Season 2 Chapter 9
Minashi looked around herself in confusion. Wasn't she just reading Aika's journals? Did she fall asleep? This wasn't her mindscape.
"Kurama!?" She called out to the empty white space with light blurs of color here and there. It almost reminded her of the place Minato took them when they lost control of Kurama during Pein's attack.
"Kuuuraaama!" Minashi called louder and started to move around.
"The fox is preoccupied."
The blonde whipped around and found herself staring at a familiar redheaded woman with ruby eyes and a cheeky smirk.
"Aika." Minashi whispered knowing exactly who this woman was, in the Uzushio royal garments and royal head chain that was dripping with jewels, pearls, and decorative gold all the way down her hair to her shoulders. The teardrop ruby at the center of her forehead stood out more by the fire opals that surrounded it.
"Hm. That is correct little time jumper." Aika's smile grew. "Come, there is much for you to learn, and very little time."
The Redhead turned and started walking into the whiteness.
"Wait! Where are we going?!" Minashi jogged to keep up and realized with a small stumble that she wasn't in her normal adult form that she normally was when in her mindscape. Instead she was in her own fifteen year old body. "What's going on?" She raced to the walking woman who had already gotten very far away.
Minashi didn't notice it right away, but the floor changed and the whiteness lifted the further they walked.
The blonde found herself not as nervous or scared as she really ought to be. Just very very curious.
The air shimmered suddenly before them and Aika stepped through it, disappearing. Minashi paused, before trusting her past self and walking through.
No longer was the space white with specks of color. No.
They had walked out into an open ocean with clear blue skies and a mild breeze. It was the ocean that caught her gaze though. While there were smaller eddies scattered throughout with balls of different colors all with hints of gold hovering midair in the center of them, it was the center whirlpool that was massive and feeding the others. In the center was a giant ball of swirling and spinning shades of gold above it.
"Where are we?" Minashi whispered awed even as her eyes moved to the closest whirlpool with one of the smallest balls. She walked to the edge, yet she was unaffected by the currents. Taking a step over the 'abyss' of the whirlpool, she instead met solid air. Eyes back on the Cerulean ball of blue calling to her, she reached for it but a hand grabbed her wrist stopping her.
She snapped her eyes to Aika to see Ruby eyes calmly meeting her dazed eyes.
"Not yet little one. You must first understand where you are first before you touch that specific one."
"Where?" Minashi asked even as she was pulled back to the calmer water outside of the eddies.
"Hm, guess." Aika smirked.
The blonde teen looked around once more and spoke what she knew was true. "My soul."
"Hm, yes. Or what the world sees as your soul. However you are a special case. We are a special case."
"The reincarnation." Minashi nodded as she took in the different colored and sized spheres of souls.
"Correct. Now, It took me my entire life to find this place within myself." Aika took her arm. "Thus how I knew one day additional lives would be brought to life in our ocean of Maelstroms."
Minashi jerked and looked at her sharply. The redhead chuckled and patted the arm looped with hers.
"Ironic, i'm aware. You and your brother had similar souls, your brother just got the name that represented your soul better. However, I'm aware of how you like how your name means 'possibilities'."
"Now, back to what I was getting to. Yes, like I said it took almost two hundred and fifty years of my life to reach a level of inner understanding to reach this place. Once I did, I did what I did best!" She chirped. "I made a seal."
"You sealed a part of your consciousness here." Minashi answered.
Aika's smile sharpened very predator like. "Very right you are. I sealed my consciousness into this place so that I may guide the next reincarnations if they ever needed it."
"But…"
"But you little time jumper have thrown the eddies for a spin. Literally!" Aika Cackled and waved to the Ocean of eddies before them. The pools outside of the main whirlpool all spun around in a dance as the space twisted and warped. "Your Soul pool even began trying to devour poor little Mina-chan's. -It isn't the first time reincarnations have shared a name, worry not-. That is where I stepped in to see what Hokage Minashi was up to."
Aika shook a finger at her. "Messing with Time-space Fuuinjutsu naught child."
Minashi just stared unrepentant.
"Anyways, with a little bit of seal work I called little Mina-chan's consciousness to this place. She was so surprised to not be alone anymore. You see, you were taking over her at the same time as she thought she was dying alone."
The blonde teen swallowed thickly.
"Poor girl had already lost her father and twin aniki to the rogue former Kumo-nins hunting them. She'd been injured and hiding in a hole when she felt her chest hurting outside of the pain of her twin bond gone. Eventually she passed out thinking she was going to die. When I instead called her to our soul, I told her what was happening instead. How a future reincarnation of us was trying to come back in time to fix everything that was going to go wrong."
Aika's face turned soft and sad. "She asked me if it was going to hurt but I couldn't answer her. However, I promised her that I would make it so that she could see what you were doing until I could bring you here."
Minashi's eyes widened when the water around them rippled and now standing at Aika's side hiding behind her kimono skirts, was a four year old. A four year old that had whiskers.
"How in Kami does she have possession marks!" Minashi yelped looking at Aika shocked.
The Redhead's eyes darkened. "The 'back story' you created for yourself wasn't so far off. However, it's not Michi-kun that found Bijuu chakra. Kenta had left Mina-chan and Naru-kun with someone he thought he could trust not too long before your soul arrived. He didn't know they were Kumo-shinobi undercover. Mina and Naru were stolen away, and pieces of the kyuubi chakra that Kumo had from the Ginkaku and Kinkaku brothers for experimentation purposes were crudely shoved into their tiny bodies. Because it wasn't done properly, the chakra scars on their cheeks were the results."
"Obviously Kenta found them." Minashi finished.
Aika nodded solemnly. "Kenta found them, escaped, but Kumo was on his tail now. Even more so when he fixed their seals allowing them to share chakra and handle the bijuu chakra together through their bond. Kumo found them again six months before Mina and Naru were to turn five. Kenta had no choice but to send his children ahead, having trained them despite how much it went against his beliefs. They were no slouches despite being children. They could not defeat adults however. Thus when Naru gave Mina most of the Kyuubi's chakra to run with so she'd have the energy to do so, he instead released the chakra he had left to buy her more time. Mina felt the bond to her twin snap only five minutes later."
Mina whined behind Aika's legs, tears falling down her cheeks.
"She was a very brave and smart girl. She did what her daddy trained her to do. She used her chakra wisely, she kept her feet light, chakra hidden, and ran. She ran for days before collapsing in a small den under a tree. Her spirit was weak. Dying without her twin. The additional Kyuubi chakra was eating at her coils as the sentient chakra fought to get out."
Aika turned and waved for her to follow back to the soul sphere Minashi had almost touched before.
Mina was still standing right on her heels, but when they walked into the center, Aika did something and once more the air shimmers around the ball. Instead of the former small cerulean with streaks of gold ball, two balls were halfway absorbed with each other and creating a white-ish gold and blue light between them.
"At this moment, within this body, there are two souls working as one. My seals have made sure as such."
"So…Mina is still alive within me?" Minashi whispered looking at big blue eyes peeking out from Aika's skirts.
"In a way, yes. Also, no."
"I'm so confused." the elder blonde grunted scratching her head and just staring at the two balls of light.
"Michi-kun was correct that as soon as Mina-chan accepted you into her body, you became her. What he didn't know is that Mina-chan's soul is not completely gone. You have none of her memories. Only Echos, thus how your 'backstory' is the actual truth." Aika smirked at the blonde teen's mind whirling in her sharp eyes.
"What happens when Mina-chan accepts me fully?"
Aika grinned wider, her sharp little counterpart was catching on quickly. "You get her memories, her experiences, everything from the first four and a half years of her life."
Minashi swallowed thickly. "Even the twin bond breaking." She whispered.
Aika nodded solemnly. "Hai. Our lives are never without pain. However, the happiness always outweighs the pain."
"What…what about my memories?"
"They will remain yours. I've made the seals to do as such, especially with how wonderful of a mindscape you have. Being a jinchuriki also allows a smoother acceptance of more memories for you." Aika nodded to her younger reincarnation, yet waited as she knew the girl had more questions. They were the same person in a sense.
"What else can you teach me about Soul Manipulation Fuuinjutsu?" the Blonde asked with intent filled blue eyes.
Aika grinned very wolfishly this time, Ruby eyes sparkling excitedly. "Everything I've learned here and in my own life."
The two Sealing Masters stared long and hard before Mina pulled gently on Aika's skirts. The duo looked at her.
"I like her." Mina-chan murmured. Mina-chan really did like the other Minashi. She found her older Aniki that Mina didn't know she had. She found more family, she made friends, she made sure Mina didn't grow up alone. She was okay with joining her fully now.
