Swirling Chaos Ch. 24 (Naruto) (Patreon)

A/N: Naruto has stumbled into quite the scene, hasn't he?

-x-X-x-

Contrary to popular belief, Naruto Uzumaki was not an idiot. Even back in the day, all the way back in the other world when he’d failed the Genin Exam over and over again… he hadn’t been stupid. Oh sure, he’d certainly looked stupid to outside perspectives. Hell, he’d even felt stupid at the time, like he just wasn’t good enough.

Only with time and room to grow as well as the ability to look back at his childhood with a less biased and self-hating eye had Naruto realized that practically none of it was his fault. The amount of sabotage he’d experienced, the amount of hatred and loathing thrown his way by those around him… it was unreal. To say nothing of the neglect.

He was the Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails, the most powerful Chakra Beast in the Elemental Nations. Besides that, he was the son of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki. And somehow, none of his teachers, none of the adults in his life, had truly seemed to understand that his immense chakra reserves made it all but impossible to get a handle on less intensive basic ninjutsu like the bunshin.

It wasn’t until fucking Jiraiya that anyone had bothered to take his impossibly large chakra reserves into account, really. Kakashi had tried, but he’d been more focused on Satsuki and her Sharingan then he had been on Naruto or even Sakura. It was what it was in the end. Naruto had long gotten over it.

Still… he was never an idiot. All one had to do was look to his childhood track record of pranks to see his true skill as a ninja. He, a child wearing all orange, had routinely managed to commit numerous pranks, such as even defacing the entire Hokage Monument at one point.

Now Naruto suspected the Third HAD stepped in there at least and had the ANBU take it easy on him, but the point remained that there were plenty of ninja in the Hidden Leaf Village who would have loved to punish him with their own two hands for his transgressions, but they never quite managed to catch him.

Still, the point was, even as an Academy Student in his old world where the Academy didn’t have nearly the standards that Kushina’s had, Naruto had been very, very good at hiding from ninja twice his age and ten times his supposed skill level. Now, all this time later… well, he was still very good at stealth in spite of what one would assume were all his inherent disadvantages.

That was why… it hadn’t been impossible to sneak up on the three women as they talked. Difficult? Certainly. But impossible… no, nothing was impossible for Naruto Uzumaki once he put his mind to it.

Regardless, he finds himself looking at quite a strange sight. There’s Kurama, of course. She might have been blocking their connection, but that didn’t mean Naruto couldn’t track her down at any time he wanted. She probably already knew this, but just by blocking their connection she created an absence of herself, a blank spot in the fabric of reality that was incredibly easy for Naruto to see and locate.

Normally, he wouldn’t intrude upon her privacy, but as previously mentioned, Naruto wasn’t an idiot. He’d have to be an utter fool not to have noticed Kurama going ‘dark’ more and more often of late… and how the times she blocked him out almost always seemed to coincide with some sort of thing to do with Mikoto Uchiha or Kushina Uzumaki.

The fact that she’d also taken to blocking all of her thoughts regarding those two didn’t help her case either. Once again, it created an absence of sorts that Naruto couldn’t help but notice. Sure, he couldn’t tell what she was actually thinking about Mikoto and Kushina, but he COULD tell that Kurama didn’t want him to know what she was thinking about the two kunoichi. And that was a dead giveaway.

Still, when he’d felt Kurama go dark again and slip away this evening, he hadn’t been expecting to find her in such a… precarious situation. He’d almost thought he’d find the three women with the roles reversed, with Kurama somehow lording her superiority over Mikoto and Kushina, or at least trying to. But to find the kitsune bound in Kushina’s Chakra Chains… that was strange. That made the Fifth Hokage and the Uchiha Matriarch the aggressors of this strange encounter.

Speaking of the other two women… they flounder in the face of his question. Kushina’s eyes are wide and she looks like her whole world is coming to an end. Mikoto’s eyes are also wide and with her Sharingan active to boot, but she just looks shocked to see him. And perhaps as though she feels just a little bit of longing in his presence.

