Disclaimer:Don't own Naruto... Sad face...
Oh, you guys! I'm so flattered by what you guys tell me! Really! You recruits are to nice to me! I was late because my laptop was taken when I was grounded, and I couldn't update for a while, but I have it back now, so I'll try to catch up. I'm deciding, since I always miss the 'every other day' thing, it will be once a week, maybe more. I think I have the most free time on Mondays, so expect it then! I'll tell you if there are any changes! I'd like to thank Jerza Fernandes for being the one with the most comments put on my story so far!(I really like reviews!) I hope this is enjoyable! This will have more action than Minato's chapter. He avoided it to easily, so this should make up for it! ENJOY!
Edit: There will be more Kushina POV chapters in the future. I promise! I feel so lonely - no one's reviewing! And did any of you notice I added a few things? It'll be confusing for now, since the stuff I change won't be mentioned in later chapters until they are rewritten as well, but it'll make sense eventually, I promise! Also, I noticed I forgot to describe Kris in any way. I'll see what I can do about that. Half way through editing this, I also decided I needed to write Kushina more like it's from my perspective. Having ADHD myself, I understand most of what she is feeling, so I'm sorry if it's not exactly normal for someone to feel both high-alert, stressed, and paranoid and bored out of their mind at the same time. Finally, I'm sorry it took longer to get this out than expected, and I was rather rushed at the end. Tell me if you notice anything specific!
Kushina let out fierce battle cry as she rammed her fist into a boy's stomach, sending him flying to the ground with a crash. A crater had formed under his unconscious form on the forest floor. She and her teammates had been stuck in the middle of the fighting near the gate, having barely made it a few meters into the trees before they had been ambushed. They had quickly fought their way through the ranks of genin, forcing their way farther from the gate. The teams had thinned out, weaker ones left behind in the bloodbath near the gates. Kushina felt dread creep into her limps as she shot a glance at her exhausted teammates; the strongest teams were still ahead. They had a real chance of getting badly injured out here; if any of them were picked off when they were so far away from the tower, they would have no chance of passing. A cry for help caught Kushina's attention, the Uzumaki's indigo eyes immediately shooting towards her distressed friend.
Mikuto was wrestling with a girl further away, quickly being overpowered. Kushina moved the help her friend, but before she could take a step, she felt cold hands grab her wrists, twisting them behind her back and switching them into one hand. The cold steel of a kunai pressed against her throat with just enough pressure to break the skin. Kushina growled, only to stop as the knife was pulled closer. The redhead shut her eyes tightly, distress turning to terror. How could I let myself get caught?! She thought angrily. Suddenly, the grip on her wrist disappeared, the kunai removed from her neck. Her eyes snapped open in time to see the ninja that had held her captive thrown into a tree. Kris stood beside her, his own kunai drawn and his eyes narrowed angrily at the ninja.
"You okay, Kushina?,"He asked, his eyes not leaving the ninja who was now struggling to his feet once again. "Yeah, thanks,"Kushina replied quickly without paying any real attention to what he had said. She turned back to Mikuto, who had been thrown back, a deep cut gorged into her cheek. Kushina winced - it had just barely missed her left eye; the Sharingan was important to all Uchiha, and Mikuto would be devastated if she lost one of her's. Without missing a beat, the redhead jumped from the tree, leaping between Mikuto and her attacker. She tried not to notice her friend whimpering behind her, clutching her eye tightly with her hands.
Kushina slipped into a familiar battle stance, her body tense and and eyes narrowed and attentive. The genin stood still for a moment before rushing her, pulling out a fuma shuriken from his leather sheathe as he did so. He twisted it behind his back for more momentum before skidding to a halt, his arm swinging around and sending the shuriken crashing towards them. Kushina cursed, taking a deep breath and flashing through the hand-signs of a jutsu as fast as she could. "Hey, Mikuto! You got enough energy for a boom?,"She yelled to her friend hurriedly. A pained groan, followed by a short, almost imperceptible 'Of course', answered her. Grinning, Kushina took a deep breath, leaping into the air just as the roar of fire filled the air, a Fireball Jutsu shooting under her. She pushed the air from her lungs, her chakra blending with it as it left her mouth. A sharp gust met the flames, fueling them many times larger than before and sending the giant shuriken the way it came. Kris turned around in time to see the flames about to engulf the ninja. A small smile split across his freckled, pale face, and he pushed his hand into his pocket, pulling out a tiny smoke bomb and throwing it into the fire. He jumped as far away as he could before the bomb had even left his hand.
