I don't own Naruto or any of the characters except the ocs.
Meeting The Uzukage
"Uzukage-sama" Minato and all the ninjas present bowed respectfully as they saw the kage of Whirlpool.
The uzukage; Uzumaki Yoshiro was a very old man with snow-white hair and a meter long beard. His skin wrinkled from age and his eyes were a pale violet in colour.
"Welcome to the Whirlpool village Konoha ninja. Kushina-chan welcome back home."
Minato nodded while Kushina beamed at the old kage. The three genin bowed respectfully.
The wise eyes of the Kage took in the haggard features of the entire team and he became serious.
"It seems that you met with some trouble on the way here."
Minato nodded, "We escaped thanks to one of your shinobi Uzukage-sama."
The Uzukage looked curious then when Minato mentioned Naruto the man smiled warmly.
"Ah... Naruto-kun..." then his expression seemed confused, "I thought he was supposed to be on a mission until tomorrow... If I am not mistaken, it was some sort of escort mission?"The Uzukage asked his assistant.
The young chunin sitting at the adjacent table nodded, "It seems he finished it early."
The Uzukage nodded and turned to face Minato, he ruefully ignored the look Kushina sported at the mention of Naruto. He silently wondered if Kushina would ever get over her jealousy.
"Tamaki-san here would show you your accommodation for the festival. I hope you enjoy the rest of your stay here."
Another chunin comes forward and guides them out of the Uzukage's office. Kushina stays back with the Uzukage as Minato and his team leaves.
"Old man" Kushina throws herself at the Uzukage and the man chuckles heartily and hugs the young woman.
The chunin sitting nearby shakes his head amusedly.
"How are you doing, Kushina-chan?"
"Oh, I am doing well Old man. You're the one who's older than dirt." Kushina teases as she steps back from the man.
Yoshiro gives her a mock glare and Kushina snickers.
"How are things going on here?"
The Uzukage relaxes in his chair while Kushina makes herself comfortable on another chair.
"Well, the festival is here again. Surprisingly everything is going fine despite the war raging on either side." Yoshiro sighs, "Yachiru retired as the house head..."
Kushina had a surprised look on her face but then her eyes narrowed, "So that means he is the Head of the First House now?"
Yoshiro nods and then sighs at the look on Kushina's face, "Yes Naruto is now the head of the First House."
The Uzumaki clan is the largest clan in Whirlpool and the clan was divided into different houses. The First house forms the family line that is direct descendants of the founders of the clan. Only the clan members of the First house also possess the Uzumaki chakra chains. There were only a few members with Chakra chain left including Kushina and Naruto, and all of them were from the First house.
Kushina is scowling, "Isn't he still too young? Why did Yachiru-sama retire anyway? He's only fifty-five. That's a very young retirement age."
"Everyone in the council was impressed by Naruto's abilities and even you have to admit that that kid is a natural leader... After Naruto saved their asses from a political situation, Yachiru decided that Naruto would do a much better job as the House Head."
Kushina doesn't refute his statements. But then she smirks,
"Being House Head means a lot of downtimes. And I know for a fact that Naruto hates, absolutely loathes, downtime."
Yoshiro chuckles at that.
"How long are you going to keep up with this charade?" Yoshiro asks Kushina after some time passes in silence.
Kushina doesn't answer him.
Yoshiro pushes, "I know you don't hate them no matter what you say... Why hurt them like this? Why hurt yourself like this?"
Kushina stands up to leave, "Goodbye Old man." This was a conversation she didn't want to have.
"It's been years Kushina... At least give your Mother a chance. She misses you greatly."
Kushina turns away from the Uzukage, "She made the choice Old man. She's the one who didn't want me. Don't make it sound like my fault"
"Kushina you must understand that she had her reasons" Yoshiro knew that Kushina was on the verge of tears.
"Well, I have mine too."
Kushina slams the door as she walks out.
"Damn that kid can be a stubborn mule sometimes." The Uzukage mutters and the chunin gaves him an amused look.
"Its in the Uzumaki genes Uzukage-sama"
Yoshiro gives the man a mock glare.
Kushina wandered aimlessly through the streets of Ushiogakure. Everyone knew who she was and they all smiled at her and she smiled back absent-mindedly.
So Naruto was the head of the First house now... She didn't doubt Naruto's abilities for a single moment, because no matter how much she loathed to admit it, Naruto was a born leader and an outstanding shinobi. But he was also a kid still, maybe an adult by shinobi standards but still, it didn't sit well with her to dump all of those responsibilities on one so young.
