A/N: Naruto and Kushina get to work with some 'help' from the peanut gallery.

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Well Naruto? What are you going to do?

Kurama’s amused voice snaps Naruto out of his frozen horror. Kushina, meanwhile, is looking at him from around the massive stack of paperwork and giving him a raised eyebrow. Swallowing thickly… Naruto graces his mother with a wan smile.

“O-Of course, Sensei. It would be my… pleasure.”

Kurama continues snickering in the back of Naruto’s head, even as he approaches the desk with slow, plodding steps, feeling like he’s walking towards his execution rather than the start of his first day learning at Kushina’s feet. Even still… he would never ditch his mother over some paperwork. As dreaded as such a task was, it was still time he got to spend with one of his parents.

And while the part of Naruto that came from this dimension had plenty of experiences with Kushina to tide him over, there was still the part of him that… hadn’t. The part of him that had grown up an orphan with very little love or affection until later on in his life.

Admittedly, there’s a bit of a war in Naruto for a moment. His disparate selves have melded completely together by this point in time, and yet very briefly his younger half and his older half have an internal fight over whether or not doing paperwork is really worth it. In the end, it’s not that his older half wins out, it’s that Naruto’s love for Kushina Uzumaki wins out.

His smile growing a little stronger, Naruto arrives in front of the Fifth Hokage’s desk and looks at the massive stack of paperwork.

“… You’ll have to walk me through the basics before I can be of much use to you I’m afraid, Sensei.”

Kushina, meanwhile, is giving him a considering look now, her raised eyebrow nowhere to be seen. Finally, she smiles and nods.

“Of course, Naruto. Let me show you what you need to know.”

Over the next sixty minutes, they get into it, with Kushina having to spend a little time teaching Naruto how to do the paperwork at first, but soon enough… they’ve got a pretty good rhythm going. And truth be told, Naruto finds that he actually doesn’t mind it too much. It’s nice spending time with his mother, the two of them chatting back and forth as they work.

Of course, not everyone is in agreement, as it turns out.

“Soooo bored~”

Kurama’s sudden manifestation takes both Naruto and Kushina by surprise, the dusky skinned, red-haired kitsune appearing above a nearby couch and flopping down onto it as she lets out a whinging moan. Kushina jolts in place, and Naruto shoots the transformed Nine-Tailed Fox a frown. Didn’t Kurama understand that she needed to make a good impression on Kushina? They definitely didn’t want the Fifth Hokage to get it into her head that the Nine-Tailed Fox was a bad influence on Naruto and his seal needed to be fixed or something like that.

And yet, Kurama just gives him a quick wink, even as Kushina huffs from her place behind her desk.

“Well, I’m sorry that the work of running a village is so boring for you, Kyuubi. But this sort of thing is necessary.”

And then Kushina looks to Naruto and graces him with an approving smile.

“I’m really proud of you for settling in and helping me with all of this, Naruto. You’ve really matured quite a lot, haven’t you?”

Naruto feels a swell of pride at that. He’s happy to have impressed his mother, even if he was sort of cheating. Yes, he had matured a lot… by becoming a combination of the son she knew and a Naruto from another dimension.

“Oh yeah. He’s matured BIG time, hasn’t he Ku-shi-na~”

However, he could definitely do without the comments from the peanut gallery. Making comments about the Fifth Hokage desiring him while they were alone together… that was one thing. Kushina Uzumaki was a very beautiful woman and Naruto could only hope she wasn’t actually as lonely as Kurama had posited. But at the same time… he couldn’t. It would be wrong. And Kurama was wrong for making teasing remarks like that.

He shoots the dusky skinned kitsune a glare, before throwing a careful glance in Kushina’s direction, expecting his mother to blow up at Kurama’s words. However… while Kushina IS red faced, she’s silent as she sits there behind her desk. Naruto figures he only has a few moments to try and wet the fuse that Kurama has undoubtedly lit with her inflammatory comment.

“Apologies for Kurama, mom, she’s-!”

“N-No… it’s fine.”

Wait, what? Naruto blinks at Kushina, shocked to see her so… understanding. Did she not realize what Kurama had been implying? He certainly had. But no. The Fifth Hokage gives him a chuckle and a grin when she sees the stupefied expression on his face.

