Chapter 26 – A Shoulder to Cry On

It was midnight, the eleventh of October, when disaster struck Konohagakure.

As soon as her parents and little brother had departed, Yuna ran towards the door. She knew exactly where they were heading. On that night when she had accidently found out what could potentially happen during the child's birth, the next day she set forth to extensively research the possible event behind her parents' back, making sure that she would be there on time to save their lives. Minato and Kushina gave her the opportunity to live another life, they showed her what living was about. They raised her as their own daughter, taught her love, and helped her to discover the greatness in life. Yuna was very much loved, and she was grateful for it.

Now, it was her chance to return their kindness.

While Yuna had escaped death once already, she was determined that she would not let her mum and dad die in vain, causing her baby brother to lose both his parents on the very day of his birth. She knew exactly how hopeless it felt like to be a miserable orphan. She herself stood as a fine example of how much a once-orphaned child could change for the better with just a little bit of love. Naruto deserved their love just as much as her, if not more.

When Yuna had settled down and was old enough to take the news, her adoptive parents had explained to her briefly about the blood relationship between them. For all Yuna knew, she was merely a distant relative to both of her adoptive parents, though separately. In fact, Minato and Kushina did not find out they were related to Yuna until much later. Had the royal guards not been searching for Yuna, the last direct descendant of the Asuka bloodline, Minato would never have confirmed his suspicions of his own heritage. The couple would have never known how Yuna and the two of them were all interrelated to each other, although they were very distant from each other. Yet, they had treated her as if she was their own daughter from the very beginning. Yuna would do anything to ensure that her new-born brother would have the same love and support she had. Never once before had Yuna been this positive about being the princess she was. She never wanted to acknowledge it, she did however remember very well. Minato made sure Yuna knew about the legacy of the House of Asuka and the founding of the Land of Water, feeding her histories and myths of their past, even if that was the best he could do for the little girl.

As a matter of fact, Minato grew up listening to those stories, too. When he was young, his father used to give him bedtime stories about this 'Neverland' as well, just as he had done with Yuna. It was not certain. There might have been a few other surviving members of the long-scattered Namikaze clan in other foreign lands. With that said, Minato was definitely the last in the Land of Fire. Through the different ages and the tales lost in translation for hundreds of years, Minato grew up doubting if the stories were just one beautiful romance. It was becoming too ambiguous to tell if his family actually originated from the ancient Royals of the Old. Because, according to the tales, if they were to trace back to a thousand years ago, the Namikaze and Asuka were of one family. While there was solid evidence that the Senju, a dying clan, and the Uzumaki, an extinct clan, were descendants of the Senju ancestor, who lived once upon a time, there was no proof of the relationship between the Namikaze and the House of Asuka. More precisely, nobody could find any evidence. To most people, the Dynasty of the Asuka was history. They thought the Asuka were completely gone for at least a century. The credibility of the stories soon turned as vague as the Saga of the Sage of Six Paths, the forefather of all heritages. Just like the tale of the Father of all Shinobi, he was a mythical figure. Even children in the street knew about the Adventure of the God of Shinobi, but there was hardly anyone out there who would genuinely believe his existence to be true. The stories were all legends, or so the people had thought.

Ever since Minato had adopted the blue-haired girl, alone in a deserted battlefield at the Land of Water's west border, and gradually found out more about her background, he had started to mull over the truth in those fictions he was told when he was just a child.

Because Yuna was living evidence.

At that, Yuna put all her bet onto the fact that her dad's bedtime stories were all true, praying with hopeful expectation that she might just have the ability to save them. Without practice, however, they were only fairy tales. She knew better.

She did not know how to carry out the process; she did not know what it really was. She only heard scrambled bits and pieces of it. Still, she must give her best shot to this ultimate technique her ancestors had developed to save their loved ones. With all the knowledge she had of ninjutsu and chakra control, there must have been a way to make it work. The chance was slim, Yuna knew. It was better than doing nothing and just waiting for the doom to come. If that failed and so a life must be sacrificed, then, it was her turn. Yuna thought she could use her life in the seal instead of her adoptive parents, to repay them for the benignity she received for being their daughter. With a calamity like this hitting the village, the life of being a jinchūriki would only be tough and bitter. Everyone would only know to hate this innocent boy, who gave up his freedom without a choice, just to save the village. A hero born without a choice.

If that was the case, it was her time to go. Yuna was not sure how much she could do to prevent her mum from dying an early and unfortunate death, but to sustain her remaining life for as long as she could with her own; at least, she could make sure that Naruto would grow up in the loving shelter of their dad.

She was prepared to be the one to perform the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, and she had no regret in doing so. No matter how much Yuna would deny it, she was the Sixth princess of the House of Asuka. She felt extremely blessed to be given this second chance in life, meeting some of the most amazing people she had ever come across, and she had learned to appreciate what this world had to offer her. She was grateful for the extra time she had, compared to the rest of her birth family, long dead and gone. Since the moment she was found an orphan in battlefield, Yuna was prepared to die at any given time. It was enough. It would be insolent and ungracious of her to ask for any more. She found all the locations Minato had marked with his Hiraishin technique and prepared them for an event of emergency.

