Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I, however, own the plot and any OC you encounter throughout this.
I eventually calmed down because of my mother's comforting words. It reminded me of the many times she'd done this, but whereas this had once made me wail louder, it was now a much needed warm and familiar gesture.
Honestly, I didn't feel bad about crying. It didn't take more than mere seconds for my whole world to turn entirely upside down, so I had every right to cry and feel upset and have a mental breakdown.
Although seeing the still ruddy Kushina drooling all over her mother's shoulder, a person who was never mentioned in any way or form in the series, gave me the opportunity to really study them. To completely accept what had happened, because a part of myself longed for to denial. It wanted to go back to living life as it was, smiling and laughing like any normal human being brimming with life.
I couldn't do that, not again. Because this wasn't a fictional world anymore. I was currently breathing and living and feeling.
Eventually, after both Kushina and her mother had left, I managed to contain my mental outburst by burying my face in my mother's neck. Judging from the fact that mother started humming nonsensical, yet very soothing tunes, it looked like I didn't exactly succeed.
At least I managed to keep myself from bursting into another hysterical crying fit, that was a huge achievement right there.
My father, who'd appeared only moments after my mother had picked me up, joined us on the sofa. He started kissing my tiny palms and nuzzling my nose while making silly faces to make me smile.
I couldn't stop the tears from falling.
These were my parents, and theyーwe were Uzumaki living in Uzushiogakure.
Uzushiogakure, which would be destroyed sometime in the near future.
I'd already promised myself to do something about the massacre, but my I just couldn't come up with something that could help. It wasn't that simple, and there was the fact that the manga hadn't ever mentioned who, or what, would attack us. It only had the end result of our home getting razed to the ground, just because of our affinity for sealing.
Even with my mind being empty, however, I knew for sure that if I started saying things like Uzushiogakure is going to be destroyed, we need to evacuate everyone, it wouldn't be believed. Not from the mouth of a child.
Anything I say or do would probably be dismissed as nonsense at best, or it could label me as mentally retarded. That was unacceptable. I couldn't risk my warnings being waved away just because I was so young.
But looking at my mother and father made me certain about one thing. I wasn't going to sit idly by and do nothing about this. I had to drop hints at the very least. I didn't want to regret keeping this to myself. This knowledge could save our entire village, so I could only pray that my parents would believe me when I tell them.
They had to.
The rest of the evening passed by with my parents doing their best to cheer me up. While this helped in some ways, it also made it so much worse. Because these were my parents, and I loved them so much, and they…
They couldn't die. Please, please don't let me lose them. They had to keep being quirky and arguing about everything and anything while acting like silly children. I had to do something to insure they would live.
After a while, my tiny body decided that enough was enough. So without any warning whatsoever, thanks to my body, I promptly fell asleep. But in this particular case, I didn't mind having the needs of a small toddler. I didn't want to think anymore. I just wanted to be.
For the next week, all my interest in what my parents were doing was gone. I just kept trying to come up with how I would warn them. My parents noticed my awful mood, of course, and tried to earn my attention by doing faces and bribing me with candy. While it didn't hold my attention for long, it did make me crack a smile. Each little grin was celebrated wildly by my parents, my father twirling my mother around, before doing the same to me. It eventually made a small giggle escape.
A loud, dramatic sigh got me to tilt my head to the side right after I somehow returned to gazing at the walls. My father's shoulders were hunched while his head hung low. He made his way to the empty seat next to me, which now fully earned the attention he was yearning.
"I guess it's time to visit your cousin."
I instantly perked up when I heard the word cousin escape his mouth, because that was certainly news to me. The only people I knew were some friends of the family, Kushina, and her mother. But… he said visit not meet. Maybe my cousin was one of the people I'd assumed were only guests visiting us?
"Indeed, it's been so long." My mother's smirk could be heard as she talked, and with that comment, my parents managed to pull me out of my depressing thoughts, if only for a little while.
After an entire week of mentally freaking out, I was starting to realize I couldn't keep up this state of mind, just like I hadn't been able to stay angry forever.
So whatever cousin I was going to meet offered a distraction that I was very willing to take, at least for now. With that decision, I held up my arms towards my father.
"Carry me!" I demanded him, puffing my cheeks out for extra cuteness.
Instead of me finding myself in my father's arms, it was my mother who stole me off the sofa with lightning fast movement. I shrieked at suddenly being tossed upwards, even as a grin grew on my face from the butterflies that blew up in my stomach. Father shot mother the stink eye after she caught me, though it was ruined by the way his lips kept trying to twitch upwards.
