The Unsealed Scrolls

by Primordial Vortex

This is a collection of unfinished shorts, chapters, and pilots for Naruto. You may find challenges and challenge responses in here. Standard warnings for my stories apply. Any one of these may end up being turned into stories eventually.

3. Chapter 3

So, let's just get a few things out of the way before we start.

1. If something I write contradicts canon, assume it was intentional. I have taken what I liked and set the rest of it on fire.

2. I do not give a fuck about that godawful fanfic Boruto. In the slightest. Similarly, that awful Minato thing that just appeared recently is equally as bad, especially for what it did to Mito and Kushina.

3. No, neither Hinata nor Sakura are in the pairing in this story. If you want that, go read one of the thousands of other fics with them. No, I'm not going to change my mind and rewrite a bunch of plans just because you keep asking. If you don't believe me, go check Thunderous Soul Ch4. I write for ME. Don't like that? Didn't ask. Don't care. Cry about it. Stay mad. Get real. L. Mald. Seethe. Cope.

Anyway, this seemed to be the most popular idea I had in that vote I did on Pat re on, so this was the idea I did first. I'll likely get to some of the others as well before I actually pick one.

-]|[-

The Shinobi Academy wasn't anything like Naruto had dreamed. From the moment he'd seen his first Jutsu, he knew he wanted to be a ninja! After all, who wouldn't want to be able to spit out firestorms like that one ABNU (He thought? How were four letters hard to remember?) he had seen, or summon cool monkeys like Hokage-Jiji?! He'd been devastated to learn he'd need to wait for years to even be able to enter the Shinobi Academy.

In prior decades, the Hidden Villages started their ninja young. Too young, the Hokage had told him. A slew of… less than mentally sound ninja either abandoning their villages, causing untold amounts of property damage, or just going on unhinged killing sprees all across the Elemental Nations had made the village leaders think that maybe, just maybe, taking innocent children and throwing them into dangerous and extremely stressful situations wasn't the greatest idea. One of these killing sprees had even been directly responsible for one of the World Wars!

Not to mention that young Shinobi rarely had more than a little bit of Catra to their names, limiting them in training. Not enough experience, and not enough physicality. It led to an unpleasant dichotomy where the students who excelled tended towards instability even if it wasn't a guarantee, and those who didn't excel were woefully underprepared for actual Shinobi life.

And so, graduation ages had gradually been bumped up by quite a bit across the nations as they all tried to find that perfect sweet spot to turn out the best, most loyal shinobi and kunoichi. And that meant that the ages where they would enter the Academy had also been bumped up. So, Naruto had needed to spend years in regular, boring schools, fidgeting around and generally being unable to sit still. The teachers and the workers at the orphanage had been cold and aloof, and Naruto had always been able to tell they hadn't liked him. They never mistreated him, but compared to the other kids who got much more attention, it was plain to see that they would like to be doing basically anything other than helping him.

The kids reflected their attitudes, so he didn't really have any friends either. And even if he did have any, he watched as most of them were adopted and taken away, with not a single adult ever giving him even a second look. He met kids outside of the orphanage and had a great time with them… up until adults inevitably came and had something else to do; dinner to get ready, errands to run… His prospective friends were dragged away, and he never saw them again at the same place. Even his attempts to have study dates with his smarter classmates never really worked, because the parents always said no. 'Maybe another time,' was a statement Naruto grew to really, really hate.

So, he had always struggled in class. He read slower…found math harder… and just generally had a rough time of it. He did his best. He always did his best, but with little support, he barely could pass his classes.

He thought things would improve once he was finally admitted to the Academy at the age of eight… but it was more of the same. Theory, reading, writing, though this time about Catra, and angles, and weird hand signs… At the very least, Naruto was able to give full and undivided attention in the cooler history classes. Learning about the legends of the past and their amazing deeds, like the Shodaime Hokage literally making the forests around Konoha! Or his rival Uchiha Madara, who was said to have been able to burn the entire thing down with his awesome Fire Jutsu! Those classes were the only ones he could sit still for!

It was just so boring. Other than those few-and-far-between history classes, the only thing he liked about the… well… the Pre-Academy and pre-pre-school before it was the physical subjects. The Hidden Villages may have dialed up the ages of their prospective Shinobi, but they were well aware that it was best to continue starting the actual physical training young when they were the most malleable. Not to mention the fact that part of Catra was physical energy. The Pre-Academy worked them pretty hard!

But now was the first day of the actual Academy! Now was when they would ACTUALLY start learning to become Ninja! It had taken years of boredom, but finally, at the tender age of twelve, they would FINALLY be able to start learning to use the Catra they had spent years building up!

"Well, you lot sure look excited!" Their teacher, a nondescript lady of about forty smiled at them. "I suppose it is time to learn to use your Chakra, after all."

"Heck yeah!" One of the boys yelled.

Naruto blushed. 'Oh, right. Chakra. Darn it, why do I keep doing that?'

"Well, settle down and we can get started. I'm Fuyumi-sensei, and I'll be your homeroom teacher for this first year." Fuyumi-sensei introduced herself, and quickly took roll. Naruto was a little crestfallen when her tone became rather stilted upon reading his name, and after raising his hand, he let himself droop morosely. He just didn't get why all of the adults didn't like him! He never did anything to anyone! He just wanted to be loved by someone. Was that really that much to ask?

Still, at least this teacher was professional. One of his previous teachers had not been and had said some really hurtful things to him. The next day, the teacher was gone, and a replacement had taken over for the rest of the year. Naruto never did find out what had happened to him.

She smiled at them all, "Well children, this is the moment you've all been waiting for!" She formed the Ram seal, "You should all know this Hand Sign by now. Go ahead and get into position." She then went around and only had to correct a few of the students. When she got to him, Naruto noticed her visibly steeling herself, before coming closer, "You've got it backwards, Uzumaki-san. The left hand should be on top, not the right."

"Oh!" Naruto corrected himself, "Thanks sensei!"

"Make sure you practice." She waved his thanks off and made off briskly, and again, he drooped. But at least she helped fix his mistake. She quickly finished with everyone, and made her way back to the front, "Now, while you'll need to learn to do it in any situation, for now, closing your eyes is acceptable. Once you're used to concentrating your Chakra, we'll be training to make it second nature. So go ahead and close your eyes." They all did so, "Now, you're looking for a funny feeling inside of yourselves. A rush of something right below your chest. Once you feel it, try bringing it out and forcing it to rush around your body."

Immediately, the first success was had. After all, Uchiha Sasuke had been learning in private with his family for years already. Quickly, he was followed by the other clan kids. Yamanaka Ino was the next to get it, smiling brightly. She was only a few seconds later than Sasuke in calling her Chakra out. Aburame Shino was next, and then Inuzuka Kiba. Hyūga Hinata followed, and then Akimichi Choji. Finally, after a solid ten seconds of waiting, Ino rolled her eyes and reached over to Nara Shikamaru, before smacking him, "Stop being a lazy bum, Shika."

"Troublesome." Shikamaru groaned, biting back a yawn. He quickly summoned his Chakra as well, looking like he very much did not want to be there.

"Excellent work, you seven." Fuyumi-sensei clapped for them, smiling brightly.

"Am I doing it right, sensei?" Haruno Sakura asked, the first of the civilian kids to get it.

"You are! Congratulations, Sakura-chan!" Fuyumi-sensei beamed at her, "See kids? You all can do it! Not just the children from Konoha's major clans. You just have to reach inside of you!" She carefully monitored all of them, noting their Chakra levels. She was a very basic Chakra sensor, which was why she was their first-year homeroom teacher. She could tell how much Chakra they had, and try to figure out how best to teach them to control it. Slowly, the rest of the children started to get it, with the more advanced students helping their struggling peers.

It was when more than half of her students had succeeded in feeling out their Chakra that it happened.

WHUMP

A physical feeling not unlike getting punched in the chest hit her as Uzumaki Naruto (the student she had been dreading the most) unlocked his Chakra. 'Oh, Kami…' She felt faint, 'He has more than me… more than the entire school! Put together!' She shivered, 'He has more than most Jōnin! Is the fox escaping?! Have I doomed us?!'

And then the feeling went away, as Naruto quickly lost his concentration, "Yatta! I did it!" He jumped excitedly.

"Y-yes." She said, staring at him fearfully. "G-Good job, Uzumaki-san. Please t-take your seat."

Naruto instantly deflated, looking at the fear in her eyes. "Yes, sensei…" He mumbled, sitting down. Some of the ninja around the village were… well, not nice per se, but at least none of them were as fearful. He had thought that once he was around ninja, he could get some support. Some friends who wouldn't be pulled away by their parents who were cold and scared of him for some reason. But even his sensei was afraid of him. 'I thought things were supposed to get better…' He thought to himself morosely.

Little did he know how right he was.

-]|[-

"Eurgh…" A low, feminine voice rang through the still air, "Oh, Kami, Mikoto-chan, what did you make me drink?" The voice moaned, as its owner massaged her aching temples, "I'm never drinking again, 'ttebane." The woman finally opened her eyes… and then froze.

Her neck creaked as she took in the sights. It was dark. Far too dark. She was also not on her nice, fluffy mattress, which was another mark against her. Instead, were it not for the lack of any smell whatsoever, she would have thought she was in a sewer. And there were… bars…

Uzumaki Kushina let out a strangled gasp as she jumped to her feet, hands desperately groping at her chest. She tore her shirt open and saw perfect, unmarred skin where she knew a massive hole should have sat. The memories tore through her. Her labor. The attack by that masked man. Her son being taken hostage. Being near death and offering to take the Kyūbi with her. Her idiot husband refusing because of the balance of power, and the fact that it wouldn't be permanent. Her anger at the thought that he was going to leave their son to suffer alone when he didn't have to. Her refusal to leave their son with nothing and no one. "Oh, Kami…" She said to herself, "H-How long has it been? How long was I healing for?"

She sagged against the bars locking her inside of her son's soul and trembled at the thought of what such a mindscape could mean for his mental state. "Naruto…" She breathed, nearly choking as she began to channel her Chakra. Minato had given her the key to her own seal, and so she unlocked it. The bars immediately parted, allowing her to exit. She didn't try to leave her son's body. That would surely freak him out. Plus, she had no idea what things were like on the outside. She needed to see him. She needed to see her boy! She reached out, gently connecting with his Chakra system to try to draw him in.

-]|[-

Naruto had been feeling weird all day. Ever since he had connected with his Chakra, actually. Well, more like a few hours later. He'd gone home and gotten in bed early, which was quite unlike him.

Well, apparently some jerk had decided to play a joke on him because now he was IN A SEWER! "When I get my hands on…" He continued to grumble as he walked, seemingly drawn in a specific direction. He kept walking for a long time, almost fifteen minutes, not knowing why he needed to go left, left, straight, right, straight, left, right, etc. but knowing that it was the correct path. "Darn it, where the heck am I?!" He yelled, until he finally got into a new room. One with a large chamber, where a beautiful redheaded woman was standing. She was the most beautiful woman Naruto had ever seen, in his opinion.