And it was now.

When Yuna had jutted out of the doorway in her alarming state of mind, she saw chaos. Amidst the collapsed houses, in front of roads that were plagued, buckled into distorted shapes, there was this absolute stillness. She was stuck in ruin, everything was falling apart. Her eyes widened to the horrifying sight and her ears were tuning to the sound of despair. Survivors were sobbing in anguish over the loss of their loved ones, and homeless children were wailing desperately for their salvation. Within a mile in radius, their house was the only building that had endured, that had remained strong and standing. It was protected by a time-space seal and it would automatically activate if there was a catastrophic force of destruction. Yuna stood in daze. It was not the time to be standing by the doorway.

"Please! Someone please just come and help!" A mother was shouting out for help when the girl was heading towards the far side of the forest. "My son is still inside of the house." She began to moan desperately to herself, whispering comforting words to her dying child, who was already crushed under the bleak, tumbled stones.

Yuna jumped through the top of the fallen buildings. She went over the weeping woman at top speed without even a second glance. Her house was no more. Yuna was appalled and disgusted by her own heartlessness, but there was no time. She had no choice. She had to ignore all distress calls for help if she was to make it there in time. She must think of the bigger picture. More than ever now, the village needed their Hokage, her dad, Namikaze Minato. As she was entering the woodland, she blinked and shut her eyes for a split of a second. Slowly, she was breaking down from her emotionless facade to the wretchedness she was seeing, unfathomed emotions of guilt rushed through her. Biting her lips in frustration, she could already feel those rueful tears falling down her rosy cheeks uncontrollably.

She kept running.

"What are you doing here, Yuna?" The Monkey King reversed his transformation from being the Adamantine Staff back to his humanoid form. He felt a familiar chakra signature and approached Yuna, who was sweating in panic, running out of breath. The Third stopped in his tracks as well, as he realised his summon had found their follower. The Fourth's daughter was also on her way to them.

"Like the rest, you should take shelter," said the old man harshly as he looked at Yuna with concern. He had put through an imperative order for all Shinobi under the age of eighteen to take refuge with the rest of the inhabitants, hiding inside of the Hokage Mount. It was not a war; it was a domestic adversity. The next generations must survive and live on, in the hope for a better tomorrow. Protecting the children was always the parents' job. As for the preceding Hokage, Hiruzen was the grandparent to the village.

Bending over her knees, Yuna waved her hand to gesture that she would be all right once she caught her breath. She was panting heavily. It was obvious that she had run as fast as she could all the way from the central of the village, where their house was, to the outskirt of the North. If the young Hokage was going to take any drastic measure, the girl was better off not being there to witness it happening. But that would not happen. The old man was ready to take the blond's place. He was the Hokage, too.

"…They will put up a barrier to not let Kyūbi escape. If we want to break in, we have to do it from both sides…."

Yuna informed the elder and his attendants of her parents' plan. They were two of the strongest fūinjutsu masters in history. There was no other way they could disable the seal than to forcefully break in. Yuna knew exactly what her dad had intended to do and she would do everything in her power to not let that ensue. Yuna was their daughter, after all.

The former leader stared at girl in revelation. She was planning to sacrifice her young life for her adoptive parents, repaying her debt to them for saving her and raising her as their own child. Sarutobi Hiruzen would not let it befall. From the moment she had first stepped foot into Konohagakure to this very day, when she had become just as much a citizen as any native of the land, Hiruzen had developed a smitten care for this foreign orphan like a grandchild that he had yet to have.

There were many times she had visited the retired leader. She was once a girl who closed herself from the rest of the world. War and the callousness of her past dwarfed away the happiness in life. She was born with a joyful heart; only then, grief had eclipsed her true nature. Although Yuna was still distant and acted coldly towards strangers, she had learned to open up to the ones she loved and cared about. On a day when Hiruzen was sitting around with his wife at the mansion, doing nothing in particular, she would come to the rescue. She'd drop by with a fruit basket in hand, bringing her delicious home-baking and sing a delightful tune, just to cheer them up. There were other times when she would beg the elder couple to stay still, posing nicely, and be her life-drawing materials. Hiruzen and Biwako were more than willing to help her.

"Good idea. I'll go and attack from the west side and half of my team will follow you to the east side." The Third did not want Yuna to be part of this, but they needed her strength. She was a skillful kunoichi despite her young age. Defending from Kyūbi outrage, the number of active shinobi was down. It would be more likely to achieve success with her help.

"You're still young and you have plenty of time ahead of you. I'm now ordering you to let me to do the deed and you shall step aside." The Third would contentedly serve his village, and let the Will of Fire continue to burn. "Will you follow my command, Namikaze Yuna?"