"She asked me, you know." he grumbled. Mother merely gave him a smug look and proudly got me ready to be taken out of the house. However, the moment she opened the front door, father swooped in and snatched me right out of her arms, before swinging me up to his shoulders. Mother's indignant protests were greeted by father sticking his tongue out at her.
I really loved them. So much.
I forced myself to get distracted before I could start freaking out again. The distraction itself was in the form of small questions, like whether my cousin was a boy or a girl and from which side of the family we were related.
Unfortunately, those questions weren't enough to keep my mind from starting to return to the endless loop of how to prevent the massacre, so I lifted my head up to let my still developing brain find new things to disturb that loop.
There were the kids running around, laughing happily as they threw star shaped papers at their 'enemies'. The adults, who were conversing with one another, were all wearing a cloth with a metal plate inscribed with our village's symbol.
Suddenly, a bright light caught my attention, and my sight travelled even higher. I was silent for a few moments as I watched people blurring across rooftops, and pre-teens playing tag. Tag that involved fire and dulled knives.
I was such an idiot. Seriously, how had I not noticed that before?
Maybe a part of me just hadn't wanted to.
I didn't realize I was shaking until my mother plucked me from my father's shoulders. She rubbed my back as a way to calm me down, and I took a moment to relish in her warm hug. I didn't want to have another breakdown today. It would make my parents worry even more, and might make them decide to go back home. But I really wanted to meet my cousin, so I kept repeating my mother's words with each calming breath I took until I couldn't feel the tears that threatened to fall anymore.
Everything's fine.
With another deep breath, I dragged my eyes across the garden we were now walking through. It was obvious that they were being taken care of by a professional, since the flowers and the colours could make even the toughest of men take a moment to appreciate it. While the house in the middle was big, it was enough for a medium sized family at most.
"We're here!" mother yelled out instead of knocking when we were at the front door. In that moment of inattention, father managed to steal me back from her arms. Naturally, this caused another storm of protests from mother and a very pleased expression from father.
My amusement morphed into shock the instant the door opened, because the person who opened it was Kushina's smiling mother. Tiny Kushina was in her arms, and curious eyes immediately locked onto my hair. Her small hands came up and made grabby gestures towards it.
My confusion over the fact that Kushina was my actual blood related cousin didn't go away as we were led inside the house after my parents exchanged greetings with Kushina's mother.
Then, Kushina's mother turned to me with a sweet smile that was so inviting, it made me forget all of my worries for a split second.
"Hello there, Kayo-chan." she greeted, her voice smooth and kind. I nodded as my hands tightened around my father's jacket. Huh, I hadn't even noticed I was clutching at his jacket in the first place.
Maybe if I hadn't still been struggling with the bombshell that was... my entire situation in general really, I might've had an easier time dealing with the fact that Uzumaki Kushina was my cousin. As it was, my brain just kept going, nope, can't help you, you're on your own.
What a nice brain it was.
After staring some more at the tiny infant, something clicked in my mind like a puzzle piece finding its own place. I couldn't make the connection the other day, as I hadn't been in the right mind to process anything. But now that I looked closer at her, I couldn't help but open my mouth in awe.
Kushina was still a baby. She was still young.Young meant the massacre wouldn't happen as soon as I'd assumed, it meant that it'd happen years from now. Young meant I had time!
This was literally the best thing to ever happen to me.
It caused a full blown smile, with teeth and gum, to split my face. I stretched myself to pat Kushina's fiery red hair in pure joy, and she let out a happy gurgle, which made my smile to become even bigger.
The adults relaxed and then left us in the bright and colorful room. However, as soon as my eyes fell on the little girl, I realized that not crying was a bad idea.
I was now alone with Kushina, with no one to keep the little girl's company but me, someone who doesn't have any idea what to do with a toddler. But that small worry was nothing to the giddy joy I was still overwhelmed by. Because I had the time to come up with a decent plan, time to find a way to fix this.
I eyed the tiny Kushina as my smile continued to strain my facial muscles in the best of ways. She cutely tilted her head to the side, before happily crawling my way.
My smile only dropped when she halted right next to me. From this angle, Kushina wasn't so tiny anymore. The benefits of being an infant myself.
She tried to climb on me, grey eyes unwaveringly fixed on my hair. She probably wanted to drool all over it, or yank at it like yesterday. Or both. I automatically put a hand over her head to stop her from getting any closer when that thought crossed my mind.
