"Of course. It's terrible. Those battles are absolutely horrible." Kushina said, her eyes taking on something of a thousand-yard stare, "Adults butchering children even younger than you… kids that were put on the battlefield to fight for their clan's name." She then realized that she was getting to Naruto mentally a bit and shook her head, "I'm just saying, don't think that this is some kind of race. You've got plenty of time to get involved in those things, because once you actually do start you're probably going to wish you could have gone a bit longer without going to the mainland."
"On my missions?"
"On your missions. Now go play and I'll start dinner."
Kushina kissed Naruto on the forehead and went on inside of the house to start making food while he grumbled about the pretty public display of affection. Inside the house was fine. Not outside where people were watching. He wanted to look cool after all.
Either way, Naruto hopped along down the street until he came across an open field where he could see a mess of red-haired kids all playing a pretty fast-paced version of king of the hill.
There wasn't any use in trying to run on over there and get himself involved because they'd just try to keep him from playing, so he just sat down in the grass just outside of range and watched, 'Man, why is it always like this? It's not my fault.' Naruto said, pulling at a few locks of his own blond hair with a frown, 'Stupid old man… how could he leave mom like this?'
Ten years of age and he'd never seen his father one time. But Kushina was still head over heels in love with the man. Naruto didn't even know what he looked like, and for all he cared he hoped the bastard never came around.
It was because of him that Kushina wasn't a ninja that did missions anymore. Either because of his father or because of his presence.
His mother always used to tell him just what a powerful shinobi his father was. About how he was possibly one of the most powerful people in the world. She made him think that he was a superhero or something, but then Naruto started interacting with other members of the clan and heard many, many things.
A female ninja in the clan wedding an outside shinobi was against their customs. Naruto's father wasn't part of the clan, he was a wandering ninja from outside with no known ties to any clan, and with the fact that Kushina had no living family, there was no one to give their union blessing. She was sort of on the outs, and that made Naruto complete black-sheep material by inheritance.
Namikaze Minato. That name was known in the village because he was supposed to be an extremely dangerous man. This was Naruto's father.
If you saw the flash, that was your ass. Naruto had no idea what that meant, but he'd heard adult male clan members say it enough for it to stick with him. Also it rhymed, and anything that rhymed tended to be more memorable by default.
But a lot of good his dad's reputation as a fearsome shinobi did when he hadn't shown his face one time in Naruto's entire life. Still, Kushina swore by him, and repeatedly reassured Naruto that his father was a good man, and that he loved him dearly.
Naruto was beginning to doubt that, but for the sake of keeping Kushina in the highest spirits he could he never let her see him down in the mouth for too long about anything, including that.
His musings were brought to a close when he felt a set of knuckles grind into the side of his head for a noogie, "You left the village again didn't you?" A girl's voice asked as she let go once Naruto pushed her hands off, "I could sense you leave you know."
"Well goody for you!" Naruto bellowed before turning around to face his 'attacker', "Why do you gotta be so mean all the time Karin?"
Stupid Mind's Eye of the Kagura. She could sense anything for miles around, and it would only get stronger over time. Meanwhile he was begging for something above Bunshin-level from his mother.
Karin had red hair much like the vast majority of the rest of the Uzumaki Clan, hers being long and straight on the left and spiky and a bit messy on the right. She had red eyes and brown-framed glasses and wore a tan short-sleeved jacket with a black shirt underneath that exposed her stomach, short black shorts, and black stockings that went down to her black sandals.
"I'm not being mean. I'm toughening you up for ninja life." The young girl argued back in return, something that Naruto just rolled his eyes at. As if she were that much better than him. At least she was able to start learning the parts of her family's branch of ninjutsu though, so she had that over him, "I felt you run off, and then I felt Auntie Kushina go off to get you. So how much trouble are you in?"
"I'm not in trouble, 'ttebayo." Today. He meant that he wasn't in trouble today. Not really anyway.
"You're always in trouble Naruto. If it's not with Auntie Kushina it's with my mom. If it's not with her it's with someone else." By now Naruto had turned back around to ignore her, something that she wasn't really alright with, "What's out there that you're always running off for anyway huh?"
"It's a secret." Naruto said with a big grin, "If nobody around here wants to play with me or train with me or whatever, I can do that too. Who needs 'em?"
Suddenly she sidled up to him with big doe eyes, trying to adjust her glasses to look cuter in order to persuade him, "You can tell your cousin right?" She wasn't pretty enough, or nice enough to him on a regular basis for something like that to work.