She hesitated. Time would not wait. She reluctantly answered, looking down at the ground.

"Very well, Hokage-sama." She knew she must obey the order given by her supreme leader, no matter how much she disagreed with the decision.

At that, they departed and two black ops followed the young maiden's lead, while the third person followed behind from a distant to check if there were followers.

Yuna was running again. The footsteps behind her were disappearing one by one. The three ANBU members were elite guards of the Third Hokage. It was strange for them to not be able to match the speed of a little girl like herself, Yuna thought.

She did not stop even when she could only hear the shoving of her own impatient steps.

Amidst the darkness of the night, a shadow was lurking from within. As Yuna had left the house unequipped in a rush, she made kunai knives of ice and hurled them at the threatening black figure. They cut through the atmosphere with wind pushing through their way. The trees and the ground were lifted, crumbling to the sheer force of the throws. She could clearly see the man's body was completely unharmed. Even with the weapons piercing straight through his body from all directions and his heart, he was still there, as if he was transparent. While he remained standing, the surroundings appeared to be turning into a barren land.

I must take him down now.

He was able to silence three ANBU members without any effort. Yuna knew she was most probably no match to this mysterious man, but knew she must try. By the time reinforcements arrived, it would be too late. The clock was ticking. She must finish this as soon as she could to get to her family. Failure was not an option.

The girl charged at him directly, though he only stood there on the same spot, waiting for the next attack to come at him. She used the body flicker technique to disappear right in front of him. At that spur of a moment, she had taken a brief mental note of this danger's appearance. He wore an orange flame-patterned mask, allowing only a space for the right eye to see. She observed him from above, dangling over the top of a riven trunk tree. In order to figure out how his technique worked, she called forth the mass of water flowing beneath the earth, which flooded in and formed a liquid prison in attempt to keep him contained. Then, she could freeze him. He would be done for once he got into the trap.

He pushed his way out of the aqua field, like a projectile image, free to roam around. Yuna was certain now. A time-space jutsu. Any technique had a time limit. She just needed to do it by trial and error to calculate the time in between each period that he could cast his technique. Using her ice release, Yuna made another kunai and took it in her hand. She jumped down at full speed and aimed at his skull at the moment when his body was entirely moved out of the water prison. He dodged and jumped up. Yuna landed on the ground with a side squat and formed an ice bow in her hands while simultaneously shooting an arrow that took shape from water, made of pure chakra of her wind infinity.

The fatal attack turned into nothing at an instant. For a moment in time, she saw what was through the hole in the mask at that very moment.

Sharingan.

"Who are you?"

Yuna was petrified. He reminded her of that creepy old man in her nightmares, whose gloom laid within that Sharingan. There was something about this man that was just as unnatural as a dream. His right arm was oozing out a milk-coloured gluey substance. That meant, she knew, that the arrow had gotten to him before he could apparate it to another dimension. His dissected arm regenerated. Pressing his hands together, he was ready to return his attack with the wood release techniques. Ice would be weak against wood.

"Obito, we're here to delay her. We need her in our plan. Remember?" White Zetsu reminded the impatient man. The figure ceased. He talked back at his host with much annoyance.

"Easier said than done. She's a lot more powerful than she looks." Her techniques were not refined yet; she was clever. She was very clever. "I won't kill her. We need her, I know." Then, there was another launch of attack coming at him.

He countered the water dragon she made with the water she had used for the prison with a fire dragon, turning it into steam. He stood, waited for her next attack, again.

"WHO ARE YOU?" Yuna shouted. She knew there was no point in trying any longer. All her most powerful techniques were useless. It might be best for her to try figuring out who this intruder was for the time being. It would be a wiser expense of time.

"We can scare her! That'll be fun. You're Madara. Remember?"

"I'll just do that."

"We meet at last, Yuna-hime."

That sinister voice, she would never forget. Yuna trembled in fear. Doom was drawing near.

"No, you're a ghost." She shook her head in disbelief. "You can't be here."

"Who says I'm dead? I'm as alive as I could ever be."

"How long has it been now?"

"Five minutes."

"They would have set up the barrier already. We can leave now, before she could find out more about me."

He sucked himself into a vortex, along with the broken limb, leaving no trace of his trespassing.

"I must put up a barrier immediately." Sweating in overtiredness, Minato puffed, battling his desire to pass out. He knew he was very likely to collapse at any second by that point with extreme chakra exhaustion. He was all worn-out, too. Prior to trapping Kyūbi in a separate dimension to buy some time for him to go home to get his son and wife, he had a close encounter with that mysterious man and teleported a fully formed Bijudama away. Before all that, he was using a great portion of his chakra to suppress the jinchūriki's seal during the labour.

My chakra is almost….