What did people even do with children? My parents always made silly faces and bribed me with sweets to make me say random words. Well, Kushina was smiling so I didn't think I really need to do anything. Maybe I just should sit and let her run her drool over me? But, well, it was drool.
On the other hand, Kushina's very existence as an infant had just given me a gift that made me deliriously happy.
So yeah, I did kind of want to… reward Kushina for being an infant, I supposed.
Something rustled in my pocket when Kushina tried to push back against my hold. The sound was very familiar, and my free hand found itself searching for the wrapped goodies. Kushina protested, but her attention was soon taken by the colourful candy.
When I deemed it safe that Kushina wasn't going to tug me down anymore, I slowly let go of her head to unwrap the paper. Hopefully, it'd take a while for her to finish eating it. Maybe she'd completely forget about drooling over my hair as a bonus.
"Kushina, here." I said, grabbing her small hands and putting the candy in her palms.
She was already munching on them by the time I sat further. My eyes bulged when I noticed how messily she was eating. Her clothes were ruined, slobber falling freely on the white fabric. She was also licking her hands when the sugar got stuck on them.
I made a face, and thanked all the stars in the sky that I had enough motor skills to not do that to myself. Controlling pudgy hands was hard, so I could happily say I was proud of my control over my body.
The door suddenly opened to reveal my mother, who froze in her place at the sight of Kushina and I.
"Kushi-chan, no!" Hinomi exclaimed, jumping towards her with a handkerchief. I gulped audibly when my mother frowned at me. I wanted to apologize. It was a bad idea on my part to give a kid sticky food, but I couldn't when my mother snorted when her handkerchief stuck to the toddler's face. That snort turned into uncontrollable laughter. The noises attracted my father into the room, and he too started cackling. Kushina joined in after a second.
My mother sighed and wiped a tear and I blinked. I thought she'd scold me.
"Koyume!" my mother called out. Footsteps soon were heard, and the soft voice of Kushina's mother filled the room.
"What is it, Hinomi?" My mother didn't have to reply, because she only had to move to the side to reveal Kushina, and her now bright and and colourful, formerly pink dress. I grimaced again the mess she'd made. Everything was still splattered nicely on the floor, but Kushina didn't give it any mind, and only stretched out her arms so the older woman could lift her up. Her mother shook her head fondly.
"Let's get you cleaned up." Koyume said, leaving me with my mother. Dad padded towards me and lifted me up.
"Sorry." I apologized, and counted my lucky stars when she sighed and got up to pat my head.
"It's alright, but next time try to avoid doing that. Sugar for Kushi-chan… isn't a good idea, even if it was entertaining. You're allowed to share sweets with her, but it'll be better if an adult was around." she explained, and I nodded in understanding. Kushina looked like a loud and energetic child. It made sense now that I actually thought about it.
"Anyways! It's time to go home." my dad said. I was confused for a second because I didn't feel like we've been here for that long, but glancing at the childishly decorated window told me it was nighttime already. I answered by clinging tighter to my father's neck.
"See you later, Koyume!" my mother exclaimed after she popped her head into a room when we entered the hallway. "Thanks for having us here today."
"Come back tomorrow, I'm sure Kushina-chan will be happy to see Kayo-chan again." Kushina's mother said, and I shuddered. Coming back meant more Kushina, which also meant spending another day with a baby.
...But it wasn't that bad. I could get used to this. Plus, Koyume seemed nice, and Kushina was a growing child, who still had a lot of learning to do. Heck, I still needed to learn how to function in this world. I couldn't force myself to think and come up with a plan for the future, I needed more time.
And time was the only thing I had for now.
. . . . .
A year had passed since the day I'd 'met' my cousin. After many visits, Kushina had grown on me like a fungus. A really cute fungus. An adorable troll-ish fungus.
Yeah, Kushina was a troll. The fact that she couldn't really understand everything yet made it all the more hilarious. She was a natural, who was a menace to Koyume's neighbours. Even if Koyume never let Kushina out of her sight, the toddler always found a way to bullshit someone.
One time she even managed to make shop clerk think he was growing an extra finger, and the poor clerk used a shunshin, presumably to visit the hospital. How she managed that, I would never know. Which was why I started loving the little child like my own sister. Hey, we trolls had to stick together. The feeling of having my own sibling was great as well
I'd also found out that the round headed girl was related to me from my father's side of the family, since Koyume was his younger sister. It explained the resemblance they had, at least. As for Kushina's father, he was unfortunately dead. They never told me how, so I'd decided to leave it.
