Title: Whirlpool of Love

Beta reader: xxShadowheartxx

Author: TheRoadrunner

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Chapter XII – A seal for any case

"Thought"

"Jutsu"

"Taji, don't you dare die on me! Do you hear me!" Kushina was frantic to engage the now wounded ANBU in a conversation. They had just barely escaped their pursuers.

"Urgh!" Taji cried, "I think these shuriken were covered with poison. I'm starting to lose control over my body," Taji replied in a strained voice and slid to the ground with her back against the wall.

"How can I help you? There must be something I can do. And those Uchiha, they'll surely find us here, if we stay any longer," the redhead asked and examined the wounds. "Ugg, nasty! Medical classes weren't exactly my favorite."

Taji, however, shook her head and gazed at the worried redhead, "Don't think about me. You've got to escape from here. I will be sure to take some of them with me when they arrive."

"Never! I will never abandon a comrade! And I'll never run away from a fight!" Kushina snarled, Taji's last words stinging her pride.

"You have to! Hokage-sama ordered us to protect you. We cannot fail him. Please, leave me here and run, Kushina."

Yet the wounded ANBU's pleads felt on deaf ears. Kushina helped Taji onto her feet, and she was forced to put her arm around the redhead's shoulder.

"Don't think that you can win an argument against me. Not even the Hokage could do that," Kushina flashed the woman alongside her a smile.

"It seems I will have to support you as best I can, despite my injuries. I know that building." Taji said, pointing to a nearby building, "there's only one entrance at the moment, because they are renovating a section of the ground floor. Though, this building is connected with the neighboring one. We can cross it and escape from there … as long as we don't run in the Uchihas before that." Taji explained her plan quickly, and Kushina agreed with her assessment of the situation.

"Then, I'll leave it up to you to show me the way. And, regarding our pursuers, I'll leave some 'souvenirs' for them," the redhead grinned devilishly, and draw a handful of sealing tags from her waist pouch with her free hand.

"We're pretty lucky, there's only one entrance because of the renovations. I can't wait to kill that bitch when I see her," the Uchiha said excitedly, his Sharingan swirling in anticipation.

"Calm down, Rei, the ANBU shouldn't be able to move without help, the nerve poison that was coating our shuriken should have made sure of that. And don't forget, the situation demands that we capture Namikaze Kushina alive and take her to the high council."

Rei, however, ignored the claming words of his clansman. He shook his head and announced, "It is our liberty to capture her dead or alive. She had her chance to come with us, alive. Now, I'll have my fun with her."

Six of the eight Uchiha entered the building and moved to the position where their objective has miraculously moved through the wall. The remaining two shinobi waited at the entrance, just in case that the fleeing duo tried to escape from their own grave.

Uchiha Keichi was 15 years old, and a freshly promoted Chūnin by the Hokage himself only a couple of days before he went to his inspection trip. Keichi was surprised to learn about his clan's suppression and eager to take revenge for the injustices done to his ancestors.

He overtook the leading shinobi when they turned around the last corner to their destination. Keichi wanted to rush in there and look for any signs of their prey, when he felt a hand grab his shoulder.

"Don't rush, greenhorn! First of all, you have to activate your Sharingan and scan for traps. Youngsters these days," the experienced Uchiha behind him groaned.

Keichi felt his face flush with embarrassment, and closed his eyes for a brief moment to activate his famous bloodline limit.

"No visual signs of chakra. That means no exploding tags or other stuff like that. Alright!"

He walked towards the spot where the two women had entered the building through the wall and noticed nothing unusual. "The wall seems perfectly fine. How did she do it?" Keichi asked his clansmen, who either shrugged because they were as obvious as he was, or 'hnned' to show their superiority over the young one.

Seeing that he wouldn't receive an answer in the near future, Keichi walked forwards again. Suddenly, he felt a light tingling sensation in his body. Then he felt warm, really warm. The last thing he heard was the frantic shouts of his colleagues.

"Ahem, Kushina."

"What is it?"

"Won't the Uchihas see your seal? Their Sharingan is unmatched in terms of visual chakra detection."

Kushina, however, looked at the concerned ANBU with blinking eyes and bellowed out in laughter, "Don't worry. Fūinjutsu may be an old and nearly extinct art, but those who know it, can do some really nasty things with it."

"If you sa-" Taji's didn't have the chance to finish her sentence, because an ear-shattering explosion shook the whole building.

"What was that?" the ANBU asked, horror-stricken, turning her head to look around.

"Fūinjutsu, applied in warfare, was one of the main reasons why my birthplace perished in the zenith of the second shinobi world war. The ability to ignore the laws of nature makes even the weakest seal a deadly weapon. I hope I have crushed some of their eagerness to pursue us. I can only hope for the poor soul who has stepped into my trap," Kushina explained grimly, knowing only to well what would happen with the seal's victims. "Sealing Technique: Lightning Sphere, may be the most unforgiving technique I possess."

"What the hell just happened?" Rei asked, while he levitated through the corridor.

"I don't know, try to reach the one of the walls and use chakra to stick on them."

"Where's Keichi?"

"Keichi is no longer with us. That applies to Mako, too," The leading Uchiha responded, and observed what was left of the young shinobi and the one standing behind him.