"I can still do it." Looking softly at the man she loved, Kushina offered her help. She diffused the golden chain. It stretched and bound the beast with the tiny amount of chakra she was surviving on. She would drag the biju to her grave with her, if that was the least she could do. She was the First Lady of the Yondaime Hokage and a proud daughter of the last leader of the Land of Whirlpool. She would not give her husband and father shame upon her disgraceful passing. She would not let her children remember her as a weak woman. Not only that, she was now a fail of a jinchūriki, as she had brought the village destruction. She could not defend herself from the enemy when he chose to strike at the hour of her biggest vulnerability.

"Kushina!"

Minato anxiously watched his wife hunched over, gasping for air, with blood dripping down her chin. She was drawing a barrier with the chakra chain, as well, as to use it to restrain the Kyūbi. The surrounding earth was crumbling, the beast growled wildly, and he was fighting back, attempting to break free with all his strength. Wailing in restlessness, baby Naruto woke up from his ignorant repose to the sound of anger. Somehow he could tell that something terrible was happening, sensing the negativity that filled the air. The infant was shaking his head and kicking his legs, as if it was his intuitive objection to the decision that was being made by his father, for the better.

"Did Mama wake you up?" Bringing up an indulgent smile, Kushina consoled her howling son in the sweetest voice she could muster at the moment. "I'm sorry, Naruto."

The child quietened down as he caught his mother's attention. His sorrowful cry instantaneously turned into an unhinging sob when he was looking back at the crimson-haired woman.

"I'm going to take Kyūbi with me, so we can delay his revival." Kushina held in her tears. She must not cry. It was her honour to serve the village, as the Fourth Hokage's wife. "I'll be able to save all of you." She was trembling; Kyūbi was pulling around. "Thank you for everything you've done for me."

His large, charming eyes, with the shape of his mother's and a gem-like shade of blue like his father's, were drenched with tears. He began to cough up hiccups, sniffing away in distress. Minato quickly stroked his son's back, soothing the baby's breaths, and helped him as much as he could to calm down. Naruto gulped sharply, his instincts allowing his lungs to open and allow more air in.

Looking at his son, now that he had cooled down and returned to his slumber, Minato began speaking.

"Kushina…." There was not much time left for either of them. "It's because of you that I am the Yondaime Hokage! You made me a man and you made me this boy's father. And yet…"

"Honey, don't give me that look." Cold sweat was dribbling down her forehead. She forced out a smile, wishing to let Minato remember that she died thankfully, in his love. "I'm happy to be loved by you," she continued. She would not be able to hold down Kyūbi for any longer soon. "And today… it's this child's birthday. If I were to imagine us living together and our future together, the four of us as a family… I can't see us having anything but living a happy life."

He couldn't help it; he was crying, shaken by her dying words.

"If I were allowed just one regret, it's that I won't be able to watch Naruto and Yuna grow up." Kushina was breaking into tears now. "How I wish I could have seen that."

"You don't need to die resealing Kyūbi in you, Kushina." Minato knew the decision he was making would govern his son's fate. Naruto would never have a normal childhood. He wiped his tears away. "Preserve what little chakra you have left for a reunion with Naruto".

He must soldier on. He brought his hand up again, disturbed that stream of tears was flowing again. The sadness in his eyes now turned into firm determination.

"I'm sealing all of your remaining chakra into Naruto." He looked pleadingly at his wife, for her permission. He knew he would never be forgiven, but what must be done had to be done. He was the Hokage. He must make the right decision for everyone. "It'll be part of an Eight Signed Seal, and I'll take Kyūbi with me. Since I'm not a jinchūriki, the only seal I can use is the Dead Demon Consuming Seal."

"But the caster uses that jutsu…!"

Minato interrupted before Kushina could finish her sentence.

"One more thing, I will only seal half of the Kyūbi in me. Sealing a power this immense completely in one go is physically impossible. It's also strategically unwise. And, if you take the Kyūbi with you, when the beast re-emerges, there won't be a jinchūriki. We will lose the balance of the biju distribution between the Five Nations. That would put us in a dangerous position, under great disadvantages. A war will break out, if not a civil war first. I'll put the other half in Naruto."

At that instant, he was a cold-blooded man, a leader of the country, not a father, nor a husband. He had the heart to put his own son through the hardship of a jinchūriki.

"He's our son. He'll be able to handle it."

With a swooning smile, Minato tried to convince himself when he had said it. He was lying. He knew too well what was installed for Naruto. The life of a jinchūriki: living hell. Every day he had spent with Kushina, she lived with the fear that the sly fox might successfully consume her with hatred, take her over, and break free. Not a day had she been free from her own terror since that fateful day when she became the Kyūbi's jinchūriki.

"Sometime in the future, the Shinobi World will face a grave crisis. A saviour who emerges at the time is the Child of Prophecy."

Remembering the message of the Toad Sage, Minato had to ignore her protest.

