Crash.
The tiny bathroom exploded in a shower of glittering light. Glowing confetti swirled in the air like a thousand tiny fireflies, then coalesced into the figure of a woman.
She was beautiful.
Long, wine-red hair spilled down her back, and she wore a forest-green dress layered over a high-collared white blouse. Her face was delicate, gentle—but sharp with an unmistakable edge. She looked around slowly, blinking with mild confusion.
Yifeng froze.
There was no mistaking her.
Uzumaki Kushina.
The one and only. Naruto's mom. Former host of the Nine-Tails. Dead for over a decade.
And now standing in front of him in the middle of a bathroom.
Their eyes met.
Her mouth opened, as if to say something.
Boom.
A burst of chakra flared—and then the clothes disintegrated.
Yifeng's jaw dropped.
"What the hell?!"
In a split second, Kushina's modest outfit dissolved into glowing particles, vanishing into thin air. She let out a startled gasp and instinctively dropped to a crouch, wrapping her arms tightly around her body to shield what little privacy she had left.
Yifeng spun around and stared at the wall.
Nope. Nope. Not looking. I am looking at the tile. This is a tile appreciation moment.
His heart pounded in his chest like a war drum.
There's something seriously wrong with this jutsu! Who revives people naked?!
And more importantly—why?!
Even Kushina noticed something was off. She glanced down at herself, then at her arms, eyes wide. There were no cracks, no ash-gray skin like in the original Edo Tensei technique. In fact, her body wasn't fully physical—she looked more like a translucent spirit than a zombie puppet.
Yifeng realized it, too.
This isn't the classic Impure World Reincarnation... it's like her soul has been re-summoned directly!
A system notification blinked in the corner of his vision:
[Warning: Please confess your love to the summoned individual within five seconds.]
"Are you kidding me?!" Yifeng howled mentally. "She's naked! Naked, bro! This is perverted behavior at this point!"
But the system, in all its unfeeling cruelty, didn't care.
[4... 3... 2...]
"FINE!"
Yifeng shut his eyes tight, lowered his head, and shouted:
"Uzumaki Kushina—I like you!"
A sharp intake of breath.
He peeked open one eye—and regretted it immediately.
Kushina stared at him like he was some kind of depraved lunatic.
Summons me out of nowhere, strips me naked, then confesses his love?This… this is what kids are doing these days?!
If she weren't lightheaded and dizzy from the summoning, she would've punched his lights out already.
[Confession complete. Option task cleared.]
[Reward: Soul-Enriching Pearl acquired.]
A blood-red orb materialized in Yifeng's palm, pulsing with warmth. He could feel it connecting to him on a soul-deep level—almost like it recognized him.
Whoa… this thing's legit.
His mind quickly filled with its description:
[Soul-Enriching Pearl: Strengthens and nourishes the soul over time. Capable of housing disembodied souls. Compatible with both spirit and flesh.]
Nice.
Definitely not a useless reward, though not immediately practical. He wasn't a soul-type entity, but this kind of long-term buff was exactly the kind of thing protagonists dream of.
Still, he had a naked dead woman crouching in front of him.
"Um, Mrs. Kushina," he said awkwardly, doing his best not to look at anything below the neck. "I'm sorry about all this. Really. I wasn't… I mean… I'll dispel the jutsu now, okay?"
Kushina, who had been staring at the red orb, blinked and looked back up at him. "You'd better be joking, kid. You summon me out of nowhere, strip me, confess to me, and now you wanna send me back like that?"
Yifeng cringed. "I was joking. Not about the apology, though. That's real."
"…Tch. You're lucky I don't have the strength to stand, let alone beat you up."
Kushina wrapped her arms tighter around herself and sighed. "Just don't do something this stupid again."
"I swear," Yifeng said quickly. "Cross my heart."
Suddenly—
"Yifeng?" Naruto's voice echoed from the hallway outside. "Why are you talking to yourself in my bathroom? You okay?"
Yifeng paled.
Oh no.
Kushina's eyes slowly turned to him, a suspicious gleam in them.
"Wait a second…" she said. "This isn't your house?"
"Uhh…"
"You summoned me… in my son's bathroom?"
"Aha, well—you see—"
"I see, alright."
"I was just reading a manga!" Yifeng blurted, face flushed. "Trying to recreate a scene!"
"Who brings manga into someone else's house to use the bathroom?!" Naruto called through the door, utterly bewildered.
"I'm done now! Totally finished! See you in the living room!"
"Geez, you're so weird sometimes…" Naruto muttered as his footsteps faded away.
Inside the bathroom, silence fell once more.
Kushina gave him a look so cold it could freeze lava.
"…What's your best friend's name again?"
Yifeng swallowed.
"…Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto."
Kushina slowly took a deep breath.
Then gave him a look.
It wasn't anger. It was worse.
Disappointment.
"You," she said flatly, "came to your best friend's house. Went into his bathroom. And summoned his long-dead mother, only to accidentally strip her and confess your love."
"…Yes."
Kushina stared.
Yifeng's face was redder than her hair.
"Mrs. Kushina," he said desperately, "I had a reason. I swear I had a reason."
She raised an eyebrow. "A good one?"
"I'm cursed."
Kushina blinked. "Cursed?"
"Yes. I got hit with this stupid system thing—it forces me to do weird romantic challenges or else something bad happens to the people I care about."
He paused, then added, "Like… someone's mom dies kind of 'bad.'"
Kushina narrowed her eyes.
As absurd as it sounded, her instincts told her he wasn't lying.
She could sense that something was off with the summoning. And the boy in front of her—despite the awkwardness and insanity—seemed genuinely regretful.
"So… if you hadn't confessed to me, someone else might've died?"
Yifeng nodded miserably. "It was you… or Shikamaru's mom."
Kushina winced. "Yikes."
"I'd rather punch myself in the face than ever do this again," he admitted.
Kushina exhaled softly. Then, to Yifeng's surprise, she reached out—still crouched—and gently patted his head with one hand, while keeping her chest covered with the other.
"Don't go throwing your life away over dumb things," she said gently. "You're still young. You've got time to figure things out."
Yifeng looked up, touched.
"…Mrs. Kushina…"
Whoosh.
Before he could finish, her entire soul body dissolved—flowing straight into the glowing red Soul Pearl in his hand.
"…Huh?"
He stared down at it, stunned. "Wait… you went in willingly?"
[Kushina Uzumaki's soul has been stored.]
Her voice echoed softly from within the bead.
"I heard it can nourish the soul. Might as well take a nap in here."
"Wait—you're staying?!"
"I'd like to watch Naruto grow up," she said warmly. "And besides…"
Her tone dropped, mischievous.
"You don't want Naruto finding out you saw his mom naked and confessed to her, do you?"
Yifeng's smile cracked.
His hand trembled as he stared at the bead.
"…Lady, are you threatening me?"
Inside the Soul Pearl, Kushina giggled sweetly.
"Be a good boy, Yifeng."