Edited&Posted: 9/30/15

Some things to keep in mind if you plan to read on:

1) This story is planned to be drastically AU, it won't be so much at first but I'm building up to that. Another thing I'm building up is character development, please be aware of the fact that child!Kushina isn't the same as teenager!Kushina.

2) This is merely posted for like-minded individuals, if there are things you don't like, move on because I can't please everyone!

3) Its fine to leave criticism! But please phrase it kindly when you find them. Because you inevitably will.

4) This story is the rewritten version, you can find the unedited first version on my profile as there will be some major changes that will occur. I decided to do this after bringing myself into a rut, so I needed to do something more to jumpstart it.

5) I don't really consider this an SI, being as Kushina is largely opposite me but with her knowing a future, this does have the conventions of one.

Fire Flower

1

One thing I don't think adults will ever understand is that kids are curious beings.

I happened to be a kid. I also happened to be a risk-taker, the sole child out of my group that ran headfirst into things with only the semblance of a plan and my curiosity to guide me. If I were a cat, I'd probably have died six times by now.

This would be my seventh death.

"Kushina, I don't think that's a good idea," Ichigo whispered behind me as I sidled up against the sliding door. Ignoring him and his unnecessary logic, I licked my finger and wedged a hole into the freshly replaced rice paper. I fought hard to keep the smug grin off of my face to appease Ichigo's mother hen-like attitude but failed by the time I giddily looked into the room.

"He's in there," I whispered back, awed by having confirmed the rumor that had been floating about. Watching the Hokage speak with my grandfather with smiles and laughter, there was an odd feeling that settled in.

Nervously, I pawed at a loose string on my plum colored kimono.

"Can you hear anything?" Kenma asked, voice obnoxiously loud as he bumped abruptly into my shoulder. I winced before scowling up at him, annoyed.

"Can you be any louder?" I rhetorically shot back in a hissing tone. Shaking my head in exasperation, I turned back to the hole and focused on what I could hear in the room. Eventually, I tuned out the sounds of Kenma and Ichigo breathing in my ear and finally caught onto an aspect of the dialogue exchanged.

"...find a replacement," the Hokage was saying and I blinked when a knot formed in my gut. Nothing of it pertains to me, really, yet it feels as if whatever he's talking about is quite serious. It was unsettling to see right after the tone of before. The smiles and laughs were gone—replaced with understanding nods and mourning looks.

"It's only inevitable that Mito-san will die soon."

I reeled back, knocking into Kenma and biting back a yelp when I heard the news. I shook my head fervently, surprised stiff that they could say such blasphemy in regards to what could considered to be true royalty of Uzushio. I felt my jaw set as I ignored my cousin's pestering questions, coming to rest my ear against the hole and expecting to hear more.

Instead, I fell inward, chin knocking against the wooden floor with a bang. I wheezed out a cry of pain before sitting up, rubbing at the sharp sting and fighting back the sudden mist that crowded at my eyelids.

"What are you three doing here?" It was our grandfather shouting this, looking at us in utter bewilderment as he stood at the door I had just ruined by jabbing a hole in it. It was new too, which would be regrettable if it didn't have to be replaced weekly.

Kenma pointed at me accusingly, the aforementioned boy crying out, "She talked us into it!"

"Hey, traitor!" I snapped back, wheeling on the redhead, "Snitches get stitches!"

"Kushina-chan," my grandfather started out with chidingly, frowning in a way that I knew meant business, "how much did you hear?"

I gulped, staring up at him with wide eyes and before I could think better on it I stuttered out, "N-Nothing, Grandfather."

"Oh? Who is this?" The Hokage asked, standing curiously behind my thin-faced predecessor. I instinctively cringed back in abject horror when it came crashing down on me, the fact that I had been caught.

Wailing out a quick apology, I shot up from my position on the floor and began to run away like any other fine ninja would do in a time of dire straits. There was no flashy smoke bomb to aid me, however.

I didn't make it far and this isn't because the head of my clan and the leader of an entire hidden village would stoop so low as to run after a silly panicked six year old. No. It's because, when I'm running away blindly, I tend to bump into things.

Terrible things.

First, it's a freaking table—which cues a bunch of garbled and subdued noises of pure agony—then it's the vase of flowers that fall down and crash over my tiny, slight feet. I slide back with unsubtle surprise, howling out more incomprehensible babble when I noted the way the shards of glass dug into my feet. Hissing and wincing all the while, I hopped around the hallway, whilst madly waving my hands around like the graceful dancer my mother wanted me to be. Haha, not.

I didn't even notice that someone was even there to look at me—that is, until, like the cherry on top, I fell into the arms of the stranger.

I looked up, breathless and flushing intensely, and can't help but think about the strange sort of eyes I was staring into right at that moment. Like two translucently shining moons, or two pristinely lavender colored plates, his eyes were cold and emotionless—the only clue to any of his inward thinking being the way his thin brows crinkled up in annoyance. A part of me had a hint of dislike towards these strange eyes—they made a tiny bit of my heart tremor with emotions I did not like to surface—but then I could also feel the power emanate from them, from him.

A kekkei genkai? All the way over here in Uzushio?

We were open to strangers coming in and doing the usual stranger-like things, but I didn't think my clan was particularly keen on those with genetic advances that could threaten the secrets we held in our hands. Especially not during such tense times with outsiders.

For a few weeks now, hadn't I been told that the gates were closed for the time being?

