Chapter 6
Hearing what Naruto said, Minato nodded his head and looked at Jiraiya, asking, "Are you coming too, sensei?"
"Yes, I'm coming as well. I also want to know how this brat ended up in our world," Jiraiya replied.
As Jiraiya spoke, Minato walked to the door and opened it to exit the room, with all of them following.
As they were about to leave, Naruto called out, "Should I apply a henge or not?"
Hearing this, both Minato and Jiraiya looked at each other.
Finally, Jiraiya replied, "Don't apply a henge. Soon we'll have to tell the villagers that you're alive. It would be better if people see you walking around the village with me or Minato. This way, when we tell them later that you're alive and your death was faked, it won't raise suspicion among the villagers."
Hearing this, Naruto nodded his head, and all of them started walking out of the ANBU cell.
In the Village
As Naruto, Minato, and Jiraiya came out of the ANBU headquarters and walked through the streets of Konoha, silence followed them. Villagers stopped in their tracks, their eyes fixed on Naruto, their expressions ranging from shock to disbelief.
"Is that… Naruto?"
"It can't be… their son died a year ago!"
"Is this some kind of cruel joke?"
Naruto felt the weight of their stares and the murmurs that followed. His hands clenched into fists at his sides as he kept his head down. The whispers were too loud to ignore, even if he tried.
Jiraiya let out a long sigh, scratching the back of his head. "Well, kid, you sure know how to make an entrance."
Naruto shot him a sideways glance. "Not like I had much of a choice. How should I have known this world's Naruto was dead?"
Minato placed a comforting hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Don't worry about them," he said gently. "The truth will come out in time. For now, let's focus on getting home and meeting Kushina."
As they continued through the village, Naruto couldn't help but notice the subtle changes—buildings that looked slightly different from his own world, unfamiliar faces among the crowd, and the lingering sense that this Konoha wasn't quite the same as the one he remembered.
"Feels strange," he murmured.
Minato looked at him curiously. "Strange how?"
"Like I'm walking through a memory that's just… off," Naruto admitted.
Jiraiya chuckled. "Get used to it, brat. This isn't your Konoha, but it's close enough."
Arriving Home
The Namikaze residence stood at the end of the road, modest yet welcoming. It had a garden in front, and at the end of the garden stood a simple two-story house.
As they walked across the garden and reached the house, Minato unlocked the door and stepped inside, his voice calling out, "Kushina, we're home!"
There was no response. The house was quiet, save for the faint sound of metal clashing in the backyard.
"She's probably training," Jiraiya said, motioning toward the noise.
The three made their way through the house and onto the back porch, where they found Kushina in the training field. Though a civilian, she had a fierce determination in her movements as she swung a wooden practice sword, beads of sweat glistening on her brow.
"Kushina," Minato called softly.
Kushina stopped mid-swing, turning toward the voice. When her eyes landed on Naruto, the wooden sword slipped from her grasp, clattering to the ground. She stood frozen, her wide eyes fixed on him.
"Minato…" she whispered, her voice trembling as she saw Naruto. "Is this… is this real?" Saying that, she started running toward Naruto.
Minato stepped forward, catching her in his arms in a fierce hug, calming her down as he whispered in her ear.
"Kushina, this isn't our Naruto," he said gently. "He's from another world. But he's here now, and he can't get back to his own world."
Saying that, he let her go.
Kushina's lips quivered, and tears began streaming down her face. Her movements were slow and unsteady as she walked toward Naruto, her eyes never leaving his face.
When she reached him, she hesitated for a moment before wrapping her arms around him in a shaky embrace.
"You… you look just like him," she sobbed, her voice breaking. "I miss him so much… I miss him so much…"
Naruto stiffened, unsure how to respond. Slowly, he raised his arms and awkwardly patted her back, then hugged her tightly.
"I… I'm sorry," he said quietly. "I know I'm not him, but I'll do my best to be there for you like he was. I promise."
Kushina only cried harder, her tears soaking into his shirt.
Mito's POV
Mito stirred from her nap, confused about how she got home. The last thing she remembered was fighting an imposter who looked like her dead brother.
