Chapter 25 – Goodbye Mum, Goodbye Dad

It was the tenth of October. On this crisp autumn day, the setting sun was framed by strips of grey hidden among the various other fiery colours of sunset. The hues were sinking into the back of the mountains, marking the end of another day.

Cotton white clouds were dyed with the radiating ray of the quivering amber sun, appearing to be a flaming orange-yellow. There was something about the sky today, something different. Basking in the warm glow that illuminated the village, a gentle yet prominent breeze flew by. Kushina ignored it. She was on her way to the outskirt with the company of Biwako, the wife of the Third Hokage, about to give birth to baby Naruto, the flaunt of Minato and her love. She couldn't wait any longer.

And she was very scared.

Of course, Kushina let her excitement take her over, and so she would not worry about that one 'minor' detail, wherein some crafty fox had been waiting so impatiently for this very day to break free since she was fifteen, the same year that Uzumaki Kushina had become the second jinchūriki of Kyūbi, the transition that caused the death of her grandaunt. They had expected her passing. Uzumaki Mito was the wife of the First Hokage. She was born at the end of the Warring States period and had lived long enough to see the coming of the Third War, not that it was a good happening to foresee. She lived a long life, with two-thirds of her life dominated by war and the second half of her life overshadowed by the solitude of widowhood.

It was true that Mito had great difficulty during the labour of her second child, Hiroko, when she had become a jinchūriki of a Tail Beast. Kyūbi nearly broke free, and that would have been the end of Konohagakure. But everything must have a beginning and everything must have an end. Without Mito, Kushina would have never met Minato, since he was the maternal grandson of the First Hokage and his wife. By the time it was Mito's turn to go, Tsunade and Minato where the only ones left, while her husband, both of her children, and her other grandson, Nawaki, had gone a step ahead of her, already waiting for her in the next world. Even with all the miseries, Mito had a fulfilling life. She was an optimist. Her husband treasured her, her children loved her, and her grandchildren adored her. Mito could die fondly recalling those days when that was all that mattered. She would not give the world to have another turn to live. The life she had had was enough. Even if Mito could turn back time and keep her promise to that boy she once swore to be eternally faithful to, she could not give up what she already had for some puppy love that had faded away much too long ago.

They could never have been together. He was an Uchiha and she was an Uzumaki. They were worlds apart from each other. Mito knew her place as the daughter of the head of the Uzumaki clan, an allied clan and distant relatives of the Senju. She knew what it meant and she knew what she must not do. The day when she had found out that he was an Uchiha, Mito was heartbroken. She thought God was laughing at her foolishness.

After all these years, Mito never once mentioned her teenage love to anyone in her family. The reason was pretty simple. After all, that first love of hers was none other than... Uchiha Madara. The only soul she ever told this little secret to happened to be Kushina, right before she had parted the world of the living for good - a little arcanum between jinchūriki, she had said.

Kushina walked through the crowded streets with an affectionate smile, thinking about the man of her dreams. She never had her grand-aunt's problem. Kushina was quite the scary-type, as Shikaku, one of Minato's best friends, had kindly pointed out. According to him, there would only be so many who had the aptitude to get close to the Red Hot-blooded Habanero.

"Not many people dare to take her on, and there are two major factors for that. First, Kushina is crazy. You honestly don't know when she'll hit you and she hits very hard. We grew up watching her beat people up. Second, for those who have the guts to hit on this hottie, I admire them. Because, if I were them, I would find myself a nice bit of soil and dig a hole for my upcoming funeral. Somebody must have the brain of a cheese sandwich to challenge the Yellow Flash," Shikaku had explained with an all-knowing expression on his face.

In her personal opinion, that was both a 'yes' and a 'no'. Kushina did not once notice that there were other men who were interested in her. Maybe she was just that oblivious to any other men but Minato. Shikaku couldn't have been more right: Minato always gave one of his smiles to whoever dared to look at Kushina with more friendliness than necessary. At that, they fled for their own lives. But the truth was that it did not matter. Her heart had always and would always belong to Namikaze Minato, the bright blond who had a habit of flicking his beautifully soft hair, as if to show it off. He was quite girly, Kushina supposed; then again, it didn't matter. She loved all of him, even his feminine side.