I felt my body tighten with a firm realization—he must be traveling with the Kage, possibly being one of those clan heads in Konoha and such.

The heat went out of my face instantly as I paled; how scary.

It's a stiff moment of silence right then, me just hanging mutely in his arms while not really detecting the mood flitting about in the air aside from my knee-jerk reactions to any and all assumptions I could gather from the exchange. He looked older than me by at least fifteen years, definitely in his twenties like my parents, and with short brown hair paired with those strange lilac tinted eyes that held no pupils. He wore the official hitai-ate from Konoha and the flak jacket of what I could slowly recognize as the issued jounin garment. I blinked and then dumbly, just barely began to register the true depth of the situation in my head.

"Hi," I mindlessly felt myself say, inwardly wincing when it came out breathy and irritatingly high pitched.

He looked thoughtful—still annoyed—but like something was being mulled over at length in his head before he finally replied, "I'm looking for the Hokage, do you know where I can find him?"

I weakly pointed out at the direction I had come from, and just then registering the pain of my injury of moments before as the burn of it slowly crept back in, the initial numbness fading just as my shock did. I hissed inwardly when he shifted me away from his body and I was acutely aware of the way the stuck, still stuck, sunk in deeper—much to my immense disapprobation.

He looked down at my feet, shortly sighed, and then, like the stories my mother told me at bedtime, he lifted me up and walked us down the hall to the very scene I had just hysterically left.

"What the hell happened to you in the span of a single minute for you to come back like this?" Kenma asked, assuredly done with any and all of my crap as he threw up his hands in the air the moment his eyes laid on the dripping blood that seeped out from my wounds.

"I tripped," I deadpanned in a thin lie.

Ichigo snorted, "You're a terrible liar."

I made a face, before defensively stating, "S'not a bad thing."

"It isn't," the Hokage agreed, smiling at me before meeting my savior's gaze, "Hakuba-kun, we have found the replacement container."

I shivered, surprised by how cold those words sounded to my ears—a stark contrast from the warm smile on his face. I held my suspicions that beneath it was an expression that wasn't so nice to see. But I was probably reading into it—I had no idea what the words pertained to anyhow, so I wisely kept my trap shut.

"Are we taking them back with us?" Hakuba asked just as I shook off my bad feelings. They settled once more into the pit of my stomach.

The Hokage met my eyes, and I blinked in quiet bewilderment. He looked back to the shinobi and smiled again, that hollow smile, "It depends entirely on what their parent's decide and what the child wants to do."

I got the feeling I was missing something here, but I was a bit too preoccupied with the growing and persisting issue that was the pain in my feet. I wiggled them in the air to bring the attention back to my injuries, sorely hoping that I wouldn't have to speak up and garner even a worse reputation of being a troublemaker than I already had.

In my defense, most people in this village could probably stand to gain a similar humor to my own—but that would probably make our home boring, so I supposed I was fine with it.

"You need first aid," Ichigo said and I thanked the very heavens for getting to have a cousin like just like him—being the nicer of the twin boys anyhow. Of course, the rule following stick in the mud could probably benefit from a laxer outlook on life, but he was usually the one to read the vibes from me and act accordingly. Besides, he laughed at my jokes.

"Aisa, come here," my grandfather called out and seemingly out of nowhere, a soft faced girl appeared, wearing her Uzumaki trademarked red hair in a high ponytail, creating a stark contrast to her green eyes as a side fringe framed her face. She held just the type of beauty that had made our women so very popular, looking serene while at the same time containing that glint, that spark, of something unique and more. "My granddaughter requires medical attention," the clan head continued, eyeing me in what I could easily discern as disappointment.

"Yes, sir," she responded, kindly smiling at me comfortingly before taking my injured feet into her hands. "Just mere lacerations, it looks like. No vein has been ruptured by the looks of it so I should be able to get these healed up within a few minutes."

I winced, looking up at her with wide eyes, "Will it hurt?"

She gently laughed, shaking her head, "It won't hurt a bit."

I eyed the wound doubtfully but decided that I was already in enough pain to stand a little bit more if it turned out she was lying to me.

The only painful part, as it turns out, is the actual cleaning of the injuries as she collected the bloodied glass shards and disinfected the lacerations with something that burned like the way I could imagine a branding being like as it got poured onto my cuts. Then, like a breath of fresh hair, her hands began to glow and my feet were encased in a happily pain-free bliss that came shortly thereafter. In fact, it actually felt pretty good, almost like an ocean breeze on the shores close to my house.

"Much better," I commented blithely, cheekily smiling up at her.

"I'm glad," she murmured, pulling her magic hands away.

Right then, Hakuba just about dumps me on the floor, as I hastily landed on my feet, wincing when it felt grossly weird to be walking on the tender skin. I glared up at him, taking it personally. Some hero he was.

Huffing out a sigh, I addressed the group of boys dispassionately, sniffing softly before saying, "I'm going home. See you at school tomorrow, twins." With that, I smirked, knowing just how irritating it could be for them when they were grouped together like that. Not that I would understand a feeling like that.

Shrugging off Kenma's icy stare, I did just as I had said I would and headed on home to fill myself with my mother's fine home cooked meal.

Discovery

"Just focus," Jurata, the class teacher, said to me as sweat perspired on my brow. I panted but did as told, centering my thoughts solely on my chakra, willing the chains to take solid form. Jurata had been trying to get me to control where they sprouted ever since I'd been successful at forming them a couple of times. The only problem was that they would appear anywhere from the palm of my chubby hands to the small of my back. It was frustrating to say the least after I had been working on this task for around two weeks. Still no improvement.

