ᴅᴇꜱᴛɪɴʏ ʀᴇʙɪʀᴛʜ|ⁿᵃʳᵘᵗᵒˣⁿᵃʳᵘᵏᵒ

Revelation p.10

Naruto was still mentally thanking Kami for the umpteenth time when he was broken out of his musings by a nudge from Naruko, who had pulled away from his chest and was staring intently into his eyes with her own. Blinking his tears away, he grinned widely. "What is it?"

Naruko smiled in return. "It's good to see you smiling again Onii-chan." She remarked, "You look more handsome when you smile."

She hastily clamped her mouth shut with both her hands and looked away to the side, desperately fighting down the massive blush threatening to form on her cheeks. A slight glance at Naruto told her that he wasn't faring any better than her in that regard, judging by the slight dust of pink on his cheeks and a slightly open mouth. If the situation wasn't so embarrassing, Naruko would've laughed at his expense.

Naruto laughed awkwardly as he tried to bring his blush under control, "T-Thanks Naruko-chan, I think?" he trailed off at the end, stumbling over his words as his arms wrapped themselves around Naruko's lithe frame, his earlier self-induced depression forgotten. He didn't know what to say as no one had ever said directly to him that he was even remotely attractive in some way.

Sure, there were some cases when girls and women he saved had expressed their gratitude in one form or another, but Naruto couldn't remember the last time someone complimented his looks other than customary flattery and politeness. But, there was one case in exception, and Naruto would never forget the day when he finally found out about Shion of Oni no Kuni's (Land of Ogres) offer to him all those years ago with Kurama's help, much to the blonde's chagrin, as the fox laughed and teased him all year long. All in all, he didn't have much experience with these kinds of things.

And it was showing — embarrassingly.

Naruto took in Naruko's cute blushing face as he sighed inwardly in frustration, frustrated with himself and his hormones, and cursing them for the thousandth time. 'Honestly, how much worse can this get?' he mentally grouched, 'I'm crushing hard on my counterpart, who by all means is my little sister. Damn it, why does this hormone thing have to be so damn hard, Dattebayo!?" He cursed then as even in his monologue he can still use his verbal tic at times. 'And besides, it's too early for that, so for now I'll just be the big brother I always wanted to be then go from there.'

Naruto nodded as he clearly his throat, breaking the slightly awkward atmosphere.

Naruko jumped slightly at the sound, causing Naruto to raise an eyebrow, earning a slight glare from the blonde girl. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you, you alright?" he asked with a wry grin, amusement clearly evident in his tone.

Naruko smacked him slightly on the chest as she pouted. "Not my fault when my motor mouth decides to run off on its own." she muttered, embarrassed.

"Hai, hai, whatever you say." Naruto replied teasingly, earning another light smack, this time on the head. Rubbing his head in mock pain, he continued, "Still, thanks again for the compliment. It's refreshing, since I don't get that kind of compliments often." He scratched the side of his cheek as he said that, clearly embarrassed.

Naruko smiled warmly as she nodded in understanding, a light dust of pink still evident on her cheeks. "You're welcome, Onii-chan."

Stretching, he let out a jaw breaking yawn before resting his arms around Naruko's frame, feeling comforted by her mere presence and touch. "Man, it feels like forever since we've been in here ..." he said with a chuckle.

Naruko nodded. "Yeah, seems like a thousand years ago now since I first set foot in here." She then remembered something, prompting her to ask. "Hey, Onii-chan, how does time work in here as compared to the outside?"

It was a question that had plagued her thoughts ever since coming onto her mindscape, but the constant shoe drops and revelations kept it at the backburner for a while. Naruto rubbed his chin thoughtfully, thinking deeply.

"Well, from what I can tell, an hour in here equals to a mere one second outside, so technically time hasn't passed at all." Naruko looked slightly dumbfounded at the news, prompting Naruto to chuckle. "I know — it takes a lot of getting used to, but these are the wonders of the art of Fūinjutsu. Not that I know a lot about it though; I only started learning it after receiving Tou-chan's memories from my time." He finished sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

Naruko giggled as she leaned on her brother's firm chest, sighing. "Could you teach me that? What's it called — fūinjutsu?"

"Fūinjutsu." Naruto confirmed. "And what kind of question was that? Of course I will teach you! You're not only my sister, but we Uzumakis have an aptitude for fūinjutsu, so it's a no brainer that we're going to delve into it sooner or later."

Naruko smiled and hugged him. "Thank you, Onii-chan."

He shrugged easily. "Don't mention it."

Naruko pulled away just in time to see Minato walk on over, his expression downcast. She tapped her brother's shoulder, gaining his attention. "Hey look, it's Tou-chan." She pointed over Naruto's shoulder, making him turn his head to see. "I wonder what's going on with him? He seems kind of—"

"Tired?" Naruto offered, earning a smack to his chest as a response.

"—sorrowful. I was going to say sorrowful." Naruko corrected with a concerned frown. "But why? A minute ago, he was laughing and smiling with me. What happened?"

Naruto opted for a careless shrug. "Let's ask him."

Naruko nodded as she pulled away completely while still staying in her brother's embrace, silently observing her father approach them slowly, his normally bright blue eyes refusing to meet Naruto's almost as if he was ashamed of doing so. The man's footsteps were slow and heavy, as if some sort of weight was weighing his feet down and it was physically taxing for him to do so.

Stopping just short of the two younger blondes, Minato let out a heavy sigh, startling Naruko by which the way it had been let out. Minato visibly sagged as his expression morphed into one of deep remorse and compassion. She was about to voice out her concerns when Minato beat her to it.

"Naruto," said boy looked at the man, expression curious but serious at the same time. "Are—" Minato hesitated, trying to conjure the right words to ask as to not come off as rude, but he decided on a far simpler solution. "Are your memories real? I mean, really real?"