Biwako looked at Kushina weirdly when she was laughing uncontrollably to herself, remembering how she was about to prove the genius' hypothesis by beating him to death, too. She was embarrassed. The Nara only hid behind Minato's back for safety measures. At that time, Minato and she were only eighteen years old. They had only been going out for about a month or so, although Jiraiya was sure that his student had been hawking over the Uzumaki Princess since their first sight in the academy, and the girl had returned his feelings ever since he had saved her from Kumo. They had called each other 'good friends' for many years before Minato had made the move to ask her to be his girlfriend. It had been something unexpected of Minato.

Toshi's untimely death must have done a great deal to him, since it had hit him so hard. Perhaps it had been then that Minato realised he could just as easily end up like his best friend, dying too young, fighting for the country with many unattended regrets. Minato was determined to not let that happen to himself.

He would not waste any more of his time pondering if he had the courage to ask Kushina out, while he could have spent that precious time with the one he loved. He would not want to die a single man, for himself and his clan, too. Unlike the Uchiha, he was the last of the Namikaze bloodline. If Minato had died without even planning to get married, the last of the Namikaze would have most definitely died with him.

As far as the couple knew of, Toshi died at the age of twenty-four, a national hero, born of the elder son of Uchiha Kagami, who was the first head of ANBU since its establishment and was a member of Second Hokage's elite team. Minato knew members of the Uchiha clan tended to have family early, and it was very odd for Toshi to die, clean-slate, without any romance attached to him while he was a good seven years older than him. However, Minato did, in fact, catch his friend's last word, although he was not able to finish speaking it. It had been the name of a girl.

Kushina's thoughts wandered to the Uchiha for a bit, and focused on her older-brother-figure of a teammate. He was a very cheery person, and his little brother who was twenty years apart from him must have acquired his sense of humour, as well. Shisui reminded Kushina so much of Toshi, although Shisui had taken a step further and had developed his own brand of facial expressions for different usages. They could be either very amusing or simply annoying, just as her daughter said. Kushina also remembered how Toshi had mentioned that Shisui wanted him to be his mentor when his time came. Shisui said there was nothing more he wanted than to learn from the very best – from his great big brother. It turned out that she was the one who had fulfilled her teammate's promise to his little brother.

It had been very tragic, indeed. At that thought, they were just about to cross the Uchiha district, to exit the village from the south gate. Kushina knew she should avoid any contact with anyone – she must keep a low profile, even to her good friend, Mikoto. In passing, she saw that Mikoto was holding a baby in her arms, smiling tenderly. Kushina just went to greet the mother and the baby, broke away from her own world of old memories.

In an oblivious manner, Kushina went straight ahead to the woman holding her infant son in her arms. She was looking amiably at the napping baby. "Is it a girl?" This was the first time Kushina had seen her friend since she had delivered her new-born. Kushina had been staying at home lately and she had not yet had the chance to visit Mrs. Uchiha since her labour.

"It's a boy." Mikoto let out a chuckle. She speculated that her friend's daughter, Yuna, who had been a regular guest at her house, would have spread her words to her mother's ears. Kushina must have known by now that she had another boy. It must have been the contraction that made Kushina's mind going even crazier, so she could now not distinguish a boy from a girl, Mikoto had concluded. Either way, she gave a blissful beam.

"What's your name, darling?" Kushina leaned forward and poked playfully at his bulging cheek. He struggled a bit, and then he let out a light giggle.

Or her baby was just too pretty for his own good, Mikoto thought. "Sasuke," she answered proudly. She had a lot of faith that her son would turn out to be a strong and fine shinobi, just like the man he was named after.

"That's the name of my father-in-law," Biwako noted with a hint of surprise in her voice. She did not expect an Uchiha, especially the son of the head of the clan, to be named after a person from another clan. They would normally be too proud to do that.

"Yes, we hope he will grow up to be a splendid shinobi, just like the honourable Hokage's father," Mikoto explained, without taking her gaze off her precious son.

Kushina's face lit up as she bent over to take a closer look. She grabbed her heavily-weighted belly, and spoke tenderly to the black-haired baby before her eyes. "Aww, baby Sasuke, I'm just going to give birth to Naruto. You'll be his classmate, so you be friends with him, okay?"

