#sun rising

Kushina Uzumaki is alone in the world.

That became overwhelmingly evident when a Konoha jōnin swept her from her home at the tender age of 9.

She remembers begging her grandmother to come with her.

“Don’t make me go alone! Grandma, I don’t want to leave you!”

Life is unfair and that was simply a fact that she got to learn early in her life.

Lucky her.

Kushina Uzumaki is alone in the world.

A classroom full of bug-eyed kids stare at her and she stares back. There’s a lot of black- and brown-haired and eyed children here. All dull pastels with their boring gray and tan jackets and fatigues. They look at her like she’s the alien, but she can’t possibly be. They’re the ones who look like they crawled out from a cave with zero sunshine and no concept of color. At least she has a reason for wearing pale yellow and brown: it compliments her hair!

Her eyes flicker to the only bright thing in the room: obnoxious, spiky, blond hair. Not even blond, just straight up yellow. This boy is actually too bright, if you ask her. His eyes are startlingly blue, his jacket is a crisp white, the only dark thing about him are the blue of his fatigues. Those electrifying blue eyes are locked on her and she feels a shiver up her spine, immediately averts her eyes to the rest of the class.

She inhales deeply.

“I’m Kushina Uzumaki y’know!”

Embarrassment seeps out of her at the way her voice sounds. She hasn’t spoken much in the last few weeks during her travel, and immediately, giggles spread over the classroom. She covers her mouth as one of those dumb, drab boys points at her and immediately insults her hair.

“I’m gonna…”

Another inhale as she clutches her fists.

“I’m going to become the first female Hokage of Konohagakure!”

Then, that boy. That alarmingly bright boy stands up and declares his intention to become Hokage, too. Looking so, so happy about it, too! Like he didn’t just steal her thunder! Like a little bolt of lightning, zapping all the energy out of her.

“Tomato!”

That dumb blond kid just stares at her, and she tries not to let tears sting her eyes.

Kushina Uzumaki is alone in the world.

A shiny new headband with a leaf symbol greets her, handed to her by their sensei who looks like he’s bored. She takes it in her hands and feels the cool touch of metal against her fingertips.

She is a kunoichi of Konoha. One that smashes the faces in of all the dumb, drab boys around her.

It should have been no surprise to her that once she graduated, the teasing only got worse. 8 others join her, only 4 of which she bothered to learn the names of. Inoichi Yamanaka, Shikaku Nara, Chouza Akimichi, and of course that weak blond and blue boy. The one she sees looking at her too often, the one who has a never-ceasing smile on his face, the one who travels this world without anything troubling him.

Her first C-Rank mission accompanies a group of chūnin. She resents that she’s not being trusted to take on a C-Rank herself but looks at the snot-nosed boys with her and figures it’s only natural they wouldn’t trust them with anything important.

“Thought you’d grow out of those chubby cheeks by now, but you just look even more like a ripe tomato.”

Kushina wants to rip her hair straight out of her skull. Instead, she whips around, reels back a fist, all while the boy guffaws and holds his arms in front of his face to prepare for impact. Her fist connects with the top of his head and he crashes into the ground.

One of the chūnin hollers at them and rushes up to pull Kushina by the armpits off of her dumb, drab boy teammate. From behind, deep, obsidian eyes crinkle with a smile. One of the first genuine smiles she’s received in ages.

“Certainly not a tomato.”

The older girl approaches her, ignoring the wailing of her boy teammate, and holds out her hand to Kushina. She eyes it with suspicion.

“I’m Mikoto.”

Carefully, she takes the hand.

“I think red-hot habanero is more appropriate, don’t you think?”

Kushina Uzumaki doesn’t feel quite as lone in the world.

They tried to keep the news from her, but she would inevitably hear the whispers.

“Did you hear? Uzushiogakure destroyed overnight.”

“I heard it was to wipe out that Uzumaki clan.”

“Isn’t that the one that little girl came here from?”