As the bomb went off, the small ignition sent the entire fireball into a gigantic explosion. The blast sent Kushina flying into a tree branch, gasping as it hit her spine. Before she could fall to the ground, she quickly twisted around and grabbed her branch, desperately pulling herself onto it's sturdy base. The coppery taste of blood covered her tongue as she coughed heavily, red flecks appearing on her hands that flew up to cover her mouth. She looked back, relaxing when she saw that Mikuto had managed to pull herself behind the tree she was leaning against, protecting herself against the blast.
Kushina stumbled down from the branch to meet her friend, feeling her body slowly regenerating - a mixture of her Uzumaki blood and the Kyuubi chakra working together. Just as she was pulling Mikuto's arm over her shoulder, Kris joined them, his dirty-blond hair black with soot. "Run!,"Kris yelped as he met them, his eyes looking over both. "I saw some of the rock ninja, the stronger ones, heading this way! We need to go, now!" Kushina nodded in agreement. Though screams and cries surrounded them on all sides, Kushina spotted a mostly clear path through the ground, pointing it out to her friends immediately. Kris ran ahead for a heartbeat, before noticing Kushina was lagging under her friend's weight. He wasted no time jumping back to their side, taking Mikuto's other arm. and putting her between them. Together, they bolted down the path as fast as they could, determined not to lose one another.
A cry echoed out above the others, and a ninja dressed in the casual cloud ninjas' black outfit jumped out for Kushina. The red-haired ninja froze, her eyes glued to the symbol of cloud; the symbol of the nation that had come so close to kidnapping her from her home. Her indigo eyes grew wide in terror, her feet planted to the ground. "Run, Kushina!,"Kris' cry broke into her trance as he shoved Mikuto back onto her and pushed her away carefully. He jumped in front of her, a kunia extended, and sliced upwards across the man's chest, fending him further away as he nursed his wounds. He threw a handful of shuriken at the man, not moving from his protective position in front of Kushina. She stared at the back of his head; his dirty-blonde hair that usually spiked outward so neatly were now messy; the bangs that usually hung perfectly on his nose now falling into his eyes. Blood poured out from the cut across his chest, and the genin fell to the ground. "Run!,"Kris repeated, taking rearguard.
Kushina sped up, bolting as fast as she could down the path with the slight limp she was beginning to develop, but there was no end in sight. A glint of metal flashed in the corner of Kushina's vision. She moved to dodge, tripping over her own feet. Desperately, she threw both her and her friend sideways, falling to the ground. Her immense chakra reserves were running low, and she was struggling to keep enough in her system to fight back the Kyuubi's; he was unusually bloodthirsty, surrounded by the chaos and fighting that was heightening his senses. With most of her chakra going towards the increasingly more difficult task, Kushina couldn't concentrate much on fighting. Kris jumped down beside her, tugging them both behind a bush to stop and rest. "You okay, Kushina? Mikuto?"
"Y-Yeah,"Mikuto panted weakly through clenched teeth. Her hand still gripped the gash on her cheek, her skin beginning to pale. Kushina couldn't reply, her indigo eyes glued to her friend. How long, now, had they been running? All day? She herself could survive the intense run - her ungodly stamina really did come in handy some times - but she doubted her friends could take much more. Kris popped his head out around the bush for a moment to scan the clearing, then pulled back in, signaling for Kushina and Mikuto to get lower and be silent with a simple flick of his wrist. They dropped to their stomachs without a word.
Six ninja flew through the clearing, kunia extended, attacking each other with ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu, all at once. Kushina pushed Mikuto's head down just as a fuma shuriken flew past the bush, dodging by a hair. As their fight dragged on, Kushina twitched impatiently, adrenaline rushing, but forced herself to remain still. Eventually, they jumped away, leaving the trio alone as their fight was continued elsewhere.
Kris made sure that most everyone was gone, then sat up carefully. Kushina pushed herself up, crossing her arms and legs in annoyance and barely-disguised worry. Mikuto stayed down, unable to move from her curled position. "I'm pretty sure they'll all go into hiding and calm down at night. That's when we should travel, so until then, we should take shifts to keep watch, which should let us sleep,"Kris decided, his eyes scanning his weary teammates. "I'll take the first watch." His amber eyes focused on Kushina softly as he said this, though, honestly, the redhead felt Mikuto deserved the worry more then her.
