know,” he said. “It’s not… like that.”

Kushina’s eyes narrowed, just for a second. “Isn’t it?”

Naruto glanced past her, toward the staircase. “We’ve talked. That’s all.”

“Just talked?” 

“Yeah,” he replied, too fast. Then corrected, slower, “Mostly.”

Kushina stared at him, her lips parted like she wanted to say more. Ask more. But she didn’t. She just watched him, as if trying to see past the words he wouldn’t give her.

“I don’t want you to get hurt, Naruto,” she said finally. “Mikoto… she keeps things inside. She’s careful. Too careful.”

“I know.”

“And you… you’re not,” she added, reaching up to brush a strand of hair from his face. “You fall hard. You trust too much. You give people more than they deserve.”

“Maybe.”

“I just want to understand.”

“You don’t have to,” he said. “Not this time.”

Her hand fell back to her side.

Naruto offered a half-hearted smile, trying to soften it. “It’s nothing, really. Just… moments of clarity. She gives me advice, Mom. That’s all.”

Kushina didn’t respond. She didn’t believe him, not entirely. But she didn’t press either.

“Alright,” she said at last. “Go on upstairs.”

He lingered a little longer, then nodded and turned.

She stood in the hallway alone. The silence stretched again, between the walls of a house where too much was said in half-truths and lingering looks. She glanced down at her hand, fingers curled against her palm, still remembering the feel of that pendant. Something was changing. And no matter how tightly she tried to hold the edges, it was slipping from her fingers.

Notes:

Chapter 3: Shadowing

Chapter 3: Shadowing

“ Why did I agree to shadow Dad again?”

The alarm clock on his phone buzzed in stacked intervals, one after the other—6:30, 6:35, 6:42, 6:50. He always set multiple, just for the chance at waking up. It wasn’t perfect. But was anything, really?

Besides, this was an one in a lifetime opportunity for most, but a casual offer presented to him by his Dad. And all he had to do was smile, talk, and make the right people happy, which should be easy when they all wanted to kiss up to his Dad. 

Naruto grabbed his phone and turned off the alarms, his head was throbbing from another night of shallow sleep, dreams turning over like murky water. He didn’t remember most of them. Just that feeling like someone watching him from across the room, just out of frame.

“Any messages?”

He pulled down the notification bar, messages from Hanabi, Hinata, Ino, Sasuke, Sakura, and Aunt Mikoto. 

Today was certainly going to be a long day if this was going to be its start. He sat up slowly, wincing at the tightness in his neck. Putting the phone down, his hand moved to the nightstand, reaching for the hoodie that wasn’t there. 

“ Business casual today. Forgot.”

Button-up. Slacks. Maybe the shoes that pinched near the heel. He sighed, dragging his fingers through his messy hair and letting his feet hit the cold wood floor.

In his closet, he could already hear her . Drawers opening. The rustle of fabric. Footsteps, but never quite far enough. She was in his closet again. 

He rubbed his face and whispered under his breath, “I’m 20 years old.”

Still, when he got out of his bed, there she was:, standing in front of the mirror holding up two pressed shirts like they were weapons in a war only she could win.

“Try the white one,” she said without turning around. “You’ll look more professional.”

Naruto didn’t answer at first. His throat was dry. “You really don’t have to—”

She shot him a look that highlighted her insistence. “Let me help. First impressions matter, Naruto.”

He didn’t fight it. Just nodded and stepped into the frame of her care, letting her take over because that’s what she did. That’s what she’d always done. And he let her. Why not? If someone wanted to essentially be your personal assistant, let them.

“Your skin is dry. Why aren’t you using that lotion I bought for you?” 

“Mom. I took a hot shower and forgot. I’ll put some on.”

“No. No. I’ll do it. Since I have to do everything for you anyway. Where is it?”

“Probably.”

He didn’t get a chance to finish his statement; she was already moving, not waiting for an answer, checking the bathroom cabinet like it was her own. Maybe it still was. Maybe it had never stopped being hers. Because she stocked everything and checked it everyday, and if anything was half-full or close to being empty, it was replaced by the time he got home. 

Naruto stood there in his socks and half-buttoned shirt, watching her pull out the bottle, that same pale green one she’d forced on him months ago. “It’s good for your skin, not full of chemicals,” she had said then. He hadn’t cared.

Now, she unscrewed the cap with too much force, squeezed a dollop into her palm, and reached for his arm like she’d done it a thousand times.

“Mom, I can—”

“Don’t be difficult.” Her fingers pressed into his forearm, firm and over-familiar, rubbing the lotion in with clinical precision. “You’ve got an image to uphold now. You’ll be working right under your father. People will be looking.”

He stared past her into the mirror that reflected the sight before him. A mother is babying her adult son. He had a beard. He had his license. He was off to gain experience working for a company under his Dad, and here he was still being coddled like a baby. 

“Just tell her how you feel.” That’s what Sakura told him to do, like he hadn’t already tried that. Just like yesterday, the day before that, or the one before that. It all ended the same. 

He could smell the herbal lotion, drawing his mind back into focus in the way only she imposed. She moved to his other arm without asking.

“I’m proud of you,” she said, but to him it felt like a distraction, like placing a ribbon on a leash. “Even if you don’t know what you want yet… this is a good step. I just want you to feel confident. That’s all.”

“I know.”

But he didn’t feel confident. He felt like a mannequin in a glass box, dressed by someone else, sculpted into something safe. Something that wouldn’t scare anyone.

She smiled at him like that was enough.

“Good. Now let’s fix that collar. You always fold it wrong.” She tugged at the fabric around his neck, fussing with it until it sat exactly how she liked. Her fingers lingered at his throat a moment too long before she stepped back.

“There,” she said proudly. “My handsome boy.”

“All because of you,” he had to compliment her work. No matter how much it aggravated him, it looked presentable and neat, with creases and folds in the shirt being perfect.

“No one else is going to treat you like I do, Son. Do you know that?”

“I know.”

“Good. I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

“Oh.” Kushina snapped. “The tie. Your shirt isn’t complete without a tie.”

And just as he guessed, she knew exactly where to find the exact one she was looking for inside of his closet. 

Naruto stood there and watched as she shimmied around the back of his closet. Why she had chosen to wear her short robe in the morning was beyond him. Because he could see her underwear, but she didn’t care, she was his Mom, so it didn’t matter to her. But to him, it was kinda weird.

“Found it.”

She emerged with an orange tie in hand, the one she said brought out his eyes. She was smiling, satisfied, triumphant, as if this small victory was worth something bigger.

“Come here,” she said, already unlooping it with nimble fingers. “Let me do it. You always rush this part.”

He stepped forward, silently, letting her fold the fabric, wrap it around his collar, and pull it snug. Her hands were gentle, the way they always were. Her breath was close, too close for this early in the morning, but he didn’t move. He didn’t flinch. He just stood still and waited for it to be over.

“This one makes you look mature,” she murmured, smoothing the knot at his throat. “Like a man.”

“That’s the goal, right?”

“Mhm. Your Father could never get it right.”

Her hands lingered on his chest, flat palms brushing down the front of his shirt, straightening every detail that didn’t need straightening. She looked up at him and smiled with pride.

“Look at you,” she said. “Just like your father used to be, when I first met him. Except for the beard”

Naruto gave a half-laugh, stepping back just enough to reach for his phone and wallet. “Let’s hope I don’t turn out exactly like him.”

“Don’t say that,” she said. “He tries. He just… forgets, sometimes.”

“I know,” he said. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Are you going to walk out here with just your boxers on?”

“I’ve got pants right there,” he gestured toward the bed where his slacks were folded, his belt coiled neatly on top. “You just started with the tie first.”

Kushina gave him a pointed look, her arms folding across her chest. “Well, don’t dawdle. You’re not going to impress anyone with bare legs.”

“I’m not trying to impress anyone,” he muttered, grabbing the pants and stepping into them. “It’s just shadowing. I’ll probably be sitting in a corner all day while Dad forgets I exist.”

“Then at least you’ll look good doing it,” she said. “Trust me, people notice. Presentation is everything.”

He zipped up and fastened the belt. “There. Happy?”

Kushina stepped forward again, tucking in his shirt where it wrinkled slightly around his waist. “Almost. Socks and shoes next. And please—don’t wear those busted sneakers you love so much.”

Naruto groaned. “They’re comfortable.”

“They’re embarrassing.”

He gave her a flat look, but didn’t argue. The sneakers would stay in the closet today.

She stepped back again, hands on her hips, eyes scanning him from top to bottom like a mother inspecting a painting she spent twenty years perfecting.

Then, softer this time: “You look just like your father would if he were to grow a beard. And be more muscular.”

Naruto looked down at his wrist, adjusting his cuff. “Yeah, well… let’s hope I get the better half.”

Kushina’s mouth twitched, like she wanted to say something else—but didn’t.

Just then, his phone buzzed on the dresser. A message from Dad: “Outside when you’re ready.”

Naruto grabbed his blazer from the door hook.

“I’ll see you later,” he said.

“Don’t forget to smile,” she said. “And—Naruto?”

He turned.

“Make them remember you.”

He nodded, more out of habit than belief. “I’ll try.”

---

The skyscraper loomed tall against the morning sky, all glass and sleek steel edges. Naruto stood beside his father’s car, eyes tracing the smooth symmetry of the Yellow Flash Corp. logo etched above the revolving doors. A part of him felt like he’d stepped onto the set of a movie he hadn’t auditioned for.

Minato stepped out from the driver’s side and gave him a quick smile. “You ready?”

Naruto adjusted his blazer. It still felt too stiff, too adult. “As I’ll ever be.”

Inside, the lobby was wide and cold, sunlight pouring through high windows and pooling over marble floors. People in pressed suits clicked past them with coffee cups and digital tablets, moving like they all knew exactly where they were going. Naruto had never felt more in the way.

Minato placed a hand on his back, steering him forward.

The receptionist greeted Minato with a practiced smile, eyes flicking once to Naruto before returning to her keyboard. “Good morning, Namikaze-san. The boardroom’s being set up. Would you like coffee?”

“I’m fine, thank you.” Minato turned to Naruto. “Want anything? Tea? Espresso?”

Naruto shook his head. “I’m good.”

The receptionist buzzed them through, and as they walked toward the elevators, 

“Don’t let all this make you nervous. You’re not here to impress anyone.”

Naruto snorted. “That’s not what Mom said.”

“Your mother thinks presentation is half the battle. She’s not wrong. But today, today’s just about watching. Taking it in. Asking questions if you’ve got any.”

As the elevator doors slid shut around them, Naruto shoved his hands into his pockets. “Why’d you even want me to do this?”

“Because I didn’t have anyone to show me the ropes. I had to figure it all out alone. And I don’t want that for you.”

Naruto looked at his reflection in the mirrored elevator wall, unsure of what to say. He looked like a stranger in a borrowed life.

“I wonder what you’re up to, Sasuke?”

When the doors opened, the executive floor was even quieter. Carpets muted their footsteps. Glass-walled offices lined the halls, and everyone inside looked too busy to even glance up.

Minato motioned toward one of the conference rooms. “You’ll sit in on this morning’s meeting. I’ll introduce you.”

Naruto nodded, swallowing the lump in his throat. “Sure.”

As they stepped in, people already gathered around the long polished table turned toward them.

“This is my son, Naruto,” Minato said easily, placing a hand on his shoulder. “He’ll be shadowing me in the meantime.”

There was a brief murmur of acknowledgment before a woman with sleek dark hair and a burgundy blouse offered him a warm smile. “Nice to meet you finally, Naruto. I’m Yuhi Kurenai, the company PR representative.”

“Nice to meet you as well, Kurenai-san,” Naruto said with a respectful nod.

Next to her, a man with graying temples offered a firm nod. “Nara Shikaku, Chief of Finance.”

“Shikamaru’s dad.”

There were a couple of chuckles around the room, even a small smirk from Shikaku himself. 

“He gets that a lot,” the older man said. “Nice to see you, Naruto.”

“I’ve never really seen you much, but… you and Shikamaru, kinda like clones,” Naruto said before quickly adding, “In a good way.”

From across the table, another voice chimed in,  “Uchiha Obito,” the man said, adjusting the cuff of his tailored blazer. His eyes lingered on Naruto just a second longer than necessary. “Chief of Operations.”

“Obito-san.” Naruto gave a quick nod. 

“And I’m Nohara Rin,” came a kinder voice beside him, her smile warmer than the rest. “Chief of Human Resources. Don’t mind Obito, he always looks like that.”

Obito gave a small scoff but didn’t argue.

“It’s great to meet you all,” Naruto said, still standing a bit stiffly. He could feel the undercurrent of the room, the natural pull his father had, and the invisible weight of expectations already beginning to shape around him.

Minato gave his shoulder another reassuring pat. “Let’s get started.”

Everyone took their seats, the shuffle of papers and soft clicks of laptops filling the polished, glass-paneled conference room. Naruto sat next to his Dad, trying his best to look engaged, posture stiff and alert. He didn’t understand the graphs. The numbers made his eyes glaze over. And the terms being thrown around felt like code, equity drift, market recalibration, stakeholder realignment, stuff that made him wish he was back in bed.

Then the problems started.

“About the Oto Group merger,” Shikaku began, flipping open a folder, “we’ve hit a snag. Their financials aren’t matching the projections they gave us.”

“They’ve been hiding losses,” Obito added bluntly. “A lot of them.”

Kurenai sighed. “Which means our public narrative about growth potential is at risk. If this gets out, it’s going to look like we’re either stupid or complicit.”

Minato leaned back, calm, hands intertwined. “Are we sure it’s intentional?”

“They’ve delayed audits three times,” Rin chimed in, scrolling on her tablet. “And their CEO has gone quiet.”

Shikaku tapped his pen twice against the table. “They’re covering something, Minato.”

The air in the room grew heavier, tension rising like the slow build of a thunderstorm. Naruto kept quiet, his gaze bouncing between faces, watching the way they spoke, the subtle jabs, the pressure under their words.

Minato’s calm smile never faded, but Naruto could see something behind his father’s eyes. Something calculating. Detached. He was in the zone. 

“We’ll deal with it,” Minato said. “But we do not panic. Not here.”

Obito raised an eyebrow. “And if the press finds out?”

Kurenai sighed, but she didn’t speak.

Minato glanced at Naruto for a split second before answering.

“Then we spin it,” he said. “We’re professionals. We adapt. We survive. But this ‘merger’ was presented by Orochimaru-san himself, and we will be denying it. The Oto group has always been shady, even when I worked under Sarutobi-san all those years ago.”

Obito gave a dry chuckle. “Orochimaru’s proposals always sound too good to be true. Because they are.”

Rin nodded, her expression more troubled. “We’ll need a statement prepared. If we’re pulling out, the media will run with it unless we get ahead.”

“I’ll handle it,” Kurenai said, already tapping away on her device. “But we’ll need hard evidence to justify this without causing a dip in investor confidence.”

Shikaku gave a short sigh. “I’ll compile a report from what we’ve uncovered so far. But I’ll warn you now, it won’t be clean.”

Naruto just watched, caught in the tide of voices, the tension, the way these people moved like a machine with his father at the center. Minato didn’t flinch once. He kept that unreadable calm, like he was always five moves ahead. It was almost unnerving.

This wasn’t the same man who stumbled over breakfast jokes or called him champ in the kitchen. Minato didn’t soften his words. He led with absolute control, clear authority, and everyone in that room respected it. And it made him wonder how much of that same man came home with him every night.

Naruto’s pen hovered over the notepad, its tip an inch from the page. The tension in the room seemed to press down on him, but his mind was elsewhere, drifting back to the image of his father, this focused, commanding presence, yet he could still see how his Dad acted at home. 

How could the man in front of him, the one who was practically carrying the weight of this company on his shoulders, be the same person who faltered when Mom asked him to spend a little extra time at home? The same man who struggled to put his foot down when she was upset, as if he couldn’t stand to upset her, no matter how small the issue was.

The contrast was crazy. At the office, Minato was an immovable force, and at home, he was someone who seemed to retreat into himself when things got too real.

Was it fear? Was it guilt? Or was it just easier to wear a mask in the office than to face the complexities of home?

Naruto couldn’t understand it. Maybe he never would.

“Naruto?” Minato’s voice cut through his thoughts, pulling him back to the present. “What do you think?”

Naruto blinked, caught off guard. “ So much for shadowing.” Everyone was looking at him now, waiting. They’d all paused as if his opinion mattered. As if he mattered. He looked down at the blank page again. What could he say? What did he know?

“We need to stay calm, like you said. But I also think we need to prepare for more fallout than we’re expecting. This is bigger than we’re letting on. If what is being suggested has a clear basis, then we should be getting Orochimaru-san into a meeting and asking for more details.”

The room went quiet before Shikaku nodded. “Smart. The devil’s in the details, kid.”

Kurenai smiled, “Well said.”

Naruto felt the weight of their approval, but it wasn’t enough to settle the discomfort in his stomach. They could have just been agreeing with it, but laughing at him inwardly. He had just given an answer that sounded right. But deep down, he was still trying to figure out who his father was. And, more importantly, what part of him was left for his family when this company came first?

Minato’s smile was brief, but it was enough to acknowledge the win. “We’ll make it work.”

And just like that, the conversation shifted again. More details. More plans. More problems.

---

The meeting wrapped not long after, leaving a buzzing trail of half-finished conversations and muttered strategies as people shuffled out of the boardroom. Minato had barely paused before ushering Naruto to his office, a sleek, corner space filled with white and yellow light and a premium view of the city’s skyline. It was clean, minimalist, nothing like the clutter of their kitchen table at home.

Naruto sank into one of the leather chairs facing the large desk while his Dad tapped away at his keyboard, replying to emails like his fingers were trying to outrun time itself. The silence between them wasn’t uncomfortable, not exactly. But it was distant. Professional. Like his Dad had put on a different face.

He looked around at the decor of the office. Everything here smelled like cologne, fresh coffee, and mint. It was such a departure from home life that he wondered if that’s why his Mom always kept a lot of pictures, and just clutter around. This reminded him of Sasuke and Itachi’s rooms, for that matter, maybe even Kakashi’s apartment. It was all so organized, and everything had its place.

“How’d you like your first meeting?”

“I wasn’t expecting you to look for my input, Dad.”

“Why not?” 

“Because I’m supposed to be shadowing and you’re all saying so many words I’ve never heard before, it’s kinda confusing.”

“How else are you going to learn?”

“Uh. By shadowing you, like you said.”

“I’m just pulling your leg, champ. I did it because I knew you would have a good answer. Ever since you were a kid, you have had a good head on your shoulders when thrown into random situations.”

“Think so?”

“Why wouldn’t I know what my son excels at?”

“Fair.”

Minato’s phone buzzed, and he sighed. Naruto saw the change in his expression and mouthed a quick question.

“Want me to give you a minute?”

His Dad’s grateful nod answered it fast. So he stood and gave him space, wandering over to the floor-to-ceiling window that overlooked the city. The streets were busy, people moving like parts in a machine, all going somewhere, all doing something important. He crossed his arms, watching with a strange sense of detachment. Was this what adulthood looked like? Routines, pressed shirts, stiff smiles, and back-to-back meetings?

Behind him, his Dad’s voice was calm, even when it dropped low. Business mode again. Naruto only caught fragments, something about numbers not aligning, and someone named Koharu needing to double-check projections. None of it made any sense to him.

He wondered if his dad ever missed just being home. Missed late dinners with the TV rambling in the background or the dumb card games they used to play when Naruto was younger and sick in bed. Probably not. He was good at this—whatever “this” was. This whole world of meetings and reports and client calls seemed to fit him better than home life ever had.

