A longer summary: Kushina wakes up in Konoha and finds out that she is dead. However, an Uzumaki doesn't die so easily and when she is presented with a new chance at life... She wakes up in the middle of nowhere as a new person and has to find her way back to Konoha - her quest is to punch Jiraiya in the face as well as protect the Hidden Leaf from the masked Madara. And she might just make some friends along the way.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the original characters. If I did, there would be more Minato and Kushina.
A/N: This is the first time I've written a fanfiction in my entire life. So it would be nice with some criticism as long as it isn't too flame-y :)
Also, I'll try to update at least once a week (but no promises) and make the chapters at least 4k words long.
Edit 2018年2月16日 (important):
So, it's uhh... Been a while. I sincerely apologise to my followers (few though they may be, you're still all important) for this insanely long hiatus. This story has been fickle and prone to sudden changes in mood and direction, but this time around, I've made something that looks like an actual outline (albeit incredibly vague). I'm editing every single chapter because let's be real, some of this stuff used to be a bit… Mediocre. I won't change things drastically, but things like the interactions between Kushina and Kurama are things I'd like to fix before going forward, so I'm going to do that. I can't promise the consistency of updates going forward, but I'll make an effort to not abandon this for three years again.
The edit notes will probably mostly be interesting for second-time readers, but if you're interested in my thoughts regarding the chapters, and what I changed from the original, feel free to read them anyways.
Also! New cover picture! Find the large version at fav dot me / dc3zbha (remove spaces and replace dot with .)
Thanks for sticking with me, and for new readers as well as old; I hope you enjoy ('◇')ゞ
"Minato.." Kushina coughed with a very confused and horrified expression, her lungs feeling like they hadn't drawn air, like, forever. "What the hell did you do, 'ttebane?!"
Kushina found herself in the outskirts of Konohagakure (probably on a training ground), very much alive. As far as she remembered, she should have been dead. And for a moment, she was almost sure she was. But then again, she obviously wasn't. The gigantic hole that was supposed to be in her chest, as well as the sword-sized claw, was nowhere to be found. She had no idea what had happened and shook her head in confusion. Her body felt weirdly airy, as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders, and as if anything more than a breeze would be enough to blow her away.
"If I'm alive... What about Minato? Naruto?" she didn't think about talking out loud, until she heard footsteps in the distance. Deciding to stay hidden until she had figured her way out of this tangle, she jumped onto the overgrown branches of a nearby tree. Below her walked a very familiar white-haired, one-eyed shinobi with a mask, his eyes downwards and his expression blank. Not the "hiding your emotions" sort of blank, but the "unfathomable sorrow" kind. As he heard a second set of footsteps follow along behind him, he schooled the features away in favour of a blank, emotionless mask.
"What do you want, Gai? Can we do this another time?" the copy-nin asked, trying to wear his usual mask of boredom and I-don't-care-ness with as little effort as possible.
"My youthful eternal rival, Kakashi! We still have unfinished business! Our standing is very youthfully equal at 21/22!" Gai exclaimed with 'youthful passion' burning in his eyes, and his hand clenched in front of him in a come-get-me kind of fashion. Kakashi almost sighed (but kept from doing so, as that would display unwanted emotion) at his rival's inability to see when numbers were equal and decided to play his 'What was that?' card.
"Hm? Did you say something?" he asked, again maintaining his bored expression. Someone should award him a medal - he was at least as good as the Uchiha at that expression. He even pulled out his book; a book that Kushina certainly didn't remember seeing him running around with. The orange cover seemed familiar, though...
"Gah! Very hip, Kakashi! As expected from my eternal rival!" Gai said in a very loud and over-the-top manner. But then again, this was Gai, basically the definition of over-the-top. When Kakashi didn't say anymore, Gai decided it would be better to approach him another time. He had been worried about his eternal rival recently, especially since his sensei died, but he could see in Kakashi's eyes that now was not the time. He would be sure to approach Kakashi at some other time, though. He had a youthful appearance to keep up! Wouldn't want his rival to think he had grown old.
