Chapter 2

Hospital

It had been about a day after the Kyuubi attack and the funerals were being held. The Sandaime had taken back his mantle as Hokage and had revealed what had happened. Luckily, the people had honored the Yondaime's wishes, though it was believed mostly because they were his children. Haruka, though was still grieving, had brought her siblings with her to the hospital. Her mother was still asleep. She looked out the hospital window.

The hospital didn't sustain that much damage. The village though, was in complete ruins, for the most part. The funerals had just ended and she was in the room along with Jiraiya, Tsunade, Hiruzen, and Kakashi. Kakashi had told her about her eyes and although she would have been thrilled, she knew it was the one way she wanted to gain it. Right now, they were waiting for Kushina to wake up as they played with the new born children and with that she started opening her eyes.

"Kaa-san!" Haruka exclaimed, giving her mother a bone-crushing hug. Adjusting to where she was, Kushina smiled and returned the hug.

"Haru are you alright?" she said getting a nod from her blonde haired daughter.

"Its good to see you awake Kushina." Hiruzen said and she smiled at him, but was looking for someone else.

"Hey where are my children?" she asked and they handed her. She smiled down at them. Akira and Kasumi looked like her, while Naruto looked like Minato. Speaking of such...

"Say, where's Minato?" she asked as she tried to get up. The children were taken back from her and placed in their cribs.

"Kushina you shouldn't move just yet." Tsunade said.

"I'm fine Tsunade, really. Look!" she said, standing on both her feet with confidence. They all just sighed. That woman had too much energy at times. Kushina walked over and picked up both girls when she remembered, "Where is Minato? You never answered my question." and suddenly the room was silent.

"Kushina...Minato is gone." Hiruzen said sadly, dropping the bomb on her. Kushina was about to drop her babies if she had forgotten she even held them.

"W-What?" she whispered.

"When Minato was doing the sealing, Kyuubi was going to kill the children, more Naruto really, so he jumped in the way to save him." Jiraiya said and Haruka's head snapped towards the pervert. The way he was saying it, it was like it was Naruto's fault when in reality he was going to die either way.

"Minato sealed the Yin and Yang Chakra of the Kyuubi inside the two girls instead of sealing the soul in Naruto. The Kyuubi's chakra needs its soul to help control it." Hiruzen said. Kushina looked at Naruto with hatred and anger.

"Haruka let's go. We're leaving." she said and moved.

"Okay, let me pick up Naruto." Haruka said, as she went to go pick him up.

"No. Leave him. That boy isn't my son. He murder your father." she said with venom, making them all look at her as if she was crazy.

"W-What?! Kushina you can't be serious!" Tsunade exploded.

"Of course I am. He killed Minato." she said as if stating a fact.

"Kaa-san, the seal tou-san used-" Haruka tried to explain, but was shot down.

"No. There's no need to explain anything. Now hurry Haruka, we're going home." she said and made her way to leave. Haruka just looked at her mother in shock. Was this woman really the same mother she looked up to?

"I'm disappointed in you Kushina." Hiruzen said sadly.

"Kaa-san..." Haruka whispered and clenched her fists. Her mother had already left the room. She looked at the Naruto and then everyone in the room.

"You moron!" she yelled at Jiraiya, "Tou-san used the Shiki Fuin seal! He was going to die either way!" he yelled shocking them.

"H-He did?" Jiraiya whispered.

"What's this 'Shiki Fuin' seal." Kakashi asked, finally getting over his shock of what Kushina had did.

"Its a seal that summons the Shinigami. In return, you have to give him your soul as payment." Haruka explained, "I wanted to tell her, but she kept silencing me."

"So what are we going to do now with Naruto?" Tsunade asked.

"I can't take care of him. I have my spy network." Jiraiya said.

"I have to become Hokage again." Hiruzen said.

"I have the hospital to run. I can't look after patients and a baby." Tsunade said.

"I don't think I'm fit to look after a baby." Kakashi said sheepishly.

"Then I suppose he'll be going to the orphanage." Hiruzen summed up.

Haruka couldn't believe this. These people would make up such horrible excuses and her mother turned into some bitch. She made a promise to her father. A promise she wouldn't take lightly. She looked at her brother one finally time and was determined more than ever.

'I will make sure they pay.' and then she left.

She had a lot of things to prepare for.

Council Chambers

Inside the council room was the Konoha council. They had helped the Hokage on important village matters and were gathered here today for a quick update. it had been ten days since the Kyuubi attack and the village was slowly rebuilding again. In the council, there was the shinobi side, that consist of the major clans in the village an then there was the civilian council that consist of the civilians with major business in the village.