Minato ended the call with a polite, “Thanks for the update,” then leaned back, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Naruto turned. “Everything alright?”

“It will be. It always is.” Then, a second later, “Sorry about that.”

“No big deal.” Naruto moved back to his chair. “So… that’s your day, huh? Emails and problems.”

“That’s the short version,” Minato chuckled. “It’s like putting out fires all day. But hey, you get used to the heat.”

Naruto smirked. “Mom said something like that when she burned the rice last week.”

Minato laughed, a trace of the home life returning to his face. “Yeah, she did, didn’t she?”

“You know she's always bugging me about staying home. Doesn’t she know I’ll have to move eventually?”

“Mhm. Yeah. She always wants you close by. I think last week was it? She said something along the lines of us renting you an apartment so you don’t leave too far.”

Naruto gave a dry laugh, resting his chin in his palm. “That sounds like her. She probably already picked one out, furnished it, and everything.”

“She might’ve,” Minato said, half-joking. “Knowing your mother, it’ll be five minutes away from the house. Ten, tops.”

Naruto shook his head, a tired smile on his face. “She means well. It’s just…sometimes it’s a lot. Like… I get that she loves me, but I don’t think she knows how to let go.”

“She doesn’t. Not really. She spent so much of her life holding things together: me, you, the house. If she lets go of even one thing, it probably feels like the rest will fall apart.”

Naruto let that sit for a moment. Maybe his Dad had a point. Maybe this was all just him overthinking what his Mom was trying to do.

“I don’t want her to think I’m ungrateful.”

“She knows you’re not,” Minato assured. “But that doesn’t make it easier for her. Or for you.”

Just then, Naruto’s phone buzzed on the table. He glanced at the screen—Mom.

Minato arched his brow knowingly. “Speak of the devil.”

Naruto sighed and answered. “Hey, Mom.”

Her voice came through instantly, “Hi, sweetheart! I know you’re probably in a big, important meeting or something, but I just wanted to check in. Are you eating? Drinking water? How’s your stomach?”

Naruto covered the speaker and mouthed at his dad, “She’s asking about my stomach.”

Minato smirked behind a quiet sip of coffee. “Of course she is.”

Naruto leaned back in the chair, phone to his ear, and answered with a low, “Yeah, Mom. I’m fine. We just finished the morning meeting a little while ago.”

Kushina’s voice was still bright, but with that edge of concern she always carried. “Did they treat you okay? Everyone being nice? You better tell me if they’re not, Naruto. I don’t care who it is—Shikaku, Obito—I’ll show up in my slippers.”

“No one’s being mean. Everyone’s been… professional. Kurenai introduced herself first.”

“ Oh .” Her tone changed at the sound of that name. “She’s lovely. What about Rin?”

“She’s nice too. HR lady, right?”

“Mhm. Sweet girl. Used to come over for dinner when you were little. Anyway, what do you and Dad want for dinner tonight? I was thinking roast, but I also bought those noodles you like. And the spicy tofu.”

Naruto looked at his dad, who was watching the conversation with amusement.

“Mom wants to know what we want for dinner.”

Minato blinked, like he hadn’t even thought that far ahead in the day. “I’m good with whatever. Ask her if she’s making that seaweed salad again.”

Naruto relayed it into the phone. “Dad wants to know if you’re making the seaweed salad again.”

“Oh, I wasn’t planning to, but I can. I’ll do all three. If there are leftovers, you can bring some for lunch tomorrow. Do you want me to pack it for you? Or are you going to ‘just grab something,’ like you always say?”

“I’ll bring it,” Naruto said, rubbing his temple. “And you don’t have to make all three, jeez.”

“Don’t tell me what I have to do. I’m your mother.”

“Yeah, I noticed.”.

“Alright. I’ll let you get back to it. I’m proud of you, okay? And I love you.”

Naruto’s voice came quieter. “Love you too, Mom.”

Click.

He set the phone down and stared at the screen for a moment.

Minato spoke first. “She’s always been like that. Even before you were born.”

“Did she call you during meetings, too?”

“Nope. She used to walk in.” Minato said. “In her pajamas. Demanded I come home and eat or she’d bring the food in a thermos and feed me in front of the board.”

Naruto groaned. “Why does that sound so her?”

Minato gave a fond shrug. “Because it is.”

Their chuckles were short-lived. A light knock on the glass window beside the office door pulled both their heads toward it. Kurenai stood on the other side, offering a smile through the pane, her manicured hand still half-raised in a tap.

Minato straightened in his seat, professional mask slipping back over his features. “Come in.”

The door opened, and Kurenai stepped in with a tablet tucked against her side.

“Sorry to interrupt,” she said. “There’s been a last-minute schedule shift. The meeting with the investors from Takigakure got bumped up. They’re downstairs waiting.”

Minato’s eyes went to the clock. “Already? Thought we had another hour.”

“They moved their flight. Apparently, there’s a storm coming in,” she added, casting a brief look toward Naruto with a nod. “Hi again, Naruto.”

“Hey, Kurenai-san.”

She smiled back, “Should I bring them up?”

Minato was already collecting the files from his desk. “Yes, please. Naruto, you coming?”

Naruto stood, smoothing the front of his shirt, suddenly aware of the importance of the day stretching out again. “Yeah, I’m coming.”

As Kurenai left to fetch the guests, Naruto followed his father out the door. Today was going to be a long one, but hopefully not long enough to catch the rain.

. 

Notes:

Chapter 4: In Town

Chapter 4: In Town

When your brother called you and told you he was in town, you answered, no matter the time of day or what was happening. So when Sasuke told Naruto he would be at home for the next few days, he was here. 

But in typical Sasuke fashion, he wasn’t.

“He’ll be back soon, Naruto.” 

“I just can’t believe that he texted me last night, said, ‘come over in the morning, or you’re lame.’ Now here’s the morning, and he’s nowhere to be seen.”

“That’s my son for you. He’s just like his brother and Father,” Mikoto placed the plate of bacon and pancakes in front of him, then the orange juice.

“I swear he will make me turn grey in no time.”

“At least you get to spend time with your favorite aunt,” Mikoto brushed the top of his hand, “or am I too old now?” 

The ending phrase of her sentence made Naruto want to do something to her right then and there.  He hated when she did ‘that’, acting like he didn’t care for her or what this ‘relationship’ was. Which was something that he didn’t know how to describe, so the next best thing was to not act on it.

Naruto took a sip of the orange juice to cool himself down, to buy time before he said something stupid.

“You’re not old,” he muttered. “You’re… just you.”

“Mm. Careful, or I’ll start thinking you missed me.”

“I do.”

“You haven’t been acting like it.”

She turned away to grab the syrup, but not before he caught the extra sway of her lips and a glimpse of the black panty line that showed she still had him. She didn’t say anything, but she didn’t have to. That small sway in her hips, the way her robe hung just loosely enough to uncover her figure, and the silent acknowledgment in the arch of her brow when she sat back down—it was all intentional. She always knew exactly how to keep him off-balance.

Naruto stabbed at his pancakes, trying to focus on the food instead of the heat building at the base of his crotch.

“You do that on purpose.”

“Do what?” 

He looked at her, really looked, and found nothing but friendly eyes and a smug little smile hiding in the corner of her mouth. One that led to too many moments he wished he could remember. ‘Sleepovers’ with Sasuke, where she would use him as an outlet. 

“You know what.”

Mikoto took a bite of bacon and shrugged, like it was all beneath her concern. “I’m just making sure you still have good taste.”

“You never let me forget it.”

“Good,” she said, setting her fork down with a soft clink. “Because one day, someone else is going to notice how much you’ve grown up, Naruto. And I’d hate to see her waste what I’ve spent so long fine-tuning.”

That time, he didn’t even try to hide the way he stared at her. And again—right on cue—the front door clicked open.

Sasuke’s voice, perfectly timed and completely unaware: “What, no one waited for me?”

Naruto sighed, pulling himself back together. “We saved you a plate.”

Mikoto didn’t even look at her son when she replied, “Eat quickly. I might have Naruto help me with a few things around the house before you two run off.” She looked right at Naruto when she said it. And he already knew he wasn’t going to say no.

“He gets enough of that at home with his Mother. If you need help, why don’t you get Father to do it? He’s free on the weekends.”

“Oh, your Father only helps when it suits him, and he finds any reason to run back to the station to help,” she said sweetly, pausing to sip her juice. “And Naruto’s always so much more… free and attentive.”

Naruto tried not to react, but the implication was so bold, he thought she wanted to be caught red-handed. 

Sasuke didn’t care to catch it, of course. He was too busy scrolling through his phone and grumbling about a text from Karin. “Whatever. Just don’t rope him into folding laundry again. I swear you had him doing chores last time for like three hours.”

“I did not,” Mikoto scoffed. “And even if I did, he didn’t complain.”

Naruto shrugged, clearing his throat. “Didn’t mind. Wasn’t a big deal.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes. “You two are weird.”

“That’s family,” she said.

“ Family, huh?” Naruto thought to himself. That was one way to describe their situation, which was built on opportunities and moments of weakness. She was always the adult, even when he was a kid. Even when it first started.

“Ok.” Sasuke put his phone down. “You want to start with our jog around the property, then hit the gym, Naruto?”

Naruto wiped his mouth with the napkin, nodding as he stood. “Yeah, sounds good. Better than sitting around all morning.”

“Don’t be too long,” Mikoto said. “You still owe me that help, remember?”

“I remember,” Naruto said, but at a certain point, he felt like she enjoyed this more than she should.  Like her Son wouldn’t eventually catch on, then again, she always framed it as embarrassing Sasuke through doing this. Yet when it came to Itachi, she didn’t follow through with the teasing, touching, or sly comments because she knew that he was observant. What Sasuke wouldn’t think twice on, Itachi only needed to see it once. And if he did, it would all blow up. If his Mom found out… She would kill her, best friend or not.

Sasuke stood and stretched. “Man, I don’t know why I even asked you over. You always end up being Mom’s favorite handyman.”

Naruto gave a weak laugh, following him toward the door. “Guess I’m just helpful.”

“Yeah, or whipped,” Sasuke muttered, leading them outside.

“I think you’re the one who’s whipped. Besides, aren’t you and Sakura having a date night tonight with Shikamaru and Temari?

“She told you?”

“You two are my best friends, dumbass, of course she’s going to tell me,” Naruto smirked, he had an idea. “She also told me you had a hard time getting it up. Are you sure you like women?”

Sasuke stopped mid-step and glared at him, but there was no real anger behind it. “You’re a real piece of work, you know that?”

Naruto grinned, throwing an arm around his shoulder. “Hey, I’m just looking out for you, man. If you ever want to talk about your…confusion, I’m here.”

“Shut up,” Sasuke shoved him off, but even he couldn’t hold back the smirk forming. “You know what? I hope Mom works you to the bone. I’m not saving your ass this time. And I’m going to make sure Aunt Kushina works with you, too. You know she prefers me over you.”

Naruto scoffed, nudging him back. “Yeah, keep dreaming. Mom only likes you because you suck up to her. Meanwhile, I’m the charming one.”

“Please. You’re the ‘son she pities.’ There’s a difference.”

“Are you ready to ru,n or are you just going to keep talking?” Naruto tapped the running app on his smartwatch. 

“I’m ready.”

“Alright.”

He tapped the timer, and they took off into a light jog, pacing themselves as they rounded the bend of the property, sneakers crunching over gravel, the early morning sun catching the edge of Naruto’s grin.

Running was an outlet where he could just enjoy the moment. The fresh air blowing, the blood of his body pumping, and the desire to get better, to get faster, was always a great motivator. If he didn’t have Sasuke around,nd he wouldn’t have known what to do, honestly. They’ve been friends for so long that life without him sounded like a nightmare. 

“Have you talked to your Dad about it?” Sasuke asked.

Naruto already knew what about was. “ A million times.”

“She still thinks you’re like a baby?”

“Definitely.”

Sasuke stayed quiet for a moment as they reached the old willow tree near the back fence. 

“You ever think maybe she doesn’t want to let go?”

Naruto looked away, eyes on the grass. “Yeah,” he said. “That’s exactly what it is.”

“Any new thoughts about our apartment sharing? It would get you away from the house, at least. And I’ll mostly be in and out anyway.”

Naruto chewed the inside of his cheek, staring still at the grass. “I’ve been thinking about it. A lot more lately.”

Sasuke raised a brow. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. It’s just—” Naruto sighed, dragging a hand through his hair. “It’s not that I don’t want space. God, I do. But I also don’t want to feel like I’m… abandoning her.”

“Dude. You’re not a baby bird. She doesn’t own you.”

“She raised me.”

“She’s still raising you,” Sasuke corrected. “And you’re, what, twenty-one?”

“Twenty, jackass,” Naruto corrected with a weak grin.

“Exactly. It’s time, man. Look, she’ll throw a fit at first, probably cry and slam some dishes, but she’ll adjust. My Mother lived when Itachi moved out, so will yours. Worst case, she just bugs my Mother to death instead of you. ”

Naruto didn’t say anything.

Sasuke nudged his elbow. “Come on. You’d get your room, your own space. Privacy. You wouldn’t have to tiptoe around a mom who irons your socks and acts like your girlfriend when your actual one cancels plans.”

“That only happened once.”

Sasuke gave him a pointed look.

“…Okay, twice.”

“Think about it. Really. You don’t have to live your life to keep her whole.”

“I know that…”

“Do you? Because you don’t act like it.”

The wind rustled through the old willow, its thin branches swaying like they were listening too.

“I just don’t like seeing her sad,” Naruto said. “Every time I bring it up, she gets quiet. Doesn’t even say no—just starts acting like I’m already gone. Like I’m… dying or something.”

“Yeah, well, that’s not your fault. She’s the adult. She’s supposed to handle change. Not guilt tripping you into staying stuck.”

“It’s not like she says it outright.”

“She doesn’t have to. You feel it. That’s the problem.”

“You sound like one of my therapists.”

“No,” Sasuke stretched his arms behind his head. “I just don’t want to live with someone who keeps calling his mom ten times a day.”

“Screw you.”

“Hey,” Sasuke shrugged. “I’m just saying, if we’re doing this apartment thing, I’m laying ground rules. No moms allowed after 9 p.m.”

Naruto rolled his eyes. “Whatever.”

“I was looking at some places downtown. A nice-sized condo. Good view.” 

“Yeah?” Naruto asked, wiping the sweat from his brow as they slowed down to a jog near the back gate. “Are you planning to woo Sakura with the skyline or something?”

“Please. That girl couldn’t care less about the view. She just wants enough counter space for her skincare junk.”

“Counter space? That’s your priority now?”

“Hey, I’m a practical guy. Plus, it’s close to the gym, close to work, and not too far from your dad’s company, if you’re sticking around there. Besides, me and her aren’t exactly there yet to be living together, but I like to plan for the future.”

“Sounds kind of… grown-up.”

“Yeah, well. One of us has to be.”

“I could get used to it, maybe.”

“Then get used to it,” Sasuke said. “Start imagining a life where you don’t have to check in every hour like you’re still in high school. You owe yourself that.”

“I’m in,” Naruto knew he needed some space from his Mom, no matter how much it was going to hurt her.

“Yeah?”

Naruto nodded, more certain now. “I’m in. I’ll pitch in for the place, help look around. Might be good for me.”

“Look at you, making decisions like a real adult.”

“Shut up,” Naruto said, but he was grinning too. “I just want some damn privacy for once. Maybe even a door I can lock without someone barging in to fold my underwear.”

“God, I forgot how weird your life is.”

“You and I both,” Naruto muttered. “But I won’t forget that you practically turn into a dog when Itachi is home to cook breakfast. 

“Yeah, well, have you tasted his omelets? That man puts restaurants to shame.”

“You get all polite and obedient, too. Like, ‘Yes, Brother. More eggs, please, Brother.”

“Shut up,” Sasuke said, cheeks tinting just a little. “It’s called respecting greatness.”

Naruto slowed his pace as they neared the house again. “Nah, it’s called being whipped. Worse than Sakura, honestly.”

“Say that again and I’m tripping you.”

“You wouldn’t—”

Naruto didn’t finish because Sasuke shoved him just enough to throw him off balance, and the two broke into a quick sprint. 

“I’m throwing you into the lake if it’s the last thing I do, Sasuke!”

“I’d like to see you try, Naruto!”

Their sneakers pounded against the earth as they raced toward the tree line, the lake glittering just beyond the tall reeds.

“You forget I’ve got stamina for days!” Naruto called out, gaining on him.

“That’s not something to brag about in this context!” Sasuke said back over his shoulder.

Naruto lunged, almost caught him, missed. They were both laughing now, breathless, the kind of laughter that came from shared history and the freedom of being away from expectations, even just for a little while. By the time they skidded to a stop at the edge of the dock, Naruto was on his knees, panting.

“You win.”

“I always do.”

“Cocky bastard.”

“You love it.”

Naruto rolled his eyes. “I’ll push you in when you least expect it.”

“I dare you.”

That was the last thing you said to Naruto. Once he heard the word dare it was like a trigger to activate him. He grabbed Sasuke, plunging both of them from the dock straight into the lake. Water surged up around them in a huge splash, swallowing their shouts. The surface rippled violently before settling, the morning sun reflecting off it in dancing patterns.

Sasuke came up first, sputtering and shoving his wet bangs out of his eyes. “You idiot!”

Naruto broke the surface right after, grinning like a devil. “You dared me!”

They floated there, soaked to the bone, treading water while their laughter echoed across the lake and into the trees.

Sasuke shook his head, “I hope Aunt Kushina grounds your ass.”

“She might,” Naruto said, wiping water from his eyes, “but it was worth it.”

They swam toward the dock, the cold water doing little to smother the joy of the moment. Naruto hoisted himself up first, dripping all over the wooden planks, his shirt clinging to him like a second skin.

Sasuke followed, “Now I gotta shower again. You know how long it takes my hair to dry?”

Naruto flopped onto his back, arms spread. “Cry about it. You needed a wake-up call anyway.”

“You’re the one who’s going to freeze. Don’t think I’m lending you clothes.”

“You always say that, and then you do anyway.”

“Not today.”

“We’ll see.”

“You think things’ll change when I move out?” Naruto asked.

“No. Not really. You’ll still come around. You’ll still get roped into doing stuff for my Mother. And your Mother is not going to stop calling, that’s definitely not changing.”

“But… the distance. It might help, right?”

“Yeah. It will. For both of you.”

Naruto looked up at the sky, blue with traveling clouds. In some way, he resonated with them; how they floated and came along with little worry.  How he too wanted to feel that freedom. Even if it came at the price of his Mother’s happiness. 

“Then I guess it’s time.”

“Come on. Let’s head back before your Mother sends a search party; I know she’s probably calling my Mother asking about your whereabouts.”

“You mean before she starts blaming you?”

“Exactly.” 

The last time he kept Naruto longer than promised, it didn’t end well, and Aunt Kushina was like some type of fox spirit when she was angry. Her red hair certainly didn’t help that image in his head. While the walk back to Sasuke’s house was one of many new regrets as winds lashed at them, making the wet clothes intolerable, so much so that they just walked back shirtless. It was better than wearing drenched clothing. 

“This is what we get for acting like kids,” Naruto said, tossing his soaked shirt over his shoulder. “Next time, you’re going in alone.”

“Next time, I’m pushing you in first,” Sasuke said.