And she was staring at him in dumbfounded shock, looking like she had seen a ghost. And then she started to tear up as he got closer, clapping a hand to her mouth as she tried and failed to choke back a sob.

"Who are you, pretty lady?" Naruto asked, "Why do you look so sad? Why are you crying?"

"Oh, Naru-chan…" Kushina choked out, trying to stop her tears, "Y-You've gotten so big. I-I missed so much…" And in the blink of an eye, Naruto found himself in her embrace. She clutched onto him like a lifeline, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry!"

Naruto froze, his heart starting to pound. She… she knew him? Since he was younger? She had missed a lot? She was sorry? Who was she?! Shaking, he wrapped his arms around her too. When was the last time he had been hugged? When was the last time anyone had shown him any affection like this? A burning, desperate hope flamed up inside of him, "M-Mom?" He whispered, afraid to even say the word out loud.

She choked out another sob, pulling away and kissing his forehead, "Yes." She whispered, running her fingers through his hair, "My…my son! Kami, I've missed so much of your life! It wasn't supposed to be this long!" She wailed, tears renewing as Naruto started to cry too, clutching onto her desperately as if afraid she was going to disappear.

"Mom!" He sobbed into her chest. Gosh, he was just a head shorter than her! "W-where did you go?! Why did you leave me alone?!"

"I never wanted to, baby. I swear!" Kushina said, "I…" She took a shuddering breath, "Gosh, I was supposed to wake up years ago, but it only happened today."

He pulled back, "W-wake up?"

She nodded, "I… we were attacked the day you were born." She told him, "Some jerk in a mask stole the Kyūbi from me and used it to attack the village." She said, "I…I was dying. Minato sealed me inside of you so I could heal."

"Oh…" Naruto gaped, "S-So you've been inside of me the whole time? J-Just sleeping s-so you could get better?" She nodded, "Wow, that sealing stuff is way cooler than I thought!"

She let out a wet giggle, smiling for the first time in what felt like years, "Sure is! I bet those boring old fuddies at the Academy just showed the old 'kunai in the scroll' trick, huh?"

Naruto started to giggle, nodding. He then froze as her other words penetrated his thick skull, "Wait, what do you mean 'stole the Kyūbi?!' How can Kyūbi be stolen?"

Kushina blanched and backed away to look at him more clearly, "Y-you don't know?"

Naruto blinked, squinting, and making himself look very foxlike, "Know what, Mom?"

Kushina took a deep breath to try to calm her nerves, "Okay Naru-chan, tell me everything you know about me, your father, and what happened the night you were born."

"Uhhh…" Naruto scratched his chin, "You're inside of me, I don't know dad, and the Kyūbi attacked the day I was born. Yondaime-sama killed it but died doing it. Everyone knows that."

Kushina gawked at him, "W-what? Th-that can't be it!" Did he not know anything?! Not even her name, or his father's name? "Who has taken care of you?! Was it Mikoto-chan? Jiraiya-san? Kakashi-kun?"

"…Who?" Naruto squinted at her, and Kushina felt like a bucket of ice had been dropped down her dress, before white-hot rage engulfed her as he said, "I was at the orphanage until this year, and now Hokage-Jiji gave me my own apartment."

Alone. Her son was alone. Everything she had tried to prevent happened anyway. Immediately, her hair started to levitate into nine tendrils behind her, and her fists very audibly clenched. Naruto's eyes widened as he saw the sheer rage on his mother's face and he backed up a step, "Mom?" He asked, hesitantly. He was legitimately scared right now.

That snapped her out of it, and she gasped at the scared look on his face, "Oh, honey, I'm sorry for scaring you!" She shook herself, resolving to be furious later, "I promise I wasn't mad at you." She hurried to run her fingers through his hair again, "I was just making a list of people whose faces I need to turn inside out when I get out of you!"

'Mom is the coolest! And really scary!' He thought to himself, a little blue in the face.

She took another deep breath, "Okay, so since you don't know anything, let me start with my name. I'm Uzumaki Kushina, dattebane!"

He gasped, "You have a tic too, dattebayo!" He pointed at her, and she sputtered.

"Oh no, of all the things to get from me!" She facepalmed, before starting to giggle. Naruto followed, and she shook her head, "Okay, so first, the Kyūbi didn't just appear in Konoha that night. It had been inside Konoha for decades!"

"Wait, what?!" Naruto gasped, "But how does a big ass fox hide in the village?!"

"Language." She smiled to let him see she wasn't mad, "And that's because it was sealed, just like mama is sealed in you." His eyes widened, "Decades ago, Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara fought, and Madara used the Kyūbi as a weapon. Hashirama was able to steal control away from Madara, and his wife, Uzumaki Mito, sealed the fox inside of herself." Naruto gaped, shocked beyond words, "Once Mito got too old to hold the fox, it was transferred to me." She pointed at herself.

"Seriously?!"

She nodded, "Yup! I held the fox for a good long time. I was terrified when I was brought to Konoha from Uzushio." She looked off to the side, lost in a memory, "But it ended up being something that likely saved my life, because our homeland was attacked and destroyed not long after during the Second World War. The night you were born, I was tired and exhausted from the birth, and a masked man attacked us." She clenched her fists again, "That bastard broke into a highly secure location, murdered a bunch of guards, and took you hostage to distract your father!"

"But why?!" Naruto clenched his fists too, glaring in childish anger.

"He wanted the Kyūbi." She spat, "As soon as your father rescued you, the bastard used the opportunity to steal me away and rip the fox out of me. At that point, I was already dying." She sighed, "Jinchūriki can't survive having their Bijū extracted. If I wasn't an Uzumaki, I would have already died on the spot. But I lived to see your father get the fox out of Konoha, and then helped hold him down with my Kongō Fūsa so he could defeat it."

"W-Wait… Defeat it?!" Naruto's eyes widened, "Then… then that means…Yondaime-sama was my dad?"

"Namikaze Minato." Kushina said, smiling at him gently, "Yes. He was your dad." Naruto had stars in his eyes at the thought of having such badass parents. She winced, knowing that shine was about to take a hit, "Earlier you said he killed the Kyūbi. But that's not true. Bijū can't be killed. Even if you destroy their bodies, they'll just reform somewhere else, years later."

"What?! But…" Naruto froze, "But that means…" He looked down, not wanting to say what had just run through his mind out loud.

Kushina bit her lip, "I wanted to take the Kyūbi down with me, but we both knew it would just buy time. After being used as a weapon and sealed in two different people, and then given freedom only to then be used as a weapon again, the fox was furious. If we 'killed' it, the second it came back it was running right for Konoha to try to destroy us again." She sighed, "So Minato said no, and said he would use a forbidden jutsu to seal Kyūbi away, half into you, and half into himself which he would take to his grave."

Naruto flinched, "S-so that's why everyone is afraid of me…"

Kushina flinched right in turn upon hearing that, "It should have been a secret. Damn it!" She shook her head, "I'm so sorry, baby." She embraced him, "I just don't get it. Nothing happened the way it should have!" She felt his little fists on her stomach, "And telling people Minato killed it… just what happened?! And why did NO ONE tell you the truth?! What, did that as-" She paused, "jerk Danzō become Hokage?!"

Naruto chuckled wetly, "You can swear, Mom. I've heard them all." He mumbled, "And the Hokage is the Sandaime."

Kushina nibbled on her fist, "Just what the hell has he been doing then?!" She huffed, "Ugh, I have so much to catch up on." She shook her head, "Anyway, I really didn't like your stupid father's plan, because it meant him dying too and leaving you alone. So, in a last-ditch attempt to prevent that, I had him seal half of the Kyūbi in me, and then seal me inside you so that I could heal."

Naruto snickered, "Well, apparently one thing worked." He hugged her as tight as he could, "Love you, Mom…"

"Love you too, Naru-chan." She smiled, "Love you too."

He pulled back, "So, can you leave at any time? Are you going to come out now?"

"Heck no!" Kushina raised a fist, and Naruto blanched,

"Wait, why not?! Do you not want to spend time with me?" Naruto looked incredibly hurt by that.

"It is exactly because I want to spend time with you that I won't come out!" Kushina said, and Naruto tilted his head, confused, "The second I come out, they're going to try to make me Hokage!" It was even true. They were going to try. But Kushina wanted nothing to do with that job at the moment. Not after looking at her precious son and what had been done to him.

Naruto's eyes almost popped out of his head, "Woah, Hokage?! You're that strong!"

"Sure am!" Kushina flexed with a huge grin, clapping a hand to her bicep, "Minato only got the job because I didn't really want it. I did when I was younger, but then I learned how boring it was 75% of the time and let Minato have it!"

"Mom is the coolest!" Naruto had stars in his eyes again.

"And don't you forget it, 'ttebane!" Kushina grinned, fists on her hips in a 'superior' pose, "Anyway, I missed out on a bunch of time with you, so there's no way I'm letting myself get stuck behind the desk for at least a few years! I have so many things to teach you, so I'll just have to be your little secret!" She winked at him.

Naruto beamed… before freezing, "Hey, wait a minute!" Kushina blinked at him, "Can't you just say no?"

"…Huh?"

"I mean, they can't force you to be Hokage, right?" Naruto pointed out, "A leader who doesn't want to lead and is pissed at being forced to do it is a bad idea, right?"

Kushina stared at him. He stared back. Kushina scratched her chin and giggled nervously, "Ehehehe…"

Naruto deadpanned, "Mom…"

"I just woke up, okay!" She blushed, feeling like an idiot. "In any case, it'll take me a while to leave anyway. The seal kinda wrapped our Chakra systems together while I was healing, so I'll have to untangle myself before I can actually leave."

"That's okay!" He grinned at her, "Yatta!" He jumped into the air, "I have a mom!" She could only laugh at his enthusiasm.

-]|[-

Things had been worse than she thought.

Once Naruto left his mindscape with a hop in his step, Kushina finally allowed herself to break down and fall to her knees, weeping.

Her husband: Dead. That, she knew of, obviously.

Her son: twelve. She had missed out on twelve goddamn years of her son's life.

His status as the Kyūbi Jinchūriki: Obviously both a secret and not. No one his age or even close to it knew, but everyone even five years older than him clearly did.

His godfather: Nowhere to be found. Naruto didn't even know he had a godfather.

Kakashi: Similarly, had not been around.

The Sandaime who she had looked up to for most of her life: Apparently useless. He barely interacted with Naruto, had lied to him (and everyone Naruto's age) about the Kyūbi, and had left her son in an orphanage…

Her best friend: Dead. Murdered by her own son, along with almost the entirety of the rest of the Uchiha clan. Sweet, little Itachi, the same Itachi she had given hugs and headpats to, had apparently gone homicidally insane, leaving only his little brother alive for unknown reasons.