She hoped Sasuke would turn out to be such good friends with Naruto, just as how his older brother was the best of friends with her other child, Yuna. Well, her motherly hunch told her that... maybe… no, most certainly not to that extent, yet, but it would have been great to stay being close family friends.

Kushina squinted her eyes, put a hand next to her mouth, and whispered lowly to her friend, "By the way, does it hurt?"

Mikoto's eyebrows rose. "So there's actually something you're afraid of." She thought it was best to not letting her friend know exactly how painful it would be. It would do her no good, as she was just about to go into labour. "I'm surprised." An answer, however, was not given.

Just then, Biwako pulled away Kushina and headed out. She gave her a look to remind her that they must avoid contact with anyone, even her friends, to keep the location safe. "Let's go, Kushina."

Kushina gave an uneasy smile and scratched her head reflexively. Mikoto only waved them goodbye, knowing that her friend was special. She needed to take precaution during the child's birth. Some things were not for others to know. Mikoto understood, once a jōnin level kunoichi herself. After Kushina left, she waited patiently for her elder son to come back from handing his mission report. And then, she could have some time alone with her husband. Mikoto had almost recovered fully from her childbirth. Itachi was now old enough and he could look after their infant child. It was unexpected for Fugaku to have suggested a date, but she would never complain. She was a woman and she yearned for her man's love and respect, his loyal wife, not just the mother of their children.

As soon as she came home from another silly D-rank mission that day, Yuna made the baby's bed. Once she was done, she started to pace around the house in fervour, trying to look for something to keep herself busy before her parents would return with the new addition to the family. She then spotted a few used glasses on the table. Something was bugging her. It was an unusually calm day. Just when she was taking them to the sink, she accidentally dropped a glass. She immediately put down the rest onto a secure surface and went to tidy up the mess she had made on the floor. Sharp edges of the broken glass broke her delicate skin, causing her to bleed slightly, and staining her blood onto the scattering crystals. Quickly, she cleared away the shattered pieces and ran her finger through the tap before putting a plaster on the wound.

It was not a good omen. Yuna hoped everything else was doing better than how she was failing to wash a few dirty glasses.

By that time, Kushina arrived at the cave where a barrier was set and watched over by ANBU in all direction. They were leaving the village secretly, and Kushina fell back into silence once she parted from her best friend and rival, Mikoto, dawdling deeply into her thoughts.

In Minato's case, his Namikaze gene overwhelmed the Senju blood in him, causing him to lose most trails of the Senju clan. Hence, he had the "bright-as-a-Namikaze" blond hair and those pair of endearing sapphire blue eyes. He did, however, inherit a great chakra reserve, although there was no comparison in the strength of life force between him, a quarter Senju and Uzumaki who was of maternal descendant, to a full-fledged Uzumaki clansman, like Kushina. Of all things to pray for at the moment, Kushina prayed that her son would have blond hair like his father. Naruto would not have looked as good if he had her crimson red hair instead.

"It hurts, ya know!" Lying flat on the stone tablet, Kushina screamed as her legs trembled to the torture of contractions. The increasing transition was cutting her open. With her arms spread, she was gripping firmly onto the poles on both sides, squeezing them out of frustration.

Just come out, Naruto. I can't do this much longer, Kushina thought to herself in distress. It was hurting like hell, and Kyūbi was not in a good mood, roaring at her and rampaging ill-temperedly in her mindscape. She panicked. Then, she sent death glares to the man next to her, who was holding desperately on her exposed stomach, making sure the seal would not unravel any further and release the beast to the wild.

"THERE'S NO WAY YOU'LL GET ANY, ANY TIME SOON, NAMIKAZE MINATO," Kushina shrieked with anger flooding all over her. It was bloody agony. "YOU BASTARD! DO YOU HOW MUCH THIS FUCKING HURTS?" Kushina did not normally curse and swear, but she did not know what else she could do to let the blond share some of her aching pain, since it was a bit far for her to reach his hair, pull it hard and cruelly.

"You can do this, honey," Minato only gave his wife words of courage as a response to her hollering. "Just a bit more." He looked anxiously at his loved one, who was on the verge of breaking. He was scared for her, too.

"Arrg…. I'M TRYING!" Kushina retorted in outrage.