Kushina ran, and ran, and ran. She didn’t stop running, even when her feet went bloody.

It couldn’t be true. There was absolutely no conceivable way it could be true. Her home, her people, her grandmother. It couldn’t be that they were all just gone.

She had to see for herself. She paid enough attention in school to know which way Uzushio was, and she bolted. No thoughts occupied her mind except the overwhelming need to see it. See what they did to the place she held so dear. Find her grandmother and bring her to safety. She couldn’t be dead. There was no way.

“Grandma.”

She huffs and puffs as she pounds the ground with her heels, sweat dripping from her hairline, hair everywhere. If someone were looking on, they’d just see a red streak tearing through the mountain side.

Suddenly, she feels her body crashing to the ground.

“Kushina!”

Immediately, she fights back. Screams at the top of her lungs, tries to swipe at whoever is pinning her to the ground. Yells at them to let go of her, that she has to get home, that she’ll tear their eyes out if they don’t stop. In the flurry of it all, she can’t make out who her captor is, until she manages to slip out of their grip. Her eyes pop open to meet spinning red ones staring back at her, eyes she’s only seen once before on another teams sensei. Then she measures the rest and sees Mikoto staring back at her, heaving.

“You can’t leave the village.”

Kushina feels her insides get fiery, doesn’t even register the tears streaming down her face. She tells her she has to, that she has to save her family and her home. It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when. She tells Mikoto that she’s not afraid to knock her out if she has to. She expects Mikoto to laugh at her like anyone else would, a little genin threatening a chūnin, a Uchiha of all people, but she does not laugh.

Instead, she relaxes her stance and steps towards Kushina. Instinctively, she steps backwards, but stops with her next steps. Arms encircle her and pull her body in. And she realizes that her world is crashing around her, so her body gives out and heaves with trembling sobs. Her cries fill the forest air.

Kushina Uzumaki is alone in the world.

For her 12th birthday, she is gifted with the Kyūbi.

Mito Uzumaki tells her that it’s her destiny, to absorb the Konoha bijū, become it’s jinchūriki. That special, beautiful, bright chakra flows through her. That only her chakra can possibly handle the beast. That only her heart could possibly take the burden on.

For the last year, she had grown closer and closer to Mito. It was a special kind of pain to become attached to someone you knew for a fact would inevitably die quite soon. One that would die on a schedule, to ensure that damn bijū would successfully transfer to Kushina. One that she would have to watch die with her own two eyes.

When Kushina looks into Mito’s eyes, she thinks of her grandma. She learned shortly after her village was destroyed that crying about her grandma would only invite more mocking. That the tomato is broken and leaking. No matter how often she proved herself strong, not matter how many faces she smashed into the ground, no matter how brightly her chakra flashed, she was always simply that chubby cheeked tomato. Some days, she contemplates shaving her head.

But when she looks into Mito’s eyes, she feels tears sting her eyes, and lets it happen. It’s the only time she feels like she can cry in front of someone else. Mito just pats her hands, doesn’t ask why she’s crying. Just seems to understand, and Kushina is grateful for it.

One day, on a day she doesn’t cry, Mito has biscuits and tea waiting for her when she arrives. As her time grows near, she’s being treated more and more like royalty. It’s a bittersweet thing. One in which she wishes she could tell certain people to shove it, but grins and bears it instead. Just like she must.

Today, Mito tells her about Uzushiogakure. It’s the first time it’s been brought up in conversation. Of course, Kushina has wanted to ask her about it for a long time, but also has resisted doing so because she’s not quite sure she wants to tear open those wounds.

Speaks of all the great clans that lived there, including their own. Talks about her life there before being whisked to Konohagakure. Tells her how frightened she had been, too, but was doing it for her people.

Then she drops a bomb on Kushina.

“Many of our people escaped during the destruction of our home.”

Kushina hangs onto every word, thinks of her grandma. Could she have escaped…?

