Chapter Text
Uzumaki Kushina has never felt this happy in her life.
Hours of labor blur together like an exhausting, neverending spar, and in a way it was. Pushing the baby out — her little boy! mother’s intuition was right! — while chanting at the Kyubi to take a hike — or rather stay exactly where it was, sealed away — while Minato babbled words of comfort… well it has certainly been a night. Minato’s main goal was reinforcing her seal, but that didn’t stop him from worrying and gushing about her strength and devising ways to skip the awkward birthing part next time, if there was a next time — and wasn’t she supposed to be saying that? What a sissy she married. She loves him so much, ya know?
Biwako-sama holds little Naruto next to her face. He screams into her ear, announcing himself loudly for such a tiny baby. He is wet and red and all scrunched up and still absolutely perfect — and hers!
Uzumaki genetics don’t seem to prevail, but at least the sunshine locks tell everyone who was it that helped bring him into this world! And the whiskers, how adorable, even the fox contributed to the perfection that is her son — does that make them sort of related? an evil fox as uncle? or are they twins, since they kind of shared her belly? — and oh does she hope other children won’t be mean about the marks, like they were with her flaming hair! Minato may have hoped for another redhead in the family, but not all hope is lost. There’s still many years to give it another try, or even more. Kushina will indulge her husband, he will indulge her, and they will have a big happy family—
Scream. Choking. A thud, a thud.
Minato shouts something and lets go of her seal.
Words are hissed. A muffled voice echoes in the cavern. “Step away from her, or your child will not live past this moment.”
Kushina screams. Her seal is unraveling, becoming looser and looser every heartbeat Minato is not adjusting it, and — where is Naruto? Naruto!
She can’t hear him anymore, and Minato isn’t talking to the intruder, so her little boy is safe, he has to be safe, please let him be safe… She is barely able to move, so she has nothing to do but put all her trust in her beloved.
A robed figure steps into view. Kushina blinks and blinks to clear the tears, so she can get a glimpse of their face, but finally sees — a mask. What a pain.
Then she is lifted up in a bridal carry, and oh what memories it brings up; of being held in Minato’s embrace after the daring rescue, of their bodies entangled in passion, of the amazing times they had together. Her kidnapper is shorter than Minato and isn’t nearly as careful in handling her. The world twists around them and suddenly they are somewhere else. It is nothing like Minato’s hiraishin, thinks Kushina as she is begging her stomach to not worsen everything by throwing up.
The figure lays her on rough, cold rock, bares her stomach, and unravels her seal. It is like unfinished knitting with the needles removed — one wrong pull of the yarn and the whole thing is destroyed. Kushina’s complicated seal is stretching in four directions, wrapped around more rocks that jut out of the lakewater. During this, no words are exchanged. Kushina is gathering her breath and wits, the masked stranger is too busy with unleashing a demon.
Are they stealing the Kyubi by sealing it inside someone else? Do the fools think that any vessel could be enough to contain what was a burden for the strongest Uzumaki? Or is this anything like when Kumo tried to take her for her inherent powers, and the Kyubi is what, an unwanted burden to be left behind so Konoha has other problems than rescuing one woman? She wants to placate herself with thinking this as an endeavor doomed to fail, but so far everything points to this being a perfectly executed operation. The barrier, the ANBU guards, Minato’s presence, it all failed to protect her in her moments of vulnerability. Minato took Naruto to safety — as if a father could do anything else when his child was at stake — leaving her to fend for herself, at least until he arrives in a flash, soon.
After a moment she asks, “Why are you doing this? What do you want?”
“I want the Kyubi,” says the masked stranger, stretching the sentence as if spitting every syllable. He sounds younger than she expected. “I will rip it out of you and set it on Konoha. I wonder, will the Hokage come to your rescue, now that he has bigger problems?”
Red. Then the Kyubi roars in her mind, the Kyubi finds its chains can break, it rips, and in a final stretch, the Kyubi is now free and she is dead.
And then she is where she belongs — in Minato’s arms.
What a pity it is, that Uzumaki Kushina will not see the dawn.
There once was a sage who had two sons, and nine children borne out of a beast. He consumed its spirits to keep it locked, then banished the evil to the moon where his brother would stand guard. He preached harmony, balance, love. It was in vain. His wisdom never reached the whole world — and his sons went to entwine in war.