"I know what you want to say, but do you remember what Jiraiya-sensei said about the world upheaval and the calamities that would follow? I've confirmed two things today. The man who attacked you is a harbinger of disaster, and the one to stop him, is this child. Our son." They must go ahead with the best option they had in front of them. "I don't know why I'm convinced of this." Minato carefully put Naruto down onto a less uneven area of the ground.

"But Minato…!"

"Let's put our faith in him." Minato rapidly made hand signs. "He's our son, after all!" He took another look at his son. Naruto was destined for greatness. Minato could now die a proud father of two incredible children.

Daddy loves you.

"Because he's our son, which is why I don't want to put such a terrible burden on him!" Kushina cried out.

She was losing her breaths again, coughing dementedly after shouting about how badly she was disagreeing with his judgement; Kyūbi was also gaining more control with every movement he made.

"And why are you using the Dead Demon Consuming Seal?" Kushina knew Minato. He wanted to die with her. "Just so I can meet a grown-up Naruto, even if it's just for a short time?" She knew him too well.

As the situation had called for it, Minato took it, because that was just how much he loved her. She understood that very well. "There's no need for you to die!"

She did not want her husband giving up his precious life, even if she was only partly the cause.

"I want you to stay by Naruto when he grows up and protect him. I don't get it." Kushina could only imagine the harsh future ahead of her infant son. She pitied him, having to experience the same suffering she had been through.

"To keep the balance of the Tail Beasts?"

Kushina kept listing the man's rash, yet highly prospective reasoning.

"For the sake of the village and the country?"

She was yelling at him. "Why must Yuna go through this again?" Her sympathy sprung up for the girl who was abandoned by her country. "Why must Naruto be sacrificed?" She got louder at each word she retched, coughing up more blood. "Why must you sacrifice yourself for me?"

Without the slightest hint of ruffling in his voice, Minato explained with composure and hoped that his wife would come to understand. She must have already. But she was a mother, and at that very moment, Minato must act as the Hokage, a father to the whole country of the Land of Fire, not just the father of his own children.

"To forsake one's nation, to forsake one's village, is the same as forsaking one's child. Your own country was destroyed. You of all people should know the desolation that waits for those without a country. Besides, we are a family of Shinobi!" He kneeled down to the crawling woman's eye level, engaging her eye contact.

"And finally," Minato brought up an encouraging smile, "even just for very little time, there are things that only you can tell him as his mother. Even if I am to live, I can never replace you." Kushina looked back him, bewildered. "That's a mother's role."

"I'm not doing this just for you; I'm doing this for Naruto as well." At that, he picked up the baby again. "I will gladly die for my son. It's my duty as his father." Minato thought his head must be playing with him. He was losing his senses and ability to think straight. Turning his head sideway to check if he was right, he was sensing the girl's presence. He spotted his daughter, crying, trying desperately to break into the barrier with all her most powerful techniques.

"As for Yuna, she'll find a way to cope." Minato stared back into his wife's eyes with much confidence. He believed in the strength of their children. They would not waver and they would bring peace to mankind, just as the prophecies that had foretold long ago predicted. "She'll understand."

Before performing his last jutsus, Minato turned to see the girl for the last time. He gave her a smile to show his pride for being her father. He gave his last smile to her, with glee and sureness.

"What's wrong, Sandaime-sama?" A member of the Third's personal guards asked as the old-timer was trying to break into the barrier from the opposite side of the blue-haired maiden. They met on their way to find the Fourth and his First Lady. They agreed that they must break the barrier from both sides; it would give them a higher chance of success. Hiruzen sent a team of ANBU to assist Yuna at the other side.

It was the same distance for both routes. The Third had found his young successor long before the girl had found her parents. His team of ANBU that was following her had also disappeared. It was very odd.

It was not the time to ponder that.

"It's no use," the old man said dejectedly, though he had to keep trying.

The Third Hokage had prepared for the worst to come; he was more than willing to do the sealing process if it was necessary. He was much older than the young leader, who was just on his way to achieve a brighter future for all of them. They could all see the improvements and changes he was making.

Now, his journey would abruptly end here.

Minato was dying now. Although he had only inherited very little of his maternal clans' bloodline, he would have been dead already if he had not been a descendant of the Senju and the Uzumaki. He would not be able to carry out the next seal on his son: the Eight Signed Seal.

Damn you, Yondaime. The Yin part had just been separated from the fox, sealed inside the father. Kyūbi grew smaller in size and became weaker. Glaring at the infant on the sealing alter with hatred-filled eyes, he realised he would soon be imprisoned in that pathetic human baby if he did not break free from the Uzumaki Princess' lock up. With each second that passed, the chakra chain was becoming less rigid as Kushina was losing her consciousness. He moved his vicious arm a bit more. Good. Then, he tactfully targeted the tip of his sharp claw at the baby at a tremendous speed.

"Behind you!"