Mito goes on to talk about their clan, their strength, their power, their unique ability. Their crest, the meaning of rasen, all while making the long climb up the spiral staircase to the top of the Hokage tower.

As she looks out to the Hokage mountain, she envisions her face on those rocks.

Thinks maybe it’s possible. Then she wouldn’t be some outsider.

And when she does, she’ll find her grandma.

Kushina Uzumaki decides maybe she’s not so alone in the world.

As soon as she starts to feel better, something is right around the corner to knock her right back down. Peace isn’t something Kushina’s known in a very long time, so she just expects it to be ripped away from her at this point. So when she enters her home and finds her caretaker missing, it’s expected. Then, they come for her. It’s dead night, so it’s quiet and she can hear them before she sees them. It’s too little, too late, and she’s snatched up. She cries out in vain, because she’s in a desolate part of the village where few people reside, and those that do would never respond to screams in the night.

A few hours later, and her hands are tied behind her back while she’s marched through the thicket of the forest outside of the village. While she indeed holds the Kyūbi inside of her, she doubts anyone will notice she’s gone until tomorrow when she doesn’t arrive for her daily training sessions. Nobody ever visits her in the night. And by tomorrow, it will likely be too late. She’ll be very far away in Kumogakure, where she assumes they’ll attempt to take the Kyūbi, resulting in her death.

Still, she has to try something. She can’t go out without even a little fight from her.

She’s not naïve. There’s no way she can overpower three men, likely jōnin or higher, no matter how powerful she thinks she is. That would probably just result in them knocking her out, leaving her no way to try to escape. No, she has to be sneaky. Trying to get out of her restraints would likely be too noticeable.

She tugs at her hair behind her, and the light bulb goes off.

If she can leave a trail behind her, it would result in whoever comes to look for her finding her quicker. They’d probably even be able to figure out she’s in Kumo based on the path.

One hair is plucked, and she doesn’t wince, keeps a stoic face. Releases it, lets it travel the ground.

A few seconds later, another hair or two.

She continues like this for a full hour, purposefully walking slower to delay. One of them shoves at her back, so she picks up the pace, then slows again. The cycle repeats.

Exhaustion begins to take hold. No matter how tired she is, she continues the process of slowly removing her hair. Wonders if she’ll have a bald spot after this. Hopes she’ll live to find out. Still, she barely registers her surroundings.

Her eyes drift shut, and her legs keep moving on instinct.

She doesn’t even hear the chaos around her.

Only when she hears a familiar voice.

“Are you okay?”

Slowly, she stops, struggles to lift her head, and sees someone she never thought she’d be so happy to see.

The moon illuminates that blond hair and his shiny headband that she knows for a fact he polishes daily.

“I came to rescue you.”

Me…?

Her brain is fuzzy. The joy that overcomes her is the last straw. All she can manage is a smile before her body gives out for good. She falls to her knees, and before she can face plant, he’s there in a flash to catch her and keep her body up. She struggles to look at him.

“Everything’s going to be fine.”

When he slides his arms under her back and legs and hoists her up, she starts to protest, but she can’t even get her arms wrapped around him before he takes off with her held to him. Her eyes find his face, perfectly framed by a full moon, and then they fall to his hand and she sees it: her hair between his fingers.

It worked?

He tells her that her hair is beautiful, that he realized straight away it had to be hers. Her protective instinct over her own emotions kicks in, and she asks him why he ignores her if that’s the case. His response catches her off guard, telling her she’s always been able to take care of herself, that she’s strong.

“Both in body and in spirit.”

Tells her he doesn’t want to lose her. Tells her she’s not an outsider. Tells her she lives in Konoha.

“You’re one of us.”

Never once had Kushina Uzumaki wanted to kiss a boy.

Thought it’d be impossible for her to ever find love, ever since she came to this damn village.

Suddenly, she looks at that brat, the one she thought was another weak, dumb little boy, and everything has changed in her eyes.