"Very well! Since you are not up for my youthful challenge, I shall run around Konoha on my hands 200 times!" Gai exclaimed, as youthful as ever. Kakashi replied by raising his eyebrow at the Green-wearing Jōnin. 'Yep... That's Gai for you', he thought, with something akin to fondness, even though Gai was always acting like that. When Gai left with a "Yosh!" and got to work, Kakashi walked up to the memorial stone. Kushina watched with an observant eye. She was definitely going to figure out what was going on, and why she had suddenly woken up to a youthful display by none other than Meito Gai and his eternal rival, Hatake Kakashi. She did note that there was something... off about Kakashi. She couldn't quite place her finger on it, but it was his single visible eye that had made her suspicious. Like his eyes had seen more than the eyes of the Kakashi in her memories, even though he looked about the same age. As if he had been through more.
'Bah, I'm sure I'm just overthinking it, dattebane', she thought, and shrugged it off.
Obito... Rin... Minato... Kushina... As Kakashi's eyes and fingers trailed these names on the memorial stone, Kushina stiffened when his fingers hovered over her own name. In fact, she almost fell down the branch, but quickly clambered onto it with her hands to avoid making noise and revealing her presence. Kakashi then went on to mumble mostly intelligible words – in fact, Kushina would have been unsure if he said anything at all, had it not been for the miniscule movements behind his mask – and then stood there, silent, for a very long time, simply looking at the large onyx stone. It became obvious to Kushina then - the depth of those eyes... They were the cause of it. Her and Minato. She was almost certain, and it made her want to jump down and hug her against-his-will adopted son.
Just before she could do so, she felt the presence of a hand on her shoulder and stiffened. "Don't," the person behind her said. Her eyes widened when she saw who it was. "Mother...?" she whispered to the red-haired female behind her. In return, the female smiled sadly, and shook her head. She was dressed in a long, white furisode kimono, giving her a very ethereal and otherworldly aura – she looked just as weightless and unburdened as Kushina felt.
"Don't you even remember your old fellow Jinchūriki?" the red-head in front of her said, almost mockingly in an adoring way. Kushina stared a bit at the other, and the way she wore her hair in two buns, before something clicked in her head.
"Mito?!" she exclaimed, her violet eyes wide and jaw dropped. The older kunoichi chuckled heartily at that, before nodding, a gentle smile present on her face. "But... You look so... Young! Where did the wrinkles go?!" was all that Kushina could manage to say. The last memory she had of the Shodai's wife was of her as an old lady, right after the Kyūbi had been passed over to Kushina. This Mito, however, looked almost the same age as her.
"Yes... Age doesn't really matter when one is dead." Mito replied, a hint of sadness in her voice. Kushina blinked twice at that. 'Dead?! Does that mean I'm dead too?... Actually, that would make a lot of sense', Kushina thought to herself. Mito clearly picked up on the confused expression of the younger Uzumaki and confirmed her suspicions.
"Yes, you are dead too... But only just." Earning another confused glance from Kushina, she continued. "Our clan is a bit... Special. When we die, we don't simply go to the afterlife like any other person. This is because of the dealings of our ancestors, though I must admit I don't know too much about it myself. Fūinjutsu is a wonderful and mystical art, wouldn't you agree?" Kushina nodded at that, almost forming a grin. She definitely agreed - Fūinjutsu was indeed amazing.
"Then what?" Kushina said after some hesitation. She had no idea what this meant to her, but hopefully it wasn't bad.
"This means you have to make a choice. You have a second chance... If you want to take the consequences." There was an almost dangerous edge to Mito's words like they were carefully picked and implied much more than they were saying. Kushina didn't notice this right away, though. Second chance? was all she could think. "Naruto..." she whispered, only partially aware that she was saying it out loud. "You want to see him?" Kushina's eyes bolted up at Mito's. She hadn't realized Mito had heard her. "Just... Be careful what you wish for." Kushina nodded carefully, quickly thinking it over, even though the answer was still pretty obvious to her. 'Of course I'm going to see my son, dattebane!'
Mito snapped her fingers.
