うずまきクシナ

The Fox came crashing down from the sky on the outer perimeters of the barrier seal. Two giant toads sat their girths atop the massive tailed-beast, one trapping its neck between a large fork-like weapon and the other sitting squat on its flank.

Yet even with two of the largest toads that could be summoned holding it down, the Nine-tails refused to be subdued. And when Minato saw that his toads and the seal of weakening that he had prepared fail to achieve what he had intended, he began to feel a deep resignation. The Fox screeched and fought, and the toads struggled, their hold on the monster being slowly wrested away.

He could only try. Running his hands through the various seals, he prepared to funnel the beast into his son's body. Naruto slept peacefully and Kushina watched him worriedly.

The Fox chortled. "You cannot seal me. Release me now and your deaths shall be swift and painless."

The seal refused to activate. The Fox simply had too much Chakra. The seal could not contain it.

Kushina stared wide-eyed at her husband as his planning fell apart. He had underestimated its strength.

And it was breaking free. Minato was running out of time.

Kushina placed her hands one more time on her sleeping baby's head, making sure that the Illusion of sleep that she had put on him would hold. She was at her limit, and every move she made brought her closer and closer into the blackness. Already, the colors of the world had faded. She could no longer distinguish between the blonde of Minato's hair and the reddish orange of the Nine-tails' swishing namesakes. Everything hurt, every nerve burned and pulsed feverishly as her body fought a battle whose victor had already been determined.

How easy it would be to just let death take her there and then, to end her body's painful struggle.

The first of the two massive toads was sent flinging into the trees, and Minato turned away from the Tailed beast, away from the sealing ceremony he had failed to perform.

He turned to her, his colorless eyes pleading for her help.

And she understood. He had violated his Summoning Contract to call on not one but two of the giant toads, and had believed that it would be enough. What neither of them had accounted for was the failure of the ceremony, of the sheer mountain of Chakra contained within the Nine-tails. Yet, even as she broke the limits of her endurance, even as she did the impossible to stoke her broken coils to do what she could, she knew that the calculating man she had married had factored her in as a failsafe, knew that even though he hadn't expected anything to go wrong, the leader of the Hidden Leaf wasn't one to take risks.

Her help, like her death, had been a forgone conclusion.

Ethereal chains erupted from her back, puncturing the Fox's limbs as it shrugged off the last of the Toads. More chains followed, tying down its tails and dragging its head down into the earth.

"You bitch!" The Demon screeched, knowing the state of her health. "Just die!"

Kushina's vision swam as a heavy malice washed over her. She wouldn't be able to hold the Fox down for long, not in her current state.

"-have to split its Chakra in two." Minato was saying as her attention came back into focus. "There's only one way I know how."

"I will destroy everything!" The Demon bellowed. "I will smash your child like the insect he is!"

Kushina ignored the belligerent beast and laughed feebly. It seemed fate wanted to take everything. Naruto was going to be an orphan after all.

"The Dead Demon Consuming Seal." Kushina ventured

Minato nodded in confirmation.

"Then do it." She begged through the blinding pain. "I can't hold it much longer."

The Demon howled in rage as the toads it had so fervently fought off came back, their efforts now joined with those of the last Uzumaki seal-master.

Minato clapped his hands together and the Dead Demon contract which she had shared with him was invoked. A demon loomed out of the earth, its eerie mask-like face fixed in an eternal, leering grin.

"Namikaze Minato!" Kushina called out before the Dead Demon could take its summoner's soul. "Thank you. For giving me love, for giving me happiness. Thank you for all the time we could spend together. Thank you, for giving me the life I'd never have without you. Thank you. I love you."

There was no response as Minato concentrated, willing the Dead Demon to do his bidding and cutting the Nine-tail's potent spirit into two.

And then it was over. The mythical Demon Fox fought with all its strength to resist the pull on its spirit, but to no avail. With half the Nine-tails held in his control, Minato activated the Eight trigram seal on himself and turned himself into a vessel.

He emitted a short gasp of pain, then proceeded to seal the other half of the Nine-tails into his son. The remaining half, still sentient but weaker in strength, was funneled into its new vessel. It fought valiantly, refusing to be imprisoned once more.

The roar it unleashed was deafening.

"You will regret this! When I am freed, I will turn your village to ashes! I will-!"

And then the Fox was gone, locked away, its single night of freedom from over a hundred years of imprisonment cut short. The Toads gave their dead summoner one last disapproving look and returned to the realms from which they came.

The Hidden Leaf village was saved, and lying crumpled in the center of the clearing was the lifeless body of its leader, his soul taken by the Dead Demon he had summoned as the cost for invoking its power.

Kushina found herself staring disbelievingly at the husk of the man she'd loved, found herself unable to fathom the fact that he was actually dead. The blackness broke through, and began to shade everything into a dull grey. This couldn't be the end. To die with so much left ahead of them. It couldn't end like this.

She crawled away from little Naruto, who lay in his baby-crib, sleeping restfully. The only mark left from having the Nine-tails bonded to him were a light set of whisker-like lines on his cheeks and the seal swirling black on the skin of his belly. In time, that too would fade, only to be made visible under special circumstances.

Kushina clawed her way forward, every breath laboring against her and dragging her deeper into the blackness. She collapsed onto her husband's lifeless corpse, laughing and sobbing at the same time.

"Minato." she called, receiving no response. Namikaze Minato remained dead, and as she stared into his familiar face, she had a sudden, impulsive thought.

Although without a soul, his body was still in perfect condition. It could be preserved. The Dead Demon's belly could be cut open and the souls that were trapped inside could be released. They would simply have to find the mask of the Dead Demon, which, if she remembered correctly, was kept in one of the shrines of her old home. As long as the mask was found, someone could put it on, instantly invoking the Dead Demon, and offer their life as a tribute.

She thought on the notion that anyone would do such a thing so spontaneously and laughed.

Fate was a bitch, but she would try as long as the possibility was there. It was the only thing she could take back for herself, the only thing she could wrest from that sadistic whore who had seen fit to take nearly everything she'd cherished in a single stroke.

Her body screamed at her to fall, to finally die and be at rest. And she refused.

Uzumaki Kushina could not die. Not yet.