Namikaze Minato barely wipes away his tears of joy after a turbulent night, when an intruder takes down Biwako-sama and Taji and is holding little Naruto hostage.
“Yondaime-sama,” says the robed figure, whose threatening hand looms over Naruto. The tone carries no respect. “Step away from her, or your child will not live past this moment.”
How did he get past the barrier?
Kushina grunts in pain as her seal stretches, making an agonizing sound, like rusty metal on metal. Minato shouts her name. The seal needs tightening right now—
“Move!” the figure shouts, voice cracking.
“Wait, stay calm,” he pleads, buying himself seconds to think. Kushina has to wait until the intruder no longer has their son; she did well holding the beast back the past few hours and she is so strong—
“Catch,” mocks the figure, throwing the bundle Naruto is in up and positioning his kunai under the fragile body. Kushina cries out. Minato
catches Naruto and lands on the wall. A wisp of smoke from his arms — explosive tags attached! Minato
flashes to a shed near his house outside the village, discards the tagged fabric,
is in the yard. Skidding on the ground while clutching Naruto to his chest, Minato surveys the situation. Every heartbeat he’s leaving Kushina with the enemy is agony. Then he
steps into the basement and lays Naruto on a large bed, covering him with a blanket. He will be safe for now. Right away Minato
appears just in time to rescue Kushina, who was about to be flattened by the Kyubi. The Kyubi, it is out, and she is saying that the masked fiend wants to attack Konoha with it — not on the Yondaime’s watch! Minato
deposits Kushina on the bed too, rights next to their son. She cries and nuzzles Naruto’s tiny whiskered face, and Minato wants nothing more than add himself to the pile. But duty is duty, one never stops being the Hokage. He puts on his vest and his white cloak with flames, stocks up on weaponry, and
observes Konoha from above. He surveys his domain — a calamity, many lives surely lost. The Kyubi’s thunderous roars shake the ground, blast apart houses, fill hearts with dread. Then, either by great vision or intuition, its crimson eyes find him where he is standing, on top of his own giant stone head.
“Finally noticed me?” Minato asks under his breath. “I will stop your destruction.”
The beast spits out an enormous chakra ball. It is aimed right at him, which is quite fortunate. He weaves hand signs for Guiding Thunder
and the bomb destroys the surrounding forest, from where he transported it far away. Light stains the horizon. The Sandaime needs to be briefed. The fight is not over yet—
Instinct takes over, stabbing his enemy’s head. The kunai passes without resistance, it is an illusion, and then it is not. Gloved hand catches him and the grip on his forearm is keeping him off-balance. Space folds around the bright red mask and Minato
barely escapes. He slams into the ground, alive, unharmed, dismayed at the new space-time technique that almost got him.
“Are you running from me?” mocks the intruder, who is in front of him a moment later. His jutsu got him through the barriers around Kushina’s birthing place, allowed him to defeat all present ANBU, yet set off no alarms of the main Konoha barrier. Then he ripped the Kyubi out of Kushina and summoned it to the village.
Minato hates to say it, such a preposterous idea, but if it is true… “Are you Uchiha Madara?”
Tree roots burst from the ground. They move in tandem, stabbing at Minato and at where he would dodge and at more and more places. It is not an earth technique, Minato has seen plenty of those when kicking Iwa nin back to their stone holes. Madara wasn’t the legendary shinobi with mokuton, and surely the Shodai Hokage hasn’t returned to do what he once helped prevent — what his wife averted by performing sealing acts straight from legends of the Sage. “Nevermind that. He’s surely dead.”
Despite not landing a direct hit Minato somehow hit a sore spot.
“Dead in the ground with his delusions!” spits out the enemy.
His backyard has twice as many trees as moments ago, and all seem to have a grudge against Minato. He twists between blunt attacks, ivy whips, stabbing branches. “It doesn’t matter.” It matters; whoever this is, they have to be put down fast. “Why attack Konoha?”
The wood madness abates. The enemy laughs. “Since when do you care about what people want and why?”
If Minato teleports into the village, destruction would follow. This is why he prefers fights where he doesn’t have to worry about collateral damage. He has to put his trust in the Sandaime; his predecesor may be retired but is still capable of coordinating enough shinobi to push back a biju. The Kyubi cannot manifest indefinitely, it will be handled soon.
He charges at his enemy, who responds in kind, spikes jutting out of his arms through his robe like armor. He passes through Minato, avoids sharp kunai — by simply not being there — then branches are squeezing and feeding on chakra before Minato
is back where he started, unwounded and free. The ghost has to be solid to attack. Try for a mutual strike. Be quick.
