"All right, stop crying, it's your birthday today, be happy."
After comforting Naruto for a while, he finally let go of her while still sniffling.
"Mom, why didn't you recognize me earlier? I thought… I thought…", Naruto couldn't go on. He had always guessed that his parents might already be dead.
But now, with his mother standing alive right beside him, Naruto still felt dizzy.
Kushina stroked Naruto's face, "You thought I was dead, didn't you?"
Naruto dumbly nodded, "Mm."
Kushina didn't intend to hide anything from Naruto, "Mom really had already died. Before this, I was only existing inside you in the form of chakra."
"That's how I was able to talk to you and communicate with the Nine-Tails."
Naruto squeezed Kushina's arm in surprise.
'It has elasticity and warmth?'
"Then… Mom, have you been revived now?"
Kushina patted Naruto's head, "This body of mom's is a special clone body that Rengoku lent me."
"It's like a shadow clone."
"Rengoku?", Naruto froze.
"Ah, you mean the headmaster?"
Kushina nodded with a smile, "Yes, Sasuke's teacher, your headmaster, Uchiha Rengoku."
"Remember last time when I told you that your identity being revealed safely was also thanks to Rengoku helping."
Naruto had no idea the headmaster had done so much for him behind the scenes.
"The headmaster is amazing… How should I thank him?"
Naruto felt full of gratitude toward Rengoku.
Kushina was already fully aware of the rise of the Uchiha.
Hearing Naruto's words, she reminded him, "From now on, just remember to listen to Rengoku."
"Yes, mom, I understand!"
"If mom is a clone, how long can you stay?"
Although he felt unwilling to let go, Naruto had just learned in class that shadow clones only last a limited time.
Kushina shook her head, "Rengoku's is a bit special. As long as chakra is replenished, I can stay for a long time."
"Ah! Really, mom?"
Naruto was both surprised and delighted. He originally thought he could only see his mother for a short while, he didn't expect her to be able to stay.
Kushina smiled, "Of course it's real."
Naruto scratched his head, as if thinking of something, "But… mom, you can't show yourself outside, right?"
Kushina smiled slightly, and half of her body sank into the shadow again, "I've been following you like this all along."
"Hehehe, that's awesome," Naruto's face turned into a silly grin, and he kept saying it was awesome.
"All right, the food is getting cold, go heat it up in the microwave."
Following Kushina's instruction, Naruto quickly carried the food prepared by his mom and put it into the microwave.
Right now, Naruto felt like he was the happiest person in the whole world.
While the meal was heating, Kushina pulled out a big pile of presents she had bought and pushed them toward Naruto.
"Naruto, here. These are all the birthday presents I owed you."
"This one is for when you turned one, this one for when you turned two, three… up to seven."
Looking at all these presents, Naruto's nose stung and his tears fell again.
He couldn't help hugging Kushina once more, "Thank you, mom."
Kushina gently patted Naruto's back, "From now on, I'll celebrate every one of your birthdays with you."
———
[Konoha Hospital]
Kakashi, using the excuse that his eye was uncomfortable, came to the hospital for a checkup.
Unfortunately, there were no medical records related to the Sharingan in the hospital, so naturally nothing could be detected.
Recently, Kakashi had been coming and going in the hospital a lot.
No one knew that he was actually looking for Shirakumo's wife.
In other words, he had been working in the ANBU all along.
Otherwise he wouldn't know about some areas of the hospital that weren't open to the public.
There was a quarantine area in the hospital, meant for infectious disease patients.
But in Konoha, the sanitary conditions were relatively good.
There hadn't been any large-scale epidemics.
So this area was basically left unused. But Kakashi noticed movement inside the curtained area.
The next part was simple.
Kakashi went back to his old profession, stealth. Except this time, the opponents were ANBU guards.
Although Kakashi wasn't at his peak strength right now, ordinary ANBU couldn't deal with him either.
After Kakashi infiltrated, he found more than one "patient" inside.
Though called patients, these people were not being treated.
It looked more like they were being held.
Among them, a thin woman caught his attention.
She was Hayama's wife, Shirakumo Saeko.
Kakashi had seen her when he was little.
The reason Kakashi could recognize her at a glance after so many years was because Shirakumo Saeko had a red birthmark covering one-third of her face.
Although her appearance had aged a lot, Kakashi was certain it was her.
When Kakashi was peeking through an exterior window, he happened to see Shirakumo Saeko staring blankly at a photo of herself and Shirakumo, obviously lost in thought.
Kakashi's face showed regret and guilt, then turned resolute.
'No matter what, I have to rescue Aunt Saeko.'
He inspected this area many times.
There were quite a few ANBU guarding this place.
Trying to rescue Shirakumo Saeko would be difficult. And if he alarmed them, the others might get transferred.
Although Kakashi didn't know who the other people were, he still wanted to save them if he could.
Worried about being discovered, Kakashi retreated after gathering enough information.
———
After he came out of the hospital, Kakashi was thinking.
How exactly could he rescue Shirakumo Saeko, and preferably destroy this place altogether.
The recent chain of blows had made Kakashi grow rapidly.
Especially Rengoku's words. It made him realize that indulging in the past too much would cause him to miss many things in front of him.
And now, with Obito's matter temporarily pushed aside, Hayama dying right before his eyes, Kakashi knew he had to rescue Shirakumo Saeko no matter what.
He had been searching for clues for a long time and hadn't eaten anything yet.
He planned to fill his stomach first and think of a plan.
At this time, it was a little after eight in the evening.
The commercial street was at its liveliest. Crowded with people, vendors shouting one after another.
There were stalls selling taiyaki and takoyaki.
Balloon-popping games and goldfish scooping games, making the whole street full of life.
Kakashi stood there, staring blankly at the lights on both sides of the street, and feeling this atmosphere. He suddenly felt like it was a lifetime ago.
Before, aside from missions, he only went to the memorial stone.
But the closed-off world he had built was smashed apart by Rengoku.
Now Kakashi realized that this world still had many things worth understanding, and worth staying for.
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