The gravel crunched beneath their feet, squelching as their feet plip, plopped, and with every gust of wind, they both winced from the cold. By the time the house came into view, Naruto could already picture Mikoto at the door, arms crossed, a knowing look on her face.

And sure enough, there she was, standing on the porch, a towel in one hand, a mug of something steaming in the other. She didn’t even look surprised.

“Are you boys done being boys?” she called out to them.

“Not even close,” Naruto said. 

“I don’t know why you even asked Mother,” Sasuke said.

“Because I had a sliver of hope, that’s why.”

They both passed her, dripping water onto the floor. Sasuke made a beeline for the upstairs bathroom, muttering about needing a hot shower before he caught a cold. Naruto lingered, reaching for the towel she offered him.

She held onto it for just a second longer than necessary. “You’ll be the death of me, you know that?”

“Wouldn’t be the worst way to go.”

She gave him a look, part warning, part dare. “Upstairs. Get out of those wet clothes before you get sick.”

“Yes, Aunt Mikoto.”

“And your Mother called too.”

That made him pause halfway up the stairs, hand gripping the rail tightly than it needed to.

“She did?”

Mikoto leaned against the doorway. “Mhm. Wanted to know if you were okay and that you weren’t doing anything reckless.”

Naruto scoffed under his breath, trying to pass it off as amusement. “Reckless? What, like falling into lakes?”

“More like running away.”

He wasn’t running, he was making some time for himself.

“She said you’ve been distant lately,” Mikoto continued. “Said she feels like you’re slipping away from her.”

“I’m not.”

“Aren’t you?”

He didn’t answer this time. Just turned away, resuming his climb upstairs. He has other things to worry about than his Mother right now. Or how his Aunt’s attitude changed when it came to her, if he didn’t know better, she was more like a jealous cat than anything.  And once he reached the top of the stairs, he paused only once to glance over his shoulder. She was already gone. That was the thing about women: he never understood them completely. Whether it was his Mother, Aunt, Ex-girlfriends, or women in general. 

They were always changing like weather patterns he couldn’t predict. One moment warm, the next cold enough to make him question if he’d imagined the warmth at all.

Naruto ran a hand through his damp hair, stepping into the bathroom and shutting the door behind him. Maybe it was him. Maybe he wasn’t built to understand them. Or maybe they didn’t want to be understood, not really.

He peeled the rest of his wet clothes off and reached for the towel Sasuke had left for him earlier. A rare act of brotherly foresight.

“Women ,” he thought again, rubbing the towel over his shoulders. They always made him feel like he was walking a line he couldn’t see.

But what he could see was at least an hour of the steaming shower and a new set of Sasuke clothes to steal. Besides, therapy was tomorrow, and he wished it were further away. Eventually, the bathroom door creaked, and he knew he would need it tomorrow.

Notes:

Chapter 5: Clockwork

Chapter 5: Clockwork

Therapy—the end-all, be-all, where all your problems go to magically die or be suppressed—has the same result. Somewhere down the line, this place had become another prison, one that he only showed up to because his parents were paying, and it was nice to have someone to talk with who was unbiased.

“How are you today, Naruto?”

“Fine? I guess, Dr. Kon.”

“Good. I see that you look—”

“Depressed.”

“I was going to say, tired.” Dr. Kon said. “How are you sleeping? Have the medications been affecting you?” 

“They’re alright. I sleep enough throughout the day to compensate for the lack of it at night.”

Naruto watched as she scribbled notes into her notebook, probably writing down how he was still the same as the last time he showed up. The office was too quiet, too clean, too held together.  It was so minimalistic that he couldn’t help but think of his Father’s office from the day before last. How plain it all was, like they were drones or something that just worked until the end of their day, like a life outside their career didn’t exist. 

He sat back against the leather cushions, legs spread, arms crossed like a barrier. The kind of posture that said, Don’t poke too hard. The clock on the wall ticked, but he didn’t look up. Not even when she spoke.

“How’s your Mother doing?”

“Fine, I guess.”

“And how are you doing with her?”

“Same as always.”

“Same as always,” she repeated, flipping a page on her notepad. “Which is…?”

He stared at the floor between his shoes. The shadows under the couch looked like they were trying to crawl up his legs. “I don’t know. She wants to be close. Too close, sometimes. Like I’m gonna disappear. She still gets nervous when I’m gone too long. Still asks where I’m going. Still texts if I take too long to respond. Still looks sad when I leave, like I’m choosing the world over her.”

“And how do you feel about that?”

“Guilty and stuck.

“Codependency is hard.”

He laughed under his breath. “Yeah. Well, she’s really stuck on that.”

“Why do you think that is?”

Naruto mulled over it for a second, not that he needed to. This thought came to his head multiple times a day. Why was his Mom like this? Ever since he started these sessions, she always backpedaled on this topic, like anyone else who was close to him hadn’t asked him the same question. 

“She gets defensive,” he said. “Whenever I try to bring it up. Says stuff like, ‘I just care about you. Is that such a bad thing?’ Like love’s supposed to come with guilt attached.”

“Do you think that’s love?” Dr. Kon asked.

“I don’t know. It’s what I’ve always known from her.”

“And what would love without guilt look like?”

He didn’t have an answer for that. Not one that didn’t feel like betrayal. His Dad’s love for him was easy to see, it was reciprocated in his respect and freedom that he was allowed. Whereas his Mom, everything felt like it, and all roads led back to Konoah, the situation; that he needed to satisfy her transaction before he was allowed to process whatever he was dealing with or wanted. 

An example is when he wanted to get a new phone so he could take higher-quality photos of the night sky. He had to essentially please his Mom with a ‘date’ before she allowed him to pay 280k Yen for what she considered an unnecessary and unreasonable upgrade. 

“I think… it would feel a little more like breathing. Like I wouldn’t have to check my phone every hour or send a text to stop her from worrying.”

“Do you feel responsible for her happiness?”

“Yeah. Every day.”

“Have you tried what we talked about last time? The process of separating yourself from her by not allowing her to rope you in whenever you wish to do something without her. Say, hang out with your friends at the mall or downtown?”

His thumb rubbed against his palm like he was trying to scrub something off.

“Yeah,” he muttered. “Tried. Didn’t go great.”

“What happened?”

He leaned back, eyes drifting to the ceiling as if it held the memory. “I told her I was going out last Friday. Just said I was gonna grab dinner with Hanabi and the guys. She asked if I could stay home instead. Said she made my favorite, ramen, and she looked so damn hopeful that I felt like a jackass saying no.”

“And what did you do?”

“I stayed. Ate dinner. Watched a show I wasn’t paying attention to. She smiled the whole time. And I hated that it made me feel good… because I knew what it cost me.”

“Which was?”

“Myself.”

There it was. The truth, laid bare in two syllables.

“Sounds like you’re aware of the dynamic.”

“Yeah, well,” Naruto took a sip of his water. “Awareness doesn’t make it any easier.”

“No, it doesn’t. But it’s the first step. You’re not thirteen anymore, Naruto. You’re allowed to choose yourself.”

He exhaled, head tilting forward like the weight of that truth was too heavy for his neck. “I know.”

“And next time?”

“Next time,” he said, “I think I’m gonna go.”

“So,” she said, “when was the last time you chose yourself?”

He didn’t answer. Not because he didn’t want to—but because he couldn’t remember.

---

Four Years Ago

Naruto stood by the door, sneakers half-laced, jacket slung over his arm. His phone buzzed in his hand—Kiba, again.

“Knew you’d flake.”

He stared at the message, thumb hovering over a reply. He was already late. The bonfire had started nearly an hour ago. Smoke and laughter were probably at an all-time high now. Girls in hoodies are too big for them. Music played through someone’s old truck speakers. That’s where boys his age went. That’s what boys his age did.

“Are you still going?”

His mother’s voice drifted from the living room. 

He looked over. She was lying on the couch, a blanket draped across her legs. Her hair was loose—he’d only ever seen it like that when she wasn’t feeling well or was trying to seem casual. Two mugs of hot chocolate sat on the coffee table, steam just beginning to fade. She’d made one for him already.

“I thought maybe we could watch that movie you like,” she said. “The old one. The one with the fighter pilots. You always laugh at that dumb scene where the guy says he’s gonna marry her.”

He hadn’t watched that movie in years. He wasn’t even sure she remembered he liked it. But here she was, remembering.

“I thought you hated that movie.”

“I’ve seen worse,” she smiled. “And I wanted to spend time with you. I barely see you anymore.”

“Mom, I live here.”

“You know what I mean.”

It was the way she looked at him, the way her eyes didn’t blink as she waited for his answer. Like something fragile inside her might crack if he turned the knob on the door.

He sighed, shoulders slumping. “I can go later.”

She brightened immediately, patting the cushion beside her. “Come on, before the hot chocolate gets cold.”

He kicked off his shoes. Sat beside her. Close, because she always tugged at his arm if he didn’t.

Halfway through the movie, she leaned her head on his shoulder. She used to do that when he was younger. It used to feel safe. Now, it just felt…

“I missed this,” she whispered. “Just you and me.”

“Yeah.”

She didn’t mention his dad. She rarely did anymore. His father had started coming home later, leaving earlier. The space between them had grown so gradually that it no longer felt like a split, more like a reshuffling. Like Naruto had slowly taken his place.

She sighed against his sleeve. “You smell like outside.”

“I didn’t go anywhere.”

“No, I mean… like you’re growing up.” She giggled. “Even your voice is different now. I still remember when you’d crawl into bed with me after a nightmare.”

He didn’t answer. The heat of her body beside his was starting to feel too warm. Suffocating.

“I think sometimes,” she continued, “that I could live in this moment forever. You, me, the world quiet for once.”

He tried to smile, but it didn’t quite reach. “That’s kinda sad, Mom.”

“Is it?” she said, eyes still on the screen. “It’s only sad if it ends.”

---

Naruto didn’t realize he’d been zoning out for so long until his therapist cleared her throat.

His eyes were fixed on the wall just past her shoulder, unfocused. His body sat back in the leather seat, but his mind… it was still in that room, on that couch, years ago. 

“You went somewhere just now,” she said, pen resting against the pad on her lap.

“Yeah. Just… a memory.”

“Want to share it?”

“I just feel like a bad son when I pull away,” he said, like it was a confession. “Even when I know I’m not supposed to be her… her person.”

“Her emotional surrogate,” the therapist finished.

Naruto nodded once. “Yeah.”

“What do you do when that guilt becomes too much?”

He didn’t answer right away. His thumb scratched at his palm like he could hide the truth there. A habit he picked up when things became like this.

“I just go along with it,” he said. “Stay in. Say no to things. Skip stuff. Tell myself it’s not worth the argument or the look she gives me.”

“That’s the pattern,” she said. “You disassociate. Not because you don’t care, but because caring has become exhausting. And somewhere along the way, you learned that numbing yourself was safer than setting boundaries.”

“And the marijuana?” 

“You always get there, don’t you?”

“It’s not judgment. It’s a symptom. A way of coping with the push-pull of obligation and resentment. The way it traps you. Makes the pressure foggy. Distant.”

He didn’t deny it. 

“I know this dynamic is familiar,” she said. “But familiar doesn’t mean healthy. And every time you choose her over your own needs, you reinforce the idea that your feelings matter less.”

He looked down at his shoes. They felt heavy. Like he wasn’t supposed to move.

“Can I ask something more personal?” 

Naruto shrugged. “Yeah, sure. Why not?”

“How have your relationships been? Romantic ones.”

“I don’t know how to be in them,” he said. “I try. I do. But it’s like… I only know how to be responsible for someone. Not be with someone. You get what I mean?”

“You’re talking about performative intimacy. Being the provider, protector, the emotional container. Not the partner.”

“Exactly. I get stuck in this pattern where I can’t even relax. I keep thinking: are they okay, do they need something, am I doing enough because that’s what I’m used to? That’s how a woman’s love looks to me.”

“And what does love look like when it comes to receiving it?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I think I get suspicious. Or I freeze up. Or… I expect them to want something from me. Something I owe.”

“That’s the legacy of emotional enmeshment,” Dr. Riku said. “When love is something you give in exchange for peace. It can make vulnerability feel dangerous.”

“I don’t let people in too far. Not really. And if I do, I end up pushing them away. Or I over-commit. It’s never balanced.”

“Because you weren’t taught how to balance it. You were taught to manage someone else’s emotions before your own.”

Naruto’s throat felt dry. “Yeah. And then I get mad at myself when I can’t do it.”

“Do you feel shame?”

He looked away. “Sometimes.”

“Why?”

“…Because sometimes I like it. Being the one they depend on. Being needed. It’s familiar. Safe. But then I get bitter about it, like I’m stuck. Like I want to escape the second someone gets too close.”

“Because being needed is not the same as being loved. But to you, they’ve always been the same.”

“That’s exactly it.”

“And when you do try to be intimate, emotionally, physically,  how does it feel?”

“…Like I’m cheating on her.”

“That’s something we’ll need to talk about more.”

“Yeah,” he muttered.

“Is there any particular person you had this experience with?”

“Koyuki.”

“Ms. Kazahana.”

“Mhm.”

“Yeah. She was four years older than I. She was already doing press tours and interviews, and premieres when we met. I was just a junior, stupid, loud, and didn't know. Maybe she liked that I didn’t care who she was.”

“Did you care a lot about her?”

“Yeah. But not for the reasons she was used to. I didn’t see a celebrity. I just saw a woman who looked tired all the time.”

“And you liked that?”

“It made sense to me. The exhaustion. The pressure. The need to always smile, even when your chest feels like it’s caving in.”

“You recognize yourself in her.”

“Yeah. And she… she was gentle. Not soft, but gentle. She touched me like she was afraid of breaking something, like I wasn’t used to being handled with care.”

“You weren’t.”

Naruto didn’t say anything to that. He just stared a little harder at the edge of the windowpane.

“It was weird,” he continued, voice dropping, “because sometimes she would talk to me in this tone, this soothing, knowing tone, and I’d catch myself flinching like I was back home. Like Mom was checking in on me when I stayed up too late or forgot to eat. It was… comforting. But it also reminded me that I was a kid. That I was the one being held.”

“And how did that feel?”

“I didn’t know how to be a kid. Not really. I didn’t know how to let someone take care of me without it making me feel small. Like I was failing.”

“Because your concept of love is fused with labor. With giving. So receiving feels like a debt.”

“Exactly. With Koyuki, I kept waiting for the catch. For her to need something I couldn’t give. And when she didn’t, it messed with me.”

“Did you trust her?”

“I think I tried. But I couldn’t relax. She’d pull me close, and it felt good, warm, right… But it also felt like I was betraying something. Someone. Like I wasn’t supposed to feel that from anyone else.”

“Kushina.”

Naruto inhaled through his nose. He didn’t respond.

“She conditioned you to associate your emotional availability with her needs,” Dr. Kon said. “So when someone else met those needs or gave you something healthier, it disrupted your internal compass. You couldn’t find yourself in it.”

“She used to call me her ‘only man, ’” Naruto said. “Like a joke. Said my dad was always working, and I was the one who made her feel like she wasn’t alone.”

“That’s not a role a child should have to fill.”

He nodded again. But his thumbnail.

“Did you love Koyuki?” she asked.

“…Yeah. But I never believed it would last. And I didn’t know how to let her love me without it making me feel like I was cheating.”

“On your mother?”

“Yeah.”

The silence that followed wasn’t heavy. It wasn’t cold. It was the kind of quiet that made space for honesty.

“She deserved better,” he said, after a moment. “Koyuki, I mean.”

“You do too,” Dr. Kon said.

He didn’t argue, but his mind wandered off again.

---

The sheets were still warm. The hotel room buzzed with distant city noise—cars humming down the rain-slick streets, the occasional honk, the low hum of the mini fridge. Koyuki’s fingers traced lazy circles along Naruto’s bare chest, her chin resting on his shoulder.

“You always get so quiet after,” she murmured, not accusing, just curious. She pressed a small kiss to his collarbone. “Most guys can’t shut up about what I’ve heard.”

“Guess I’m not like most guys.”

“No,” she said, a little fond, a little sad. “You’re not.”

He stared up at the ceiling. The overhead light was off, leaving only the glow of the bedside lamp to stretch their shadows long against the wall. Her scent lingered—rose water, wine, the soft musk of sex, and something uniquely hers. It was comforting. Too comforting.

“Do you ever think,” Naruto started, “that being with someone makes you forget who you are?”

Koyuki blinked at that. Propped herself up a little on her elbow to look at him better. “Is that how you feel? With me?”

“No, not exactly. More like… it reminds me I don’t know who I am without someone needing something from me.”

“You don’t think I need anything from you?”

“I know you don’t. That’s what scares me.”

He looked at her then, really looked at her. The lines under her eyes from long nights on set, the way she was still beautiful even when undone, raw and unguarded in a way only people were in the dark. But when he looked at her, he felt something behind her ribs. Guilt. Displacement. Like he was borrowing something that wasn’t his.

“She used to hold me like this,” he said suddenly.

Koyuki didn’t respond.

“When I had nightmares. Or when Dad was gone on a mission and she couldn’t sleep. We’d watch movies. Or talk. I’d crawl into her bed sometimes, and she’d—she’d just wrap her arms around me like I was all she had left.”

Her hand had stilled against his chest.

“I know that sounds weird,” Naruto added, like an apology. “I just… I don’t know where the line is sometimes. Between love and… whatever else that is.”

Koyuki leaned her forehead against his shoulder. “You don’t have to explain. I think I knew from the start.”

“You did?”

“You talk about her like someone you’re still trying to leave.”

Naruto let out a slow breath. His arm tightened around her. “I’m sorry.”

Koyuki kissed his shoulder again. It tasted like goodbye. “So am I.”

Her hand moved from his chest to his cheek, thumb tracing the edge of his jaw as she studied him, like she was trying to memorize the shape of his sadness.

“You don’t have to carry all that,” she whispered. “Not here. Not with me.”

Naruto didn’t answer. His breath caught as she shifted, slowly straddling him, the sheets falling away as her legs settled on either side of his hips. The golden light from the lamp painted her skin in a soft, honeyed glow. Her hair slipped over one shoulder, and he reached up, almost without thinking, to tuck it behind her ear.

“Let me help.” She leaned in, her nose brushing his. “I’ll make you forget, for as long as I can.”

Naruto closed his eyes. Not because he didn’t want her—he did—but because the weight of what she offered came with an ache he couldn’t name. Because for all her warmth, her understanding, her body, she still wasn’t her. And that made it easier… and harder.

“You don’t have to pretend with me,” Koyuki murmured against his lips, grounding him. “I know I’m not the one you can’t let go of. But I’m here. Right now.”

He kissed her then, slow and searching. And when they moved together, again, it wasn’t just about desire. It was about refuge. Escape. A desperate quiet in the eye of something stormy and constant.

Her hands clung to him as if she could draw the sorrow out through skin. His eyes didn’t open until long after, when she’d curled beside him again, fingertips playing with his necklace.

“I wish I had met you sooner,” he whispered.

Koyuki kissed his temple. “I don’t. You wouldn’t have needed me like you do now.”

And he didn’t know whether that was kindness or tragedy.

---

Naruto blinked. The ceiling above him wasn’t hotel-white and golden with lamplight; it was sterile, soft gray, with recessed lights. 

“Where did you just go this time?” Dr.Kon asked.

He dragged a hand over his face. “Nowhere. Just… a long time ago.”

“Was it with her?” she asked, already knowing the answer.

He didn’t say anything for a moment. His throat was tight, like a knot that’d been pulled too many times. 

“Koyuki.”