Yuna screamed when she saw Kyūbi cunningly attacked from behind. Minato and Kushina jumped in front of their son, digging their feet into the ground to slow down the momentum of the strike, and shielding the sleeping baby with their bodies pierced through. Death was coming. Kushina used the last jot of the energy she had to make sure Kyūbi would not be able move any more. Naruto was soundly asleep. On the ceremonial platform, blood that ran through his veins was dripping onto the tiny body, over the hanging claw. It had been a long day. He was tired, fast into his kip, totally unaware of the tragedy of his parents.

Kushina recognised the clear and high-pitched voice that resonated in the air. She turned to look at Yuna for one last time, smiling her thanks to her for letting her be her mother and how she was the most wonderful daughter she could have ever asked for. Through her gentle gaze, Kushina asked one last favour of her daughter with her unspoken confidence in her. She entrusted Naruto, their new-born son, to her.

Goodbye, Yuna. Mama loves you, too.

Yuna shook her head in disbelief. She could not speak any more. Her mouth was opened; her throat was dry. Not a sound had come out. She kept hitting the barrier with all her strength, in a desperate attempt to break through.

"Naruto, from now on, you'll face a lot of pain and h-hardships. Be true to yourself… have a dream. Believe in it and make it come true…. Oh! There's so much more I want to pass down to you. I w-wish I could stay longer." Kushina was stammering. She could not decide what she must say with what little time she had left. There was so much more she wanted to tell him, if only she could stay and live.

"I love you."

Tears were overflowing, her voice was shaking. "Minato, I'm sorry for using up your time." Kushina felt very greedy of her to take up the only time her son would have left with his father.

"It's all right." Minato shook his head lightly, and he leaned over Kushina's shoulder, eying his son for one final time.

"Naruto, I guess Daddy's message to you is the same as your nagging mother." Seeing how his son was in his peaceful slumber, Minato was relieved. He let out a dim chuckle. At least for now, Naruto could rest in serenity, without a care of the eyes he would get from people, treating him as the monster with irreducible hatred towards the beast.

"Seriously, Papa. Give me a break."

He remembered how Yuna had protested when he was telling her off for being too outspoken to her elders. Not often at all she spoke so freely, but she had a habit of picking at Jiraiya-sensei, while he retorted back liberally. It was almost like their own way of greeting each other.

Minato had a feeling that he would have been the nagging one, if only he had the chance. Indeed, if only. He shut his eyes at ease, bracing himself for his eternal sleep.

"Hakke no Fuuin Shiki (Eight Signed Seal)."

A new dawn marked the devastation that occurred without first knocking.

The sun was rising and not setting. Dropping into distortion, the ray shone in naïve complacency. An irony repeated the reprise with aggression. Light casted downward on the perished earth and onto the people who were awakened. None could sleep. The girl stood in front of the cold bodies that were her parents, self-absorbed in dashed hopes. She stood in despair. The emptiness that once reigned her soul returned.

For once, she thought a fairy tale was true. For once, she believed Princess Solitary would win against her war of loneliness and live an idyllic life with the family she created with her knight in the shining armour till the end of time. Nothing mattered now. Her faith in a happily-ever-after was nothing but a stabbing disappointment. Yuna halted, blank-faced. It pained her so much to be whom she had become. She could have avoided feeling any of this torment. She could have stayed being that lone child who would isolate everyone from herself. She could have just been Yuna, the last daughter of the Asuka, a dynasty that vanished in time.

"You must live on, Yuna. Not just for yourself, but for us."

Yuna could faintly remember a boy who was about as old as she was now, talking to her right before she was put to sleep in the haystack, hiding from the assassins in Long Island. He had messy hair that grew up to his neck, and a rather wide nose that was very uncharacteristic of a member of the Asuka. Just that the colour of his hair was just like hers, imperial blue; his eyes were green, like the glistening gem of emerald.

"Mei-nee has taken another route to escape, which is great…. She's lucky, you know…."

The Asuka were proud of their heritage, and they treasured their trails of being members of the Royal House, the blue hair and the green eyes. But now, they would only bring the descendants misfortunes. At such time of crisis, this boy could not help to mildly joke about the appearance of his other cousin, as an irony in difference of their fates. He had always been a light-hearted person, always looking at the bright side of things.

"She doesn't have our hair and her green eyes are a bit lighter in colour as well…. She'll be harder to find, but we're still stuck here…. We're out-numbered…." He brought up a condemning smile. "… Yuuma-oji and Bora-oba are almost at their limit. Jun-nii is no miracle maker, but I will try…."

He was prepared to help her parents, fighting alongside with them. He was the strongest of them all, although he was only a boy.

"Mama gave them to me before she died diverting their attack as a decoy to save us, surrounded by the Daimyo's army. You were barely a year old. You probably don't remember her at all." He was recalling the days when he still had his mother. She was a single parent. He never met his father and he had died before his birth at the beginning of the Third Shinobi World War. In fact, his mother had never talked about him to anyone. She couldn't.

