Kushina smiled while looking at Naruto from a tree branch.
There were several ANBU around but Minato had already spotted a blind spot in their rotations for her to spy on her son.
She stretched out her hand and pet the air as if she were petting her own son before sighing in defeat.
"Can we really not go to him, honey?" Kushina asked, more a plea than anything else.
Minato smiled softly, "Not yet. You know how it is… if we go out there right now… the people will all crowd the Hokage office by tomorrow morning waiting to resurrect their loved ones."
"What do you think Naruto will do once he sees us?" Kushina asked happily.
"I'm sure he'll give us both a warm hug." Minato said with a rueful smile.
Kushina nodded and sank into a soft one sided hug with Minato.
After a few seconds of hearing the silence in his chest since he currently didn't have a beating heart, Kushina asked Minato a simple question, "Do you really think what Haruto said is the truth?"
Minato frowned at that and thought back to what Tobirama had asked Haruto earlier.
"By the way Haruto-kun… you never told us before… How do you know all of this?"
Everyone watched as Haruto's expression stiffened slightly before it was ironed out. And after a few seconds of silence Haruto spoke softly, "I'm a regressor."
Minato snapped out of his thoughts when Kushina wrapped her arms around him tighter all of a sudden as she spoke quietly, "I hope Haruto-kun is able to live freely… he seems like Naruto in a way… even though he isn't the Jinchuriki… he feels duty bound…"
Minato nodded, "I'll make sure he is able to live freely, Kushina, you don't need to worry about it…"
Kushina fell silent for a few seconds before she spoke softly once again, "Minato… do you think we can give Naruto an elder brother? He'd be quite happy wouldn't he? After all… we can't stay here forever…"
Minato froze.
He looked down at the little girl curled up in his arms on a tree before sighing out loud.
"You want to give Haruto-kun the Uzumaki surname?"
"If he accepts… what's the harm?" Kushina said softly.
Minato sighed. And then he laughed.
Of course he stifled his laughter so as to not alert the patrolling ANBU, but in the end he simply gave up and used the Hiraishin marker he left back at the base Orochimaru had left behind to teleport away with Kushina.
"Hmpf… what's gotten you into such a twist!?" Kushina asked with a huff, folding her hands as she attempted to kick Minato's shin.
Minato quickly dodged but then held onto Kushina as he spoke, "Don't worry, I'm not laughing at you… I'm simply happy…"
"Oh?" Kushina asked, hinting at the obvious question, 'What are you happy at?'
Minato looked at Kushina with a smile and spoke softly, "Happy that our family will still grow without us."
"Hmm…." Kushina accepted Minato's response but then quietly looked at Haruto who was tinkering away in a corner in the lab. There were piranha-bots floating all around him as he directed two of them to weld something solid.
Tobirama and Hashirama were practicing with another Haruto in another corner of the lab as they tried teaching him the riskiest jutsu of all, Sage Mode.
Hashirama was pumping in his own Sage mode chakra into Haruto's body to get him to develop a sense for natural energy.
Seeing everyone busy, Kushina looked around for a second, trying to find the real Haruto in all of this when someone poked her from behind.
"Eek~" Kushina squealed for a second before catching her un-lady-like behaviour in front of Mito and standing stiff out of fright.
"Looking for me?" Haruto asked as he popped up out of nowhere.
"How did you do that!?" Kushina whispered, angrily indicating the question wasn't more of a 'how' it was a 'why'.
Haruto, catching on, simply shrugged his shoulders, "Was testing out a new jutsu, don't worry about it. You wanted to ask me something?"
Kushina nodded, she looked at Minato and when he nodded too, she blurted out the words that she'd worriedly kept inside her stomach all this time. "Haruto, would you like to join us?"
Haruto paused for a second, not in recognition or understanding, but in confusion.
"What does that even mean? I'm already with you guys aren't I? Or are you talking about an activity? Spying on your son? You want me to come with you? Well I haven't seen Naruto in two weeks too… might as well go with you guys."
"No!" Kushina said, shaking her head in dismay. "Not that!"
"Then?" Haruto asked, even more confused.
Kushina looked at Minato, exasperated before he nudged her a little, as if telling her to try harder, and like a dog ready to chase its next stick, Kushina tried again, "I meant…" Kushina said, twiddling her thumbs, "Would you like to join me and Minato… and Naruto…
You know… as a family."
"Huh?" Haruto froze.
This time out of surprise and shock.
"Family?" Haruto asked, pointing at himself, "Me?"
Kushina nodded quietly, her heart thumping in her chest.
Haruto frowned for a second before speaking softly with a wry smile.
"No… I don't think I can be a part of anyone's family just yet." Haruto said.
It wasn't like he didn't like Kushina or Minato or his little friend Naruto whose name he very nearly shared.
Haruto simply felt like his time in this world was coming to a close.
'I'll probably be gone from here once I defeat Madara… or Shibai Otsutsuki…'
'I don't want to break someone's heart when I leave… and I don't want to make returning to my own actual family harder…'
In the end Haruto was still hesitating. After all, he didn't know if he'd be allowed to stay in this universe once he completed the 'mission' he was indirectly assigned through his templates. He didn't even know if he wanted to stay, he quite dearly missed his family.
So Haruto shook his head again.
"Unfortunately I can't." Haruto said softly.
Kushina, who wore emotions on her sleeves, almost instantly broke into tears. Her hand covered her mouth as she suppressed a sob. She was heart broken.
She'd already thought out about the grand picnics they'd go on together once all this was over. At least for the few days they could remain in this world before going back to pure land.
But now all that was for naught.
Haruto smiled wryly while looking at Minato who looked back at Haruto with a pleading gaze, as if shocked and also requesting Haruto to accept their offer.
But to their dismay Haruto stood firm.
In the end, after a few seconds of estranged silence, Haruto spoke softly, "I can help you talk to Naruto now though…"
"Huh?" Kushina's eyes instantly sharpened. "How? Is that possible? I thought we weren't going to alert anyone to our presence so that Black Zetsu wouldn't come up with a counter plan against us?"
Haruto nodded and explained, "It is possible… it's just a little morally questionable."
Kushina frowned but the prospect of being with her son made her have the patience to at least hear Haruto out, so he explained.
"Simple, I'll implant Naruto with a strong suggestion. He'll come here everyday after school to eat dinner. While he's here I'll let him keep his memories, but once he leaves I'll seal them away until he returns here the next day."
Kushina's eyes widened as did Minato's.
Both looked at each other and realised how foolish and dangerous such a thing was.
But Haruto made his proposal a little more digestible, "Think of it as a shadow clone returning memories to you. It's not really harmful… but it's stressful to the mind… although I doubt Naruto's head is capable of producing any such stressful memories in any way…"
Kushina's hair began flying almost instantly so Haruto changed his words, "I mean… the Kyuubi should be able to help Naruto tank the memory infusion and dispersion."
***
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