To be fair, Kurama is clearly just as surprised as the others were. Two can play at the game she’s been playing after all, and seeing as she was keeping such big secrets from him, Naruto hadn’t bothered to give her any sort of heads up that he was on his way. All three women didn’t see him coming and Naruto allows himself a moment of pride about that fact for a split second before raising his second eyebrow.

“Well?”

That finally gets a proper response as Kushina, staring at him in horror still, finds her voice.

“N-Naruto. How… how did you get down h-here?!”

That… was actually a very good question. And one Naruto would probably have to answer if not for the situation he’d walked in on. See, they were all currently beneath the Hokage’s Tower, in its depths underground. And technically, Naruto shouldn’t have been able to get past all of the seals and Fuuinjutsu used to secure this place. Not in a million years.

But he had. And he’d done so without being noticed by the ANBU as well. By all rights, Kushina as the Fifth Hokage was right to be prioritizing a question like that in this moment. However, he could tell that she wasn’t asking as the Fifth Hokage. She was asking as a woman who had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar and didn’t know how to pull it out and escape.

“Never mind that. What are you doing with Kurama, mother?”

Kushina goes bright red at that, whimpering even as her eyes dart between him and Kurama. Mikoto doesn’t look much better, pale as she currently is. However, her gaze, Sharingan still activated, is fixed solely on Naruto. She couldn’t care less about Kurama, he notices. Of course, he’s ready in case she tries to ensnare him in one of the infamous Uchiha Genjutsu. No offense to his Auntie, but he’s tangled with the absolute best. Both Satsuki Uchiha and her older sister Itsuki Uchiha, in fact.

Though to her credit, she doesn’t actually try. She seems content to stare at him. In the silence that falls between the four of them, Naruto sighs and finally focuses on Kurama herself. Reaching out, he does the metaphorical equivalent of knocking on the currently closed door between their minds. After a moment, Kurama finally opens up.

As she does so, time outside slows down… or rather, it’s more accurate to say that their perception of one another speeds up. Kushina and Mikoto’s movements slow to a crawl, but then so do Naruto and Kurama’s as well, physically speaking. Still, like this they can have an entire conversation in the span of a few moments.

You always know how to ruin a good thing, Naruto.

Resisting the urge to frown at that, Naruto pushes back against her exasperation. What exactly was he ‘ruining’ here?

I was getting these suckers right where I wanted them… for you, of course.

Wait, what?

It’s true. I had them eating out of the palm of my hand!

Seriously? She was currently tied up by his mother’s Chakra Chains, and when he’d first gotten here he’d heard Mikoto talking about controlling her so they could trust her. Fortunately, Mikoto Uchiha didn’t seem to know about the Mangekyou Sharingan. Though Fugaku should have known. Did he never have a chance to tell his wife such things? Did Itsuki Uchiha kill enough of the Uchiha Clan’s upper echelons that there weren’t any Uchiha Elders left who knew either?

… Regardless, there was nothing about this situation that seemed to imply Kurama was in control here.

Hah, that’s what you think! But you saw me earlier today with the Hyuga girl. I handled her masterfully, did I not? I gave her everything she wanted… and got everything I wanted in turn. This situation was similar. I… allowed the Uzumaki brat and her friend to think they had control over our conversation.

There’s a certain bravado to Kurama’s mental thoughts that makes it clear to Naruto she hadn’t had as complete control over how things had been going as she’d thought. But there’s also a note of truth to what she’s ‘saying’ to him. Still, that doesn’t really explain anything. What exactly was Kurama trying to achieve here? What did she mean about getting Kushina and Mikoto right where she wanted them for HIM?

Smart enough to realize something was up and follow me to this place. But still so blind, Naruto. They want you, you silly man. They both want you very, very badly.

Naruto’s eyes do widen at that and he can’t quite stop them this time. Surely not! Kurama… don’t be ridicu-! But this time around, Kurama isn’t willing to let him hide from the truth.

Just look, Naruto. You stubborn, bullheaded man. Look and acknowledge the truth.