Another charge. Minato lets a kunai fly from his left hand and forms a Rasengan with his right. Just as they are about to touch, spine clatters
as Minato grinds the Rasengan into a robed back. An inhuman howl is cut as air leaves lungs. He catches the still flying marked kunai, completing the Second Step. In the same movement he marks the ripped flesh and lets the masked stranger back up — in vain. A tree barrier groans into place. Minato
ignores it and slams a contract seal over his heart, cutting off the Kyubi from its current master. “The Kyubi is no longer yours,” says Minato. Now what will you do?
“Go fuck yourself in hell, Minato,” wheezes out the masked stranger, then composes himself. “So long, Yondaime-sama. I shall rule this world, one way or another.” And he is gone.
Will he cut off flesh from his back in an attempt to destroy the mark? It won’t work; many have tried. Minato can get to him at any time — after he once more seals the Kyubi and cleans up the mess.
The sage had two heirs. The elder son, he had great skill, never stopped honing his crafts, bent the elements to his will. The younger one connected to all, everywhere he went he made friends. Who would inherit? The choice was clear; in the end, only one of them had the right heart.
Or so they say. When the following thousand years flattened the tale — into struggle of yang and yin, destined to always be at odds, one was cast as hero, one as villain.
The last mission Hatake Kakashi ever goes on is interrupted by a kidnapping and goes steeply downhill from there.
Kakashi is the team captain — (why would they trust him with another team when he failed so terribly last time) — and along with his two temporary teammates he is bringing all his ninken. One jonin and two chunnin are to run a patrol in the east, where Kiri might be probing Konoha’s weakened defenses. All three are fast and they are instructed to avoid engagement. Not that Kiri came out of the war much stronger than Konoha; they may be promoting genin and chunnin left and right just to keep up their image of bloody strength.
Despite Kakashi’s fears, everything is going smoothly — (too smoothly perhaps) — and they are just about to make a final sweep of the coastal areas, when half a dozen Kiri shinobi emerge from the water and attack.
Kakashi turns to his teammate who was supposed to be casting a sensory net, and finds her gasping for breath — (did he push them nearly to exhaustion when he ordered them to all stay together) — and then pierced by a hail of senbon. One needle stabs through her eye straight to the brain. Kakashi’s sharingan painfully twitches in sympathy, before it dawns on him that his teammate — (another one another one) — is dead.
They should be running. They should follow protocol and destroy or seal up the body, then run for their lives to report.
Kakashi’s hand crackles with lightning. The Chidori rips into the closest enemy, cauterizing the hole that was a solid ribcage a second ago. Their body seizes.
Another falls as their mask, face, brain are pierced all the same. The gathered chakra protects Kakashi from bone fragments, so any stabbing sensations in his twitching hand are just his imagination.
The other Kiri shinobi pause. Kakashi turns to his teammate, who is shoving a scroll into his vest pocket. He has sealed the body — (she will get to go home) — and now only blood and senbon remain on the ground.
They run.
Kakashi is exhausted, his body and mind straining to process the sharingan’s input, but he doesn’t dare to cover the eye.
His teammate shouts something about splitting up — (not again not again) — and what a terrible idea that is — (together they can maybe defeat them) — and Kakashi pushes chakra into a summoning jutsu; Shiba and Akino hit the ground running and are ordered to help Kakashi’s teammate get to safety while Kakashi leads them into the trees.
They don’t run faster than a hunter-nin from Kiri.
Senbon tipped with poison follow both Konoha shinobi, however their main target seems to be Kakashi. All four pursuers are behind him. He dodges and dodges, until he can’t any more.
His knee falters, he trips, and then — (no no no) —
darkness.
He wakes up to pain pulsing in his chest.
He is lying half naked on uncomfortable stone. His captors probably thought him too weak, because he is not tied up and he can’t hear anyone nearby. He pats his bare chest, finding no wound. His shirt and undershirt are in a heap on the ground. His headband is no longer on but he doesn’t see in sharp clarity — (no, they didn’t take it, did they) — and after a twinge of panic Kakashi realizes he’s had his left eye closed to keep the sharingan mostly dormant.
He is in a cave near the sea. Kakashi guesses they didn’t take him far. The smell of salt is overwhelming, and the distant crashing of waves may very well mask the sound of anyone approaching.
