A/N: Don't worry! I am not dead!
I have just been preoccupied with my new obsession called Star Wars. The Mandalorian is an amazing show!
Been a long time, hasn't it? Time flies when life sweeps you away. I can't believe that it has been so long since I have last updated, and I have a treat for you!
An Interlude! This was split into two parts. Part two will be out eventually.
Testing out POV shifts to give more context. Let me know what you think of it and if you want more interludes in the future! I was thinking of making one for Fugaku. Maybe one for Itachi and Mikoto as well? Sasuke?
Nevertheless, I hope you all enjoy it.
Happy Reading! OWO
To Change Fate
Interlude Part 1: Kushina Uzumaki
The first thing Kushina Uzumaki saw when she opened her eyes was a painfully blurry white. She blinked rapidly at the reflective shade before noticing she was surrounded by a curtain. The familiar stench of rubbing alcohol and death filled her nose. With the smell alone, she knew that she was in the hospital. Kushina tried to lift herself up, but the aches in her body made her limbs heavy, almost limp. After a few attempts, she sluggishly sat up to find herself wearing a white robe and under a thin blanket. She put her hand against her temple in an attempt to clear the fogginess in her head, but it did little to remedy it.
Then, she heard a baby cry, her baby cry. All at once, flashes of what happened busted in her mind; Humiya's prophecy, Naruto's birth, the masked man's taunts as he released the Nine Tails from her stomach. Minato's sorrowful expression as he formed the seal that took his life and soul.
"Naruto?" she rasped, tasting iron. "Naruto!"
Kushina grabbed the curtains that surrounded her as leverage to get out of bed only for it to collapse and take her with it. She tumbled and collapsed onto the floor, making Naruto weep louder.
The door to the hospital room swung open to reveal a nurse.
"Goodness are you alright, Mrs. Uzumaki?!" she gasped, rushing up to Kushina.
"Naruto…" Kushina groaned.
"Your baby is alright, ma'am. Checked him earlier. Either just hungry or needs a diaper change," the brown-eyed nurse said as she gently picked her up bridal style before tucking her into bed with ease. "I'll give him to you once you're situated,"
Kushina watched the nurse check her IV before going to Naruto. The baby flailed in the woman's arms. Her heart clenched.
"Hm, diapers not soiled. Most likely hungry. Here you go, ma'am!" the nurse said. She handed the baby to Kushina, helping her position Naruto in her arms for nursing.
Kushina sighed in relief when Naruto stopped crying and began to drink.
"There we go, ma'am," the nurse sighed as she straightened her dark blue hair under her cream cap, "I'll let Madam Sarutobi know that you are awake,"
"Madam Sarutobi," Kushina repeated before her eyes widened. "You mean Biwako is alive, ya know?!"
The nurse nodded and bowed before leaving.
Kushina looked down at Naruto, a glimmer of hope ringing inside her.
If Biwako is alive. Maybe Minato.
She loosened the light blue blanket that was wrapped around Naruto and placed her hand on his stomach. She pushed a little chakra into him to reveal the inky swirls etched onto his skin. Kushina's body went cold as she stared at the seal, her heartbeat quickening. She closed her eyes and sensed the Nine Tails coursing through her from her seal as well, weaker but still there. The Reaper Death Seal. Not only did Minato sacrifice his life for the village, but also his soul.
The knock on the door broke Kushina from her concentration and watched Biwako walk in with tears in her eyes. Her mentor looked better than she had in years, her light brown hair in a ponytail and her petite frame that was hunched over with age now stood tall. She wore her white robes when she worked as a medical-nin before she retired.
"He's gone!" Kushina sobbed, looking back at Naruto, his blue eyes staring up at hers. Minato's eyes. She kissed Naruto on the cheek. "He's really gone,"
Biwako placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Why him!" Kushina cried, rocking back and forth. "Why?!"
"You know why," Biwako whispered as she rubbed her shoulder. "Now, take a breath and calm yourself. You are still recovering,"
Kushina took a deep breath and wiped the tears from her face. She did know why. It was for the village. Almost everything they did was for the good of the Hidden Leaf. Knowing that did not ease the gaping void in her chest.
"You have been unconscious for 3 weeks now, on the verge of death. Your body sustained a significant amount of damage, but you are expected to make a full recovery" Biwako explained. "And Naruto is a healthy baby boy. It is a miracle,"
"A miracle?" Kushina spat. "Nothing about this is a miracle,"
She caressed Naruto's cheek as he gave a little coo.
"Minato's dead and the village. Oh, the village. Did we at least catch the man who did this?"
Biwako's grave expression told her everything.
"And Mikoto? How many people died?"
"Everything is being handled. Your friend is alive. Do not stress yourself over small things," Biwako replied simply.
"Small?" Kushina shouted. "How can you say that?!"
Masked attacker or not, she played a hand in this catastrophe. Rage mixed with guilt as she felt the gravity of her people's death, families ruined. Mikoto, her best and most caring friend, home was destroyed with countless family members killed. There was blood on her hands, so much blood. If she wasn't so careless, could this have been prevented? Could Minato still be alive?