"I like her too. She's the epitome of an Uzushio Queen. Doing everything and everything she must to find, save, and protect her people." Aika said meeting Minashi's gaze. The blonde felt her cheeks flush. Despite it being another version of herself, Aika had been a respected Queen across all the elemental Nations.
"Now, Mina-chan, you can go back to playing in the garden. I will call you when it's time. Minashi-hime and I need to have a long talk and it will get boring for you little pup."
"Hai~" Mina-chan chirped before running off and jumping into the calmer water. Like jumping into a regular pool, she disappeared under the surface. Minashi turned back to her former self.
"Come, let's go to my mind palace where my library is. It will be much easier to teach you there."
The blonde Uzumaki took the hand of her redheaded counterpart. They moved down two pools to a red/blue sphere tinted with white and gold. To her shock, Aika jumped, dragging Minashi with her right into the center abyss of the eddy. Minashi would deny that she actually yelped.
Michi glared at the security seals blocking him from his daughter. He'd suspected she wouldn't personally show up to their family meeting, but he let it go. Now, he's given her a couple days to recover from telling the family so much, but now he wanted the rest of the truth from her. He could sense that she was skipping out on the actual abuse she and her brother suffered. She'd also skipped over her relationship with Kakashi. None of the family had pushed her, but knew Michi would pull it out of her.
Every Uzumaki knew that bottling up emotional damage like what Minashi experienced was never good. Especially in Uzumakis, not to mention twins. Kami, he still didn't know how she was still so stable. Two broken twin bonds and a broken mate bond.
Interlacing his fingers and cracking them, the Grand Seal Master went to work picking apart his daughter's seal.
He was worried about her outside of his anger. He'd confirmed with Sakumo that a physical 'Nagisa' had not been seen in days, almost a week. Her Blood Clone was due back soon and could have answered for where it's original was, but Michi wasn't that patient.
Thus, within half an hour -he was very impressed with her security seals, practically grandmastery level already- Michi broke through with happy noise and a small dance. He's still got it!
Shoving the door open, his glee vanished as his jaw dropped. The once homey living room was completely changed. All furniture was gone, and instead scrolls, documents, books, and so much more covered the floor of Nagisa's home and even were piled up in stacks within the chaos.
There slumped against the wall was Nagisa herself looking half dead, her eye bags were so dark, and asleep.
Michi took a deep calming breath as he realized what he was seeing.
"It seems like you all did not just grab our personal effects." He muttered eyeing what he knew as some of Uzushio's largest storage scrolls for an emergency that required packing up everything from their libraries and archives. "You brought every scrap of our true treasury back with you, didn't you child?" He muttered, carefully tip-toeing his way across the room so he could wake his daughter and put her to bed.
Crouching before her, he was about to grab her shoulder to shake her awake, when his mind finally started blaring alarms at what was missing from this picture.
A little more urgently, Michi shook his daughter's shoulder. "Nagisa!" He shook harder and lifted her head. "Minashi!" he barked flashing his chakra sharply.
Nothing. Not even a flinch. The elder Uzumaki's face went pale as he placed a hand to her throat. He held his breath as he waited.
Thump, thump, thump, thump,
A steady normal beat, but her chakra was practically non-existent (he was scolding himself internally for not noticing as such to begin with!). It was a mere shadow of what he knew was a stormy eddy. One should not be able to have such almost missing chakra and still have a beating heart so strong.
Quickly moving Nagisa into his arms, her head tucked into his neck, he leapt across the room, made sure the door was shut and even stronger seals were in place to protect Uzushio's legacy, and then he disappeared in chain shunshins to the Hokage's office.
It was a matter of child's play to tear down the basic privacy seal Sakumo had in place.
The ANBU leapt down at the same time Sakumo jumped up. The reporting ANBU team also were in defensive positions at his unauthorized entrance.
Well until they saw the panic on his face and a practically dead looking Nagisa in his arms. "Call Tsunade!"
Sakumo flashed the order to the reporting team captain even as he rushed around to take Nagisa's from Michi. The Hokage quickly barked for everyone else to leave even as he placed the woman on his couch and started examining her himself. White tinted green iryojutsu hovered over the redheaded woman as Sakumo's frown deepened. Michi was going through everything he knew about the archives. Was there anything that was dangerous within their texts? She didn't have any of their actual Fuuin Library scrolls out…or he thought so. There had been books he didn't recognize surrounding her.
Tsunade launched through the window and took up space beside Sakumo without question. The medic frowned the longer she too observed Nagisa.
"Let's get her to the hospital for testing." The senju decided without explanation.
Sakumo agreed and picked her up. Michi silently followed them to the hokage's personal wing. The Uzumaki clung to the walls as his daughter was hooked up to monitor after monitor. Blood was taken, wires and tubes were attached, and….Kami….what did he miss? He's never heard of something like this happening before. It's like there was just an empty shell before them.
"What happened?" Tsunade finally barked once her nurses were gone and a privacy seal was up.
"I…I noticed that Nagisa has only been sending a shadow clone the last couple of days." Michi said confusion inflected in his tone. "I, just wanted to finish the talk we had about her childhood as Minashi and what the village really did to her. I wanted her to talk to me and just address her trauma, address who she lost in the sacrificial seal to turn back time. Cleansing wounds are the only way an Uzumaki doesn't tip from harmless crazy into harmful psychotic. Being a twin that has suffered two broken twin bonds and a broken mate bond, I was curious and very worried. Uzumakis….don't stay stable if a twin is lost. That is a soul deep bond they share."
"Got that." Tsunade's eye twitched.
"You shouldn't have pushed her." Sakumo said, a protective growl in his chest. "She goes to therapy and is addressing everything at her pace. Now what happened?"
"I…I don't know. I broke through her seals and found her like this. She was surrounded by books and scrolls from our archives. Not! The fuuin archives." he said firmly, stopping Tsunade's question before she had even vocalized it. The Senju's jaw snapping shut in response.
"I thought she was just asleep. But she didn't respond to either names and then I realized that while her pulse was steady and stable, her chakra was practically a ghost of itself. It's like she's an empty shell." Michi choked out.
Tsunade let out a long sigh. "Michi-oji is right. Nagisa's body is perfectly fine. Very dehydrated and currently a little malnourished, but otherwise, she's perfectly healthy. Her chakra is so low it's not even coming up on my scans. I know Michi-oji is a stronger sensor however, thus I'm trusting his statement that her coils are running on nothing but instead such a fine strand of chakra that I just can't sense it."
"What's wrong Tsunade?" Sakumo finally asked.
The Senju's face hardened even as her eyes were lost. "I don't know. Are we sure that she's not caught up in some sort of seal?"
"It's possible, but those sorts of things aren't kept in the Histories archive."
"Histories." Sakumo said slowly. "Minashi said she had a realistic dream of a past life. She's been searching in many of the Clan archives for proof."
Michi turned his mind back to the messy living room of Nagisa's house. "I didn't stop and look at what she was reading, but from the age of the documents, scrolls, and books, that sounds about right. Now, past life? I'm aware that she's currently in the one before the life she lived in the original time. You all told us that she was also the reincarnation of Uzumaki Kamera. Was she looking into that life?"
"No." Sakumo shook his head. "Uzumaki Aika. She wanted to look into the Water War Era."
Michi froze, eyes going wide, jaw dropping before his head whipped to the redhead looking like she was sleeping peacefully if not for all the wires and IV lines. There was even a tube down her throat just in case she stopped breathing.
"Q-Q-Q-QUEEN AIKA-SAMA!?" Michi practically shrieked.
Sakumo's hands snapped over his ears and tsunade jerked back startled, honey eyes blown wide at his reaction.
"Yes." Sakumo grunted, wiggling a finger in his ear to stop the ringing. "Minashi said she wanted to find out about what happened to the Great Triad Alliance Queen Aika had been a part of. Said her memory dream cut off right at the first meeting of the alliance. When she found no records of it in the Uchiha, Nara, or Senju archives, I approved for the family vacation to Uzushio. They were to not only collect Uzushio artifacts, documents, and anything else of value to be protected by the living Uzumakis in Konoha, but it was also so they could bury the dead. Obviously things turned out different."
Michi just stared at the Hokage before letting out a noise like a balloon, hands coming up into a strangle position as he shook them at Tsunade and Sakumo. Those hands then went to his hair, pushing out his small pony tail as they just gave him confused looks.
"Kami bless you, but do you two not realize what you just SAID!?" Michi shouted as he gripped his hair, eyes wild and very close to losing his shit completely. These Simpletons!