Maybe I should change my outlook? Let's see... The chains formed when I focused my emotions, but even then the only thing that came out were mere strings, soft looking, as they didn't look very formidable. I had been told that this would change in time as my chakra system grew larger and sturdier. Still, what actually allowed me to even get that far as a six year old? Biting my lip, I forced my chakra to obey, centering my emotions in one place; my heart. Astonishingly enough, little wispy orange chakra chains sprouted out, moving in the air with a dancer's grace. Smiling I looked up to Jurata, "I did it! Yatta, 'ttebane!"

"It was a fluke!" Kenma called out accusingly and I sent a scathing glare his way. The boy was just jealous that he's been in this class a whole two years and still could only get as far as I could.

"Retract and try again," Jurata ordered calmly, waving a hand in Kenma's direction to calm him down. Determined to prove the eight year old's words otherwise, I sent my emotions, my chakra, scattering, promptly allowing my chains to disperse. Then, I gathered it all again, bringing it back with a small struggle before I came to succeed once again.

"In your face, brat!" I gloated with glee, smirking darkly in Kenma's direction. Jurata just merely sighed at the usual banter I regularly shared with the dolt, all the while my teacher patted me on the head with an exhausted smile.

"Good job, Kushina-chan."

I beamed at the praise and turned to Ichigo with a pleased smirk, "Did ya see? I got it down before you could, 'ttebane."

The redhead just rolled his pretty blue eyes before getting back to focusing on his leaf. It was a common practice that we used the leaf as a medium, to learn how to center and control our chakra. I myself had only had to use it briefly to discover how truly easy chakra was to move around. What was hard, however, was getting it to take solid form. In Ichigo's case, he didn't actually need to use the leaf by this point—he was the top of the class for a reason—but preferred having something to physically touch during his process of working on his techniques.

"Whatever," Kenma was obnoxiously saying when I finally tuned back into reality, "you're only a stupid six year old so it doesn't matter. Your chains are so small and weak that the only thing they can trap is a butterfly!"

My mind centered only on one part of his little rant and I turned animatedly to Jurata, who frowned at the scowling eight year old boy, "Ne, sensei! Can we go catch butterflies!?"

My teacher looked back to me, seeming to weigh the odds of my giving up—I had a pretty good track record of being stubborn—and promptly shrugged indifferently, "Possibly, if everyone agrees to." Then he paused, a spark coming to grow within those usually tired, grey eyes, "But how about we catch cicadas instead? It's the season for them, after all," Jurata gave a slight chuckle, somewhat looking even older than before, ancient even, in comparison to anyone I had ever met. I decidedly liked my teacher—he was like a kind old grandpa that sometimes brought treats and goodies to school to share with us.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, 'ttebane!" I excitedly shouted, taking the idea and running with it, already flitting around the room just as I went to each of the kids in the tiny classroom. Giving them my best puppy dog stare, I quietly begged for them to agree. Most complied, having already exhausted themselves from the training of today. Of course, a few wanted to opt out for fear of losing the practice, but they quickly gave in when I promised them homemade mochi the next day. Food really was the way into any Uzumaki's heart.

Really, in the end, the only one who stood as an obstacle—unsurprisingly—was the idiot Kenma.

"Ew, no," he kept on repeating when I diligently brought it up again, minutes having passed since he'd first given me the idea, "Cicadas are gross."

With a pout I shifted my deflated gaze to Ichigo, who narrowed his eyes. "Ichigooooooooo..." I called to him, closing the distance between us to clasps my hands together and stare up into his eyes.

"No." His voice was firm, but his feet shifted back in a way that told me clearly that I was unnerving him.

"Coooooome oooooon, Ichi-kun, do it." I pouted, looking up sadly, yet having my brows raised in quiet hope. He had always been the weakest to my powers as a manipulator, even as obvious as the tricks were.

"Ugh, you owe me, Kushina-chan," Ichigo muttered before puffing out his chest and straightening his back, "Kenma! We're going to catch cicadas with the class or I'll tell dad you've been bullying a six year old girl."

Horrified, Kenma looked to his twin brother, "You'd betray me for her?"

Ichigo's gaze softened before he nodded, face reflecting an emotion of regret and bravery, "I am but a fallen soldier made a pawn in her takeover of the world."

Just for effect, I gave a quick but hearty cackle, bringing my hands to my hips and lifting my lips into a dark smirk. Kenma's widened before he cried out, hopping forward to hug Ichigo tightly.

"I will never forget you, brother! I shall defeat this evil woman if it's the last thing I do!"

"Why beat us?" I asked smartly, "If you could join us?"

"That's right, brother, join me in our takeover of the world!" Ichigo powerfully suggested as lifted his arms in emphasis.

"O-okay! I'll do it for you! I'll catch cicadas for you!"

"Excellent! Minions!" I shouted in the classroom and ten faces, including Jurata, stared expectantly, "Today we fight our first battle for world domination against the fierce monsters known as the cicadas! May their annoying buzzing cease today!"

"Yeah!" Cheers erupted as Jurata helplessly smiled down at our antics. Pumped up, the eleven of us left the classroom and headed to the surrounding forests.