That blond hair doesn’t look so obnoxious anymore, those eyes so piercing. He glows like he’s her sun in the midst of night. Now she thinks that maybe he is her sun.

Kushina Uzumaki isn’t alone in the world.

It’s amidst the Third Shinobi War that she’s taken on as an apprentice to one of the Legendary Sannin. Tsunade Senju ensures that no one will ever be able to kill Kushina, no matter how hard they try. By her side is Minato, but even so, he gets sent out to battle. It’s a miserable spot she’s in, constantly thinking of the love of her life possibly being killed in action every moment he’s gone.

It happened so quickly, but Kushina can’t begin to fathom her existence without Minato. Out of nowhere, that blond brat became her whole world, and he’s not much of a brat anymore. He’s getting tall – taller than her, and they’re not technically together. He’s held her in his arms and she’s given him a cheek kiss out of gratitude, but Kushina’s already decided he’s her one true person. The only person she can trust, she can be vulnerable with, she can love.

When he’s gone, it hurts.

It only strengthens her resolve. To become stronger, to become faster, to master the Kyūbi, so that when she’s needed, she’ll be there. She’ll make sure no one else dies, least of all Minato Namikaze.

Her will is no longer made up of spite. Instead, it’s fueled by love. Desire to live, desire to protect.

She has no idea just how long this damn war would actually last.

The Second Shinobi war lasted barely 3 years. Their lives would be plagued in battle for half a decade.

For two years, she’s kept from the front lines. She spends every waking hour training under Tsunade, mastering chakra control, pushing her stamina to its limits, and bringing her healing powers to new heights. Whenever Minato returns home, the first thing they do is spar, so she can show him just how far she’s come. He shows her, too, and it brings her some relief to see him grow stronger, even if it’s apart from her.

The day he revealed to her what he had been working on with Jiraiya for so long is a day that will be carved into her memory her entire life. Told her it was a jutsu created to battle bijū and jinchūriki, but also to work with her chakra. That it was all done to make sure he wouldn’t lose her.

She remembers blacking out, the monster living inside of her flashing through her mind in a blind rage, then her knees meeting the ground. Minato’s voice fights to overpower that of the Kyūbi’s, a voice that she hears every night in her dreams, for better or worse. Seeing Minato fly into the air and crash land is the last thing she remembers before hearing those words.

“That’s why I love Kushina.”

The rest happens so fast, but she remembers it all so clearly. Thinking back to her conversation with Mito. The Adamantine Sealing Chains being released to keep the Kyūbi back. One of those claws going straight through Minato’s side. Her pleading with him to run, to leave her, all for nothing, because that was never an option he’d consider. Finally, that big, bright ball of what looked like pure energy, flying straight into the Kyūbi’s chakra sphere.

Once he recovers, she spend the next three days in his hospital bed, eating the dry rice balls and cups of sugary pudding they bring them, drinking soda and juice while watching old movies on the new T.V.’s the hospital had installed. Honestly, for as terrified as she was of what possible grave injuries he had endured, she finds the time she spends with him so…nice. They’d never been able to just chill for so long together. Be in each other company and really get to know each other’s laughs, be present and also mindless.

She knows it can’t last. They both know it. Besides, she doesn’t want to become out of practice.

Still, she savors this little moment she gets with him.

“C’mon Namikaze!” she shouts at him one day, when he barely puts up a fight. Her heel lands in his chest, and they both come crashing down. She quickly wraps her arms around him so that he’ll roll with her, rather than be flung into a nearby tree, and they come to a stop with her on top of him. She huffs, annoyed, pushing her hair from her face as she glares down at him, unimpressed. Asks him what the hell he’s doing.

He apologizes, rubbing at his face with a sigh. “Just a little tired.”

She laughs, shaking her head. “The great Minato doesn’t get tired.”

