Author's Note: I'm back with good news, for those care, Nii Yugito has finally been added to the char list! And the latest chapter for Vanished Without a Trace will be out pretty soon as well. Sorry for the late update and I hope you enjoy this latest update. Ja ne!

01/10/2009: Revised

Immanence
Resurrection of Uzumaki no Kuni
7th Shippuu: A Beginning? Or an End?

The dust and debris from the battle lay thick in the atmosphere of Suna. Many shinobi were scrambling around, trying to save as many civilians as possible before more buildings collapsed. This was the last thing the village needed with the Konoha shinobi still attacking, and with their tower of support missing – the Kazekage – things looked more than just bleak. The cries for their leader began to siren as more and more blood was shed – from both shinobi and civilian alike. In the past, if you would have mentioned a threat of an attack from Konohagakure on Sunagakure, most people would have merely laughed off the notice, but now that unbelievable idea was a cruel reality. The once great sand village had fallen victim to their former ally, who was only using a small portion of their forces.

Deep below the Suna surface, in an underground bunker, laid the last hope for the village to survive unconscious along with his savior suffering from a similar predicament as well. The air stunk of dusk and old damp paper, showing just how much it had been used over the years, which was the absolute minimum. Not many – even some among the elders – knew of this place. The lighting was minute at best, thanks to a few candles that were placed all over the room. The constant rumbles from the battle above cause the sand-built walls to crack and spew more and more dirt everywhere.

"Is he alright?" Kankuro asked, as fear for his little brother's death was evident in his eyes.

"Yeah, he's just sleeping right now… We have to figure out a way to fight back those leaf bastards before things become unsalvageable." Temari said as she began to audibly grind her teeth in anguish.

"What about her?" Kankuro pointed over to Miko, who was lying right beside Gaara with a very pained expression on her face.

"I've never seen her before today. I was hoping you knew something about her."

"She has been living with her father outside of the village as spies since she was born." Both Temari and Kankuro abruptly turned around to see their little brother – their Kazekage – rise up as he grabbed his head with his left hand, obviously suffering from a migraine.

"Lie back down, Gaara, you are still injured."

"What's the situation outside?"

"Let us deal with that, you need to focus on your recovery first." Gaara narrowed his eyes and sent them a glare that was similar to the one he wore everyday in the past, when he was more of a lunatic that was ready to kill anyone and anything at any given moment.

"We might end up losing the village after this." Kankuro said as he held his head down in shame.

"Send out the evacuation order for the civilians." Gaara said as he glanced over at Miko. Kankuro nodded as he shushined off.

"Is she a jinchuuriki too?" Gaara sighed as he nodded his head before turning back to his elder sister. He slowly rose up from the mat and was beginning to wobble before Temari caught him. "How come this is the first time I've heard anything about this? Who also knew about this?"

"Our late father and the elders. She was originally a last option plan to kill me right after the first attack on Konoha if I was deemed too dangerous to control, but they never expected Konoha to have not one but two powerful jinchuuriki of their own as well…" Gaara's usual emotionless mask showed evidence of regret and pain as he remembered his loss to the blond kunoichi who had also stolen his heart.

"So you are saying she is even stronger than you?"

"That fact is unknown to me. I just know that the elders felt that she was, and that is the only thing I have to go off of."

"If she really is that strong, then why don't we use her now? I'm sure she could help turn the battle to our favor instantly if she were –" Gaara began to shake his head.

"Her psyche is even more fragile than mine. When I first found out about her when I became the Kazekage, my first thought was to have her killed instantly."

"But?"

"That would have made me the very same thing our father was. So I decided to set up a private meeting with her and her father. This was when I discovered that the bijuu that was sealed within her was strong enough to take control of her at any time, similar to how I used to be. The conversations we had felt like I was talking to two people at the same time. There were times were they would obviously argue with one another about petite things. But unlike like my former situation, it seemed the bijuu within her enjoyed her company and wasn't a threat to her or anyone for that matter, it felt almost like she thought of Miko as more of her own child instead of host."

"Her?"

"She introducer herself in a female like manner. One of elegance and respect, which lead me to believe she was one. Continuing on, I set up several meetings with her as I tried to prepare her to return to the village as a shinobi. Tomorrow would have been her first day in this village." Temari was a bit taken back by her brother's uncharacterised kindness. It was true that he had changed since that fight with Konoha, but she never imagined that it was to this degree.

"So, what's the plan then?"

