Kushina sat in the seat reserved for her. She had a grin as the first matchup of the final round of the chunin exam started. Those genins were good. Maybe she was biased because many of them were the twins' classmates, but she felt they were better than genins from previous chunin exams she had to observe in the past, being the Hokage's wife.
While the Kages were on the upper floor with their guards and assistants, their families were sitting in another section, but all together as well. Kushina was sitting next to Karura, the Kazekage's wife, who had also traveled from Suna with her niece, who seemed to be barely the age of an academy student. The child in question seemed very fond of her cousin Temari, encouraging her aloud the whole time. Kushina smiled. She seemed like a good kid. She was cheerful enough that Kushina almost picked Temari's side over Shikamaru's. One of Karura's guards, the woman one, turned towards the child, suddenly.
"Hikari, can you please be more quiet, we're not supposed to show sides here. We're a formal delegation."
"Let her be, this section is usually too quiet anyway," Kushina said to the guard. She hated silence. And kids were kids. They didn't care about politics.
The Kazekage's wife turned towards Kushina with surprise in her face, but blushed and then smiled. She then turned to the child, whispering, "I'm sure Temari appreciates the support from her cousin. I won't tell Rasa that it's you who is screaming."
Kushina almost laughed from the interaction. She knew Minato would never reprimand a child from encouraging loved ones, political delegation or not. But rumors were that the Kazekage was quite strict with his children. So that poor guard probably felt like she had to intervene.
"I suppose Hikari is used to the family's guards?" Kushina asked Karura, knowing that her own family had had the same Anbu guards watching over the twins when they were younger, Kakashi being one of them for a long while.
"Well… it's kind of a family thing." Karura said, then pointed at the woman. "She started as Rasa's guard alongside my brother. They started dating and she was assigned to me and my children instead."
So the guard was the child's mother. It explained why she felt in the right to reprimand her. The guard didn't have an Anbu mask on, so Kushina was able to compare the mother to the child. Hikari seemed to take more after her father than her mother, because she looked more like Karura than the guard.
Next was a Hyuuga matchup: the heir, Hinata, against her cousin, Neji.
"I'll fight this match like any other. I'm setting aside my usual duty. Let's fight fairly, and show me you took training seriously," Neji said. He had a daring look.
Hinata held her head up. Kushina recalled her when she was a kid, lacking confidence. She seemingly improved it a lot. Years ago, she'd have her head down and basically admitted defeat to Neji.
It was interesting to watch both Hyuuga fight. They probably had similar abilities, coming from the same clan. Kushina's guard decided to speak for the first time since they sat down.
"I feel like it'll be boring. Their fathers are twins, I bet they learned the exact same thing growing up and we will be watching clones."
Kushina couldn't help but totally disagree. First of all, Neji and Hinata, while they were using taijutsu in their clan style, showed the variety of jutsus and techniques their clan had. Besides, their fathers being related didn't mean a thing, if Kushina had to judge. She didn't know Hiashi and Hizashi very well, but she wouldn't say the Hyuuga clan head and his brother were the same, in their way of acting around other people. And if there was something that Kushina learned from having Naruto and Arashi: twins were not one person. They could be very different from each other.
Kushina had to take a few breaths, because she realized she was letting the anger from that comment fill her body, and if she didn't think of something else, her hair would start going in all directions and the Kazekage's wife would judge her temper.
While Hinata was the heir, Neji seemed to be the stronger ninja in terms of abilities. By the sound of people holding their breath in the lower floors, she wouldn't be surprised if he had mastered advanced clan techniques, because he looked impressive. But Hinata had not given up yet. Kushina felt like taking her side. Because Hinata had always been very nice to her sons. She was overly nice to everyone.
Suddenly, Neji stopped moving. Kushina didn't see what jutsu Hinata used. But she spotted her sensei with a grin on her face. Surely, that trick didn't come from the Hyuuga family, but from Yuuhi Kurenai. If Kushina had to bet, with the sensei's abilities, it was likely a genjutsu. Thus why there was nothing to look at from the crowd.