His hand slides off his face and he gives her a smile. It makes her smile, too, so she presses a kiss to his nose, deciding to lay off him a little. “No, no, you’re right. An entire war shouldn’t be trying me out.”

She giggles, softly, presses her forehead to his. Then, her smile falls as she thinks about him on the battlefield. Almost makes her eyes water – almost. “I hate it when you’re gone.”

“Awh.” He reaches up to cup one of her cheeks in his dirty palm, and she doesn’t even mind. “I do, too.”

Her eyes flutter shut as she leans into his hold.

“That’s why…I decided to take the Third up on becoming a jōnin sensei.”

Kushina collapses on top of him, unaware of just how tired she really was. He holds her for a good 20 minutes before they peel away, and she’s crying. Mostly from relief. But some of it is worry.

Part of being kept back in the village while the rest go to war has made her especially soft for the children. Every few days, she witnesses a sweet little face burst into tears when they’re told mommy or daddy, brother or sister, auntie or uncle, are gone now. She’s watched them grow from little soppy toddlers to rambunctious kids to rowdy genin.

Thinking of them being the next soldiers makes her maternal instincts churn.

But…Minato will be home.

He will be with her. For at least a little while.

She wonders which of these anxious little kiddos will end up in his care.

It’s hard to think of any of them as lucky, but if they’re all destined to work for the war machine, at least some of them will be taught by Minato. A man she admires with her entire soul, one who she thinks will do right by them, someone who wouldn’t ever purposefully mess up a kid’s life.

Kushina stands in the shadows as she watches Minato greet three little babies she knows.

Rin Nohara. A spritely girl who greets Minato with enthusiasm, yet determination. She lets him know she’s not to be reckoned with, but that she’s eager awaiting their assignments.

Obito Uchiha. Kushina thinks of her pregnant friend, Mikoto. He’s even more wiley than Rin, with a wide grin and bright eyes, despite their dark shade. The grin makes her smile, even. His determination shines through his goggles.

Then there’s Kakashi Hatake. A boy Kushina’s heart is soft for, despite it all. Just a baby when his mother died, and still just a baby when his father took his own. The boy is aloof, but dangerous. Watching him hurts her insides, makes her eyes burn.

Kushina Uzumaki feels that her world is full.

Whenever she has spare time, she’s training with the three newly minted chūnin, or bringing them back to the apartment her and Minato bought with their measly earnings. When they were moving, Team 7 spent the whole day helping them. Minato made cookies and Kushina made sure the fridge was packed with sugary drinks. Kakashi even took a few cookies home, wherever home was for him.

It’s the closest to normalcy Kushina’s ever felt in her life, and she’s desperate not to let it slip away. Seeing three little faces sitting on the carpet, munching on treats and excitedly talking about their next mission, shoving each other’s faces and shooting jabs at one another. It’s something she realizes she wants in life, to be surrounded by people she loves.

She loves Minato. She loves Rin, and Obito, and Kakashi. Thinks that when she becomes Hokage, she’ll be able to show the whole village how much love she has to give.

When the day was over, and she was helping Minato clean up the kitchen, surrounded in boxes and stray utensils and blankets and tools, he spoke words that propelled her.

“You’re going to be the best Hokage Konoha’s ever seen, you know that?”

They’re the last words she expects to hear while drying a plate, so predictably, she drops it.

Minato, living up to his renown nickname, catches it before it shatters on the counter.

“What…did you say Hokage?”

He doesn’t skip a beat when he confirms, smiling up at her. Sets the plate where it goes and lets her grab him by the cheeks.

Let’s her pull him down to the kitchen floor and devour him.

“Gods, I love you.”

Kushina can’t even deny how perfect it is for him to say it to her here and now. Feels full of love and happiness, despite everything. Can’t believe that a war happens right outside of their tiny village while she confesses right back to him. It’s just so perfect, somehow, she’s not even sure why. The way he looks over her, happy and sweet and genuine, it makes her really believe.

