[Mito Uzumaki[ A month before the Tailed beast extraction]

Minato has come a long way... Having given me a chance to help him, I worked through Minato's problem. It was easy to subtly manipulate him to accept that yes, deaths were an inevitablility and that he should accept that fact.

His mental health has drastically improved after his acceptance of that fact. He still strives to be powerful enough to protect his friends but now he knows and accepts the fact that he can't protect each and every one of them.

Fucking angst. Right after the kid got out of his emo phase, I smacked him down HARD. The kid made me worried for a month or two, you know. I have also tried to make the kid relax and it has worked well. The kid is pretty well adjusted nowadays. Accepting that death happens also opened his eyes to the lives of civilians and people other than his friends. The brat tended to prank people to release his frustration but nowadays he actually enjoys them.

Now that he has stopped being an angsty teen or more precisely a preteen. Fortunately, he overcame his issues otherwise I don't think I could have handled that much angst for much more time.

He has started helping people in food shelters and he even brings presents to the Orphanage kids with his monthly allowance. He justifies that by arguing the point that he will earn his own money in a few months through doing missions as a genin. Well he is not wrong but still, bringing presents for orphans through his monthly allowance does show that he feels good by helping others. Honestly, that's a good sign. Kid has a soft spot for orphans, not that he knows it himself...

Kid has come a long way in Fuinjutsu as well. Frankly, his growth is absolutely ridiculous. The only thing weighing on his mind is his inability to save me which while flattering is frankly stupid to be honest. Tsunade is a gosh darned medical prodigy and she hasn't found a way to save me. The kid has a bad habit of over complicating things. The creation of that 'debug console' as he calls it, was bordering on the territory of making him a seal master. The only reason I didn't declare him one is that his 'debug console' is in its infancy and isn't really helpful when researching obscure seals which are what seal masters research.

Minato has developed good enough reserves to use his 'Rasengan' 6 times before collapsing. While this may not seem much, the use of an A rank Jutsu by a 11 year old is a damned good surprise. And he can use it more than 3 times. That gives Minato pretty good odds of winning against even Special Jonins right now. While his Taijutsu isn't up to the snuff, a year of fighting practice with me, has refined his instincts enough that he could react to a Special Jonin's speed. That's enough as Minato's speciality is his creative use of seals in combat and his almost seal less Jutsus. Being able to react to the attacks of Special Jonins, he can fuck them over with his growing repertoire of ridiculous Jutsu.

I think I have taught the kid well if he is prepared enough to handle a Special Jonin before even leaving the Academy. Of course, the Special Jonin part is only possible if the guy/girl doesn't get the drop on Minato and if the guy/gal isn't Jonin level in one of the disciplines. Still, Minato knows enough to escape even if he meets a Jonin on the battlefield. I don't think many could boast the fact that they are able to escape from Jonins at such a young age.

Currently, I am watching the brat try his best at teaching my brother's granddaughter. It has been more than a year and the lass hasn't learned to do the Jutsu perfectly quite yet. The Jutsu is tough but Minato invented AND perfected it in no more than a year and 2 months. Shows how much of a genius Minato is for not only inventing the Jutsu but also perfecting it... Best not praise him so much, lest he slacks off on his training, not that I think that the training maniac is ever going to slack off.

"No no... Not like that. You have to try and make a small layer of neutral chakra on top of it. If you don't do that, it is going to be pretty unstable... Ah yes... Just like that. Don't try to do anything to the chakra within it. It's in a constant loop... You will disrupt it! Yes, Finally!! Now go show that wretched tree who's the boss!"

Kushina smiles a triumphant and... bloodthirsty smile and slams her - "Rasengan" - into the tree. The tree's trunk is pretty much obliterated. Kushina howls in joy and leaps at Minato's back. He carries her and they...dance? Why the hell would someone dance while on another person's shoulder? Kids are weird...

I slowly walk into the clearing,halting their celebrations. Kushina freezes as soon as she sees me while Minato seems disbalanced by Kushina's sudden stillness. I haven't had much time with Kushina so she most likely thinks of me as a strict grandma. It's not like she required my companionship when she has so many friends. I think that's why she suddenly froze after seeing me witness something so 'unsightly', not that I care about these things. I smile widely and walk closer to the duo( with Kushina still sitting on Minato's back).

"Congratulations on finally managing to use the Rasengan. I am proud of you, my granddaughter."

Kushina's face basically lights up after hearing my proud tone. Minato cracks a smile as well.

"Thank you grandma! It was so tough but I am the best Kunoichi in the academy so of course I learned this... Do you know I did it even faster than Minato? I am awesome dattebane!"

Kushina's enthusiasm is infectious as both me and Minato start chuckling with her as well. She honestly deserves it. A rank Jutsu are ridiculously hard to learn especially when you are a child. She doesn't get that much spotlight due to her being in a class with Minato. Otherwise she is definitely S rank material. I won't ruin her mood by telling her how much harder it is to make a jutsu rather than learn a jutsu. She gets enough of that already. I have a feeling that asking Minato to teach Kushina this Jutsu was one of the best decisions of my life.