It was little wonder Kushina could not even pretend to hold back her tears. Twelve years, because no one had given Naruto even a hint of affection or attention. That damned Jiraiya had left him alone, and even Mikoto had not taken him in. Naruto had only now started using his Chakra, which was what had jolted her awake. Her Jinchūriki son could barely read, and developmentally he was far behind where he should have been. Couple that with his hyperactivity, which was a fairly common Uzumaki trait, and he had rapidly lost interest in academics.

Well, not on her watch.

"Hey, Mom!" She heard her son's disembodied voice, and gently linked her senses to his, allowing her to see the outside world.

"Hey, sweetheart." She kept her voice as even as possible, to not let him know she had been sobbing again. "Are you ready to get started?" He startled, hearing her voice inside his head, despite there obviously being no one next to him.

Naruto sulked as he stared at some of his older books, "Are you sure I have to do this?" He whined, glaring at the book.

"Oh yes you do, mister." Kushina pointed her index finger despite the fact he could not see it, "I know stuff like this is boring, but it's important. Mom has a few tricks to help you. I didn't like studying when I was younger either. For example, if you don't improve your writing," She looked at some of his work with a grimace, "Then I won't be able to teach you about seals."

"What?!" Naruto sounded aghast, "Why not?"

"Because Fūinjutsu is very powerful, but very unforgiving." Kushina told him, "If you write something incorrectly, your seal can do anything from just not working and wasting the Chakra, to putting you over there, over there, and up there." She tried to inject some dark humor into it as her son was apparently used to it, but there was little that was funny about getting blown into multiple pieces.

Naruto cringed, "…Okay, Fūinjutsu is scary."

"Very. You have to respect the art, or it will destroy you." Kushina agreed, "So, are you ready to get started?"

"Yes…" Naruto still wasn't looking forward to it, but maybe it would be different with his mom teaching him, "You said you had some tricks to make it more fun?"

"Yup!" Kushina grinned, remembering how she had needed to do stuff like this, "You're going to exercise while working. This will expand some of that energy while you're being productive!"

"…That simple?!" Naruto groused, a frown on his face. He started an invisible chair exercise and opened his book. To his joy, it was much easier to learn with his mom right 'beside him,' helping him pronounce words he didn't know and correcting ones he had incorrect, explaining concepts he didn't understand in much simpler terms than the teachers ever did, and making the dry books a lot more interesting with some much more personal experiences.

-]|[-

"Okay, what now, Mom?" Naruto was hopping in place as he stood inside the woods. The Academy had let out for the day, and now it was time for training! He also wasn't speaking out loud, having been instructed not to where other people could see.

"One of the most important things for any ninja is Chakra control, 'ttebane!" Kushina declared, "Someone who controls their Chakra really well can do practically anything with it. Tsunade-chama-" Naruto snickered at the 'honorific,' "Could release her Chakra in bursts, timed with her attacks. Whenever she did that, she went from breaking mountains to turning them to dust!"

"Holy crap, dattebayo!" Naruto had stars in his eyes, "You mean I could learn that?!"

Kushina winced, "Ehh, probably not, Naru-chan." She winced again as he faceplanted, "Uzumaki like us, especially Uzumaki Jinchūriki like us, have way too much Chakra to ever reach that level of control." She explained, "Our Chakra is just too dense and powerful… not to mention chaotic. We're better suited for other things. I tried to learn Tsunade-chama's technique, but I was just never able to get it." She grinned, "Instead, I made a seal to do it for me!" She cackled at Naruto's awed expression. "Granted, it wasn't as good as her technique, but it was more than good enough to make me the scariest kunoichi of my generation.' She then bit back a grumble, 'That masked asshole better hope I never see him again.' She then audibly grumbled, "Masked asshole! Attack me just after I give birth, huh? Too much of a coward to step up. Fucking teleport around like a bitch, steal my fox, get my husband killed... oh motherfucker, I'll show you space-time, 'ttebane." She started wiggling her fingers and giggling in a rather disturbing manner as she started thinking out loud about anti-space-time Fūinjutsu techniques.

Naruto started getting a little blue in the face as he listened to his mom plot to tear the masked asshole a new asshole. "Uhh…Mom?"

She snapped out of it, "Ehehehe, whoops?" She rubbed the back of her head nervously, "Uhh, you heard nothing."

"I heard everything." Naruto countered with a small snort, "So, what are we doing?" He gamely tried to move past it.

"Right!" Kushina said cheerfully, "So, as I was saying, it's extremely important to learn how to control your Chakra! If you don't, then let's say you have a hundred Chakra 'units' just to keep this simple." She made quotations with her fingers, again, forgetting he couldn't actually see her doing it, "You use a technique that costs ten Chakra 'units.' If you have perfect Chakra control, then you use exactly those ten units, meaning you can use the technique nine times before you run into the risk of Chakra Exhaustion, and if you use it a tenth time, you'll probably die since your Chakra will be at 'zero'. But if you have really bad Chakra control, then you'll use fifty 'units,' wasting most of it, and you won't even be able to use the technique a second time without being in danger of dying from exhaustion!"

"Woah!" Naruto gasped, "Is my control that bad?"

"Nope!" Kushina grinned slyly, making Naruto sigh in relief, "It's probably way worse than that!" Naruto faceplanted again, "To use the same analogy, you probably use two hundred units compared to a regular person, or even more. Not only have you just started using Chakra, but you're a Uzumaki Jinchūriki. Your control is extra bad, just like mine used to be." She started to chuckle at the annoyed and depressed feeling she got from her son, "That's our disadvantage. Where our advantage comes in is that while most people have barely a thousand 'units' of Chakra to their name as full adults, we probably have upwards of ten thousand as children."

"Woah, holy crap!" Naruto gasped, "That means we can spam techniques without getting tired!"

"Yup!" Kushina grinned, "But it also means that we constantly have to keep practicing our control, and we almost always suck at subtle techniques like medical ninjutsu and genjutsu. So, let's get started on some Chakra control!It's time for you to learn to climb trees!"

"…eh?" Naruto squinted, "I can already climb trees! How is that going to help?!"

"Without your hands?" Kushina asked slyly.

"Ehhhhhh?!" Naruto's eyes popped out, "Without my hands?! How is THAT possible?!"

"Pop in here!" Kushina told him, so he sat down and crossed his legs before closing his eyes, "Hiya!" She beamed at her son as he appeared before her.

"Hey Mom! Are you going to show me?" He vibrated in excitement.

"Yup!" She grinned, before leaping straight up and flipping upside-down. Her feet touched the top of the room and she stuck to it, staring down at him with her long hair hanging.

"Uwaaah! That's so cool!" Naruto gasped, "Teach me, teach me!" He hopped up and down.

Kushina laughed, allowing herself to fall and landing on her feet. "Calm down, Naru-chan. Go on and get outside and I'll explain."

"Kay!" Naruto faded out, and opened his eyes to the tree in front of him, "So how do we do it?"

"Right, so the first thing you should know is that the feet are the hardest points on the body to focus Chakra to. That also means that they give the most benefit when learning how to control your Chakra. What you need to do is focus a nice, even layer of Chakra to your feet, which will allow you to stick to the tree." She said, before telling him to go lay down with his feet on the tree, "So place a foot on the tree, and then channel your Chakra. What you're looking for is enough Chakra that you can't pull your foot away from the bark."

Naruto made the Ram Seal, before he abruptly stopped, "Uhhh, what happens if I use too much?"

Kushina chuckled a little evilly, "Boom."

Naruto cringed, "…This is gonna suck, isn't it?"

Kushina laughed, having already given up on reigning in any language. It wasn't like she was prim and perfect either, "Yeah, probably. At least I'm starting you on the ground. My jackass sensei had us get a running start, and I immediately blew myself off the tree and smashed my head on a boulder, 'ttebane." She groused, rubbing the back of her head in phantom pain.

"…What if I blow the tree up and it falls on me?" Naruto asked blankly.

"Run." Kushina replied, 'helpfully.' Naruto rolled his eyes, "Don't you roll your eyes at me, young man!" She chided, though she was holding back a laugh and he could probably tell. She finally started to laugh, "Go on! Remember, you're looking for enough Chakra that you can't pull your foot off the tree even if you yank hard. You need to hold up your entire body weight, after all. Do only one foot to start."

"Okay!" Naruto placed his right foot on the tree and made the Ram Sign, directing it to his feet with difficulty. His mom coaching him really helped because he really didn't think he'd get it without her. He was just too unused to doing anything with his Chakra. They hadn't even taught any jutsu yet! Finally, he placed his foot on the bark… and there was an immediate explosion, blowing him back. Naruto flinched and threw his arms up to block his face as bits of tree peppered him.

"Naru-chan, RUN!" Kushina yelled in a panic.

Naruto trusted her, immediately throwing himself into a left-roll and tumbling away from the tree. There was an almighty BANG as the tree crashed and shook the earth, and Naruto finally stopped rolling, staring at the fallen log in shock.

Kushina held a hand to her heart, which was pounding, "Oh Kami, that was too close."

"I even asked!" Naruto shouted, his own heart thudding in his chest.

"I didn't think it was a serious possibility!" Kushina tried to calm herself, "I blew myself back, yes, but I never blew a tree down in just one try! Kami, I think you might have even more Chakra than I did at your age! I don't understand!" She hissed, "Is it because I was a Jinchūriki when I had you? Is it because you were so young when Kyūbi was sealed into you? Both?"

"Probably both, right?" Naruto asked, and Kushina nodded.

"Yes, I think that's the most likely option." Kushina said pensively, "We'll need to be a lot more careful until you're more experienced then." She declared, "We'll use the fallen tree until you get at least somewhat of an idea of what you're doing. Once you've got a decent grasp of it, we can start you on climbing."

"Okay." Naruto hesitantly made his way over to the fallen log and laid down again, "Let's try half?" He asked the air, before placing his foot. The bark still exploded, but it was just a small poof compared to the first time. "Holy crap! Half again?" This time, the bark cracked, and his foot was forced away. He kept trying, getting a few attempts where his sandals kinda stuck, but very lightly. His feet pulled away, and then the sandal slipped a few seconds later. It took well over an hour, but he finally managed to get his foot to stick to the tree! "Yatta! I did it!"

"Good job, Naru-chan!" Kushina clapped inside his head, "Now do it for the other foot."

Naruto would have faceplanted again if he hadn't been laying down. "Crap, I forgot!" He groused, before putting on his game face and getting back to it. He quickly realized that one single success did not make a mastered skill. He was immediately taught this lesson when his first attempt blew bark away again. He spent the next several hours switching between feet, and just getting a feel for how much Chakra he was using each time he had a success.

"Good job, Naru-chan!" Kushina praised him, "Let's wrap it up and go home now."

"I'm not really tired though!" Naruto protested, "I can keep going!"