Suddenly they were at the orphanage. They were sitting in shadows on the branch of a large oak tree in the outskirts of some playground. Kushina's eyes darted between the children, running around playing, and the caretakers who watched over them. Something caught her eye though, and she almost wished she hadn't seen it. In an isolated corner, away from everyone else, sat a small blond child on a swing, simply observing the other children. He had three whisker-marks on each side of his face and a white t-shirt with the Uzushiogakure symbol on it. "Na... Naruto." Kushina whispered, slightly shocked. Her child - her own son - was sitting alone on a swing with a look in his eyes that no person his age should have.
She was just about to run over there, when she felt the hand on her shoulder, again. "You can't. You're dead..." Mito reminded her, and the slight hope Kushina had gotten, turned into anger. "That's my son over there! MY CHILD! I don't care if I'm dead, let me gooo!" she yelled stubbornly and flailed with her arms - one could almost describe her behaviour as childish, though based on the seriousness of the situation, she had every right to be.
"Remember what I said?" the older red-head asked the younger one. Kushina had to think back for a moment or two before remembering. It really wasn't that long ago Mito had said it, but Kushina wasn't famous for neither memory nor patience. "You mentioned a second chance..." Kushina recalled after a bit of pondering, her voice a bit suspicious. She didn't know what this 'second chance' would entail, but hopefully it wasn't anything bad. Mito smiled and nodded, glad she didn't have to repeat herself. Mito disliked repeating herself.
"There are some... Condition, however. I want you to listen to all of it before making your decision; as everyone else of Uzumaki blood have done before you." Kushina's eyes widened a bit at the last statement, before nodding in agreement. "Alright, I'll hear ya out."
Mito hesitated a bit before continuing. "This pact of ours... It's like a deal with the Shinigami. Specifically, it's a soul for a soul. The balance of life must be kept, and someone else has to die in your place." That alone made Kushina reconsider. She couldn't just take someone else's life like that, in return for her own. It seemed fundamentally wrong. Mito, however, was not done yet, and coughed once to regain Kushina's attention – she was not known for her short attention-span for nothing.
"However, that is not all. You can only come back as another person. Currently, your body is long gone, and only your spirit remains." After a short hesitation, Mito continued. "That means... If you choose to come back, you will not be recognizable by anyone you knew, and you will not be the same person. Additionally, you will be unable to tell anyone of who you were... It's not that you are not allowed to talk about it, but you will be physically unable to." Kushina winced at this. Now it seemed like an even worse idea.
"The last condition... Though it may not initially seem as intimidating as the other two, it will become very substantial in the future." Mito looked at Kushina's grimace with displeasure. "Like I said, it is a deal with the Shinigami. When you agree to the deal, your soul will forevermore belong to the Shinigami." Kushina looked like she was just about to refuse, but Mito silenced her, wanting Kushina to think this decision through instead of answering prematurely.
"I'll give you some time to think... Feel free to wander but remember that you are dead. You cannot physically interact with anything or anyone, just like no one can hear you." Mito explained, and Kushina realized with a start that no one had noticed when she yelled earlier. "Thank you, Mito," Kushina said and bowed her head slightly to the older Uzumaki in respect. Mito smiled warmly at her and replied, "When you are ready to make your decision, I will be there," before vanishing like rose petals in the wind. Now, Kushina was left with only herself, and the people to whom she was invisible, to decide what to do with her death.
Kushina had followed her son around for a while now. At first, his resemblance to Minato had been the only thing she really noticed (though the realization that Minato was gone thankfully hadn't reached her yet – or rather, she refused to let herself dwell on that, lest she break down and not move for another year or two).
However, when the shock of that first realization had passed, she had begun to notice her own features in the boy, as well. She had been very surprised when the little blond had exclaimed "Dattebayo!" and she wondered where he had gotten her verbal tick. Actually, she was a bit dismayed at the fact that he had inherited that, because she had hoped her children wouldn't have it, as it was, in fact, a bit annoying.
'But... Really, though. Where did he learn that?! It's not like I was around to teach him how to talk, dattebane...'