She was jealous, that much was obvious and she didn't try to deny it. SHe was jealous of everything that Naruto had, but that didn't mean she hated him or was petty enough to not acknowledge his talents. Sure she was a hot-head sometimes... okay, most of the time, but she was someone with integrity. And Kushina knew that despite her jealousy and resentment of what happened between them in the past if it comes down to it she would give her life to protect that blonde idiot.
She could still clearly remember the day Akahana had placed that blonde bundle in her arms.
She is brought out of her musings by the sound of someone calling her name. She turned around startled to see Nadia standing behind her.
"Yo, Kushina-chan, I have been trying to talk to you for some time now..." He said chuckling, "Who were you daydreaming about, huh?" He teased.
She playfully punched him in the upper arm, "What do you want Nadia-kun?"
"Kazumi-sama wants to meet you..."
Kushina looked startled, "She wants to meet me? Why now?"
Nadia gave her a look, "Kushina-chan she always tries to meet you, you are the one who runs from her."
Kushina huffed, "Well the last time we met it ended up in village-wide destruction, surely you don't want a repeat performance..."
Nadia shakes his head, "You know, sometimes I think that the both of you are the most stubborn Uzumaki ever."
Kushina stays silent for some time and then decides to change the subject, "So what happened earlier at the gate? Naruto seemed pretty pissed off at Renji..."
Nadia just laughs, "It just Renji pulling a prank on Naruto. But I am with Naruto on that punch, Renji deserved that one."
"Mmm? So what did he do?"
"Renji made Naruto take the last mission in order to prank him. Naruto was supposed to guard the Demon country Prince, that guy's a pervert with a major crush on Naruto... Poor Naruto, I am pretty sure that he ended the mission two days early just to escape that lecher."
Kushina's eyes narrowed, "Was he alone on that mission?"
"Yeah..."
Nadia knew that look very well, Renji should probably watch his back from now on but Nadia had no plan on warning him since Renji deserved whatever Kushina had in mind for him.
Nadia shook his head, everyone thought that Kushina hated Naruto, really they were all fools because you just had to take a closer look to see that the red-head would go all mother bear on whoever dared to harm Naruto.
"Hey Kushina-chan, I know you're still sour over what happened but maybe its time to move one? You should really go see Kazumi-sama, she misses you. After all, she's your mother."
Kushina lowers her head, she knew that. She knew that her mother missed her, but she also knew that both of them were too stubborn to give in to each other's arguments.
"Well, I'll see you later. See you later."
Kushina watched as Nadia walked away and sighed.
Going to her mother seemed too much like admitting defeat and her pride refused to let her do that. So she walked in the opposite direction from where she could feel her mother's chakra.
"Namikaze-san?"
Minato turned around to see Naruto standing behind him.
"Oh, Uzumaki-san, I didn't expect to meet you here."
Naruto chuckled, "Well this place is quite secluded..."
The both of them were standing in a clearing in the middle of the forest at the edge of Whirlpool village.
"Shouldn't you be with your students, Namikaze-san?" Naruto asks curiously. He felt quite awkward, standing in this clearing with Minato. This was a clearing that Naruto often came to when he needed some alone time. He was quite surprised to find Namikaze-san here.
Minato smiled, "I just wanted some time to think..."
Now Naruto felt like he was intruding so he stepped back ready to leave, "Oh... I'll leave you alone then."
"No, wait!" Minato said suddenly.
"Okay?" Naruto said confused.
"I wanted to thank you again for what you did today..."
"You don't need to do that Namikaze-san, I was just doing my duty by protecting our guests," Naruto said softly.
Minato nodded a bit dejected, "yeah, I guess you were... But still thanks."
Naruto was perplexed, something was clearly bothering the older blonde, "What's bothering you, Namikaze-san?"
Minato looked up into warm blue eyes and just spoke freely, "I feel like I have failed my students... If it weren't for you today... I was supposed to protect them. It was my duty, my responsibility."
Naruto looked at the man sadly, he understood what the man must be feeling right now.
"I should've been able to protect them..."
"Stop that Namikaze-san! They are ninjas, not civilians. Babying them is not what you should do. They knew very well what they were getting into when they agreed to become shinobi."
Minato looked at the younger boy angrily, "So what? I should leave them to fend off for themselves when something happens?"
Naruto sighed sadly, "I never said that Namikaze-san. So they were not prepared for what happened today, the only thing you can do is to train them more. Make them stronger so that they can defend themselves the next time. You're their teacher, not their armor. They're ninjas and in the ninja world, you can't protect everyone. Stop blaming yourself, it would do neither you nor them any good."
Minato just silently stared ahead of him but he didn't seem too pleased so Naruto decided to leave.
"I'll take my leave now Namikaze-san, please be at the Uzukage tower at midnight for the ceremony..."
Naruto left quietly leaving Minato with his thoughts.