"Hmm…" Kushina mused, "What time is it?"

"Almost 7!" Naruto told her.

"Nope. That's too late. You need to make dinner, and you have homework." She immediately denied him, and to his credit, Naruto didn't protest. His stomach, however, did. "See? You're already hungry. We can pick this up tomorrow."

"Time for ramen!" Naruto cheered, getting up and starting to walk home.

"Oh, my kingdom for a bowl…" Kushina salivated, before shaking her head, "Wait, what am I saying? No way, Naru-chan! You're a growing boy and you need to have some healthier food, otherwise you're going to stunt your growth and be really short."

Naruto almost tripped, "B-But ramen!" His lip quivered.

"I know, I know. You got your love of it from me." Kushina said, "But it really isn't healthy and needs to be a reward. Don't worry! I know how to make plenty of dishes you're going to love!"

"Okay…" Naruto moped, crocodile tears pouring from his eyes as he ambled home.

-]|[-

"Great job, honey!" Kushina cheered her son on as he whooped and hollered, running all the way up one tree before leaping twenty feet and landing in the branches of another.

"Yatta!" He cheered, all but vibrating in excitement.

"And it only took you a week!" Kushina giggled, "I expected it to take longer, honestly. They haven't even started that useless Leaf Sticking exercise at the academy yet."

"Useless?" Naruto quirked his head, sitting on the branch and taking a breather. He smiled, looking around. He liked being high up like this!

"Well, useless for us." She amended her statement with a grin, "Us using the Leaf Sticking exercise to improve our Chakra control is like trying to use a single paper towel to dry out an ocean."

Naruto started to giggle, "That has to be one hell of a paper towel then!" His mom laughed at that, before he asked, "So, what's next?" He started to vibrate in excitement, "Are you going to show me any cool techniques?!"

"Nope!" Kushina said, and laughed when Naruto tilted to the side and almost fell off the tree, "You have one more exercise to go before your Chakra control will be adequate. Once we do that, we should be good to go on starting a few techniques."

"Okay, so what's next, mom?" He asked, eager to get it over with.

"Now…!" Kushina paused for dramatic tension, "You get your butt over to the hot springs!"

"Ehhh?"

"Hurry up, mister! Mush!" Kushina metaphorically cracked the whip with a chuckle, and Naruto hurried down the tree and towards his destination.

…

"Okay, so now what?" Naruto asked, looking at the hot, steamy water. "Am I taking a bath before training?"

"Something like that." She grinned in amusement, "Get your clothes off. No sense getting any of it wet. You got a towel, right?"

"Yup!" Naruto quickly put his clothes away (folded neatly at her urging) and got close to the edge, "So what's this exercise?"

"Now!" Kushina grinned, "You learn to walk on water!"

"EHHHHH?!" Naruto exclaimed, "We can DO that?!"

"Yup! It's much harder than Surface Walking, but I think you'll get it much faster than you got that one. You've already done the hardest part. Now you just need to improve it." She told him, "With Surface Walking, you only need to gather a certain amount of Chakra. That amount only changes if you get heavier. The tree isn't going anywhere, so you stick to it like a suction cup. That exercise teaches you how to produce and stick to a certain amount of Chakra." She reiterated what he had learned, since she knew he wasn't the best or even really interested in theory, "With water walking, however, it's different. The water is constantly moving, even if it looks completely still. Even your footsteps will cause ripples. Just maintaining a constant output won't work. The water will stick to your feet, sure, but that just means that the water stuck to you will sink with you."

"That sucks… I'm not sure I get it." Naruto frowned, hoping he wasn't disappointing his mom.

"You'll never disappoint me unless you slack off and don't do your best, honey." Kushina knew exactly what he was thinking even if he didn't project it to her, "Now, to do this, you have to expel the Chakra from your feet. It's not a lot, in the same way that you didn't need a lot to stick to the tree. But you have to emit it into the water and constantly adjust it. It's much more difficult, but also much more rewarding when you get it. If you use too little, you'll fall in. If you use too much… well, I'm sure you've watched fireworks before." She laughed as he turned a little blue.

"Okay…" He said, a little shakily, making the hand signs, "So, channel the Chakra to my feet… expel it… and-" He stepped on the hot spring, and immediately dunked in. "GAHHHHH! HOOOOOOOOT!" he screamed, scrambling to get out of the water.

"Yup!" Kushina snickered, remembering her own punishing spills into this very spring, "The water is sixty degrees Celsius, so if you don't get it quickly, you'll really be a Naruto!"

"Wait!" Naruto gasped, "Did you really name me after a ramen topping?!" He asked indignantly.

"Nah, it was the main character's name in a book your father and I enjoyed." Kushina said lightly, though she started to angrily tap her foot unconsciously.

"Really? Can I read it?" Kushina didn't answer, "Mom?"

Kushina sighed, "Sorry honey, the book is good, but I'm kind of pissed off at the author right now."

"Why?" Naruto asked quizzically.

"Never mind for now." Kushina said, "Hop to it mister! That water isn't going to stand on itself!"

"Okay…" Naruto made a mental note to ask again later. "Yosh! Let's go!" he yelled, taking another step onto the hot spring.

SPLASH

"HOOOOOOOOOOOT!"

-]|[-

"Ehehehe!" Kushina rubbed her hands together evilly. As she predicted, Naruto got the exercise quickly. Much more quickly than she expected even! She thought it would take three days or so, but Naruto had shocked her by getting it before the day was even over! Her son may not have been book-smart, but he was an extremely good kinesthetic learner! They had gone home, and Kushina had allowed him a celebratory ramen for dinner.

That meant that today was the big day. "NOW can I learn some cool Jutsu?!" Naruto asked, once again nearly vibrating out of his shoes. They were inside his mindscape, which she was elated to see had started to brighten up a bit.

"That's right!" She grinned as her son jumped into the air, cheering, "Now, so far, the academy has just been showing you stuff like the rope escape technique. While it's an important and useful technique, it's basic. Pretty soon, they're going to start working on actual Jutsu. One of which is going to be the Bunshin no Jutsu."

"Bunshin? We can clone ourselves?!" Naruto gasped, excited about learning it. "So, you're going to teach me that one early?"

"Nope!" Kushina matched his cheer, and he faceplanted at her response, "In fact, if I have my way, you'll never have to waste your time with that useless thing!"

"Oii, what gives, mom?" Naruto rubbed his face in irritation. "If it sucks, why did you mention it?"

"So, let me explain." Kushina raised a finger, "The Bunshin no Jutsu forms an illusionary clone. In theory, it's a good Jutsu that allows you to trick your opponents into thinking there are more of you than there really are. If you try to fight with them, they won't know which ones are real and which aren't, tricking them into dodging attacks that don't exist and setting you up to hit them for real." She sighed, "The problem is, they don't have their own Chakra, brains, or even shadows or weight. So, in practice, Bunshin are easily spotted by any half-trained idiot, and are really only useful against non-ninja who don't know any better."

"If they suck so much, why are they even taught?" Naruto asked quizzically, unable to understand why they would waste time on a technique like that.

"Because they ARE useful against non-ninja who don't know any better," She replied, "And they are a good Jutsu to get kids' feet wet with. They don't cost a lot of Chakra to make, the hand seals are simple, and I really can't think of a way they could hurt themselves with it."

"Ah." He focused on one part of her explanation, "Don't cost a lot of Chakra, huh? I'm guessing that means we suck with it?"

She started to laugh, "Naruto, I was almost a Jōnin by the time my Chakra control was good enough to make one of the stupid things. And by that time, I only bothered to win a bet." Naruto started to cackle. His mom was awesome. "So, if the regular clone sucks, what do we do?" Kushina asked, smiling at him.

He squinted, "Learn a better one?"

"You got it!" Kushina smirked, and made a cross-seal, "Memorize this sign, Naru-chan."

"Hey, that's not one of the ones we learned!" Naruto protested, but copied his mom. It was an easy enough sign to make.

"Nope, this one is special." Kushina confirmed and made small corrections to his sign. "Good! Remember how that sign feels because you'll be using it a lot, once I'm out of you. Before that, you'll have to hide it otherwise people will get suspicious." She grinned and made her own clone seal again, "Now watch! Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" She declared, and a clone of her popped up next to her.

"Woah!" Naruto's eyes glittered, "Two moms!"

Kushina laughed at his childlike joy, "Yup! This Jutsu is the coolest type of clone, and it's one that only Jōnin and stronger can usually use. You're an exception mister, so don't go teaching it to any of your classmates."

"Why not?"

She got serious, "Because if you do, they will die." He screamed in shock, "Yup. I'm a hundred percent serious. Kage Bunshin is a special Jutsu. There is a minimum amount of Chakra required to use it, just the same as any other technique. But that minimum amount is MUCH greater than normal techniques. If even your strongest classmate tries to make a single clone with it, they will immediately exhaust their entire Chakra supply and kill themselves. Even your Chūnin instructor barely has enough for a single Kage Bunshin. She'd probably lay herself out for a week with Chakra Exhaustion."

"Why is it so dangerous?!" he yelped in shock. Even Fuyumi-sensei couldn't use it?

"Because what it does is extremely worth the cost." She replied, "Number one…" Her clone punched the wall and cracked it, making Naruto jump, "The clone is solid. They can only really take one good hit before dispelling, but they can otherwise do anything you can do. This includes Jutsu because they have their own Chakra systems! They are in every way identical to you!"

"Wow!" He exclaimed, getting excited again.

"But that's not all!" Kushina grinned at his enthusiasm, "Nidaime-sama created this Jutsu as the ultimate spying technique. In that, he sort-of failed, because so few people can actually use it. But that was a failure of the people around him, not of the technique. Once a Kage Bunshin pops, any remaining Chakra and everything the clone experienced goes right back to the original." Naruto froze, looked like he was doing mental math for a second, which had Kushina sputtering over the cuteness, and then his eyes almost popped out of his skull, "Yup!" She laughed, "So you can make a clone, have it disguise itself, have it enter a secret hideout and look at all of the secret info inside, and then it pops, and you learn everything without ever being in danger! Or, it gets spotted, killed, and now you know that there are dangerous enemies inside, and you can reevaluate your approach."

"Wow, that's crazy!" Naruto started to jump up and down in eagerness.

"Yup! But for me and you, and people like us… it gets even better." Kushina grinned as Naruto started to look faint, "Because of how much Chakra we have, we can spam them. That means we can create our own partners in fights to overwhelm our opponents by sheer numbers, and even use combination Jutsu by ourselves. AND, with how much Chakra me and you have, we can even learn faster. You go to the academy and leave ten clones at home, and when they pop, you learn everything you had them reviewing and practicing. If there's a Jutsu you want to learn, you make a couple clones, and they figure it out while you practice Taijutsu. Or learn something else."

"TEACHMETEACHMETEACHMETEACHME!"