It might very well have just been them amusing a six year old child but in all actuality, I was pretty sure that the truth lied in the bonds of an Uzumaki. It was in unity that we thrived together, and we all seemed to sense one another's true intentions and feelings. It was probably why such a rowdy, loud crowd could cohabitate so naturally. It was especially strong in the shinobi faction of our village—together, we lived and died. After all, we knew each other's techniques in and out, as well as the shared weaknesses and strengths.

As a class, we quickly began enjoying ourselves in the greenery that surrounded us—most notably Kenma was grinning every single time I cared to glance over at him.

Time seemed to pass us over like a blanket over a sleeping child. Before I knew it, an entire hour had passes with us leaping from tree to tree as silently as possible and reaching our hands out to grasp the buzzing bugs into our hands. In fact, I'm sure we'd caught around sixty cicadas before Ichigo called everyone in to announce an individual match.

One with the most cicadas won their pick of the snacks that Jurata announced earlier that he would hand out.

Being the greedy, needy kids that we were, the game instantly picked up speed in its competitiveness.

"You're so on," I declared to him, grinning superiorly at him with my hands placed purposely on my hips. He smirked, seemingly pleased at having riled me up but I merely concentrated my emotions and thoughts, near my chest. As it turns out, I could easily control that whole emotion thing that granted me access to my chains. Albeit, it was pretty hard in and of itself to mentally move youy emotions to a specific body part but conjuring the chakra was simple.

Focusing on the heart helped a lot too.

I grinned at him when three, brightly orange chains sprouted their way out of my chest. They snaked out to reach a tree branch, and like that, I felt the slap of the wind against my face as I was sent into the air.

"Be prepared to lose then," Ichigo called out, blue eyes light with humor before chains were born at his hands.

"Yeah!" Kenma chimed in with, "He's no longer stuck under your stupid spell."

"That only makes the competition that much more entertaining," I replied with before speeding off into the forest, leaping from branch to branch with my laughter floating behind. With free hands, I used my sharp eyesight to reach out and pluck the cicadas into my hands before quickly placing them into the bug container.

Kenma followed closely after me, eyes narrowed while the twin boy kept a strict eye on me. It would be kind of cute if he wasn't so annoying, I think. Sometimes I liked Kenma—he could be funny, and even terribly sweet but he had some sort of weird vendetta against me that kept us distant.

I would never understand it.

"You can't control my brother anymore!" He shouted, tiny wisps of purple chains fluttering about him in what could even look like the wings of a butterfly. I breathed out a tiny gasp at how pretty they looked. After all, I had always liked how the colors of chains reflected the user's personality—they never looked identical to anybody else and its usage was highly individualized. My father's chains were a pretty, dark red, expressing a romantic mind and passionate emotions. My mother had yellow ones, the color that expressed a calm, loving, kind person. I had orange—something I had endlessly delighted when I discovered the fact. It was as if it was a balance between the two colors and it never failed to make me feel closer to my parents.

The love was so completely true.

"I wouldn't want to control that stupid butthead," I replied with childishly, regaining my composure before sticking my tongue out.

"Hey!" Ichigo's voice called from a little bit away, "The betrayal stings!"

I snickered.

If there was only one thing I liked about Ichigo, it was his willingness to go along with childish antics. He was also a great actor, so that was a plus, and he could go along with any of my improved acts.

"It didn't have to be this way!" I called back to him, my voice high pitched and thin over the distance between us, "It could have been different!"

"What did we do wrong?" Ichigo cried, quickly catching up to me.

"What is even happening!? What are you guys going on about?" Kenma's eyes were wide as he cried this out, almost desperately. I shrugged in his direction before hopping forward on my toes and leaping toward the next nearest tree. After having climbed up the tree to reach higher ground, I scanned my surroundings for cicadas, my ears tuned for their buzzing.

Kenma could stand to be less of an idiot, I decided.

"I'm going to beat you if it's the last thing I do!" Kenma suddenly announced, climbing up a different tree as he met my gaze. Those beautiful purple chains were poised to attack.

I openly laughed as I victoriously latched onto cicada, placing the big guy into the wooden containers that Jurata-sensei had passed out. This is just temporary, I thought to the bug, imagining how scary it would be to be stuck in there, especially with strangers.

With that pause, I continued to evade Kenma, all the while collecting every cicada I came into contact with.

Distantly I could hear Kenma's grunts and inwardly chuckled. He was hopeless at this.

All in all, it had been fun despite the outcome that met us. Ichigo had won with his whopping thirty-four cicadas. But that could have been because I had to stop after I reached fifteen. I just couldn't fathom leaving the cute little cicada to be squished in such a tiny box.

Kenma got fourteen, just barely losing to me. I couldn't help but think he could have done a lot better if he'd only just do his own thing instead of chasing after me. However, he earned his twin's praise and that seemed to ease his disappointment.

"See, he likes me more than you," Kenma had been saying as we packed up to head home, goodies in hand after having dispersed all the cicadas into the forest to reunite with their homes.

I shrugged, nibbling on the gooey green tea mochi, as I headed to the door of our class. "You guys are brothers, idiot. Of course he'd like you more," I told him, voice matter of fact as I waited at the front expectantly.

"That's right," Ichigo agreed, smiling warmly at his brother as he brought an arm over Kenma's shoulder, "You're my precious brother. But Kushina is our cousin, so we need to appreciate her too."

"But she's annoying," Kenma whined, frowning.

I bit roughly into my next mochi, attempting to hide the sudden aggression that weld up in my chest. My shoulders felt significantly heavier and I gave into the slump before fiercely glaring at the flowers we passed by.

