The Fox Summoner (Neglected fanfic)

57. What Could've Been....

Shorter chapter this one

The estranged son looked at his mother with a blank face, a bit of amusement to see his birth mother's shocked face. "N-Naruto?". "Kushina..." he said with a bit of an analytical tone of voice. He noticed her appearance, even with the dim light of the front door and dark street lights, he saw her quite clearly. She wasn't foul looking to say the least but she just looked.....unbothered. Her hair for starters, which he remembered that would be smooth and sleek down her back, was down uncombed and spragely, like she only really brushed it.

Her clothes was another clue. Kushina was very big on appearance herself. She may not have worn much due to her status of a stay at home mom, her sun dresses were ironed out and stain free, looking like she just bought it from the store to wear with a hint of her own perfume. Now though, if he were to shift around the wrinkles on her clothes, he could probably spell his name given enough time. Lastly, it was her eyes. Kushina's eyes were somewhat of a rarity. Violet eyes were something not everyone gets to see in their lifetime and Kushina made sure everyone knew that when her's shined with happiness. It's easy now to remember them when now staring into the darken abyss that is Kushina Uzumaki's eyes. Needless to say, she was a hot mess.

"W-What're you doing here?" She finally asked, her shock wearing off. Naruto awoke from his thoughts as he looked in the house, seeing nothing past the front door. He took a quick sniff as he noticed certain spices hanging in the air. "You're cooking?" He asked, already knowing the answer. She nodded softly. "Yes. I'm making dinner for the fou-THREE! I'm making dinner for the three of us tonight. Did you.....want to....?". She shot the question in the air and left it hanging, anticipating the answer that already meant 'no'. The only times that Naruto ate from her was when Minato forced him to after training. Had he gotten his way then he'd be out the door as soon as Minato said training was over.

So it was to her surprise when Naruto nodded his head with a small, and she meant small smile. "Yes, I think I will". Kushina stood there like a pillar as Naruto watched her with mirth in his eyes. "I don't mind having dinner out here on the step...". "OH! WHERE ARE MY MANNERS?! NOT WITH ME, OF COURSE. COME IN! COME IN!" She pulled her son in the house before closing the door softly. Naruto sighed as he felt his guard immediately go up as he walked in. Even after all this time, somewhere inside himself hated being back in this house but that's just the little boy in him that was still healing from the trauma of neglect.

'Time to heal, then' he thought to himself as he walked in the house fully. The internal design was different, obviously. The Akatsuki attack flattened everything, including the Uzumaki home. When he rebuilt everything though, Kushina had to redecorate and refurbish the home. It had a feminine touch to it but what drew his attention was the memorial stand that held Minato's picture as well as Menma's. The way she had bouquets around the pictures and words of love and respect. It was rather touching, even the Menma aspect of memorial table was rather emotional and this is coming from the guy who killed the bitch.

'Seriously, I almost fucked around and started crying. Almost'. "Naruto?" He turned around to see his triplet sister standing on the bottom of the staircase, looking shocked. Naruko looked better than her mother, given that she still had a career as a dedicated Chunin of the village but her eyes were puffy, like she had been crying for.....well...forever. In her arms, however, was the happiest of the Uzumaki family. "Nii-san!". Natsumi smiled at her elder brother as she held her arms up, wanting to hug him now.

"Hey, squirt! You're getting bigger, aren't you?" He said as he held his sister. Naruko smiled "Yes, she is. In the following two years, she should be ready for the academy. Though, I wish the academy would do right by her when she was ready. We weren't really prepared for the shinobi world like we should've been". Naruto nodded. That he could agree with. He heard from others and even Minato himself about Naruko's missions with other fellow Chunin. Some were rather successful, given that Naruko had to push her teammates to victory. Some missions lead to failure and even some casualties.