Anyways, that wasn't the only thing they shared, because their cooking too, was heavenly. A trait of the family, they said. I believed them without even giving it any thoughts, since dad's culinary skills were becoming better and better as the weeks went by. That meant more candy for me to stuff my cheeks with. He made them enough times for me to memorize the recipe.
He normally made new candy every two weeks. Our house always smelt like butter and sugary sweetness due to that, and it never failed to remind me of the witch's candy house in Hansel and Gretel. And just like the old witch, we sometimes found children straying from their paths towards us.
Honestly, I don't think only kids loved them. Dad always had to make two batch to put on the window. He'd said it was for the busy ninja who pass by our house. It me wonder why he hadn't opened a store and quit his Ninja job yet.
The amount of money they were spending to take care of the house and buy me my essential items, plus toys, would have made a normal person assume they always did missions so we wouldn't go bankrupt. But they actually don't. It was perplexing, honestly.
They weren't telling me, probably thinking I wouldn't understand… or just forgot about it. I really wanted to know, though. My curiosity was eating me from the insides.
I pouted, sitting on the floor in our living room as I remembered that. Dad chuckled at the face I was making.
"Do you want me to get you something, Kayo-chan?" he asked, putting his book on the side of the table after bookmarking it. I looked up at him just as Mum leaned on the kitchen's door to see what was going on.
"Otou-chan, where are we getting our money from? You two only babysit." I blurted out my question, and then slapped my pudgy hands over my blabbering mouth. After a second I realized such actions were futile, so I crossed my arms as my pout returned with a vengeance. "I want to know."
Mother went back to the kitchen, most likely to turn off the stove, and returned to sit next to dad after taking me off the floor on her way to the sofa. I made myself comfortable between my parents, happy and excited that they were finally going to explain. My father grabbed me before I could do so and settled me on his thigh, while my mother took a handful of my hair to comb it with her fingers after she dried her hands.
"Well," Subaru started, scratching his stubby chin. "we have a lot of money sitting under our name in the bank, so even if we don't work for a while we'd still have enough to live by for several years." I nodded my head. "Our village gives us money too, and all of those privileges are because we are new parents."
"Oh," I let out a sound. What he said didn't register in my mind until Hinomi tugged at the end of the braid she'd made. "Um, what does that mean?" He chuckled and tapped my nose, then mother grabbed my head, gently tilting it backwards so our eyes could meet.
"Since you were born, we had a two years time off so we could raise you, but don't worry, we'll repay our village in no time!" she exclaimed and poked my cheek. "Why do you think Subaru-kun and I teach and babysit? That's what we have to do during the two years. We take care of other ninja children until our two years are up, and then even you'll have to be babysat by other people until theirs is up too. But it's still really fun though! Little children are so cute!" my mother said, going off topic near the end. I nodded at the new information, slightly dejected that their free time was going to become preoccupied in about four months, judging from my own age of course.
I looked at my dad so he could continue. Once my mother started talking enthusiastically about something, it was better to let her finish. He smiled towards my mother and then turned his smile at me.
"We can't get an extension. We're a small clan, so active ninja are needed in order to keep it running. But, at the same time, adults need to raise their children. A small neglection could turn into a disaster for everyone. Remember the time when everyone at the plaza were running in terror? That was because of a toddler losing his parents amidst the crowd." he said, and mum paused mid-sentence once she heard that. She abruptly started laughing until she turned red and blue. I was almost worried when her face started turning purple, but then I remembered that this was a normal occurrence.
I honestly couldn't say anything as my dad continued explaining under mother's laughter. I knew the ninja world was a very dangerous place, so a village shouldn't even give a lot of families time off at the same time. Twenty families will give birth to a child, rarely twins, and that meant, if the families had both parents present, those forty ninja were off duty. But at the same time, the village could benefit from the situation since those forty people would help the civilians whenever possible. Babysitting the two year old children, whose parents had to go back to taking missions, and running the shops plus overlooking trading. Maybe clean the shores and helping with building new houses.
Also, there wasn't any ninja academy. Those forty ninja? They use the Uzukage mansion at the center of the village as a meeting place. They make rounds around our homes, take the four year old children, and teach them there with civilians. You could say it was like a cram school more so than an actual school.
"Why go through all of that pain? Wouldn't it be better to just… hire people instead of going through all of that trouble?" I asked, tilting my head to the side with a frow. It was a bit confusing. What I'd asked made sense to me. Why didn't they build an actual academy for us kids? Wouldn't that be easier?