“You’ve mentioned her before,” Dr.Kon flipped back a page on her notepad. “The woman you dated in high school. The one who made you feel seen, but never quite close.”

“Yeah,” Naruto exhaled. “She knew something was off with me. She didn’t push it. She just tried to… fill in the gaps.”

 “What gaps was she filling, Naruto?”

He looked down at his hands. There was a small scar on his knuckle—one from when he’d punched the wall after a fight with his mom, years ago. His fingers twitched, remembering.

“I don’t know. Maybe the ones my mom put there. Maybe the ones I let stay open.”

“Because if they stayed open,” she offered, “you had a reason to keep coming back to your mother?”

“Yeah.”

Silence settled between them for a beat too long.

“Intimacy’s hard for you,” she said, not as a judgment but a fact.

“It feels like cheating,” he admitted. “Every time I got close to someone else, it felt like I was taking something away from her. Or betraying her.”

“And even when I did get close,” he continued, voice rough, “I was always comparing. The way she held me. The way she talked. The way she needed me. I wanted that from someone else, but every time I got it, it felt wrong.”

“Because of that need, you learned it first through your mother. Emotional development. ”

Naruto nodded, slowly. “And now, every woman I’m with either feels too much like her… or not enough.”

The clock ticked again.

He glanced up, “So what do I do with that?”

Dr.Kon tapped the end of her pen on the pad. “We start by reminding ourselves that love isn’t a transaction. That closeness without control is possible. That it’s okay to want to be needed, but not at the expense of being whole.”

The words made sense to him, but they felt so far away.

“Yeah,” he said. “Okay.”

Dr.Kon glanced at the clock. “We’re just about out of time, Naruto. But before we wrap up, I want to give you something to work on—something small. A boundary.”

He looked at her, wary but listening.

“I want you to try something simple: the next time your mother calls, wait before answering. Just a few minutes. Let her know, when you do call back, that you were in the middle of something for yourself. That you’ll be available to talk, but not always immediately.”

Naruto gave a half-laugh. “She’ll freak.”

“She might. That’s part of it,” she said. “She’s used to accessing. Constant access. You’ve trained her to expect you always, and she’s trained you to respond. We’re trying to unlearn that, together.”

“What if I don’t call back?”

“Then you don’t. That’s a boundary, too.”

Just as the words settled, his phone buzzed in his pocket.

He didn’t even have to check. He knew it was her.

“That's her?”

He nodded.

“And?”

He stared at the screen, heart tight. There it was again, habit, reflex, guilt, all fighting for the same piece of him. 

“I feel like a shitty son if I don’t answer.”

“You’re not,” she said. “You’re someone trying to breathe.”

The phone buzzed again.

“Do you want to try waiting?”

He didn’t say anything at first. Then slowly, he placed the phone face down on the couch beside him and looked up.

“Yeah,” he said. “I want to try.”

She gave a small smile, supportive. “Good. Let’s start there.”

---

Naruto sat in his car for a while after the session, the engine idling, the fan humming against the early afternoon. His phone lay in the cupholder, screen still dark, though the missed call lingered in his mind like a bruise he kept poking.

He leaned his head back against the headrest, eyes closed. The silence wasn’t peaceful; it gnawed. Dr.Kon’s voice echoed in pieces:

“ Let her know you’re not always available.”

“You’re not a bad son.”

“You’re someone trying to breathe.”

He finally picked up the phone. A deep breath. Then he hit the callback.

It rang twice.

“Baby?” Her voice rushed through like static, anxious at the edges. “Are you okay? You didn’t answer. I was starting to think something happened.”

“I’m fine, Mom,” he said. He made himself speak slower, calmer. “I was just in my therapy session. I didn’t see the call.”

“Oh,” she said, like that explained everything but also nothing. “I just wanted to hear your voice. You were quiet yesterday.”

“I was tired.”

“Well… are you coming home soon? I was thinking we could cook something together tonight. Or even order something in and just, you know, hang out. Just us.”

Just us.

He could almost hear the hopeful smile she wore when she said it.

“I might hang with Sasuke after this,” he lied.

“Oh. But you did that yesterday, but okay.”

He could already tell she was fidgeting behind the line. Thinking of something to drag him back home. 

“Well… I guess I’ll just eat leftovers then. It’s okay.”

There it was—her soft guilt-trip, the subtle ache she always left hanging like a hook.

He could feel it pulling.

But he also remembered what Dr.Kon said: “You’ve trained her to expect you always. And she’s trained you to respond.”

So he cleared his throat and said, “We’ll hang out later this week, alright? I’ve just got stuff I want to do today. Sasuke’s heading back out tomorrow.”

“Okay… I love you, baby.”

“I love you, too.”

He hung up before she could say anything else.

And for a second, he didn’t feel lighter. Just emptier.

If it wasn’t for his Mother, he wouldn’t be the way he is today, so detached but so needy. That’s why he craved affection, and probably why he felt like he wanted someone around before running away. 

That’s what made dating Hinata so hard, it was the same for her, as it was for him; except she was at her Father’s beck and call without any signs of resistance. It’s also why she did whatever he asked her to, when he wanted her touch, even a threesome with Hanabi. He could go on and on, but the memories and videos spoke for themselves when he wasn’t up for company.

“I should see what Sasuke has planned for the day.”

Naruto tapped his phone and clicked Sasuke’s last notification, which was a message. 

“Sakura's parents want me to come to a family reunion, I’ll catch up with you next time I come back to Konoah. And do me a favor… Make sure my Mother is okay. I’m not around, and Itachi isn’t either, so I’m trusting you with that responsibility, Naruto.”

He responded to the message, “I’m always going to do that for Aunt Mikoto. And no problem, I’ll find something else to do before I go home too early.”

Three bubbles bounced in anticipation of Sasuke’s text back, “I already know what your idea of fun is. Don’t go catch a disease.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Naruto responded before putting the phone back in the holder. He wasn’t going home this early, so there was one thing he could do.

---

Leaf Academy Park hadn’t changed much.

Same rusting swing set, same worn-out grass patch under the monkey bars. Even the carved initials on the bench, half-faded, were still there. Naruto sat with his hands shoved into his hoodie pockets, hood up, hunched like he was bracing against more than the wind.

He stared ahead at nothing. The kids were gone. The parents, too. Just an open stretch of empty play sets and wind-chimed memories brushing past him.

He should’ve gone to a movie or something. But plans changed. Sasuke had dinner with Sakura’s family after all.

And Naruto?

He couldn’t go home. Not after that phone call. So he pulled out his phone. Scrolled past the names of people he might want to talk to.

Shion. Too churchy. He didn’t want to hear that right now. 

Konan. Maybe tomorrow.

Pervy Sage. He was definitely peeking somewhere. 

Hanabi. Maybe.

Fuu. Probably too busy studying.  

Shikamarua. Tamari and he had an event to attend.

Sāra. Maybe.

Yugito. She was at the vet today for Nibi, or that’s what she told him last night.

Hinata. Maybe.

Koyuki.  He hesitated, thumb hovering. But then, before he could think better of it, he hit call. It rang four times. His heart felt like it was made of static.

Then, her voice, slightly groggy but unmistakably hers. 

“…Hello?”

He smiled, like it was a reflex. “Hey. It’s me.”

A pause. Then: “Naruto?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, there’s a name I didn’t expect to pop up on my screen. It’s been a minute, hasn’t it?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Sorry. I didn’t know who else to call.”

Something about her tone shifted, “You sound like shit.”

He huffed a dry laugh. “Thanks.”

“What’s going on?”

He looked around the empty park. The afternoon air had grown colder, but he didn’t notice it. Not really.

“I told my mom I had plans with a friend,” he said. “And then they fell through. And I couldn’t go back. I couldn’t face her. So I’m looking for a backup.”

“Still the same dynamic, huh?”

“Worse, maybe. Or maybe I’m just finally noticing.”

“She still… pulling on you?”

“Yeah,” he said. “In ways I don’t know how to untangle.”

“You don’t need to carry her burden, Naruto.”

“I know, but she’s my Mom.”.

“But you don’t feel it.”

“No,” he admitted. “I don’t.”

“You remember that hotel in Sapporo?” she said.

“Where you make me eat five types of mochi in bed?”

“Where I told you I’d make you forget. Even if it was just for a night.”

He closed his eyes. “Yeah.”

“I’m in town, so if you’re here and you need to forget for a while…” 

The suggestion was clear enough.

“Thanks, Koyuki.”

“Anytime.”

By the time he got to her suite, it was evening. Not late enough that the city had gone to sleep, but late enough that the hotel lobby had thinned to a hush. The kind of stillness that made everything feel more fragile, more intimate. He told the concierge he was expected, and they let him up without much question. Her name still carried weight, even in quiet corners of town.

Room 1807.

He stood in front of the door for a long second before knocking. Not because he was uncertain—he knew what he was doing. He just didn’t know what it meant yet.

It clicked open almost immediately.

Koyuki stood barefoot, hair damp, in a robe that hung loose around her shoulders. Her expression didn’t shift much when she saw him, like she’d already known he’d show up the moment she answered the phone.

“You look tired,” she said.

“I am.”

“Then come in.”

The suite smelled faintly of jasmine and something else expensive, warm wood, maybe. Her makeup was off, and her skin glowed with that effortless grace she never really had to work for. She padded over to the minibar, poured him water without asking, and set it on the coffee table.

“You want to talk?” she asked, settling on the couch.

He took the seat next to her. Close, but not too close. 

“Not really.”

“Then don’t.”

He looked down at the glass in his hands. “Have you ever felt like someone is living your life for you? Like… you’re just the shape they need to feel okay?”

“You mean your mother?”

He didn’t answer. Didn’t have to.

She reached over, brushed a strand of hair from his forehead. “You’ve always been too good at carrying other people’s burdens. Even mine.”

“I didn’t mind yours.”

“That’s the problem,” she said. “You don’t mind hers either. And now you’re unraveling.”

He looked at her then. She wasn’t pitying him. She never had. She was just looking. Seeing him. Telling him the truth.

“Have you ever wished you could be selfish?”

“All the time.”

Her hand found his. Intertwining with his, grounding him.

“You’re safe here, Naruto.” 

But he didn’t say anything. Just stared ahead, his expression unreadable in that practiced way of his. Like a man used to holding in a storm with a paper wall.

Koyuki shifted closer. She didn’t reach for more, just rested her head against his shoulder. She could feel how he was, like every breath he took had to pass through a filter of caution.

“You’re doing that thing again,” she murmured.

“What thing?”

“Where you act like the world will collapse if you show anything.”

“Yeah, well. It usually does.”

She laughed, not unkindly, and tilted her head back to look at him. “I haven’t been with anyone else, you know.”

He blinked down at her, thrown for a second. “Since when?”

“Since the beginning, you were my first. Since you were seventeen and stumbled into my life like some half-broken storm looking for a place to rest.” She brushed her fingers lightly against the back of his hand. 

“You think I could forget that? Forget you?”

“Maybe,” he said.

“I kept expecting it to fade,” she said, “but it never did. And I didn’t want it to.”

Naruto turned toward her then. Not all at once, just enough that their knees touched, enough that the tension in his shoulders started to slip. His mouth opened, but nothing came out.

So she took his hand in both of hers. Pressed it gently to her cheek. “You don’t have to be strong with me. I never needed that from you.”

“I don’t know how else to be.”

Koyuki looked up and smiled, “Then let me remind you.”

She leaned up and kissed the corner of his mouth. The kind of kiss that asked, not took. That promised.

“You’re still the same guy who held my heart like it was breakable,” she said. “So let me hold yours for a while. Just until it stops shaking.”

Naruto nodded. She always knew how to break him down. Just as his Mother did, but Koyuki patched him back up. She was a foundation that filled in his faults, they weren’t together; her life was busy, complicated, and they both enjoyed the lack of camera and attention when they just wanted each other.

Koyuki nudged his side, “You came at the perfect time, by the way.”

Naruto raised an eyebrow. “Oh yeah?”

She stood up slowly, stretching her arms overhead, the hem of her oversized sweatshirt lifting just enough to be distracting. “Mhm. I was just about to get into a bubble bath. But now…” She looked over her shoulder, smiling coyly. “Guess I’ll need to make it a two-person soak.”

“You’re kidding.”

“I’m not.” She disappeared into the adjoining bathroom, her voice floating back like a siren’s call. “You look like you haven’t let your muscles relax in years. You’ll thank me.”

He sat there dumbfounded for a moment, the image in his head already forming, before he shook it off with a scoff. “You haven’t changed, have you?”

“Nope,” she called back. “And you’re still too stubborn to admit when you need this.”

The sound of running water started. The faint scent of lavender and eucalyptus crept out under the bathroom door. A few seconds later, she reappeared with a fluffy towel and a mischievous grin. “Well?”

Naruto scratched the back of his neck, “Alright, alright. Just don’t drown me in there.”

“I make no promises,” she said sweetly, pressing the towel into his chest. “But I will make sure you leave with softer skin and a cute face mask.”

He followed her into the steam-slicked room. For the first time in what felt like forever, he didn’t feel like he was running from anything. He was choosing something that made him happy.

Notes:

Chapter 6: Home Sweet Home

Chapter 6: Home Sweet Home

“YOU.

LIED 

TO 

ME.”

“ Not even a chance to walk through the door, great.”

“Hi to you as well, Mom.”

“You don’t get a hello, where the hell have you been, Namizake Naruto.

“Out.”

“You don’t trust me anymore, do you?”

“I didn’t lie. I just didn’t tell you where I was going. Besides, plans changed.”

“That’s the same thing!” she shouted. “You told me you were with Sasuke, and then I found out from Mikoto that you weren’t. You weren’t even home last night, Naruto! I waited all night!”

“I’m not a kid anymore,” he snapped.

“Then stop acting like one. Stop lying to me.”

“I wasn’t lying,” he said.“I just didn’t tell you everything.”

“Oh, so that makes it better?” she scoffed, her voice breaking. “Where were you, Naruto? Who were you with? Some random girl? And why do I have to hear about it now, after you’ve come crawling back like nothing happened?”

“Why are you making it sound like I’m begging to stay here? Like I’m crawling back to you out of some form of self-pity. You know what I don’t need this; I don’t need you -”

Her hand dropped away from his wrist like it had burned her. Then a loud pop happened, skin against skin, her palm against his cheek. Not enough to knock him back. But enough to leave a sting. He didn’t react. He just stood there, cheek red, staring at the floor.

“I gave you everything,” Kushina said, her voice trembling. “My time, my life, my heart. I made this house your whole world, Naruto. I birthed you. And now you want to run off and act like I’m just some prison guard keeping you here.”

She took a shaky step toward him, eyes desperate, wild with grief.

“Who were you with?” she asked again. “Was it a girl? Are you… Are you doing drugs now? Is that it? Weed? You think I don’t notice how far away you’ve been lately? How cold you are?”

“You don’t notice anything except what I give you,” he said. “You only see me when I’m who you want me to be, which is Dad. You want me to fuck you, Mom? Is that it? Is that why you’re so hellbent on me staying here with you?”

“You watch your mouth this instant.”

“Why?”

He grabbed her wrists and shoved her back against the wall. The force wasn’t hard, but it was enough to isolate them in the dark of their hallway.  While she stared up at him, shaken but silent. His grip tightened, trembling with something caught between rage and pity.

“Let go,” she whispered, but her voice kept its conviction.

And still, he didn’t move. His Dad was at the office again, for a last-minute meeting, at least that’s what he texted him this morning. So it was just the two of them, two tempers raging against one another in an empty home. Mother and Son. 

“I’m moving out.”

“You’re… what?” she said, as if she hadn’t heard him right.

“I’m leaving once it’s all settled and figured out, probably by the end of the month. So three weeks, if not sooner.”

He watched as his Mom’s eyes welled up with tears, trembling with something between heartbreak and denial.

 “I gave you everything, Naruto. Everything. And now you’re just leaving?”

“I’m not doing this with you. Not today.” Naruto freed her wrist and pushed past her, up the stairs, but she was right behind him.

“Don’t you walk away from me.”

Naruto ignored her, finding his way to his room, a neatly made bed, a clean floor, and blinds tilted just so the sun wouldn’t hit his eyes in the morning. It was untouched. Perfect. Sanitized. She always slipped in while he was out. Washed his laundry, folded his clothes the way he liked without him asking. Refilled his drawers with snacks, reorganized his books by subject and size. It was obsessive, but he let it happen. For years, he let it happen.

“What has gotten into you?” Kushina said from the doorway, eyes red. “Ever since last week, you’ve been a different person.”

He didn’t look at her. Just dropped his keys on the desk and sat on the edge of the bed, elbows on knees, hands in front of him.

“I’m the same person,” he said. “I’m just… seeing things clearer now.”

“Seeing what?” Kushina pulled the pin for her hair.. “Me as a villain? The enemy in your little therapy sessions?”

“What is with you and any woman I talk to, seriously? If Dr. Kon were a man instead of a woman, I bet you wouldn’t be acting like this.”

Kushina slammed the door behind her. “I’m sick and tired of you disrespecting me.”

“I’m not disrespecting you,” Naruto said, anger barely kept under the surface. “I’m just finally telling the truth. You can’t stand that.”

She stared at him, lips trembling. “You think it’s easy? Being alone in this house? Watching you grow up and pull away from me like I didn’t give up everything for you?”

“I didn’t ask you to give everything up.”

“No,” she whispered. “You didn’t. I did. Because that’s what a good mother does for her child.”

“You’re my mom,” he said. “Not my shadow. Not my conscience. And definitely not my—”

He stopped himself. Too far. She was already looking at him like she heard it anyway.

She didn’t say anything else, instead, Kushina just turned on the light switch and left. 

The door clicked shut behind her.

Naruto sat there, shoulders tense, the silence afterward louder than her voice had ever been. He sighed. He wasn’t going to chase her, not this time. 

He took another deep breath, and his room smelled of her perfume. She must have cleaned in here recently, vacuumed, dusted, and folded his laundry like she always did. Like nothing had changed. Like he was still hers to take care of. And maybe part of him still was. That’s what scared him the most.

He stared at the door for a long moment, then reached into his desk drawer and pulled out the little tin he kept hidden beneath an old stack of sketchpads. Just a pinch to take the edge off. Just enough to quiet the static in his head, the guilt curdling in his gut.

But even as he lit up, he couldn’t stop seeing the look on her face. The way she backed away. The way she heard what he didn’t say.

He blew out the smoke and leaned back on his bed, eyes tracing the cracks in the ceiling. A little while after his phone buzzed, he knew that ringtone: Hanabi. She was going to be his stress reliever. 

Naruto unlocked his phone to see the message: “Miss me?” Attached was a picture—her in a short black dress, legs tucked under her on what looked like her bedroom floor. She was biting her lip, playful, knowing exactly what he needed.

“Come over; asap,” he texted her. “And bring some ounces with you, it’s going to be one of those days.”

He didn’t wait for her response. The phone slipped onto his chest as he closed his eyes, the ceiling cracks forming constellations he didn’t care to name. He knew she’d come. She always did. And he’d let her, every time. If not her, then someone else; until he no longer felt the way he did.

---

Kushina stared at her old photobook, fingers trembling as she turned each page. The soft crinkle of the aging plastic sleeves made its home in the quiet of her room. There was Naruto in his Academy uniform, grinning toothily with paint smudged on his cheek. Her younger self beside him, arms wrapped around his shoulders, holding him close like he was the only thing that ever mattered.