"Kushina," Ichigo started, and I was unsure of whether he was calling to be specifically as he continued, "is many things but I wouldn't use that word to describe her, brother."

The younger boy immediately frowned, "What would? She's so weird..."

I sighed as soon as I realized I was out of things to angrily eat, and it was getting remarkably harder not to say anything back. My pace quickened without me realizing it, and right then I decided not to care. Because really, Kenma had never liked me in the first place and I was getting tired of trying.

I skipped on ahead, coming off of a sloping hill that led right into the heart of the village. It was easy to get lost here, I've done it many times actually. But it was noticeably less packed in these days.

Usually you could see people from outside visiting, and we usually had some of the other clans on the outlying islands around us come. It was generally weird to see the streets so empty, in comparison. Nowadays we were far more secluded than anything else.

I bit my lip, hand going to my stomach as I felt the unease there most of all. Although it could have been from eating too fast, if I was being honest.

Nevertheless, I hurriedly set off to crash into my usual get away.

"Mika-san!"I cried out, racing into her shop, grin taking form on my face.

Probably my favorite person in the whole world, by this point—aside from my mom and dad—Mika was the one that always made herself available to me, no matter the time of day or how busy she was with customers. Be as it was, she was also someone who could see through me easily as if I were just some sort of mirror, always knowing whenever I probably needed more sweets to eat than the boys. It didn't hurt that Mika's treats were the epitome of delicious—almost like she had magic hands.

Mika lived close to all three of us, on the northern part of the shopping district. Her shop was probably one of the older ones in the place, having been passed down for generations, especially since the start of the village but it was never a dull moment there. Even today, it was a popular place to visit and was always pretty busy.

I've known her my entire life, thanks to her being my mom's best friend and it had gotten to the point that I liked to think of her as a big, much older, sister.

"Oh, hi there, Ku-chan," Arisa started, meeting my gaze after handing a paper back filled with goodies to a blushing man.

I halted, eyes sweeping the shop before I scuttled up to the wooden counter, eyes big while I met the gaze of Arisa, Mika's daughter. The pretty redhead smiled, her gold eyes crinkling just a tiny bit as she gave me a bright smile. As it was, Arisa was sixteen and the talk of the town. Being a descendent of the main family, Arisa had both the heritage and beauty that was rare to find in Uzushio. While the vast majority of Uzumaki women were known for their seductive prowess, it took special features to set one above the others. With her oval face, perfectly pink lips, and those alluring eyes of hers, Arisa was constantly battling off suitors—she wanted to travel.

I didn't understand it myself, but I liked when Arisa was happy, her smile was especially breathtaking. Kind of like a flower in a way.

I'd been told by my grandpa that Arisa took after Mito somehow but I knew for a fact that they weren't related very closely. Mito was from a side branch, after all, and not from the main.

"Hello, Arisa-san," I murmured politely before I reached a hand up to pat her open palm. It was an odd habit I randomly picked up while meeting new people. If I liked someone I had to touch their hand, like showing affection.

"Looking for Mom?" Arisa asked as she patted my head, her smile growing in size.

"I—."

"We're here to!" Kenma shouted out, hopping forward ecstatically into shop as his eyes instantly shot to look at Arisa with adoring eyes. The kid liked anything that fed him, I swear.

I glared at Kenma, before bringing my gaze back to Arisa, "Where is Mika-san?"

Arisa pointed to the back doors, an unknown land to mostly everyone else but close relatives and friends—the kitchen.

Secret recipes lay behind that door.

"Can I go get her?" I asked innocently, even if I felt my ulterior motives showing. Her golden eyes lit up in response, probably able to read me like a book—they often did.

"No way!" Kenma whined, "You're not allowed back there anymore than we are."

Arisa gave a laugh, "Actually, Ma-kun, Ku-chan is allowed. She asked Mom yesterday about becoming an apprentice and I think Mom is pretty sold on the idea already."

My jaw went slack as I stared up dumbly. Then, in a barely audible tone, I quietly endeavored to know, "Really?"

"Well, why don't you go ask her yourself?" Arisa replied with and I found myself ducking underneath the wooden counter to get into the back.

"Mika-san?" I called out upon entering the back room, nearly knocking into a stack of boxes as I deftly dodged their presence.

"Over here!" Mika responded and I saw her then, just a little bit away, with her dark, blood red hair tied up into a tight ponytail.

It has always astounded me how long her hair could get—very unlike my mother's shortly, chin length locks. They looked rather similar, in all honesty, as they shared soft features, and tiny delicate noses. Mika's eyes were a bit more hazel, but even they sometimes could look like a deeply vibrant violet if the lighting let it happen.

I only hoped to get even a fraction of their beauty—but honestly I could sort of see how much I was taking after my dad. With a bigger, stubbier nose, and my large rounded cheeks, I looked more like a boy.

Mika grinned as she turned to see me, holding up flour covered hands. I didn't care much about the mess as I went in to wrap my arms around her legs and let her warmth take away all of the aches and pains of the day. I couldn't wait until I was older and could actually hug her full on. Her hands went to touch my hair and with a graceful laugh she apologized, "I may have gotten a mess in your hair."

I grinned up at her happily, "I don't mind."

"Oh, you don't, do you?" She poked my nose and I could already feel the flour coating it.

"Yup," I replied with as I let out a childish laugh while scrunching up my nose expertly.