Something that outright outraged the red-head was the treatment he received from the so-called 'caretakers'. Only, they didn't take care of Naruto at all. In fact, they seemed to despise him like a demon. Kushina felt a pang of pain in her chest as she remembered her own difficulties as a child. 'Kyūbi no Jinchūriki... If only there had been another solution,' Kushina thought sadly, starting to regret hers and Minato's decision to seal the demon in their son. Surely there should have been other solutions, but no matter how much she wracked her brain, she couldn't think of any. And even if she could, it wasn't like she could go back and change what they did.
The orphanage had even given Naruto his own place to sleep, his own corner of the playground, and taught all the other children to stay away from him, as if there was some unsaid rule against it. She did notice, though, that no one mentioned the Kyūbi. Not even once, neither in his presence or in the absence of it. 'Must be the work of Hiruzen...' she decided and thanked him silently. Maybe he would have a chance with the new generation, even though he hadn't had any luck yet, with the adults telling the children to stay away.
After staying with Naruto for a while, trying several times to punch the glaring bystanders in the head, and being frustrated when her fist simply flew through their heads, she headed out to other parts of the city. There were other people she wanted to check up on as well, and she found it depressing, seeing how her son led his daily life. She had seen more than enough to tell what his entire life had probably been like thus far, and she didn't have someone to take out her negative emotions on, so it would probably be best if she left before she went insane.
On her walk through the city, she ran across the Ichiraku ramen place. She was instantly drawn to the smell of delicious ramen. 'Damnit, why can I smell the food when I can't taste it? Being dead is SO unfair, dattebane!' Kushina glared at the ramen being prepared by Teuchi with his little daughter watching him intently.
She would do anything, even sacrifice her soul to a demon, to get to eat ramen right about now. Or - almost anything. She wasn't so sure about sacrificing someone else's life for it... Unless they were Iwa-nin. Or the people that glared at Naruto. They would deserve it. Which actually made a very valid point in the whole second-chance-guilt-complex she was having. She had killed so many people in her life, that she realised now would be an odd time to be unselfish.
She hurried along to get away from that tempting smell of godly ramen and walked towards the nearest public bath. Now that she had the chance, she might as well check up on everyone she knew. Though to be completely honest, she wasn't sure if she wanted to see the person she was looking for or not. When she thought about her lonely son, she actually just wanted to send said person to hell. Or the stomach of the Shinigami. 'But Minato wouldn't be happy about that. Except for the fact that they might be able to see each other in the stomach of the Shinigami... But frankly, the guy is kinda important with his spies and all. Otherwise I would have done something regrettable to him ages ago,' Kushina thought with a pout on her face.
She looked at the fence in front of the baths with crossed arms, tapping the ground with her right foot. 'Jiraiya, you perv,' she glared. 'You should be happy I can't punch you in the face right now, or you would have a bleeding nose for an entirely different cause than staring at women,' she shook her fist angrily at the perverted Sannin.
When she felt there was no more to see (And to be honest, there wasn't a lot. It was just an old guy sitting with his head against a fence, giggling in a creepy way), she headed towards the Hokage tower. She would have to check up on the Sandaime as well, or whoever was currently Hokage.
'It would be logical if they have chosen a new Hokage…' she thought with a prolonged sigh. She didn't really like the idea of a Godaime, since she couldn't see anyone else than Minato sitting behind that desk. Anyone else than him and Hiruzen would be impostors to her, but she knew there was nothing she could do about it.
After wall climbing her way to the window of the Hokage office, she was almost relieved to see Hiruzen sitting behind the desk. Almost. At least that was until she saw the shadows under her eyes. There was still the kind of determined look in his eyes - the eyes that held the Hi no Ishi (Will of Fire) - but they looked ten times older and weary than last she had seen the old man. She actually felt sorry for him. He was prepared to step down, and now he's forced to take the hat again...
It also left her wondering why no one else had been offered the hat. Lack of strong enough shinobi to be Hokage candidates? It was true they must have lost many good men during the attack of the Kyūbi and... That Man. Besides, there was always the danger of Danzō. This loyalty she felt to her village just made her want to come back even more. 'I want to help, dattebane! I want to help my son, Hiruzen-jiji, eat ramen, and punch Jiraiya straight in the face!' she almost yelled at the poor Sandaime - well, it's not like he would have heard her anyways...