"That…Minashi has spotty memories of her previous life as Queen Aika Uzumaki." Sakumo frowned, worried about how red Michi's face was getting. That couldn't be good for his blood pressure.
Michi let out a frustrated scream barely held back through his teeth, and dropped into a crouch to calm himself down before he lost it. Thankfully the two Konoha-nin let him be. He didn't know how long he stayed there counting his breathing, but a familiar hand was on his back followed by a kiss to his disheveled head.
"Love, stand up and tell me what's going on. Sakumo-kun has filled me in on Nagisa-chan, but they are not sure what has upset you."
Michi stood and pouted sulkily at his wife. "They had the gall to forget to mention that it wasn't just Kamera Uzumaki that Minashi is the reincarnation of. Kamera is the original soul, but she's had many lives since. Sakumo said back at the first meeting that Kamera-sama was 'stuck' in a reincarnation cycle."
Namiko hummed as she nodded along. "Okay, now what has you tearing your hair out dear?"
Michi whined and looked to the clueless Senju and Hatake. "They forgot to mention that it was another reincarnation's memories that led Minashi to wanting to explore Uzushio for evidence of what transpired during that life. And just how fucking important that Reincarnation is to the Uzumaki clan and Uzushio."
"Michi." Namika sighed exasperated and worried for the so very still daughter of hers lying feet away. "Stop delaying and just spit it out."
"Queen Aika Uzumaki. First born Daughter of King Tetsuya Uzumaki and his Royal Lady Masumi Yuki-Yuhi. Uzushio most powerful and widely respected Queen! The Queen that Made Uzushio what it was. Her laws were revolutionary and changed the way of the people to the closely bonded family that is it! She Created the barriers that protected Uzushio. She was the longest living Uzumaki to date! Two hundred and Fifty years! Even her own Great-great aunt had only lived until two-hundred and ten."
"She is the reason we have laws for same sex marriages, for surrogates, for the Gekko-Yachi law! She's the reason the Nara's have always been trading partners! She's a reason the Hatake Clan used to live during their summers on Uzushio despite being a Nomadic clan that rarely visited the same place twice, yet alone yearly! She even had Uzushio connected to the Senju when her father wouldn't, despite the protection it would have given Uzushio! She was known as the youngest Grand Seal Master and even was the first given the Arch Seal Master title! Her Shinobi nickname was Maelstrom Queen Aika."
Tsunade, Sakumo and even Namika were staring at Michi as he went into total fanboy mode. Aika was his idol! He became a Grand Master so he could study her Master works.
Namika's face had also paled a few shades before she looked at her daughter. "No wonder she was able to figure out time-travel." She whispered. "She was already destined for greatness."
"Wow, Michi-oji-san, I didn't know you could geek out like that." Tsunade deadpanned, still in a bit of shock, but pushing it aside to rant to her husbands later.
Michi shot her a sharp look. "You would too if you saw her entire collection of medical seals. Because of her inventions, those that felt that they were born into the wrong body were able to have life changing surgery. Mari was born Mahiro. Mahiro did have his own sperm preserved in a special seal before the change just in case Mari found a wife that wanted children. That way the child could still be of both of them. Aoi-kun was supposed to be going through the same procedure, but it's been delayed because of the invasion and move. We were hoping to share it with Konoha so Aoi could be in his right body. Thankfully his name is unisex but he just prefers male suffixes."
Tsunade's jaw dropped. Sakumo's brows raised before humming curiously. "I bet you that all these previous lives still influence the others."
"Why do you say that?" Namika asked.
Sakumo's lips twitched as he looked at Michi and Namika. "Minashi invented the Oiroke no jutsu in her first life with her brother. It was made as a prank, but because they can't do henge no jutsu, it was later found to be a solid transformation. Thus renamed as Henko no jutsu and then later evolved into the more versatile blood henge and blood clone variants."
The two uzumakis just stared as that information processed.
"That….is a very plausible theory." Michi finally muttered.
"We're off topic." Namika let out a long sigh. "Nagisa is still currently in an unknown state."
"We go back to her house and try to figure out what she got herself into." Michi nodded and met Sakumo's gaze. The Hokage gave a silent nod of confirmation, the two Uzumakis were quick to shunshin out.
"How long until her Blood Clone returns with her team?" Tsunade whispered even as she moved back to the current redhead and started washing the unkept locks.
"Three days." Sakumo answered spinning for the door. "I'm sending a wolf to her. They should already be on their way back. I'll have her leave first."
Tsunade closed her eyes as the door shut behind her Hokage and friend. With a trembling hand she reached for her necklace.
"You cannot die. Please, not after you've come so far." Tsunade whispered to her best friend.
Minashi stared at the formulas Aika just finished explaining to her.
"WHAT THE HELL!?" She shrieked at her older counterpart. "I thought Nii-san was nuts with his insane ideas! You, You…do the laws of the universe even register to you!?"
Aika sat there, chin propped on the back of her hands as she smiled innocently at Minashi. "What Laws? Sweetie, they had to give me an entirely new Ranking level in the sealing world because I wasn't some simple Grand Master anymore. I changed the fucking gender of a human being!" The Redhead's ruby eyes were glowing with pride and excitement. "Breaking the universal laws was child's play to me."
Minashi settled down at that and tilted her head at her elder. "What stopped you from going back in time? Saving Tetsuo, saving Shuji, saving your brother from his own future?"
Aika's eyes lost some of their light, but the wisdom remained. "Because while there was pain in my life, the good outweighed the bad. I loved and was loved by two incredible men. I lived the longest life an Uzumaki has ever lived and got to see history made. I saw Eras rise and fall. I saw and lived so much and in the end, the good outweighed the cost it took to get there. And….I would never sacrifice everyone that I have ever loved or cared about. I would have never been able to ask them to give up their lives for a what if. That is where we differ little one. You were in a position where you had no choice but to make such a decision. You will forever have my respect for making the hardest decisions any of our reincarnations have had to make."
Minashi bit her lip before releasing it and waving to the floating seal of Aika's mindscape. It was her mind, she could control it how she wished. Thus, floating ink.
"Alright, back to this ridiculousness. Where in the world did you even get such an idea?!"
Aika brightened once more. "Well, you see, there was this one time-"
Sakumo looked up when he heard a curse. There, covered in cuts and steaming a bit was Minashi's blood clone.
"Fuck. That one's a bust too. Its distance is better than the others though." The blonde teen sighed as she looked up. "What's with the emergency recall?" The teen asked even as she twitched as she healed.
"Nagisa was found unresponsive two days ago. Vitals are stable, chakra is practically non-existent."
Minashi stared at Sakumo and snorted. "Yeah right. If that was so, I'd be having a seizure. Just because Nagisa's seal is empty doesn't mean they aren't still linked."
Sakumo stood up and approached her. "I'm not lying. Michi and Namika-san have been searching non-stop into what Nagisa was working on to see what might have caused this. Now, come, your presence may help."
Minashi was pulled into a chain of shunshins until they were in the restricted section of the Hospital for the Hokage and other VIPs. Practically dragging her to the room, Sakumo waved Tsunade down from the nurse's station. The trio then entered and shut the door, the Security and privacy seals activating.
Minashi however was staring at her original as her senses told her that…well shit. Sakumo wasn't wrong. Walking to her original, she grabbed her hand, intending to use physical contact with her to strengthen the bond. Instead, her world went dark before she was blinded by bright lights.
"Fuck!" Sakumo lunged and caught the now unconscious blood clone who's chakra was also rapidly lowering. Tsunade was quick to call in a nurse as a second bed was prepared in a way that there wasn't space between them. This was because Minashi and Nagisa wouldn't stop holding hands.
Once the Blood Clone was as stable as possible, Sakumo left to inform Michi of what had transpired.
What the hell was going on? Was the collective thought from the four in the know.
Aika's head popped up from the seal she and Minashi were creating. "Finally!" The Queen chirped and Minashi rapidly blinked at the sudden activity that wasn't related to the seal.
"Finally what?" She asked curiously.
"Your little Clone returned!" Aika chirped.
"Oh." Minashi's brain paused with the current seal they were working on together, and switched gears to the ones they'd already made. "OH!" She jumped up "Cool." With a quick thought she was back in the Ocean of soul eddies. Walking to hers and Mina's partially mixed ones, Minashi did what Aika had taught her during her -what felt like months, maybe even years. It was hard to tell- time there. She poked her finger into her half of the soul and found the String of the bond connecting Minashi to her Clone. The part of her soul she'd separated using Orochimaru's crude techniques to create the blood Clone, to Call that piece of her soul's consciousness to their current plane of existence.