Neji broke the genjutsu, and sadly, his next attack seemed too much for Hinata. She probably had wasted a bit too much of her chakra while attempting some techniques like the lion fists and the genjutsu, and Neji ended up winning. Kushina saw the Hyuuga clan head standing up from his feet in shock. He looked at his twin, sitting nearby, and Kushina, from her view, could guess that he was wondering where Neji learned that specific jutsu. Hizashi raised his arms in defeat. Hiashi shrugged the thought away, and left his seat, probably to either console his daughter, or question his nephew.
Sasuke against Gaara had been an interesting match to watch. Kushina had immediately bet on Sasuke, with him being from Konoha and Naruto's own teammate, but Karura had obviously taken the side of her youngest son. Sasuke had more speed than his opponent, which Karura immediately noticed. Gaara tried attacking Sasuke with sand, but Sasuke moved too fast for the sand to catch up, especially with the sharingan. Gaara's strategy seemed to be to exhaust his opponent. But it did not seem to work. Kushina knew Sasuke had a fire ability, just like his father, but he kept himself from using it. It was probably a strategic choice: Sasuke had likely observed Gaara before and knew how he manipulated sand. Using fire was useless against someone who could choke the flames with a sand avalanche.
Sasuke climbed a wall, seemingly to rest. Or so everyone thought. He tracked Gaara's movement from the other side of the arena, with a grin on his face. What was he up to, this time? Sasuke put one hand over the opposite arm, and Kushina felt the gesture quite familiar. She recalled seeing it from an Anbu, one of those who used to guard her when she was pregnant. She suddenly remembered which one: Kakashi. Of course it was.
"I wished I was next to Minato right now to see his counselor's face. What you'll see next is something Sasuke learned from his sensei and not his father," Kushina told Karura.
Kushina waited for the lightning sparkles to start, but Sasuke was still there, waiting. Was he lacking chakra now? Why was he not attacking?
It finally came, and Gaara turned pale, he knew he'd be hurt if Sasuke touched him. His eyes were panicking as Sasuke approached screaming "Chidori". As if he knew his sand wouldn't stop the attack.
Despite a thick wall of sand, Sasuke was able to hit Gaara, and the electric discharge made the Kazekage's son fall to his knees, holding his arm that Sasuke had injured. Kushina was suddenly hit by a smell that made her think of burned rubber.
"Oh Gaara…" Karura whispered.
"That's the first time I see him bleed," the Suna guard said.
"Mommy, is Gaara okay?" Hikari asked, with her high-pitched voice.
"I think he'll be alright. It's not over yet," Karura said, trying to sound confident. She held her niece closer, in a gesture that was trying to be reassuring.
Gaara stood up. He seemed to be trying to catch his breath. He was shaky. He held his hand up, and looked at the proctor.
"What is he doing?" Karura said. "He's not going to give up, is he? He can't be out of chakra yet, what's going on?"
The proctor asked Gaara if he wanted to give up. Kushina was very confused.
"I'm not feeling so well right now and I'll risk injuring myself even more if I continue. Father knows what I'm capable of, so I don't have anything to prove to him."
Kushina gulped. That was bold. Karura seemed very surprised by the sudden change in her son.
"Is he sick? He never gave up before. I wonder what Rasa will think of this."
They all watched both Gaara and Sasuke making their way back to the participant floor. Naruto was thrilled to have Sasuke return victorious, though he screamed at Gaara loud and clear he was a loser for giving up. That's my boy, Kushina thought. She was baffled herself.
If Kushina's stomach was a little knotted by watching her children's childhood friend, it got even worse when Arashi started to go down to the ground level for his fight. She didn't know if it was because he was so small and weak at birth, or his recent sickness that nearly killed him again, but she always felt nervous when Arashi fought in front of her. Even when it was just training with his father, she was always scared of something happening to him. It was not rational at all. It was probably her mother's instincts coming in, but it wasn't as strong with Naruto. Probably because Naruto had the self-confidence of a hundred people combined.
The proctor called the match to begin, and the blond-haired guy Arashi was fighting, Deidara, flew above the arena on a giant bird. Kushina wondered what affinities the ninja had, and what his plan was. One sure thing: Arashi hadn't even the time to move when Deidara was up in the air.
"I have a bad feeling about this guy," Karura whispered. "I overheard my children worrying about Deidara being there. They never said from where they met him, and I didn't want to ask or they would have figured out I listened to their conversation."
"I heard Naruto telling Sasuke he didn't want Arashi to fight this guy, that he shouldn't have been there. That's strange how our children think alike."