As she regained focus, her mother's cries jolted her awake. Sitting up and rubbing her eyes, Mito frowned. Her mother had never cried since her brother's death—something must be very wrong.
She climbed out of bed and hurried downstairs, following the sound of her mother crying.
As she stepped onto the back porch, the sight she saw froze her on the spot.
Her mother, who never cried, was clinging to the imposter who looked exactly like her dead brother.
For a moment, Mito thought she was dreaming. But as she watched the scene unfold, a wave of anger surged through her chest.
Her fingers clenched into fists, and she activated the storage seal on her wrist. A kunai materialized in her hand, and without hesitation, she hurled it at the boy's head.
Normal POV
Naruto and Kushina were too engrossed in the emotional moment to notice the kunai flying toward them. Even Minato and Jiraiya failed to react in time.
But within Naruto, Kurama stirred. Seeing the kunai, he growled, "Idiots. Do I have to take care of everyone?"
Golden chakra surged through Naruto, and an ethereal arm made up of golden chakra erupted from his back, intercepting the kunai just inches from his head. It clenched the kunai tightly before snapping it in two and tossing it to the ground.
The sudden release of Kurama's chakra sent a wave of killing intent rippling through the air. Villagers nearby froze, their instincts screaming at them to flee. Even Jiraiya and Minato tensed, their eyes narrowing.
"Calm down, Kurama," Naruto muttered, his voice firm.
The golden chakra receded, and Naruto turned toward his attacker. His eyes landed on Mito, whose face was twisted with rage.
"You're not my brother!" she shouted, summoning another kunai. "You're just pretending to be him!"
Before she could attack again, Minato caught her hand in a firm grip. "Mito, stop!"
Mito froze, her knuckles white around the kunai.
Minato let her hand go and placed a hand on her shoulder. "This isn't a trick," he said softly. "He's not our Naruto, but he's not our enemy either. Please, let's talk inside."
Mito hesitated before finally lowering the kunai, though her glare didn't waver.
Minato turned to Naruto and Kushina. "Let's go inside. We need to explain everything."
Naruto nodded silently, and the group made their way into the house.
After all of them went inside and settled in the living room, Kushina sat next to Naruto, still holding his left hand, while Minato and Jiraiya sat at the opposite end, and Mito stood beside Minato.
As all of them settled down, Minato looked at Naruto and asked, "How did you get to this world, Naruto?" As Minato asked that, all of them looked at Naruto for answers.
"Before I answer that, I think you should get Tsunade in here as well so that I will not have to repeat myself. Where is she anyway? I can't sense her chakra in the village anywhere," Naruto replied.
"Well, we don't know where she currently is. She hasn't been in the village for the last six months," Jiraiya replied.
Hearing this, Naruto closed his eyes and decided to enter Sage Mode to search for Tsunade's chakra all over the Earth.
As soon as he closed his eyes, Mito looked at Minato and asked, "What's he doing, Dad?"
As Minato was about to reply, "I don't know," he saw the familiar markings of Sage Mode starting to appear on Naruto's face, and he understood what Naruto was trying to do and replied, "He is searching for Lady Tsunade."
Mito, with a confused face, looked at Minato and asked, "But how can he do that while he is sitting here with us?"
"Well, he is using the sensing ability given by senjutsu to search for her chakra," Minato replied. Hearing this, Mito nodded her head.
Meanwhile, as Naruto was gathering natural energy, suddenly Kurama shouted in his mind, "Naruto, stop gathering natural energy!"
Hearing this, Naruto immediately stopped gathering natural chakra and let go of the hold that he had on nature chakra.
As he stopped amassing nature chakra, he asked Kurama for the reason he interrupted him, to which Kurama replied, "Open your eyes and look down at Kushina's hand."
As Naruto was opening his eyes, he heard Mito scream, "Mom, what's happening to your arm?"
As Naruto, Minato, Jiraiya, and Kushina herself looked down at her arm, what all of them saw shocked them.
Kushina's arm, which was holding Naruto's left hand, was converted into stone up to her elbow.
As Kushina saw her arm, she was also scared and shouted, "What is happening to me, Minato?"
Both Minato and Jiraiya were shocked seeing her arm in a state like that, and both of them only knew one thing that could have caused this.