He takes in the rest of his surroundings. Dim light of a fire, sealing supplies, and himself on a slab that reminds him of a ritual altar. The sigils on his chest are still wet with ink, staining his fingertips.
Kakashi doesn’t need to be a genius to put together a terrible picture. He quietly dresses himself and finds his weapon pouches nearby. He only hopes his teammate for this mission and the ninken got somewhere safe.
First, there is something sealed in him. It may be only slightly harmful, but with Kakashi’s recent luck — (and the heavy feeling pressing on his chakra) — he will have to treat it as the worst case scenario.
Second, his kidnappers are not expecting him to wake up for some time yet. They don’t know how adaptable Kakashi’s body can be, as he proved by using the sharingan in combat right after having it implanted. This is a single bright spot. They are probably staying away for now — (because they are underestimating him, not because they actually want him to escape, that has to be it) — just in case the sealing breaks and they have to deal with — (let it not be a damn biju) — whatever emerges and exacts revenge for being trapped.
Third, he is a primed explosive tag and can’t return to Konoha until the problem is taken care of. Minato-sensei is on a mission somewhere, Kushina-san would not be allowed to leave the village, Jiraiya-sama is in the wind, and the Hokage is too busy to spare time on a single shinobi — (an absolute failure) — who is in need of sealing advice.
Kakashi is left alone — (for so long he pushed others away, now he has to rely on himself) — to escape from the Kiri shinobi and stabilize the seal. He has no idea what he is doing. He has no idea how many enemies are waiting for him. He has some idea what is embedded in his chest — (the pulsing, angry ache is getting worse) — and maybe he would rather not know.
He sets out. Circulating chakra through his body brings scorching pain. Kakashi is used to pushing himself beyond his limits and through exhaustion, so he just grits his teeth and prepares to run for his life. He could lose his pursuers when he reaches the forest. But first he has to orient himself — (running away from the direction of the stormy sea is a safe bet) — and do so quickly.
Kakashi is slowing down.
Soon after dusk he found himself with enough of a head start to send a message to Konoha. Summoning just one ninken took too much from him, and Pakkun almost refused to leave his side — (the last time they are seeing each other is during an argument) — but eventually ran to get reinforcements — (no one is coming) — and Kakashi was alone once more.
The Kiri shinobi want him alive, they want him moving homeward and not touching the seal that he feels slowly untangling across his chest. His joints ache with every jump and he feels himself tire more and more — (chakra wisps leaking like drops from a faulty faucet) — but he can’t expect the same from his pursuers.
If they want him alive so badly, should he face the end with dignity — (he will not go out like his father) — and make a last stand?
He tries to. The seal is crawling down his arms. Stabbing sensation in his sharingan makes Kakashi double over in pain.
Forming even a single hand sign is like grabbing a bonfire.
His coordination is terrible. His nerves misfire. He has a migraine and it is somehow spreading to his heart.
The Kiri shinobi are approaching slowly now.
His hand can barely hold a kunai. He is suffocating on waves of chakra emanating from the seal. It feels absolutely furious, and Kakashi wants to roar along with it, to — (fight, fight, show them teeth!) — set himself ablaze and drag them all to hell.
(Obito… Rin…)
“Kakashi!” comes a frantic shout. A hooded figure dashes towards him and almost trips over their own feet. “Kakashi…”
The face is newly scarred yet familiar in its twists. The voice is the same, maybe a bit deeper. And the sharingan — (wide and spinning in terror) — a perfect mirror of the one Kakashi carries.
“Obito?”
He is at death’s door — (being haunted, as he deserves) — and the other side is calling. Is Obito here to escort him? Kakashi closes his eyes and smiles softly — (better than crying) — or attempts to, out of practice as he is.
“No, no, I refuse, not like this!” screams — (the ghost) — Obito. “No, no!” There is pressure on his chest.
The ground shakes. A bestial cry echoes and clashes with itself. Raging chakra obscures his vision, boils eyes in his sockets and peels off his skin.
Kakashi thinks he sees a forest growing.
(He will see Obito and Rin soon.)
Prodigious ribcage full of rage is what passed down his line the elder son. He carried fire power and blood eyes; it is quite clear he never won. Again and again over time, planning means evil, love has to be shared — so decided the younger son’s kin, who followed his father’s ways wise. If the day comes when they make peace, stand side by side as brothers, friends — the sage returns, cycle of hate ends.