Minato at first was not really keen on teaching Kushina the Rasengan even though he complied with my request. Of course, he got me as his personal trainer so he had nothing to complain for but I understand that teaching someone else your unique technique isn't a great feeling. The reasons why he accepted my request - and yes, it was a request and not a disguised order - were because he genuinely wanted to learn the basics of Fuinjutsu and because he thought that I would make his life miserable otherwise. Of course, that misunderstanding got cleared up latter but I didn't think that he would think of my request as an order.

Even I wouldn't be allowed to ruin the prospects of an upcoming S/SS rank ninja. I am allowed leeways with a lot of things but not something as big as this. Hiruzen was pretty happy that I nipped all of Minato's issues in the bud. He didn't want a copy of Tobi running around... I can understand the sentiment even though I don't want to. No one wants someone like Tobi in Konoha...well except Danzo but he has been manipulated for years by Tobi. We couldn't really do anything for him.The manipulation he went through is a core aspect of his personality and can't really be changed.

Minato and Kushina get the idea to celebrate this by eating at Ichiraku's Ramen. I would have gone with them as Ramen's kinda my favourite as well, but I don't really want to leave the house unattended. Before they leave, I ask Minato to bring back some Ramen for me.

Minato knows about Jinchuriki and about me being one. Jinchuriki are kind of an open secret but nobody below Special Jonin level is authorised to know about them. I broke some rules by telling him about this but as an S class and the wife of Hashi, I am allowed to break some rules. Besides, it's not like Minato won't be told about this by his Jonin Sensei in the future due to the war being suprisingly close. Minato deserved to know this as my adopted (unofficial?) grandson.

Minato's reaction was fairly subdued, maybe because he hasn't witnessed the destruction brought by those foul creatures. The Kyubi itself was the reason why Hisha Clan was destroyed. They were the greatest group of seal masters after my clan and they were decimated by that monster. Tailed beasts are natural disasters. Most of them have been the cause of immense death and disaster, except the Eight Tails which remained peaceful and the Three Tails which mostly didn't wake up from its resting spot before Hashi captured them.

All other Tailed beasts have rampaged through our lands and killed so many people. I know I am biased against them but the Kyubi was instrumental in my husband's death and Uzumaki take their family very seriously... I know that they are sentient and I don't care. Nobody should. If they had merely been beasts, I could have even ignored them but they are sentient, and KNOW that they are taking so many lives. I can't help but hate such beings.

Minato and Kushina have come a long way as well. Their friendship is pretty strong. Even before I asked Minato to teach Kushina 'Rasengan', they were training together for 2-3 days of the week. For Minato, it was a matter of learning how to fight and subdue opponents weaker than him fast enough and getting used to it while for Kushina, it was a good training exercise.

This has going on for more than a year now. Oh right... that Mikoto girl is involved as well. I am not really prejudiced against the Uchiha clan so I don't have a problem but most of our clan is, that's why I advised Minato to never mention that the three of them train together. It would be a clusterfuck best avoided and thankfully Minato has abided by my advice.

Minato has made many strides in his ninjutsu studies. I haven't really helped him in that regard as it is the responsibility of his Jonin Sensei to teach ninjutsu suited to him. My style is too Fuinjutsu oriented to be of any help to Minato. Of course, as a S rank ninja,I am proficient in all the disciplines but I can't teach Minato ninjutsu without influencing his own style. He would need dedicated training in that area therefore I refrained from teaching him much of ninjutsu.

It wouldn't even matter as my chakra natures are: Water and Earth while his chakra natures are: Wind and Lightning. I did teach him some basic water and earth Jutsu every ninja should know regardless of their chakra nature but nothing really substantial.

I thought of teaching him the shadow clone Jutsu but I don't have the authority to do that and I don't want to push my limits. Regardless of the technique being developed by Tobi...it is a forbidden one and the property of Konoha's upper echelon.I can't really teach him that Jutsu without repurcussions. I did teach Kushina the Shadow Clone technique though... After all, the technique was 'gifted' to the Uzumakis. So it's not really my... fault if a genius like Minato learns it from one of his best friends. It just shows his genius, doesn't it?

The hand seal system made by Minato,has been refined throughout the last year and it has become something worthy of note. Minato has been trying to make a new lightning Jutsu but is getting limited success due to not being advanced enough in his nature manipulation. I am sure that he would be able to make it after getting instructions from his Jonin Sensei. I just hope Jiraiya can take a place in the kid's heart. The presence of an older brother/father figure would help him a lot.

The time of my death is coming... I don't really have any regrets except not saving Tobi from his delusions. Otherwise, my life has been great. I married a great guy. I witnessed my granddaughter's birth and her growth into a respected Kunoichi. I am also going to leave behind a genius protége. I don't think 99% of the ninja population can boast that. Life expectancy in our profession is very short and the fact that I lived till the age where people die of old age, makes me extremely lucky. I made peace with the fact that I am going to die. I just hope that Minato understands it too.

I can die peacefully knowing that I taught someone whose potential surpasses even that of my brother and that is...not a thing I say half heartedly.