Kushina could only laugh, "You got it, Naru-chan." She grinned, "And as soon as you learn this one, I'll start figuring out how to get out of you safely."

"Yosh!" Naruto yelled, now even more excited. "Come on, teach me! I want my mom on the outside!"

She smiled tenderly, "You got it Naru-chan. Now, what you do is…" She set off explaining the mechanics of the technique, with Naruto listening attentively while practicing the clone hand sign.

-]|[-

Kushina kissed her son on the forehead as he went to sleep. He was exhausted despite her best efforts, and needed to rest. His Chakra Coils had been strained fairly badly, and she suspected he would have even more Chakra than normal when he woke up. Boy was he going to be irritated when he found out he was probably going to have to restart his Chakra control exercises after spending more than a month on them.

He had learned the Kage Bunshin in record time, beating her by over a day. Her little boy was so talented! These idiots surrounding them had no idea what they were missing. She kissed his forehead again, but did not lay down to sleep with him. No, she had other things she needed to do.

Kushina stretched, feeling several joints pop as she worked her way through some light exercise. Her Chakra still felt as responsive as ever, though she had to admit there was something off about it. Maybe it was because she only had the Yin half of Kyūbi now?

She sighed, before she vanished in a red flash. She may have never been able to get the Hiraishin combat ready (And to be honest, that still remained Minato's greatest ever feat, because doing what he did with that damn technique was utterly mind boggling) but that didn't mean she couldn't use it. She popped into one of her and Minato's hideaways, and she had to use the walls to hold herself up when her legs suddenly started to tremble.

They hadn't expected to be away for long, and even in low power mode, most of the seals had eventually failed due to lack of chakra. Only the much more robust security seals remained active, as powerful as the day they had enabled them. A thick layer of dust and the smell of abandonment clung to everything. Her face scrunched up as silent tears began to stream down her face. Her stupid, handsome, Chūnibyō of a husband really was gone, and he was never coming back.

She let out a shuddering breath, and ambled over to the main sealing array, giving it a drink of her Chakra. They reactivated immediately, and the layer of dust slowly vanished, eventually leaving their home-away-from-home pristine.

Sighing, she walked to her and Minato's bedroom, where she was able to get some actual clothes, and not just the sheets Naruto had scrounged up for her. She slipped on some spandex shorts that stopped above her knees, a similar crop top, before putting on her old ANBU outfit. She then grabbed a simple black cloak lined with seals and slipped it on. She vanished from the room.

-]|[-

Sarutobi was sighing as he finally finished stamping the last of the documents for the day. He stood from his desk and stretched, feeling old bones pop before retaking his seat. He reached into his desk and grabbed his pipe, filling the bowl with his favorite blend, before snapping his fingers and producing a flame on the tip. He took a few draws from his pipe, sighing in rapture as he finally got to relax. He took another drag from his pipe, puffing out a smoke ring that flew forward. "My thanks for waiting until I was finished, ninja-san." He said, conversationally.

Kushina melted into view, waving away the smoke ring gently, "Security seems a little lax."

"It is not something you need to concern yourself with." He took another drag, staring at the unfamiliar woman in his office, "I am all the security this office needs, as long as I am within it."

It was not an empty boast. Not from the second God of Shinobi.

Kushina snorted, "For the God of Shinobi? Yes, I suppose that is true. My, but you do look old though. Are you sure you shouldn't have at least one ANBU around in case you break a hip?"

Sarutobi accepted the dig with nothing more than a momentary quirk of his lips, "So, ninja-san." He said, putting away his pipe, "What are you here for? Theft? Information? I see you've activated some of the privacy seals. Are you here to try to kill me, perhaps?"

"Debating that last one." Kushina said darkly, making his eyes sharpen, "Of course, then I'd have to take your hat, so I'll have to settle for… envisioning it, for now."

What?

Sarutobi blinked at her, momentarily on the back foot for the first time all night. "…You are a Konoha Shinobi?" He asked dubiously, "I do not recognize you, and I make a habit of memorizing all of my shinobi."

"Then perhaps this will jog your memory, 'ttebane."

Sarutobi's eyes went wide at that word, and wider yet when Kushina tore the cloak off, revealing herself. His pipe fell out of his mouth and clattered on his desk, spilling the ash onto it, "K-Kushina?!" He stood, "What is this?!" He ground his teeth in anger, seeing someone using her visage inside this office.

"That's what I would like to know!" She snarled, "What the FUCK have you all been doing these past twelve years, old man?! Naruto didn't know my name. Didn't know his father's name! He wasn't even aware that Jiraiya was his godfather! Fuck, he didn't even know he had a godfather, dattebane!"

Sarutobi turned more and more ashen with every word, and now he was very worried he was going to have a heart attack on the spot, "K-Kushina! Y-You're alive?! How is this possible?!"

"I've been alive this whole time!" She spat, stalking forward, and slamming her hands on his desk, causing it to rattle. "Minato sealed me inside of Naruto so I could heal! We thought I'd be in there for a couple years, maybe three or four, before he started training for real and woke me up!" She snarled, "Instead, I've missed TWELVE. FUCKING. YEARS!" She backed off and started to stalk from side to side in front of Sarutobi's desk, "And what do I find when I wake up? My son's a pariah! A pariah who lives on his own, who has no idea who his parents were or even that they loved him! Jiraiya is nowhere to be found. Kakashi is nowhere to be found! The only fucking positive attention that my son has had in twelve years is an occasional visit from the Hokage and a fucking ramen chef and his daughter!" She turned red, slit eyes to him, her rage even causing her to draw a miniscule amount of the Kyūbi's Chakra as her hair levitated in nine strands behind her. "Give me a fucking reason, Hiruzen. Give me a reason not to just take him and leave."

Sarutobi slumped, sinking into his seat, and fighting the urge to palm his face with both hands. He let out a defeated breath, "Everything went wrong." He said softly.

"Tell me something I don't know, 'ttebane." She snorted, crossing her arms.

"Then allow me to elaborate." He forced himself not to snark, knowing that he had a really pissed off mother before him, and rightfully so, "When the dust was settled and stock taken, it was revealed that we lost no less than twenty-five percent of our entire shinobi force that night." Kushina's eyebrows raised, "This included dozens of Jōnin, hundreds of Chūnin, and unfortunately, many Genin. This was compounded by the fact that many eye-witnesses claimed to have seen the image of the Sharingan in the Kyūbi's eyes."

"It's true." She said softly, "The man who attacked us was masked, but he definitely had the Sharingan. He tore the Kyūbi out of me and put it under genjutsu to control it."

Sarutobi sighed, "Well, I suppose confirmation is nice to have. Did he say who he was?"

"Minato said he claimed to be Uchiha Madara." Sarutobi paled again, "I say it was bullshit. He fought nothing like the man. Minato gave me a few of his memories before sealing me away. Probably just a powerful copycat trading in on the man's reputation."

"Hmph. Yes, I suppose you're right." Sarutobi agreed, "Regardless, that's not what you're here for. With Konoha so weakened, it was imperative that we project strength, lest the sharks smell blood in the water. In those early days, we could not have survived an attack from either Kumo OR Iwa, much less both. As such, I had to make a great many difficult decisions during those early days when I retook office. Naruto stayed with me for quite a few weeks, while I sent all available forces on critical missions. Jiraiya was tasked with ensuring no one would learn who Naruto's father was, alongside several other tasks. I think he welcomed it, truthfully. He was always the one out of my three students who endured the best, but this… this wasn't something I think he could endure. Once things calmed down, he didn't come home. Got himself almost as drunk as Tsunade." He closed his eyes, seeing the fury on her face. "Once he pulled himself out of his pity party, so much time had passed that he only ever watched Naruto from afar, during his few visits. Gave him anonymous gifts, like that little wallet Naruto loves. But I think the guilt ate away at him and he never approached."

"I see." Kushina thought she did a remarkable job of keeping her temper. She ignored the sounds of her nails carving out Sarutobi's desk.

"As for Kakashi…" Sarutobi sighed, "The boy broke. He buried himself in ANBU so deep we were barely able to pull him out. He was doing his level best to get himself killed on practically every mission he went on."

Kushina dipped her head, "Damn it, Kakashi-kun." She bit her lip. "Does he still visit the Memorial Stone every day?"

"Visit it?" Sarutobi snorted, "He's by that damn thing every day for hours on end. He's three hours late to practically everything unless specifically ordered to be on time."

Kushina's knuckles cracked from how hard she squeezed her fists, "He abandoned my son. I'm sure he won't be able to complain too much when I beat some sense into him." She glared, "Okay, so you hid his identity in fear of Iwa. I get that. But what the hell happened with his Jinchūriki status?! Why did he have to learn it from ME?!"

"Because the information leaked while we were all running around like headless chickens trying to restore order, and even most seasoned shinobi barely know anything about Fūinjutsu." Sarutobi said dryly, "When the civilians heard about it, they began to whip themselves up into a frenzy thinking that he was the Kyūbi itself, sealed into a human form."

"…" She stared at him in disbelief, "What?" She asked, flatly.

"You heard me." Sarutobi said, "I was forced to create a new law, forbidding it from being spoken of. It became an S-Ranked Secret, punishable by death. I did it in an attempt to give him a normal childhood. To prevent his generation from judging him based on their parent's fears." He sighed, "It didn't work. While children didn't know that he was a Jinchūriki, they could still tell their parents were afraid. They were told to avoid him. Or if they started to play, their parents would take them away, finding some excuse or another to do so."

"Okay, so that's Jiraiya and Kakashi. What about Mikoto-chan? Why didn't she take him?"

"For one, she had a newborn of her own." Sarutobi replied, "For another, the clan came under heavy scrutiny because of the claims of the Kyūbi being controlled. There was no way we could allow it." He sighed, "Though it's not like she even tried. Fugaku had never been the most well-adjusted member of our forces, and he blamed Naruto for what he viewed as the slight on his clan. If I had to guess, she brought up adopting Naruto and her husband refused."

Kushina took a deep breath. Her friend was dead. She would not speak ill of the dead. She forced herself to relax, "And no one in this entire village was willing to take my son in? Not even your clan?"

"I could not do it myself." He retorted, "I had to come out of retirement to keep Danzō from taking Minato's place. I tried to give him all the attention I could, but then Orochimaru betrayed the village not long after. We caught him performing inhuman experiments, and ran him out. Then the Hyūga incident happened. And then the Uchiha Massacre. I simply did not have the time or energy to devote to a young child. My eldest might have been willing, but he died in the fight against the Kyūbi. My wife died to the same monster who attacked you." Kushina didn't flinch, but inwardly she allowed herself to feel for Biwako. She didn't deserve her fate. "My middle child's wife was terrified of the Kyūbi and refused to go near Naruto, and so he refused so as to not strain their marriage. Asuma was fifteen." He finished flatly. "As for the other clans: They had no reason to want to adopt him, and were wary because of the fox anyway. None of them were personal friends with either you or Minato, other than Hiyori, but she was heavily pregnant at the time, and it was a very rough pregnancy. Birthing her daughter Hinata nearly killed her…" He closed his eyes, "And she did pass a few weeks after having her second daughter Hanabi."

