The tale of the great Uzumaki Kushina.

I


It was a warm and sunny day in the village of Konoha. People were walking around the dusty streets, going about their businesses as they were watched by the silent eyes of the Hokage monument that stood behind the Hokage tower, looming above the Village.


From where she was, the people below looked like insects, walking in and out of their holes aimlessly in the sunlight. ‘Jez it’s hot up here.’ She thought with a snigger as she reached for a second paint pot that hung beside her on a rope. She was running low on red it seemed. “Hmm… I wonder if I have enough to finish the old mans nose bleed…” She pondered aloud, her eyebrows slightly creased, but she seemed oblivious to the fact that only a few ropes and a wooden plank came between her and a hundred foot drop down to the rickety rooftops below.


The girl was young, ten or eleven; she wore orange dungarees that were tucked in her black sandals, a white and black striped loose t-shirt underneath. She had flaming red hair that was tied back in a very messy pony. Hair fell loose over her hazel eyes; a blue band was tied around her head, barely visible on her forehead that depicted the village symbol of the leaf on a small silver plate.

She suppressed another giggle at the thought of what she was doing and inwardly mocked them for not noticing her already. She looked up at her masterpiece. There were three heads carved into the stone of the mountain. All were looking at different parts of the village of the hidden leaf. All wore stern and serious expressions. All of which had brightly colored graffiti painted on their faces.

“Marvelous.” She said as she gazed up. She wasn’t one for posh words, but that one fitted perfectly.

However, suddenly a voice from above shouted down at her.

“Kushina!”

With a heavy sigh, Kushina glared up at the caller. “WHAT!” Her temple had begun to throb, she wanted to finish before anyone realized what she was up to.


“What are you doing?” The boy asked in a slightly calmer voice as if it wasn’t completely obvious.


“WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE I’M DOING?!” She screamed at him as she instantly recognized the voice of her caller and she furiously swatted at the stone with her brush, trying to ignore him.


“Um…” Her caller paused, as if he needed time to think. “Defacing the Hokage monument… But I was actually implying the question as to why you are doing this.”


Kushina paused for a moment in thought. “Well,” She began; she forgot instantly that she was supposed to be irritated. “People take this hunk of old rocks too serious. I want to make people laugh at it for a change.” Her face was suddenly screwed in an uncharacteristic thoughtful face.


“I see.” The boy above replied. And after a moment, a few small rocks began to fall down. With a growl she wondered what he was doing up there. She didn’t bother looking up as she was more concerned with finishing the Third’s nosebleed then wondering about that irritating boy. That was until one hit her on the head with a ‘thunk.’


“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!” She yelled, looking up to where she was but then suddenly she yelped in surprise. “Agh! How did you get down here?!” Kushina asked when her vision was obscured by a white coated idiot dropping down to her.


Minato grinned at her surprise and replied with a laugh. “Same way as you. Rope but with a little chakra so I didn't fall on you.” He had slid down the rock easily abseiling down the length of the thirds nose with his feet gripping onto the rock like a magnet.


Kushina, who had dropped down on her makeshift working bench in one heart stopping fall had not even thought of using chakra to make the drop easier muttered "Show off." Under her breath however, Minato acted oblivious to her mutterings and instead commented.


“He kinda looks odd from this angle doesn’t he.” Minato chirped as he gazed up thoughtfully up at the stone nose of the Third with his bright blue eyes. He was blonde, his spiky hair stuck up in all sorts of directions. It was apparent that he’d become quite attractive in the years to come, Kushina however, was unaffected by thins. “What… What are you doing here?” Kushina asked, beyond angry now, she cast a glance back down at the village below them with slight worry.


“I was wondering if you needed a hand.” Minato asked her with a heart melting smile, Kushina more irritated by this rather then warmed stared at him coldly in disbelief and asked.


“I…. What?” Kushina asked him, suddenly acting suspicious. “What’s a kiss ass like you wanting to help me for hmm?” Kushina asked her with a low irritated tone. “Are you being put up to this? Is this a stick up, you’re an impersonator aren’t you?” Kushina’s eyes became slits as she pounded her with questions.