"Sunagakure is now a lost cause…" He glared up at the ceiling as he tried to fight back his obvious rage as his fist began to tremble. "We will evacuate as many people as possible before any more people are killed – no murdered."

II

After we had successfully taken down the leader of this islands, the people quickly became friendlier as it was more than easy to tell that the fear of death from the tyrant was no longer an issue. A few knew who was the cause of the great sense of relief but did not speak up about it since they knew that it would only lead to more trouble for the island. They just gave us a couple free things like meals and such.

Kaa-sama and the others interrogated Musibi until he was about ready to off his own self. It seemed that the Akisame organization used to be a part of Kirigakure and consisted of some of the stronger shinobi that the village had. Tired of the way things were being run, they decided to go rogue and start their own country and make a pure profit for themselves. Unfortunately, that was about all the information they could get out of him – it seemed that he was one of the lower tier members, who were kept in the dark about most of the important things. The only vital bit of information they were able to obtain was the fact that the previous two Mizukage candidates were also a part of this as well, along with the reassuring knowledge that this island would be considered a lost cause since we might have placed some sort of fear in their hearts. Not much, but enough to cause them to go on the defensive, instead opening up and attacking.

Me, personally – I felt it was better for me to enjoy myself as much as possible since I had been training non-stop for the past couple of years, and I was beginning to enjoy the rejuvenating breeze of the ocean that always managed to place a large smile on my face. I guess it was mainly because this was Kaa-sama's blood that flowed through me that brought out the sea loving side of me that I never knew existed. I found myself bathing in the warmth of the sun at the beach almost everyday.

"Someone seems to be enjoying themselves?" I opened my eyes and glanced in the direction of the voice to see Regina-san in a very revealing crimson spaghetti bikini allowing her very alluring and seductive body to shine for all its worth. I felt my face heat up immensely as I glanced to the other side, trying to regain my composure, and shake off the wild thoughts that briefly flashed through my mind. I definitely had been hanging around that ero-sennin too long – reading his book didn't help much either.

"Ecchi kit. You're not supposed to think of such things with me involved. What would neko-chan say or do if she knew what you were thinking – not that I mind though." She said in a very seductive and mischievous voice.

"…Urusai na." She only giggled as she sat down beside me. As I glanced around I couldn't help but to notice the amount of attention she was garnering from almost all of the men on the beach. Couldn't say I could blame them though – hell she even got to me, temporarily.

"I'm sure you know about Sunagakure already?"

"Of course…"

"What is that bitch planning on doing about that?"

"…Kaa-sama-" I emphasized the name to show that I wasn't going to fall in that trap "-isn't planning anything. I think she figured that bastard would make that move first. She wants us to continue on as planned."

"When do we leave for the next island?"

"Tonight at midnight. They already discovered the location of the next base, and apparently this will be the time when we openly declare war on the Akisame."

"Sounds like fun. I might actually get to let loose for once. I can't let my little kit get to have all of the fun."

"You would just end up killing everybody."

"And is that a problem?"

"Not really, unless you really want to fight Kaa-sama."

"She deserves to get knocked down off her pedestal. It would do her some good if I decided to ground her off her cloud nine attitude."

"So much animosity… or is it jealousy?" I sent her one of her own mischievous grins causing her to scoff out loud.

"You've been around me too long, kit."

"Your fault, not mine."

"Heh… So where is your wife – after what you two almost did if I haven't interrupted you last night you might as well call her that." I blushed a little bit causing her to giggle. She could always easily switch the tables back on me. "You still have a long way to go before you can compete with me."

"Whatever… she's training with Aoi-san."

"That's a shock!"

"Nani?"

"Surprise she isn't clinging to your arm like the love-sick koneko that she is. Not to mention I thought she would only train with you."

"True… but we both still need our space or we won't be able to tolerate each other as much – thus, the reason why we don't fight as much as other couples. Plus, if needed, we can be where the other is in no time thanks to an alternate version of the Hiraishin I've been working on."

"Ugh…"

"Nani?"

"Just what I need… another Yellow Flash to deal with in the future."

"Yellow Flash, eh? People have already been calling me the Kaze no Kitsune thanks that one jutsu I used back in Konoha during the Suna/Oto attack."

"It suits you better, I think. So how is that jutsu coming anyway?"

"Horrible! I suck at blood seals and the only reason why the one Yugito-chan and me created works is because she is better at them than me."

"It is cute, though, that little tattoo on your hand that you two share now."

"Jealous of that too, huh?"

