Author's Note: I made a small addition to the previous chapter.
Gai had decided to head back to Konoha now that Sasuke was conscious so that he could check on his genin team and "stoke their Flames of Youth." Kushina told him that they would join him in a few days when Sasuke was well enough to travel.
Jiraiya tried to corner Tsunade again, but Kushina deflected him and insisted that he watch Sasuke while she spent some quality time with her son and sister figures. Jiraiya was still pretty easy for a woman to manipulate. Shizune wanted to take a look at the abandoned castle that was on the edge of town, so they headed there.
"Shizune," Kushina said, "why don't you take Naruto and go explore. I need to have a serious talk with Tsu-chan."
Shizune chirped agreeably. Naruto grabbed her hand and dragged her off to another part of the castle.
Kushina sat down on a bench and patted the spot beside her. Tsunade sat down and said, "Why do I get the feeling I'm not going to enjoy this? I've noticed that you've been shielding me from Jiraiya."
Kushina snorted. "Jiraiya would totally bungle this conversation. And you're right, I do have bad news." She took a breath and said, "Orochimaru invaded Konoha recently. I don't know the details, as I wasn't in Konoha long before heading out to find Naruto who was looking for you with Jiraiya, but I do know he managed to kill your Sensei."
Tsunade bowed her head. "The Old Monkey and I haven't been close for a while, but I'm still sad to see him go." She looked up. "The Old Goats on the Council want me to be the next Hokage, don't they."
Kushina nodded. "You are one of the top two candidates."
Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "Who's the other sucker?"
Kushina laughed. "Me, of course."
Tsunade snorted. "You can have it. You were always going on about being Hokage when you were little. Besides, Konoha has taken enough from me already. Hokage is a guaranteed death sentence."
"I mainly did that to try and annoy Minato," she said wistfully. "It never worked as he would always say something like 'I'm sure it will be the best person for the job.' The only time I ever saw the man really lose it was when I told him I was pregnant. It was annoying at first, as I had always used insults and teasing to get an edge in a fight, but eventually I learned to love his steady disposition. We balanced and complemented each other. Regardless, say something enough and it sticks. I would like to be Hokage. I also think it would be a nice tribute to him to fulfill his dream."
"Whatever," her surrogate older sister said. "You're welcome to it."
Kushina put her hand on Tsunade's shoulder. "Even if it's me that takes the Hat, Tsu-chan. I want you to come back to Konoha."
Tsunade started to get angry. "How can you say that, Ran-chan? Konoha has. . ."
Kushina interrupted, "Tsunade. You've been running and hiding long enough. It's been about two decades since Dan died—even longer for Nawaki. You're never going to get better doing what you're doing. I hate seeing you do this to yourself. Do you really think Dan and Nawaki would want you to live your life like this? And what about Shizune?"
"Those are some low blows, Ran-chan," Tsunade said quietly.
"I know," Kushina said equally quietly. "I just want you to be happier. Shizune respects you too much to say, but I can tell she worries about you. Jiraiya too, beneath his perverted mask." She put her hand back on the blonde's shoulder. "Listen, if they choose me to be Hokage, I'll implement that combat medic nin program you wanted Hiruzen to approve. I always thought his refusal was short sighted. While it was true that pulling people away from the front to train as medics during a war would have been difficult, implementing it for Academy students and genin would have been very feasible. Combat medics would have extended the lives of our ninjas with very little loss in combat performance. I would also like you to examine the existing medic program."
"Can I think about it?" the blonde asked.
"I told Jiraiya we'd be here for a few days for Sasuke to recover. I could use Hiraishin to take us back instantly, but I didn't want to spring this on you and then insist you return immediately."
Tsunade rolled her eyes. "You're all heart, Ran-chan."
Kushina smirked. "Ah, you know you missed me, Tsu-chan."
Her danger sense went off as she felt two chakra signatures coming toward them at high speed. One was Orochimaru and the other had a high-jounin chakra level. "Orochimaru!" she said. She grabbed Tsunade's arm and flashed to Naruto's location. She had marked him the first evening.
"Mom?!" Naruto exclaimed while Shizune said, "Lady Tsunade."
"I sense Orochimaru coming toward us rapidly," Kushina explained
"The snake freak?" Naruto said.
"Let's go out into the courtyard," she said.
They ran out into the courtyard. It didn't take long for Orochimaru and his silver-haired, glasses-wearing companion to appear.
"Ku, ku, ku, ku," laughed the snake summoner. "I didn't expect you to have guests, Tsunade."
"I didn't expect you to show your face after what you did," Tsunade responded.
"News spreads quickly," Orochimaru said with a laugh.
"Kabuto?" said Naruto. "What are you doing with him? Are you a traitor?"
"You can't betray what you were never loyal to," the silver-haired teen said. "I was one of Lord Orochimaru's Sound nin from the start." He pointed to the badge with a sound note on his forehead.
"I want to make a deal, Tsunade," said Orochimaru. "You fix my arms that got injured in my little spat with Sensei, and I'll bring back your lover and your brother."
"How do you intend to do that?" asked Kushina.
"Ah, Little Kushina—no one seems to be staying dead. I'll make you a deal. You tell me how you came back and I'll say how I'll bring back Dan and Nawaki."
"Sure," Kushina said. "I was never dead—just indisposed for a few years."