Hinomi grinned, evilly looking down at me. I leaned forward towards her in anticipation. Whenever she had that look, it meant her answer was going to be an amazing one.
"Uzumaki children need a lot of work." she said in one breath, grinning down at me even more widely because of my expression. I thought what Subaru had said was confusing, but this made my brain go on a full stop before kicking back into gear.
"Huh?" I intelligently let out once her words were processed. Was… was that really the reason? Because children were a rowdy bunch?
… That was it?
"Yup! That's it. Children are really loud little creatures. We can't just drop all of you in one place and expect you to behave. The rotation is purely to keep your little bodies and brains occupied by everything around you. Civilians will lead, and ninja will make sure you don't run away. Every year has its own set of ninja and civilians as well as their own set of learning times. So, yes, you need a lot of work. We were Lucky to have such a smart little Kayo, weren't we Subaru-kun?" she said. I nodded again in understanding.
Civilians would probably teach the children the subjects that require visual learning, while the ninja will teach things related to their jobs. Having civilians meant that the children will be evaluated if they were suited for it.
"Yeah," dad agreed. I looked up at him in question, and he smiled.
"Our clan is energetic, right?" he asked. I reluctantly nodded in answer. "It's a fact. A rule of this world. Since our chakra pool is big, and our kekkei genkai varies from person to person, our children can't be controlled by just anyone. Parents need to be the ones present during their growth, and after they become adults, marry, and have their own kids, the circle will start again. You're not a loud child, Kayo-chan, but you're still an energetic and healthy Uzumaki."
What he said was true. I'd noticed I was much more active than in my previous life, but I'd attributed it to being a child again. But being an Uzumaki was actually a factor, and like my father said, as a rule, my clan was energetic. Combine that with a child's energy? Lots of work to be done. But the bit about the kekkei genkai, our blood-limit, was new to me. He implied that everyone had it, did that mean I had it since I was a full-blooded Uzumaki?
Althpugh it was ironic, really, that I was very easy to handle. It was true, in a sense. Because even though I got into mischief, but unlike other children, I understood that there were lines I couldn't cross. But my parents actually thought that they were lucky to have such an intelligent child as a first born instead of questioning how I knew things I shouldn't know. They thought it was a blessing.
This was one of the most hilarious things I have ever heard.
"So…" I started, since this was a perfect opportunity to ask. "is that why you guys never really found me strange?"
I held my breath as they snorted. It was mother who answered my question.
"Sweety, if you weren't strange, we would have taken you to the hospital for a thorough checkup. Your strangeness is actually positive, unlike some children… poor Juri-chan."
I didn't even want to know what happened to this Juri, but I was still glad. A weight I didn't know of was lifted from my shoulders, and I smiled lightly.
"I love you two." I said, hugging both of them.
"Aww, we love you too, Kayo-chan!" mum cooed, nuzzling into me. I felt her lean over towards dad, then she pecked his cheek. He preened at her and stole a kiss from her lips. I giggled and cuddled more into the hug.
After the little group hug and kisses came the rest of the explanation.
Uzumaki children weren't only creatures with infinite energy, but they were weird as well, me included as my parents believed. The weirdness was a meter to tell how healthy the child was. My clan was, as I said before, eccentric because children turn into adults. And since everyone was wacky, how do they know what's normal by other people's standards? Easy.
"They don't." dad casually said, waving a hand in the air. I choked on my own spit at the tone he used. To my surprise Hinomi didn't laugh at my reaction, and waited for me to recover by rubbing my back.
"How do they know what's normal…?" I weakly asked when my throat stopped itching. By then, Hinomi's craziness came back and she clapped her hands in amusement.
"Mostly from observing people when they're on a mission," she answered, grinning. A sheen of nostalgia passed through her eyes. "They behave so strangely, yet so oddly cute as well. Like baby ducks who don't understand why other baby ducks try to climb trees."
I yawned involuntarily, snapping my jaw shut when my mother giggled. Even though my eyes started drooping, I pushed myself into asking further. My toddler body wasn't helping me at this moment. "And why do those baby ducks try to climb trees?"
The serious face my dad made scared me more than mother's evil grin.
"Obviously, they're the adventurous sort. Ducks aren't made to climb trees you know." he answered, voice all knowing and wise like he had all the knowledge in the world.
"Yup! The cute new Genin are always so confused when they start going on missions outside of the village. And when they come back, they become so out of it to the point where we have to make them interact with us even more!" mum gleefully exclaimed, amused by the whole situation while dad chuckled as my sleepy brain tried to keep up with their fast talk.
