Nothing hurt Kushina more than the kunai of the boy she considered a son stabbing her in the heart.
. . . .
Uzumaki Kushina feared nothing more than losing her precious people. Aunt Mito had said to fill herself up with an abundance of love so the hatred of the Nine Tails wouldn't consume her and that's exactly what Kushina did. She didn't fear for herself, oh no; she was a Special Jonin. She wasn't worried about what the Nine Tails would do if he was released because her and Kuruma had a petulant understanding. She was more worried about her precious people dying off in missions.
Such was the life of a ninja in the Village Hidden in the Leaves.
Kushina did not have a team of genin under her tutelage, but many of her friends did. She was an exception to the three-man squad all graduated Genin were put into, as well; being the container of the Nine Tailed Fox restricted her from being on a team. However, working with many ninja during her Chunin and Jonin missions reaffirmed Sakumo Sensei's teaching of teamwork. Instead of isolating herself, Kushina surrounded herself with her precious people. Precious people like Hatake Sakumo Sensei and his (now) frail wife (because of a mission gone wrong) and Grand Aunt Mito, and her deceased parents.
Gradually, her precious people expanded to include Uchiha Mikoto, her best friend, and Minato (her love, her dear Minato), and in time, his wayward students, Hatake Kakashi (and his rival, Mighto Guy), Uchiha Obito, and Nohara Rin. Oh yes, Kushina had many precious people in the Village Hidden in the Leaves and she would do anything and everything to make sure they were safe and happy.
. . . .
Kushina worried how the happy-go-lucky Obito would deal with his emotional wounds as well as his physical ones. She worried once Obito's happy facade came off, he would be shattered beyond repair. She knew what it felt like to lose her parents and she knew knew Obito cried himself to sleep at night. She worried if he had enough to eat after missions and if he had a warm place to sleep- for Obito was an orphan and although he was an Uchiha, he was still a blooming flower who needed the proper soil and water for his roots to grow and stem to strengthen.
Kakashi, while being Sakumo Sensei's son and a prodigy at that, was the opposite of Obito. After Sakumo Sensei committed suicide, Kakashi was left all alone- whereas Obito whose parents perished on ANBU Missions, was alone from the start. Kakashi had known what family was, what it felt to have a father and mother, and he was left all alone in the harsh ninja world.
Kakashi was like a cactus, strong and prickly. He was self-reliant and refused help, but that's what made Kushina worry even more. She worried if he was eating enough, if he was sleeping enough, if he was surrounding himself with his friends because Kushina knew being all alone was the worst and it physically hurt her chest to be all alone to mourn and take care of herself.
And Rin, sweet sweet Rin. She was in a big house all by her lonesome because her mother worked long hours at Konoha's hospital. Rin had a family, but her family was never there when she needed them. Once, on her way home after her after-mission-check-up at the hospital, Kushina made a pit-stop at the Nohara residence. She found the door unlocked and little Rin, exhausted from her mission out on the kitchen floor, a bowl of porridge in her hands.
Kushina made up her mind.
Waking Rin up, ("Okaa-san? Oh, Kushina-san! Gomennasai, come in, please!") she coaxed the girl to follow her to the Hatake Manor. She forced the child prodigy to tie on his mask (without Rin seeing his face; her delusions on why Kakashi wore the thing would wear off and she would be terrified at the self-inflicted scar that went from the corner of Kakashi's left lip to the side of his right cheek, where he tried to claw off his father's blood on his face with a kunai).
Although Kushina had forced a reluctant Kakashi to join them, she heard him whisper a small "Thank you, Kushina-okaa-san" and hid her tired grin. Kushina trooped her companions along as they made their way (Rin, sleepily, Kakashi, reluctantly, and Kushina, in exhaustion) to the Uchiha District to pick up Obito.
Finding Obito was harder than fetching the other two as they both lived in houses. Kushina knew Mikoto would offer Obito her house, but the young boy was to God damn stubborn to accept- even more so than Kakashi and he was the cactus!
After ten minutes of walking, the trio found the young Uchiha sprawled on a bench, his goggles covering his eyes and his hitai-ate on his forehead. In a manner only Obito would be sleeping in, he had one leg spread out on the bench while the other was bent at the knee, one hand on the bent knee and the other comically falling out from the side of the bench. He was snoring and had a little bubble of snot coming out from his nostril.