“You’re forgetting something, Naruto. I was the Kyuubi’s container long before you were. Now, I never got close enough to find out that the Nine-Tailed Fox apparently identified as female… but I’m well used to the thing’s personality.”

Oh. That actually made sense. Over on the couch, Kurama blows a raspberry in response, causing Kushina to roll her eyes at the childish behavior, while Naruto sighs and shakes his head. However, the next words out of the Nine-Tailed Fox’s mouth cause both of them to go still.

“Aren’t you both forgetting something else as well? You just spent an hour doing paperwork the hard way. And you barely made a dent in it. I can’t believe I’m the one that’s having to say this… but do your silly little clone technique already and get it all done! Honestly!”

There’s a pause, before Naruto slaps his face with his palm, unable to believe how dumb he’d been.

“Of course!”

Standing up from his chair, he quickly does the hand sign and expends some chakra. In an instant, there are nine extra Narutos in the Hokage’s Office, for a total of ten helpers. Each of them gives a stunned Kushina an identical cheery grin as they all throw out a thumbs up at the same time.

“””Let’s get to it, mom!”””

Rather than respond by spinning up a couple Shadow Clones of her own, Kushina just continues to stare, her mouth wide open, her face slightly red, and her eyes glazed over at the sight of ten of him. From off to the side, Kushina snickers loudly.

“I think you broke her, Naruto.”

What?! Don’t be ridiculous! Ten identical Narutos all cross their arms over their chests and throw Kurama ten identical scowls. He was definitely going to have to punish the beautiful kitsune later. She couldn’t be talking like that around Kushina. It wasn’t appropriate. Besides, there was no way that what Kurama was implying was even remotely true. Although, the look on Kushina’s face…

“A-Ahem… no, excuse me. I was not… broken. I was just… surprised. And annoyed.”

Naruto blinks as Kushina recovers and throws both him and Kurama exasperated looks. Shaking her head, the Fifth Hokage proceeds to explain.

“I didn’t forget about the Shadow Clone Technique. In fact, I make use of it every day when it comes to handling the paperwork that makes it to my desk. Otherwise, I would never be able to get anything else done. However… I wished to see what sort of work ethic my new apprentice had before we really got into your training, Naruto. I’m pleased to say that you passed my test with flying colors.”

Oh… oh, that made sense! R-Right, of course Kushina wouldn’t forget something as obvious as the Shadow Clone Technique. And that she’d been testing him… well, he couldn’t very well be upset about that, now could he? Not only was she the Hokage, but she was also his Sensei. It was important to keep that in mind. As her newest apprentice, Naruto should expect a lot of tests. Kushina testing him was practically in the job description.

“… However, you shouldn’t know that technique yet, Naruto. The Shadow Clone is a forbidden jutsu for a reason. Where did you learn it?”

Kushina’s frown is bordering on severe as she looks at Naruto, seeming both concerned on his behalf, but also slightly aggrieved. Naruto, meanwhile, freezes up for a moment. Right… he shouldn’t know the Shadow Clone Technique yet. Or at least, the version of him in this timeline hadn’t ever learned it. He’d not had the time alone with the Forbidden Scroll to do so.

“I taught him it, of course.”

Once again, Kurama interjects and makes herself the center of attention. This time around, Naruto is far more grateful for it though. Still lounging on the couch, Kurama shrugs her shoulders expressively when Kushina and Naruto both look her way. Gritting her teeth, Kushina growls under her breath.

“You taught my son a dangerous, potentially fatal technique?”

Far from concerned by Kushina’s anger, Kurama just laughs, clearly unbothered.

“Listen to yourself. We both know that that technique isn’t actually dangerous or potentially fatal to someone like Naruto. Rather… it’s one of the best techniques you lot have come up with, at least as far as he’s concerned. Even without my help, he’d be able to summon hundreds of clones on just his natural chakra reserves alone.”

That causes Kushina’s eyes to widen all over again, her gaze snapping back to Naruto.

“… Naruto, how many Shadow Clones have you managed to summon at one time?”

He has to think about it for a moment. Both in terms of whether he was going to tell the truth, and even what the truth was. The answer to the first question is obvious. Kurama has already outed him by saying ‘hundreds’ so he can’t exactly lie here. The answer to the second question is a little bit more complicated.