What I got by all of that before I actually fell asleep in my parent's arms was that Uzumaki weren't just redheaded oddballs, but they were crazy as well. Bat shit insane actually.
And I was one of them.
I had never been more proud than I was at that moment.
The next day was much happier than the previous one. I woke up squished between my parents. My mother had an arm around me, and my father's hand was resting over my stomach. I smiled brightly at how we were positioned. I was pretty sure my dad and my mum were awake, since they were Ninja, and that was how Ninja were. They could feel the slightest movement and become aware of their surroundings almost instantly.
Our close proximately also helped me to finally think clearly about the magic in this world, Chakra.
It was buzzing right where they touched me, which tickled my skin and made the warmth inside of me assimilate to where our bodies connected. It was comforting, and I didn't mind it one bit.
When dad let out a loud snore I couldn't help myself and I giggled loudly, getting my mother to snap her eyes open and suddenly lung at me with a loud rawr. She started tickling my sides, and my father soon moved to join the tickling fight, with mum kicking and thrashing as he went for her first. I took that as an opportunity to gather my breath. When I did, I threw myself at his back.
The pillows seemed like they were the ones that always took most of the attacks, since a loud rip brought us to a stop. A fluff of feathers escaped it, and I felt as if they were mocking me. I grabbed a handful of it and dropped it on my dad's red hair. We all blinked, bringing the fight to a momentary halt.
I got to say… white oddly suited him. The white on his head reminded me of a wedding veil, and I got a disturbing image of him in a wedding gown, with my mother in a suit. I abruptly burst out laughing, and mother joined me for a completely different reason, most likely. Dad grumbled under his breath and threw a handful of feathers on my face as revenge. I was able to close my mouth right before it hit me. But when it did, I was not impressed.
Eventually we had to leave the bed. My mother carried me to the bathroom, and we both entered the tub while my father went to start making breakfast. I splashed and played with the water as she cleaned my hair.
After breakfast, dad went to shower, and mother left to tend to the gardens, leaving me to my own devices.
I sat there with my toys scattered around me, the shower noises were the only thing that filled the house other than my childish sound effects. That soon changed when a loud shriek, that sounded a lot like my mother's, split the air. I quickly got up to my feet, almost falling down as I did so since my motor skills weren't that refined yet. The door wasn't opened, but a little jump to reach the doorknob did its job, and I soon found myself behind my mother.
She was pointing at a tree and her eyes were wide and teary. I squinted when I couldn't see anything, or anyone, around us. I slowly got closer, still alert, careful with each step I took. My heart was still beating loudly from fright.
"Okaa-chan, is everythingー" I started, but she cut me off by widening her stance as soon as a bug, that was perched in all its glory on the tree bark, opened its wings and got ready for flight. Then, just as the bug jumped off the tree to escape, she kicked it with the bottom of her feet. Which also made the tree explode and fly off its roots to oblivion.
My jaw dropped.
Did she just used a bastardized version of Tsunade's move? Or did she randomly use chakrain her fright to make the poor plant, and bug, explode?
My dad soon arrived, jumping off the second floor with nothing but his pants on and a towel around his shoulders, his dampened red hair sticking to his face. I looked up at him, still in a daze. He looked about ready to murder someone with the two kunai in his hands.
"Is everyone alright?" he asked. I put up a finger to answer him, but words failed me at that moment since my brain was still recollecting what my mother had done. Dad quickly put away his sharp knives into, what I believe to be, a seal on his wrist. It surprised me for a moment because I hadn't thought that his tattoo was actually a weapon. My mother shakily whirled around to she throw her arms around his neck.
"BーBug! Slimy, wiggly, yucky!" she sobbed, and my legs gave out under me in both an after effect of the adrenaline rush finally ending and in relief.
I took a shuddering breath. My parents must have heard me, because I soon found myself feeling their energies through the hug.
"What's wrong honey?" mother asked, and dad started inspecting my person for any injuries. I spared him a glance.
"I thought we were being attacked." I said, the weight on my shoulders made them droop slightly. I felt like everyone's lives were in my tiny hands, and I didn't know what to do with them. My mother reminded me that the time was ticking.
Sadly, they didn't seem to understand the heaviness my question, because my dad chuckled lightly and hugged us both while my mother blinked slowly. Dad saw her face, and his laughter became louder. I pursed my lips.
"Subaru-kun!" mum suddenly exclaimed, grabbing him by his ear. Lightly, so she wouldn't hurt him. "I'm the only one allowed to laugh like that!" his laughter subdued a bit at that, and mother huffed, then she patted my head.