“I what- hang on a second.” Minato waved his hands at her, seemingly attempting to bat away the questions from him but realizing that doing so was a bad so when you only have a single rope holding you up. Hands firmly camped back on the rope he replied to her heated inquest. “Kiss ass, excuse me?” He asked her with a frown upon his tanned face. “I’m not an impersonator, not have I been sent by anyone to ridicule you. I just came here to help, I saw your rope tied up when I was walking up there.” Minato beckoned above them. “And I asked you what you were doing and here we are.” He said simply with a beam that could rival the sun in its brightness.


“Blonde idiot.” Kushina cursed at him under her breath as she looked away from his cheesy grin. “You do realize you’re goanna get into trouble if they find you here with me?” She asked him, wondering if he really was simple minded.


“Yep.” He replied with an affirmative nod. But then he asked with an eyebrow arched in mock seriousness. “But do you realize that you are going to get into trouble if they find you here defacing the Hokage monument?"


“’Course I do, but I don’t care about those idiots, never have, never will!” Kushina said proudly as if she had been waiting to exclaim that for a while.


“And you think I - ”


“MINATO!” A girl’s voice called from behind the two. Minato and Kushina turned around, wearing equally irritated faces.


“Yes?” He asked innocently back to the girl.


The girl stood on the rounded rooftop of one of the nearby buildings. Her black hair was tied back in short choppy ponytails that sat on top of her head.


She wore a scowl on her face. “What are you doing up there?”


Minato’s frown deepened. “Why is everyone so interested in what I’m doing?” He mumbled to himself but Kushina replied. “Coz you’re the favorite student of the future Hokage maybe?”


Minato burst out laughing at her statement, “That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard all day!” He continued laughing, dangerously swinging from his rope and forgetting about the girl behind him.


“What’s so-“ Kushina began.


“MINATO!” The other girl’s voice screeched again with her hands cupped around her mouth.


Said boy sighed at this remembering he was being questioned again. “WHAT?!” He burst out, surprising Kushina and even himself, “Do you want?” He added hopefully trying to avoid further screeches.


“What are you doing up there, with her!” The zealous girl asked pointing a finger stiffly at Kushina who promptly stuck her tongue out in response.


“I’m beginning to regret this; I only came to help and already I'm being badgered by my teammate…” Minato murmured as he scratched the back of his head in an exasperated manner.
And suddenly to both hanging people’s displeasure, more Shinobi appeared at the surrounding rooftops.


-“Kushina! Get down you idiot!”-

-“What do you think you are doing?!”-

-“Minato, come down, you’re going to get yourself into more trouble, hanging around with that one!”-

Minato and Kushina simultaneously turned and she began to brush the paint onto the monument.


“Got a spare brush?” Minato asked her, as if he was oblivious to the racket that surrounded them.

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I hope you liked it as much as I had fun writing this!

Next time: - A dark past…

The sound of scraping metal, cries of pain and anguish swept the village, broken by ear-bursting explosions that shook the very foundations of the buildings…

…Everywhere her wide eyes looked, there was death and destruction. Buildings seemed to have been clawed by some demon from the depths of hell, leaving charred torn buildings in its wake. People lay in pools of… No she couldn’t bear to wonder what had happened to them. Kushina closed her eyes and clung onto the Hiroshi for dear life…

…A man came into view. However, it wasn’t a man. Such a thing cannot even be called human…

Please review.

Lonski.

Thank you to all of you who have reviewed. Means a lot.
This may clear up some things for you about Kushina’s past.
Reviews are the things that keep me writing this, if I don't get any form of appreciation for this, good or bad, this can’t go on.


If I owned Naruto, would I be sitting here writing a fic about it. Would I have time to? oO

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A dark past.

II

The sound of scraping metal, cries of pain and anguish swept the village, broken by ear-bursting explosions that shook the very foundations of the buildings.

She lay stiffly on her bed as she listened to her surroundings; it sounded to her that every explosion blasted away another part of her whole village. That everything was crumbling around her. Disappearing impossibly… into nothingness. She hadn’t even curled up she simply lay there frozen with fear.

Suddenly, her bedroom door opened and a woman with blazing red hair and glassy hazel eyes rushed in and scooped the girl in her arms and held her close as if that small girl was her only anchor to the world.

Suddenly the woman let go, the explosions seemed to be coming closer and closer to them as the blasts became ever powerful. “Quickly my darling, we must leave!” The woman’s voice shook with unconcealed fear.