A double of herself appeared with a stumble. Minashi reached out and caught her just as Aika arrived with little mina holding her hand.
"What the fucking shit?!" The Soul fragment groaned holding her head until the world stopped spinning. "Kami damn it boss what the hell did you get into…this…time…" The fragment finally looked up and found Aika and a chibi version of themselves.
"Aika and the original Minashi of our body." Minashi introduced.
The Soul Fragment looked at her originator, saw no lie and nodded. "Gotcha. What's going on? Where are we?"
"Our Ocean of Souls and past lives." Minashi smirked as she watched the fragment contemplate that, look around with more attention and then just nod.
"Got it. What's up?"
"What's up," Aika stepped forward. "Is that we are going to…what did you say Minashi? Give the universe the middle finger?"
"Yep."
"Yes, that."
"Okaaay…." The fragment tilted her head confused. "How so?"
Minashi then smiled at her. That smile that all of them knew as the same one they all got when playing with insane sealing ideas. "How do you feel about, in a way, taking the place as my 'twin' but instead you will be added to the world as Nagisa. Michi and Namika's actual daughter, my actual aunt?"
The fragment raised a brow at her originator. "Say what now? Two souls can't-"
"Ah!" Aika raised a finger. "True, but we are going to work around that by creating your place in this world. Giving you your own soul that has been shaped with your experiences. In doing this your DNA will also change. Instead of being Kenta and Seina's child, you will officially become Michi and Namika's daughter by blood right."
The fragment just stared at Aika and the predator grin upon her face.
"How…in the nine bijuu is that possible?" The fragment whispered as her heart leapt. She…they…they wouldn't have to live two lives…lying to everyone… they…they could be separate individuals?
"H-How will we not lose our memories of our past life?!"
Aika waved her splutterings away. "Easy. you two already have a mental connection just like normal Uzumaki twins. Your jinchuriki seals will also be staying. Your body will just be aging up to that of Nagisa's thirty four years of age. Your bond will permanently replace the absent twin bond instead of only when the Blood Clone had been active."
"Regarding our memories, they are already a part of our souls. It's what shaped them." Minashi answered. "We are just doing some cosmetic work on our souls. Mine will be overlapped with Mina-chan's memories of Kenta and her Naru-kun. Yours will be filled with the false memories that Aika and I have created through seals and genjutsu, to create a life one lived on Uzushio before you were off the Island for a mission during the invasion. These false memories with the seal will become real as any other life experience. Meaning that you were born a twin, Natsu, as well and lost him during the invasion. You had a mate in the hatake, we've chosen Kan for the age and timing. He was lost too because of an assassination."
"You were holding on by a very thin thread." Aika continued. "Until you found traces of the Kyuubi chakra during your time in the shadows. You took it and bonded the bijuu to your soul."
"Then you were reunited with Kenta and his very pregnant wife Seina." Minashi continued. "You were made the twins' protector even as you hunted the one that betrayed Uzushio."
"Kenta reached out about the twins' kidnapping. But by the time you returned to Fire, Kenta had disappeared, Naruto was dead, and minashi's failsafe on her own new Jinchuriki seal you added had sent her to Konoha."
"Then we had the brilliant idea to replace our twin bonds by bonding to each other." Minashi snorted. "Thus my seizure."
"Even the cosmetics of your bodies will be rewritten." Aika smirked. "Minashi will lose the scar from the attack, but Nagisa will keep it and every other one the 'Nagisa or Kitsune' Blood clones have gotten since arriving in Konoha. Granted you are still mainline Uzumaki and a past jinchuriki, so they will be very hard to spot. Only that bisecting scar will be the most defining."
"We can't do much about the eye color, but Namika-ba-san has cyan eyes. So it will be a small adjustment to add a few flecks of them to your eyes, but you will no longer be blonde."
Minashi then looked to Aika who nodded. "There is also a main difference between your two souls." Aika pointed to the largest swirling golden ball. "Kamera's soul will not be attached to yours like it will be to Minashi's. You will be the Guardian of the Protector of the Prophecy Child. No longer the Protector."
The Soul Fragment took in an unneeded breath, closed her eyes and just let everything sink in.
Blue eyes full of excitement snapped open. "Let's do this."
Minashi grinned. Aika chuckled as she rubbed her hands together. "I love breaking the rules."
"I can go see mommy now?" Little Mina perked up.
Aika softened "Hai little one. Your spirit will join your mother's in the pure world soon."
"Wait what?" the fragment spluttered.
"Souls and spirits are very different." Aika wagged a finger at the fragment. "Do not get them mixed up again."
"Hai!" The fragment squeaked.
"Good. Now, Minashi, Mina-chan, you two know what to do. Nagisa-chan, come here. We're going to be creating your own whirlpool."
The fragemen-...no…Nagisa followed her former reincarnation to a clear spot between eddies and began weaving a seal together in mid air. Nagisa was not expecting Aika to suddenly then punch her fist through the girl's chest. Thank Kami it didn't hurt, but Nagisa knew exactly when Aika had taken a hold of her physical fragment. The seals grew brighter around them as the water churned and began spinning. Nagisa felt funny as…as memories of a youth on Uzushio filled her head at the same time as blonde hair turned as red as Michi's…as Cerulean blues gained flecks of cyan. As she grew taller and to the height the Rokudaime once held. She gained a sense of individuality and self. She was Nagisa Uzumaki, Daughter of Michi and Namika.
Over at the Mina-Minashi eddy, the two blondes were holding hands as Minashi willed the seal Aika and her had created and adjusted accordingly, appeared around them. The seals glowed as their eddy picked up in speed. Mina-chan began to glow as did their souls as Minashi lived four extra years of life with her father and brother.
Mina-chan smiled one last time before disappearing into a soft white glow.
Minashi instead held her own seal active as Nagisa's soul settled into the Soul Plane they would forever share now, despite Kamera not being bound to Nagisa.
With a final activation of the Memory seal, and the Universe Law Altering Seals, the entire room flashed white. Minashi had a moment to process more new memories of Nagisa in her childhood before Konoha, before the world started to fade away.
"Do not worry Minashi, Nagisa. The seal is complete. Good luck." Aika's voice echoed in their ears before they knew nothing more.
Michi's head snapped up when he felt it. Their chakra was rising! The uzumaki leapt to his feet and called out to Tsunade and Namika. It had only been six hours since the clone went down, but whatever it did was fixing it.
The trio were in the room, door shut as they awaited the Uzumakis to open their eyes.
What they were not expecting was for the Clone's chakra to Change. Not to mention…she…she was growing taller, older, and red bled from her scalp to the tips of her hair. Brows, lashes, and fine hairs all were Uzumaki red. Even her skin lost the Namikaze sun kissed glow. And…and even Minashi's chakra shifted just a tiny bit off from what he knew.
Too flabbergasted, Tsunade couldn't even comment on what she was witnessing. Namika's jaw was long dropped. Michi was just staring.
Well, until where their hands were clasped it started to glow white. Before anyone could speak, a blinding white light flared and blinded the room.
Tsunade yelped, blinded and in pain as..as brief memories filled her mind. However, additional startled shouts of Namika and Michi that were different sounded at the same time as Tsunade's.
While they knew better than to look into a pending explosion, Michi and Namika were still taken to their knees with a sudden sharp headache.
Michi stared at the floor unblinking as…as his memories shifted….as he knew in his soul that he had been a father to two sets of twins with Kenta in the middle. Of how he'd watched Natsu die defending their village and knowing Nagisa would be devastated. He remembers personally teaching her sealing.
A seal. His logic whispered. A seal had been placed on him-
Namika's choked sob pulled his attention and he saw something he's seen on the faces of their people before. A mother's grief.
A seal had been placed on everyone…Michi looked up to the unconscious redhead…on everyone that was related or could have come in contact to Nagisa Uzumaki.
Across Konoha, Ren and Riku were cuddling with Mako hidden in the forest of death so Sakumo wouldn't hunt them for spending time with their fiance.
All three suddenly stiffened as their world went white and a brief blinding pain filled their head, and something shifted in their souls.
Ren and Riku were panting as tears filled their eyes. Nagisa…Natsu…
She was…She was really their sister now. The twins shared looks before looking at Mako who was also now crying. "Kan-nii…Nagi-nee…" Mako looked to her boys. "What…what is this?"
"A seal." "A very powerful seal." The twins shared looks. "We've only heard whispers of such things from father."
"What?" Mako choked out from the emotional bomb just dropped on her.
