Moon Lit Past

Written By: Matdeception

Disclaimer: Kukuku Remialcsid

Chapter 3.5 - Kushina's Intermission

Arc: Setting the Stage, Year 6

Minato ran as soon as he heard, flashing to the hospital before zipping to the private wing quarters that had held his wife in her near death state since that boy was born and the Kyuubi ripped free of her. So focused, so desperately needing to get to her, he never really stopped to ask himself how she was healed. How did they bypass his Stasis Fuinjutsu? How did they heal her if not with Kyuubi? So many questions that he should have stopped and considered before he barged into her room, but he didn't, so he was quite surprised to find a pair of silvery-violet eyes glaring hatefully at him.

"Kushina I..."

"Minato." the red-head breath sweetly, her tiny fists gripping the sheets of her bed tightly. "Maybe you can tell me what happened? These wussy ANBU..." she shot a glare towards Karasu and Tenzo, both remaining stoically at attention even if they were terrified on the inside, "... wouldn't tell me a thing."

Minato could read the situation as well as anyone. Kushina may be smiling pleasantly at him - a sight that made his cold heart flutter with something besides pain - but her eyes burned with the intensity of a thousand suns, and what it burned with was fury, a cold fury he hadn't seen in a long time. Still, he managed a happy smile, "Well Kushina, it's a bit of a long story, but here's what happened. After the Kyuubi attack..."

"Wait Minato." His wife interrupted calmly, "I'd really like it if Naruto were here before we begin." she grinned cheerfully, "I do so want to hold our wonderful, beautiful, innocent child in my arms."

'Did some one tell her?' Minato glanced questioningly at the ANBU, both just quickly shook their heads in the negative. "Ah, well, that boy is..."

"That boy?" Kushina cut in with a dangerous edge to her tone, "Why, Minato-kun, why would you ever refer to the child we swore to love and cherish for all of our lives as something so impersonal." she tilted her head slightly, her smile twisting into a cross between a cheerful grin and a manic sneer.

"Uh, it's not that I, I mean I know we promised that but..." The Hokage stuttered. Dear God, he had forgotten how horrifying his wife could be at times. "... I'm afraid he's out of the village right now, ah, and I..."

"You didn't lie to me did you?" The Former Jinchuuriki frowned, "When you told me you would watch out for him, protect him till the day you died, that wasn't a lie was it Minato-kun?"

Minato suddenly remembered what Naruto had said earlier. 'Ah, yes. I guess this is what he meant about me having a very, very, very bad day.' A large part of him wanted to strangle the brat, but there was another part of him that couldn't help but feel proud at how much of a rotten bastard that boy could be. If he was this evil at six, hells only knows what kind of monster he'd be when he got older.

"I..." the Namikaze man grimaced, "... did not live up to my promise." he waved his arm frantically, "Wait let me expla-" only to get interrupted as chains erupted from the woman, sweeping across the room and slamming Karasu and Tenzo out the door, while Minato found himself asphyxiating with a gold chain tied around his neck, with another chain pinning his arm, and the last chain pinning his legs.

"You abandoned him. You let him be tortured, you never let him know the love that neither of us got growing up." Kushina roared, eyes burning with fury as Minato struggled to get out of the chains. He was about to Hirashin when the chains suddenly retracted, dropping him to the floor like so much garbage. Minato struggled to catch his breath, glancing up at his wife and wincing at the tears running rivers down her pale cheeks.

"Get out of my sight, trash. I never want to see your worthless face again!"

"Calm down Kushina, let me exp-"

"OUT!" She screamed, chains coming out threateningly, the very tips of the chakra weapons narrowed down into rather sinister looking spears.

Minato hesitated for only a moment, then vanished in a flash.

"What the fuck happened?"

Jirayia winced as his student raged at the Hospital staff, ANBU, and pretty much everyone who happened to be in ear shot. The Hokage wasn't just angry, he was crying openly after being so thoroughly rejected by the person he had dedicated everything to saving, regardless of who or what he had to sacrifice.

"Hokage-sama!" Dr. Yakushi valiantly stepped forward, "Sir, video recordings... That boy and some one armed thing got access to her, I don't know what he did exactly, but he seemed to... absorb the Fuinjutsu and channel an obscene amount of chakra into her." he grimaced as the Hokage leveled a hellish glare at him, "The instruments recorded extreme activity over her entire chakra network that stabilized her Chakra Dissonance, but I can tell you, with one hundred percent certainty that you do not need to fear contamination from the Kyuubi. No Bijuu chakra was detected."