The truth is, Naruto has been summoning a shit load of clones back in the other timeline since he was younger than he is now in this timeline. But ‘the most clones he could’ had rapidly stopped being a viable tactic the older he got. Instead, it became better to focus his energy into summoning just a handful of stronger, more powerful clones.

That said…

“I’ve summoned about a thousand before without breaking a sweat.”

Kushina’s jaw drops open and Naruto squirms as the Fifth Hokage stares at him in unabashed awe. To her credit, she recovers in just a few seconds, before letting out a shuddering sigh.

“You… really are Minato’s son, Naruto. Mine too, I suppose. You don’t just have a Uzumaki’s Chakra Reserves… you’re something special.”

“Ain’t that the truth~”

Kurama’s teasing tone pulls their attention over once more, prompting Naruto to give the kitsune a look of warning. One that she doesn’t heed, of course.

“You know, they say the Second Hokage had two reasons for developing the Shadow Clone Technique. The second was paperwork. The first… well, I think we know. Is it any wonder I taught Naruto such a technique as soon as I possibly could?”

As if her words and tone weren’t suggestive enough, Kurama has to let her tongue trace out and lick at her lips for good measure. Naruto just groans, covering his face with his palm. And yet, even at that his mother doesn’t blow up like he expects her to. He knows from his own memories of this timeline that Kushina Uzumaki’s reputation as the Red-Hot Habanero is well-earned. And right now, there’s no denying that Kurama is pushing ALL of her buttons. Or at least… she should be.

Why isn’t Kushina freaking out? Is she just living in denial? By now, Kurama has made it abundantly clear that he and she are in an… intimate and physical relationship. And yet, Kushina hasn’t said a word about it…

“R-Right. Well, now that the test is over, let’s work our way through the rest of this paperwork, s-shall we Naruto?”

Ah. Maybe Kushina just didn’t know how to discuss such a thing with him. It was all too much for her, so she was sweeping it under the rug and trying to ignore it. Honestly, Naruto could get behind her on that front. Ignoring Kurama’s provocations sounded like a great idea right now. Giving his mother a broad smile on ten identical faces again, Naruto nods and all of his Shadow Clones nod in unison.

“Right!”

Kushina summons two more Shadow Clones herself, and together they tackle the rest of the paperwork in no time at all. They easily handle five times what took them an hour to do… in about twenty minutes. Kurama still bitches and moans the entire time, alongside making a nuisance of herself by striking sexy poses on the couch whenever Kushina isn’t looking but Naruto is.

He has to admit, the temptation to go over there, pin Kurama down, and have his way with her, is pretty strong. But not while Kushina is in the room, obviously. Though that does then put mental images of him bending Kurama over his mother’s desk and fucking her from behind into Naruto’s head. And if the skin tone of the Nine-Tailed Fox changes and becomes a little paler in his mind’s eye… well that’s neither here nor there.

Regardless of Kurama’s constantly disruptive nature, with Naruto having ten of himself and Kushina having three, it’s only a matter of time before they get it all done. Finishing up, Kushina and Naruto both dispel their clones and the Fifth Hokage brushes off her hands before giving him a broad grin.

“With that out of the way… let’s head down to the training field for a spar, alright Naruto? I need to be able to assess you properly to see where you’re at before we can truly begin a training regimen.”

“Sure, that sounds great Sensei!”

“FINALLY! Something with more… physical contact~”

Both Naruto and Kushina blush… but ultimately just ignore Kurama as the kitsune vanishes back into her seal and the two of them depart the Hokage’s Tower and make their way to the private training field located within the Uzumaki Clan Compound. It’s just the two of them of course, but seeing as Kushina is the Hokage, it’s a pretty expansive space all the same, with the private training field taking up the most of it.

As they face off against one another, Kushina drops the Hokage’s Hat and Cloak on a nearby training dummy, before stretching her arms over her head. Naruto blinks and has to remind himself not to stare.

Why not stare? She clearly wants you to~

At least that comment remains between him and Kurama. The two of them would definitely be having a serious talk later… but for now, Naruto focuses on the matter at hand as Kushina drops into a stance and gives him a cheeky grin.

“Come at me with everything you have, Naruto!”

With a grin of his own, Naruto nods.

“Yes Sensei!”

And leaps forward, battle quickly being joined between them.

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