"Soul Manipulations." They chorused.
Mashai stumbled trying to step on to the engawa of the Hatake Main house as his vision went white and pain slammed into his head. He fell to his knees and hands gripping his head as memories settled into his mind, into his soul.
Kan-nii….Nagisa…Nagisa was devastated when Kan-nii died. Only Natsu kept her together. Mako and Mashai didn't know what to do to help her.
The pain eased away and Mashai could breathe once more, tears in his eyes. Stumbling to his feet, he rushed for his brother.
Sakumo was in the middle of talking with Shikaku about Nagisa possibly not being able to attend the Chuunin exams and arranging a new escort when his vision went white.
He yelped and gripped his head when suddenly memories flooded into his head.
Meeting a young Nagisa, seeing how happy she was with Kan-nii despite their age differences. Watching and not knowing what to do for the Uzumaki when her mate was assassinated while she was away. Her grief had been strong…only to hear of the invasion and grieving for another sister lost…only to get her back broken, but healing.
The pain dimmed and went away as Sakumo sat there, hands still in his hair, tears falling from his eyes. What…what the hell was that?...He…that wasn't the history he knew.
He knew he was startling to hyperventilate.
"Sakumo!" Mashai barked, leaping through the window and pushing him back. "Breathe!"
The Hokage did as his brother said as he held the deep navy eyes of his brother.
"Good."
"What the hell was that Mashai?" Sakumo panted a little shockey.
"Reschedule your appointments. I saw Mako and the twins heading for Michi's signature at the hospital."
Sakumo stood and looked at Shikaku. There was a worried frown.
"I'll update you later."
"Alright." the nara muttered and watched the two Hatake disappear.
In another part of Konoha, Kaiya and Mariko were also taken to their knees as their vision was blinded and a headache slammed into them. The cousins shared looks as they both realized that Nagisa had been added to their life memories. They were so real…but…
"Seal." Kaiya choked out as the pain started to dull.
The same happened across Konoha as the Other Uzumakis had either brief to many memories with one Uzumaki Nagisa.
All across the Elemental Nations, people experienced the same thing. A whiting out of their vision, and depending on their closeness to the Main family(and age since the fall of Uzu), a painful sharp headache that lasted only as long as the amount of memories. A split second for brief. Long seconds for those with the most interactions.
There was one more thing in common with these people. Just as the Uzumakis in Konoha knew right away, so did those affected.
A seal about Uzumaki Nagisa. It didn't take many to recognize the name. Formerly known as the Kitsune of Konoha. A small movement began as those that could, started heading for Konoha to investigate.
Minashi was slow to wake as the storm of her eddy chakra settled down. As the bond between her and her Aunt solidified into the same bond she once shared with Naruto.
However, as her senses returned, she realized she was in a hospital room which wasn't too unexpected. What was unexpected was that her room was crowded. Everyone's chakra was twisting with multiple emotions.
Cerulean eyes fluttered open and the murmured conversations hushed. The Blonde Uzumaki swallowed and scrunched up her nose. Her tongue tasted like dirt and plastic.
"You intubated me?" She whispered out around her dry throat. A straw was by her mouth and she sucked greedily. The cool water soothed her throat and rid the plastic taste.
"Just in case you know, you stopped breathing? Kinda like how I thought your chakra had vanished." Tsunade's sarcastic voice came from Minashi's immediate right. She turned her eyes to her fellow blonde and found that Tsunade's eye was twitching, and she looked ready to enter lecture mode. "If it wasn't for Michi-oji, I wouldn't have known it was still there."
Minashi took the cup and slowly sat up. Her body was well rested and only a little stiff from a long nap. Yay Jinchuriki healing! Cerulean eyes slid over to the bed practically connected to her own. Completely ignoring the obvious unasked question from Tsunade.
She'd known what she looked like in the mirror, but it was different this time. The awareness of a clone was missing. Just the new similar chakra of Uzumaki Nagisa, her kickass aunt, and the hole in her chest being completely gone now, not just temporarily eased.
A moment later, red lashes fluttered open and with much more ease Nagisa sat up and just stared at the hands in her lap. Tsunade was already rushing around to check on the redhead.
However when Nagisa looked up to Tsunade, the blonde stopped and stared as eyes she wasn't expecting met her own. Cerulean with speckles of cyan. Tsunade dropped the cup she was about to hand to the Uzumaki. Those were the same eyes of her memories. Memories of her childhood best friend in Uzushio. The same young woman that knew of her and Orochimaru and Jiraiya's relationship and approved, and even encouraged it.
"What?" Nagisa asked her best friend.
"What the bloody hell have you done?" The blonde whispered. "Why…why do I have memories of you in my youth?"
Nagisa hummed and looked to Minashi, the eyes of the room following her to said blonde that was working on stretching out her arms and back.
"Ask the brat."
"We are still mentally the same age!" Minashi snapped back quickly.
Nagisa just smirked foxily. "Ah, but I've got Aunt rights now. You're also my apprentice as well and my roommate. You can't escape me."
Minashi flipped her the bird. "Go suck on a frog. I worked my ass off to learn all those new techniques and this is how you repay me? Ungrateful!"
Nagisa just sniffed undeterred. "I am still your guardian."
Minashi twitched. "Technicalities!" the blonde spat.
Nagisa moved her feet over to the edge of the bed and slid off. She too started stretching.
"You also still have yet to beat me in a spar brat."
Minashi spluttered.
"And things are different now." Nagisa's grin grew foxy. "Surpassing me won't be easy anymore Mina-chan~"
The blonde crossed her arms and legs, pouting very deeply.
"I'm the heir-"
"You are not of age. Pops already said I would be acting as your proxy until you are of age since I have been your guardian the longest."
Minashi's own eye twitched this time with her irritation.
Heads had been bouncing back and forth between the clone(?) And its boss…but that interaction…the memories.
"Uzumaki Nagisa!" Namika barked sharply in that tone. The redhead stiffened and whipped her ashen face to her mother. "You and Minashi will explain. Now, young ladies!"
"Minashi was pulled into the Soul plane and met her former reincarnation Queen Aika." Nagisa snitched. "Aika taught her everything she knows. Including Soul Fuuin-kinjutsus. Thus…they changed the Universal laws surrounding me and added me to the world's history as a soul that has always been here."
Dead silence. All the Uzumakis of Konoha (minus infants, children, and kushina) and the three Hatakes and one senju just stared at the duo.
"What?" Michi choked wild eyed. What she just described was something he's never heard of before. Sure he's read a few mentions of theories of the Plane of Souls, but still…what?!
Minashi sighed and kicked back onto her palms, legs stretched out. "When I was last henged as Nagisa, I was holed up in my house reading the archives of Uzushio I brought along. I wanted to figure out what happened to the Great Triad Alliance during Aika's Reign. I found Aika's personal journals sealed away in a scroll only unlockable by those that were Kamera's reincarnation."
The blonde shrugged at their looks. "I lost track of reading them all, found a note written from Aika to her next reincarnation that found her journals. I think that was felt by Aika where part of her consciousness lived on the Soul Plane. Thus, she dragged me there and helped me fix my partially merged soul with little Mina-chan. We also then took the fragment of my soul that I used to create my blood clones, and molded Nagisa from it. A few more Fuuin-kinjutsus and boom, Nagisa has always been here and everyone that should know about her does now."
The redhead former clone cleared her throat pointedly.
"Well…All but Kushina." Minashi shrugged. "She may get vague recollections of hearing Nagisa and Natsu's names, but Miyuki-oba was obsessed with keeping Kushina away from twins after the disaster with Ren and Riku when they had babysat Kushina."
Said twins nodded understandingly. Miyuki was eccentric and a bit high strung for even Uzumaki standards. They had also fueled little Kushina's pranking sprees since she was an only child of Miku's line.
"How does that explain whatever you did affecting my memories?" Sakumo called.
"Because the truth of my soul and the experiences I lived needed anchors to make them real." Nagisa hummed. "Even I have two sets of memories now where I'm aware of who my mate actually was, but if asked I will instinctively answer as Kan now."
"Just….how?!" Michi let out a long whine. "I've read some of Aika-sama's theory scrolls, even read about some of her theories on the soul. It's how she was able to help people change genders. Adjusting their DNA to fit their soul….but actually creating a new soul and…"He waved his hands around wildly almost hitting a few of their Clansmen and women "Making everyone directly affected by her to have the memories to match!?"
"Well…..Aika has had a long time to research." Minashi snorted. "She sealed a part of her consciousness away in the plane of souls where all of our reincarnated souls rested. She had found it towards the end of her life. Thus, when she knew it was time to let go, her physical body died, but her consciousness went to the soul plane to wait for a reincarnation that would open her journals."