"I reckon you'll grow up looking just like my mama…" Looking at the young girl who shared all the features his mother had, he was reminiscing the warmth of her loving embrace. "I'll give them to you now." Jun knew it was almost guaranteed that he would not survive this. He was making sure at least their baby Princess would carry them on like every generation of the Asuka had before, for over a millennium ago and live on. "Keep them safe." He sensed another group of enemies was approaching; his eyebrows drew closer in distress. He must hurry.

The boy then performed a fūinjutsu on toddler Yuna. It was the only fūinjutsu he had learned and was capable of, with very little training he had gotten from their grandmother, before she had passed away of her old age. Biting his thumb, he drew his blood, made hand signs and summoned a swan. He finished the technique and kept the key safe with their most loyal servant. The animal opened its mouth and swallowed the key of the seal. When the graceful bird bowed towards them and went away in a puff of smoke, shedding tears of remorse, the boy's eyes sloughed off the jade colour and replaced them with shades of cerise, with three tomoes encircling his irises in a hypnotising manner.

She felt asleep to the illusion that was casted on her, hidden safely in the camouflage with another layer of genjutsu covering on top.

A day later, she woke up a deserted child of the Land of Water, an orphan who had no one to turn to.

Yuna had sworn to protect herself at all cost. She would pay her respects to her birth family by keeping herself safe and alive. She would give it her all to the responsibilities she was intrusted to. She betrayed herself. She gravely injured herself by letting Minato and Kushina inside of her life. Over time, they broke through those gelid walls that she had built around herself for protection.

Hiruzen had just learned about the death of his wife, Biwako. He was not in the right mind, either; at that moment, any comforting words coming from him would only be lies, and a sympathising look from him would only do the opposite one wished.

He must save her before it was too late. It would too be his own deliverance.

"Get Hatake Kakashi, Uchiha Shisui and Uchiha Itachi here now."

In a dreary state of enervation, both in mind and body, Hiruzen ordered the Fourth's personal platoon to look for the namely people. With their tracking abilities and the technique they were taught by their late Hokage, the three of them could bring them to where they were in a blink. The old man knew, if anyone could save this heartbroken maiden, it would be her closest friends.

Kakashi, Shisui, and Itachi were summoned by the Third Hokage just as they were taking shelter inside of the Hokage Mount. Shisui was called when he was in the middle of telling a tale to a whole bunch of children. He was cheering them up with jokes and stories. They were laughing and he was laughing too. They seemed to have forgotten the loss of their friends and families for that moment in time and he was trying to forbid his brain to think discouragingly about the reality of the situation. He had seen it all before. Self-sacrifice.

When Raido walked to him, Shisui excused himself with a jest from the children who were surrounding him with eagerness. He couldn't help it – his face turned to shades of grey once he was out of the children's sight. Itachi was sitting with the other children, with Sasuke's tiny arms clinging around his brother's neck. His parents were nowhere to be found during the whole night.

Itachi took Sasuke and ran straight to the Hokage Mount immediately when the emergency evacuation notice was out. He had to make sure at least Sasuke was safe, and then he could go and help, if there was not the order to prohibit all shinobi underage to stay away from the beast. An ANBU guarding the cave offered to look after his little brother when Itachi was away. He thanked the lady and walked away to meet them.

Kakashi stood facing the wall in the cave at the side, his weary eye looking down at his blood-stained hands. His ears picked up laughter; it sounded like the chuckle of a shrill-voiced ghost baby.

Their worries were right. Kyūbi was on the loose. Something really bad had happened.

"Be prepared." Genma came up to their objectives with his teammates and informed the three younger shinobi in a solemn voice. "Yondaime-sama and Kushina-sama have died in action this early morning."

Genma kept his emotions in check. He must not show his sadness in front of them. His Hokage's student and the Uchihas would now come and save his daughter. Any more expression of the sombre news would not be helpful in a time like this. For three years, Genma had served the Fourth Hokage as his bodyguard and personal assistant. He grew close to his family and the man himself. The Fourth Hokage was an understanding man. He would come to appreciate that they were human, too. They needed time off to themselves and Minato would give it to them generously. There were other times when they wanted to take a one-day vacation just because they wanted to go on a date. They would take a rota to take one day off. They usually made up some lame excuse about how they had some 'family business' to attend to, although that was mostly Genma who dared to ask that, while Raido and Iwashi simply wanted more time off from work and they normally asked honestly. Minato had no problem with them taking time off. He would give a wink and wish them enjoy their time off.

Working closely to his family as well as the man himself, Genma had watched the transformation in this girl his Hokage had adopted as his daughter over the years. Their road crossed as father and daughter. Minato loved Yuna very much and had draised her as his own child. He had witnessed how much she had grown and the feet she had climbed from that void she was pampered in. Now, it was the second time a catastrophe as such hit her. If Genma was her, he thought he might not have lasted.