"How disappointing," Orochimaru said. "Well since you didn't have a good answer, I won't be telling you."
"They say he brought the First and Second back from the dead to fight the Old Man," Naruto said.
"They fought for him?" said Kushina. "That sounds like the Impure World Resurrection Technique. That's a fool's bargain, Tsu-chan."
Tsunade nodded.
"Ku, ku, ku, ku. We'll see if you keep to your principles when we have dear, sweet Shizune as leverage," said Orochimaru.
"You seem to be under the misimpression that you'll be surviving this encounter, Roachy," said Kushina. She formed two Shadow Clones. Adamantine Sealing Chains shot out of one of them surrounding the courtyard in a barrier like the one she had used to keep people away from the Kyuubi as they sealed it into Naruto. The other clone created a smaller barrier around it and the first clone with its chains. The barrier was a little bit weak where the chains from the first clone intersected the smaller barrier, but it should do against anything Orochimaru could do in a short amount of time.
"How cute," said the snake summoner. "Little Kushina thinks she can play in the big leagues. How long has it been since you've been in a real fight, Little Kushina?"
Kushina snorted. "I've seen pandas that were better trash talkers than you, Roachy." She started to laugh. "Did you know that your Sensei placed me above you in the choice as to who would be the Fourth Hokage? I hear you barely beat out Danzou, of all people."
"Ku, ku, ku. That may be, but I got the last laugh for his lack of vision." Orochimaru smirked. "Sensei is dead by my hand. Your darling Minato, is also dead by my hand and by my hand your adorable son was made an orphan. Who do you think leaked your location to the masked Uchiha?"
On the one hand, Kushina had been afraid that the location she was giving birth at had been leaked by Mikoto and was glad that it hadn't been. On the other hand, this freak had leaked the location. Her killing intent filled the air. She felt her hair begin to writhe as it split into nine segments.
"Roachy is mine," she said. A chill settled over the courtyard as she utilized the Soul of Ice to get her emotions under control.
She charged the snake summoner. He leaped out of the way.
"Why do you keep calling me that?" he asked plaintively.
She smiled. "It's from a secret code, I learned when I was younger. It means 'cockroach.' I thought it was fitting that I tell you your place before I smash you under my heal." English was reduced to an obscure secret code here in the Elemental Nations. Ukyo knew at least a little, but the only others that might were her Mom and Shampoo.
"Let's see you say that when I'm done with you!" he snarled. A snake came out of his throat and regurgitated a sword which Kushina recognized as the Kusanagi no Tsurugi. The snake withdrew back into its master's throat and he caught the sword with his tongue which extended.
Kushina drew two kunai and she sent Wind chakra into them, extending their effective length as whitish pseudo-blades grew from them.
Their blades clashed. Kushina's Wind chakra kept the Kusanagi's cutting properties from touching her kunai. Orochimaru's sword skills were low-jounin level at best since he was a ninjutsu specialist. Kushina easily handled him. She amputated his arms. "I decided to help you out, since you weren't using those."
In the other fight, Tsunade was out of commission due to her fear of blood. Shizune was having a hard time with Kabuto. Naruto was trying to help, but the spy was much better than he was. She was about to intervene when Naruto succeeded in making a Rasengan by using both hands and a Shadow Clone to stabilize the technique. He caught Kabuto by surprise and slammed it into him. Kushina was impressed with his inventiveness, but made plans to make sure he could use the technique one-handed. Using a Shadow Clone negated one of the primary advantages of the technique, speed of formation.
She amputated Orochimaru's legs. He fell to the ground and his head began to bulge as a new whole body came out the old one's mouth.
"You are a disgusting thing, Roachy," she said. "I wonder how many times you can do that? Let's find out."
She saw that Kabuto had recovered from the Rasengan and had kicked Naruto away. He was about to finish off Shizune, when Tsunade recovered in time to save her surrogate daughter. She knocked him away with a bone-shattering punch.
"Kabuto!" Orochimaru shouted.
"Yes, Lord Orochimaru," the spy responded as he ran to his master.
"Summon Manda."
The silver-haired teen cut Orochimaru and then wiped the blood on his master's summoning tattoo and channeled chakra into it. With a large burst of smoke a giant snake appeared. Kushina wrapped it in her Adamantine Sealing Chains.
"What's this Orochimaru?" the snake said. "How dare you bind me! Release me! And where are my sacrifices?"
"Dispose of them," Orochimaru commanded, "especially the redhead, and I'll get you your sacrifices."
Kushina laughed. "I held the Kyuubi in my chains when I was mostly dead. This overgrown wallet won't be escaping."
"Stop playing with them, Ran-chan," Tsunade growled. "Don't bother capturing them. They're both too tricky to hold without constant vigilance around the clock."
"Very well." She sent out more chains. The two Sound nin managed to dodge until Kushina formed more Shadow Clones and blanketed the area with chains. When she caught them, she marked them with chakra-suppressing and paralyzing seals. Then she used an incinerating seal to make sure there was no trace of left of them.
"Any recommendation on what to do with the Boss Snake, Tsu-chan?" she asked.
"He demands 100 human sacrifices whenever he's summoned. I say we kill him."
The snake started issuing threats, but they ignored him. Kushina repeated the process and Manda died.