[The next day]

"Inoichi is an asshole,Granny. We had been in a pranking war for a few days in which my team consisted of Shika, Choza and me and the opposite team had Kushina, Inoichi and Mikoto- well Mikoto got dragged in but we don't talk about that- and yesterday the smartass told us all that he informed his dad about our 'prank war'.

The bastard scared the shit out of us. We were waiting for the scolding to come when his dad came over. Instead we got pelted by water balloons by his dad and Uncle Shikado. Turns out that they were pranksters back in the day as well and wanted to prank us. The bastard could have told us that there would be no repurcussions but no, he had to hold that information in because 'Seeing your faces like that was worth it'. Man, he is an asshole!"

Minato pouts after saying that. He looks so... adorable! He rarely, if ever pouts. If I had been a lesser woman, I would have pinched his cheeks immediately but I am not. Instead- "I am going to pinch your cheeks, you adorable brat." "Wait what-"

I pinch and strech his cheeks. He struggles to escape but he can't possibly do so. After sometime, I stop pinching his cheeks. He puts his hands on his cheeks and massages them while complaining.

"It isn't fair granny. Why the hell do you have that much strength? That's completely unfair..."

"Fufufu... My grandchild, nothing in this world is fair and look who is telling me that... You my grandchild, is one of the cheatiest cheaters I have ever met. You aren't even 12 and you can give Special Jonins a fight. You have no right to complain..."

Really, I have heard him complain about Uzumaki strength so many times, that I am way past the point of exasperation. I still don't know how one can be so shameless as to call the Uzumaki strength unfair, when being so bloody genius.

Minato is laying down on his bed(he lives in my house on Saturday nights and Sundays, it has become sort of a pseudo home to him). It's still early morning so we haven't started the lessons yet. He is resting after the early morning Taijutsu practice.

"Anyways, I am so glad that Kushina finally learned the Rasengan. Our training exercises were getting repetitive. Still, I didn't expect her to get the hang of Rasengan so quickly. It took me more than a year to form and she learnt it in less than one. The only thing she needs is some practice in combat and then she's ready to use it"

He is not wrong but Kushina learning it fast enough was a matter of her dense chakra(even by our standards) and her ...unnatural excitement over getting a jutsu which damages her opponents physically this much. Minato doesn't notice but Kushina has all the makings of a bloodthirsty kunoichi. She just needs to go to the battlefield to actually cultivate that trait. I haven't done anything to help Kushina through that due to several reasons.

The last 2 years have resolved her abandonment issues but the bloodthirstiness... is still there. I don't see any way to remove it without subjecting her to confront her trauma. Honestly, I just don't want her abandonment issues to take root again. Besides, bloodthirstiness isn't a bad trait for a kunoichi. Kami knows she could have picked up sadism... That would have been very awkward and quite detrimental to her career. I would have scolded Hiren for bad parenting/grandparenting had he not been recovering from trauma himself.

Hina has been with him since his childhood. She was his childhood friend turned lover. Hina was my friend as well. Contact with her became sparse after Hashi died but I have seen Hiren and Hina grow under my eyes. It was painful to hear that she died. Kami knows how much pressure is Hiren under... I just hope that he doesn't take any drastic steps in this state.

"...Granny! GRANNY!"

HUH? What happened? Oh... It's just Minato. Looks like I picked up his habit of zoning out after spending the year with him.I hope he hasn't picked my habits of violent solutions from me. That would be... awkward to say the least.

"Why the hell are you shouting,you brat?" " Oh nothing, just saw you zone out so I tried to bring you back to the land of living." The brat replies cheekily and I answer that by delivering a chop- "Ouch...Ouch!!"- on his head.

Hashi never complained about me being violent but it was because he was always submissive in bed. Regeneration makes you pick up submission as a fetish very quickly and I was always a Dom... Fortunately, my old toys have all been discarded. I don't want Minato to find any of them ever...

"Next time, try to keep your cheekiness under control. Do you understand that kid?"

The brat answers whilst rubbing his head," Yes granny... Ouch.."

"Come here, you drama queen! That wouldn't even have hurt you" I pull the kid over to my lap and kiss him on the forehead. His face lits up in a smile immediately.

I only have a month left for living but somehow that doesn't feel so much bad when I have my grandson here with me.


A/N: Phew... NO more ANGST!! Yay! This section was becoming a clusterfuck. After this, I am going to religiously avoid any 'character development' through solving issues. The last 3-4 chapters bit me back in the ass. Thanks for staying with me even after that shitfest. I promise you all that the next arc will be better.

Tried to show Minato and Mito's relationship to justify his freak out somehow... Hope it makes up for the previous chapters. Minato may look like a monstrous genius to the in-universe people but that's just the result of him being an outside context variable. Of course, Minato is a genius as seeing a thing on TV and replicating it in real life is still VERY hard but he isn't the bullshit genius Mito and the others consider him to be...

Hope you all enjoy this chapter. If you spot any bullshit plotholes, inform me and I will patch them up. Discord server link: discord. gg /72vandfbmG

Goodbye and stay tuned for the next chapter.