Naruto 498

Naruto takes a time out from fighting Kyuubi to chat with his mom.

Good to know that Naruto is at least on alert.

Summary:
Naruto doesn't recognize Kushina and thinks that she is the Kyuubi, but he ends up being whacked on the head for the incorrect guess. Naruto eventually realizes the truth and hugs Kushina, and Kushina uses some chains to tie up Kyuubi to keep the beast quiet. With Kyuubi tied down, Kushina explains that Minato had used some of her chakra to form the seal. Naruto and Kushina begin to chat in their private world and Naruto asks how Kushina fell in love with Minato. Kushina explains that she knew Minato as a kid but didn't think much of him at first. As a kid, Kushina was called "Tomato" for her red hair and round face, but after she pulverized the people who teased her she was renamed "The Bloody Habanero". While at school, both Kushina and Minato stated that they wanted to become Hokage, but Kushina thought Minato was a flaky kid until a certain incident. One day, Kushina was kidnapped by the Hidden Cloud village. As the kidnappers marched Kushina towards the border, Kushina left strands of her hair to mark the path. Only Minato picked up the trail and rescued Kushina, and that's how they fell in love. After listening to Kushina's story, Naruto is full of energy once again.

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Got to hand it to Naruto and his ability (or his parents' ability) to suddenly call time-outs in the middle of the battle when things aren't going well. We got pulled into a little side story in the midst of Naruto's showdown with Kyuubi. There is no clear solution to neutralizing the Kyuubi's hateorade, but the chat between mother and son was amusing. At least now we know how Naruto got his looks and why he wears orange. It was funny that in his inner realm, Naruto punched his dad but got whacked his mom. I guess nice people (Minato) are at a disadvantage in certain situations when compared to hot tempered people (Kushina). We are still missing some important parts of Kushina's story like what happened to her up until the point of Kyuubi's attack on the village. Wonder if it'll be more Kushina or back to the battle against Kyuubi in the next chapter.