"Why would I need to be when we share something much deeper, hmm?" I sighed out loud as I laid back against my towel, deciding that this conversation was beginning to get tiresome.

"So, did you enjoy your date last night with her?"

"Any reason why you want to know?"

"Does it hurt to answer a simple question, kit?"

"It was fun, a very nice change of pace."

"So how far have you two gone? Did you continue where you left off before I interrupted?" I nearly chocked on my spit as I jumped up with my face an obvious crimson red.

"Not that far, huh? But I know you've thought about it several times."

"What is your point now?"

"Nothing, I just enjoy teasing you – that's all. Ne, how about we do something tonight." I gave her a strange glance, as my face grew even redder.

"Not that, baka… talking about just a little date or something."

"Uh… why?"

"It has been awhile since I spent any alone time with my little kit – since the day we became separated and it gets kind of lonely."

"What's your motive here?"

"Don't worry, I have no motive whatsoever in doing this."

"Sure…" I said sarcastically.

"Fine then, don't believe me, but I'm still waiting for your answer, though."

"Just for tonight… but I know Yugito-chan is not going to be to happy about this."

"Don't worry about that annoying neko, I'll take care of that for you. Now that I think about it, she is becoming more and more like that bitch."

"I noticed that too…"

"Good luck with that!" With that said shushined off, causing sand to fly in my face. I muttered a few choice words under my breath before getting up and heading back to the hotel room. I still didn't feel quite well with this whole date thing but in a strange way I also missed the alone time I had with Regina-san – not in that way of course, she was more like a second mother to me and was basically one of the main reasons why I made it as far as I did. Not to mention the huge jump I made from being the dobe of the Konoha Nine to stronger than all of them.

The cool breeze from the ocean caused me to snap out of my trance long enough to notice that Regina-san wasn't the only one gaining some attention. A lot of the ladies on the beach were either waving or blushing as my eye met theirs. A fact that wouldn't have been if my life had stayed the way it were. It was obvious that this caused my confidence to skyrocket even more as my ego continued to inflate. Then, the thought of Yugito-chan going on a massacre caused the warm blood in my veins to grow cold as ice as I scurried off. I was definitely beginning to have second thoughts about this date. An angry Yugito-chan was not something I wanted to deal with at all.

When I made it back to the hotel, I instantly jumped into the shower washing away the sticky sweat from the ocean wind and the sand that had stuck on my skin. If I thought the ocean was relaxing, the showers after going in or training felt like heaven.

After throwing on an all black turtle neck and dark blue slacks, I quickly went on the hunt for Regina-san – she was always hard to find when you needed her but always showed up when you least wanted her to. Because the ominous feelings I was having, I wanted to cancel our plans. Surprisingly enough, she was in her own room – she had complained over and over about having her own room until Kaa-sama agreed to it under the only circumstances that she paid for it herself – lying on her bed as I opened the door.

"What's up kit?" I paused for a second – still a little surprised about her being where she should be for once. That was when I also caught a good glimpse of what she was wearing as well, an all blue qipao with gold kitsune dancing along the trims of the dress. Her vibrant silver hair was tied in two buns. "Breathtaking, aren't I?"

"Whatever…" Hard to admit outright, but she was indeed. More than I originally thought she was.

"Ready?"

"About that…" She quickly and elegantly rose up and grabbed my arm and smiled up at me with her blinding silver orbs, causing my mind to temporally to go blank.

"Don't tell me you are still worrying about your Yugito-chan?"

"Well, of course…" I said as I fought to regain my composure.

"I talked to her already… even though she was against it at first, she decided that she would trust me since your Kaa-sama also wanted her to go somewhere with her."

"Where?"

"I don't know… that bi—I mean, woman, wouldn't tell me."

"What made you stop?"

"I thought I should be a little nicer than usual since this is my first ever date."

"First date?!" She punched me in the shoulder as she teasingly glared up at me.

"There is no need to be that surprised of that fact."

"I just thought-" she placed a finger over my lips, stopping me from talking as she began to grin.

"Let's just go, ok?" I just nodded my head as she pulled me out of the room.

III

During the same time, Yugito and Kushina were deep in the middle of the ocean on a tourist boat. The atmosphere between them was tense as neither of them was speaking a word to the other. Over the years since they met, they never really had any real alone time between themselves. Naruto was always there or close enough to mediate for them.

"Um…?" Yugito was the first to speak, breaking the silence between them that felt like ages. "Was there any particular reason why you invited me out here, okaa-sama?" Kushina smiled for a second as she nodded her head.