The little girl simply stood on her feet, where her mother had left her, not even aware that she was trembling violently. Her mother however began to open up draws and closets in the girls room as the young girl simply stood and watched in fearful silence.

Her mother had dressed her hastily from her silken nightdress into travel gear. Boots were donned along with pants made from a durable material and a woolen jumper.

“Come on my darling, we must leave!” Her mother repeated fearfully as she grasped the immobile child’s hand and began to lead her towards the door that led out of her lavishly decorated room.

The girl suddenly frowned and snapped out of her daze. “What’s going on? Where’s father?” She asked in a voice of heart breaking innocence only a child of capable of using.

“He’s fighting outside.” Her mother murmured in sober grief. The woman stood there for a moment as if she was lost in her thoughts. Until a brilliant flash exploded just before the window and sent a nearby building to its knees. Her mother hastily jerked her daughter’s hand once again and they darted into a dark and ominously silent hallway.

“Wait!” The girl suddenly protested and forced her hand free from her mother’s grip. And she ran back into her room. She hurriedly opened her bedside draw and pulled out her closest treasure, a pair of green goggles her father had given her for her birthday. One’s just like his.

Suddenly, the moment of peace passed and another explosion grew and this time it was so close, that this time it tore off the face from their home.

“KUSHINA!” Her mother suddenly cried out in horror as she watched her little girl fall through the air as the floor beneath her feet disappeared in a matter of seconds.

She screamed as she fell but she luckily managed to land on a flat piece of tiled flooring and she slid down the rest of the drop.

“MOTHER!?” She screamed back up to the place where her room once was and her only reply was a blood curdling scream and a slash of metal followed by a sickening a splatter.

Tears welled up in Kushina’s eyes as she stood there rooted to the spot amongst the rubble of her home. The sound of footsteps of the remaining Shinobi grew as they ran down the street closer to Kushina. She turned fearfully expecting them to be enemy Nin but she instantly recognized the swirl pattern of their village symbol.

“Kushina-sama! We have been sent for you, your father has been searching for you.”

Kushina nodded at this as she understood but as one of the two ninja offered to carry the small girl, she protested and pointed back at her home. “M-my Mother, she was there! I can’t leave her!”

The two shinobi paused momentarily. One placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and said. “Find her Kenji.” Kenji, obviously his deputy straightened and saluted him by raising his right arm and crossing it against his chest. “Hai! Understood Hiroshi-sempi!”

“Kushina-sama we must leave.” The Captain said as they both watched the other shinobi disappear in a blur back to the building.

Kushina bit her lip and nodded as his sentence echoed her mothers and an immense wave of dread swept over her. Kushina watched as the second Shinobi disappeared back to her home. And before she knew it, the streets became a blur as she was swept away on the back of the Shinobi.

Everywhere her wide eyes looked, there was death and destruction. Buildings seemed to have been clawed by some demon from the depths of hell, leaving charred torn buildings in its wake. People lay in pools of… No she couldn’t bear to wonder what had happened to them. Kushina closed her eyes and clung onto the Hiroshi for dear life.

They eventually reached some sort of main square after passing through luckily without finding any of the enemy. A man stood in solitude, as if he was immune to all of the terror and devastation around him. Hiroshi placed Kushina back down onto the ground and they walked up towards the man.

“Father?” She asked the man worriedly, he had not turned around.

But then, she met a horrific sight with her eyes. A curved sword stained with her father’s blood stuck out from out of his back. But as soon as her eyes saw it, the sword was retracted, leaving the man to fall to his knees. The destruction, the explosions, the fear all melted away. There was nothing.

“FATHER!” Kushina screamed tears ran freely down her cheeks as she made to dart towards her father, but the Shinobi beside her pulled a hand out and grabbed her arm, preventing her from coming any closer to him.

Kushina watched with horror as her father fall to the ground. But as he fell, a man came into view. However, it wasn’t a man. Such a thing cannot even be called human. Its lifeless eyes stared at them both; its skin seemed to be artificial, off-white in color. Its jaw was hinged in a perfect line across and it dipped into its neck to be hidden in its collar. Its robes were dark and long tattering at the end. A sword protruded almost impossibly from the palm of its outstretched hand.