"Kayo-chan, we're seal masters. Attacks on us are few and far between. There are a lot of wards around our island too! Why do you think we're one of the safest villages in the Elemental Nations? We're not called Uzushiogakure for nothing, the whirlpools protect us! And the very first Uzukage had drawn seals under water with rocks to insure that the waves are strong enough to wash anu wondering ninja away." she said, eyes sparkling with admiration. I forced myself to ignore the unlogical relief I felt from her words, so I shook my head, ready to keep arguing.
"What if it failed somehow? I don't think we would survive it. Our numbers aren't that great." I said, and squeezed their arms with my tiny hands, trying to convey to them my fears. It was true. From what my parents had told me during our storytimes, the village only had about three thousand members. A huge attack, with a handful of civilians and children, meant that we wouldn't be able to fight back instantly. It'll be one-sided. And even though we had other clans, who were really only Uzumaki specialized in certain things to lessen the confusion about which family does what, we wouldn't be able to fend them off.
Not many knew that, but 'Uzumaki' held inside of it many other smaller clan names. It was a family name that worked as a glue for us. Heck, I didn't know that until a friend of dad's introduced himself as an Uzumaki of the Uzuhou clan. That clan specialized in sealing, and they were also responsible for making rounds around the island to make sure the defense seals my mother had mentioned earlier were up and running.
Another example being the Uzuigawa clan. They specialized in water jutsu. Mum had said she had a water affinity, but she didn't want to be a specialist. So she didn't register into the secondary clan.
In other words, our 'clans' were more like like a training club, that helped their members become better, than an actual clan like the Uchiha. They had their own set of small rules too.
Dad's hand over my head brought me out of my clan lesson, and I looked up at him with wide, slightly glossed eyes. He smiled reassuringly at me.
"We're strong, Kayo." he said, and I grimaced. He sighed and decided to explain. "We're feared in other countries and the fear isn't baseless. We can fight back. You know there's a popular saying that goes, don't give a seals master enough time to make one. We have lots of those and our location will give us plenty of time to see the attack. So don't worry, we're going to be fine."
With that, I knew our demise will be by our own hands. Something as simple as pride blinded my family with their strengths to the point where they couldn't see the weaknesses each and every one of them held. Even if I continued giving them scenarios about attacks, they wouldn't listen. So I let myself fall into their arms and clutch onto their clothes like they were a lifeline. Mother panicked even more when I didn't answer her worried questions.
I was soon brought back inside, then I passed out in their arms from the mental exhaustion that made my head too foggy and too tired to stay awake.
Even though I didn't feel like eating anything after I woke up, my body made it loud and clear that it needed food, and as on cue, my parents brought in some of my favourite dishes to my room. I didn't complain about eating nor say I didn't feel like eating so I wouldn't worry them any further. Plus, my toddler instincts forced my mouth to water at the scent of food.
After another song of asking if I was alright, and me replying with a quiet yes, they carried me downstairs. My mental silence soon brought me to questioning myself, and the question that kept repeating was, what could I do to prepare myself for what to come? The answer was simple.
Training.
It should be easy with the help of the magic running through my body. I had to start practice on it anyways. I always felt it in everyone, but had thought it was too early for me to start playing with it. Because one time, my mother, who thought being a Jack-of-all-trades-but-master-of-none was cool, had started practicing how to heal on a fish. It had glowed green just like the show portrayed but it hadn't been a pretty thing.
Because, well, the fish had exploded.
Which also meant if I recklessly used chakra while I was excited, I might damage an important organ. But desperate times called for desperate measures, and that meant I couldn't wait for my parents until they decided it was safe for me to use it. I had to learn fast.
Everything could be turned into a weapon. And I needed everything I could get my hands on before I could march into war.
I knew it was wishful thinking, since I alone wouldn't be able to stop the future from happening. How could a child possibly do all of that on their own? My body wasn't built for protection, it was meant to be protected until I grew old enough to reverse the roles. I was currently a weak creature who needed people around me to survive. I was only going to start training so I could run with my parents if we were forced to do that, just in case they couldn't carry me.
And that was the most frustrating thing ever.
I went up to my room after excusing myself, my parents hugging me before climbed the stairs. I jumped up on my bed, that was designed for my age and height, and then sat comfortably on it.
Now, being in a quiet place that only had my parents' low voices as a background noise helped with my concentration. I'd always felt my chakra, but I had, in my earlier years, thought it was me still adjusting to my new body. Mentally speaking that was. But it turned out that while it was a form of adapting, I got too used to the warmth. Locating my chakra as it traveled inside of me didn't take long.