"Wonderful." Minato snarled, "But that doesn't tell me who the hell told her what had been happening since she was in stasis. Who spoke to her? Who betrayed me?"

The gathered personnel all looked at each other accusingly, but no one stepped up.

"Hokage-sama." Karasu stepped forward, "Tenzo-sempai and I arrived eleven minutes, twelve seconds after the staff discovered Kushina-sama's revival. No one from that period onward explained anything of her situation or subsequent events after she was placed into stasis following the Kyuubi attack."

Minato scowled, fists clenched as he glared hard. "Inoichi. Bring me Inoichi!"

"Minato." Jirayia stepped in, "Don't you think that's going too far? She knows, she was going to find out sooner or later right?"

"She was going to learn what I wanted her to learn when I wanted her to learn it!" the Hokage snapped right back, "That Boy did this, I know it. He turned her against me just to spite-"

"You did it to yourself you brat!" The Toad-Sannin snapped right back, "No one ever told you to abandon your own son! Everyone, every god damn person who knew told you it was a bad idea, but you went ahead and did it anyway!"

"Be. Silent." The Yondamine bit out.

Jirayia just glared as he turned and walked out.

Yamanaka Inoichi stared blankly, "You want me to do what, Hokage-sama?"

"Remove her memories." Minato snapped, "I don't want her to remember anything about that boy, I don't want her to remember anything about ever being pregnant! Remove the whole damn thing! Construct some believable memories that will convince her she lost the Kyuubi and it was sealed in a pot, anything, I don't care!"

"Sir... I have to make this perfectly clear. What you're asking me to do against Kushina-sama is not done lightly, nor with out potential consequences to the victim." Inoichi really didn't like this, really really didn't like this. He wasn't a prophet or could foretell the future, but he knew... he just knew this was going to blow up in his face.

"You have your orders." The Hokage bit out, "She's been sedated, do your duty Yamanaka."

Inochi grunted as he turned and moved to the room holding the woman. Today was just getting worse and worse. Bad enough Tsunade had turned traitor and murdered the Third Hokage, bad enough the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki had given the village the finger, but now even the village leader had broken down at being so heavily rejected by the woman he loved after she magically discovered he was a cold-hearted, child abandoning, piece of shit liar. Any one of these events would give cause for other nations to consider pressing their luck, but all three at once? The Yamanaka wouldn't be surprised if certain foreign powers were mobilizing to strike deep into Hi no Kuni as he walked down the hall.

He sighed, stepping into the room. Kushina slumbered peacefully, Inochi could only imagine what kind of juiced up cocktail they had slipped her to knock her out. Grabbing a chair and moving up to the woman, he sat down and sighed tiredly. He didn't want to do this, saw no reason to deny the woman the memory of her son, and he knew word of Kushina's revival was already spreading far and wide. The other Clan heads would hear about this, and Minato - Hokage or not - will be buried for using obscene force to cover up his own mistakes. Yet, that wasn't the here nor now, he was given his orders and he had to fulfill them or face the consequences.

"I'm sorry." he mumbled as he placed his hand on her head and began focusing. His reality began drifting away as he breached her mind, a large expansive field spreading open before him as he gained access to her memories. He managed a proverbial 'step' before everything went horribly wrong.

"I'm sorry too, Inoichi."

Inoichi froze, twirling around as a silver black cage of what looked like electricity surrounded him, locking him in place as a pair of silver-violet eyes stared at him from the dark. "Kushina!"

"Funny, isn't it?" Her tone was sad, so terribly sad as her mental body took form, resplendent in a purple dress he vaguely remembered seeing her wear years ago. "Naruto healed me, gave me his memories, but even at six years old he knew Minato would try something like this. To try and take my sochi from me."

The Yamanaka kept very still, wary as hell at being so effortlessly caught in his own area of expertise. "What are you going to do?"

"Me?" Kushina tilted her head as she rounded the caged Yamanaka. "That depends. You see, Ino-kun, you stepped into a little trap Naruto left behind. Hell, I didn't even realize it was here until you entered my head, but now that we're here I can feel the options he left for me." she ran her fingers over the electricity surrounding him, it didn't even so much as spark from her touch, leaving the woman unharmed. "Option one; Cascade Implosion."

"That doesn't sound very healthy." Inochi allowed slowly.

"It's not." the Uzumaki woman nodded, "A pulse of chakra gets ricochet back into your body that tricks your chakra into imploding, similar to what happens to the human body when it suddenly finds itself twenty thousand feet under the ocean with no protection from the crushing weight."

"Yeah, I think I'll pass, if you don't mind." The Yamanaka chuckled weakly, "My Ino-chan likes her daddy when he's not a smear on the floor."