It was almost funny, if the gravity of the situation hadn't hit the ninja who observed him. They all had, at least a roof over their heads while Obito had only the stars and the midnight inky sky.
After waking Obito, Kushina smiled at him and offered her place to sleep for the night. Obito hesitated (he wanted to sleep in a warm bed and Kushina was Kushina, and Obito could trust her with his life but he also didn't want anyone's pity) and was about to decline when Kushina lightly love-punched him on the head and told him "it wasn't a question, it was a demand, 'ttebane!"
Walking from the Uchiha district to her small apartment would take whatever strength she had left, plus her exhausted companions were in no shape to make the trip, so Kushina shunshin'ed the young shinobi with her to her front door. She smirked at Obito's childish begging of "teach me, please Kushinaaa-chaan!" to Kakashi's slightly awed expression and warmly smiled at Rin's look of adoration.
"This is your house as well, ya know." Kushina knew the young shinobi would take care of her just as she had taken care of them.
When he got home, Minato's look of surprise at his team (no, his family) snuggled together on the makeshift blankets and pillows on the living room floor was something Kushina wished she could document forever. At his questioning glance, she shrugged and simply said, "they're my precious people, and I can't let them suffer," and Minato just understood. He did not want his students, his family to go through the same thing. Instead, he joined them.
. . . .
When Kushina was informed about Obito's death, she screamed in despair until her voice was hoarse. When she learned of Rin's death at the hands of Kakashi, she sobbed until she was hysterical. If this was how she was dealing, she didn't want to know how Kakashi would deal. Poor, poor Kakashi was already so alone and the loss of his best friends would crush him. And Minato, her love- the loss of his students would devastate him; he would blame himself. Always, he would think he was at fault.
Kushina decided she was going to be strong for all three of them.
She mourned for Rin and Obito. Every single moment, she remembered them and tired to smother Kakashi and Minato with her love, because love had saved her from the Nine Tails and it would help her two precious people. Kushina still loved Obito and Rin, she mourned for them as though they were her own children.
So, imagine a twenty four year old Kushina's shock, momentsafter the Nine Tails (now her friend) was extracted from her, she was attacked by someone who looked exactly like Obito. Someone who was already dead. Kushina thought she was about the throw up. How dare this imposter decide to transform into Obito of all people?! She was going to kill this motherfucker.
While fighting the imposter, the fake Obito revealed things to her only the real Obito would know of. He mentioned to her her fears of losing Kakashi, Rin, Obito, and Minato. He mentioned to her her fear of losing control of the Nine Tails. He mentioned her home village. He mentioned her fear of losing her family. He mentioned how young Obito (and the current one) loved Kushina like a mother and was sorry (so so sorry) for his actions. He said he was sorry for leading Madara Uchiha into the village and pretending to get caught in the sealing jutsu just to kill Minato. He was sorry for stabbing Kakashi with a reverse chidori. He was sorry for letting Rin go into enemy territory when he could've saved her. He was sorry for killing baby Naruto.
Kushina froze.
Nothing hurt Kushina more than the kunai of the boy she considered a son stabbing her in the heart.
That was all the time new Obito needed to uppercut her until her teeth broke. Once his punch flung Kushina, he shunshin'ed behind her and brought his hand out in front of her. He ran the kunai from her stomach to her heart, shredding her organs and threw her on the ground.
As the life began to subside from her tearing pale grey eyes, Kushina managed to swallow her sob and mutter, "I loved you too, dattebane, Obito-chan." Choking on her blood, she brokenly whispered, "Naruto-" she coughed, "would have loved to have y-you as an older brother."
It was Obito's turn to freeze.
"I look forward-" Kushina was gasping for air at this point. "To seeing you in the afterlif-" Kushina's head hit the floor with a slight thump.
With a dead Kushina on the floor next to him, and the blood of his loved ones (Minato Sensei, Kushina-okaa-san, Kakashi, Rin-chan, and baby Naruto) on his hands, Obito finally came to his senses and began screaming madly.
The genjutsu brainwashing him was finally broken, but so was Obito. He was in so much pain, he wanted to rip his heart out to end the hurt, the sorrow, the regret. He stared at his arms, shrieking at how carelessly he killed the people he loved.
His screaming only stopped once White Zetsu found him and snapped his neck for being annoying.
