[Life coach Hyuga Hanabi]
[Someone please explain how to make Hanabi my mother]
[The commenter above me has no imagination. Me? I'd be Hanabi-sama's loyal dog]
[Does anyone know if there's merch of Hanabi's doll design? I've been looking and I can't find any]
[There are knockoffs on some shopping sites, but they crack down hard on those]
[If the fanbase keeps screaming loud enough, official merch is inevitable. Nobody leaves money on the table]
[Take. My. Money.]
After Hanabi's conversation with Inari wrapped up, the comment section came roaring back to life.
But the camera had already cut away—to Naruto.
Hanabi walked Inari back home, accepted a heartfelt round of thanks from Tsunami-san, and then dismissed that Shadow Clone.
Time for the next phase.
"Intelligence gathering…"
Naruto walked with his hands clasped behind his head, Sasuke a step beside him.
"This country's really in a bad place, huh."
Unlike Naruto, Sasuke had taken the earlier emotional ambush and processed it quickly. He'd adapted to field intelligence work without complaint—even though it was entirely theoretical up to this point. Textbook stuff made real.
"Ugh…" Naruto stared up at the sky.
Sasuke ran out of patience. "What's wrong with you? You're always like—nothing gets to you. How did you end up like this the moment we got here?"
"Huh?! What's that supposed to mean?!"
"Naruto?"
A voice stopped him cold. He visibly brightened.
"That person—" Sasuke looked toward the source.
A woman stood nearby, wrapped in a heavy robe. Even through it, glimpses of crimson eyes and ice-blue hair were visible.
Something quietly gentle about her.
"Aunt Kushina!"
Naruto was already jogging over.
Kushina Yukii smiled. "What a coincidence, Naruto."
Very beautiful. Keeping herself covered—for safety, probably. Sasuke had built up enough situational awareness from their reconnaissance to know what life looked like here—the unemployment, the desperate people on every corner. Selling children wasn't out of the question.
A country that had lost hope.
"Sasuke, Sasuke—this is the Aunt Kushina I told you about! Aunt Kushina, this is my partner, Sasuke."
Naruto was delighted.
"Aren't you shinobi here on a mission? Why are you wandering around?" Kushina Yukii asked, with feigned curiosity.
"We're gathering intelligence." Thinking Naruto might fumble the answer, Sasuke cut in.
"That fan crest…" Kushina Yukii's attention shifted to Sasuke's back.
She'd just noticed the war fan emblem.
"My clan's symbol. You recognize it?" Sasuke's guard went up.
"I may have seen it during travels through the Land of Lightning, some time back." Kushina Yukii smiled.
Sasuke's eyes narrowed. He said nothing.
But in the "audience-facing" layer, his internal monologue surfaced: The Land of Lightning? …Come to think of it, there was supposedly a period when the Uchiha clan was based there, before they came to Konoha.
Beautiful. Exactly the assist Hanabi needed.
That line wasn't for the benefit of anyone in Wave Country. It was groundwork for the future—for Hikari Uchiha.
Her "special treatment" only applied to this Wave Country incident. She had to make the most of it while she could.
As "Hyuga Hanabi," Hanabi had no business going into the Konoha archives and digging through Warring States-era sealing records. Defection was on her roadmap, but not yet—and this wasn't the moment to show her hand.
If she couldn't extract the information from Konoha's side, she'd have to get it from the Uchiha themselves.
Conveniently, the historical record suggested the Uchiha clan had indeed been headquartered in the Land of Lightning for a significant period before relocating to Konoha. The deeper you went, the murkier it got—and the murkier it got, the more room there was to work.
Fictionalizing history in this world? Hanabi had exactly zero moral reservations. She was thinking of the audience experience, obviously.
Besides—someone else had already set the precedent.
Black Zetsu had done it first.
If that unnamed mastermind could do it, why couldn't she?
"If you're working, I won't hold you up." Kushina Yukii glanced at Naruto, gave a small bow, and made to leave.
"Actually, we don't really have—" Naruto started.
He stopped himself halfway. He didn't know why he'd opened his mouth. Maybe Inari's words were still rattling around in there—some hollow instinct to stay close to this particular warmth for just a little longer.
But then he remembered he was supposed to be doing a job, and the words lodged in his throat.
Sasuke exhaled quietly.
"We weren't doing much anyway. This is… Aunt Kushina, right? She lives alone out here." He glanced at Naruto, then at her. "If there's something you want to do, go. I'll handle the rest." He shoved both hands in his pockets, turned, and walked away with the precise energy of someone being very deliberately cool about it.
"Ah—"
Naruto scratched the back of his head.
He was grateful. He was also completely unsure what he was even supposed to do now.
Kushina Yukii spoke first. "Naruto—if you don't mind, would you come by the house for a bit?"
"Oh. Did Aunt Kushina need help with something?"
He perked back up immediately, falling into step beside her.
They walked back to Aunt Kushina's house.
"Welcome home, Naruto."
He stepped through the door—
And that simple phrase stopped him where he stood.
Home?
Has anyone… ever said that to me before…?
"Naruto—take off your jacket for a moment. I'll mend it."
She was already pulling out a sewing kit.
Then she gestured at the back hem of his jacket.
"Oh—" Naruto twisted to look and found a split seam he'd never noticed.
"I caught it when you were leaving last night, but you were already heading out. I'm glad I ran into you today."
[Kushina Yukii—she could be my mother]
[You, back away, you're not twelve years old—Char Aznable, please go]
[This scene is genuinely so wholesome I can't take it]
The comment section was buzzing. The camera cut away—back to the bridge site, clearly a scene from earlier in the timeline, inserted here by the broadcast's pacing logic.
On screen: Kakashi asking Tazuna about the neighbor.
"The woman next door—Kushina Yukii. What's her situation? Why did she invite Naruto for a meal?"
"Probably… the name." Tazuna's expression was distant.
"The name?"
"I don't know all the details. She only moved here a few months ago. But Yukii's husband—his name was Menma."
"Menma…" Understanding came over Kakashi's face. "Then her son would've been…"
"About Naruto's age, if he'd lived." Tazuna bowed his head and went back to work.
Kakashi fell into thought.
[What does Menma have to do with Naruto??]
[Okay let me explain: in Japanese, "Menma" also refers to bamboo shoot strips—a ramen topping. Naruto's name comes from Narutomaki, which is also a ramen topping. Both are standard toppings in Ichiraku ramen. So if the husband's name is Menma, the son's name almost certainly comes from the same set—"Naruto" (鸣门). In other words, the same name.]
[Narutomaki is fishcake, actually]
[Also spotted: earlier there's a shot where Yukii hears Naruto's name and her hand visibly trembles]
[Oh no]
[How is anyone supposed to survive this arc]
[Wait—please don't tell me Naruto's actual mother is also named Kushina or Yukii. I genuinely cannot handle that]
Yes.
In Hanabi's design for Kushina Yukii: the husband's name was Menma. And the child's name was Naruto (鸣门).