"I've never seen Kushina in so much pain," Minato noted in a shaky voice, terrified. He stared at his loving wife with fearful eyes. "Is she… alright?"

"She's fine!" the First Lady of the Third Hokage shouted in annoyance. Afraid that he might have been adding onto the pain Kushina was having to deal with already, Minato took a step away from her. "Never mind that. Just stay focused on Kyūbi's seal." Biwako could not believe that the Yellow Flash of Konohagakure, a world-class shinobi with fearful reputation reaching beyond their border, could be such a wimp when he faced his delivering wife.

"But she's…" Minato was getting very uncomfortable. As he watched Kushina bang her head side to side as she cried out in pain, he thought he was useless for not being able to take the pain away from her. The fact was that he never could.

"Honestly, boy. You're the Yondaime Hokage. Act like one!" Biwako snapped at the young leader, glancing up at him. She returned to assisting Kushina. "A man would have died from the pain long ago. But women are strong."

More pain was pumping through Kushina's veins. She let out another screech, and the numbing sense was halting her brain. She couldn't think straight anymore. More sweating and more screaming. Kushina shook her head, hoping that she could regain some of her consciousness.

"Hang in there, Kushina." Minato was struggling to keep the Tail Beast in his place. He was draining, too. He was using a lot of chakra just to maintain the seal. Suddenly, he felt the presence of an unknown nearby - an unsettling thought that fleetingly clutched his attention. He didn't know who it was. He could only confide in his ANBU to tend to the threat.

"Hang in there, Naruto." Minato was determined to not let anything bad happen to them all, for the family and for the village, as a father and as the Hokage.

"You're almost there, Lady Kushina," Nurse Taji called out, giving her confidence that she would not give up mid-way, when the head was just coming out of her womb.

"Just a bit more, now. We can see the baby's head." Biwako smiled at the young mother. Kushina gritted her teeth, holding in her voice, and pushed again.

She felt the pain in her lower abdomen, where the seal had been placed. The pain of her opening and the pain of the seal's leak, combined, sent her over sanity. She tried to focus the warmth of her husband's hands on her belly, controlling the discharging seal.

"Naruto, come out quickly!" Minato yelled as he shut his eyes to concentrate on resetting the seal. "Stay right where you are, Kyūbi."

A scream escaped her mouth as Kushina pushed one last time, and the pain began to vanish.

"Ahhhhhhhhh…." A loud squall filled the air. After six hours of ripening, the boy was born. Kushina relaxed and gazed at the dim ceiling above, listening to the cry of her new-born son, Naruto. Panting heavily, tears were falling sideway down her cheeks. "Naruto, I finally get to see you."

Biwako prevented Minato from touching his new-born son, insisting that the mother should get to see him first. The elder lady took the baby away for further medical attentions and let the Yondaime Hokage finished his job to readjust the jinchūriki's seal. He wiped away his tears of happiness and approached the woman he would forever love.

"How are you feeling, Kushina?" Minato looked tenderly at his tired-out wife. She could only answer him with a simple hum, but a sweet note.

She must be exhausted.

"Thank you," he spoke softly. He didn't know what else to say.

"Minato." She looked back into his eyes, with much love, just about to cry again.

"All right, then." Minato was in high spirit, punching his fist into his hand. It was his turn to do his part. "I know you've just gone through childbirth, but I'm going to completely seal the Kyūbi."

"Yondaime."

From behind him, a man dressed in an over-body black rope with a flame-patterned mask addressed the young father. "Get away from the jinchūriki," he warned, with baby Naruto in his right arm and holding a kunai knife in his left hand, "Otherwise, this child's life will end in less than a minute."

With Lady Biwako and Nurse Taji fallen, Minato and Kushina looked at the mysterious man in utter shock.

How did he get past the barrier? Minato eyed the man dangerously. This man… Who is he?

Kushina's seal was further breaking. She was too fatigued to hold in the Tail Beast within her anymore. The encompassed writing of the seal was spreading all over her body.

"Kushina!"

No! The seal is still weak!

"Don't you care what happens to your kid?" With the baby as a hostage, the masked man had a great advantage.

"Wait!" Minato shouted demandingly, holding out his hand. He promptly changed to speak in a more obedient manner, frightened that the intruder would do something irrational. "Calm down, please."