"Things are getting pretty serious between you and Naru-chan, aren't they?" Yugito slightly blushed as she nodded her head. A sight that only few were lucky to see the former emotionless kunoichi who back in the day was more like a robot. Now she had every bit of a personality that any normal kunoichi would have, and that was all thanks to Naruto who was the first to help her open up. "I just felt that it was time we had our heart to heart talk. We never really talk by ourselves and Tsunade-nee felt that this was about time, which I agree in all."

"Why do you believe so? Did something happen to worry you?"

"No… and yes, but nothing too serious that you should have to worry about. This may sound like a stupid question but how much do you love Naru-chan?" Yugito gave Kushina a very confused look before deciding to answer.

"…More than everything in this world and the next… before him, I didn't have any emotions and couldn't feel anything but now I feel everything. The good and the bad things. I live for him and if he wasn't there, then my life would be pointless." Kushina tried to hide the smile that was pushing for an escape, but it was obvious to Yugito that she had most likely said the right thing.

"It kind of reminds me of my younger days with Naru-chan's Tou-san. When I think about it, those two have so many things in common that it is scary – a little too scary." The last part caught Yugito a little bit off guard.

"What do you mean?"

"It may be hard to believe, but I was nowhere near as strong as I am now – not saying I wasn't still a handful to deal with. I nearly knocked Minato out when I first met him because I thought he was too full of himself." She laughed outloud at the memory. "But even I wasn't strong enough to prevent what happened to us in the past. In the end, he ended up giving his life for us – Naru-chan and me – with me being too powerless to do anything about it. I even had to abandon him for fourteen years… That was the hardest thing I had to do in my entire life and the one thing if I had the chance to redo that I would change completely. "

A short pause caused an awkward silence between them as Yugito looked over at Kushina with eyes of pain as she tried to imagine just how hard it was for her. Even though she was finally able to enjoy the world of emotions, the key emotion of motherhood was among the many that she had no clue about.

"Are you ok?" Yugito asked once again breaking the silence.

"Yes… Naruto has a similar shadow following his soul that his Tou-san had. He has gained a name for himself in a similar way and he has enemies all over the place. Even though it may be honorable for a shinobi to die for others, I refused to have him go through the same thing. That is where you come in."

"Nani?"

"I may not be able to be there by his side the entire time, but you can. You are already closer to him than I can ever be. Have you two talked about marriage yet?"

"Marriage?!" Yugito's face shifted to a bright red as she glanced over to the ocean to hide it as best as she possibly could.

"When I think about it, you two are perfect for each other in every way, and I already look at you as a daughter."

"I-I-I don't think this is a conversation we should be having without Naruto-kun…" Yugito said still very embarrassed about the subject at hand while Kushina seemed ecstatic. A very uncharacteristic trait for her to portray that made Yugito feel even more uncomfortable.

"I have already spoken to Naru-chan about this in the past before we came to this island. I told him that I would have the final say in the matter if I approved of you and I have always been watching you and your relationship with him."

"Did he say he wanted to m-m-arry me?"

"He said he would when the time was deemed right."

"Nani?!" If Yugito was embarrassed before, well now she was on the verge of fainting. The honest truth about the situation was the fact that she had considered the fact several times now and then some. She had meant what she said about Naruto being her world and she wanted to make sure that he was hers and hers only; all the attention he had been getting around the island with the female population was only increasing this feeling, but she didn't want to be the one to bring it up due to fear of rejection. Even though she knew Naruto loved her deeply, there was always that part of her, very very deep in the back of her mind, that thought he would move on and leave her like everyone else that was dear in her past did. But hearing that he too had thought about it and had decided on it already had further quieted the negative voices in her head.

"Don't tell me you don't want that..."

"No! I mean… that's not what I mean… I would love to; it's just… I didn't think he would too." This only caused a very large grin to form on Kushina's face.

"He said those exact same words. You two really do think alike."

"Why are you bringing this up all of a sudden?" Kushina continued to smile as she glanced past Yugito toward the beach as if she was looking at something.

"Things have been tough thus far but things after tomorrow will shift to an even tougher degree. Naru-chan and I have decided that we will make our new village official after the next mission."

"Nani? Why so soon?"

"We have already gained enough support from the islanders who know who we are and the allies I have formed over the years of my training will be coming as well. I think both of you are ready to take things to a next level. I'm sure you two combined could be beat me or that damned kitsune in a serious battle – in the past a hundred of you two wouldn't even be close to achieving that."