The shinobi side dealt with shinobi related matters while the civilian council dealt with civilian related matters, though the civilians were power hungry and have began trying to gain more power in shinobi matters. Then there was the elder council who acted like advisors to the Hokage.

"Alright then. Let the meeting begin." Hiruzen said.

"Hokage-sama, the shinobi forces..." and they began talking about how the village was doing over the past couple of days, along with a couple civilians bitching around.

"If that is all." Hiashi said standing up to leave, but was stopped when Hiruzen raised his hand.

"There is still one more thing." he said and the door opened and in came a very stoic Haruka Namikaze. The clan heads who knew the cheerful girl were shocked at her expression. Never in a million years did they think that she would look like that.

"Haruka are you alright?" Tsume asked, getting a nod from the blonde girl.

"Hai."

"Haruka has a request as heiress of the Namikaze clan and seat of the council." Hiruzen said, shocking them.

"Hiruzen don't you think she's too young?" Koharu asked.

"The minute one puts a leaf headband on an are a shinobi, they are seen as an adult. One can gain a seat in the council when they become a jounin, which I currently am, making me eligible for the seat." she said without a hint of emotion.

"Um what is your request?" Shikaku asked. They all held respect for the blond female. It wasn't an everyday thing that an eight year old girl can restrain the strongest buju. Even now it was spreading like wild fire around the nations.

"I request a leave from the village for an indefinite amount of time concerning clan matters." she said. Now this got their attention.

"Why would you need to leave the village?" Inoichi asked.

"My father requested I do something as his final wish. He wished I do it alone. I don't know how long it would take me, but I will manage." she said.

"Can you tell us exactly what your father told you?" Hiruzen asked.

"No. Not until I get the necessary intel. Once I do, everything shall be revealed." she said.

"Does it have something to do with the Kyuubi's attack?" Shibi Aburame asked, gaining their attention.

"In a way, yes it does." she said, "However I must gather the necessary intel to reveal everything." she said.

"Does your mother know of this?" Homura asked and for a split second the shinobi could have sworn they felt a chakra spike from her.

One of anger.

"She shall be informed." was all she said.

"If its the betterment of the village, then I say she should go." Danzo said.

"She's just a child" Choza exclaimed.

"A child that restrained the Kyuubi." Hiashi pointed out.

"Hmm, very well, your request has been accepted." Hiruzen said, but was wondering what exactly was she going to look for?

"Arigato." she said and turned to leave.

"Wait! Namikaze-sama, we have other important matters to discuss!" a civilian exclaimed, but was bluntly ignored as she kept walking away. She had continued walking until she reached the grave sites, specifically her fathers. She sighed. Now that the hard part was over with, she just need to leave.

The past couple days were horrible for her. No matter how much time she wants to tell her mother, she won't listen to her. They got into so many fights, that she was hardly home. When she left the hospital, she made a decision. One she knew she wasn't going to regret.

She was going to take her brother away from the village and raise him herself.

At first, she though she had gotten crazy herself, but the more she though of it, the more it wasn't all that of a bad idea. Sure she was young herself, but she was eight and went on A-rank missions. How hard would taking care of a child be? Besides, she had practice.

She had help Izumi with her twin siblings a lot of times to know what to do and what not to do. So that was what she was doing the entire time. She had copied most of the important jutsus in the family library with the help of her shadow clones. She had packed them to teach Naruto later on and of course to train herself.

She had sealed all the necessary baby equipment into sealing scrolls and baby formulas and food in storage seals she created herself. These ones had made the contents freeze in time, making it so that food didn't go rotten now matter. It was one of her first creations. Using it, she packed what was worth at least eight to nine months stuff, wanting to stay hidden for that time. People weren't dumb. They would connect two and two and probably send hunter-nin.

"Don't worry tou-san. I always keep my promises," she said, her sharingan coming to life, "no matter the cost." and she stood up and left.

She had left a note for her mother already and her bag was already at the front gates. She was pretty good at genjutsu and was planning on using it to hide her brother. Going home once more, she sat at the window edge of the room that belonged to her sisters. She smiled at their sleeping faces. Her mother was asleep too. Kissing them both lightly she said,

"I hope you two understand, but right now our brother needs me more." she whispered and then raced to the hospital.

Naruto wasn't removed from the hospital just yet, and Tsunade was in the middle of a surgery add to the fact that it was evening it made it the perfect chance to leave. Opening the door that lead to the room where her younger brother was, she looked inside and saw that he was wake and looking around. She smiled as she picked him up.

"Come on Naru-chan. Its time to leave." she cooed, making him make weird noises to her.