Kushina flinched. 'Everyone is gone.' She clenched her teeth, 'All my close friends. My husband… all I have is Naru-chan now.' She forced an exhale. "I'm not happy." She said plainly, "I know that you likely did the best you could. Especially with your old cunt of a rival no doubt pulling strings for his own benefit."

"I suspect he ordered the Jinchūriki secret leaked, though I could never prove it." Sarutobi agreed easily, "He's wanted to have Naruto raised as a weapon since the very first day."

"I'm going to kill him." She said, conversationally.

"That would be illegal." He replied, in much the same tone.

"I am legally dead, so I don't think so." Hiruzen snorted at her response, before she became serious once more, "I know you did what you could. The rational part of me accepts this. But the mother in me wants to break your nose, and then go around breaking everyone else's noses too." She glared at him, her eyes slitting again, "It's plain to see you are not the Hokage we all respected decades ago. The Sarutobi Hiruzen I knew is still retired. You're only in that chair because the alternative is your damned war hawk of a rival."

He stood from his desk, hands behind his back as he gazed out at the village he had defended for decades. "You're not saying anything I don't already know." He sighed, "I'm old. Slow. Age is always the ultimate winner. The only people in this village who I could have trusted to take Minato's place wanted nothing to do with it like Tsunade, were dead like you, were under suspicion like Orochimaru, or were nowhere near strong enough nor prepared enough like Kakashi. It had to be me."

"I'm aware." Kushina eyed the once-strong man's back with something that would have resembled pity if she weren't still so angry.

"Will you take up the position?" He asked, already knowing the answer.

"Go fuck yourself, 'ttebane."

He shook his head in amusement, "You should be thankful I'm well aware I deserve far more than your cutting wit. It appears I will have to endure for a while longer."

"Yes." She said flatly, "You will. My son is twelve and he can barely read." Kushina spat, and he winced. "No matter what happened, Minato and I entrusted our son to Konoha. Our home has failed himin every respect except one. He is alive and that's the only praise I can offer. Why exactly should I become the protector of a village that does not deserve it?" She grabbed her cloak off the floor. "Now, I'm going to go kill Danzō and anyone else who gets in my way. Maybe with him gone you'll find your balls again."

Hiruzen nodded, "I suppose I deserve that and more." He tipped his hat over his eyes, "Do try not to make too much of a mess."

"No promises." She said, before winking out of sight.

-]|[-

Kushina sighed and relaxed, sitting cross-legged inside her hideout. First, she had to find Danzō and his merry band of fools. The Kagura Shingan was one of the more useful abilities granted to the Uzumaki through their bloodline, but it was also the most annoying one for Kushina personally. Some other Uzumaki she remembered from long, long ago could locate a fly on the other side of Uzushio. Uzumaki Mariko, a girl she barely remembered now, decades later, barely had to even concentrate to use the technique.

Kushina wasn't so skilled with it. She had to meditate and devote her full attention to the technique, leaving herself completely and utterly vulnerable. It was why she didn't really like the technique much, and why she only used it when she was assured of her own safety. She knew Danzō's Chakra, thankfully. She would never forget the ice-cold feel of it. She knew to start her search underground too, as that was what Danzō and his little Root preferred. It took her quite some time to locate it, and when she did, she snapped out of her meditation in shock. "What the fuck, 'ttebane?!" She cursed, before sinking back into the technique. 'What the fuck did he do to himself?' He clearly had a transplanted eye that was glowing with Chakra, and she had a feeling she knew exactly what it was. Not only that, but she could feel that his right arm (which shouldn't exist!) was covered in seals.

Thankfully, he was sitting at the moment, unmoving. She quickly took stock of the rest of his base, frowning as she opened her eyes, "So much for being disbanded, Hiruzen." Kushina scoffed, making a note of the most potent threats that she could feel. There was definitely an Aburame, and also a Yamanaka. The rest were nowhere near as strong, but there were many of them.

Kushina smiled as one of the little ants in the anthill started moving up and up in her mind's eye, and she followed the agent as she exited the base, moving away from Konoha. She had her entrance.

…

Kushina was completely and utterly suppressed as she made her way to the entrance of the Root base. It was hidden well inside one of the training grounds, being a little outcropping of rock surrounded by trees. She was wearing her customized cloak, which truly was one of the creations she was most proud of. She could throw around flashy and overpowered techniques with the best of them, sure, but this? This cloak often made it so that she didn't have to. Or at least that she could take out the most dangerous threat. With all of the Fūinjutsu on it active, it would drain her Chakra at a rate which only really an Uzumaki or someone with equally large Chakra reserves could withstand. In return, it completely erased her presence from the world. She had no scent. She made no sound. Her Chakra emission was suppressed to zero so that even sensors would be unable to find her. She even disappeared from sight, using a Fūinjutsu recreation of Jiraiya's Tōton Jutsu.

The only reason Hiruzen had been able to find her was because she wanted him to.

It wasn't perfect. She could use no techniques or even active Chakra while under the cloak's effects, or else the Chakra suppression effect would break immediately. No running on walls or across water, or even strength augmentation. It was also flimsy like you wouldn't believe. Even compressed, you could only fit so many seals on a cloak. It burned and tore just as easily as any other cloak.

As she reached it, she nudged a pair of glasses as they had been slipping down her nose. With the stealth breaking with active Chakra use, she had to use other means to discern any security. She was almost disappointed that there was nothing in the area, but she supposed monitoring seals in a forest would be a nightmare to design to avoid false alarms. She smirked as the actual entrance blazed with Fūinjutsu. "Let's see…" She mused, the sounds not making it past her cloak, "Detection… silent alarms if crossed… keyed to a seal on a person's body…" She snorted as she took the seals in. She couldn't call them amateur, but they had a rather severe weakness. She took out a bit of paper and scribed a seal on it, before slapping it onto a specific section of the existing seal. She peeled the paper away, and her quick Fūinjutsu remained stuck to the walls.

With that done, she sat and unsealed a steaming cup of instant ramen. Crap was crap, but it had been literally over a decade, and she had more important things to do right now. She'd feast later. She was halfway through slurping her meal down when another Root agent exited the base. Before her eyes, the seals on the floors and walls 'shook hands' with the seal on the man's body, disabling the silent alarms. The Fūinjutsu on the ground literally swung open to allow the exit, before swinging closed once the agent passed, not knowing there was an invisible woman a foot or two from him.

Or at least, that was what it should have done. Instead, Kushina's little addition put it on a loop, cycling the instruction to 'open and disable the alarm' instead of sending the command to 'close.' Kushina stood, still slurping her ramen, and cheerfully stepped through. After ten seconds, the loop ended, and the alarm re-enabled.

She encountered no more Fūinjutsu, but plenty of agents. Many of them children. Pale, beaten down, expressionless. She did not allow it to get to her. She'd seen it all before. That was why Sarutobi had dismantled this nonsense. She was almost disappointed there were no Hyūga around. She had never tested her cloak against one with a particularly powerful Byakugan as Hiyori's was middling at best, but she was fairly certain that it would work.

She made good time to Danzō's office, and even had the good fortune that he hadn't bothered with doors. The office was open, much like the Hokage's office was. Easier for agents to come in and out, and with how Danzō trained and marked his little slaves, he didn't have a single worry of one of them betraying him if they overheard something. His confidence in his Fūinjutsu would be his undoing.

She walked into the office and looked at the man. He looked old. Older than Sarutobi, for sure, despite the darker color of his hair. His right eye was predictably bandaged, and he wore a strange, dark-gray robe that covered his shoulder. She walked around him silently, drawing her tachi as she went. She took a moment to peek at the document, and the second she realized it was a report on her son, she saw red. Her tachi pierced the rich leather of Danzō's office chair and then his heart in short order.

"Gugh!" The man spat blood all over the document, dropping it as he reached a trembling hand up to it, before he just…

"What the fuck, dattebane?!" Kushina yelped as Danzō vanished from her sword, appearing on the other side of his desk, slumped over.

"Who?!" Danzō growled, his visage mad with rage as he manually triggered the alarms. He clenched his hand over his bandaged eye, which had started to leak black blood. "Do you have any idea what you've done?!"

"If I had to guess?" Kushina said as she revealed herself, sealing the cloak away in the same motion. She smirked viciously as Danzō paled to the color of milk and his visible eye bulged in shock, "I'd say I wrecked that little Sharingan of yours. Been a naughty grave robber, have we?"

"Kushina?!" Danzō rasped, truly shocked out of his gourd for the first time in decades.

"In the flesh…" She smirked at him, swiping her tachi to the side to get rid of the blood. She tapped the desk, sealing it and all of its documents inside her arm, much to Danzō's ire. She formed two Kage Bunshin, which ran over to the cabinets and drawers and started to seal them into scrolls, before bringing them to Kushina who stored them with the desk.

"How are you alive?!" Danzō snarled through clenched teeth as half a dozen Root ran into the office; the Yamanaka and Aburame among them.

"Fuck you, that's how, dattebane." Grinning like the devil, Kushina rested her blade on her shoulder, "That was a clever little trick you've got there. I had hoped to finish you off first, but I suppose getting rid of that Sharingan you stole is a nice consolation prize."

"You have no idea just what you've cost me." Danzō growled, his wounded eye refusing to stop bleeding.

"Extract Danzō-sama!" One of the Root agents yelled.

"I don't think so." Kushina said, cheerfully. The technique she had been preparing for the past several seconds activated, erasing a full fifth of her total Chakra reserves as nine of her Kongō Fūsa erupted from her back and chest. One of the agents wasn't fast enough to dodge, and it impaled him viciously through the heart in a spray of blood, before picking up his body and stapling him to the wall. Each of the nine chains pierced a different direction, stabbing into the walls, floor, and ceiling. They tunneled through dozens of meters of earth and stone, leaving behind her clan's signature where they went. Uzumaki Fūinjutsu scrawled itself on every exposed bit of rock in the area, and once complete, they activated. Immediately, a Shishienjin sprang into existence around them, something which normally required four separate shinobi to cast and hold in place. The violet walls of the cube surrounding them immediately burnt their first victim to a crisp, as a late arrival from Root barreled into it. As a Kage-level shinobi, with several times beyond that level in Chakra capacity, Kushina was easily capable of being a cornerstone in a Shisekiyōjin. As such, she had more than enough Chakra and skill in barrier jutsu to solo cast a simple Shishienjin. "The party has just started, Dattebane! The guests of honor can't just leave!" She allowed the chains to vanish, their jobs complete. The man she'd stapled to the wall slumped to the floor in a wet plop.