"Was today a good day?" Mika asked and I nodded, ecstatically bouncing as I unwrapped my arms to give emphasis on my story.

"We caught a whole bunch of cicadas—and then set them free because it's bad to harm living things. That's what I think at least. Ichi-kun and Ma-kun didn't seem to think so but I think harm should only be done when necessary, right? Do you agree with me?" I stared up at her curiously and with a laugh, Mika lifted me up, balancing my small frame on her hip as she flicked me on the nose one last time.

I giggled, before sobering up and looking to her earnestly, "Arisa said that you're going to accept me as your apprentice, is that true?"

Mika smiled, "Yup, as soon as you're old enough."

My joy soared up so high into the air as she said that first word, but then it plummeted promptly at what her later phrase implied.

"But when is that?" I asked, frowning, "I turn seven soon!"

Mika thought about it for a quick second but remained silent as pulled the conversation back to my questions of earlier as we headed back out to the others.

"I do agree with you, Kushina-chan. Boys are just mean that way, aren't they? They're all brute and no thought."

With an internal sigh, I let myself be taken into the flow of dialogue.

"Yup!"

I wasn't the type to believe in gender rules but in this case, it was mostly true. Ichigo and Kenma were usually more about fighting than thinking things out. Ichigo was less of an offender but Kenma never seemed to have any moral dilemmas. But then, that might have been from the conditioning they put us through, even at young ages.

"Hello Mika-san," Ichigo and Kenma chorused the moment they saw her.

"Good afternoon, boys. What type of treat do you want for today?"

Kenma's eyes narrowed at me and I growled. He was such a little thorn in my side and most days I kind of wished he would just realize there was no battle to fight with me. Although, it might have been my fault that he thought that way.

See, my friendship with Ichigo started unlike many others. As he is my cousin, his mother being my aunt, Kenma and he came by my house often when my mother was the only one available to look after them. As I was just a baby, they never spent much time with me personally. That is, until my mother bragged about me being smart enough to already read, when I was like, two. This caught their attention, specifically Ichigo's as he was fascinated with children. Out of the two of them, he played with me the most. And I guess, Kenma, being a tiny, still maturing toddler, did not take to the idea of sharing his brother well.

Oh well.

"Just cookies," Kenma said bitterly, frown evident on his face, lips upturned as he looked at anywhere but me. I told myself that I didn't care that he didn't like me because I didn't care about him but in all honesty, I kind of wanted to be friends—he was my cousin after all and I actually liked the Kenma that interacted with Ichigo; he was cute.

Thus it was kind of a pain for him to act so vehemently negative to me.

Still, I couldn't bring myself to react with positivity. I could be just as mean as he was.

Before my inner frown could show, I grinned, pointing to the floor to be let down. Mika easily complied and as soon as my feet were touching, I shouted, "One of everything, please!"

Mika eyed me doubtfully, "I'll just get you the same as usual then."

"Please do," Ichigo told her, eyes on me as he said it, "I'm not a fan of a hyper Kushina."

"Yeah," Kenma agreed, "She's even more annoying than usual."

I shrugged. It was kind of true.

"I'll get you the same then, Ichi-chan." Mika was the only one who could call him that and get away with it. Even I hadn't tried. Because Ichigo was kind of known to be peculiar about the way each person treated him.

He smiled and nodded, cheeks turning red in response to Mika's presence.

There was still a lot I didn't know about what went on when I had yet to be born but there had been an incident with ninja from a hidden village far away from here. Apparently Ichigo had been kidnapped, supposedly because he was the clan head's grandson—I wasn't too clear on details—and in the end Mika had been the one to save him. Ever since then, Ichigo expressed complete adoration for the older woman, even when she dropped out of Uzushio's ranks as an active kunoichi.

It was the sort of thing that always reminded me how amazing the people around me was.

Mika ruffled my hair before reaching out a hand to wipe at Ichigo's cheek

With that, our orders were made and given and not much longer after that, the three of us were kicked out and ordered to go home. On the way there, we were pretty quiet, keeping our filled bags close to our chest. Double snacks in the day were nice, but I wanted to save my treasures for after dinner—Mom didn't usually make dessert after all.

The sun was still brightly shining, the waves of heat beat down undeterred as not a cloud graced the sky. However, the wind had taken a pause in its usual torment with our tiny village, leaving us with only the songs of birds and the chatter of villagers around us.

The mood turned bland, solemn, and I looked around, startled by the change.

"I think we're going to have to leave here soon," Ichigo suddenly came out with and all three of us paused.

My heart sank.

"Why do you say that?" I asked, halting in the pathway that was clear of others.

"I overheard dad talking with our grandfather," he murmured, eyes turning dark, "Apparently the attacks have been getting too frequent these days. We've been having to borrow a lot of Konoha's forces, but their looking for something in return."

"What is it?" I asked, frowning, "They're our allies, 'ttebane! They should be helping anyway, considering we share so much of our fuinjutsu with them."

"I don't know," Ichigo rubbed the bridge of his nose, "It's a person they want, I think, but Grandfather is hesitant about it and so Konoha isn't helping as much as they should be. But apparently the enemy is getting closer to the village and Dad mentioned the clan moving to Konohagakure until everything was clear."

"What, 'ttedate!?" Kenma burst out with and I felt similarly. Anybody who grew up on the island, save for a few exceptions, loved it unconditionally. It was our home, our treasure. This sunlighted island, with its overabundance of wildlife and greenery, was ours. It was a feeling of ownership that ran deep within all Uzumaki.