Minashi smiled innocently at her clansmen and family. Tsunade was rubbing her temples. Sakumo's face was completely blank.
The other Uzumakis were frowning and trying to still figure out what she'd done.
"But…you have memories of your first life." Mariko asked hesitantly. "You both still share those memories."
"Well, yes." Minashi tilted her head. "I have a Mind Palace backed by the strength and stability of a millennial old bijuu. Protecting those memories is child's play."
"How…does this work then?" Tsunade sighed "Who technically time traveled now?"
"Minashi." "Me." Nagisa and Minashi answered in chorus.
"After losing both Kan and Natsu, I was losing my sanity. Then, I learned that my baby niece and nephew were kidnapped from my brother. Only finding Minashi with a barely stable jinchuriki seal and a breaking soul, I fixed the problem when the new minashi arrived. We changed my jinchuriki seal, from kyuubi chakra I found and sealed within myself after Uzu's fall, to act as her once brother's did. From there it was simple with her Kurama being good and splitting his chakra between us since it was too much for someone her size. Then when we'd traveled close enough to chakra signatures I could sense were Konoha-nin, I let Minashi attach herself to someone I trusted to protect her. After that I returned to Konoha to prepare to come out of the shadows…." Nagisa trailed off and turned her head out towards the window, wondering where Hiruzen was.
"Yes, Sandaime-jiji should have altered memories as well." Minashi finished. "His should be of a young and distraught Nagisa arriving to him in the middle of the night. He took her under his wing and kept her deep in the shadows to protect her. Barely keeping her in Konoha yet educating her in everything she would need to know about the village. Thus their father and daughter bond."
"Freaky." Riku muttered. "Cool." Ren smirked. "Teach us?" They chorused eagerly.
Minashi shot them a very dry look. "No. Aika is a genius but bloody fucking insane. This was the first and last time I will ever be fucking with Universal Law Fuuin-Kinjutsus. I've already sealed all those lessons away in my head so none can steal the knowledge from me. There is a reason Aika hardly mentioned such things. You all are living how powerful such Kinjutsus are."
"Minashi-hime," Kaede stepped forward with a peculiar look on her face. A mix of curiosity and hope. "If even non-Uzumakis within Konoha felt the change, but especially everyone close to the main family, had these new memories shoved into our heads….Wouldn't that mean that All Uzumakis outside of Konoha would know that a seal was used to alter our memories? Because that is the first thing an Uzumaki is taught; how to use our blood and chakra to identify a seal in use nearby but especially on ourselves. Even bastardized seals from foreigners. Seals sing to us like siren calls."
Minashi just sat there leaning back on her arms. Her face carefully blank.
Nagisa however was hiding her smirk behind the cup of water she'd gotten. The redhead watched as that news sunk in.
"Ne, Hokage-sama~" Nagisa sing-songed. Sakumo twitched, face still blank even as his dark eyes slid to the sly vixen he could now see the smirk of. "As Proxy for the Uzumaki-Hime, I'm officially requesting for a private meeting with Senju-sama and you. The Senju-Uzumaki compound will be undergoing renovation in the coming weeks to months."
Namika's trembling hands covered her mouth, tears streaming down her face as even Minashi smiled at her people looking to her for confirmation.
"Curiosity is an Uzumaki's weakness." the Blonde hummed head tilted to the side, smile growing into a grin. "They will want to know just who Uzumaki Nagisa is and how she rewrote their worlds. As Kaede-san said, Uzumakis know when a seal has been used. Especially on themselves. So yes, I sent out a siren call to the other surviving Uzumakis that escaped the invasion."
"If you still think this is all so weird and freaky?" Nagisa called and looked down at her own hands again. "Try thinking about having no sense of self and suddenly you are an entire individual. This is strange even for me. I know I'm once a collection of all the Nagisa Blood Clones, but at the same time, I'm Ren and Riku's only baby sister. I'm aware now that if I died…there is no coming back this time by a simple clone jutsu. I'm just as human as everyone else now."
The room was washed in absorbing silence. Everyone lost in their own thoughts, their hearts thudding loud in their ears. Escapees would come.
Namika let out a choked nose and dove for Nagisa, almost taking the redhead down to the ground as she sobbed into her shoulder.
"Musume!" Namika repeated over and over and Nagisa's own eyes burned with tears. Even if she knew the memories were implanted, they were still real. Aika had said as so. This really was her mother, her mother who'd been trapped in that seal for so long. Nagisa hugged her ka-san closer, nose buried into her shirt, memorizing her scent all over.
A hand landed on her head, and cyan flecked eyes looked up and found her papa smiled at her proud and happy before he was curling around her and Namika as well. She even felt Ren and Riku join their hug. Nagisa felt a part of her heart, her self heal at having her family all together.
Minashi smiled at her Aunt pleased. While never in her wildest dreams was her 'adult' self getting the family she'd always dreamed of part of the plan, but she didn't regret it. Nagisa was too important to go away or just die off one day when Minashi didn't 'need' her anymore. So seeing her being able to live and grow with her family instead of being stuck in an unchanging form, was…just another thing that proved to Minashi that she'd done the right thing in not only coming back, but messing with the Universal Laws.
It wasn't too long after that, that the Uzumakis returned back to what they had been doing. To Minashi's shock(and mild irritation, this was going to become a damn thing, wasn't it?), everyone under Kaede and the recently remade head of the 'Branch' lines of the Uzumaki Clan, Bowed to Minashi before leaving.
All that eventually remained were the Main family members who spent a bit longer speaking about the new memories to solidify them even further into the new 'truth' that they were.
Word was already quickly, spreading that Nagisa messed with another fucking seal and just got trapped in her head. Minashi had been called to use their bond to pull her aunt out. Nagisa would have to deal with some teasing, but it was almost normal now that Uzumakis were frequent visitors to the Hospital. Even the New Uzumakis sometimes were sent there for pushing limits or blowing themselves up with seals.
Gossip was spreading that Minashi's frequent visits as a child was just Normal for uzumakis. Those that remembered then only fueled the gossip that while Tsunade was an excellent Medic, many medical advances had come from Uzushio before its fall.
Thankfully, Nagisa and Minashi were able to be discharged the same day.
Nagisa herself was clinging to Namika as their group headed out, Tsunade returning to work with a roll of her eyes and a single thought. 'Uzumaki's'.
Minashi herself was clinging to Riku's back as she told him and Ren about one of her and Naruto's pranks.
"Mina!" Kushina's worried call came from the lobby of the hospital. Beside her was Minato with Naruto in his arms. The couple had looked to be headed into the hospital. Thus to see their baby sister leaving it again was concerning.
"What happen-" Kushina started before Nagisa's sheepish chuckle pulled the attention to her. "Gomen Kushina-chan, I was messing around with an old seal and got trapped in my head for a bit. Minashi came and got me out. She's fine and unharmed. Ka-san and Pops have already given me the run around."
The younger uzumaki huffed. "Geeze shishou, do you even know the definition of taking it easy?"
Nagisa just smiled innocently. Michi coughed to cover up a snort. Kushina sent her granduncle a suspicious look.
"Nee-san." Minashi tilted her head, staring at her sister as her senses…picked up on something very important. "Why are You here?"
Kushina froze and suddenly wouldn't meet anyone's eyes. Minato's own cheeks turned a bit pink as he shifted Naruto to his other hip. "Kushi has an appointment." He answered to his extended family.
Sakumo paused before letting out a long sigh and took Mariko's hands. "Come on. Let's get lunch before I have to go setup Kushina's security detail and leave paperwork. No doubt Kudo will come for my head when he hears."
Mariko just giggled, kissed Kushina's burning cheek and left with her poor overwhelmed fiance.
Riku let Minashi drop down as the two twins waited for Sakumo to be out of sight. They then grinned, looked at Mako and lunged for her, the trio disappeared in shunshins.
Mashai snorted at his siblings' antics.
"Oh!" Namika clapped her hands together. "More Babies?!"
Kushina flushed as red as her hair. "Maybe. We're checking."
Minashi, Michi, and Nagisa snorted in concert. "You're pregnant." they blurted, shared looks and snickered. Kushina flushed brighter.
"Sensors." Michi chuckled patting Kushina's shoulder. "Four weeks along minimum. The heart and life chakra are developed enough to be sensed. Congratulations niece."
Kushina beamed.
"Now, Nagisa and I have some business to attend to, so we will meet with you and Minato later to celebrate."
