Author's note: This chapter corresponds to chapter 41, just after Kichiro leaves Minato and Kushina to go into ANBU.
Namikaze Minato
"What's with the sour faces, you two?" Kichiro asked suddenly, partially jerking me out of my trance for a moment before I returned to my thoughts. Kichiro's substitution a moment before had been strange. There was no wasted chakra, no puff of smoke or the popping sound of displaced air.
Dimly, I realized that Kichiro was declaring that I would figure out the Hiraishin. I smiled in acknowledgment and decided it would be appropriate to excuse myself. I needed to write down the theory budding in my head to see if it still made sense.
Kushina appeared several minutes later. "Minato, are you okay? You were acting weird."
"I had an idea, but I'm not sure it will work anymore," I responded as I continued to scribble things down.
"You know Kichiro isn't actually trying to pit us against each other, right?"
"I wasn't paying attention to him, sorry," I muttered. "Where is he? I need to ask him something."
Kushina winced. "He's gone."
"Gone where?"
"I'm not sure, but we won't see him for a while, it's classified."
I hissed in frustration. "Do you know how he does his perfect substitution?"
"It's not perfect, but it's pretty damn close. It's all just chakra control. A perfect substitution would be to replace with air or something so it would look like the user just vanished, but it's impossible, at least, Kichiro hasn't been able to figure out a theory where it is plausible because air is so insubstantial. I've seen him replace with needles, which I'm pretty sure is supposed to be impossible as well. Anyways, why are you asking?"
"What if Hiraishin is a type of substitution instead of speed?"
"We already ruled it out as an option, nothing is left behind when it's used."
I snarled incoherently and flung the budding theory off my desk.
"Minato?"
"I'm not sure I can do this—"
"Kichiro thinks you can."
"And I'm not sure I want to keep working on this."
"Don't you dare even think of giving up!"
"No, I don't want to because I don't think I should keep working on this."
"Minato—"
"If I master this, I could kill an entire battlefield in seconds, with no warning."
Kushina frowned. "You could end wars with this. If Konoha was too strong for anyone to even think of standing against us, we could make sure that no one has to fight."
I pushed the papers away from me and stood up. "Come with me."
She silently followed me un the stairs. I sat down on one of the mattresses and when Kushina sat beside me, I activated one of the privacy seals.
"You know I don't like what your brother stands for, right?"
"I know, but I don't want to argue about it now."
"I'm not trying to argue. I'm starting to think that he may be right."
"Minato—we've talked about this. Kichiro is wrong—"
"I don't like it, and I hate his methods, but do you remember what he told us about responsibility?"
"Kichiro is only a year older than us. He doesn't know everything, he's not perfect."
"That doesn't mean he can't be right."
"You're the one who always insists that he toes the line with treason."
"He said something once, I don't know where you were. He told me to kill a fat rabbit snuffling beside a tree. I thought we were just going to have wild game for dinner, so I did, I threw a kunai right through the rabbit's head. He went over and gutted the rabbit. He made the cut all wrong, I remember that. A moment later, a litter of baby rabbits came out. After a minute, they were all dead and Kichiro didn't do anything to help them, even though I begged him to."
"That doesn't sound like Kichiro."
"Then he said something strange: 'Once you let a weapon fly, you can't take back or fix the damage it will do, even if it was unintentional.'"
"Minato?"
"He didn't stop there. He continued: 'One day, you're going to have a choice whether you will pick up a weapon.'" I fell silent.
"And?" Kushina prompted.
"And that was all. He buried the babies and the rabbit—refused to even bring them home to eat—and he walked me home. When I asked him what he meant, he said I would understand when I needed to."
"Kichiro never lets things go to waste like that." Kushina waited with surprising patience for me to make my point.
"I think Kichiro somehow knew I would pick up the Hiraishin and try to figure it out."
"That's impossible. We didn't even think about reverse-engineering the Hiraishin until after Kichiro left for Iwa."
"But what if this is what he warned me about?"
"You just sound silly, Minato, Kichiro couldn't have known anything about the Hiraishin until he got back."
"Then why would he do something so strange if he didn't have a point?"
"I love my brother, but for as long as I could remember, Kichiro has always done strange things like that. Sometimes I wonder if he's crazy, but it's just how he is. He does strange things."
"I've seen Kichiro do strange things, this wasn't one of them. He did it deliberately. He knew exactly what he wanted to tell me. I—I think Kichiro can see the future."
Kushina froze for a moment, then covered it with false laughter. "You're—"
"I'm right, aren't I? At least possibly?"
"No, you're not," she lied.
"Don't lie to me."
"I'm—"
"Kushina, the only person who lies worse than you is your brother."
She snorted. "Trust me, Kichiro lies half the time he opens his mouth."
I flinched. "That's not true."
"I know my brother better than anyone. I know when he's telling the truth, when he's lying, when he wants someone to think he's lying when he's telling the truth, and when he wants someone to think he's telling the truth when he's lying."
"Kichiro doesn't lie."