She says “I love you” back, with just as much passion as he does to her.

They say it over, and over, and over again.

On top of each other, next to each other, in their ears, inside their mouths, in notes and through looks.

Kushina Uzumaki is madly in love with Minato Namikaze.

After a lethal mission that brings both boys back to her, missing eyes, Kushina feels her entire body lit on fire.

It’s a normal day, as Minato told her, a fairly light mission they go on. But she stands outside of her home, watching her fiancé and his team slug up to her.

Rin is in quiet tears, but she feels it, worse than ever. Kyūbi makes sure of it. Kakashi breathes heavier than normal, but isn’t disabled, just covers one eye. Finally, Obito has an arm slung over Minato’s neck.

When they come into full view, her heart drops further than it ever has in her entire life. Breath caught in her throat, tingles on the back of her skull and neck, tears already stinging the bottoms of her eyes.

She bursts through the front door, aiming for Rin, who looks the least likely to be injured by a hug.

“Why are you not all at the hospital?!”

“I need help.”

She stops for only a moment, just a sliver of a second to collect herself, before she lifts the worst looking one into her arms: Obito. Like a baby, she holds him to her chest, looks at Minato, who sighs in relief and nods, then takes off to the hospital, all the while letting healing chakra seep from her pores directly into him.

They all recover.

It’s some of the best news she’s ever heard in her entire gods-forsaken life.

Obito and Kakashi both missing an eye, but they are opposite. They learn to cover each other, whilst Rin covers the rest. Keeps them safe and sound. Kushina helps on the upcoming missions after they’re released back to ninja duty, makes sure that whatever Minato misses, she catches.

She knows Minato is strong and capable. Doesn’t make her lose her entire sense of self whenever he comes back, looking worse than before. Now, the village elders have no choice but to allow her to participate in the war. The power was always in her hands, but now she really feels it when she looks the Third right in the eye and dares him to try to make her stay. Let’s the fire of the Kyūbi in her palms burn a little brighter just to make sure the point sticks.

Kushina Uzumaki wants to make sure she’ll never be alone, ever.

Just when they think they’ve seen the worst of the worst, something hits them harder than before. Being on the front lines is terrifying, but it’s the only place she thinks she belongs right now. Tuning out the Kyūbi from poisoning her thoughts becomes easier and easier, day by day. Mito prepared her well, made sure she could remain collected no matter what sort of vile thoughts they tried to implant in her head. Still, there were times she would look on the battlefield, see the lifeless bodies, and listen.

Listen to the sounds of heartbreak, sounds of pain, sounds of despair that she could not soothe.

Those were some of the rare moments the Kyūbi would weasel their way in.

Couldn’t save them, girl.

Kushina rubs at her crusty, tired eyes as she turns her head from the gruesome scene.

By yourself, you’re weak.

With a sigh, she reaches back to tighten her ponytail before getting to her knees.

With me, you could do more.

Gently, she turns the dog tag over from the deceased in front of her. Notes the name and rank on a pad of paper.

You’ll regret the day that boy dies because you didn’t care enough.

The pen between her fingers snaps and the growl in the back of her throat sounds too much like the Kyūbi’s.

Didn’t care enough to make sure you protected him.

“SHUT UP!”

Her fingernails elongate, her jaw becomes stiff, her skin feels like it’s lit on fire.

It happens so quickly, the throaty scream that leaves her feeling so foreign. Before it can go any further, she stabs her fingernails into her stomach, clawing at the skin around the seal. Squeezes her eyes shut, willing the mocking laugh away by pressing her forehead into the wet grass below.

The Kyūbi doesn’t escape that day, and Kushina finally thinks that maybe, now, it never will.

Kushina Uzumaki wants to make sure no one is alone in the world.