Whenever I focused on a place, I could feel it as it moved from my stomach to rotate towards other parts of my body. But unlike blood veins, where if you put pressure on the big vessels like the wrist's, the chakra didn't throb along with my heartbeats. It was a constantly moving energy that didn't slow down unless I willed it to.
Slowing down my energy was a bit tiring, but I managed. I also tried willing it to go to certain places. Now that was hard. It was like redirecting a terrified horse. It thrashed at first, but then it ran towards where I wanted it to at full speed before escaping my skin as a flash of light that was too weak to do was where the difficulty came.
I knew it was wrong to do that, because, well, chakra control was a thing. I also had to be able to redirect a certain amount of chakra to specific body parts instinctively, and not consciously like I was currently doing. That would require a lot of practice, now that I thought about it.
As I an Uzumaki, having large chakra pools was a given. Which meant controlling it was going to be a lot harder than normal. But… just look at other Uzumaki ninjas. That alone surely gave away the fact that it wasn't impossible, but needed a lot of work and effort to be put into it. But I had something to draw upon other than observing the ninjas here.
The show.
Now, what did I remember about the show? The monster battles, that was for sure. I had played the games too, so I remembered the major events from all the medias. However, playing the games also meant that the scenes in between the boss fights was blurred, because in the game, you had to do quests that weren't in the anime or manga. Everything kind of blurred together.
Guess playing, reading, and watching Naruto came to bite me in the ass.
But it also helped. I remembered how the characters… people, now that I was in this world, used their chakra. Tree exercise, water walking, and there was… sticking things to my own body? Anyways, the first time the tree walking was showed, I had thought it was pretty cool. So I'd listened intently to the explanation. That helped with my current understanding about my own chakra.
Naruto had a lot of it, and that was why he kept failing. Sasuke was either too crap at chakra control or he had a large pool, while Sakura was probably able to walk up the tree because she originally didn't have a lot of chakra, which helped redirecting the exact amount to her feat. She was also portrayed as someone who found chakra control an easy thing.
With me being an Uzumaki, I couldn't just start with the simple things because it might alert my parents. Like if I tried to walk up the walls, I was pretty sure I would make a hole in it from the mini explosion that was sure to happen at the first try. But even with my decision to try and hide this from them, It was obvious they'll find out soon. They were ninja, and they were my parents. It would be near impossible to hide information from them, but I hoped I could trick them until my basic control was achieved.
They could help, true, but I didn't want them to question why I started my training now of all times and risk them banning me from chakra until I became older.
So I grabbed a bunch of pencils and stared at the yellow coloured one. After some more staring, I realized something that made me feel a bit like an idiot.
I had no idea how to stick to things, or make things stick to me. I only knew how to be a walking beacon, currently.
But that was alright. I'll figure it out, no matter how difficult it'd be.
The first steps were the hardest after all.
A/N: I really hope any kind of explanation in this made sense to you all.
Many thanks to those of you who favorited, followed, and reviewed. If you guys see anything wrong or doesn't make sense, please do tell! It'll help make the chapter flow better :p Special thanks to Loeka and Sachiko13!
Now, for the explanations that I'd failed to talk about in the previous chapter due to my nervousness.
Firstly, the Kushina POV was done by Loeka. If you liked it, then I'm sure you'll love her stories. Shameless advertising right there.
Also, the reason why she'd used "They" was because Kushina was too young to understand the concept of gender, hence using "They" instead. Loeka was going to use it actually, but decided against it. :p
Secondly, the names. For those who love learning new things, here's some cookies.
Note that I'm using only one of the kanji readings, since it'll become too messy if I added every reading.
New names will be added in the chapter the new character gets introduced in.
。Koyume (こゆめ): Written using 'Crimson', beni (紅 / べに), and 'Dream', yume (夢 / ゆめ).
。Kayo (かよ): Written using 'Beautiful', ka (佳 /カ), and 'Gift', ata (与 / あた). That means the title for this fic is "A Beautiful Journey." x3
。Hinomi (ひのみ): Written using 'Fire', hi (火 / ひ), the katakana, no (ノ), and 'See', mi (見 / み). Her name literally means Fire Tower / Fire Watchtower.
。Subaru (すばる): Written using 'Scarlet', ake (朱 / あけ), and Clear up, hare (晴 / はれ).
And finally, I hope this chapter was a fun read! x3