Kushina found it very odd. She tried to keep her breathing calm, because she couldn't bear seeing her son there.
Deidara started mumbling about art and explosives. She feared Arashi would get major injuries if Deidara used them. And that the structure of the building would collapse. Kushina couldn't recall if explosives were permitted, but the proctor didn't intervene, so she sadly assumed they were allowed. Her fist was clenched, her jaw hurt due to the tension. It was necessary to Arashi's development, but Kushina's motherly heart hated seeing Arashi down there at the mercy of some flying guy. Even though he was smart, as intelligent as his father, Kushina knew her son didn't have much jutsus to counter the distance separating him from Deidara. Arashi was a close-range fighter, and he had yet to learn the Flying Thunder God Technique.
After an attack from Konoha's sky directed at Arashi that he avoided by having quick legs only, Deidara either missed completely his target, or he aimed that side of the building opposite of the crowds. The whole stands shook from the impact. Kushina barely had time to frown and look at the structural damage that another explosive hit. This time much closer to the crowd watching. Arashi protected himself from falling debris and the proctor made a sign signaling he was about to pause the match. Kushina even hoped Deidara would be eliminated on the spot for aiming civilians. The problem was, Deidara didn't seem to care about the time-out called, watching the proctor with a laugh. This time, the next explosion was heard from above Kushina's head. Which meant…
"Minato!" she suddenly screamed, looking at the direction of the political suite. Minato had quickly moved away from Yama's kage, who took advantage of the confusion to hold a kunai on the Kazekage's throat. The guards were stuck because of some debrits caused by the explosion, unable to protect their leader. Panic filled the crowds as more explosions hit the arena. People were running everywhere, screaming, trying to get to the nearest exits, stomping on elders, children, and pregnant women along the way. Kushina tried to run the opposite way. Her duty was to protect her husband. Karura seemed to have a similar idea, yelling at her close guard, "Take Hikari to a safe place, I'll fight for myself and defend Rasa with Yashamaru. That's your order, Go!" The guard seemed hesitant, her duty being to protect the Kazekage's wife, so Karura added, "I don't want Hikari to lose her mom. Protect her and any children from Suna and Konoha you find on your way."
Kushina was surprised that the Kazekage's wife preferred her guard stepping away from the fight. She must love her niece very much. Kushina made her way through the crowd movement, but as she reached the stairs leading to the Kage's suite, she was blocked. A ninja from Yama jumped in front of her to engage in combat. Kushina grabbed a kunai from her side pouch, reflexes coming handy.
Explosion noises made Kushina's ears ring, the ground shook under her feet. By a quick look, she spotted smoke in the distance. Her beloved village was attacked. She felt her heart sinking, but she had no time to think about it. She couldn't help anyone while she was being attacked herself. She fought with the Yama ninja for a few minutes, then Deidara's bird flew right at her. He looked at Kushina with a mocking smile.
"Uzumaki Kushina. Your son sucks, but our seal expert would be thrilled to meet you. And the tail beast you host."
Kushina gulped. Was it what they were after? If so, she had to fight, and Konoha's best chances at surviving came from her talent at pretending she was still the jinchuriki. The longest she held on, the longest it took Yama to have Naruto or Arashi captured. She had to do it for her village and for her sons. But how on earth would she let them know they were in danger, without attracting attention to them? She knew Naruto and Arashi were probably already fighting, eager to defend Konoha. They had heard about the fall of Uzushio; they would never let their village suffer the same fate.
Kushina fought for her life while being careful not to reveal her seal-less stomach, either coming from a cut through her clothes, or just her top revealing some skin from her movements. As she was attacking the bird Deidara flew on, she felt a presence in her mind. She then noticed Yamanaka Ino in a nook near the stairs fainting, under the close watch of Shikamaru.
"Yama ninjas are after Shukaku, so Arashi realized you, Naruto and him were all in danger. Kurenai's squad is helping them escape from the fights to somewhere safe, so you can pretend to be the jinchuriki and give us a chance. We're counting on you."
Kushina almost teared up from how proud she was of Arashi for figuring it out. It probably took all of Naruto not to fight, him who never gave up. She needed to hold on strong for them. For Minato, and Konoha. So she charged at her enemy with fire in her eyes.