Early in her pregnancy, she decides it’ll be her last chance for a while to go back to her homeland. Look upon it with her own eyes. See her old home and what remains. Minato and team 7 join her, keep her spirits up and make sure she’s well protected. No one besides Minato knows of her pregnancy, and she  prefers to keep it that way until she absolutely cannot keep it a secret any longer.

Once Uzushiogakure came into view, Kushina steeled her gaze, made sure no one could see her break.

It wasn’t anything she wasn’t expecting. She had heard stories and seen drawings depicting what remained of the land. The broken pillars and overgrown foliage didn’t bother her so much. It had been over ten years since the news reached her ears, it was enough time for her to adjust to the reality that her village was gone. All that remained was the hope that some of her people made it out alive.

Even seeing her childhood home flattened didn’t hurt as bad as she thought it would. She stands in the middle of it and closes her eyes, thinks of her grandmother. Hugs her own middle and bows her head.

The part that hurt the most was going to the cemetery.

Her feet carry her to where she knows her parents are buried, and her heart sinks at an additional tombstone. She stops before she can get close enough to read it, but already knows what she’s going to see. Swallows down the sob that threatens to escape her and just kneels in front of it, blinking bleary eyes.

Yukina Uzumaki

“I did it, grandma…”

She feels Minato’s eyes on her back as she slides a hand over her stomach, rubbing circles into the seal there.

With a longing sigh, she begins her tale to a ghost. She wonders if he thinks she looks crazy, talking to a stone, recounting her life’s adventures. Arriving in Konoha, her bond with Mito, little boys yanking her hair and teasing her face. Receiving the Kyūbi, being kidnapped by Kumo, a bright eyed blond boy saving her. That bright-eyed blond boy being her entire world for now.

“Until…until this one gets here.”

Finally, she smiles, with watery eyes and a stuffy nose, looking down at her lap.

“After that, they’ll both be my whole world.”

Kushina Uzumaki refuses to let her child be alone in the world.

When a masked man plucks her child and the love of her life chases after him, she feels the Kyūbi push against her insides. Her own screams deafen herself and everyone around her as she clutches at her stomach.

How?

After everything she’s gone through, this couldn’t be how it ended. Her newborn baby kidnapped, her husband fighting for his life, and the Kyūbi escaping her, to leave her lifeless. Leave her child alone in the world, just like she was. For just a few seconds, she got to look at the chubby, crying face of her son. Lightning blond hair and big, blue eyes, just like the man she loved. All that flashes through her mind is that blond little boy without his parents who so desperately loved him, alone.

With every breath, she feels them getting further and further away from her. The man returns, without Minato or Naruto, and she feels like her insides are lava. The seal strains, twists and burns her skin as she cries. The chakra chains she’s spent the last decade of her life training with strap in, and she sees the masked man return. She tries to yell at him, tries to ask him what he’s done, tries to do something, but she can’t let the Kyūbi escape. He walks to her, and she glares at him, feels the Kyūbi’s power flow through her arms and legs, her fingertips and toes. Then she sees it behind the mask – the sharingan.

“No - !”

Before he can come any closer, she summons every last shred of chakra from inside of her and holds one hand over the seal and faces her other palm towards the man.

It all happens so fast, chakra flares, the building they’re in cracks under the force, everything around her is hot and dry. Adrenaline courses through her veins, the only thing she can feel is the pressure from inside. The only thing that runs through her mind is that chubby faced baby and how desperately she wants to make sure she gets to see him again. She yells for him, and for Minato before she buckles to her knees, both hands working to maintain her seal.

It feels like hours that she’s done this, but at most, it had to have only been a minute. Just as the man steps to her, reaches out to restrain her, a flash of powerful blue chakra appears next to him. It takes everything she has not to give up, to keep doing her part while Minato takes care of the man.

Blood pours from her mouth as she coughs, doubling over onto herself before she finally blacks out.

When it is that she wakes up, she’s not sure, but the first thing she does is tumble out of bed, frantically searching for Naruto.

“He’s safe, Ms. Kushina!”

