Author's note: One little short from the two years after Kushina and Kichiro arrived in Konoha. There will be a short series of these.


74 days since the Uzushiogakure Massacre

Uzumaki Kushina

"Good morning, Kushina-chan," someone greeted me pleasantly as I stepped out of our apartment. My hand tightened on the doorknob and I stopped locking it.

I looked to my left and saw a woman standing on the steps below me. The pattern on her pure white kimono resembled the Jōnin uniforms of Uzushiogakure. Her vibrant red hair was tied tightly in buns on either side of her head and two seals hung from them. The seals maintained a weak genjutsu around her, hiding the chakra of the Bijū inside.

"Good morning, Mito-sama," I responded neutrally, quickly finishing locking the door.

"I was hoping to speak with you and your brother, is he here?"

"No."

"Where is he?"

"He went to the market," I lied.

She frowned slightly. "I'm not going to hurt you or your brother, I just want to talk."

"I know who you are, Mito-sama. I know what you carry inside of you. I also know that you're old and those seals in your hair are hiding the weakness of your Jinchuuriki seal."

Her eyes narrowed. "Even on Uzu, that knowledge is not commonplace."

"That doesn't change the fact that I know."

"I swear to you, Kushina-chan, I just want to talk to the two of you."

"No. I don't care what you want and I have no interest in what you have to say. Kichiro and I want nothing to do with you or the Kyuubi."

"I am not the Kyuubi."

"I know and I never said you were. Tell me, how long have you been stalking me and my brother? Since I was two?" Her face stayed impassive. "One? Before I was born?"

She clenched her jaw.

I wasn't afraid of her anymore, I was angry. I marched forward until my toes hung over the top step of the stairs. "I suppose you asked our parents what they thought about one of us becoming Jinchuuriki, haven't you? What did they say?"

She looked away.

"They told you no, didn't they? Now leave me and my brother alone!" I turned to march away, but her next statement stopped me.

"Would you sentence a child to the fate of a Jinchuuriki when you could do something about it?"

"You have children, don't you? They have enough Uzumaki blood to bear your burden, yet you tried to force the burden onto the children of someone else. You're not even a part of the Uzumaki clan anymore! You have no authority to ask something like that from us." I jumped up on the metal bannister, refusing to look at her. "If it was up to me, I would already have gone back to Uzu. Kichiro and I can survive on our own—it won't be much different than what we did before. I'm only here because Kichiro says we need to stay because he thinks it's safer. He likes it here for some reason, but if you approach either of us again, I'll tell him exactly how long you've been planning to make one of us into a jinchuuriki." I jumped down into the street.

"Don't walk away from me, young lady," she stated from directly behind me. I kept walking until she grabbed my arm, sending a thrill of fear through me. "What do you want?" She demanded.

"I want to go home!" I hissed back at her.

"Our home is gone."

"I'm going to rebuild it."

"Everyone thinks your brother is the difficult and dangerous one and you're the cooperative and naïve sibling, but it's actually the other way around, isn't it?"

I yanked my arm out of her grip. "Kichiro loves this village. I don't know how and I don't know why. I may be naïve, I might cooperate with this village for Kichiro's sake, but I have no true allegiance to it."

"Have a nice day, Kushina-chan," Mito stated abruptly and left. I put the confrontation out of my mind and headed to the Academy at a brisk walk.