Mikuto agreed easily - obviously, she had lost to much blood to think correctly - but Kushina shook her head passionately. "NO! I'll take the first watch, -ttedane! You've been fighting more than me and Mikuto! You need more sleep! You can take the watch after me!,"Kushina insisted. Kris opened his mouth to argue, but shut it soon after as the Uzumaki sent him a sharp glare, her indigo eyes narrowing. His freckled cheeks flushed ever so slightly under her gaze, but Kushina brushed it off as embarassment for being ordered around by someone younger than himself.
"I...,"Kris began after a moment. He stopped, sighing and averting his eyes ever so slightly. "Fine. I know it's no use arguing with you, Kushina. You always win..."
"Get some rest. You too, Mikuto, -ttebane,"Kushina smiled in triumph as Kris and Mikuto laid down to get some sleep, dismissing how easily her teammate had given in. As Kris curled up on the ground, the redhead glanced over to her injured friend, gently pulling the Uchiha's hands away from her eye. With a sigh of relief, Kushina noticed that the bleeding was beginning to slow down, though not completely. She was no medical ninja, but she knew for a fact that a wound bleeding for that long was bad news. Ripping a few broad leaves from a nearby bush, Kushina carefully applied pressure to the wound, flinching at the slightest whimper.
"Kris, do you still have the scroll with you, -ttebane?,"Kushina asked after a moment of silence. Mikuto had long ago passed out, sweat running down her face and mixing with the drying blood from her wound. At least it isn't bleeding anymore. She thought anxiously. "Yeah,"Kris muttered, glancing at her curiously. "I think we should take shifts carrying it...,"Kushina explained slowly, ready to defend her point with a fierce passion.
"Good idea,"Kris agreed without fuss, tossing her the scroll. Kushina stared at him in shock, her eyes wide as she caught the item in her hands. The shock was quickly replaced by childish pride and a smirk. So she was that awesome, huh? Kushina sat upright, staring out the leaves with an arrogant smile, her indigo eyes bright.
Ten minutes in, the smile was long gone, replaced by a bored expression. Kushina twitched impatiently, constantly shooting a glance at the sun to check how much time had passed. Why had she agreed to this again? Her teammates' soft breathing seemed to almost mock her. She was exhausted from the constant, high-alert signals her brain sent at every crack of a twig or swish of a branch. Which, of course, meant the fighting that continued all around them was starting to drive her insane. She was well aware of the fact Kris was still in a state of half-sleep, lucid enough to jump up, wide awake, at any second, but still incoherent enough to be counted as conscious.
After few hours, Kushina woke Kris up, careful not to stir Mikuto. He jumped slightly at her touch, wide awake instantly "Your shift,"Kushina murmured, finding a comfy position below the leaves, beside her best friend. He nodded, a soft, shy smile on his features, his reddish-brown eyes following her as she relaxed. She let sleep drift in like a fog, uncomfortably aware of the boy's gaze on her back.
It only felt like a few moments later when Kris shook her awake, but Kushina forced her exhausted eyes open anyway, brushing herself off before standing up. They had to keep moving, and they had no room for complaining tonight. She struggled to her knees, careful not to stir the leaves of the bush. "I was right,"Kris whispered, nodding to the tense but quiet environment around them. "We need to get out of here, though, because we only have about, say, one or two hours before they start fighting again, so we need to hurry."
Kushina quietly brushed herself off and crouched down beside Mikuto, pulling her onto her back. She met Kris at the top of one of the shorter trees, and before long, both of them were off, Kris once again taking rear and Kushina carrying their injured teammate. They moved as quickly as they could to get out of the Danger Zone. During the fighting, it would have taken hours just to gain a meter or two of distance, so their speed had increased drastically. However, neither let their guard down, the lightest crack of leaves making them jump. "Hurry,"Kris whispered just loud enough to be heard. "I think a saw some movement below us... But we are almost out of the danger-zone, so if we can lose them, we'll be home free.
Kushina shot a glance downward towards shivering foliage below them, before pumping more chakra into her legs, speeding up. Her muscles burned in protest, but she bit her lip and sucked up the pain, sending herself farther with each jump. Blood roared in her ears, no longer muffled by the battle cries all around, and Kushina swore her heartbeat was thudding loud enough to be heard back at the ruins of Uzushigakura.