"Speak for yourself, Minato," the man almost cockily said, twirling the kunai knife nonchalantly in his left hand. "I'm as calm as I can be." Then he threw the baby into the air. Baby Naruto was crying for his dear life.

"Naruto!" The mother screamed helplessly, lying still on the stone bed.

Minato caught his son in a flash and landed with his feet sideways on the wall.

"As expected of the Yellow Flash, but what about the next one?" With an arrogant scoff, the man landed on his feet three seconds later. Minato took off the wrapping blanket with the exploding tags attached at the back, and teleported to a safe house he had prepared. The tags blasted, and he crunched away from the now-crumbling building with Naruto shielded in his embrace. Naruto continued his wails, awoken from his slumber.

His target was Kushina and he managed to separate us. Minato took out the splinter of wood that went into his leg during the burst without a flinch, bleeding. I must hurry. He flicked it away and went straight home.

He put down the baby on the bed in the old study, which would soon be turned into the baby's bedroom, when he realised that the bed had been made. It must have been Yuna. He watched his son, who had dozed back to sleep, in peaceful unawareness of what was happening.

"Naruto, you'll be safe here." The father tucked his new-born son in soundly, covering the tiny body with the duvet to give him warmth and comfort. "I'm going to save Mama now." Minato would not let this man get away with what he did. He disappeared again.

Yuna was standing at the doorway, listening and watching. She thought she heard a sound and she went up the stairs to check.

Something bad must be happening. Yuna then walked towards the bed and looked at her little brother, smiling. "It'll be fine. Right, Naruto?" She tried to set a good first impression to her baby sibling, and it was very difficult. "Mum and Dad are strong." Yuna forced herself to keep her lips curving upwards. "There's nothing to worry about." Like other times, she had seen what was happening before, and she remembered this time; having kept this dream secret from her parents, her dad didn't seal the troubling memories of that coming nightmare. No matter how hard she tried to focus on the cuteness of her baby brother, the images of the night's coming events kept replaying in her head ruthlessly.

In a shallow valley, Kushina crawled onto the pole she was standing on. "Wait a second." She was dying and she could feel it. With the Kyūbi removed from her, different parts of her body were shutting off rapidly. Her breath hastened and her heartbeat accelerated.

"I'm impressed. Shinobi of the Uzumaki." The cruel man gave a mocking laugh when he was about to head towards the village, to destroy their home. "You don't die right away after the Tail Beast extraction."

He turned and looked at her with a pitiful gaze. "You were Kyūbi's jinchūriki." There was no sympathy in his voice. After all, this world was not real. In the other world, they could all live. Minato-sensei, Kakashi, and Rin. "I'll use him to kill you." He put the beast under his Sharingan genjutsu. Just when the fox was about to squash his ex-host to mush, she disappeared. Her husband made it just in time to save her from Kyūbi's attack.

"I must say that you're as quick as your moniker." Obito couldn't help but give his former teacher praise; the deed was done. He was too late.

He's always too late.

"You must stop him, Minato," Kushina said feebly. "That man is heading to Konoha with Kyūbi." Just after she whispered this, she fainted in his protective arms.

Sasuke was about to break away from his sleep, sensing a disturbance in the air. The baby did not know what it was, but he did not like it. Sitting facing the garden on the wooden platform, looking up to the rounded moon, Itachi was rocking his little brother gently to and fro. He was humming his sibling a soothing lullaby and chasing his nightmares away. Itachi dismissed his little brother's whining, his innocent protest to the silent discomfort he was feeling.

The boy brought up a smile, looking adoringly at the infant in his arms and soothed his back lightly. "Niisan will protect you, Sasuke."

Something was different about tonight. He felt it, too. It was too calm. The stillness was almost like the absolute calm before the coming of a rigorous storm. He did not know what it was, either. But he had a bad feeling about it and he hoped nothing bad was happening, with the possible exception of his father ruining his alone time with his mother, again. Itachi did not know anything about romance, but he was sure his father was a closed case at being romantic. And that had been said by the clan's young and talented expert, Uchiha Shisui.

Itachi tended to take in anything Shisui said, although he knew how to differentiate his jokes and facts. But really, Itachi hoped his worries were unnecessary.