She swallowed hard, blinking back tears. The corners of the photos were worn from years of revisiting — years of telling herself that as long as she still had him, everything would be okay.

But it wasn’t okay anymore.

Her thumb hovered over a picture of him and Minato. Father and son. Minato had always been gentle with him, always present in the quiet, steady way Kushina never was. She’d tried to fill in all the other spaces, the loud ones, the overwhelming ones, the spaces Naruto never asked her to fill.

“I just wanted to protect you,” she whispered to the photo, but the words felt small. Weak. Powerless. Because deep down, she knew this wasn’t about protection. It hadn’t been for a long time. It was about control. About fear. About a loneliness that crept in when Naruto stopped needing her like he used to.

She pressed the photo to her chest, closed her eyes, and wept, not just for her son, but for the parts of herself that had withered quietly while she tried to be everything for him. 

Time went by, and she didn’t know how long she had cried.

The clock on her nightstand blinked a new hour, but Kushina couldn’t bring herself to look. Her face was hot and sticky with tears, her hands clutching the photobook like it could anchor her to a time when things still made sense, when Naruto would run to her after school, when he’d cling to her waist during thunderstorms, when the sound of his voice had nothing but joy in it.

Now his voice sounded like Minato’s. Absent. Argumentative. Controlled. Full of edges.

And his eyes… they were no longer full of love when he looked at her. Instead of annoyance, everything she did was annoying. He used to look at her like she was his world. Like she was safe. Now, he looked at her like she was a burden.

And maybe she was.

Kushina slowly sat up, wiping her face with the sleeve of her sweater. She sniffed, her body aching with the kind of exhaustion that sleep couldn’t fix. On the dresser nearby was the little paper sunflower Naruto had made for her in the second grade,  the one with “I love you forever, Mommy” scribbled in big uneven letters on the stem. She remembered how proud he was when he gave it to her. He’d climbed into her lap and wrapped his tiny arms around her neck.

She would’ve done anything to keep him that small.

Maybe that was her sin.

She never let herself grow with him. Never let him breathe without her.

“I don’t know who I am without you,” she said to the quiet, and the words echoed in the dark, pitiful and raw.

Then she heard it. It sounded like muffled laughter first, then the unmistakable sounds of something else. It wasn’t the kind of noise one heard in a house with a child still under their roof. It was the kind of noise that made her stomach turn, an uncomfortable sensation that made her skin flush hot with a mix of confusion and something darker.

Her hand tightened around the photobook. She wanted to tell herself it wasn’t real. That her mind was playing tricks on her, twisting sounds into something they weren’t.

But no.

The moans came again, clearer now, unmistakably feminine. Kushina’s heart beat faster, her thoughts spiraling into a dark corner she couldn’t escape.

She couldn’t bring herself to go upstairs. Her body felt rooted to the spot, her limbs frozen in a strange mixture of shock and dread. It wasn’t just the sound that unsettled her, it was the realization. She had heard stories from friends, and she’d known that Naruto was getting older. But somehow, hearing it now, hearing it so vividly from just one room away, made it all too real.

Her son was growing up. Growing distant. Changing in ways she didn’t fully understand.

She wanted to scream, to cry, to do something, anything, to make it stop, to make her feel like she could hold on to him, like she could freeze time the way she used to, when he was still small and needing her in a way that felt so pure.

But all she could do was sit there in the dark, listening to the sounds that no longer belonged to a little boy.

Her phone vibrated on the bed next to her. She didn’t even look at it. What could she possibly say? Could she keep him? Could she stop him from changing into someone else?

The answer felt too impossible to face.

Her son was slipping away, and no amount of love or control could hold him back.

She closed her eyes, trying to block it out, trying to ignore the painful truth that seemed to echo in every sound, every shift of the house.

But it was real. This wasn’t a dream. This wasn’t something that could be undone.

She had failed.

Kushina’s fingers trembled as she unlocked her phone and navigated to the security camera app. Her mind screamed at her to stop, to not look, to pretend she hadn’t heard the noises, but something deeper, something far more painful, pushed her forward. She needed to know.

The footage flickered to life, and she scrolled back to the moment she’d heard the sounds. Her heart skipped as the timestamp confirmed it was just a few minutes ago. The camera outside Naruto’s door showed the faint outline of the room in the dark hallway, but she could still make out the figures moving inside.

The girl’s voice, Hanabi’s voice, reached her ears, even through the footage. Kushina’s chest tightened. She stared at the screen, her mind reeling. Hanabi. Of course, it was her. Naruto’s… friend, or whatever they were now. She’d seen her around enough times, but never in this context. Never like this. The black outlines told a complete story, he was fucking her, and his Mother was watching.

A part of her felt bad, like she was betraying her son’s trust by watching this. But it wasn't just about the intimacy; it was about Naruto’s disregard for the boundaries she had tried to set for him. For the way she had raised him. For the way he seemed to be slipping away from her, from everything they once shared.

Kushina’s heart was racing, her mind clouded with a mixture of anger and hurt. She felt a bitter laugh rise in her throat, but it stuck there, choking her. A hotel. That’s what she should’ve told him from the beginning. If he wanted to have his fun with girls, why couldn’t he do it somewhere that wasn’t under her roof? Where she wouldn’t have to hear the sounds of his life moving forward while she stayed stuck in her old, controlling ways.

Maybe it was time to let him go. Let him be an adult. But part of her, the one that had raised him, that had kept him close for so long, felt a surge of protectiveness. She couldn’t just stand by and let him do this under her roof. She had a right to say something. But what could she say that would matter now?

Her hand hovered over the phone screen, debating. Should she go upstairs and knock on the door, confront him, and demand he stop? Should she even try? Part of her wanted to, wanted to knock on the door and tell him it was wrong. But another part of her knew he would just shut her out, like he always did now. He didn’t need her interference. He didn’t need her.

Her thumb hovered over the screen, ready to call him up, but a wave of exhaustion washed over her. This wasn’t the son she raised. It wasn’t the life she’d envisioned for them. The life that had once been so full of closeness, of him. Everything felt so foreign now, so distant.

Kushina slumped back against the bed, her heart heavy in her chest. She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t stop him. She couldn’t stop him from growing up, from making mistakes, from seeking out this version of life that she didn’t understand.

But she couldn’t help but wonder: Was this what she had been protecting him for? Was this what it had all come down to?

Tears stung at the back of her eyes as she watched the footage again, the sounds and images blurring into something she didn’t want to see. It wasn’t about the girl, it was about everything she had feared. Losing him. Letting him slip away and realizing, maybe too late, that she had let it all happen.

All she could do was close the app, set the phone aside, and close her eyes. Maybe tomorrow, she would be stronger. Maybe tomorrow, she would know what to say. But for now, all she could do was sit in the quiet, her son growing up in ways she couldn’t follow.

And her husband still wasn’t home.

Notes:

Chapter 7: Secure Attachment

Chapter 7: Secure Attachment

Kushina hadn’t slept.

She sat at the edge of her bed, still in the same clothes from the night before, her red hair loose and frizzed, her eyes rimmed red not from sleep, but from something more corrosive. Memory. Envy. Ache.

Downstairs, the house was quiet except for the low hum of the fridge and the ticking of the wall clock. It was Sunday. A day that used to mean pancakes and teasing, chores and music on the radio. Now it was silence and dread.

Naruto hadn’t come out of his room since early morning. She could still feel the burden of his words last night echoing through the walls.

I’m moving out.

A thousand versions of herself wanted to stop it. Not logically.  She closed her eyes and pressed a hand to her chest, fingers trembling. What was happening to her?

She turned to her husband's empty, untouched bedside. He hadn’t shown up at all, just text messages that he was still working and would probably sleep at the office.

“Late meeting.”

“Overnight again. Don’t wait up.”

“Love you.”

Was he cheating on her?

The thought settled in her mind like an anchor dropped into the deep sea. It sounded insane. Minato? The same man who once chased down her kidnappers barefoot in the snow? Who brought her ramen at midnight in college just to see her smile?

But… that was before Kurenai.

That bitch with her perfect eyeliner and red contacts, her whisper-soft voice that always lingered a second too long on Minato’s name. Kurenai wore skirts too short for an office and blouses that never reached their buttons. Kushina saw the way she looked at her husband. Like she already owned a part of him.

And Minato, charming as he was, wasn’t stupid. But maybe he wasn’t immune either.

She unlocked her phone with a swipe and opened his location.

Still at the office.

Just like he said.

She stared at the blinking dot for a full minute, the tension in her shoulders refusing to leave. Maybe this was all in her head. Maybe this whole Naruto situation was pushing her into paranoia, making her question everything. The distance. The arguments. The way her son looked at her now, like a stranger.

“ He wouldn’t leave me. Neither of them would. Right?”  

Kushina tied up her robe, fingers fumbling with the sash like it didn’t want to knot. Her bare feet brushed against the cold floor as she stood. The silence in the house gnawed at her, too loud for comfort. Too hollow.

It was time to check on her son.

She stepped out into the hallway, the air heavy with the scent of incense from the small shrine at the stairs’ landing, lavender, barely masking the taint of smoke that drifted from upstairs. Naruto . Her heart squeezed. He’d picked up the habit recently, just another quiet rebellion she hadn’t been able to stop.

Each step up the staircase felt heavier than the last. The wood creaked beneath her, but she didn’t pause. Not this time. Not when so much space had grown between them, like the whole house had shifted its walls to keep them apart.

She reached his door.

It was closed.

Of course it was.

She stared at it for a moment, unsure of what she expected to hear. Silence, maybe. Music. Breathing. But it was quiet… too quiet for a boy who had once filled every corner of this house with laughter.

Kushina knocked once, softly. “Naruto?”

No answer.

She hesitated, then reached for the knob.

Should she knock again?

Or just open it?

Habit got the better of her, and she slowly turned the knob. The door creaked open by a silver, as she tried to peek inside. 

The room smelled like smoke and something sweeter, the lingering scent of perfume and whatever incense Naruto had tried to burn earlier. Light from the cracked window stretched across the carpet, cutting through the dimness.

And there he was.

Naruto, lying back on his bed, one arm tucked behind his head, the other resting loosely around Hanabi.

She was curled up against him, eyes closed, cheek pressed to his chest like it was the safest place in the world.

Kushina froze.

A part of her wanted to close the door and pretend she hadn’t seen it. But her feet wouldn’t move. Her eyes wouldn’t look away.

They looked peaceful. That was what stung the most.

The serenity in her son’s face, so unlike the fire and bitterness he usually carried around her. Like Hanabi had pulled something out of him that she couldn’t anymore.

When did that happen? When did she stop being enough?

Kushina’s fingers trembled where they gripped the doorknob, white-knuckled. Her heart thudded, no longer out of anger, but something far harder to name.

She took one step back.

Then another.

And closed the door, gently this time.

Kushina stood outside his door, staring at it like it had whispered something cruel to her. She tightened the belt of her robe and slowly walked back to her room. Each step felt like wading through something thick and invisible. She sat at the edge of her bed once more, phone in hand, the screen lighting up her face in the dark.

After a long pause, she typed.

“ You could’ve told me you were having someone over. 

I wouldn’t have stopped you.”

She stared at the message.

Deleted it.

Typed again.

“I didn’t mean to fight with you yesterday.

I’m just… worried.”

Another pause.

She hovered over the keyboard, fingers twitching.

Then she added one more line and hit send before she could second-guess it.

“I miss you, Son.”

The message was delivered.

Read.

But there was no reply. She had had half a mind to go bust his door down, but she needed to sleep, and when she woke up, they would talk.

Notes:

Chapter 8: Secure Base

Chapter 8: Secure Base

Naruto hadn’t planned on talking, ever since Hanabi had left earlier that day, his thoughts were on his Mom and their fight. It was stupid, it was hurtful, and he did want to apologize for how he said things, but not what he said.

When he went to his Mom’s room, she was asleep, and his Dad still wasn’t home; he told him he could shadow him at the office Thursday, he seemed proud of him following in his footsteps. But that just meant the next three days he was going to be at home with his Mom, until then. 

“ Great, more arguments. ”

The hallway felt longer, and when he reached her room, the door was cracked. The way it always used to be when he was little, when she’d say, “Just in case you have a bad dream, baby.”

She was asleep. Peaceful, at least on the outside.

He stood there. Just watched. He could’ve turned around. Gone back to his room. Back to sleep. Back to pretending. But he didn’t. Instead, he knocked on the door, almost unsure why he did it.

Her eyes fluttered open.

“Naruto?” 

“Yeah.”

She sat up slowly, brushing her hair behind her ear.

“I didn’t think you’d…” she began, then trailed off.

“I didn’t either.”

“I’m sorry,” they both said in unison like they could read one another’s minds.

Kushina let out a giggle and looked down at her hands in her lap. Naruto scratched the back of his neck, eyes drifting anywhere but her.

“You first,” she said, lifting her eyes to meet his.

“I didn’t mean to say it like that. The stuff last night—I was pissed. I didn’t want to hurt you.”

“I know. You meant what you said, but not how it came out.”

“Yeah,” he said. “I’ve been carrying stuff. Stuff I didn’t even realize until I started talking about it. It’s not all your fault. But it’s not all mine either.”

She reached out, hesitating a moment before placing her hand over his. “I’ve… been holding too tight. I see that now. I just, when you were little, you needed me for everything. And when you stopped needing me, I didn’t know what to do with myself.”

Naruto looked down at their hands. Hers was warm, familiar, still trembling a little. “I still need you,” he said. “Just not in the same way. I want space, not distance.”

“Then I’ll try. I’ll give you that space… but promise me you’ll still come back. That I won’t lose you.”

“You won’t. I’m not going anywhere forever.”

A silence settled between them, gentler than before. Not the graveyard of unsaid things, but the kind that follows an emotional thaw.

“Want to sit with me?” 

Naruto was going to decide against it, but then his body moved beside her on the bed. Her head rested against his shoulder, like it used to when he was a kid, like time hadn’t warped everything between them.

They were Mother and Son, they would always have a bond, no matter what was said. They loved one another, they both had a temper, they were more identical than they knew.

“Naruto?”

“Yes, Mom.”

“I-uh saw you sleeping with Hanabi earlier.”

“Mom, it’s not…”

“I know.”

It’s been too long since her and Minato did anything like that, he was always working. At some point, her hand wandered to his lap. 

“Would it be so bad if…”

It must have been the lack of sleep, for what she was even considering. Her hand was now on her son’s dickprint, and he wasn’t moving.

“ Do you want this as much as me…” The thought of her desires being fulfilled by her Son was like something out of a porn plot, she would watch when she masterbated. But he wasn’t opposed or didn’t know how to react to her yet. 

“Mom, what are you..?”

Kushina went further, moving her hand inside his shorts, grabbing his cock which was already erect from her touch. 

“Naruto. Do you love me?”

“Mom, this isn’t right. I should—” Naruto's protest was shut off when he felt his Mom’s lips on his, begging for entry, begging for her affection to be reciprocated by any means. 

He shut down. His mind went blank as he tried to process what was happening. The years of therapy, the treatment, and the strain of his illness, now flaring, were affecting his decision-making.

The next thing he saw was her undoing her robe, the absence of her bra revealed her breasts and nipples that he used to nurse from. Then she forced him back against the pillow-covered headboard, now straddling him, with tired eyes that were only focused on him.

“I want to give you a reason to never leave me, Naruto.” 

He felt his Mother’s ass grind against his cock, the thinness of his shorts made it feel like skin to skin contact. The way her breasts were pressed against his face, the aroma of her perfume that was triggering a primal desire, and the scent of her body, which released a hormonal smell that was driving him even further down a point of no return.

“Suck my nipples, nurse from them like you used to, let me care for you.”

Kushina moaned her son’s name once she felt him latch onto her nipples. Teasing and abusing them like she was another one of his girls, another person to use to satiate the desire that lingered inside of both of them. 

It was wrong. This was so wrong she would never be able to tell anyone that this happened, this happened in the room that she shared with her husband, her son’s father. The inability to make logical decisions was leaving her, the flare up of the Kyubi Strain and all the emotional roller coast she’s been on was at its peak. 

“I want you to punish me; I want you to make me sorry for making you feel that way, Son.”

Naruto didn’t say anything before breaking free from her chest, breathing in and out as he tried to recover. To see a glimpse of reason before things went too far, the point of no return for either of them.

“Mom. I can’t. We can’t. We shouldn’t. This isn’t right.” Naruto tried to help her see reason, to help her understand that neither of them was capable of making the right choices, right now.

His words did little to stop his Mom from bending over towards the door, her black panty clad assed arched up to his face; just begging him to get a taste.

“I want this. I consent. Please just let me have this….” Kushina pulled her panties to side, revealing her glistening pussy and puckered asshole, which only wanted one thing right now, her son.

The horniness that he was trying to keep at bay, finally broke through the dam. Naruto was head first, lapping at the edges of his Mom’s asshole and pussy, stimulating both organs as his hand smacked her ass. Forcing her to grind it into his face, wetting his beard, as he tasted the woman he came from. Consequences be damned now, as he was finally punishing her for how she made him feel.

“Yes! Just like that, baby! Yes! Stick your tongue inside your Mommy’s pussy and your thumb in my asshole.”

Naruto obliged, the daze he was in, her words were no different than any other girl he would fuck regularly. It was all talk until it happened. And so, he wasn’t going to wait for her to come to reason.

He inched the tip of his thumb into her asshole, slowing moving it in and out, as it tightened around the foreign digit. His beard now glazed from her the nectar that was leaking and the salvia he used to keep her glistened pussy pleasured.

“You’re such a fucking nasty, boy. Oh… Oh fuck! I didn’t know I raised you to be so nasty.”

Her words only edged him further, that is until he felt the hot liquid spraying his face, as his Mom squirted all over his face, and mouth, forcing him to drink and taste her to the full extent, the orgasm of her trembling body as she dropped to the bed.

Naruto took a deep breath, wiping his face with the dry portions of his now-wet t-shirt. 

Kushina’s phone buzzed, but it was on her nightstand, outside of her reach. 

“Get the phone and tell me who’s calling, Son.”

He had to calm down, he couldn’t speak. The taboo of what they just did was something he was still reeling from.

“O-Okay.” 

He leaned across the right side of the bed, grabbing his Mom’s phone as the caller ID appeared, Best Husband in the Whole Wide World. 

“It’s Dad.”

Kushina's eyes widened, and she snatched the phone from him. “Not a word,” she said to Naruto before answering the phone.

“Hi Honey.”

Naruto sighed in the background, his erection was killing him. The only one out of the two parties that got released was his Mom.

“You’ll be home in 15 minutes. Can you stop by the store first? I need some more hygiene products, and don’t feel like going out.”

All Naruto heard was that he was going to get his nut. he got off the bed and walked over to his Mom, who was still lying on the phone talking. 

He grabbed her hair and inched his cock to her lips, begging for her to finish what she wanted so bad.

“Hold on, Honey. Your son wants me to do something?” 

Kushina muted the phone, “We don’t have enough time for that. Your Father is almost here.”

Naruto didn’t care, he forced his cock down her open mouth, triggering her gag reflex at the sudden intrusion. His cock twitching as the feeling of his Mom’s lips and tongue fighting the organ in her mouth. 

She kept the phone muted as she pulled her head back, before bobbing it up and down, making her slurping sound loud, and eye contact with him. While the salvia and drool escaped her mouth onto his cock, which now had precum from all the teasing.

He heard his Dad call out to his Mom for what popcorn she wanted.

Kushina stopped and pulled Naruto’s cock out of her mouth. “My favorite, Minato.” 

