Naruto completely let loose.
By the time Kushina and Rin reached the shop, Naruto already tore open his beloved instant noodles, dropped the noodle cake into a cup, asked the clerk for hot water, added a little medicated oil to it, and was now happily slurping his bizarre-flavored noodles.
The shop assistant didn't dare drive him away, terrified he might be mentally unstable.
As everyone knew, in the ninja world, crazy people were often frighteningly strong.
So for the sake of staying alive, the clerk could only do her best to satisfy Naruto's weird requests while secretly sending another employee off to find help.
As that other employee bolted out the door, she ran straight into Kushina and Rin.
The moment she saw Kushina's black sclera and cracked Edo Tensei skin, she immediately reported the situation to her.
Kushina could only sigh and pay compensation again before stomping toward Naruto.
"Um, ma'am… you gave too much. Quite a lot too much."
The clerk counted the cash and realized something was off.
Why did she pay so much? For emotional damages? But she quickly understood exactly why Kushina overpaid.
"NARUTO—!" Kushina threw a furious, turbo-charged punch straight at Naruto's face!
"Huh?"
Naruto, happily slurping noodles with narrowed eyes, heard the voice and turned his head in confusion—only to see a giant fist completely filling his vision.
BANG!
"OW!"
Naruto got punched right back into his normal form and sent flying backward.
He smashed straight through the wall and crashed heavily onto the dirt outside!
His dress flipped right up over his face.
The cup of noodles flew into the air and came crashing down, spilling all over him and at least sparing the passersby from getting a highly undignified view.
Kushina menacingly cracked her knuckles and stepped out through the hole in the wall.
She didn't really want to do this either.
But just as Rin said, Naruto currently believed he was still inside a genjutsu.
Talking nicely would be completely useless.
It would only encourage the idiot to go even further.
She had to stop him with brute force first, then talk to him properly and make him realize this was reality, not an illusion!
"That hurts… Are you sick or something?! What's wrong with me eating some noodles in a genjutsu world?! Why do you have to hit me?!"
Naruto climbed to his feet, rubbing his sore head.
Looking at Kushina as she strode toward him in anger, he showed no fear at all.
He even snapped back at her!
Rin, following right behind, frowned the moment she heard Naruto say something like that.
'Truth comes out in the genjutsu world.'
Which meant Naruto didn't truly respect his parents deep down.
But why?
Was it resentment from being abandoned since childhood?
But didn't Kushina already explain that?
Or had Naruto truly failed to inherit his parents' kindness?
Had he really darkened inside? Was this his true inner self?
Rin didn't know what was going on, but as someone of the older generation, she still kindly tried to talk him down.
"Naruto, don't say things like that. No matter what, Kushina-nee is your mother. And calm down—this isn't the genjutsu world anymore…"
"Trying to fool me again you damn woman? I'm not falling for it!" Naruto wore an expression that said he'd seen through everything.
He patted the dust off himself and grinned smugly. "People who use genjutsu always love lying and saying the illusion world is the real world."
"..."
"...If you really don't believe us, then ask the Nine-Tails inside you. Wait—that's weird. Why hasn't the Nine-Tails helped you break the illusion?"
Halfway through her sentence, Rin suddenly realized the glaring problem.
"...Kurama's totally ignoring me. I've called him countless times, but it's useless. I'm guessing Sasuke put Kurama under genjutsu too. Otherwise there's no way Kurama would leave me all alone." Naruto stroked his chin and made a thoughtful, detective-like deduction.
"That… actually isn't impossible." When Kushina looked over, Rin gave a small nod. "The previous Three-Tails jinchūriki, Yagura, was exactly like that too… Kushina-nee, how are we supposed to prove it to him now?"
Proving that the real world wasn't an illusion was almost like asking someone to prove they weren't insane.
"No answer now, huh? You two idiots from the genjutsu world." Naruto clapped his hands smugly, then turned and looked up at the sky.
"So what should I do next? Guess I ought to head back to Konoha. Heh… In real life, I can't just walk into the women's bath. But in the genjutsu world, I finally can—"
"?!"
Kushina's eyes widened the exact moment she heard that.
Sure enough, Jiraiya completely led Naruto astray!
"Naruto…"
"Hey, old hag, don't come any closer—I'm warning you!"
Seeing Kushina readying another punch, Naruto quickly backed away a few steps and took up a defensive stance.
"O-old hag?!" Kushina looked deeply hurt.
'So this is what Naruto really thinks of me deep down?!'
"Naruto, how can you call your own mother an old hag?!"
Rin was getting angry now.
Had this kid simply never been taught properly growing up?
What the heck had Kakashi been doing? Had he not taken good care in guiding Minato-sensei's son?
"Naruto, do you even understand what filial piety means?!"
"..."
Rin's question was perfectly ordinary, but it instantly froze Naruto's previously smug expression.
Pure terror appeared in his eyes.
All of Naruto's fantasies about parents came from watching Gaara and his family.
Especially after learning his own dad was the Fourth Hokage, he projected even harder!
Gaara's dad was the Fourth Kazekage.
His dad was the Fourth Hokage.
And then there were all those "heartwarming" little stories between Gaara and his dad.
Things like, "You're looking more and more like Karura," or "Do you even understand what filial piety means?"
And other absolutely cursed lines!
Now Rin accidentally hit one of those trigger words.
All at once, Naruto was reminded of very, very bad associations.
"N-no… NO WAY!" Naruto's panicked.
One moment he tried to cover himself in front, the next behind, retreating clumsily in confusion.
"What's wrong with him?" Kushina sensed Naruto's sudden emotional shift and frowned in puzzlement.
"I don't know either." Rin shook her head.
Naruto turned and bolted in panic.
Kushina was just about to chase after him when the two of them were abruptly blocked by a three-person squad.
The three girls all wore Sunagakure headbands.
"You are…?" Kushina was even more confused now that these three abruptly stepped in front of her to stop her from chasing Naruto.
"Do you want to know why the Nine-Tails jinchūriki, Uzumaki Naruto, reacted with so much fear just now?"
"We can tell you."
"Mhm."
The three kunoichi from Sunagakure—Maki, Matsuri, and Yukata—came to Amegakure on a mission, and now the three of them spoke one after another.
"Uh? Really? Then please, tell us!" Kushina thought it over.
Even if she chased Naruto down right now, she still wouldn't have any good way to make him realize this was the real world, nor would she be able to immediately get rid of that strange terror gripping him.
It was probably better to understand the situation first!