"I agree our situation is regrettable." she heard a loud voice say, and immediately looked frantically around her to find the source of that deep and sinister voice. She couldn't see anyone else than herself, Sandaime, and some poor clueless Genin holding a struggling 'Tora the demon-cat' in the room.
"Looking for me? You won't find me with your eyes, brat." the voice replied to Kushina's unspoken question. Suddenly, Kushina realized who the voice belonged to, and visibly stiffened. The ominous voice cackled amusedly with a characteristic evil undertone. "Kyūbi" Kushina hissed and narrowed her eyes.
"Heheh, I see you're 'glad' to hear from me. Let me tell you, the feeling is not one-sided." the demon fox said with a bored voice. "How?! How are you here? I thought Minato sealed you!" Kushina screamed into nothingness, trying to rip out her long red hair in frustration, but seeing as she was dead, she failed miserably. The Kyūbi sighed at the frantic red-head.
"He did seal a part of me. But apparently, I was never fully extracted from you, leaving me here as a mere shell of my greatness. If I had to guess, it would be the result of a hurried and reckless extraction. Also the reason you didn't drop dead right away, if you ever wondered about that." he hissed, causing Kushina to flinch slightly. If she hadn't gotten used to his killing intent over the years, she might have run around screaming right about now. She did, however, have it left in herself to feel grateful to the giant fox.
A quick lift of her t-shirt and a look at her stomach confirmed what the demon fox had said. Even beyond death, the seal that still bound the two together was inked on her stomach, in the form of vague lines that criss-crossed and intersected in circles and pentagrams. 'The seal got damaged in the extraction…' Kushina realised quickly, noting several altered lines that ultimately served to make the seal unstable. Had the entirety of the Kyūbi been in there, he would have been able to escape with little to no effort.
"This is how you're communicating with me? Because the seal is weakened? You never used to do this." Kushina noted with some wariness. The Kyūbi simply huffed – it would seem he did not know either but refused to admit so.
"So, what will you do, weakling? Do amuse me, brat, I'm bored." The angry demon-fox growled, returning them to the topic at hand. Kushina sighed at this. She had almost made up her mind about the matter, but then the Kyūbi had come along and made her uncertain. Now she was forced to re-evaluate her decision because she didn't want to release another Kyūbi on the world, no matter how 'weak' this one proclaimed itself to be. The Kyūbi snorted.
"Don't tell me you're going to decline because of me. That's just pathetic." he insulted her. "Of course I'm not going to bring you back, 'ttebane!" Kushina growled at the Kyūbi.
"Oh, but you are. Even that shitty seal of Shukaku's could hold be back right now. I'm not a threat, so amuse me, kit." the Kyūbi growled back, though that did nothing to assure the red-head. She didn't want to do what he wanted her to, just because the big old fox was bored. "Shukaku?" Kushina asked after a bit of thought, having never heard the name before. The Kyūbi simply snorted and didn't elaborate.
"Hm. How about a bit of incentive then? Think about those dear friends of yours. They wouldn't want to stay miserable, would they?" Kushina winced at this, feeling kind of guilty after seeing the state of all those she held dear. Well, Jiraiya seemed to be doing just fine, but she seriously wanted to go punch him in the face.
"A second chance, huh…?" Kushina asked, actually seriously considering. The fox seemed surprisingly cooperative, even though she wasn't sure it wasn't just a ruse, and Mito seemed genuine enough in her proposal.
"You were not the only one who lost something on that night, brat. Should you come across that masked man in your travels, I would be glad to lend my assistance in rending him to shreds. Until then, disturbing me will be on your own responsibility." the Kyūbi said, and fell silent. "… Why do you want to kill the masked man?" Kushina asked curiously. She had seen the man who had forcibly ripped out the Kyūbi with her own eyes – he had, after all been kind of hard to miss. But that the Kyūbi wanted to kill the man who indirectly gave him (or rather, the larger version of him) the freedom he sought after so desperately didn't sit right with her.
The Kyūbi sighed deeply. "I am aware that you see me as a monster. And as much as I want to rip all of you despicable humans to shreds, the part of me that got free was clearly not in his right mind. That masked man… That Uchiha took control of me and used me! And nobody uses me." he growled, and Kushina could easily imagine his nine tails flailing around in anger.