"I'll leave it up to you two to tell Aniki." Namika hummed watching as Minato thankful didn't seem affected anymore.
"That's why we're here." Minato smiled at his aunt by marriage peacefully. "We want to surprise him with a sonogram."
"Hm, and you'll make sure one is printed for me too Minato-kun?" Namika smirked.
The blonde smiled and nodded. "Wouldn't dream of not getting one for Kushina's precious aunt."
"Good answer." Mashai chuckled.
"Well, this was nice, but I'm in the mood to cuddle babies." Kaiya clapped, then grabbed her cousin. "Come wolf, you can join me." and before Mashai could say another word he was dragged through multiple shunshins away.
Minashi and Nagisa shared looks. The latter shrugged before joining Michi and Namika as they left the hospital.
"Would you like to join us?" Kushina held out her hand to her baby sister.
Minashi beamed. "Yes!" She took one of Kushina's and one of Minato's hands and followed them deeper into the hospital for the maternity ward. It wasn't long before they were let into a room.
Naruto sat on Minashi's lap all while one of the Nurses started the sonogram over Kushina's flat belly, with a bit of kunoichi abs and very few faint silver stretch marks left over from Naruto's birth. Minato stood holding her hand as they all waited for it.
Then there, in black and white was a tiny little bean of a baby. The nurse flipped a switch and suddenly like a hummingbird, a heartbeat filled the air. Even Naruto had stopped playing with Minashi's fingers and hair at the new noise.
"Da?" Naruto vocalized.
Minashi felt her eyes burn as Kushina looked over at her baby boy with tears in her own eyes.
"That's your baby sibling Naru-chan." Kushina said and Naruto made a confused noise.
Minato was silent as he leaned over and kissed Kushina's head, face hidden in her hair except his eyes. Those eyes were as sharp as any veteran shinobi, and that focus was completely on the image of their baby.
"Seems baby is Six weeks." The nurse announced for the happy family. "Everything seems to be right on schedule for their development. Would you like pictures?"
"Hai!" Kushina choked out.
Minashi buried her face in Naruto's spikes. Arms tightening around his middle as her emotions ran high. This…
'This is why I came back.' Minashi said and Nagisa sent the feeling of a comforting hug back. Kurama's chakra briefly flicked her in congratulations, but she felt the annoyance in it. It seems she would need to apologize to her best friend for a while yet. Aika had played a prank on the kitsune to keep him busy, and apparently he wasn't going to be over it for a while.
Sakumo gave Mariko a final kiss before she headed back home. Karin-chan was still at a playdate, so Mariko had been enjoying a girl's day with her cousin. She'd wanted to now spend time with her daughter and Sakumo had promised to be done in time for dinner and even make sure Kakashi came with him so they could get to know each other better. Not that Kakashi had shown any signs of disliking Mariko.
The Hokage shook his head to get it back on straight as he entered his office. He wasn't surprised to find a few people in the office waiting for him. Asuka had said he had guests.
"Hiruzen, Kudo, Sukitama-san." He nodded even as he walked to his seat, sitting down with a heavy sigh and eyeing the awaiting paperwork with a glare.
"Hm, Sakumo." Hiruzen called evenly. "I just had a very…interesting lunch with Biwako. She just about dragged me to the hospital when I had a sudden and painful migraine."
Kudorama and Sukitama shared looks and watched the interaction between past and present Hokage.
"Hm, you and every other person involved with Nagisa." Sakumo snorted under his breath.
Hiruzen hummed. "So…do I even want to know how?" he hedged.
Sakumo sat back, arms crossed, eyes distant. "No. Just blame the Uzumakis and their innate insanity."
"Hm. Understood." The former Hokage stood. "I will see you later then." The Sarutobi then walked himself out.
Sakumo sent his ANBU out and then it was just him and his extended family alone in the now barrier secured office.
"Explain." Kudorama barked sharply.
"Time travel." Sakumo sighed.
"Who?"
"Minashi."
Sukitama's eyes bugged out.
"How?"
Sakumo shrugged. "Hell if I know. But from what I've learned over the years, sacrificing everyone else she had left and loved."
Kudorama frowned. "Then what about Nagisa-"
"Originally it was just a blood clone. Her and Minashi would switch out depending on where the original was needed. Her blood henges made it easy. Backlash was her weakness."
The mother and son blinked as their minds processed that at much faster speeds than normal people. One was a genius, and the other had married one, and wasn't stupid herself.
"So…what was that?" Sukitama asked. "I have memories of Kan-kun mating with Nagisa. Of Ruriko bragging that She would be a grandmother first."
"I have memories working with Sandaime-sama in passing missions to Nagisa in secret. In helping her train to be stronger, in looking for who was behind Uzu's fall." Kudorama said neutrally.
Sakumo let out a long, long sigh. "Fucking Uzumakis and Universal Law breaking seals. Just know that Minashi is special, no one will be able to do what she did to make her blood clone a real person. Nagisa is just as real as everyone else and according to the world, she always has been."
"Hn." Kudorama grunted.
"Ah!, Don't tell Minato or Kushina. They are the only exceptions to the rules." Sakumo sat up. "Minashi doesn't want them to know the first life she lived."
Sukitama's brows shot up. "First born?"
Sakumo shook his head. "Naruto's former twin. She erased her existence as his sister, and instead took over the body of his aunt due to reincarnation bullshit."
The two Uzumakis (half for Kudo) just stared.
"Understood." Sukitama stood. "I'm going to go find Michi-san then and let him know we are in the know."
Sakumo lowered the barrier. Sukitama left as the ANBU returned to position. The Hokage turned to his best friend.
"Uzumakis." Kudo grunted.
The Hatake sighed exasperated. "Uzumakis." there was a pause. "I need a standard Maternity detail for Kushina." he tacked on in after thought.
Kudorama stared at his cousin, practical brother, in tense silence.
"Run." The senju snarled, chakra leaking off of him. Sakumo's shoulder tensed.
"I have paperwork-"
"You let another Uzumaki get pregnant!" Kudo snapped. "You will be my punching bag as I have to deal with the ensuing hormonal chaos terrorizing my shinobi!"
Sakumo just tilted his head innocently. "Take it out on Nagisa."
The Commander paused and his anger was abated. "Ah, that does seem like a good plan. In a way, this is her fault for keeping her niece out of Kushina's home."
"Hm. Yes, well, do make sure she's still fit for travel to Iwa next week."
"No promises." The Half Senju grunted and shunshined away.
Nagisa stared at the new basement of her home. With Michi's assistance they had created an underground library to store both Uzumaki libraries. With careful Space-time seals and preservation seals, not only was the space bigger on the inside than it looked, but nothing would damage the delicate relics of their clan. This setup however would allow Nagisa and minashi to further delve into the history of the clan without making a mess of the living room.
But it was during this time that Michi and Namika had been talking to Nagisa about the other reincarnations. That and Nagisa was able to unashamedly make as many shadow clones as she could handle (she was a previous jinchuriki, she could make a lot) to help not only sort scrolls, but read journals.)
"Ne, pops?" The redhead called cautious as one of her clones popped after finishing off the last of the death certificates. Even the most recent ones that had been added and sorted for the Uzumaki records. Hokage-sama had a list, but not the actual certificates since they were Konoha citizens.
"Hm?" Michi called absently while he read through Aika's Journals, His own clones sorting documents from the Water Warring Era. Namika was sorting the birth certificates a section down.
"When was anyone going to tell me that the Mainfamily did have twins in their blood long before you and Miyuki brought it into the family?"
Michi froze. Namika looked over at them confused. "What? That's not right."
Nagisa however was watching Michi as he just stared at the pages below. "Pops?"
"I wasn't born yet…even Miku-ane hadn't been born. "Mito-ane, Miho-ane and Mika-ane didn't like talking about it…about them."
"Who?" Namika walked to her husband.
"Miko and Masa. Fraternal twins. Fourth and fifth born. Masa was the first born son of Tou-san."
Namika's eyes widened before she rushed off to all the birth certificates that she'd just sorted. She came back with the two named certificates.
"Their father wasn't listed and there was just a mother's name, so I didn't put it together. With the rest of the mainline." She whispered.
Michi smiled sadly. "Do not worry, I didn't learn of it until I was older and had access to the archives myself and found that their mother was connected to father."
"It wasn't Sara." Nagisa whispered. Michi smiled at her sadly.
"No, it wasn't. When I learned of it, We'd already lost father and mother wouldn't speak of the woman. I thought it was bad blood. Until i asked Miho-ane."