"I understand that but-"

"Also my time is coming up soon."

"What do you mean?" Kushina's mask became somewhat sorrowful as she kept the same smile, this time looking Yugito straight in her eyes. She gently grabbed Yugito hands and pulled her into a firm embrace.

"It's the beginning of a new era Yu-chan, and you two will be leading that wind of change." With that said, Kushina released Yugito from her tight hug as the boat began to float toward the dock. "You and Naru-chan will be in charge of the attack on Aranami. We will rendezvous with the rest of our forces tomorrow morning when we arrive."

Before Yugito could say anything, Kushina was already on the dock walking away. Yugito couldn't believe what had just transpired there. She didn't have the slightest clue what to think of the new turn of events.

She glanced down at the tattoo on her left hand and instantly thought of consulting Naruto about this. Plus, she was getting a horrible feeling in her gut about leaving him alone with that kitsune for too long.

She placed her left thumb in her mouth and gently bit down hard enough to draw blood and went through several hand seals before swiping the blood over the tattoo. Suddenly everything around her seemed to be moving in a blur. When she snapped out of her trance, she was standing in the middle of a park bench, right in front of Naruto, who had the strangest look on his face.

"Where's the Kyuubi?"

"Uh… I don't know…" Naruto was acting a little too weird for her tastes. She narrowed her eyes and glared at him.

"What happened?"

IV

Surprisingly enough, the date was going quite well and uneventful. Completely the opposite of what I had expected to happen. We walked around the shopping district and bought a couple of things – well, she did. Caught a showing at the local theater which I actually enjoyed, and so did she as well. Then we closed things off with a light dinner at one of those luxury style restaurants. The owner was one of the few who knew who we were, so everything was on the house.

After dinner, we stopped by a bench in the park to take in the scenery. Throughout the date we mostly talked about the past and how much she enjoyed teasing me. For the most part, things felt more like two friends enjoying themselves – the way I wanted them to be. That was until we sat down on that bench.

At first there was silence, we both were just enjoying ourselves as the cool breeze blew against our skin.

"Ne, kit, do you miss the days when it was just the two of us?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"You know, the times when it was just me teaching you the things about the world."

"Yeah, I kind of do, things were so much simpler then, but I don't think I would've become this strong if it was just us."

"I don't think so. I actually think you would've been stronger if things would've stay the same. Those two held you back on a lot of things due to fear of breaking you. But I, on the other hand, know your true limits better than you do."

"What are you getting at?" She leaned in and hugged me tightly. I didn't know what to do at that moment – it was so sudden that I froze. Then she reared back with a dark smile on her face and kissed me. Not the type of kiss that was shared between friends or close ones but a very passionate one. I was frozen before but now I was a statue.

"I think me and you should leave all of this behind and return things to the way it used to be." She kissed me again and rose up. "I'm not going to demand an answer from you now since it is a lot to take in, so I will give you some time to think it over." After that, she disappeared with a breeze of wind.

Suddenly I felt the tattoo on my hand tingle as Yugito appeared in front of me.

"Where's the Kyuubi?"

I was still too jumbled up to even come up with a coherent sentence to answer the question she asked me, as my mind was still somewhat numb from the sudden kiss.

V

At the back of the island was a thick forest that the group used for all their training purposes. Regina-san slowly walked into the dark forest with a smug look on her face as she glanced up at one of the trees.

"Took you long enough." She said as she giggled lightly.

"What is your plan, wench."

"Such harsh word, bitch…"

Suddenly Kushina leaped down from the tree with her chakra pulsating.

"What are you planning to do with my Naru-chan?"

"Your Naru-chan? I was his real mother when you were long gone doing who knows what. Don't you think someone of your capabilities would have snatched him away a long time ago?"

"I wasn't strong as –"

"Excuses! If there is a will, there is always a way."

"I will not let you take him away from me again!"

"It's not your choice in the matter. Besides, you too were playing dirty. Trying to get poor neko-chan to propose to my kit so he would completely seal me off. You think I wouldn't know about that?"

"So you decided to take him away? Over my dead body! I'll kill you first before anything happens."

"Killing me will also kill my precious kit."

"I found a loophole in that contract of yours."

"Oh, really? I guess I have no choice then, since you're so serious about this. But be aware that I will not hold back in this fight."

"Neither will I."

Translations:
Koneko: kitten
Aranami: waging wave