Hearing Kushina ask him, Minato replied, "Your arm has turned into stone because of the imbalance of natural energy inside your body."
"But why is it happening to me? I don't even know how to use nature chakra," Kushina replied, her voice laced with panic.
Minato was not able to answer the question and looked at Jiraiya for answers. When Minato looked at Jiraiya, he shook his head, saying, "No, I don't know. Why the hell is this even happening? Maybe he knows," Jiraiya said, gesturing to Naruto.
As all of them looked at Naruto for answers, they saw that his eyes were closed, and he was not answering.
Meanwhile, Naruto was in his mindscape in front of Kurama. "How the hell did that happen, Kurama? I was the one absorbing nature chakra , not her, so how did she get affected?"
Kurama explained, "Natural energy enters through the skin. Kushina's body must have absorbed some of it when she touched you. She couldn't sense it or balance it, which caused this."
"Is there any way to reverse the process and get her hand back to normal?" Naruto questioned, his voice laced with panic.
"Well, you can summon the old toad Fukasaku and ask him to use his stick to remove the natural energy from her body, or you could just break her arm and regrow it using Yin-Yang Release. After all, you did regrow your arm back after your fight with Sasuke," Kurama replied in a nonchalant manner.
"Well, I can do that, but I don't know how Mom's body would react to my chakra since it is very potent, and her chakra network is damaged. I don't even know if I have the contract with the toads or not since we are not in our world anymore," Naruto replied.
Hearing this, Kurama was confused and asked, "Naruto, did you not notice you don't have the contract with the toads anymore, and your Sage Mode markings have also changed?"
"What are you talking about? I did not feel any change," Naruto replied.
Hearing this, Kurama tapped one of his tails onto the water below their feet, and soon an image of Naruto formed. But instead of orange pigment around his eyes and bar-like pupils, his eyes now had a brilliant golden-colored iris and red markings around and under his eyes in a tear-falling pattern.
Naruto observed the image for some time and then looked at Kurama and asked, "If my connection to the toads is broken, then how am I able to use Sage Mode or senjutsu?"
"Well, a person doesn't need to have a contract with an animal summon to utilize senjutsu. People who achieve stillness and learn to balance their chakra properly can sense nature chakra and learn to integrate it into their own chakra system. It is just that having an animal summon makes it easier to sense and intake nature chakra and balance it with your own chakra.
"And you are proficient enough in sage arts that you didn't feel any difference while entering Sage Mode And Having the Six Paths chakra also helps you," Kurama replied.
"Okay, we can discuss this later. Now I will have to see what to do with Mom's hand," saying that, Naruto left his mindscape.
As Naruto opened his eyes and saw everyone looking at him, he asked, "Why are you all looking at me like that?"
"Well, we all have been trying to call you for the last five minutes, but you did not respond. Anyway, what do you think happened to Kushina's arm?" Jiraiya asked, trying to distract others because he understood that Naruto was having a conversation with the Kyuubi.
"Yeah, what the hell did you do to my mom's arm?" Mito said in an aggressive tone.
"Calm down, Mito. I am sure he might know what happened," Kushina said to Mito, but everyone could feel the panic in her voice.
"I know what caused this," Naruto said.
"What?" Minato asked.
"Well, this happened because of the imbalance of natural chakra inside her body," Naruto replied.
"But how can it be possible? She doesn't even know how to use nature chakra," Jiraiya questioned.
"Well, I have a theory. As you know, natural chakra enters through the skin to reach a person's chakra core. Mom's body must have automatically absorbed some of it when she was in contact with me. She couldn't sense it or balance it due to her not being trained in sage arts, which caused this.
"And since her body only produces enough chakra for her to live like a civilian and not like a regular ninja, the petrification process stopped just as it reached her arm. If she had any more chakra, by now her whole body would have turned into stone," Naruto told all of them.
Hearing what he said shocked all of them.
"So you are saying if Mom was a regular ninja, she would be dead right now?" Mito asked horrified
"Well, not dead, but her whole body would have turned into a stone statue if she had more chakra in her system," Naruto said.
"Is there any way to reverse the process and save her arm?" Minato asked.