Michi tapped the journal with his knuckle. "You know the three royal lines?" Nagisa nodded. "Taro's grandson, Aika-sama mentions a blonde foreigner that he met and fell in love with."
Nagisa's eyes widened. Michi nodded.
"Twins do Not run in the Uzumakis naturally. Our chakra stores are too taxing on the mothers, but we didn't know that until much too late. Nor did we know of the bonds between the twins due to the way Uzumakis develop in utero." He waved a lazy hand.
"I digress. Anyways, just as the Hatake visited more often due to Raiden-sama, so did the small clan that belonged to that woman. Granted they were a very small clan, less than a hundred and nomads from Kaze. So only the immediate family came. Well, some never left." He waved to Namika. "Her grandmother is a prime example. She too was a golden blonde and related to Sara's great-great grandmother. However, until you and your nephew, the blonde did not overcome the strong Uzumaki genes."
"But the genetics were still there." Namika murmured.
Michi hummed. "Kita Namikaze gave birth to the first ever recorded Uzumaki twins. Miko born first, and Masa, born second. Both had the most unique hair according to Miho-ane. Red but with golden highlights making it look like living sunsets."
"Something went wrong." Nagisa assumed.
"Hm." Michi agreed. "Father wasn't the one that had fallen in love with the visiting blonde. Mother did. Mother introduced them and while father didn't love Kita as deeply as he did Sara, Kita made Sara happy and when Sara was happy, Father was happy."
"He took her as a second wife." Nagisa guessed.
"Correct."
"She died in Childbirth." The younger redhead said, eyes closed as she remembered filing away one Uzumaki Kita's death certificate. She'd changed her name.
"Mother was inconsolable apparently." Michi rubbed his neck as he thought back to Miho-ane's retelling. "It didn't help that Masa was sick and nothing father did, could explain why. None of our healing experts could explain it. They were able to extend his life, but in the end he died before his fifth birthday."
Nagisa closed her eyes, head hung knowing where this was going.
"Miko hung on for another year before father and mother stopped treatment when they had a consult from recent allies that only confirmed it was hurting her to keep her alive."
"The bond." Nagisa whispered.
"Except stronger than normal." Michi sighed. "Mito-ane being eldest had come to her sister's, mother's, and father's desperate pleas when Kita's pregnancy was harder than normal. Bringing with them Tobirama. It was Tobirama the one that aided in Kita's delivery. But before then, Miho said that Kita had already suffered a partial misscarriage, thus the call for help to help keep the other babies alive."
Nagisa's eyes shot wide. "Triplets?"
"Hm."
"A triplet bond…" The youngest whispered.
"Hai. After the miscarrage Tobirama stayed on as one of the best healers in small details with the sensory skills to match. He could see something we couldn't and it eased some of the burden on Kita. It couldn't save her however due to the demand on her body. Miko was born naturally, but when Kita's heart had started crashing, Masa was born through a c-section. He was very small. Both of the babies were according to Ane-sama."
"Miko apparently grew only a little faster than her brother, but Masa grew so slowly and was very sick. Father and mother dedicated all their time to the twins. Their loss practically broke them. Their only pieces of Kita-san."
Michi let out a deep sigh. "After one of the anniversaries, apparently mother and father got extremely drunk." He snorted and sent his wife and daughter a small smirk. "Miku-ane was born nine months later. While they hadn't planned on more kids, Miku healed a part of them that had been broken. Brought them back together. I'm also told that when I was born, Father cried. I may not be technically the first son, but I was definitely more loved and spoiled than any child of my living siblings."
Nagisa just stared as her finger tapped against the table she was sitting at for the story.
Early deaths. Aika had said. While being born to triplets might have been a fluke or show of how powerful Miko could have been, it was just as predicted.
The redhead groaned and let her head drop back. "Son of a bitch." she hissed. "I hate it when that smug Baba is right." Nagisa dropped her chin and showed off her very disgruntled face to her parents. "I'm going to need a journal of my own to track down all these damn reincarnations."
Michi perked up. "What?"
His daughter let out another sigh, rubbing her neck. "Aika-sama has a theory that if there is too great of an age difference between Ashura, Indra, and Kamera's reincarnations, the others suffer early deaths. Because Hashirama and Madara were well into their twenties when the triplets were conceived, Kamera's next life would be too weak to survive. It's highly possible that in order to attempt to survive, Kamera's soul pulled on the two extra ones attached to her life then. First the triplet within the womb, and then later Masa's own life. When they ran out, so did her own life."
"That's horrible." Namika whispered. Nagisa shrugged.
"That is the curse of the cycle Minashi and her soul brothers are stuck in. That is the Cycle Zetsu is using to his advantage until he has an Uchiha perfect enough to complete his plans."
"How does it end?" Michi inquired curiously. "How are you planning on ending it?"
"I can't." Nagisa enunciated. "It is all up to Minashi now. She must guide Ashura and Indra's newest reincarnations down the path that will settle their souls. Together they will have to end Zetsu and the cycle with it….or at least the cursed part of the cycle."
"Well, you both know you have family, friends, and comrades to help you support them." Namika nodded. "Rely on us more musume."
Nagisa's eyes burned once more at being called daughter. "Hai~" She choked out.
Minashi looked around the corner, checking the street to make sure the coast was clear. She couldn't rely on her chakra senses with her pursuer. He was a natural sensor and was one of the few she had quickly found out was able to hide from her senses. (not counting Sage Mode, but that took the fun out of it.)
Scenting the wind with her nose, she found the coast clear, and slipped between the medium crowd. She really wanted to get some Ramen since Kushina had banned it from the house after it made her nauseous last night.
The blonde loved her sister, but she could not live without Ramen.
She had just about made it to her destination when her body froze against her wishes. Minashi whipped her gaze to the Nara that dared, and frowned at the annoyed look on Shikaku's face.
"Troublesome blonde. Do you know how hard you and your aunt are to get a hold of?"
The kagemane released and Minashi straightened up. "Nagisa-oba is working on a Clan Project with jiji."
Shikaku grunted. "Well, since what I was asked to work on was requested by you both, I was hoping one of you would be available."
The Blonde perked up. "Ya cracked it?"
The Nara smirked arrogantly. "Such an insult, of course I cracked the code." He brought out a scroll from his pouch and tossed it to her. "Don't know how much help it will be if you got the corresponding information from Uzushio already."
Minashi shrugged and walked for the Ramen stand. "We'll see. You've already read it?"
"Couldn't not." He snorted and found himself in step with his best friend's little sister as they sat down. He watched sharp blue eyes devour the scroll at speeds he recognized from Minato's own genius mind. Leaning on the counter, he watched as no surprise registered on Minashi's face.
"Your ancestor was a little shit." the blonde mumbled. "Not even an Uzumaki and played an Uzumaki worthy tactic."
"Hm?" Shikaku raised a curious brow. The teen glanced at him.
"He got around the Daimyo's Order to revoke all Fire Nation records of the Peace Treaty and beginning stages of a village with the Senju and Uchiha leading backed by an already in place alliance with Whirlpool."
Shikaku stared. "There…was a revocation?" he whispered. "The Nara never listened to those orders. We always write the history as it was."
Minashi sighed as she rolled up the scroll. "In Queen Aika's journals, the Daimyo of that time was a man that cared greatly about his pride. Thus, when the Uchiha and Senju fell apart, he wanted it wiped from history the embarrassment of his decision to support their movement for a Shinobi village."
"That's a damn shame."
"Hm. Damn shame they were manipulated into falling apart. Your ancestors noted something working in the shadows but couldn't identify it." The blonde rolled up the scroll even as Teuchi placed her normal before her. She beamed at him.
Shikaku waved the chef off for an order.
"You sure? I was going to pay." Minashi offered. "I do owe you and your dad for cracking this."
"It was a fun challenge. We don't get something like that for fun let alone from our own clan that often. Heck, it might be a code to offer Hokage-sama for the village." The Nara snorted. "That is payment enough." He stood up. "Well, it might have been late, but I hope there's something in there the Naras protected that could help with whatever you were looking for."
Minashi waved absently in agreement as she ate her Ramen.
The older shinobi chuckled and lazily walked off. Minashi had just finished her bowl of Ramen with a satisfied sigh, when a hand slammed down onto her shoulder in an unrelenting grip. She shrieked, but couldn't jump. Instead she shakily turned towards the masked Dragon.
"He-he-hey, C-c-cousin!"
Dragon's chakra curled with far too much glee. "Hello agent Yosei. It seems like you need personal training for your upcoming examinations to keep your Captain position." Kudorama's voice was as dry as Suna's desert. Minashi whimpered as she were shunshined away.