Hiroshi beside her hissed, “Get back Kushina-sama! As far away from us as you can!” as he shoved her back. She didn’t need telling twice. She spun around fled to the edge of the square, her shaking legs finally giving out beneath her and she crumpled to the floor and sat slumped against the wall and watched with fear through blurred eyes.

“Where is the real you?” The shinobi asked; his voice betrayed him as it trembled slightly. The puppet tilted its head to one side. Mechanical clicks snapped as it moved, revealing the many number of workings inside.

“Here.”

A young quiet voice spoke from behind the shinobi. In the gloom of night, a shadowed figure stood alone. The anonymous man raised his head, revealing a shock of red hair and gleaming green eyes that harshly contrasted with deathly pale skin.

“Sas… Akasuna no Sasori?” Hiroshi whispered in terror. ‘The missing nin of the sand…’ The Shinobi thought, his feared suddenly became worse then he ever believed they would.

The young man simply stood there without any response. He simply stood there and watched Hiroshi before him stare in fear with his mouth agape.

“From this day on… The Uzumaki nation no longer exists.” Sasori simply said. “My hundred puppet army has taken this place to pieces, your leader is dead. All that remains is you and his daughter.” The shinobi cast a side-ward glance as Kushina who sat there motionless against the wall, sobs shook her small frame.

“Don’t be getting any ideas, you have already lost.” Sasori said calmly in a slightly bored tone as he watched the shinobi’s reaction with little interest. The shinobi stood there and suddenly with cold realization did he notice that a thin needle had pierced the skin at the back of his neck. The puppet behind him had cracked its jaw open and spat the needle into him. “Within the next few moments, your body will become numb and immobile. If you are lucky you will be used as my puppet.”

The shinobi listened with a creased brow; it looked as if he had simply resigned himself to his fate without fighting. But suddenly he reached within his robes and pulled out a scroll.

“Resistance is futile.” Sasori said simply.

“Kenji!” The Captain shouted suddenly, alarmed. He was so confident in his ability that he hadn’t even noticed that the other shinobi was still alive.

“Hiroshi-sempi!” Kenji had appeared suddenly into the square from an entrance opposite Kushina. His face bloodied and looking extremely worse for wear. He nursed several severe wounds all over his body, but rushed forward as if they were nothing. “Forgive me the puppe-“

“I don’t have time, activate this and sent Kushina-sama!” And with that, he flung the scroll into the air and towards Kenji. And as soon as he threw the scroll, Hiroshi fell to the ground, lifeless.

Sasori’s puppet flew in the air towards the scroll but was a second too late. Kenji caught it and ducked down as the puppet went to scathe him with his sword which slashed through the empty air. He used this opportunity to scramble back to his feet and rush across the square as the puppet behind him recovered itself quickly and kicked off the wall of one of the surrounding buildings.

Kenji had nearly reached Kushina but spun around to face the puppet behind him as he heard him approach. He made several hand seals before shouting “Suiton: Suijinheki!”A wall of water formed before Kenji and prevented the puppet from passing through, but that did not stop its weapons from slicing through. Glistening kunai and shuriken shot through and fell like metallic deadly rain down onto Kenji who blocked the worst with his arms.

“No!” Kushina darted forward and she reached the fallen shinobi as he lay on the ground. The wall of water held but its power was weakening as it became thinner and thinner as the puppet thrashed at it.

“Kushina-sama.” Kenji said simply as she knelt over him.

“Wh-why-" She began but Kenji cut over her.

“Listen, you need to take this scroll. It will take you to the fire country. It’s far away from here.” Kenji’s breathing became harsh as blood trailed down his jaw. “Tell them who you are and you will be safe, understand?”

Kenji’s eyes left no room for argument and Kushina simply nodded, fighting against her sobs determinedly. Kenji ripped the scroll open and wiped a small amount of blood from his chin and smudged it across the ornate seal on the scroll. With that done, the scroll began to glow in a bright white light. He thrust it into Kushina’s hands.

The wall around them crashed down around them, water cascaded over them and Sasori and his puppet appeared.

“Run.” Kenji said simply and let go of the scroll.

Kushina’s last sight in the Uzumaki was that of a puppet flying towards her its knife coming down to her.

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Next time: A promise of a brighter future...

Lonski.