"You will be staying with me and my husband in the Sautobi Main House. Luckily, my residence came out with only a few broken windows, but your house was completely destroyed in the attack," Biwako said, taking her hand off of Kushina's shoulder.
Kushina could not help but let out an empty chuckle. The years that she and Minato spent saving enough money to buy a house to call their home, of her hopes of having the big happy family she and Minato always wanted, all for naught. If only she realized how selfish that dream was back then. She never would have thought that one selfish dream could cost the lives of so many.
"You have a long way to go before stepping out of this hospital. You will be put under observation these upcoming weeks and you are to stay in this room," Biwako told her.
"Alright," Kushina said, resigned to her fate. "Thank you,"
"If you need anything, just call for the nurse," Biwako told her before leaving.
Alone again, Kushina was left to her thoughts. Naruto touched her wet cheek, and she looked down at him.
"I am so sorry," Kushina whispered, caressing his small puff of blond hair. "You are going to have a hard life. You are going to have to grow up without a father,"
She kissed him on the forehead and held him close.
Her son stared at her, his innocent gaze filling her with determination. She wiped her tears.
"But don't you worry. I will protect you and you will grow up to be a powerful ninja, ya know. You will have good days with your bad and always have someone by your side. You will never be alone, Naruto…"
Kushina smiled as Naruto grabbed her finger, his grip strong.
Kushina stopped counting how long she had been in her hospital room after a month, the days going by too fast for comfort. She knew she was being avoided, isolated from the rest of the patients. Even when she walked the halls, all of the doors were closed and the fellow patients she did meet made sure to keep their distance. Kushina resigned to write letters to Mikoto and Kakashi, asking how they were doing but received no replies. This worried her greatly, but she could do little to remedy it until today.
There was a knock on the door before it opened to reveal her nurse, who she found was named Sara, looking more chipper than usual.
"Mrs. Uzumaki, Madam Sarutobi told me that it was time for you to go to the Sarutobi Main House. Here are your clothes," Sara said as she handed her a pile of clothes with some wooden sandals and a bag. "Please let me know when you are done, so I can bring an escort,"
Kushina smiled and nodded her thanks before the nurse left. She felt giddy as she unfolded her clothes to change into them. It was a simple green dress with pink flowers printed on its hem and loose sleeves. Once she finished getting ready, she pinned her long red hair into a loose bun. She then looked in the bag and saw that there was baby supplies and snacks in it which she was grateful for. There was a cream sling in the pile and gently slung still sleeping Naruto to her chest with it. It seemed that the only thing Naruto inherited from her was that he was also a heavy sleeper when he felt safe and comfortable.
With a small bit of smoke, her hair was no longer a deep red but Minato's blond and her eyes his blue.
After they were ready to go, Kushina opened the door and peeked outside the hallway to see it was empty as usual.
"I can do this," she whispered to herself before walking down the hallway to the stairwell.
She reached the staircase and went down, stopping midway to let nurses carrying someone in a stretcher walk past. She knew they were dead with the lack of chakra coming from them and the white sheet covering their body. Kushina bowed her respected before continuing on her way, wondering how many other people she knew had to be carried the same way after the attack.
She imagined Minato being taken to his resting place. She wasn't even able to attend his funeral. Kushina wished that he could be cremated and kept with her but remembered the tradition; Hokages were all put into graves somewhere in the Hokage monument. Either way, her husband's soul would never find peace with the deal he made with the Shinigami and to her knowledge, there is no way for a contract with a deity to be reversed. His body might be peacefully cold but his soul, condemned to damnation.
Kushina shook her head, blinking away any oncoming tears.
"I can't think of this right now. There nothing I can do about it," she whispered.
Kushina continued down the stairs and to the front entrance, trying to make herself look confident.
"Mrs. Uzumaki," the front desk lady called to her.
Kushina almost tripped, cringing at her name being called. She should have expected that the front desk woman was a sensor. With a face masked with a smile, she walked up to the woman with large circular glasses.
"Good afternoon—"
She glanced down at the woman's name tag.
"Chichi. What is it?" she asked with a large grin.
"I was told that you would be leaving with an escort," Chichi said, writing something down on a sheet of paper.
Kushina gave a lighthearted laugh.
"Oh, I convinced Biwako that I did not need one. I met up with her on the way here and she said OKAY after some persuasion, ya know,"
"I see," Chichi replied, not looking like she bought it. "Is that why you are using a henge? Let me go check—"
"Oh, this? I am easily recognizable, ya know. I don't want to be bothered as I go home," Kushina said with a wink. "You don't need to bother Biwako with something she has already cleared. She is a very busy woman, and you would only bother her. You know how she gets when she has to say things twice,"
The front desk woman sighed solemnly. They both knew of Biwako's harsh tongue.
"If you put it that way—"
Kushina heard the lobby door open and saw a group of frantic people rush in, quite a few of them carrying their bloodied and bruised comrades.
"And you have patients to attend to. Goodbye!" Kushina cheered.
"Hey, wait!"
