"Where do you even go all of the time?" She asked again. Naruto didn't have some kind of super-secret training spot. He did his thing all over, never really in one place in particular.
"I'm just taking a walk sometimes."
A delicate, crimson eyebrow raised in skepticism at the youngster's excuse-making, "A walk where you use your weapons on the trees for target practice and come back all beaten up and smelly more often than not?"
"…I take really enthusiastic walks?" Naruto ventured before realizing that Kushina wasn't budging on her stern stance, "Sorry mom." He said, still sitting on the forest floor with a big bump on his head from his mother's 'love tap', "I have a good reason! It's just… well, I don't know."
Kushina's expression softened as she heard Naruto struggle for an excuse as to why he kept running off farther and farther from the village on a whim. She knew why already, but she also knew that he'd never admit the reason out loud, even to her, 'Kami, he looks so much like you Minato. I wish you could see him.'
This time, Kushina's hand rested on Naruto's head and rubbed his hair.
"Come on Naruto, let's go home."
XxX
(Late Afternoon – Uzumaki Clan Village)
The village that was the Uzumaki Clan's main base of operations was rather large due to the amount of people that lived there. There were more civilians than ninjas due to the fact that only Uzumaki Clan members were shinobi, but the safety ensured by the clan that was the centerpiece of the settlement led it to be a rather sprawling society.
The main point of the village was a gigantic river that ran straight through the center that separated the settlement into two halves. One half was meant for the Uzumaki Clan, the other half was meant for the civilians and it was where most of the citizens and businesses were situated.
The Uzumaki Clan side was a guarded, traditional castle of sorts. There were several bridges to the other side that were always guarded by at least two ninjas per bridge. Only clan members could make their way over to this side of the village, but civilians could be invited after being cleared first.
A huge wall covered the riverbank to keep people from being able to swim across, and the castle itself was something of a small town. At the center of it was a hill that could overlook the whole village with a tall traditional mansion on it where the leader of the clan and overall village lived and worked.
This was where Naruto and Kushina lived as members of the clan, but even as they passed the guards of the bridge that let them in, Naruto could feel cold eyes on him and his mother. He'd grown used to it from the adults, and he already knew why. He was taunted by other kids for it constantly.
Kushina just gave them a chilling stare right back to deter them from looking at her child as if he were a pox cast on their people. To take Naruto's mind off of it, Kushina put her hand on his head and gave him a big grin while they walked on the paved clan streets on their way home, "So, did you just play in the woods all day or did you actually do anything useful today?"
"I didn't just play." Naruto pouted up at her. He did more than play. He was a ninja for crying out loud, "I was totally doing something useful! Since you won't teach me any cool fuuinjutsu, I've gotta do my own stuff."
"Baby, fuuinjutsu is dangerous." Kushina told him, "I taught you basic generic sealing, but if you can't even get the first three ninjutsu I taught you down, I can't responsibly teach you anything else. Now can you do the Bunshin no Jutsu?"
"…No." Naruto admitted begrudgingly, "But I can do the other two! My Henge is awesome, and I can definitely Kawarimi! I can stick to stuff with my feet and water-walk and all of that stuff!"
"That's good. Now get the Bunshin down and we'll talk."
"Reh…"
Naruto knew his mom had cool stuff in her repertoire. Word on the street was that she'd been very, very good; heralded as one of the most powerful Uzumaki kunoichi not just of her generation, but ever, with special chakra even for their clan.
He'd never seen her use it though, or any of her high-level techniques, even when she'd been training him. Then again, when they sparred he never did well enough to justify her using much more than what she'd already taught him how to do. It was just the mama lion playing with her cub from her perspective.
He hated the Bunshin though. What need would he ever have for a jutsu that didn't even make a real copy? So what if all of his looked dead and colorless? A Bunshin wouldn't fool anyone that was actually good anyway.
"Don't be in such a rush to grow up." Kushina told Naruto as they arrived at their quaint little one-story home, "Not too long ago, a kid like you would be on the battlefield right now."
"That sounds so cool." Naruto said with a grin as he imagined taking down hordes of enemies with jutsu that he didn't even know were possible yet.
His red-haired mother didn't share in his opinion, "No. Not cool." Kushina said, flicking him on the ear to make sure she had his attention, "We're lucky. Uzu no Kuni is out of the way. There isn't any other clan in this country for us to fight tooth and nail with. Not like on the mainland." All they really got were bandits from the other populated areas in Uzu no Kuni, and not many of them even knew how to use chakra.
"You've been?"