The Mental Representation of Kushina - He wasn't even sure if it was her, or just a programmed illusion brought on by this trap he stumbled into - paused momentarily at his words. "That's right, your wife gave birth a couple of weeks before I went into labor."

"That's right."

"Well, it's a good thing I don't want to use Option One anymore then you do." Kushina returned pleasantly.

"What's option two, then?"

"Psionic Reformation." Kushina frowned thoughtfully, "Basically what you were going to do to me, only you get completely rewritten into a puppet that only obeys my commands." she sighed tiredly, "I think Naruto has a bit of an 'Irony is the best punishment' mindset."

"I'd like to avoid that, if you please." Inoichi helpfully added his two cents. Damn, Naruto was a complete bastard. Oh the Yamanaka couldn't help but wonder how the hell a six year old was able to do this, but that really didn't matter right this second did it? "Is there a third option?"

"Oh course! And you're going to love it, dattebanne!" Kushina chirruped, "Option Three; I let you go."

"Sounds amazing." Inoichi smiled sweetly, "None of the mess of option one, and no having to worry about the mindless puppet of option two!"

"I know, right?" Kushina smiled, "Just one thing Inoichi. You tell that child abusing, dead beat dad that if he ever tries this crap again then there is no telling how hard and how fast I will bring my foot to his ass, dattebanne!"

"Message received, Kushina-sempai!" Inoichi gave a nice guy pose - always wanted to do that at least once in his life, and since he very nearly could have ended up as either a bloody smear or a mindless puppet, he vowed not to put things like this off ever again.

"Great!" The red-head chirruped, waving, "Oh, and you might as well let him know I've got so many defenses against Fuinjutsu it isn't even funny. Might as well try to avoid that particular hassle!"

Inoichi shuddered as his mind returned to his body. 'Well, that was an experience I won't soon be forgetting.' he thought as he stood up and left the room with what little dignity he had left. It didn't take long to return to the Hokage, nor did it take long to hear him cry out in rage once he delivered his report.

'If he thinks he's crying now, he's going to be weeping once the council of Clans meet.' Inoichi shook his head sadly. He wasn't going to lose his position for this, but there would be sanctions galore for misuse of authority.

Mikoto was not having a good day. A good day for her was waking up, spending time with her family, a bit of exercise to keep her nice toned body in shape just the way her ever so attentive husband liked it, couple of chores to kill time, spend even more time with her family, cook three square meals a day and if she was REALLY lucky find Fugaku in the mood for some sexy times. So in the grand scheme of things today was most certainly not a good day for the Uchiha Matriarch.

First, Tsunade had gone bat-shit crazy and murdered Sarutobi Hiruzen, an act that didn't do much more then raise a few eyebrows amongst the clan. Not surprising, considering he heavily followed in Tobirama 'I Hate Uchiha' Senju's footsteps. Frankly it was more surprising she hadn't snapped before now, but whatever.

Second, Uzumaki Naruto, the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki had apparently flipped his lid and given Konoha the proverbial finger before exiting the village, oh and he took Tsunade with him so there would be no retribution against the Sannin for the foreseeable future. Now that two thirds of the Sannin had gone AWOL, things would no doubt be getting tense in the Elemental Nations as Konoha once again suffers a rather disastrous hit to its power base.

Third, Namikaze Minato had ANBU sent to her home while she was enjoying some quality time with her precious Sasuke, had her rather forcibly get up off her butt and dragged her to the hospital, which is where she was now, with said Hokage on his knees in front of her BEGGING her for help.

"Please Mikoto-san! She won't even talk to me, she won't even give me a chance to explain!" Minato half begged, half cried.

"And? What do you want me to do about it, Minato-kun?" Mikoto decided she'd be polite if nothing else. Despite taking leave of his senses, he was still the village leader.

"Just explain things to her, tell her I'm sorry, that I'll make it up! Anything!"

"I'll talk to her." Mikoto grunted tiredly. "But really Minato-kun, what did you think would happen after all this?"

"I thought..." he paused for a moment, sighing, "... I'd be able to finally come to terms with it. Apologize for not being strong enough to keep her safe, ask her why she refused to let me make the sacrifice."

Mikoto raised an eyebrow, "Well, I'm not really sure how much help I can be. You destroyed your son, Minato, twisted him into someone who only sees hatred and pain and given what you've told me, he likes to spread the misery to people who deserve it."

"I... know." he breathed out through gritted teeth.

The Uchiha Matriarch sighed, leaving the begging Village leader - Oh look! It's Itachi in his ANBU uniform! HIIII Itachi! - she waved at said boy cheerfully.