“They both are.”

Her vision is blurry as she tries to look for the source of the voices.

“Rin’s with Naruto.”

Two smaller shoulders lift her up on either side, and she breathes a sigh of relief. She blinks her bleary eyes, tries to focus them, then her heart sinks at an unfortunately familiar sight. Minato in a hospital bed, again.

She whispers his name, limps to his bed, carefully pulls her body into it. Hears Obito’s voice say that he’ll go get Rin and the med nin.

When they bring him in, her eyes immediately burn with tears, the happiest tears she’s ever had the fortune of shedding. As they nestle a sleeping baby between them, she feels Minato stir next to her, a little grumble and cough. His eyes peel open and they find hers immediately and she gives him a weak smile. He blinks, slowly, looks from her to Naruto, and she sees tears pool in his eyes, too.

Kakashi crouches on his haunches against the wall while Obito and Rin carefully sit on the end of the bed, looking at them with concern.

That all of them are safe and relatively healthy in the confines of the hospital, Kushina can’t justify anything other than unabashed relief.

With one arm under Naruto and the other over Minato’s chest, she gently nestles into them.

Kushina Uzumaki is not alone in the world.

The day it’s announced that the Third is stepping down, everyone looks to Kushina.

“My official recommendation…is Minato Namikaze.”

Hushed whispers fall over the room and she feels Minato freeze next to her. Kushina holds her gaze forward, lips thinned to a harsh line.

Immediately, debate breaks out within the space. After a moment, Minato clears his throat and voices his rejection of the nomination.

“He doesn’t want it?”

“Bullshit, he’s always talked about it.”

“Can he even reject the nomination anyway?”

Kushina grits her teeth, shifting her eyes slightly. It’s not like this wasn’t what she had always expected, anyway. It was always going to be Minato. She knew it back then, she knows it now. There was no way they’d ever let a woman hold the position, let alone the jinchūriki of the village. Even if she never asked to be, she was.

“If I’m appointed Hokage, I’ll immediately step down and nominate Kushina Uzumaki.”

Silence coats the room for a moment, and Kushina just sighs. She’s tired of people looking down on her after everything she’s gone through. Maybe it would just be easier…

“I’m in favor of Kushina Uzumaki as well, Lord Third.”

They both stop to look at the stony face of Fugaku Uchiha, who doesn’t look back at them.

Then another voices their agreement, Hiashi Hyūga. Then another, and another.

“She fought on the front lines in the war, saved my son.”

“Also protected the village from the Kyūbi.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen such powerful chakra.”

Soon, what starts as murmured agreement turns into full blown encouragement. Her hands fall to her sides as she scans the room, feeling a rush of excitement hit her heart. His hand slides into hers and squeezes.

Kushina Uzumaki will never be alone in the world.

For the first time, she truly believes it.

It’s a quiet Tuesday when she climbs the spiraling steps of the Hokage tower, like she did so many years ago with Mito. Takes her time, plants her foot firmly on each one, like showing her intention as she ascends. Recalls all of the conversations, big and small, she had on these steps. With Mito. With Mikoto. With Minato. Dreams of becoming Hokage, protecting the ones she loves, and loving them and being loved.

A slow push of double doors reveals a clear day to greet her. The village is sleepy with peace. Foliage blooms, little birds and critters chirp, and the sun is warm on her face. The same spot she had looked at for so many years now adorns her face. It looks ridiculous, but she thinks that’s part of the deal. Can’t look too nice on the side of a mountain, she supposes. The face looks serious and stern like the others, but it’s her face.

On top of it, like a cute little bow, sits her son and his friends. The only noise in the village is his loud laughter. It’s the only noise in the world she’ll never get tired of. A sight she never gets tired of is her husband appearing behind him and scaring the daylight out of him.

Carefully, she runs her fingertips over the cord of her Hokage robes, twisting it between them.

Kushina Uzumaki has the love and support of an entire village.