It felt like centuries before the tense, dangerous lifted around them. Kushina let out a breath of air she didn't know she had been holding, finally letting herself relax slightly. She sent a glance to her teammate with a tired exhausted smile. He returned it encouragingly.
"Just a little more." He promised,"You can do it, Kushina. Just hold out that much longer." She nodded, pouting in annoyance at the fact she was being underestimated. She completely ignored the trembling of her legs, or her pale, sweaty skin. I can keep going! Jerk! She thought, sending him a weak glare and pulling Mikuto farther onto her back. The Uchiha was shifting on her own, now, and would no doubt finally be waking up soon.
After a few more minutes, darkness began pressing into the corners Kushina's vision. She tried to ignore her exhaust as best she could as she pushed off another branch, but her mind was growing foggy and sluggish. Her head felt oddly... warm... The sensation was foreign to her; she had never been this drained before. Was this normal? Had she been falling longer than she should have been? The world was spinning around her and - of course it was spinning, the world rotates idiot! - but this was different and the landscape was whirling around her, disorienting her beyond belief. Spots appeared in her vision on all sides, blinding her and what the hell, get out of the way stupid spots! I'm trying to move here!
Suddenly, her feet met something solid below them clumsily, but before she could even stumble, the jolt had sent the warmth spreading from her head into her eyes and around her body. Everything went black, and the world around Kushina became muffled, like a thick pillowcase had been pulled over her head. The warmth was comforting and safe, and Kushina wished she could stay in this sea of blackness for eternity. A feeling of vertigo washed over her. Was she falling again? The redhead shrugged it off, letting herself sink into the darkness, nestled in the safe and comfortable warmth.
A muffled noise met her ears, sounding similar to her name. Who was that? Couldn't they see she wanted to be alone? Couldn't they just leave her alone? Her eyes were closed, blocking out the confusing spinning of the scenery. What had she been doing again? No, it wasn't important... She could stay right here...
The feeling of vertigo disappeared as strong, warm arms wrapped around her. The muffled cry had become a soft, anxious murmur. An image struck her, slicing through the darkness like the light of hope. A strong, blond boy, holding her in a similar fashion, a gentle smile on his soft features that Kushina had once considered girly. Just like that, Kushina snapped her eyes open, the illusion of safety broken, the warmth now seeming trapping and uncomfortable rather than peaceful. She groaned as the world spun around her, but her vision was beginning to clear. The warmth was fading, bringing with it the fog that blocked her thoughts.
Kushina's indigo eyes finally moved up, focusing on her savior. Her held back a sigh of disappointment at seeing Kris, instead of- Kushina cut that thought process off. The blond ninja was the 'protege' - the rookie of the year! There was no way he could ever return her feelings, much less risk the chance of his team failing just to save her. Kris smiled at her, a light blush on his cheeks. The two were standing on the ground, much lower than the branch Kushina had been moments before. She scrunched up her face in confusion, trying to figure out what had happened.
Kris chuckled at the confused look on Kushina's face, before twisting into a look of worry. "You passed out in mid-air, Kushina. I thought you had just miscalculated your leap a little, but then you hit a branch lower down and just fell right off. Are you okay?" Kushina nodded, before grimacing as the action sent a jolt of pain through her head. A headache. Of course. Just. Her. Luck.
Suddenly, something seemed to click in Kushina's head, and she gasped in shock, her eyes wide and head craning to look around them, despite the pain it caused. When Kris sent her an incredulous look, she glared at him. "Where's Mikuto -ttebane!? What happened to her when I fell!?,"Kushina yelled, managing to push Kris away from her. She fell to the ground, wincing at her painfully sore muscles and pounding headache. Despite that, she struggled to her feet to find her lost friend.
"Kushina!,"Mikuto's voice called from above them, sounding only semi-lucid. Kushina's head snapped upwards towards it's source, before her hands flew up to grip her hair, biting her lip to resist crying out from the pain it caused. "I woke up just in time to grab on to a branch when you fell. I'm sorry I didn't manage to catch you, too. I could barely tell what I was doing at the time in the first place." The Uchiha was hanging from one hand, which was wrapped around a short, but thick, branch a little ways above them.