“I kinda forgot?” Naruto heard his Dad say on the other end of the line, while his Mom wasn’t sucking his cock; she was jacking it off with her free hand, not breaking contact from him, as went faster.

“The movie kind. I swear you don’t know me anymore.” 

“I do.”

“You better or else.”

Naruto knew the words were meant for him and his Dad, but the craziness of it all, was too much to handle, and so his cock throbbed and his Mom wasted no time putting her mouth around the tip. Teasing his balls, as he busted his load into her mouth, which she greedily swallowed. 

When it tampered off, he moved back as she pointed towards the door. He knew it was time for him to get out of here and clean up before his Dad made it home. To reflect on what the fuck just happened between him and his Mom. And the pills, he needed his pills because his head was spinning, while he was trying to make sense of it all. 

His room was his haven, as he rushed to his dresser and pulled the pill bottle from its lodged spot. The label was worn, but the words were still clear: Prescribed: Namikaze Naruto – Kyuubi Regulation – Take twice daily.

He popped the lid off with one hand, the other running through his messy hair, pulling slightly at the roots like it would ground him. His chest felt tight, like the pain inside him had been coiled too long, pressed against the inside of his ribs, begging to lash out.

One capsule rested in his palm. It looked harmless. Stupid, even. How something so small could keep what he could only describe as a demon sealed and his mind from tearing itself apart.

Naruto breathed out gradually.

“Come on,” he muttered to himself.

He tossed it back and washed it down with the water on his desk, lukewarm and metallic from sitting out all day. The pill lodged in his throat for a second before slipping down, leaving a bitterness behind.

He stood there for a long time, staring at the floor. The vivid flashbacks of what he did with his Mom were haunting him; it was regret, guilt. It only worsened what he already knew she wanted from him, and now he had cheated with his Mom on his Dad… and enjoyed it? A thought that would never make sense, however, because it didn’t happen. He was still sleeping. He was still dreaming. This was nothing more than a crazy dream that just felt too real.

“This is so messed up…”

Sometimes the medicine worked fast. Sometimes it didn’t. But he’d learned to wait. Learned to sit through the waves of anger, paranoia, and the intrusive images, until the red faded from the edge of his vision. He leaned back, resting his head against the wall.

The thought of his Mom doing what she did, what they did, was all too fresh. Even worse was that the three days would now be like hell if he sat around. He had to get out of the house at least as much as he could. 

 

Notes:

Chapter 9: Sappy

Chapter 9: Sappy

Post-nut clarity plus post-medication was a cocktail Naruto wasn’t sure how to take. Realizing what he did with his Mom was like a bowling ball hitting a strike. It wasn’t supposed to happen. Not in a million years should they have done what they did, and he couldn’t fathom why it happened. Why neither of them could control their impulses, which he already knew, the illness. 

Being at home with Mom for the next months would mean taking his medication as prescribed, twice a day, three times in a pinch. He needed control, maybe crush up a pill and put it in her food if that’s what it took to avoid him actually fucking his Mom. 

“ God, this is weird.”  

What son had to put so much planning in to avoid fucking his Mom of all people. It was more so him avoiding her, since she came onto him, and not the other way around. But semantics didn’t matter, right? Results did. 

“ Wonder what they’re talking about?”

The conversation downstairs was loud enough for him to hear. Dad was home with the things Mom requested, and he was upstairs, contemplating whether or not he should be honest. It would at least be one good decision after a spiral of many, or was this just another domino waiting to fall?

Naruto sighed and stared at the ceiling, “What am I going to do?”  The sounds of his parents downstairs vanished, and then the sound of a room door closing gave him all the clues he needed to know. 

He swiped his phone and texted the group chat, “Bonfire???” 

It didn’t take long for the responses to fill in, with the surprising amount of agreement from the members of the chat. That was all he needed to get out of bed, pop on a hoodie and sweatpants, and escape from the house. He would have to pick Hanabi up, which meant Hiashi, which also meant a lecture from the older man who presumably hated his guts even more than he previously did after the Hinata fallout. 

“It is what it is,” Naruto snatched his car keys from the dresser, slid on his shoes, and closed his room door behind him. His Mom was preoccupied with his Dad, so hopefully that meant things wouldn’t be awkward tomorrow or tonight, for that matter; they’d probably be asleep when he came home, and that would give him the space he needed to think.

He wasted no time hitting the stairs, then the front door, which he locked behind him. The garage would have been quicker but louder, and he didn’t need his Mom bugging him about anything, not now, especially not now.

The headlights on his car beeped as he pressed the button on the door’s handle to unlock and slide into the driver’s seat. Push to start saved him the trouble of twisting the key into the ignition, so the lights on the dashboard came to life as he put the engine into reverse and pulled out of their driveway.

“Home free.”

The streets were mostly quiet, just the occasional dog barking behind a fence, porch lights, and the whirr of his engine as he cruised down familiar roads. It was weird how a city as big as Konoah could feel so small, so suffocating. Every corner held a memory. Some good. Some… not so much.

He turned the volume down on the stereo. Even music felt too loud for the way his thoughts were piling up. The meds dulled the edges, but they didn’t erase anything. Not what happened. Not what he felt. Hanabi’s house wasn’t too far. The Hyūga estate was tucked behind iron gates and a chunk of land to house their compound and all their workers, like they were hiding something uglier behind them. They were affluent, just as the Uchiha’s, but they were known for their doctors and specialty in X-Rays. 

He pulled up to the gate, entered the pincode: 1227, the gates buzzed open as he drove up the landing strip that was their driveway. Even after all these years, the pincode didn’t change, maybe because the old man was so stubborn that he wouldn’t change it from his favorite daughter’s birthday. 

Naruto shot her a quick text: “Here.”

It took a minute, maybe two, before the front door cracked open. Hanabi stepped out, hood up, arms crossed against the night chill. She moved quickly, like she always did when she was sneaking out, not that anyone stopped her anymore. Not since the fallout with her father.

She slid into the passenger seat with a soft thud and tugged the door shut behind her. “You okay?” she asked like she already knew the answer.

“Yeah,” Naruto lied, gripping the wheel with one hand and rubbing his temple with the other. 

“Just... needed to breathe.”

Hanabi nodded, pulling her legs up on the seat. “I figured. You always text me ‘bonfire’ when shit’s bad.”

He didn’t answer; he just pulled the car into reverse and guided it down the long stretch of driveway. The Hyūga estate disappeared behind them, its lights fading like distant stars. They hit the main road, the gas light was on, begging to be silenced.

“Gotta stop real quick,” Naruto muttered, flipping on his signal and coasting into the nearest station. “Didn’t realize I was that low.”

“No problem,” Hanabi scrolled on her phone, head resting against the seat.

He pulled up beside pump four, put the car in park, and sighed. The station lights buzzed overhead, humming in that sterile, neon way that always made everything feel too bright. Too real. 

“You want anything? Drink? Snacks?” He turned to her as he unbuckled. 

Hanabi shrugged, then nodded. “Water, maybe. And those sour candies you get when you're spiraling.”

“So, a gallon of water and emotional damage in a bag. Got it.”

He stepped out, shutting the door behind him with a quiet thunk , and headed toward the store. The chill in the air bit at his skin, but it helped clear his head. A little. Not enough.

Inside, the smell of coffee, fresh food, and chemical cleaners burdened the air like smog. He grabbed a couple of bottles of water, the sour gummies, and a pack of gum for himself, because his mouth was dry and his thoughts felt worse.

At the counter, he caught a glimpse of his reflection in the security mirror above the register. Pale. Tired. Eyes were dull, even behind the faint red puffiness that refused to go down. He looked like someone still coming down from something awful.

Because he was.

“You alright, Naruto?” Kotetsu asked, dragging the scanner over the bottle of water with a low beep. The register light flickered just a little, like it couldn’t decide how alive it was.

Naruto blinked at him, pulled halfway back into the moment. “Yeah,” he said, voice lower than he meant it to be.

Kotetsu gave him a skeptical look, then bagged the candy. “You don’t sound alright.”

“Looks even worse,” Izumo added from the far end of the counter, glancing past Naruto toward the car parked by pump four. “Got a babe in the car too? That Hanabi?”

Naruto didn’t answer right away. His fingers drummed the counter. “Yeah.”

Izumo gave a little whistle. “Didn’t think you two were back together.”

“Shut up,” Naruto said, but there wasn’t any real venom in it.

Kotetsu leaned his elbow on the counter, studying him. “Hey, I’m not trying to pry. Just… you look spun out, man. Like, been-up-three-nights type of tired.”

“I’m fine,” Naruto said again, because it was easier than anything else. He slipped a crumpled twenty from his hoodie pocket and handed it over. It was more than necessary, but he liked to tip them just because they always helped him out. 

“You still on that stuff they give you?” Kotetsu asked, like it was just between them.

He gave a small nod, then glanced over his shoulder at the door. “Just ring me up, yeah?”

Kotetsu did. The register beeped again.

Izumo grabbed the bag and handed it to him, but didn’t let go right away. “If you’re in trouble, kid… y’know, there are people.”

Naruto took the bag without looking at him. “Yeah,” he muttered, “I know.”

He left without another word, the little bell above the door ringing behind him. The cold hit him again as he crossed the lot, but this time it didn’t wake him up. As he slid back into the car, he handed Hanabi the stuff. She looked at him, concerned but quiet, and he appreciated that more than he could say.

“Everything good?” 

Naruto pulled out of the lot, eyes on the dark road ahead.

“Yeah.”

“Thanks,” she said, peeling open the bag.

“Don’t worry about it.” The car shifted gears and headed toward the clearing on the outskirts of town where the rest of the group would be. 

Hanabi crunched into her snack, legs curled up in the passenger seat, casting the occasional glance at him. She didn’t ask more, didn’t push, and Naruto was grateful. The road curved out toward the edge of town, trees lining either side, broken only by the occasional rusted mailbox or flickering porch light.

“You sure they’re all out there already?” she asked, softer now that the music was still off and the world felt distant.

“Yeah. Group chat was blowing up.”

She hummed, pulling her hoodie sleeve over her hand as she leaned into the window. “Hope Choji brought marshmallows this time.”

“Bet Ten Ten brought fireworks.”

“And probably forgot the lighter. Again. But definitely baggage, a whole lot of pent-up, messy drama with my cousin.”

They both laugh at that. Hyuga drama was a mess, but it helped. 

Hanabi folded the rest of the candy into her purse, wiping off her lips as she watched the buildings blur by. “Hey Naruto, do you ever regret breaking up with my sister?”

“That’s an odd question at a time like this.”

“Just curious.”

“Why?”

“Because.”

“Don’t start.”

“Because I have fun doing this with you and all, but we aren’t exactly in a relationship if that’s what you want to call it.”

“You were the one who wanted this whole friend with benefits, and now you wanna change it. Why?”

“I don’t know. I was just thinking, is all.”

“About?”

“Nothing.”

“What is it, Hanabi?”

“It’s nothing, forget I said anything.”

He heard the sound of a capsule popping shortly after she went into her purse, and her cracking the water bottle.

“What are you taking this time?”

“Blues. Want one? It’ll help the mood..? And maybe… it’ll even give me a booster to boost your mood before we make it to the bonfire.”

“What kind of boost?”

“Mm. The kind you like. When my mouth opens wide and your zipper gets undone.”

“You take it and I’ll keep driving; you can boost my mood with less talking and more head.”

“I always knew you liked it in your car, I thought I was too much of a side for you to want to do something like that with me.”

“Who else is there?”

“I’m not stupid, Naruto.” Hanabi undid her seatbelt, lowering herself to his crotch. “You better not crash the car while your dick is in my mouth.”

“Poetic, wouldn’t it be?”

“Shut up.” 

It didn’t take long for his dick to slide against the gloss of her lips, the heat radiating from her mouth more than made up for how much she talked. Unlike Hinata, Hanabi never really knew when to be quiet; she was assertive, brash, stuck up, everything her sister wasn’t, but it’s what her father created when he spoiled her for all those years and disciplined Hinata instead.

“Do you do this with anyone else?” 

Hanabi raised, pulling his dick from her mouth, drool and saliva highlighted the tip. Her white eyes lowered, “Do you want me too?”

He grabbed her head and put it back to work; that was his answer. The gurgles as she choked and gagged, as he kept driving with the radio playing the latest hits, was his peace.

“No.”

Despite what he did, who he did it to, he hated the idea of Hanabi being with someone else. No matter how badly he treated her, they argued, fussed, and fought. 

The answer seemed to make her even more enthusiastic, or it was the perc-30 kicking in. He didn’t question it. The pleasure was good, the mood was alright, and he didn’t have any complaints.

Except for one thing.

His Mom’s head was just a different feeling. The way her lips puckered and tongue massaged his cock like it was in a five star resort from tip, to shaft, to base. She was a master, and he couldn’t deny that his Dad was missing out by not using his wife to her fullest capabilities. 

Naruto shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. Why was he even thinking of his Mo when a hot girl was giving him head in his car? Then again, his Mom gave him head while she was on the phone with his Dad. 

“ Fuck .”

He was doing it again. Thinking of Mom, when before that, all he wanted to do was get away. To free himself from worrying about what she thought or felt, but now he couldn’t stop, the throbbing of his cock as she sucked it was hard gaining strength from a different memory. 

He let his free hand grab her ass, the sweats did little to prevent him from reaching his intended goal. 

“You belong to me, you know that, Hanabi.”

Her mouth unclenched from his cock, as she moaned when she felt his hand squeeze and smack her ass.  

“Yes, Daddy.”

The only way for him to get his mind off his Mom and how she did things was for him to get back to what he knew. What he liked. And right now, that means Hanabi. And a detour for him to fuck her before they made it to the bonfire.

The clearing came into view just past the final bend, the familiar pop and crackle of a fire already visible in the distance, glowing like a signal flare calling them in.

“Are we good?”

“Why wouldn’t we be?”

Hanabi finished reapplying the gloss on her lips, puckering them as she looked at him.

“Am I the best?”

“Always.”

“Better be.”

She kissed his lips, then his collar, where she made sure to leave a hickey dark enough to blot the Sun. An eclipse on her sunshine’s skin

“Let those other bitches know they can fuck you all they want.” Hanabi moved to his ear. “But you always come back to your heiress.”

Her claim was whispered like a wife who hated her husband’s mistresses: bold, possessive, and maybe a little desperate. She always said things like that. Joked like she didn’t mean it. But this one hit different. Not because it was true, but because he didn’t know if he wanted it to be.

She was right, in a way. No matter who he fooled around with, whether it was on a whim, at a party, or out of some warped attempt to forget, he always came back to her. Maybe because she let him. Maybe because she didn’t ask questions, he wasn’t ready to answer. Likely, will we ever be married? Will we be a real couple? 

Y’know,” he said, “You talk like we’re something.”

Hanabi tilted her head, smiling coyly. “I’m whatever you need me to be.”

“That’s the problem.”

She moved back into her seat and looked at him, frown faint but still a frown. “You make it sound like I’m not enough.”

“No, that’s not it.” He scratched at his jaw. “You are. Sometimes. Other times, I just think… we’re both trying to fill shit we shouldn’t be.”

“You mean your mom?” She said, “I’m not stupid, Naruto.” Hanabi went on, quieter this time. “You think I don’t notice how weird things get when she texts you? Or how you act when she’s mentioned? Or how you didn’t even want to leave the house at first, until I pushed it?”

He didn’t answer. He couldn’t. The inside of his chest felt like a knot wrapped in barbed wire.

“Look,” Hanabi said, looping her arms around his waist and leaning her cheek against him, “I’m not mad. I just… I don’t want to be a placeholder if you’re broken because of Mommy’s attachment.”

His arms didn’t move. Not right away. Eventually, one came up to rest on her back.

“I don’t know what I am.”

Hanabi just nodded, like she understood more than she let on.

“Come on,” she said after a second, “Let’s get lit and pretend our trauma isn’t turning us inside out.”

He chuckled dryly.

“Sounds like a plan.”

They got out of the car and started walking, the firelight brighter now with each step. Laughter from their friends started to rise above the trees. But even with Hanabi at his side, Naruto’s thoughts were elsewhere, stuck on a redheaded woman who was at home, probably having sex with his Dad like nothing had ever happened.

---

“You done with my phone yet, Kushina?”

“Mm.” She kept scrolling through his messages with Kurenai. “Not yet.”

Minato sighed and lay back against the pillows, the soft sheet barely clinging to his hips. The room still smelled like sweat, like them, like something that should’ve felt closer than it did. But her silence was louder than any moan had been.

“You could’ve just asked.”

She snorted. “Would you have handed it over?”

“Obviously.”

The glow of the screen lit up her face as she scrolled further. “These late-night jokes. The way she calls you ‘Minato-sensei.’ Real subtle.”

“She’s a colleague.”

“She’s a flirt.”

He sat up, running a hand through his damp hair. “We didn’t do anything.”

“But you wanted to.”

That shut him up.

She finally locked the screen and tossed the phone to the nightstand. Then, she turned to face him, crossing her arms over her chest even though the covers were already pulled up.

“I’m not stupid, Minato. You’ve been distant for months. Hiding behind your job. Late nights. The way you talk to me like I’m some fragile thing that might break if you say too much.”

“I’m not hiding.”

“You don’t even know when you’re doing it. That’s the problem. You think being quiet is the same as keeping the peace.”

Minato looked away, “So what do you want me to say? That I’m exhausted? That maybe I stopped trying because I thought you stopped seeing me?”

“Stopped seeing you? You think I haven’t been carrying this house? Raising a son who’s breaking right in front of us while you disappear into your meetings and your long nights with Kurenai? Who suppose to be your PR, how much pr do you need Minato for fuck’s sake. You’re the Golden Boy of Konoha.”

“That’s not fair.”

“No,” she said.” Fair was a long time ago.”

Minato swung his legs over the bed, letting the silence sit between them as he stared at the floor. “Do you think I don’t feel guilty? Every damn day? What have I thought about doing? About what I almost let happen?”

Kushina didn’t speak for a while. Just watched him. Watched his back rise and fall with each breath

“Fuck me, Minato.”

“Kushina.” 

“If you’re not fucking your PR head, fuck me again. Like you mean it. Like you hate me. Hate the way I talk to you about her; the things I suspect, all of it. Discipline me and make me scream for your forgiveness. So that I can feel sorry while your fucking my brains out while our son is out of the house. I want you to be angry. I want that ugliness outside of me. But you’re going to have to prove it to me, right here, right now, that you’re the man I married.”

A part of him hated how she talked like she was some toy to be abused; he was an affectionate guy, slow romance, soft kisses, the whole nine yards. But something inside of him had finally had enough. 

He went and grabbed the handcuffs and paddle from their special drawer. Tonight would be all about them, and fucking the frustrations out.

---

Naruto’s head drifted into the dark as he passed the blunt back to Hanabi. Her fingers brushed his, deliberately, but he didn’t react much. Just leaned back on his palms, letting the fire’s glow lick across his face.

“You two are late,” Ten Ten called out. “And it was your idea, dumbass.”

Naruto shrugged, “Blame Kiba. I just said bonfire. He picked the time.”

“Typical,” Shikamaru muttered from the log he was draped across, while Temari cuddled on his chest. “You show up late and high.”

Hanabi exhaled slowly, letting the smoke trail from her lips like punctuation. “High and hot. Don’t forget that part.”

Sai didn’t even look up. “What were you two doing so fashionably late, Small Dick?

Naruto was going to come up with his retort, but Hanabi was quicker, “The only thing small on him is his ego, Sai.” 