I fought against the onset of tears that misted near my eyelids, shaking my head in denial at the fact.

"I feel the same, Ken," Ichigo murmured, "But if it keeps us safe, maybe we can come back in a couple—."

"But we're strong, right? We can take them, can't we?" Kenma said, tone insistent.

"I don't know," Ichigo murmured, eyes dark and hopeless.

I didn't say another word as we began to solemnly walk on.

Discovery

"Yah! Dattebane!" I roared fiercely, hopping up excitedly as I pumped my fists into the air. "I did it! It worked!"

"Careful!" Mom called out just as I almost stepped on the seal I'd painstakingly made just mere moments ago. "You wired it with chakra, sweetie. You might just accidently seal yourself in whatever void you've just created." Then, she sucked in a breath, placing a fist to her mouth as she flinched.

I halted in my excitement, curiosity being piqued by her sudden reveal, "Void? What's that?"

She looked troubled, trying for a smile while she pawed at her bangs. Then, as I continued to stare, Mom gave in with a sigh, "You're supposed to learn this with your class—that was the deal with your father—but I know you won't let this go...so how about we keep it a secret just between us?"

I cocked my head to the side in confusion before nodding empathetically, "I won't tell Daddy."

"Well, I'm sure you've been wondering how seals work fully in the first place, aren't you? You know by now that you need chakra to charge it with enough energy to be activated, and you know the importance of clean seal work, right?" I nodded, and she grinned, brushing her bangs behind her ear before leaning in to whisper in my ear, "Voids are our creations."

I leaned back, eyes wide, "Explain."

"Well, when we make our seals, each stroke has a meaning and a message to convey—like directions to the store almost! Without the ink, the item we seal will not know where to go, so we direct it within the bounds we have been given."

"Bounds?"

"Each person in the world, Kushina, has things in their body that we like to call Vacuums, it's a place that is devoid of matter or anything. They are vast, and are constantly growing—a lot of the time chakra even escapes there, if the person is spiritually imbalanced. After all, it takes a partnership of both physical and spiritual chakra to even locate and target Vacuums, and this is something we Uzumaki have grown to do unconsciously. In fact, we've mastered the art of reaching into these places and giving ourselves access to them. Like special passcodes, we use our seals to target where to send the matter, and can easily transfer things from them. Like, for instance, when we go on our picnics!"

"What about them?" I asked, fascinated, thoughts racing with all of this new information.

"Well, your father doesn't like to pack heavy—for mobility purposes—so instead we carry things in scrolls. Now, this is where the voids come into play." Mom smiled, ruffling my red hair before continuing, "Although we living beings have Vacuums to store things in, nonliving things do not. With our chakra, we create and open the voids so that they may be used. It is what sets a normal piece of paper from a scroll used for sealing."

"Wait, so then we could seal things into practically anything," I mumbled, "but then...why is it that we don't practice sealing things into ourselves?"

Mom winced noticeably, before her eyes turned dark, "We...do. But I don't want you even dabbling in that, okay? It is a disgrace to our Vacuums to use them in such a manner."

She spoke so matter of fact, so sure in her resolute beliefs. I had no choice but to nod in obedience.

Still, I secretly wondered how a seal would look on someone's skin.

Discovery

It was the second time I saw the Hokage that my head started to feel both fuzzy and well...hurt.

I had been innocently walking the halls of the temple I'd been sent to for the sake of running errands, doing just as my mother had told me to do. She always mentioned how important it was to pay homage to the Sage, and often sent me to lay a basket of fresh fruit at the feet of wooden statue that I assumed was supposed to be the look-alike of the Sage.

Mom was usually too busy to do it herself, being usually swamped with seal requests after being named one of the thirteen elite sealmasters. I don't know how she ranked in that bracket, but I always knew my mother was infinitely better than even Jurata—although she never bragged.

However, she often made it to the once a month rituals that the temple held, bringing me along with her on the trips.

By now, I knew most of where everything was and locating the statue on my own was of no issue anymore after having made this trip so many times.

Humming a smart tune, I hopped through the wooden halls before turning to the left to enter the wide, expansive room that contained the wooden Sage effigy.

I nearly reeled back when I saw the Hokage, having expected him to be gone by this point in time to return to Konoha. After all, didn't he have to be there to organize stuff? That's the sort of excuse my grandfather always made when we invited him to things, so I always had assumed that the jobs were sort of similar.

Lost in my questioning thoughts, I didn't notice it when he turned to find me standing at the entrance. He smiled at me, waving me forward just as I returned back to a clear reality.

Hesitantly, I stumbled closer to the man of power and blinked up at him when he laid a hand on the top of my head. I resisted the urge to jump in surprise at the sudden contact. Something felt off at that moment, and a vague image flashed behind my eyes.

Some blonde boy joking with the Hokage.

Weird.

"Hello there, Kushina-kun."

I flushed at the fact that he knew my name as I brushed off the oddness of just moments before. In response, I whispered out a soft, timid, "Hi, Hokage-sama."

"What brings you here?" he asked and I lifted my basket higher for him to see the contents. "Ah."

"It's an offering," I explained, as I were speaking to an outsider, "we give him these gifts, as a thank you for all that he did in his life."

The Hokage smiled, patting my head once more before asking, "And what is it exactly that he did?"

I squinted up at him, unsure if he was just testing me or not, but sighed and give in, "He was the one that defeated the Juubi before splitting them up into nine entities. He saved the world from destruction, and did some other stuff too." I scratched at my nose self-consciously, somehow unsure of all the information I was telling him. "Right?"