Kushina weaved past the crowd and was already out the door and down the congested dirt road before Chichi could finish. She would make sure to give her nurse and the front desk lady a few apology gifts and personally thank them for their care later.
She took a deep breath of fresh autumn air and patted Naruto, her baby still sleeping peacefully in her arms despite their noisy surroundings.
"Heavy sleeper indeed," she said to herself. "Next stop, Uchiha Compound,"
Kushina continued down the road and looked at all the buildings in different stages of being rebuilt, construction workers hammering into their roofs. The streets were luckily cleared of any debris, and she knew where she was going.
In case someone was following her, Kushina took the longer route to the compound, walking down crowded streets and going down a few alleyways. She even stopped by a few stalls and got some gifts she knew Mikoto's children would like. Along the way, she stopped at a pile of rubble where a street used to be and a part of her just wanted to jump from building to building, but she doubted Naruto could handle it. She decided to go around. A few minutes later, she finally made it to her destination, huffing from the excursion. She cursed her still healing body, remembering when walking a few miles was a breeze.
Kushina could tell that the Uchiha clan had been hit the worst with almost all of the buildings that used to stand proud and tall now only piles of rubble. At least a few of the residential homes still stood and some of them looked rebuilt. The entrance was blocked off with yellow tape. Her mouth was agape, staring at the sign that was no longer the Uchiha fan.
"Hyuga?!" Kushina shouted as she looked at the symbol that shamelessly replaced the Uchiha symbol, her arms trembling with rage.
Naruto woke up and began to cry, making Kushina regret shouting.
"Shh. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to wake you, ya know. Mommy just surprised herself," she hushed, rocking him.
He only cried harder. Realizing that her disguise might be the problem, she dispersed the henge.
"Look, it's Mommy. Don't cry. It's okay," Kushina hushed until Naruto's crying reduced to mere whimpers.
She then checked him and found that he needed a diaper change. She found a bench where she changed him and looked around. The place was desolate, but she was far from giving up. She began her search for people. After walking down the road and turning a corner, she saw a pair, who she assumed to be father and daughter, digging through the rubble. When she went to take a closer look, she saw that the man did not look like an Uchiha with his golden-brown skin. His daughter looked like she took mostly after her mom with her long hair a dark brown and a beauty mark under her eye.
"Dad, I found Mom's picture frame!" the little girl cheered, waving the broken frame in her hands before putting it into her bag, the Uchiha symbol on her purple shirt's sleeve.
"Great, Izumi!" her dad cheered, "It's getting late. Go to the wagon, so we can go back,"
"Excuse me!" Kushina called, jogging to them.
The father walked to meet her with his daughter hiding shyly behind his legs.
"Do you know where the Uchiha Compound is now? "She asked them.
Izumi looked up at her father and he patted her head.
"The Uchiha Compound and the Police Force Headquarters have been relocated near the Northern Gate," the man told her.
"Really? That's all the way out in the outskirts, ya know! How will the police do their job when they are in the middle of nowhere?" Kushina asked, furrowing her brow.
The man shrugged. "It was the Hokage's orders. We have to follow them,"
Kushina grumbled at that but nodded. She wanted to say more, but Izumi's stomach began to growl. She smiled down at the girl and took out a ration bar from her bag, The girl stared at the bar hungrily but checked with her dad for permission. After her dad nodded, she gingerly took it before eating it.
"Would you like one as well? I have plenty," Kushina insisted, handing him one.
The man shook his head.
"No, thank you. Are you looking for someone?"
"Yes," Kushina said. "I want to know if a friend of mine survived,"
The man nodded in understanding.
"There is room on our wagon if you need a ride," he said, his daughter nodding in agreement.
"That would be wonderful, ya know!" Kushina cheered before hopping onto their wagon with them.
The man flicked the reins, causing the donkey to bray and move forward. Izumi sat between her dad and Kushina, nibbling on her bar. She glanced at Naruto as Kushina fed him.
"He is so cute," the little girl said. "What's his name?"
"Naruto," Kushina said with a small smile.
The girl giggled.
"Like the fishcake?"
"Yes!" Kushina laughed. "Exactly, ya know! I was eating ramen with my husband at our favorite ramen shop when the name came to him,"
She smiled at the memory. It was one of the few days that Minato and she were able to have a proper date since he became Hokage. She insisted that they go to Ichiraku Ramen since it was one of her pregnancy cravings. She remembered how she couldn't stop laughing when Minato shouted the name like he uncovered a huge discovery. She joked that their baby will always be their little fish cake no matter how big and strong he got.
Kushina began to tear up. She has been doing it a lot these days.
"If only he was here,"
There was a moment of silence for the dead.
"Mom was obsessed with ramen too. She would make it for dinner all the time, remember Dad?" Izumi mumbled, her eyes watery as well. "I would always complain about it. I shouldn't have. She worked so hard, and I should have thanked her more. Tell her that I loved her, but… now I can't. I miss her so much,"
"Izumi," her dad cried, giving her a side hug as she wept into his arms. "She knew that you loved her. Even if we never said it, she knew,"
Kushina comfortingly rubbed her back and looked down the dreary path to the Uchiha Compound.