The Reason Why Kagura…

…Fully and Utterly Respects her Mother's Wishes Now

"I said no."

Her mother's usual easygoing self stared at her daughter.

"I am able to control seals and use the Power of the Uzumaki!" Kagura, at twenty-three, had never been allowed to leave the island. Now, she had a chance. "Father –" She looked beseechingly at her father, who looked old, compared to her mother's seeming eternal youth. "Please, Father. I wish to go to Konoha with the others – this Uzumaki who has been causing trouble –"

"It is not a matter for you to deal with," her mother interrupted. "You should not use the Power bestowed unto us Uzumaki Queens as the sole source of your power, Kagura."

"Fine," Kagura spat, whirling around. "I hope you die," she added spitefully.

She swore she heard her mother say I already have.

~:~

Kagura viewed Konoha as a welcome escape. Evading her parents' guards had been easy, using the Power inherent in all Queens – the power to order any Uzumaki around.

The small group of Kumo-nin was so large they never even noticed the addition to the group.

The gates to Konoha met her gaze, and her heart pounded. She left the group of fools and came around as herself.

…it was underwhelming.

How had her mother grown up in this cluttered mess of a village?

(Kagura conveniently forgot that her island was as, if not more, cramped than this village.)

Ninja jumped around. As a visiting ninja, Kagura would have had to go straight to the Hokage, but as she was an Uzumaki all she needed to do was provide genuine material that she was the princess of Uzushio.

Even so, she went directly to the Hokage.

Sarutobi Konohamaru looked to be about five, maybe six years, younger than her father.

"I am Uzumaki Kagura," she said without preamble, raising her head haughtily. "I request an audience with the prisoner."

He stared at her for a moment.

"Well…" he drawled, "you're certainly her daughter." He set his elbow on his desk. "Permission –"

Kagura was opening her mouth to give her thanks.

"-denied."

"Thank you – what?!"

Konohamaru stared at her. "I know she didn't send you. She sent Aquarius-san."

Kagura clenched her fists. "I am the monarchy of the Uzumaki –"

"No, you're just her daughter," Konohamaru said steadily. "I know you weren't so bratty when you were a child, I don't understand where you got it in your head that you're all that."

Kagura growled. Instead of a threatening one like her mother's, it came out as a groan of frustration.

She whirled out.

~:~

"Yo! Brat!"

A slightly familiar voice met her ears. Kagura turned, her eyes flashing.

Unfortunately, it didn't have the same effect as her mother's.

"I know for a fact that your mother didn't raise you like that," the woman said, her Sharingan eyes morphing, making Kagura remember the woman who occasionally came by.

"My mother is a queen, and I would tell you to show me the same respect you show my mother," Kagura replied coldly.

"…read a book," Uchiha Saki said. "Or better yet, read your mother's favorite book."

Kagura opened her mouth in confusion to ask what her mother's favorite book was.

But Saki had vanished.

~:~

Kagura was frightened. After leaving Konoha she'd been accosted by bandits, and her sealing power wasn't working.

How had her mother fared?

Can't believe this is the hero's daughter.

Hero… That rang a distant bell in her head.

She sat there for a moment, thinking.

And then a question popped up.

The Uzumaki in Konoha had attempted, without provocation, to kill ninja in Hi no Kuni land. All the soldiers loyal to her had never been given a command unless in dire circumstances. Her mother used the Seal-power so often it was second nature, but she didn't order anyone with her own ability to do things – if she gave them an order it was an order without the Power.

But… Why hadn't her mother Ordered Kagura to stay?

And why couldn't she have Ordered her troops to stay loyal to her?

~:~

When Kagura opened her eyes again after being drugged, she was tied to a stump.

Her mother stood there, all alone and looking tiny compared to everyone in the clearing.

"Who're you?" the leader asked, looking surprised. "Some brat who –"

"You're dead," Uzumaki Naruto interrupted, her voice pleasant. She started walking, untying the sash that held up all her ceremonial kimonos.

Now, Kagura had never seen a slaughter quite like this – she'd seen some people get killed, all from the shelter of her home.

But… As soon as her mother untied her sash and dropped her clothes, it was suddenly obvious why she wore so many layers with a sash.