"Kichiro doesn't lie to the Hokage because he can't, but he lies to everyone else. Sometimes he doesn't realize that he's lying."
"You're lying."
"I'm not."
"Yes, you are."
"No, I'm not!"
"Prove it! How did he lie to us today?"
She closed her eyes. "He doesn't think he's coming back from ANBU," Kushina answered quietly. "He said he would see us again, but he doesn't believe it."
"Do you mean he's going to die?"
Kushina took a deep breath and nodded. I noticed tears glistening along her eyelashes.
I couldn't help but shudder. "Kushina, why wouldn't you say anything earlier—he can see the future, if he says something like that—"
"No! Kichiro cannot see the future. I swear."
"If you're right—I'm not saying you are—how can you not take something like that seriously? Before every mission, Jiraiya-sensei used to say—"
"If you don't think you'll come back, you won't."
"Exactly! He could get hurt or killed—"
"What would happen if I said something? I'll tell you what would happen!" Kushina snarled, two tears tracing a line down each cheek. "He is the Kyuubi jinchuuriki and the village is at war! Do you have any idea what that means?"
"Calm down, Kushina."
"I am calm! Kichiro and the Hokage hate each other. I don't know how much is personal and how much is professional enmity, but it's serious. Kichiro is, without a doubt, the very last line of defense this village has. If the Hokage ever doubts whether he can do his job, he will be replaced."
"He shouldn't even be a Jinchuuriki!"
"I know!" Kushina hissed.
"He's a medic! He shouldn't even be fighting, everything in his profile says so! Why shouldn't he be replaced?"
The next thing I knew, my head snapped to the side and I bounced off the wall. My cheek burned and it took me a moment to realize that Kushina had slapped me. I was used to her throwing regular play-punches, and real punches in spars, but she never held any malice when she struck me. Her attack hurt in a way I didn't even know it could hurt. My face burned, my jaw ached, my heart seized. "Don't you ever even think of suggesting something like that again, Namikaze Minato," she snarled.
Kushina could be terrifying when she wanted to be, but she had never directed her full fury towards me before. I tried to stammer out a defense, but it quickly withered as she continued.
"Jinchuuriki die if their Bijū is removed, there's no possibly way for a Jinchuuriki to survive when their seal breaks. Replacing Kichiro means killing him."
"We could find a way—" I tried to choke out, but my entire body felt dead as I realized what I had just said to Kushina. It didn't matter if it was out of ignorance. I was lucky she only slapped me, the last person to threaten Kichiro in front of her barely survived. Even so, her hands closed around my throat, nails digging into the tender flesh—
"There isn't a way. The seal is attached to Kichiro's very soul and there is absolutely no way to—" Kushina grunted as I yanked her hair. Reflexively, she let go with one hand to stop me from pulling. I took advantage of her weakened grip and twisted free.
In the scuffle, I managed to plant my foot on her chest and throw her off me and against the barrier. She bounced off the seal and I scrambled backwards.
"If anyone can keep him alive, we can," I rasped my response. "We can save him—we can bring him home and make sure he never has to leave again!"
"Then who will bear Kichiro's burden in his place?" She wheezed back. "I'm next in line, Minato. It would only hurt Kichiro more if it was me in his place, or worse, Fusō's baby."
I took a deep shuddering breath, closed my eyes, and tried to change the topic. I hoped Kushina would forgive my mistake. "How did Kichiro know so many stories about the tailed beasts if he couldn't see the future?"
"He just knows things. Minato, please, don't ask me how, just accept that he knows things. I know why, but I can't tell anyone."
"Why not?"
"Because I love my brother."
"How do you know for certain—"
"Because what I know contradicts your theory. Please, Minato, don't ask."
I carefully bit back my first question before asking: "Will you ever tell me?"
Kushina settled on her knees, her head bent. "Not unless there's no other choice, but not because it's a secret. I don't want anyone to look at Kichiro differently."
"You don't trust me?" I asked, hurt.
"I do, I trust you with my life! But…"
"But what?" My back pressed against the edge of the barrier as I tried to pull as far away from her as I could.
"I don't trust you with my big brother. Not yet."
I turned to leave but she grabbed arm. "Minato, wait!"
"What?" I snapped harshly.
"You know how Kichiro is. He's my big brother, Minato. He's the only person who cares about me unconditionally."
I tried to protest, but Kushina sliced her hand through the air to cut me off.
"I know you care about me, Minato, but there are a lot of things I haven't told you."
"You—"
"I know you, Minato! You care for me, but it's not unconditional. I can see how you treat Kichiro when you don't agree with him."
I tried to argue but I couldn't deny it.
"I love you, Minato, but Kichiro will always come first." She let go of my arm and I fled.
"Minato?" Fusō asked as I reached the bottom of the stairs. "What's wrong?"
A choked sob escaped my throat before I managed to flee.
"Kushina?" She called up the stairs before I was out of earshot.
I ran straight back to my apartment.
Kushina was right.
