うずまきクシナ

Even as she lay dying, her face gaunt from both the procedure and the labor of childbirth, he knew he could not stay with her, to bring her proper treatment and to do everything he could to keep her alive. He did not have that luxury.

The air was filled with the Demon Fox's malicious aura. The earth which shook beneath his feet did not bode well for his village. Even from his distance, he could see the form of the gigantic fox, glowing red against the horizon and looking deceptively tiny.

"I'll be fine." She assured him. "You have to save them."

She lay on her back, the baby burbling softly in her arms. His son, born only an hour before, snuggled peacefully against his mother's frail body.

"Kushina." He said blandly, afraid to let emotion into his voice, afraid to break down. The fact that she was even alive was a miracle. The extraction of a Tailed Beast from a human vessel was unfailingly fatal. The vitality of her blood, the blood of an Uzumaki, was the only reason she was alive.

"You know what I have to do."

"If worst comes to worst." She nodded and smiled weakly. "Maybe this was meant to be."

From the distance came the faint echo of a monstrous roar. He shut his eyes, willing back the tears. When he opened them again, she was watching him patiently. "I love you." She whispered.

He knelt and swept the sweat-plastered hair out of her face. "Our son. He has to be the next vessel."

Her smile faltered, and her lips turned up in the familiar way that it did when she didn't like something. "No."

"He's the only Uzumaki left."

Kushina shook her head violently and held their child closer to her body. "I can take the Fox with me. I… I can die and take it with me. I'm already dying anyway."

The winds blew fiercely through the trees, an unnatural wind which was only barely kept back by the barrier he'd elicited in the area. The longer he waited, the more destruction he would see upon his return to the village.

"Kushina-"

"You've seen what it was like for me to live as a vessel. The fear, the distance and the loneliness that comes with it will only create suffering. I don't want him to suffer."

Naruto whined and burrowed into her chest at his mother's severe tone. Kushina rubbed the baby's back gently and comfortingly. Her voice softened. "I don't want him to be subjected to that. I don't want him to have to suffer like I did."

"You're right."

Kushina frowned, knowing that there would be more to it than him admitting that she was right.

"But the Nine-tailed Fox would also afford him great power, power which I feel the village will need. The masked man, he will come back. I am sure of it. And when he does, we'll need something to stop him. And there will be others like him."

"You don't know that." She argued weakly, knowing that she was wasting valuable time. She couldn't help it. This was her son - their son - that they were talking about.

"The village will need him someday. They will need his power. I trust the village, Kushina. I trust my friends to be able to protect him and help him lead a normal childhood. I trust my people. The village-"

"It's always the village isn't it?" She asked defeatedly. A feeling of exhaustion began to consume her, an exhaustion which should have settled in long ago after what she'd been through, and she felt a sudden need to close her eyes and sleep. A blackness wavered in her vision. With considerable effort, she fought it back and held it at bay. "The village and its people. The greater good. No room for us to be selfish." She felt like crying, but she didn't.

Gently, he took their baby into his arms, and she let him.

The setup for the procedure was done with immaculate efficiency. The foundations of what was to be the ceremonial setting for the sealing process was put up in an instant. The Eight-trigram seal that would hold the Nine-tails was drawn quickly and cleanly onto the new vessel's healthy, fat belly.

Naruto laughed as the seal was inscribed, and he smiled happily up at his father.

Namikaze Minato, Fourth Hokage and leader of the Hidden Village, looked down at his son and smiled back. "It'll be ok." He said to the uncomprehending baby lying at the center of a matrix of seals and swathed in warm cushions

He stood and felt for the Flash marker that was located at the head of the Hokage Monument. It was a form of instantaneous transportation that only he was capable of performing alone. His ability to flit through a battlefield with unparalleled speed had earned him the title of Yellow Flash, a name revered by the people of the Hidden Leaf and spoken of in fear by the village's enemies.

"Minato." Kushina called before he could vanish.

He turned and went to her.

"Take me to him." She requested, gesturing towards their son. And he understood. She was too weak to walk on her own.

Hoisting her up in his arms, he carried her and placed her gently next to the cot in which Naruto lay in a doze. He placed his lips on her forehead and kissed it. The stench of salt, sweat and hard labor filled his nose. "I'll be back." He promised.

"I'll be waiting." She replied simply.

And then he was gone.

Kushina sidled up to her baby, and stroked the light fuzz of blonde hair on his head.

"Naruto."

The baby's eyes opened and it looked at her as if recognizing his own name. He was adorable.

Kushina contented herself with just stroking his hair and looking at him. She spoke to him softly, lovingly, imparting upon him words of wisdom - how she thought he should live his life, what she thought he should do to find happiness, what she thought he shouldn't do, things she thought he should avoid, things she thought he should be in the habit of doing.

She gave him words of advice and words of love, knowing already that she would not be there in the future to tell him these things, that she would not be there to watch him grow. Already, her vitality was fading. She'd never felt so tired in her life. Internally, she could feel that her Chakra coils were damaged beyond repair. She could feel the Chakra circulating sluggishly through her head, her heart, her extremities, and, most painfully, her belly, the place where her central coils lie, where the seal that had held the Nine-tailed Fox had been broken and the Fox torn forcefully from her body.

No. She would not be watching her baby grow. She would not be there to hear him utter his first words or to walk his first steps. She wouldn't be there for him. At least he would have a father. He would not be an orphan like she had been. Even if he wouldn't have a mother, he would have the Fourth Hokage himself to teach him, to raise him and to help him excel. Minato was going to be a wonderful father, she just knew it. Even if she couldn't be there to watch him, Naruto was going to have a good childhood, a good life, and, at that moment, there was nothing more she wanted than to watch her son grow up. She wanted to see him succeed and be happy. She wanted to meet his first girlfriend. She wanted to brag about him to others.

She wanted to live. She didn't want to die. Not yet. Not if it meant missing so much.

Naruto stared up at her with his adoring eyes and smiled, his little arms flailing happily. He was an energetic baby.

Kushina stroked her son's hair and cried.