“—will the Hokage come to your rescue, now that he has bigger problems?“
Kushina’s gaze takes in the mask. Two holes for eyes, one more on the forehead, all painted red and with black swirls. It reminds her of Mikoto’s eyes—
Sharingan blooms from the third dark spot.
They are in seal-space and now there are three. Kyubi roaring on a moon of lava, each limb and tail speared through and chained up. Kushina collapsed on hard rock floor, stunned. And the kidnapper.
“He will always come for me, ya know,” she says. It is an undeniable truth — sun rises in the east, the fox demon is full of hate, and Minato will never abandon her.
“Now that he lost all his other pets, you are the center of his world?” mocks he masked figure. “You silly woman. Do you think his love for you is stronger than his dedication to the village?”
Pets. It takes Kushina a moment to connect the word to the team Minato formerly taught. Pets? Minato cried in her arms after he became the last; a sensei with no students, set to rise to the top, with no obvious successors. Minato’s pets?! She was like their older sister! She will bite the asshole for speaking like that about them, ya know!
First to die was Obito. What a tragedy, that the boy finally arrived somewhere first, and it was to death. He saved Kakashi from an earth jutsu in a cave; a deadly combination by an enemy force that tried to stop their advance on Kannabi Bridge. A large boulder crushed half of his body. In his last breaths he gave his freshly awakened sharingan eye to Kakashi, with the help of Rin’s medical ninjutsu.
Soon Rin followed. After going through kidnapping and torture and a rushed rescue — another cave-in. She refused to let go of Obito’s hand, and got buried too. Kakashi escaped without major injuries, but his eyes — one dark slate gray, one in an always-spinning sharingan pattern — never stopped showing pain. The Memorial Stone became his new retreat.
Then Kakashi disappeared. It happened on a mission near the eastern borders of Land of Fire, a simple delivery run with two chunnin teammates. They only had a few clues to eventually put the sequence of events together — a teammate’s unconscious body hidden and guarded by a pair of ninken, a cold body of another, a message from Kakashi about a kidnapping and something terrible being done to him carried by another summon, an appearance of the Sanbi, and many, many Kiri corpses—
“Nothing to say?”
Oh she has so much she could say or growl or explain with her fists—
“It is done. Goodbye, Kushina. Come with me, Kyubi.”
No words leave her dry mouth. The worst has come to pass. The Kyubi has shaken off most of the stakes and chains binding it in place. Corrosive chakra boils, the mindscape breaks, and they are back in the real world — all three of them.
Darkness. Pain. Her stomach is torn open and her skin is scorched by chakra made of malice. She can see it spreading! The seal!
Kushina’s scream is lost in the Kyubi’s roars of victory.
All her organs have turned to lava and are leaving her body. Scalding blood runs down her inner thighs and skirt. Spit and bile spills from her lips, almost covering the taste of blood. If she rolled down into the water, maybe she would feel better — before she drowned. Where is Minato?
Moonlight is taken away by the Kyubi’s massive shadow. This is how Kushina dies, squished under the palm of her prisoner. Then, as if hearing her pleas, Minato arrives to carry her away.
She is too weak to move her arms, only by blinking does Kushina clear sweat from filling her eyes. There is so much wrong in her chest, she can barely breathe, let alone form sentences, but she has to know, how is her little boy? “Minato, is he… is Naruto…”
“He’s fine for now,” comes the answer. He is safe, that’s all that matters.
Fuck, now for the news. “Minato, the man… he wants to attack Konoha… with the Kyubi…” There is so much more she wants to say; how young he sounded, how quick he was to talk down to her, how personal all the insults felt, about the sharingan in his brow, and that maybe he wasn’t even—
Minato kisses her feverish forehead and
places her on a bed right next to Naruto, her little light. Oh she must be making such a bad first impression on him, all smelly and sticky, but at least she can see he is safe, safe, safe. Tears swell again. She cradles him gently, rubbing her nose on his adorable face.
Rustle of fabric catches her attention. Minato is dressing up for battle and leaving her behind. She could help too, ya know… If just the thought of using chakra didn’t fill her with phantom pains. But she would do it — for Naruto!
“Minato, love, good luck…”
There is no luck for them tonight.
Step back a bit. There once was a princess from the stars who ate a fruit and became much more. Her pair of sons dared to stay her rise. The tree was god and she was tree, and her sons were not two — but three.