"S'kay,"Kushina managed to bite out, forcing a grin and moving much slower to send it to her friend. Mikuto's left eye was still closed, but it had stopped bleeding at last, and a color had returned to her skin. The black-hair kunoichi made her way carefully down the tree, Kris having brushed himself off and gone up to help her. When all three were finally on the ground, Kris helped the two females of his team relax under the shade of a tree - not that it was really need. It was still night, after all - before moving into a small clearing.
Kris rushed through a few handsigns, before slamming his hands into the ground, muttering the name of his technique under his breath. The earth rumbled and a crack formed in the dry dirt. Kushina wondered how he still had the energy to fight like that; she had more chakra than both him and Mikuto combined, yet somehow she had managed to collapse before him. She shrugged the thought away as him trying to act tough for once.
Apparently, the crack had been an entrance to an underground cave Kris had formed so they could rest without being found. After they got inside, Kris closed most of the entrance off, leaving a small, circular entrance under a bush to allow light to flit in from the moon and oxygen to circulate around the small room. Mikuto, who had walked on her own, despite her teammates insisting otherwise, pulled off her weapons' pouch, placing it under her head like a pillow. Kushina did the same, cursing herself for not bringing blankets as a cold shiver ran down her spine. She scooted a little closer to Mikuto so their backs were almost touching, thankful for the source of heat. Her best friend giggled at her desperate actions, but didn't push her away. Both kunoichi couldn't help feeling a little bad for Kris, noticing him sitting further away, shivering, with his legs crossed Indian-style, obviously keeping watch.
Finally growing annoyed of the boy's constant twitching, Kushina stood up, walking over to the small entrance and reaching out carefully. She pulled in a few small stones and a couple of dried sticks from the bush. She laid the stones in a circle, before placing the twigs in the middle. "Go 'head, Mikuto, -ttebane."
"Fire Style, Fireball Jutsu,"Mikuto whispered, forming a circle with her fingers. A smaller fireball then her usual shot from her mouth, lighting the sticks in a brilliant, if not small, burst of reds and oranges and yellows. Kris glanced thankfully at them, scooting slightly closer to the fire with a sigh of content. With a nod of satisfaction, Kushina pulled her make-shift pillow closer to the tiny flames and laid down, watching them twinkle and dance for only a moment before she sank into a deep, satisfying sleep.
Shifts were longer this time around, since their resting spanned the majority of the night rather than part of the day, allowing each of them to catch up on some much needed sleep. By the time Mikuto woke her for the last shift, Kushina felt fully energized, thanking her Uzumaki genes and Kyuubi for the only slight stiffness in her muscles. Finally, Kushina crushed the fire away, waking Kris and Mikuto with an easy grin. They left the cave just after the sunrise, gathering supplies and closing up the underground room they had spent the night in.
The groups who had survived the bloody battle the day before had finally separated from this part of the woods, scattered around the forest, and Kushina's group were finally able to relax, knowing they were no longer in an active battleground. They were the hunters now, and the prey would be sniffed out soon.
I hope you like the chapter! Sorry, no MinaKushi this week D: But I want to stretch out these exams... Trust me... It will be chapter seventeen before you know it! This week, I went on the wiki for a fanfiction, and I told my friend what it said about Sasuke without telling her it was a fanfiction, or a different Sasuke, and she exploded XD. It said 'Sasuke is depicted as a cheerful yet timid child of age seven.' lol... Timid and cheerful, huh? Uzumaki Sasuke, huh? I'll be hanging that over his head for the rest of my life. By the way, in case any of you are wondering, since I want to stretch this out, you may see every birthday from ten to twenty six when Naruto is born... So be ready for sixteen birthday parties xD Itachi's first five birthdays may also be shown, because you can't have a fanfiction without Itachi :D So be ready for this. I made them twenty six because Naruto is born the same year as Sasuke, who as a five year old brother. Mikuto is the same age as Minato and Kushina, and I want her to be at least twenty when she has her first child... Finally, some people spell her name as Mikuto and others Mikoto, and my computer translated it as Mikuto, so that's what I'll call her. Please wait in excitement for the next, hopefully longer, chapter!
Don't forget to join Sacred Army by following/favoriting my profile! Please feel free to follow/favorite my story, and review it as well. I love constructive criticism. Also, check out my other Naruto stories! You may be surprised by some, and not so much in others! Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Until next time!