"Hold her off!" Danzō spat as he removed part of his robe, revealing his arm clamped in several bronze seals. "I need a minute to release the seals!" She raised an eyebrow at his words, wondering just what was in that arm that required so many seals.

The Yamanaka raised his hands in his clan's signature hand signs, but Kushina tutted at him, "Ah, ah, ah." She wagged her finger at him, "You sure you want to hop inside a Jinchūriki's mind, Yamanaka-san? You won't like the results, you know." He flinched minutely.

"Do not listen to her, Fū! Remember that the beast is in her son, now!" His partner, Aburame Torune said, even as he ripped off his gloves with his teeth, revealing his skin underneath to be a lurid purple. He rushed to her, ready to infect her with his Rinkaichū.

"Well, you're half right." She mumbled under her breath as she made a couple one-handed seals with her free hand, "Katon: Ryūen Hōka no Jutsu!" After a big inhale, she threw her head forward and breathed. Several blazing dragon heads burst from her lips, making Torune jump to the side.

It wasn't enough. The dragon heads moved erratically. He thought he had gotten clear, but one of them swerved into him, before exploding in a huge conflagration. The entire room started to burn as the dragon heads impacted, throwing up plumes of smoke. Kushina calmly reached into her pocket and drew her mask, slipping it over her mouth and nose so she would have fresh oxygen.

Smirking, she activated some of the Fūinjutsu on her blade, and the flames were immediately drawn to it. The blade drank her technique up, starting to get hotter and hotter. She smiled grimly behind her mask as she saw Torune. His left leg was charred to a crisp.

"Torune!" Fū may have been Root-trained, but seeing his partner in such a state was worrying, especially as he hadn't even managed to poison their opponent. The man staggered to his feet, knowing he was likely dead, but unwilling to die without helping his master. Pain was temporary.

Kushina sighed, "Well, you have them well trained, Danzō. As usual, they're willing to fight when they'd be better off standing down and living to fight another day."

"Danzō-sama must be protected!" Another of the emotionless drones said, and Kushina raised an eyebrow as she realized he was scrawling something down on a notepad. Her eyes then bugged out as he called out his Jutsu, "Chōjū Giga!" Several beasts crawled out of his pad in black and white, imitating real, gigantic animals!

"Woah!" Kushina yelped as she dodged the sharp claws of a tiger, "That's so cool, dattebane!" She cheered as she swiped her tachi, rending the beasts back to ink with the small shockwave. "That's not a bloodline, is it?! I wanna learn!"

"Really?" Torune's agonized chuckle rang out, "This is what's invaded our base?"

"I'm afraid my techniques require actual talent, Onibaba." The operative said as blandly as any of his fellows. He couldn't have been any older than Naruto. Maybe even younger.

Kushina's eyebrow twitched, "Onibaba, huh?" She rushed forward, intending on cutting the boy down. It was a shame Root training was so demented. Even the children couldn't be saved. They were just emotionless and broken dolls Danzō played with. The boy hadn't even meant to insult her. He had likely just said the first thing that popped into his head.

"No, you don't!" Fū said, throwing a scroll forward and then making a Tiger seal. The scroll exploded, revealing three different scarecrow-like puppets with Kama and Kuwa for limbs. The three puppets attacked, and Kushina quickly slashed through two of them with her tachi, before freezing.

Three things happened simultaneously; Fū slumped to the floor, Kushina gasped inside her head as she realized she was staring at her own body, realizing those puppets must have been cursed somehow, and her body smirked, "Shinten Kugutsu Juin no Jutsu: Success."

'Ooooh, he's going to regret that.' Kushina thought to herself, wincing mentally as red Chakra started to bubble out of her.

"What?!" Those were the first words out of Danzō's mouth since the actual fight had started. How could he not speak when Fū's body started to spasm? Almost instantly, Fū was forced to leave Kushina's body, giving her the reins back. The auburn-haired man started to scream as he thrashed on the floor, traces of Kyūbi's Chakra arcing around him.

"I warned him." Kushina shrugged, tapping her tachi on her shoulder.

"This isn't possible! The Kyūbi is sealed inside your son!" Torune said, wanting to go help his partner but flinching as he realized touching him with his exposed skin would only make things worse.

"Only the Yang." Kushina said dispassionately as Fū thrashed so hard and arced his spine so much that it snapped. "The Yin is still in me. Katon: Gōenkyū." She said, breathing out a massive fireball that put the Gōkakyū to shame. She ended the man's suffering, picking him up in the conflagration and knocking him through several rock walls, burning him to ash.

"Fū!" Torune ground his teeth, having formed a small bond with the man despite all of Danzō's hellish training. "Sai, now!"

"Fūinjutsu: Koshi Tandan!" The newly named Sai yelled from behind her, having unfurled a long scroll from which a tiger sprang out. It bit into her shoulder with a snarl, and Kushina groaned as it wrapped its paws around her and started trying to drag her back towards the scroll it was still connected to.

"You don't have the Chakra to seal me, kid!" She said, setting her feet and outmuscling the drawn tiger, preventing it from dragging her back.

"He doesn't have to!" Torune roared, his coat off and revealing his purple torso. "He just has to keep you still!" He half ran, half stumbled to her and punched her in the stomach.

"GWUAH!" Kushina spat blood, immediately feeling an agony that had nothing to do with the man's strength as her body was invaded by thousands of microscopic, venomous insects. A second punch to her jaw left half her face purple as the little monsters crawled around inside her. She screamed in excruciating pain, even as she punted the man in the chest so hard his entire ribcage shattered into a thousand pieces, killing him instantly as his organs were shredded from the bone fragments.

Kushina felt herself starting to weaken as her entire body burned. She started getting dragged back to the scroll by the tiger, too weakened by the parasitic bugs to resist.

"Hmph." A new voice rang in her head, "As useless as always without me."

Immediately, red Chakra bubbled inside of her, annihilating the invading swarm, and healing the damage they had wrought. She immediately stopped cold, the Chakra shroud engulfing her and turning her eyes crimson. "Thank you, Kyūbi." She said, panting. She tore through the tiger with a snarl, and whirled around to the young Sai. She activated the rest of the Fūinjutsu on her tachi, and it started converting her Chakra directly into fire. The blaze engulfed the blade, looking almost liquid in its intensity. "I was a fool to play around. I was too cocky." She scolded herself, before lunging for the boy and swinging down.

Sai dodged backwards, but he didn't expect what came next. "!" He didn't even get a word out before the flames exploded with the force of one of Kushina's most devastating techniques: the Kyokujitsujin. With all of her physical might combined with the power of her fire, Sai evaporated. The tip of her tachi touched the ground, and everything in front of her in a hundred-meter-long cone simply ceased to exist, charred to ash.

She growled, not liking the fact that she had to kill a child, before turning to glare at Danzō. "And then there was one."

"They did their job." Danzō declared without a care, "You lose, Kushina." The last seal clanged on the floor, and Kushina nearly threw up.

"What the hell have you done?" She whispered. Danzō's arm was covered in Sharingan eyes. Ten of them to be exact. A black rage engulfed her as she entertained the possibility that one of those eyes belonged to Mikoto.

"Kushina." Kyūbi said inside of her, "You will kill this man." He said, his voice tinged with rage, "No, this… this desecration of the natural order. I will not suffer this fool to live!" He roared in her mind.

'For once, we're on the same page, furball.' Kushina replied to her tenant, "I'm going to start beating you now." Kushina said to Danzō, "I don't know if I'll stop." The ground beneath her cracked as she lunged forward, appearing in front of Danzō with her blade held high above her head. "RAHHHH!" She howled, swinging down.

Danzō dodged her right-handed swing to her right, raising a kunai that was engulfed in wind Chakra. The tip of her blade touched the stone, releasing a little spark, and half a mile of the base in front of her simply vanished, stopped only by her Shishienjin. Molten bits of earth peppered the new, tiny canyon before her. The shockwave even knocked Danzō back a step, preventing him from immediately taking her head off. His kunai swung, and Kushina ducked. A perfect slice was gouged ten feet deep into the wall in front of him.

Kushina's blade was no longer engulfed in flame as she swung for Danzō's chest. He dodged it, but not the technique she spat at him immediately after. "Katon: Gōka Mekkyaku!" A thin stream of fire from her mouth hit Danzō and erupted into an ocean of flame that started to rush through every single nook and cranny of the hidden Root base. Any Root agents that were still alive in the base were instantly turned into charr. She kept it up, not letting go of the technique until another fifth of her Chakra was gone, and roughly thirty seconds had passed.

She finally took a breath, and balked as she saw a tree where Danzō had stood a second ago. She jumped back out of pure instinct, and a scythe of wind Chakra twice as wide as she was tall erupted from beneath her, slicing upwards with the same devastation as her Kyokujitsujinalbeit far more localized. It carved its way all the way up, before stopping cold on the violet barrier Kushina had surrounded the base with.

Danzō melted out of the ground looking no worse for wear, though Kushina's sharp eyes caught the sight of three of the Sharingan on his arm closed, with the sockets bleeding black, the same as the one on his face. "I see." She growled, "That life-saving technique of yours costs you a Sharingan every time you use it. And it's either once-per injury, or has a very short time limit. You used three of them in the thirty seconds I was cooking for." She narrowed her eyes, "And somehow, you have Mokuton as well. I'm guessing it's related to that arm." Which had what looked like a face on it, where the shoulder was. "You were a good ninja but never a scientific guru. You didn't do that to yourself. You had to work with another party. Tell me, how deep did you take Orochimaru's cock before he gifted that to you, monster?" She glared at him.

"As vulgar as ever." Danzō glared back, "You know nothing of the sacrifices I've made and the necessary evil I've engulfed myself in to keep Konoha strong."

"Necessary-" Kushina barked out a laugh, "You haven't done a damn thing for Konoha in your entire life!" She sniped back at him, "I know all about it." She smirked at him, "Nidaime-sama declaring that someone would need to stay behind so that the rest may live. You could have volunteered, couldn't you?" She leered at an increasingly livid old man, "But you couldn't speak up. Not until Hiruzen had already done so!"

"Fūton: Shinkū Taigyoku!" A ball of warping air bigger than he was and as fast as a bullet shot forward.

"Katon: Gōkakyū!" Kushina countered immediately, smirking as her elemental affinity won and turned the relatively small and weak fire technique into an inferno that got returned right to sender. 'Another disgusting eyeball down!' She yelled in her head as Danzō faded into existence, six Sharingan remaining on his arm. Kushina activated her seals, allowing her tachi to devour all of the fire from the two previous techniques again, with the shiny blade blackening and starting to look like smoldering charcoal. "You talk of sacrifice? You know nothing of sacrifice!" Kushina yelled, "Every decision you make is for your own benefit and nothing more!"

Danzō roared in rage, pointing the Sharingan on his palm at her. "Kazanami!" The wind blades that formed around his fingers were so sharp they could cut through solid steel.