"When I'm gone, she will only have fewer people she can turn to."

Thinking back to what his teacher had said to him, Itachi couldn't help but look at the troubled pond in the garden, confused by the puzzling moonlight, a diffusing ocean above, lessening the inky blackness of the night. It was not so bright, but it was dimming the stars that speckled and glittered in the heaven above. He knew it was the day when Kushina-sensei was giving birth to her son. Having interest in history of the village and simply being her student for some time, he had found out the special chakra his mentor had apart from her own. It was the demon's, which meant his teacher, the Hokage's wife, was the current jinchūriki of the Tail Beast the village owned since its foundation. Now that he had learned fūinjutsu in great depth from the woman herself, he understood that seals would weaken when one's body was exhausted. Child birth. He only prayed that the Namikaze family was doing well.

Minato arrived to his house in a flash and placed Kushina gently on the bed beside Naruto, entrusting them to his daughter. When he came back from defending Kyūbi's attack, he observed with tenderness as Yuna made her mother more comfortable, shifting pillows and wrapping her in blankets, and brought her some water, not before showing her hesitance in leaving her alone for a minute.

"Have some water, Mama." Yuna handed a cup of warm water to her mother, forgetting to call her "mum" just yet, as she had promised. She took another glimpse at her baby brother, making sure that he was too, comfortable, sleeping soundly.

After taking a few sips, Kushina began to cough. She was slowly losing her consciousness again. The girl picked up a towel she had prepared beside the bed, wiping off the sweat and water from her mother. Yuna shut her eyes, forcing her mind to focus. Her tiny hands were growing warm with green hues while calming Kushina's hasty breaths gradually. She transferred some of her own chakra to the weakened woman in front her. Kushina only smiled at her caring daughter, thanking her for being so thoughtful. She was becoming more stable, but it was only delaying.

"Don't push yourself, Yuna." Kushina coughed again as soon as she spoke. "I've lost too much blood in the childbirth and I've lost too much chakra during the extraction." The girl would eventually tire out like her if she continued. Kushina knew she was already a lost case. "There isn't much you can do." She did not want her daughter to sacrifice her young life for her.

"Please don't speak." Yuna knew the more her mother spoke, the more she would be losing her breaths. She was a stubborn girl and she knew it. "I will not give up on you. We can go to the hospital when this is over. For now, I will do what I can."

Yuna channelled her life force into Kushina, ignoring her mother's pessimism. However, Minato, knew that what she was doing was only slowing down her mother's painful dying process.

Yuna glanced up to her father, now standing beside her. He looked at her with many unspoken regrets. Mildly, he began telling his daughter his last words.

"I am proud to call you my daughter, Yuna." Minato wanted the girl to know that she would always be loved by them. "If anything happens, keep your promise. Run and live a good life." With what happened tonight, he could be certain that someday this maiden would have to face her fate again. "I'm sorry that this is happening to you again. I will now fail twice as a father." He then looked at his wife; she nodded reluctantly to what she was agreeing to do.

How ironic is that. Minato thought bitterly to himself. Everything was starting to become clear in his head, but he could not have stopped it from haunting her now. It was too late.

"I'm so sorry, but this is my duty to the village as the Hokage." Minato stated his calling as the leader of Konohagakure. After all, dying protecting the village was part of the deal of being the Hokage. He knew.

"Please, you don't have to do this." Yuna looked desperately at the both them. She caught their hands, begging them to stay. Focusing her mind to concentrate, the blue-haired girl was thinking back to one of the tales from Neverland. She just had to pray that they were not just some made up stories.

Yuna must have thought there was another way. If only she could have thought straight.

"I'm sorry."

That was all she got from her father. Minato then picked up Kushina and Naruto in his arms, preparing to fly out.

"Look after Naruto for us, honey." Kushina smiled, looking at her daughter for one last time. "We know you'd make a good onēsan."

Yuna looked at them with pleading eyes. "Please... Mum... Dad." Her voice was shaking in fear. She did not think she could survive losing her parents a second time. Her heart could not take such impact and she had learned to love them. It was a mistake, after all.

"We love you and we always will."

At that, the couple disappeared with their infant son.

It was the first time Yuna had called them mum and dad. It shall also be the last.