Kushina nodded to herself, satisfied with the answer. She had mostly made up her mind now, and since the Kyūbi claimed he wasn't really a threat in his reduced state... Now there was just one big problem. She needed a human sacrifice. It made her feel distantly ill, what she was going to do. But perhaps she could find someone who was going to die anyways, or who was better off being dead? She might even help someone!
Nodding, she jumped out of the window of Hokage tower, and went for the hospital.
At the hospital, she ran through the halls and into all the rooms, trying to find a subject for the sacrifice. At the 12th room of normal and almost-healthy patients, she was suddenly interrupted, though.
"Why don't you see this as the opportunity it is? You could be rid of an enemy and come back, all in one action. Like impaling two cows with one claw." the Kyūbi broke in, and for once, Kushina actually agreed. 'People I dislike… How about the Tsuchikage? Or maybe Danzō?' It was not that she disliked Danzō... But she really disliked Danzō. His entire set of ideals were just fundamentally wrong. She realised he was a pillar of Konoha, but that just made getting rid of him even harder, even though it probably should have been attempted years ago. "You know, Kyūbi, for once I actually agree with you." she said with an evil foxy grin and darted off to find the subject of their hatred. The fox chuckled deeply in the depths of her mind.
After running around for a while, Kushina realized that she didn't actually know where Danzō's hideout was. Minato had probably known, but even if that had been true, Danzō would have made him keep the information confidential. Giving up, Kushina ended up just yelling for Mito, hoping that she didn't actually need to find the person she wanted to kill.
"MIIITOOO! GET OVER HERE, DATTEBANE!" she yelled at the air, and after 5 minutes, as she held a little pause from screaming her lungs out, a storm of rose petals appeared before her, shaping themselves into the late Shodai's wife. "Mito! There you are!" Kushina exclaimed, happily. Mito just sighed at the overly enthusiastic red-head.
"I suppose this means you have made up your answer?" Mito asked, raising an eyebrow. Kushina nodded. "Can we sacrifice Danzō? I hope the Shinigami doesn't have anything against polluted men." Kushina stated. Mito grimaced at the mention of sacrificing Danzō, as much as she disliked him herself.
"I suppose... If that's what you want, we could make that work. Many important historical figures have dropped dead for the same reason over the years, but… Are you absolutely certain you want to kill off Danzō?" she tilted her head at Kushina. Kushina just nodded happily. "Off with the head of the snake! And in the process, I'll even save a bunch of promising children, dattebane!" Kushina exclaimed.
Mito nodded, and flashed though some hand-signs at a near-invisible speed. "I'll bid you farewell then, Uzumaki Kushina. This will be the last time you will be heard by that name... I wish you good luck." Mito stated, and Kushina felt herself being pulled away by some invisible entity, to somewhere far away, losing consciousness in the process. The Kyūbi clawed frantically at her insides in something panic-like, but that, too, stopped after a short while. And then everything went white.
At the same moment in some dark, eerie place, Danzō fell limply down in his chair, hand gripping his chest as his last breaths forcibly left him. When his head fell to the desk, his heart had already stopped beating. One hand hovering over the emergency button on his desk slammed down as his muscles were found lacking to keep it up any longer, and root members streamed into the room to look for the invisible assailant.
Mito looked at the sorry body of the old war-hawk. "It is an unweeded garden that grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature possess it merrily... But Danzō, it looks like we have killed the root that would possess this garden, and new plants - yes, new leaves can grow anew. The shadow of the flames will protect this village."
A/N number 2: And that was the first chapter. Sorry to anyone who actually likes Danzō, but I really can't stand the guy. Other than this, there won't be any characters randomly dying. 'Keh? Also, reviews are VERY welcome. I want to know whether or not I'm actually doing this writing thing correctly. Also, I might warn you that there is going to be a 'wing' sort of kekkei genkai (because why not?) and Kushina is maybe (probably) going to have it. Just because I like wings. And birds.
Edit note: I have decided that there may be further plans for Danzō later. I'm not a fan of how he died, but this way works out in the end, now that I think of it. Don't worry – this did not happen in vain.