She was hiding a literal sword sheathed across her back, low enough to where she could hide it but high enough to grab it.

Kagura watched her mother, with a face like stone, mercilessly kill the people who had kidnapped her daughter.

~:~

Kagura swallowed as asked a question.

"Mother, why don't you ever use the Power on any other Uzumaki?"

Her mother blinked. "Because it's not right."

Kagura frowned. "Why not?"

Her siblings were watching them with keen eyes.

Naruto leaned forward.

"Because controlling the actions of others is a cowardly move. I admit to using the Power when I was younger, before I died, but that was to order them to do things they wanted." Naruto paused. "You ask this because you wonder if I have ever used it to enforce loyalty on my subjects or army." She took a drink. "Nope."

"Why not? You could order the man in Konoha to stop his bad ways." Kagura didn't really understand.

Neji hummed. "You really could."

"I could." Naruto nodded. "Kagura. I'm going to use my power on you." Everyone looked at her, even Neji, who furrowed his brows. Naruto looked to Neji. "Do you trust me?"

Neji nodded. "Yep."

Naruto put her chin on her folded hands. "Kagura, kill your father." Power made her words reverberate in the air.

There was a silence.

Kagura fought against it as she stood. There was a certain detachment, like she couldn't feel a thing.

Neji sat there.

"Kagura, stop."

Inches from her father's neck, she stopped.

"You are released."

Kaguya felt control return to her.

"Do you know how that feels?" she yelled at her mother.

"Like you can't feel a single thing," her mother answered, voice quiet. "Like you're screaming on the inside, begging for it to stop. Yes, I sure as hell do know."

"But – I can't control you, you're immune," Kagura said, staggering back. She felt ashamed to admit she had tried it on her mother.

Naruto inclined her head. "Yep. I suppose holding the Queen title makes that fact obvious, sweetheart. I know how it feels because that's how I felt for ten years. I was seventeen."

Her father was fifty-eight years old.

Her mother was forty-seven.

"I was an Edo Tensei." Naruto shook her head even as Kagura stared at her mother in shock. "I thought we covered this when you were younger! Like, three!"

"Babe, that was twenty years ago," her father reminded her.

"How are you so calm?! She just ordered me to kill you!" Kagura yelled.

"She was ordered to kill my entire clan, tried to kill me," Neji shrugged. "Apparently she had to have a second go at it."

"My point is," Naruto said, regaining Kagura's attention, "those who have power must shield the ones that do not have the power from others that do." Naruto leaned back in her seat. "If I had wanted to, I could have razed Konoha to the ground when I became Queen. I rallied my people. I could have easily ordered them to martyr themselves just to give myself the satisfaction of destroying the village I did not like." Naruto shook her head. "And I didn't. I tried to use my Power for the greater good. I worded my Orders vaguely enough so they were mostly in charge." Naruto stared at her daughter intensely. "Here's a riddle. A girl was called weak, shunned, and pretty much shunned from her clan. Her cousin was better, superior in every way. The girl loved another girl. During an exam, the clan girl fought her hardest against the superior cousin; the girl the clan girl loved cheered her on and the clan girl got up, over and over. Even bloody and with no way to win, she kept going. Who won, and who was humiliated?"

Kagura was starting to fit pieces together.

"The clan boy, and the clan girl."

"Wrong." Kagura frowned. "The clan boy won… and was humiliated."

"Yeah, that was true," her father said, depression lines appearing. "I really shouldn't have hurt Hinata."

"In the final test," her mother said, going back into story mode, "the boy fought the dead last. Who won that?"

"Father did! I've seen the records, he won every fight!" Kagura knew her father's history, and her mother's. Her father had won every battle since –

"Wrong again, sweetie." Naruto grinned. "I was the dead last. I won."

There was a pause.

"Like I said," Naruto said picking up her fork. Kagura sat back into her chair, stunned. "The difference between Neji and I then, I believe, was that I wanted to protect your Aunt Hinata. Neji just wanted to prove that he was right – he was a real asshole then."

The children in the room all stared at their father in trepidation.

As usual, Neji just smiled serenely. "Yes I was," he said with a nod.

(Alas, Kagura didn't become queen for a looooong time. She was totally unprepared for it.)