"You know the definition of insanity?" Kushina asked sardonically, "Gōkanami!" She waved her blade, and the wave of fire engulfed the wind, again burning Danzō to a crisp.

"FOOL! MOVE!" Kyūbi's voice had her throwing herself forward.

As such, she only had her spine cleaved through, rather than becoming half the woman she used to be. "AH!" She cried, even as Kyūbi's Chakra reconnected her spinal cord and allowed her to dodge the next two wind blades. "Shit, that hurts, 'ttebane!" She hissed as she finished healing, "Fucking genjutsu. Clever bastard." He still had six Sharingan eyes available, as the one she had thought she had closed forever had been nothing more than an illusion.

"Useless whelp. I will watch for genjutsu. Just hurry up and kill him." Kyūbi told her.

'Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but why are you being so helpful all of a sudden?'

"The only good Sharingan is one squashed flat and forever blind." The fox spat, "I tire of those Uchiha attempting to take command of me. This piece of trash before us possessed eleven of the damn things, and no doubt went grave-robbing to make it happen. Even for those like me, that is sacrilege. My father would have torn him apart for such a thing. The dead should be allowed to rest."

'Father?!' Kushina gasped, before shaking her head, 'Never mind. Kill bitch now. Figure that out later.'

Danzō pointed at her again with his hand, and this time she immediately felt something akin to a flick on the back of her head as she lunged at Danzō, whose eyes widened in shock as his genjutsu was turned away easily. "So, the fox is helping even with Genjutsu?" He asked in frustration as he made a Kage Bunshin. The clone rushed her with wind Chakra engulfing his kunai, and the other placed his fabricated arm on the ground, "Mokuton: Mokusatsu Shibari no Jutsu!" Several roots started to grow from his arm, before they erupted from the ground, looking to ensnare and engulf Kushina.

She leapt back, dodging the roots as they tried both to grab her and run her through, depending on the specific branch. 'Ugh, I can keep killing him, but six more tries are enough for him to maybe get lucky. I have to figure something out.'

"This particular technique is a pain." Kyūbi agreed, "I'd only heard rumors of the Izanagi, because so few of these accursed Uchiha were willing to sacrifice their precious eyes."

'Ugh, an Uchiha was one of my best friends, and even I'm agreeing that it's bullshit. Why the heck are eyeballs so powerful, 'ttebane?' She groused, 'And do they have to be so damn pretentious? Izanagi? Really?'

"Of course, they must. They are descended from the Sage." Kyūbi said flatly, almost making Kushina stumble in shock. 'Their accursed eyes have lingering traces of his divinity.'

'Oh, that's just fucking great.' She drawled, 'Ugh, this Mokuton is annoying. He's not even as good as that Yamato kid. But these stupid roots are tougher than normal ones.'

"He's expending Chakra like a fool. Just because he has that bastard Hashirama's cells running through that arm doesn't mean he gained the man's potential. He might drop dead without you having to lift another finger."

'Ugh, I was really hoping that wasn't more grave robbing bullshit and just more of Orochimaru's scientific nonsense.' Kushina swiped her tachi, sending another great wave of fire forward. Danzō was a fast bastard though, and managed to get out of the way. At least the Mokuton spam stopped. 'Wait…' Kushina stopped, before having to hold back the urge to facepalm, 'What the fuck am I doing? Why am I playing his game?' She eyed the Sharingan on his arm, and saw that there were still six of them. 'Hey Kyūbi, was my analysis correct? He sacrifices an eye to return his body to a pristine state?'

"Correct. After seeing it so many times, it was easy to work out. Any injury is erased; turned into a Genjutsu. It is an absurdly powerful Inton AND Yōton technique, and can even erase the user's own death. In exchange, the eye is destroyed, not only burning out its vision, but also the nerves and even the Tenketsu. No surgery can replace it." She slowly smirked, as an idea started forming in her mind. "Oho…" The Kyūbi bared its teeth in a grin, "Your specialty is amusing when I'm not on the receiving end."

She extinguished and sheathed her tachi before sprinting forward, her chains springing out of her arms like nine coiling snakes. Danzō's one remaining eye widened as he engulfed two kunai in wind Chakra. He quickly started defending himself from the chains, showcasing his speed, despite his advanced age. But his two arms versus her nine chains were an unfair matchup. "Shame those little sores on your arm can't actually see, huh?" She said conversationally, realizing that Danzō truly was having to fight with just the one eye. The ones in his arm truly were nothing more than Genjutsu projectors and Izanagi fodder.

Danzō slowly took more and more scratches from the whipping chains, and bruises from Kushina's punishing fists and legs. They hurt like hell, sure, but definitely weren't worth casting an Izanagi over. 'What the hell is she planning?' He was expending more and more Chakra trying to keep ahead of her, unable to counterattack. No matter how strong he was, he was old. Hashirama's cells did not magically make him young. There was some healing benefit from the arm made of Hashirama's cells, but at this point they seemed more like a downside since they were just automatically healing injuries they really didn't need to. 'If only I was twenty years younger. I would have already spanked this foolish Jinchūriki.' He cursed mentally, delusionally. He refused to acknowledge it, but Kushina was an opponent he could not have defeated even in his prime. She perfectly countered him in multiple ways. She was better at Fūinjutsu than he was, so he couldn't even get his Jigō Jubaku no In on her. Elementally, he also lost. Wind techniques, especially his vacuum attacks, definitely could overwhelm inferior fire techniques, but she could match him rank for rank and always have the upper hand. He couldn't even summon his Baku as a distraction. It would just die immediately against a fire user of Kushina's caliber.

He needed to figure something out now, or else he was just delaying the inevitable with his Izanagi. He dodged another sharp-tipped chain, lamenting the loss of the one Sharingan that could make use of their predictive capabilities, when almost his entire body froze, and his Chakra started to almost spasm erratically. He desperately tried to trigger Izanagi, but his Chakra just would not obey.

"Jackpot!" Kushina crowed with a huge grin, before her tachi appeared in her hand and cut off his entire arm, taking the six remaining Sharingan with it. A second Kushina appeared, quickly sealing the limb away in a scroll.

"No! NO!" Danzō roared in frustration, trying to move. "How did-" His eye widened, and then swiveled to his remaining, raised arm. He would have trembled in shock if his body were actually capable of it. "Y-you carved seals into me with your chains, cut by cut, leaving a tiny sliver of Chakra each time. You made me think you weren't fast enough to land a decisive blow so that I wouldn't waste an Izanagi." The amount of skill and precision that would have taken without a Sharingan to aid her was something he could barely comprehend.

"That's right." She smirked cheerfully, "Multiple conflicting seals, as a matter of fact, designed to both paralyze you and disrupt your Chakra. Your fancy little Jutsu was powerful, but it still had to be activated."

"Curse you, Uzumaki!" Danzō spat, "You're dooming Konoha! I'm-"

"Dead." Kushina's arm whipped to the side, cutting Danzō's head clean off of his body. The head wasn't allowed to smash into the ground, and she caught it by its hair. Danzō's last few seconds were spent mouthing off, though ineffectually, as he had no lungs anymore. After a bare few seconds, even that ceased, and Kushina quickly sealed the head into a scroll.

Taking a deep breath, Kushina let the tip of her tachi touch the floor, holding it in both hands and leaning on it. She kept a careful eye on Danzō's corpse. A few seconds turned into a minute. A minute turned into ten. She kept careful watch, waiting for him to pull another bullshit escape maneuver. Finally, after half an hour of refusing to blink, she was satisfied that he didn't have another Sharingan shoved up his ass for a final Izanagi. "Katon: Endan." She made a tiger seal and breathed, turning the man's corpse into charcoal, which she then sealed into yet another scroll. And with that, she vanished in a flash of crimson.

She reappeared inside her safehouse, dropping all of her effects as she stumbled. Her tachi clattered to the floor, followed by the loose scrolls. Her armor went next, leaving her just in her sweat-soaked spandex. She fell face-first onto the mattress, exhausted, and was snoring before she even turned off the lights.

-]|[-

God damn, this took FOREVER. It was so fucking annoying. The actual story fought me every step of the way, and to top it off, this month was absolutely brutal timewise. I had barely any time to write.

So, I've decided to do something a bit different this go around. With most of my other series, I've written a fic, posted it, and then went off and started spamming in an idea bin type story. This has often gotten me in trouble when I come up with something I find more fun than the original story. (Sighhhh) I've decided NOT to do that this time, and will be posting these ideas FIRST and hopefully choosing which one I like best to actually write out.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed! I tried to avoid many of the canon cliches like demon-villagers and all that garbage, but some of them gotta stay obviously. I also tried to keep Naruto from being NINO, since in canon he was a bit of a dumbass. If you all don't remember, he called Chakra "catra," which is why it was spelled like that at the start of the chapter.

As for Kushina? Yeah, she's a fucking badass, and my intention is for her to eventually be the fifth Hokage in place of Tsunade. Heavy influences from Fate Grand Order's Maō Nobunaga and Bleach's Old Man Genocide, with her Fūinjutsu skill of course. She has an extreme fire affinity, with maybe a less wind affinity. Nothing else. What they did to her AND Mito in that fucking Minato manga that just released was fucking disgusting, smell, hot garbage. FUCK that shit.

Also, remember, if something doesn't work like in canon, assume it's intentional. I'm looking at you, Izanagi.

-]Jutsu List[-

I don't LIKE having the translation right next to the technique name in the story. You might as well not even use it in that case. Any translations will be at the bottom.

Shishienjin - Four Violet Flames Formation

Shisekiyōjin - Four Red Yang Formation

Katon: Ryūen Hōka no Jutsu - Fire Release: Dragon Flame Release Song Technique

Chōjū Giga - Super Beast Imitating Drawing

Shinten Kugutsu Juin no Jutsu - Mind Puppet Switch Cursed Seal Technique

Katon: Gōenkyū - Fire Release: Great Blaze Ball

Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu - Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique

Fūinjutsu: Koshi Tandan - Sealing Technique: Tiger Vision Staring Bullet

Kyokujitsujin - Rising Sun Edge

Katon: Gōka Mekkyaku - Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation

Fūton: Shinkū Taigyoku - Wind Release: Vacuum Great Sphere

Kazanami - Wind Waves

Gōkanami – Great Flame Waves

Mokuton: Mokusatsu Shibari no Jutsu - Wood Release: Smothering Binding Technique

Jigō Jubaku no In - Self-Cursing Seal

Katon: Endan - Fire Release: Flame Bullet

-]|[-

Don't forget that all future content is available early on P.A.T re On under the same name. I have supernova 14 posted there and I just need to do my edits for 15 before posting it as well. Got on a nice roll with One Piece that's still going, and was able to wrap up Alabasta. :D Gonna keep chugging as long as the muse lasts. Next month's update will be the final of these 'Unsealed Scrolls' that is currently written. Also, seeing as FF . net is currently having fits, come follow me on twitter for updates. My handle there is PrimordialFics