Dattebayo! My name is—.

He lifted his brows, and beneath that big hat of his, he looked far kinder than what my first impression of him had been, "Correct. It's thanks to him that today we even have the Jinchuuriki that keeps the power between all the shinobi nations balanced. I myself have reason enough to thank him, I suppose."

I eyed his empty hands dubiously, "Okay. Um, well, uh," I palmed an apple, swallowing nervously before I held it up to him, "you've come unprepared so I'll give this to you so that you can thank him, okay? Uh, I gotta go now though, Hokage-sama! I have to deliver letters to Grandfather."

He took the fruit, seeming to dumbly stare at it, and slid his eyes to look at me with an expression of confusion.

Dattebayo! My name is—.

I pawed at my bangs self-consciously before setting the basket at the Sage's feet, "Like that, you just set it down, bow, and leave."

For show, I even did the full ninety degree bow before waving goodbye to him as I hurriedly skipped out of the room.

I just didn't like how I could hear weird words around him, I guess.

Either way, my head just wouldn't stop pounding.

Discovery

That night it was oddly hard to settle down in bed, even with the comforting lull of my mother's singing voice and a cup of steaming unsugared black tea. I pinpointed the the cause almost instantly when she asked about my health and shoved all my accusations onto the building pressure in my head. It had actually been manageable before the nighttime struck, having been just a hint of pressure at my eyes.

But here I was, clutching at my skull tightly as if to keep it from exploding. I breathed through my nose as calmly as I possibly could. By this point, as a matter of fact, the aching pain had already stretched its way to encompass my entire brain and translated roughly into "I am not pleased with this at all".

"Did you eat something bad?" Mom asked, bringing her hand to my forehead and brushing back my side fringe in a way that made me attempt to be calm. I was failing miserably in the face of burgeoning confusion and agony.

I shook my head in response to her question, "Unless you consider a piece of mochi from Mika-san's shop, your handmaid bento, and tonight's dinner bad, then no."

She tutted, frowning visibly before attempting to soothe me with a teasing smile, "Maybe you need to lay off of Mika-chan's sweets."

A tiny gasp of horror resounded in the air. Joking or not, it's always a serious topic when it's involving my sweetly fluffed after school snacks.

Mom just chuckled in response to my reaction at her horrid jest before leaning in to kiss my forehead while murmuring softly, "I'll call in to inform them that you're sick in the morning if this sort of thing persists. Can you sleep on your own tonight, sweet lily?"

My heart instantly warmed at her use of the petname, something similar to the one her own father used for her except with a different flower. Unlike her, however, there isn't any story behind how lilies got connoted with myself. I just find them pretty.

I nodded in answer to her question, "Yeah, it doesn't really hurt like a headache, it just feels...uh, like congestion in my head. It's hard to think with all these thoughts in my head."

Dattebayo! My name is Na—.

She nodded, looking sympathetic and worried, before kissing me once more before standing up to leave, "I'll be back to check on you soon, okay, sweet lily?"

I waved her off as I attempted to relax into the soft futon I could usually fall asleep instantly on.

I closed my eyes desperately, but quickly opened them when weird images floated to the surface.

Naruto. Na—Naruto?

Uneasily, I called out, "Mom?"

Oh—Oh.

What was that?

I was shaking, gasping for air as the mere sight of it—red, red, red—and felt a chill flow down my spine at the sound of a baby crying—death, death, death—in the arms of a woman with fading violet eyes.

"Kushina?" Mom questioned, coming back into the room with worry clear in her voice.

Snap.

My name—my name—is…

Something in me breaks within and it felt wrong, misplaced, to be regarded by that title. It's as if I related myself to someone else instead of the six years I had spent as Kushina Uzumaki. But that feels wrong, a mistake.

What's happening?

I sucked in a breath of air, and it hit my throat with a slight sting. I blinked, finding that there was dots in my vision and I couldn't seem to get a good breath in. Nonetheless, I continued to try to fill my lungs, fighting desperately to ignore the new images that crossed my eyes.

Obito. Kakashi. Rin.

Mi—Minato.

My head pounds rhythmically with my heart, and I don't feel reality anymore. I attempt to feel my futon, but instead there's just…nothing.

All I have is the pounding.

Do-ki, do-ki, do-ki...it goes on.

I released a sort of anguishing cry, aching for air and to understand just why in the world my head feels like it's going to explode.

"Kushina!" Mom shouted out in surprise but I'm even more shocked to find that I can't quite seem to think of her in the same way anymore.

"Wrong, wrong, wrong," I began to chant, sobbing hysterically by that point in time, watching as the intensity of the images in my eyes grew and a story is told. I shake my head, refusing to believe what I could see and what I'm now beginning to know. "No, no, no, no!"

It's then that Dad is bursting into the room, face expressing raw panic and haste as he comes forward to scoop me up into his arms. "Kushina?" He's asked, attempting to reign me out of my warring state of mind.

"I don't want to know, take it back," I heard myself say, drowning in the tears, my voice run hoarse in sound. Still, it just felt so, so, so bad. I wanted to reject the images completely, I wanted to disregard what they meant and what was beginning to flood my consciousness.

It was too sudden, too alarmingly real when it all started to make sense.

"We need to take her to the hospital," My father murmured against my ear, looking at my mother but it all—.

Discovery – End