She gentle kissed him on the forehead and then placed two genjutsu over them. One that would make him fall asleep and the other to make it look like she didn't have anything in her arms. She left the hospital and half-walked half-ran to the enterance, where she meant her shadow clone. Her shadow clone gave her her traveling pass which she had to show the front.

"Here you go." she said to the shinobi at the front gates. They looked it over and said she could leave. Picking up her bag she put it on and made her way out of the village without looking back.

Namikaze Compound

Kushina Uzumaki-Namikaze had just woken up. It was already night fall when she went downstairs and saw a not on the kitchen table, which was obviously from Haruka. She didn't understand why the girl defended the boy the way she did. When she though of Naruto she felt anger and also a pang of guilt of what she did, but she quickly stamped it out. She took the note and with every word she paled and broke down in tears.

Dear Kushina,

By the time you're reading this I'll be gone from the village. I have a long term mission and I don't know when I'll return. I can't say how ashamed I am of you for abandoning Naruto like that. You're not the mother I looked up to. What I was trying to explain was that tou-san had used the Shiki Fuin seal so no matter happened, he was already going to die. That is still no reason to do what you did. If you were in tou-san's place, wouldn't you sacrifice your life for your child? Would you like it if it were the other way around? Don't blame a child for something they have no control over. I don't know how I'll feel when I see you again, but I don't think I can see you as my mother because my mother is a true Uzumaki. She always makes family first, not abandon them.

Your daughter (I guess),

Haruka Namikaze

After she had read and re-read that letter, she broke down in tears and hugged the note. She didn't mean to ignore her daughter, but deep down she didn't it to be true. That Minato had died to protect Naruto. That he had actually died. That and the fact that Naruto looked painfully like Minato. It was more like she was running away. But she was a coward. Her daughter, her EIGHT YEAR OLD daughter, who she had heard had restrained the Kyuubi longer than any shinobi for Minato to seal away-something she was absolutely proud of-was already on a mission for the betterment of the village and everyone's safety.

Haruka had seen Minato die, she saw her own father die and yet she was strong enough to still stand up and keep on moving on. She smiled sadly and then got a look of determination. She wasn't going to fail. She was going to get her son back and she was going to do it now. Making a shadow clone, she marched to the hospital, knowing that none of the orphaned children were in the orphanage. She was going to be a mother to her son. It was only ten days, so nothing had happened yet. She smiled at that. She still had time to make amends.

Too bad she was too late.

Ruins of Uzushio

Haruka had just finished setting everything up. She had never felt more happy than now to have the amount of chakra she had to pull of multiple shadow clones. She was able to set up a home in a part of the village that wasn't left in ruins, something she was glad for. She had checked over and over to make sure it was alright. The house was a normal two-storey house. Whoever the house belonged to had placed preservations seals on their furniture, since it looked like it was new.

She had put up his crib and had put away his clothes in a shelve inside a room that had now belonged to Naruto. There was another bed in the room that she was going to use for now. She didn't want to stay far from him. She had fed him awhile back and he had fell asleep. She was thankful for the toads. She was given their contract when she had turned jounin a couple months ago. She asked them to not reverse summon her no matter what, and told them of what had happened after they had forced her into a corner. Needless t say, they weren't happy with Kushina's decision and had promised.

They said that they would just tell the leaf that they couldn't interfere with her mission, which wasn't a lie. Gamabunta had actually all but ordered for his new tadpole and Naruto to form a bond, as he had just hatched as well which she agreed to. Gamakichi. She wondered if all the toads had 'Gama' at the begin of their first names. She giggled at the thought.

"Well, better start training. I've got to find a way to counter the blindness from my new sharingan. I don't want to do the switching thing." she mumbled to herself. She wanted to create a seal that would stop the blindness, but she would have to study her own eyes. She was lucky that Tsunade had forced her into her class, something she could proud say she was also at jounin level. Suddenly, she heard a poof and saw a messenger toad.

"You know everyone is freaking out right?" the toad said, making her smirk. It had already been two weeks. She hoped they had never noticed though.

"You have a message for me?" she asked.

"Yup! Your mom is worried sick and the pervert keeps demanding that we tell you where you are. You cause a lot of problems don't you?" he sighed, but gave her the letter.

She had raised her eyebrow a bit at what he said about her mom, but shrugged it off. She had already warned her. This was her consequences, even if it was only a couple days. It sorta makes her wonder if her father didn't use the Shiki Fuin seal, then what would she do? She torn opened the letter and laughed.

"Tell the perv I said he can go to hell." she laughed and giving her a mock salute, he left. Haruka just shook her head as she walked back inside the house, re-reading the letter,

Come back right now brat!