Ten Ten let out a snort, nearly choking on her drink. “Okay, damn. That was clean.”

Shikamaru lifted his head just enough to smirk. “Not bad, Hanabi. You’ve been practicing.”

“Don’t need to practice when the material’s just that good,” she said, leaning further into Naruto’s side.

Sai, unfazed as ever, flipped to the next page in his sketchpad. “Deflecting with sexual innuendo. A classic sign of overcompensation.”

“Oh, please,” Hanabi rolled her eyes, “You’re just mad I’m funnier than you and better looking. Is that why Ino didn’t want your ass?”

“I’m literally drawing your nose crooked right now,” Sai said calmly, pencil dancing across the paper.

Shino, adjusting his hood, finally spoke. “It’s not crooked.”

“Thank you, Shino,” Hanabi said with mock formality, giving him a little bow from where she sat.

Naruto chuckled, finally speaking up. “Alright, alright, can we cool it before she starts roasting all of you one by one?”

“No promises,” Hanabi said, stealing the joint back from him and winking.

“You always had a mouth on you, Hanabi,” Kiba said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She said.

Kiba grinned, his teeth catching the firelight. “Just saying, you talk a lot of shit for someone who used to cry whenever we played ninja tag.”

“I was six, and you tackled me into a thorn bush.”

“Still counts.”

Naruto laughed under his breath, shaking his head as he reached for the joint again. “Careful, Kiba. She’s not the little Hyūga girl anymore.”

“Damn right I’m not. Keep talking and I’ll show you just how much I’ve grown.”

Ten Ten raised her brows with a smirk. “Is that a threat or a promise?”

“Depends who’s asking,” Hanabi shot back, exhaling another slow plume of smoke.

The circle broke out into scattered laughter again. Kiba leaned back, muttering something about how the Hyūga sisters were built for chaos, and Shikamaru groaned something about needing a drink stronger than soda, with Temari reprimanding him for his habits.

Naruto just leaned into the haze and the heat of the fire, letting the noise of everyone else blur around him while Hanabi curled her fingers into his. This is what he needed: his friends and a good time.

Notes:

Chapter 10: 7 Minutes in Heaven

Chapter 10: 7 Minutes in Heaven

Naruto woke up later than he usually would; his body was still reeling from last night and the blast they had. He couldn’t sleep well because of how late he had gotten home. It was practically sunrise by the time his face planted on his bed. The responsibility of being an adult and making sure he and Hanabi both got home safely was another matter in itself.

By the time he peeled his face from the pillow and sat up, the digital clock on his nightstand glared 11:36 AM back at him in red.

He stretched, his muscles stiff, joints cracking as he dragged his feet across the cold floorboards. His head throbbed, not quite a hangover, but the strain was there. He blinked hard a few times, rubbed the crust from his eyes, and scratched absently at the marks Hanabi had left on his collarbone.

“Mom hasn’t disturbed me nor woken me up for breakfast, which means she’s probably being passive-aggressive about what happened.”

It was a relief, at least.

He grabbed yesterday’s hoodie from the floor, pulling it over his head and moving toward the door. Thinking of his next move, his next plan for how to breeze through the days before he went back to shadowing.

When Naruto opened the door, he saw his Mom lounging around in shorts that girls in volleyball would wear and a black t-shirt.

“You’re finally awake. Did you have fun?” She kept doing what she was doing, which was snacking on her pretzels in the upstairs den.

“You have gotta be kidding me.”

Naruto rubbed his eyes again to make sure he was seeing things straight, like his imagination wasn’t just a part of his dream he had yet to wake up from.

Nope, his Mom was really there, sitting sideways on the couch like nothing was off, one leg up, the other dangling lazily, swinging in rhythm with the click of whatever show she had paused on the screen.

She popped another pretzel into her mouth.

“Breakfast is on the stove if you’re hungry.”

Naruto didn’t answer at first. Just stood in the hallway, hoodie half on, face twisted like he’d walked in on a fire no one else saw burning.

“Is there something on my face?”

“No-It’s just. Y’know what? Never mind.”

Kushina gave a half-smile, amused like he was being dramatic over nothing. “You’ve been weird lately.”

Naruto ran a hand down his face, trying to blink the fog away. “Yeah, well. I didn’t get much sleep.”

“You looked like a corpse when you came in.”

“You saw me?”

“I always check. You think I just stop being your mom when you walk through the door high with your shirt inside out?”

He stiffened at that but didn’t respond. Instead, he turned back to his room, “I’m gonna shower.”

“Go for it,” she called out. “Do you want me to bring you the new soap I got you? It’s supposed to help open your pores and exfoliate your skin.”

“Mom, why are you acting so… Normal?”

“I figured you’d want things to be normal.” She wrapped up her bag of pretzels. “You’re my Son, no matter what happened. Besides, your Dad really, really had a good showing last night. I haven’t felt that good with him in years.”

He knew she was doing this as payback. Emphasizing the point of how well his Dad fucked her, while he was gone.

“Am I supposed to be jealous?”

Kushina was standing now, bending down to stretch, giving him a clear view of her cleavage.

“What good Son is jealous of his Father, Naruto?”

His mom, the woman who raised him to be honest, was now stretching and showing off her cleavage like it didn’t mean anything. And maybe it didn’t to her. But it meant something to him. It meant she knew exactly how to get under his skin.

He didn’t want to ask her why she was dressed like that. He didn’t want to ask what she was trying to do. But a part of him, an ugly, aching part, wondered if she wanted to be seen. If she wanted him to see her like that. Because he went out, and she was alone.

He hated the thought. Hated how fast his mind went there. Hated the jealousy she teased out of him with every word that slid off her tongue like honey turned sour.

“I’m not jealous. Hanabi showed me what a real woman is supposed to do, anytime, anyplace, without question.”

Kushina smiled, “Don’t you have a shower to take?”

“Not without my new soap,” Naruto was in front of her, raising her chin. “Any day now, Mom.”

The line between them was as thin as a cheap roll of gas station toilet paper. Mother and son rolling the dice on what happened next. Who made the first move?

“That mouth of yours gets you into trouble, Son.”

“Why? You taught me how to use it.”

She reached into the side table drawer and pulled out the new soap, pressing it into his free hand.

“Exfoliate well. Maybe scrub off that attitude while you’re at it.”

“Why? You seem to like it.”

Before she could say anything else, he was gone back into his room, with the door closed and clicking, locked.

“Bastard.” She mumbled to herself as she went back to the den. Those pretzels had her name on them, and she had just the thing for when he got out of the shower, since he had so much energy.

Kushina settled back into the couch like nothing had happened, like her son hadn’t just mouthed off with her behind his words and a hand under her chin.

She popped another pretzel into her mouth, crunching down. Her eyes didn’t move from the paused screen, but her thoughts were already elsewhere.

“So he’s still playing games. Still pretending he’s got the upper hand. Cute.”

The remote sat warm in her palm. She didn’t press play. Instead, she listened. The muffled sound of running water started up from the bathroom. Her lips twitched at the corners. He always took long showers when he needed to think or when he needed to forget. Or when he didn’t want to face what was bothering him. She knew his rhythms. The way he avoided things by acting like he didn’t care. The way he pulled Hanabi in closer, the more he pulled away from her.

“I’ll let him pretend she’s enough. Let him act like last night didn’t shake something loose.”

She stretched again, arms high, one leg bent on the couch, toes curling into the cushion. She could feel the pulse of control returning to her chest. The desire she had to pounce on him in that shower. To take his dick inside of her, while she made him look in her eyes, as his semen waterfall out of her pussy. It was all in due time. She had poked the nest. And he had bristled.

Good.

He still cared.

He still wanted something from her, even if he didn’t want to show it. And Kushina, oh, she had always been good at knowing what someone wanted before they did. Minato hadn’t forgotten that.

But her son?

He was just starting to learn.

She pulled her phone closer, thumbs moving fast as she typed out a message to herself, reminders, ideas, little nudges for later.

Wear his favorite towel.

Leave the door cracked next time.

Bring up Hanabi again, offhand. See how he reacts.

Use his cologne. The one he thinks she doesn’t know, which he notices.

She saved it and closed the screen.

“Let him come to me,” she thought. “Let him stew in it. He always does.”

When the water stopped, she smiled and reached for the remote again.

“A short shower today?”

And this time, she pressed play, like nothing at all was waiting just beyond the steam-fogged hallway. Like she hadn’t just set the next move in motion.

---

Naruto walked out of the shower, steam still clinging to his skin, towel slung low around his waist. The air in his room was cooler than expected: “Mom must have gotten hot.”

He turned back to his bed, and the clothes he had laid out on the bed were gone. Not a sock, not a shirt, nothing. Merely the mattress and the faint scent of his cologne clinging to the air.

His door was cracked open.

He hadn’t left it like that.

Naruto sighed, water dripping from the ends of his hair as he listened for movement. Nothing but the sounds of the TV from the den, something sitcom-y and harmless in the background.

But this wasn’t harmless.

Not when he knew who’d taken the clothes. Not when he knew who’d opened the door.

“I’m not going to play with you. Mom. I’m just going to grab some more clothes,” he made sure his words were loud enough so that she could hear them from her sitting space.

No response.

“Classic.”

He shook his head and went to the other end of his room. The closet would give him more options than the drawers he had messed up with outfits that didn’t quite fit his image of the day. The distance closed, and he flipped the light switch by the door—nothing.

Dead.

He flipped it again. No response.

“Great,” he muttered.

With a low sigh, he padded further into the closet, bare feet sinking into the soft carpet, feeling around for where he left his hoodie—anything.

Then, something, it felt like a hand, grabbed his wrist. The scent of a cologne he hadn’t had a chance to wear was potent, it was stronger now than when he first got out of the shower, which he chopped up to just being a luxury product. But now it was suffocating, the claustrophobia of being in the dark, with all his clothes, and some hand holding him, it was overstimulating. His eyes adjusted just enough to catch the shape in the darkness.

“Why are you in my closet, Mom?”

Kushina’s hand didn’t let go. Her other one brushed his knuckles, her nails grazing his skin like she wasn’t even trying to hide it. She pulled him closer, his hand was now on the pillows that were her breast, which she kept there.

“Do I need a reason?”

Naruto sighed, tugging his hand away, “Yes.”

Kushina didn’t flinch, shifting in the dark, as she pressed her body onto him. “What happened yesterday? I know you enjoyed it.”

“What are you talking about?”

She smirked; the darkness of the closet only allowed the blue hues of his eyes to be the only thing visible to her. It was spacious enough for what she wanted. Private enough for her to achieve results that no one would know of.

“I know you want fuck me, Naruto.”

He scoffed at the accusation, trying to move past her, to reach the light switch at the back end of his closet, but she wouldn’t budge. The movement only made her barely confined breast brush on his chest, he could feel her nipples were already hard.

“That’s just between you and Dad, Mom. I just want my clothes.”

Kushina wasn’t going to take no for an answer, “Even if I let you record me swallowing your cum? Or would you rather…” She grabbed his hand and put it right between her bare crotch, helping a finger slip inside her pussy. “Fuck me in the closet.”

Temptation was a bitch. A red-headed bitch that Naruto wasn’t sure he could avoid for much longer.

“I’m okay on both of those options, Mom.” He tried to move his hand, which only led to his finger going deeper inside her wet walls. Which greedily swallowed the finger that so desperately tried to escape.

“Oh. Daddy… Mommy loves it when you finger her pussy.”

“Stop it, Mom.” Naruto’s protest were growing weaker, but his desire to fuck was growing. The testosterone and scent of his Mom’s body mixed with the cologne she stole from him were erasing each logical function of his brain.

“You were acting so tough earlier.” Kushina removed his finger from inside of her, and instead put his wet digit directly on her lips. “Do you want me to clean it, Son?”

Naruto closed his eyes, trying to think of anything but what she was saying. Which was all for naught, as the sensation of her sucking on his finger made him open his eyes to see her directly, sensually, slowly, tasting herself on his finger like it was a child’s favorite lollipop. Her euphoric expression showed in between the strands of light that came from the cracked closet door.

It was enough, Naruto broke their contact and went back to close his closet’s door from the inside.

“What are you —”

His Mom didn’t get a chance to say another word, yelping as he hoisted her up in his arms, his towel falling from his waist. The trigger in both of their brains is activating, the illogical reasoning for their actions now operating overtime, processing and developing the primal instinct, the desire to procreate by any means necessary, regardless of relation.

“You wanna be fucked so bad, fine. I’ll show you exactly how I fuck my women so they’re not begging for another man, not their son, to come show them how it’s done.”

“Naruto…” Kushina moaned her son’s name loudly, trailing her saliva on his ear as the drool covered his ear. “Show me then, Son. Show me how a real man fucks his woman, please.”

“Beg for it, slut.”

“Mm. Degrade me. Tell me. Tell me how useless I am, how fucked up I am for wanting my son’s cock inside of my naughty, pussy.”

“That’s your problem,” Naruto forced her back against an empty spot in his closet where no hangers or clothes were in the way. “You always wanted me to fuck you. Ever since I was 15, you had that look in your eye. That's why you were always crying and begging for me to stay home with you, on the chance this finally happened? That I would finally give your plump ass a good fucking isn’t it?”

Kushina groaned when she felt his fingers squeeze her ass, it was rough. Rougher than last night with her husband, who chickened out halfway through the process.

“Discipline me.”

Naruto used the wall as a foundation and one hand to keep her body up, as he smacked her face. “Open your mouth, Mom.”

She complied, the sting on her face burned, but she liked that pain. She liked being degraded and used by someone she loved, and it was her son was like a gift that no one could ever compare to. The taboo, the degradation, the love, was a mix, a drug that flooded her brain with dopamine that none could compare to, not even her husband, drove her to such heights. And when she tasted her son’s spit, and how it sprayed her eyes, face, lips, mouth, and tip, she lost it. They locked lips, tongues battled for domination, and subjugation of one another in the recess of the dark closet. Saliva mixing, tensions flaring, skin rubbing one another in a driving force that created a static that was the bond of a mother and her son. An electricity that powered the desire to want, to desire, to crave the affection, the fuel that pumped their hearts, to fuck one another.

Kushina pulled away, taking deep breaths, gasping as she could barely process what she was doing. Her body on autopilot, “ I want you to fuck me. I want you to record me swallowing your cock, deep throating until I can’t breathe, choking me with it, strangling my breath as tears leave my eyes and you deny me the right to breathe in your presence. Suffocate me on camera, so that your Father can see what his son does to his Mother. How he treats her like a slut that only wants his semen inside of all her holes, then breeds me, Son. Make him watch me carry your baby for nine months, watch you milk my full nipples, and we’ll fuck each and everyday I promise.”

Naruto lowered her onto the floor, his body above hers, the violet eyes of his Mom told it all; her words invigorated him to do exactly what she was asking of him. “I will.” That’s all he could manage to say from a confession like that.

He spreaded both of her legs putting them on each of his shoulders so that when he did penetrate her, there was no stopping; no matter how much begged for it to end, no matter what happened; right now was the time his Mom’s pussy was getting raped and stuffed with his semen until he couldn’t feel his dick anymore and his balls were empty.

The erection he had screamed for its home, its pleas, and throbbing ache wanted to end the nightmare that was blue balls. Teasing only did so much when the main course was ahead of him. Her breasts in that blue bra were almost spilled out, her pussy was shaved bare, and now all he had to do was penetrate.

“You ready for this, Mom?”

“Mhm.”

Naruto put the tip of his dick on her pussy’s glistened walls; tracing it edges as her legs squired and body raised; begging for its release. To push the final barrier, the point of no return, the event horizon.

Ring!

The sound of the doorbell went off, inadvertently causing Naruto to go all inside of his Mom at once; causing her to scream, as the pain of having such a large dick inside of her without gentle measures and appropriate steps was a world of pain.

“Who is that?” He asked more so to himself than his Mom, whose body was shaking and trembling as she covered her mouth. Muffling the screams and curses that spewed from her mouth like a sailor at sea. “Hopefully, just a package or something.”

He refocused his intentions, slowly pulling out of her pussy, and then he went again. “You won’t need it slow and romantic, you already took it all in; good job, Mom.” Naruto threw caution to the wind and started pumping her, thrusting inside her pussy that gulped and slurped at the constant pressure of his cock railing her like a large rod piercing a wall.

She kept screaming and screaming and screaming, it was all muffled; her eyes rolling into the back of her head as her Son abused the tightness, the walls that pushed him out, were now the same ones he was inside. The lines of reality or fiction were blurred, either she was dreaming of the best fuck of her life or she was being fucked like it was the best one of her life; with her Son no less.

Ring!

The doorbell sounded again, and this time Naruto stopped. “Do you have your phone, Mom? To check the camera?

Kushina reached around for it, pulling it from inside one of his shoes before handing it to him. “Fuck me, while you check.”

Naruto didn’t object as he took her phone, opening the security app, as he presumed to fuck the squiriting cunt of his Mom. Whose hot juices ran over his cock, and sprayed like a gesyer that had been blocked by a boulder.

“Fuck, you’re a squirter, Mom?” It was rhetorical, but now he would have to shampoo his carpet. He looked at the camera and saw it was Grandma Tsuande at the door. It was bad timing, and it wasn’t exactly the best situation to be in right now.

“Wh-who is it?” she said in between breaths.

“Grandma Tsuande.”

“Tell her to come back later.”

“You know she has a key, Mom.”

“Fuck.” Kushina grinded aganist his cock, the high slowing down, as she foucsed on what to do next. “Talk to her through the camera and see why she’s here.”

“What about —”

“Just do it, Naruto.”

He wasn’t going to argue, guess this was payback for her having to talk to his Dad while she sucked his dick. He tapped the button, holding the phone close to him, so that she wouldn’t hear his Mom in the background and so that he could watch her on camera as they kept doing what they were doing.

“Grandma Tsuande, what are you doing here?”

Tsuande stared at the camera with an expression of concern, "Naruto? You sound winded. Everything alright in there?"

“Yeah, just... working out. What's up?"

"Working out, huh? This early?" She sighs and looks a little annoyed. "I stopped by because Minato forgot his briefcase at my office again. It’s got restricted documents in it, I couldn’t exactly leave it lying around."

"You came all this way just to drop that off?"

"I also haven’t seen your Mother in weeks. She hasn’t been answering my calls or coming to my appointments, and she knows I have to check her brain scans." Tsuande squints suspiciously at the camera, “Is she home?"

Naruto blanked out for a second when he felt his impending climax, trying to hold it in, to not let it free inside of his Mom, “Uhh..."

“Naruto, come open the damn door. I would have opened it myself, but I left the key at my house, and I’m not going all the way there when you’re here.”

Kushina moaned, as her son’s semen shot inside her pussy; creaming it, as she did her best to be quiet, body trembling.

“What was that? You got a girl over there, Naruto?”

“It’s the TV.”

“You watching porn? O-Okay. I’ll tell you what. I’m sitting the briefcase at the door and you come down here and get it when you’re done with your ‘workout’, okay? And tell your Mother to call me.”

“Okay, Grandma Tsuande.”

Tsuande placed it down, waving him off, as she muttered, “Damn, Jiraya. And stupid pervert nonsense.”

He sighed, disconnecting from the security app and looking back at his twitching Mom, who had a happy trail of semen coming out of her.

“She’s gone.”

“Mm.”

He took her legs off his shoulders and lay beside his Mom, who was quiet, her eyes rolled, and her breathing was slow.

“You want more?”

Kushina raised at the proposition, getting on her knees, “Record me cleaning your dick off first. I want you to capture every angle, so when you're not home, I can watch myself take real good care of you.”