Karasu ignored her, but he couldn't quite ignore the snort from Tenzo.

Mikoto slipped into Kushina's room with nary a sound, giving the red-head a brilliant smile and wave, "Hey Kushi-chan!"

"Hey Miko-chan." The Uzumaki Woman smiled lightly, "The teme send you?"

"Oh yes, got on his hands and knees and everything!" Mikoto admitted, "He, quote unquote, Wants me to explain things, say he's sorry, and that'll he'll make it up to you."

"Oh really?" Kushina rolled her silver-violet eyes - a detail Mikoto caught but shoved in the back of her mind for later. "Let me see if I have all my facts straight. He disowned my son, admitted to all of Konoha he was the Jinchuuriki for Kyuubi, left him to fend for himself against an entire village reeling from all the destruction left in Kyuubi's wake. Even better then leaving our son to be tormented by a village, he decided to focus all his efforts in saving my life, going so far as to plan my own sons murder just to reseal Kyuubi in me, which wouldn't have worked and just would have resulted in us both being killed. Am I missing anything?"

"Huh." The Uchiha Matriarch blinked, "I didn't know about the whole murder your son and transfer Kyuubi bit."

"Not surprising." The Uzumaki Woman grunted. "All of this... I'm just... shocked I guess? I'm angry, I'm freaking furious! I want to hurt Minato, I want to make him bleed, but..." she shuddered, "... even though he tried to wipe my mind to make me forget about Naruto... it hurts Miko-chan, for someone you love to do so much... so much evil... I just..."

Mikoto crawled into bed with Kushina, grabbing the woman in a tight hug, "Shhh, shhh, it's okay, its..." she blinked, "... Wow, he really tried to wipe your mind?"

"Ask Inoichi." Kushina sighed tiredly, hugging her bestie back, "He ran right into my Sochi's mind trap, could have killed him."

"Huh." Mikoto frowned, half glaring at the red head, "You know I can't even get my children to say I love you, and a child you've seen for maybe an hour your entire like is constructing mind traps to keep you safe! This is completely unfair!"

Kushina laughed loudly at that.

"Still..." Mikoto hummed softly, "... I think I should warn you, I, uh... visited with Naruto a couple of weeks ago and..."

"And?" Kushina didn't think she wanted to hear this.

"Well... you know that whole 'Curse of Hatred' legend that they say my Clan has going on?"

"You've mentioned it before."

"Yeah, well..." Mikoto paused a moment, trying to think of a way to say it politely, but then she gave up. "... Take it to the 23rd power and you'll have Naruto. Minato really screwed him."

"I know." Kushina scowled, "I swear Miko-chan, first chance I get I'm going to find him, I'm going to take him in my arms and smother him with hugs and kisses, dattebanne!"

"Good girl." The Uchiha grinned, "So anyway, since I'm here and Minato isn't going to dare come in here, wanna catch up on six years worth of gossip? You wouldn't believe the prank we pulled on he Nara! Masterful!" she laughed, "See, what we did was buy a bunch of pink tutu's and tracked down their deer..."

Kushina smiled as she listened. Losing out on six years hurt, waking up and finding everything you loved and put your trust in had either betrayed you, or been so horribly tormented they chose to flee rather then stay felt like some one was shoving a red hot poker in your eye. But finding that best friend of yours stroll back into your life as if six years hadn't past, that was a balm for her troubled soul. She still had to figure out what to do in the future, still had to find her Sochi, but for now she was quite content to rest and catch up with a friend she knew would have her back every step of the way.

"By the way Kushi-chan, why do you have silver in your eyes and hair like Naruto?"

Kushina shrugged, "Hell if I know."

AN: A some what serious, some what bleah, with a dash of levity at the end. I have to admit, writing Mikoto in this fic is fun, very very fun. Kushina's a gem too, but she has a lot more angst going for her at the moment.

A note on Naruto's memory transfer; Naruto didn't transfer memories from 'The Beloved' persona, he stripped any mention/thought of them entirely from the transfer. Why? Because 'The Beloved' isn't Kushina's son, what he did here was more of a cathartic release for the troubled six year old boy he had been before awakening. So no, Kushina has no idea what he is, though there are a lot of suspicious things going on. Such as the mind trap.

Speaking of which, my original intention with that was to butcher Inoichi, but then I stopped and re-thought it from Naruto's perspective. While he has no qualms about killing, he doesn't feel like Kushina would particularly enjoy the knowledge that some one died because they tried to enter her brain. So I changed it, added a bit more severity while leaking in levity.