Using their connection, Kurama forces him to relive every moment he’d had with Mikoto and Kushina since arriving in this universe. Every moment they’d shared before and after he’d melded with this world’s version of himself. Naruto is forced to admit that through the wrong sort of lens, some of their encounters might be a little… well, flirtatious maybe? Seductive? Sexually charged?

But that was just Kurama painting the memories how she wanted him to view them, surely! She wasn’t seriously expecting him to believe that-!

And now mine.

… Kurama’s memories are much more damning. Finding out that Kushina had spied on them as he’d fucked Kurama that first day is startling. But finding out that Mikoto had done the same when he and Hanabi had fucked Satsuki in the Uchiha Private Bath was a shock and a half. Especially when it escalated to Kurama confronting Mikoto… and then recruiting the Uchiha Matriarch into a scheme to rope Kushina in all for the sake of getting into bed with Naruto!

Obviously, Mikoto had betrayed Kurama to Kushina at some point, discarding the Nine-Tailed Kitsune’s plan and instead telling Kushina what was going on.

Grrr…

But Kurama’s irritation over that aside, it was clear as day now that Naruto was no longer lying to himself that Mikoto still carried a torch for him. And more than that… Kushina did too. Well shit.

Like I said, I have them right where I want them. Or I did anyways. Even if this wasn’t exactly how I planned for things to go, I still could have brought them to you eating out of the palm of my hand! Convince them they had me on a leash, let them choose the time and place they would seduce you… but no. Now you’ve caught us and ruined everything. I hope you’re happy.

Her words imply that Kurama is upset, but in truth she sounds more like a mixture of exasperated and amused. She’s not really angry with him, Naruto can tell. If she were truly upset about this, their connection would feel very different right now.

Still. You ruined my fun.

Yes he had. But maybe that was for the best. Maybe he was better off nipping this in the bud right now. After all-

Oh! Hold that thought. Time to pay the piper, Naruto.

Huh? Naruto blinks as his perception slows back down again to real world levels. Only a handful of seconds have passed since he and Kurama began their ‘conversation’… but for women of Mikoto and Kushina’s caliber, a few seconds might as well be a lifetime. Seeing the looks on their faces, he realizes he missed something.

“Sorry, what was that?”

Suddenly looking a lot sterner, Kushina Uzumaki narrows her eyes and plants her hands on her hips. The Fifth Hokage’s lips are pressed out into a thin line bordering on a frown as she looks from him… to the seals lining this room.

“I said… how exactly did you get in here, Naruto?”

Ah. Practically the same question as before, but with a very different context to it this time. Now Kushina actually was asking him in her capacity as Hokage and leader of the Hidden Leaf Village. Now she was talking to him not as someone who got caught with her hand in the cookie jar, but as someone in charge of Konoha’s security.

“It’s one thing for the Nine-Tails to let you in on some secrets, and it’s one thing for you to have read your father’s old notes and picked up some tricks here and there. But to be able to slip past these seals without not only raising an alarm but also refraining from damaging them in any way… no. That shouldn’t have been possible.”

She’s right, of course. It shouldn’t have been possible for someone as young as him, regardless of his excuses, to have managed something like that. But then, the truth is he’s not as young as he looks.

It seems he is an idiot after all. If he were smarter, he would have had this confrontation somewhere else. Now though… well, he was up shit’s creek without a paddle. He had to act fast and Naruto really only saw two paths forward that didn’t result in him becoming a Missing Nin, really.

Number One, he could attempt to deflect from Kushina’s suspicion by throwing her and Mikoto’s desire to bed him right in their faces. Make it all about their perversion and maybe use that to take control of the situation. Would it work? He didn’t know. Even if it did work, what sort of relationships would he wind up having with the two older women?

Number Two, he could come clean. Not completely of course. He wasn’t about to confess that he’d willingly traveled here from an Alternate Universe and melded with the version of him here just like that. But he could tell them… most of the truth. He could tell them that he and Kurama had had a shared vision of another life. That that was where all his sudden knowledge came from. That he didn’t truly understand it, but it felt like he’d been two people for a little while, until everything had settled.

Might work better than deflection, really. But it also might not.