Naruto didn’t argue, his dick was already back on hard anyway. He opened her camera app as he stood up, letting his erection point directly at her mouth.

“Suck it, then, cum wanting whore.”

“Keep talking nasty to me like that, and you’ll discover I want to try a lot of new things with you, Master.” Kushina grabbed her ass, “Like my hole back here is still a virgin, are you going to fix that soon?”

“I’m going to be fixing a lot of things about you soon, Mom. Don’t worry, it’s going hurt, and I’m going to revel in breaking your ass in; until you only want my cock inside anywhere near you, like my other bitches.”

“Mhm. I already want your cock, so you’ll have to do a real good job, or I’m going to have to fuck your Father to finish it off.”

“Keep talking like that, I’ll make sure, I have a girl here everyday and fuck them in my room; and never touch you again.”

The threat was enough to make Kushina close her mouth, as she knew it was a real threat. It was something he had already done, with the exception being that she was added to the cycle.

“Yes, Sir. I apologize.”

“Good.” Naruto clicked record, “What are you?”

Kushina undid her ponytail, grabbing her Son’s cock, looking right into the camera, posing with the organ in her hand, pouting, “My Son’s attractive nympho. Who wants nothing more than to have his cock as much as I can.”

“Show the camera how much you mean to me.”

At that declaration and with no more signs of distraction, it was time for her to get to work. She kissed the tip, the taste of their previous fun highlighting the tip of his cock, as she left a trail of kisses on the head, eyes on the camera, while her her hand worked his shaft. The throbbing made her want to stick it back inside of her instead of sucking, but it would do, she was the one that wanted this afterall. Her mouth opened and she inched the cock into her mouth, supressing her gag reflex as it went deeper, the urge to choke grew and tears were forming from the sudden lack of air, as he jammed the remaining inches inside of her mouth.

She smacked his leg, but he didn’t stop, face fucking her with his heart’s desire, air disappearing from her body, as her nose had to make up for mouth being blocked with his cock.

“MM. MHmM.”

Naruto kept the camera steady, he wasn’t going to let a detail go to waste; every angle of his Mom choking, crying, and gurgling on his throat was going to go on this phone. She was going to learn one way or another.

“You better swallow all of it to, slut.”

Kushina couldn’t respond, fighting for her life, as her jaw grew tense, mouth hurting from the brute, ruthless face fuck, that would only end when her Son’s semen was spurting down her throat.

The previous session had made his dick sensitive, the thrill and nerves couldn’t last as long as the first session and so Naruto enjoyed the wave. The splash of semen that released from his cock to inside of his Mom’s throat was heaven. Who was now choking, as she moved back, spitting the dick out, as ropes of semen that weren’t swallowed painted her face like the once vandalized Hokage Monument.

Naruto ended the recording, but took a few pictures of his cum posed Mom who smiled, clearly enjoyed the process despite the tears and wheezing breaths that came from her face and mouth. And so, he set the phone on a nearby shelf, catching his breath as this was his second climax for the day. While Kushina licked the remaining semen from her lips, and the rest she wiped off with his bath towel, cleaning herself up from the afternoon lunch Naruto just fed her.

“How was that, Son? Is your Mother, good at sucking your dick?”

“You are good, Mother.” Naruto rolled his shoulders, “But you told me you never been fucked in the ass, right?’

“I did.”

“We are going to change that.”

“Now?”

“Now?

“I don’t have any lube…”

“You like pain, don’t you?”

“Naruto. Honey. Wait.”

Kushina tried to get him to consider her point of view, but it did little to stop him, as he forced her to grab a box for support and arch her back.

“You lubed my dick enough with your mouth, that’ll be good enough. If not, then try not to cry too much, Mom.”

She felt the head of his dick rub aganist the tiny hole that was her asshole, which would soon be taking something she the size of something she never tried before. Outside of small dildos or her fingers, nothing could compare to an actual cock, trying to fit inside the entrance.

“Slow, Son. Please.”

Naruto hands’ spreaded her asscheeks as far as possible, while he positioned his cock right at the entrance. Before he took one hand off her cheek to use it to stablize his dick right there, to keep it pointed like a spear to penetrate an animal’s heart.

“I love you, Mom.”

“I love you, too, Son.”

He breathed in and had a slow exhale, then he pushed with enough force to get the head of his cock inside her asshole which clenched and squeezed at the organ that didn’t belong there.

“Your so fucking tight.” Naruto smacked her ass, trying to squeeze more inches inside of her, as she cried and moaned his name.

The pain soaring through the rough, “Punish me, Sir. Punish me. You took my asshole viriginity. You’re a motherfucker. My Son is fucking my ass and I fucking love it!”

He kept his pace slow for a moment, then gradually sped up, thrusting back and forth, watching as his Mom’s ass jiggled and rippled like the ocean. It was so tight, tighter than Hanabi or Ino, whom he didn’t have as much trouble with. But his Mom’s tightness was squeezing the life out of his cock, like it wasn’t going to take no for answer. That he sealed its fate the moment he decided to put it there, like a pharaoh’s tomb being invaded by grave robbers.

Naruto didn’t stop, he grabbed his Mom’s hair, pounding her ass back, freeing his cock, as it freely entered and left at his discretion, he was in charge, and she could do nothing more than obey his demands.

“Who’s ass is this, Mom?”

His hand striked her ass, reddening it, as he continued to spank her.

“It’s your ass. It’s your ass, Son! I’m sorry! Just keep fucking me and I’ll only put your dick in this ass; I promise. Baby. Please fuck your slut’s virigin asshole. Record it. Make a poster and frame me on your wall. I don’t care just don’t stop fucking me until I pass out with your cock in my ass.”

Her words riled him further, like a secret switch that intertwined the two of them; he lost it all to the primal factor that connected them. Lust, not love, ran the show, and he had no intentions of taking it easy. Unlike all his other on-and-offs, his Mom had nothing to do, no one to see, and a husband who was here and there, and a Son who was going to pick up the pieces even after he moved in with Sasuke.

“I’m going to cum in your ass, and what are you going to do about, Mom?”

Kushina looked back, bouncing on her Son’s cock. “Nothing. Nothing. But tell you to do it again!”

“Say my name.”

“Naruto.”

“Louder,” he grabbed a belt from the shelf, folding it in his hand.

“Naruto! Son! Sir! Baby!”

“Not loud enough, so I’m going to punish you with my belt.”

“Do it. Make me beg. Make my ass red and sore, so that I can’t sit straight when we watch a movie together. Make me have to sit in your lap so my ass can grind right aganist your cock, and only be comfortable there.”

That was the wrong choice of words, Naruto’s frustrations funneled out with each crack of the belt on his Mom’s ass which only made her asshole tighter. The hits repeated like sets in the gym, each time he did it, a flashback of every time his Mom pissed him off went by, every time she made him stay home with her begging and crying. This was payback with interest, and he was going to collect everything he was owed.

The next hour Naruto spent abusing every square inch of his Mom’s ass and asshole, which was now bruised a dark red and purple, while she was rambling and saying random incoherent gibberish, as she was forced to take all of him in this marathon. His climax and throbbing finally showed potential, and he was going to get it by any means, as he pulled her hair, forcing her to look back into his eyes, which triggered his last climax.

“Fuck.”

Kushina slumpped fully onto the floor, her arch gone, as he finished inside of her ass. Naruto took deep breaths, his desire now sated from their little session. His Mom was asleep, and he needed a minute to take it all in. The heat of the moment was now cooling as the fun had come to an end.

“Frame you, huh,” Naruto took her phone and took a picture of her body covered in her cum; front and back, it was going to be for his photo collection.

He sat beside her, wondering what to do now. A shower was on the agenda, but he was going to make her shower with him for all the times she disturbed his peace. All she could do now was sleep, and it was attractive. Watching her sleep, her clear skin and untouched body needed a reminder of what had happened. No part of her was going to be off access for him, and he was going to show her that, awake or not.

Naruto pulled her bra down, and kissed her around her areola, licking the sensitive nipple as he sucked on it. Her desire to be bred was on his mind. What if Mom got pregnant? He and his Dad looked close enough for them to pass it off, at least. Still, he would be strange, when all he wanted to do walk milk the sleeping beauty and have her tit fuck him with milk coming from her nipples. Maybe some type of treatment or something could give her that back without the whole pregnancy arrangement.

Kushina stirred in her sleep, moaning and groaning as her son teased and marked her breast with hickeys no one would see unless she put on a swimsuit. It didn’t take long for him to trail lower, kissing her stomach, marking it with his mouth as she subconsciously wrapped her hands around his head, forcing him to stay there, to mark his new property. For the time being, Naruto didn’t mind. It was exactly as he wanted: a reminder.

Chapter 11

Naruto scrolled through his social media, looking for something, anything to take his mind off what happened this morning with his Mom.

“Jashin Cult Leader still at Large. Please be advised that if you see this man that you do not interact with him by any means and…”

He couldn’t be bothered to zone into the rest of the news video. The new generation’s attention span was shot from thirty-second clips, and he was starting to feel the effects of what Konohamaru had done to him by sending him so many of these clips to react to and give his opinion on.

“I wonder what the little bastard is up to now?”

Naruto checked the boy’s profile, which was constantly being updated with today’s events and plans, which Naruto himself had to warn him about dropping his location while he was still at these places. And to no surprise, there he was, location posted, with his girlfriend Moegemi.

“Doesn’t learn at all.”

In the picture, they were doing a giveaway for the kids who were less fortunate. A partnership with an upcoming toy company that was using the Sarutobi name to help kids, but also to line their pockets. Although maybe he was being too cynical about the whole thing when it came to social media.

And just before he could exit the post, he felt a pair of hands wrap around his neck. Then, red hair, and violet eyes that came into the corner of his eye.

“How are you feeling today, Son?”

Naruto had to bite back a sarcastic mark, as he knew all too well what his Mom was referring to. And if he hadn’t taken proof, he wouldn’t have been too sure it wasn’t a fantasy brought on by the horniness of a young man with needs.

“I’m fine. What about you?”

“Mhm.” Kushina pretended to ponder for a moment, as she knew exactly how she was feeling after this morning's success. “ I feel rejuvenated, free, fulfilled, and satisfied.”

“That’s great, Mom.”

“It is, Naruto.”

She kissed his cheek, “What are you up to today?”

Naruto shifted slightly. They fucked, but she was his Mom, not his girlfriend. And if his Dad saw anything too suggestive, he didn’t want to be the one explaining anything.

“Nothing much. Probably go to some of those condos Sasuke showed me in downtown.”

“Oh.” Her smile faded, and her arms unwrapped from her son’s shoulders. “That sounds like fun.”

“Don’t even start with the guilt trip, Mom. Just because we-“

“We what?”

Naruto sighed and turned around on the couch, facing his Mom, whose eyes were now downcast. But that wasn’t what caught his attention; it was the fact that she was wearing his shirt, which was like a dress on her.

“Mom. Why are you wearing my shirt?”

“I didn’t think it would be a big deal, y’know? After all we had se-“

“Why are you so casual about this? Any minute Dad could pop up, get home early, take his lunch break here, and you’re just walking with my shirt on like it’s no big deal?”

“If I knew-“

Naruto sighed, “You definitely knew.”

Kushina crossed her arms, “It’s not like he’s going to notice anyway that it’s your shirt. I do all the laundry, and you haven’t worn this since last year.”

“That’s not the point.”

“What is the point then?”

“The point is you need to take this more seriously and not so casually.”

“I am taking it seriously.”

“Okay. You win, Mom. I don’t even care anymore; wear the shirt.” Naruto got off the couch, brushing past his Mom.

“Where are you going?”

“My room. Away from you.”

“What did I do?” She whined like a toddler who didn’t get their way.

Naruto was about to explain himself again, but this was becoming exhausting. She wasn’t his girlfriend, she wasn’t a friend with benefits, she was his Mom, and yet she was even more clingy than either of the Hyuga sisters.

“Nothing. It’s nothing. I’m uh, go chill in my room for a while.”

When he turned his back and was making his way upstairs to his room, he could hear her following behind him. No matter how silent she tried to be about it, at this point, he couldn’t be bothered to stop her.

The entrance to his room door was already open, and when he went inside, it was already cleaned once again as so he went and dropped onto the bed. The accompanying footsteps grew louder until his Mother showed up in the doorway.

“Hi,” she waved, while anxiously waiting there at the door.

“Was up again, Mom?”

“Just checking if you liked the smell I sprayed in your room today? Smells good, doesn’t it?”

“I can’t wait to move out of here.” Naruto was glad he didn’t let his inner thoughts come out because, of course, his Mom wandered right in and lay on the bed next to him.

“Shouldn’t you be cleaning or waiting on Dad to get home, Mom?”

“We both know he’s going to be late.”

“Maybe not today.”

“He’s always at that office with his new assistant.”

“Miss Yuehi?”

Kushina glared at him, “You want fuck her too? Just like your Father?”

Naruto, at this point, was confused about what he even said could have said that made his Mom flip out like that.

“What are you even blabbering about now, Mom? She’s a nice lady, and she and Dad work well together, so what’s the problem?”

Kushina had had enough and placed her hand over his mouth, before straddling his leg, then lying on top of him like she was his girlfriend.

“Can you rub my ass while you scroll on your phone. I need a reliever because you’re making me aggravated.”

Naruto didn’t bother with anything she said and just went back to scrolling his feed. Maybe if he ignored her long enough, she would just go away.

Didn’t work.

Kushina snatched his phone and stared him down like a little kid who was about to have the worst temper tantrum ever.

“Why are you acting like this with me?”

“Mom.”

The tears in her eyes made him want to scream; she was so sensitive, even more so after being fucked, that he wasn’t sure another few months here would leave him with enough sanity.

“Mom, listen.” Naruto wiped the tears that were sprouting from her face like a rainstorm that wouldn’t end. But the words seemed to have some meaning on her, as she kept looking at him with puffy eyes and lips that demanded an immediate hug.

“Yes, Son.”

“Have about we go out today? I need to hit the gym, and you can tag along. Sounds good?”

The sadness on her face was replaced by a bittersweet smile that collapsed on his lips like a meteor swallowing the world, as she locked lips with Naruto, who had no choice but to act if he wanted to breathe. His hands were grabbing her ass and kneading it, as she moaned into his mouth, whispering the things she wished he would do to her.

His internal morality was telling him to end this; she was using her love to guilt-trip him into being whatever she wanted him to be. And that wasn’t him. That wasn’t how things were going to be going, especially not like this.

Naruto grabbed her throat, choking his Mom as she whimpered like a Fox that had its tail grabbed.

“You’re going to behave when we go out, right?”

Kushina nodded; the asphyxiation was making her lightheaded, but thrilled all the same.

“I love it when you’re rough with me, Son.” She choked the sentence out between paced breaths as the sensation of arousal was wetting the panties she was wearing.

Naruto freed her throat, but not before reprimanding her with a smack on the ass the if not for his shirt that was wearing, a red handprint would surely be found there.

“Shower and get dressed, Mom. I’m texting Dad that you’re going to the gym with me.”

“Okay, Daddy.”

“Don’t call me Mom. It sounds weird.”

Kushina was going to argue that he enjoyed it when they were having sex, but kept it to herself.

“Okay, Naruto.”

She got up from his lap and off the bed, stripping out of the shirt she stole from him to reveal her physique from top to bottom. Letting him know that last time was far from a dream and it was most certainly real.

Naruto just sighed as his Mom was going at her best attempts to seduce him. Any moment his Dad could be home, and no Father would ever want to see their son’s cock inside of their Mother.

“What the hell have I gotten myself into?”

The twofold question just made more doubts than it did anything else. He loved his Mom, of course, he did. But there was just something strange about why she was like this. Grandma Mito was far from anything like this, but his Mom. His Mom was always so overbearing and protective that he wasn’t sure how he managed to grow up doing anything he wanted to do without her approval.

The distant sound of shower water running let him know that she had followed through with what he said, surprisingly. All that was left to do was text his Father and let him know, and change into his workout clothes for the evening.

“Hey, Dad. Mom and I are going to the gym, she begged me to come along, so I’m taking her.”

Naruto watched as the message went from delivered to read, before the eclipses appeared.

“That’s great! I’m working with Ms. Yuehi, and I am working on a big company project, so I won’t be home till later. Are you good?”

Naruto thought about what his Mom was talking about when she said his Father was spending a lot of time with the woman.

He started typing again, “Are you interested in her Dad?” He was tempted to press send; the disillusions of his Mother were getting to him. So he quickly deleted that draft before retyping another message.

“I’m good, Dad. Am I still able to shadow you tomorrow?”

Another round of ellipses as Naruto waited for a response.

“You, betcha. I’m glad you’re liking this opportunity. I told you it would be better for you, kiddo.”

“Yeah.” Naruto texted him back, thinking on how his interests would have been better served in the armed forces, not stuck in a suit and tie at his Father’s office.

“I love you, Son. Take care of your Mom for me. I know things have been rough lately, but I swear it’s all going to turn around soon. I just have to knock this project out of the park.”

“I understand, Dad. I love you too. I’m going to get dressed and get myself a smoothie before we head out. I’ll see you when you’re home.”

Naruto clicked off his messages after that and sighed. This family was picture perfect on the outside, if he was dying on the inside to keep it together, when there was two sides with two different wants, and there was only one of him.

“I should get ready.”

He slid off his bed and changed into his shorts and t-shirt. Giving it a quick smell test before grabbing his gym bag and heading downstairs to put it in the car and make that smoothie.

Once he made it down, he grabbed his keys off the counter and went to the garage. His car was waiting for him like a trusty steed that was always waiting for the next ride.

“I’m half tempted to just leave her here, while I've got a chance.”

Naruto mused to himself, stuffing the bag into the back seat. If he were lucky, there wouldn’t be too many people there, and he could get his sets in with no problem. But that also required his Mom not to be needy and act like she couldn’t operate the equipment without help, like she did at their home gym.

Once he was back inside, he could no longer hear the shower, “Guess she’s done.” The alarm mentioning the garage door being open was like a queue for her to hurry up he assumed that’s why she got out so fast.

It didn’t take long for him to make his smoothie and hers before she was jogging downstairs in her tights and sweatshirt.

“How do I look?”

“Like you’re ready to go to the gym? How else should you look?”

Kushina did a quick spin, making sure he didn’t miss anything as she hopped and skipped over to her son; leaning over close enough for her to whisper in his ear, “I’m not wearing any panties for you, Baby Boy.”

Naruto almost spit his smoothie out after she said that, because she made sure he knew very well what she was implying when her hand forced his to grab her ass, which, as she said, did not have resistance outside of the black tights she had on.

“Go upstairs and put your panties on, Mom.”

“Why? I doubt there’s going to really be anyone there.” Kushina kissed his cheek. “Or are you jealous that someone’s going to stare at your Mom’s ass?”

Naruto just about had it with these antics, sipping his smoothie again, as he resisted the urge to force her upstairs and put some on.

“Whatever. I just don’t like all that attention and distraction when I’m trying to get my sets in.”

“I promise I won’t cause any problems, Naruto.”

“Okay.” He handed her the smoothie he had made for her. “It’s your favorite strawberry and banana.”

The way his Mom’s eyes lit up like a little kid with their favorite toy made these little moments worth it.

“Let’s go, Mom.”

“Okay, Son!”

Naruto had to fight back another sigh as he opened the door for her, and she walked out, followed by him. Whatever happened at the gym, he hoped it wasn’t going to be too much trouble.