"Kakashi, you know how to use Hiraishin, don't you?" Iwashi suggested. They could use the technique, but the three of them had to work together to be able to do it. The space in the middle was quite tight for three people to fit in. They would have to come back twice if Kakashi did not know how to use it. The silver-haired boy paused before he gave an answer. He had to rethink what he was asked about. Kakashi was lost in his thoughts, indulged in negative perceptions and pessimism.

"Yeah, I'm not very good at it," the teenage ANBU shook his head slightly to clear his mind, "but I can."

"Right. Shisui, Itachi, go into the middle. Kakashi, can you join us on the outside, please?" Raido instructed. They arranged themselves quickly into a suitable position to teleport to the scene.

They arrived to the site where it happened. The Third was sitting down by a stone, Enma was holding a blond-haired baby boy in his arms, and the remaining guards were sent to report to the other upper authorities.

Is this what Kushina-sensei meant? So it was her dying wish.

Itachi saw her. Strips of her hair were sticking out of her neatly-done plait. If she could have seen herself and was alone, she would not have let that happen, and would have reorganised her hair instantly. She looked ghostly, her skin paler than ever, with all blood drained from her face. The traces of tears that ran down her cheeks were dry. The sclera of her eyes was full of exploded veins, causing the whiteness to turn blood red. There were no tears. She only stood still at the same spot. Unmoving. There was no expression on her face, only emptiness. With dim eyes, she kept staring at the cold bodies, trying to grasp onto something to find her way out of this abyss of despair.

This intolerable anguish would just not leave her alone. She had already shut herself away from the outside world, numbing her bodily senses, letting this nightmare enfold upon itself. But it just would not go away. The hole carved through her heart was getting bigger. The heartache was killing her, slowly and painfully. She could not stand it, yet she was standing firmly, like a dusted statue. To save herself from insanity, she had to find some way to express this agony she was feeling. Her heart was crying out for her suffering, but her body denied her the right to do so. She was baffled with blight. She did not know what to do. She could not do anything to help herself.

She was unable to cry.

Kakashi gawked at the girl despondently. He was sharing her helplessness, feeling weak and feeble at a time when he was most needed. He, too, did not know what to do. He was perplexed in shock. Shisui dwelled back to the first passing of someone who was very close to him, and counted all the people he knew who had died in the same way. Self-sacrifice. The greatest of heroes always died a tragic death to save the life of another, because that was what made them heroes. One teenager was sulking in his uselessness, while the other teenager was cursing at the bitterness of life, and the boy walked to girl.

Itachi took in a deep breath and exhaled downright. This was the time when she needed him. He was beginning to understand Kushina-sensei's words. Remembering how her parents would always console her in their loving embrace when she was upset, now the both of them would never be able to give her a hug when she needed one, he walked up.

Itachi leaned forward to catch Yuna in his arms. Not quite sure what to do, he gave her a slight, reassuring squeeze. But she was as still as stiff clay, unyielding to soften. "Everything will be all right."

She gave no reaction. He brought one of his hands from her back to gently brush her falling bangs behind her right ear. Her eyes refocused. With her head unmoved, her eyes travelled to the boy who was locking her in his embrace. He gave a smile.

"That's right. Itachi, Kakashi, and I will always be here for you," Shisui told her. It was not the first time that something like this had happened. Shisui was regaining his confidence, speaking with positive anticipation. "We'll get through this…" - he was cheering up for himself, too - "together." If we could get through a world war, this shouldn't be too hard, he hoped.

At their words, Kakashi somehow felt better. He was starting to believe that they might just get through this as well. He bravely began speaking, "I've promised to do my best to be a good brother to you and I will." Although his voice was shaking, it was clear that he was smiling, too. "You're also an older sister now. Try to act like one." He would never let Yuna forget his sharp-tongue remarks. Not even now. He just knew she would appreciate it.

"I agree," Itachi continued, "you have to be strong, Yuna. Not just for yourself, but for Naruto as well." He knew what it meant to be an older sibling. He wanted her to understand her role as well. "Don't disappoint Kushina-sensei and Minato-jisan," he whispered by her ear, "and me." Tightening his hold, his heart clutched at the wish to save her from her misery. "I know you can do this." He tried his best to sound not at all like he was worried.

It worked; he was deeply troubled. He didn't show it.

I know you can do this. The voice of her best friend was registering her brain. Gradually, she began to feel again.

She lifted her dangling arms from her sides as he relaxed his concerned grip on her, allowed space for her to return his hug. She whimpered, inaudibly at first. He knew she was crying as his shirt was damping with her dipping tears. He was relieved. Then, Yuna turned her silent sob into a frantic wail. She rested her head on his shoulder and hit him with her feeble fists, frustrated at her uselessness.

She hated herself for being so weak. What was the point of being able to see the future but not having the ability to change it? It only forced her to experience such pain twice.

"It's okay."

Itachi stroked her back to try to soothe her hastening breaths and reassure her that they would definitely get through this.

"Everything will be all right." He would make sure of that. "I promise."