As soon as Keichi had stepped into the trap's proximity, the sophisticated sealing technique was activated by its victim's chakra source. Then a large circle of bright blue, decorated with various runes, had expanded rapidly, trapping not only the poor youngster but also one of his comrades in its area of effect. Soon, the circle bloated from his two-dimensional form to a three-dimensional one. The last sequence was the emergence of nearly blinding chain lightnings, which jumped between the sphere's victims. All that took place in less of a hundredths of a second. A normal shinobi wouldn't have the chance to watch each step of the deadly trap before it ignited its terrible effects, though the Uchiha were far from normal. Thanks to their sophisticated bloodline limit, they were able to see their demise. Yet it hadn't saved their lives.

Keichi's and his trapped clansman's bodies were paralyzed due to the high amount of electricity running through their nerves. The intensity of current was deadly and brought their viscera to a boil in split seconds. Their bodies deformed under the pressure of the vaporized part of their lifeblood. Both their skin tore apart like that of an overheated sausage and exploded in a fume of red. Though they died in a most terrible way, they were lucky that it happened fast. Kushina's deadly seal had also disrupted the gravity in the near vicinity, which was the reason why the lucky Uchihas were levitating in the first place.

"Ugh, the corridor is red."

"Let us continue on, and make sure to put a safety distance between each of you. The next time we encounter a trap like this, we won't lose two people in one strike."

The four remaining Uchiha continued their purse, walking on the walls or ceiling until they had left the strange, weightless area.

"Well, we're lost," Kushina admitted, setting the half-paralyzed ANBU at the ground to take a small breather.

"I told you to take the left turn!"

"The left one had a bad vibe. Trust me, it's a woman's intuition," the redhead assured.

"What? I'm a woman, too you know!" Taji protested, outraged.

AAHHHHHHHHHHH

"What the hell was that?"

"They're right on our heels, we should get a move on," Kushina said and braced her companion's body again.

"That freaking bitch!" Rei snarled. "Now I'm going to kill her for sure!" "Though a little torture before that wouldn't hurt, right?"

"Kyousuke … he vanished … the ground just swallowed him," the Uchiha next to Rei sobbed.

"I wonder where he fell to… because this building has no basement …," the last Uchiha of the group stated, grimly.

They looked at each other and came to the agreement, that Uchiha Kyousuke, had perished the way a true shinobi should. Well, it was a lie and they knew it, but none of them wanted to admit the painful truth. The truth that a wounded, half-paralyzed ANBU and a Hokage's trophy wife – her last official mission being nearly twenty years ago, there was no way they could take her seriously – had beaten them so horribly.

Scene change to Naruto & Yugao

"Do you think it was wise to send Eagle away?" Yugao asked, concerned about their situation.

Naruto had talked a few minutes with the commanding officer, exchanging every bit of information that could even possibly prove to be useful later. Seeing that the traitorous forces of the Uchiha clan had lost around fifty percent of their battle power after their disastrous defeat by his hands, the blonde had also decided to make investigating Danzo's activity in the coup a higher priority. The eagle-masked ANBU had left them as he was ordered, by Naruto, to deliver the latest revelations to the ANBU and Jōnin commander's in person.

"It's utmost crucial that our commanders knew what is going on. Danzo will strike from the back, that I can guarantee," Naruto answered thoughtfully.

Five minutes of roof-jumping later, they arrived at an old factory site.

"I cannot detect any chakra sources, though I'm not really a sensor-type," Naruto commented.

"We can request reinforcements," Yugao noted, feeling nervous as she gazed at the run-down building in front of her.

Her male companion, however, shook his head. "That would take too long. We can assume that Danzo already knows about his failed intervention at the Hokage tower. We've got to engage him, now!"

"I don't want to question you, but I have to ask, what are you planning to do when we are facing him. We could easily encounter four dozen Root ANBU, and that's probably a low estimate," the purple-haired female said.

"Well, the root guys don't do anything without orders. If we manage to silence Danzo, we should be fine."

"Should?" Yugao asked, not really assured by his last statement.

"I give us a good forty to sixty chance to actually find him. Then I need only one opening and that front should be closed."

"Should," Yugao deadpanned.

"Cover my back and we'll be fine," Naruto turned around and looked directly in her eyes.

"Where the heck does all that confidence come from?"

"I already told you. I've got a person to take care of … and I won't let you die ether. I can only ask you to trust me."

"Alright, Naruto," she nodded and followed him into the dark factory. "Hokage-sama, had you planned this, or?"

Scene change back to Kushina & Taji

Meanwhile Kushina and Taji sneaked – if one can call it 'sneaking' when you have a limping person hanging on your side – through the many corridors of the building. Their eyes widened in anticipation when they saw the faint glint of natural light, daylight. Overjoyed by the prospect of escape, they moved a bit faster, until they saw the silhouettes of two people standing in the last hall, guarding the entrance, or exit in their case. Both women hugged the corridor's wall, terrified by their situation: A group of Uchihas on their trails and two more in front of them.

"We are surrounded," Kushina whispered, looking for another exit desperately.

"Abandon me. You will be faster without me clinging on your side," Taji reasoned and smiled weakly.

As anticipated, the redhead shook her head and responded, "I won't abandon you. We shall share the same fate."

"You know, it's actually a heroic move to stop one's enemies at the cost of one's life. Many great people in history saved their comrade's lives in that way." The wounded medic grinned.

"Hmm, so you want to be a hero of history? Save that for later," Kushina answered in a playful way.

Both women needed a small breather after their escape at hair's breadth in the alley about half an hour ago.

Kushina closed her eyes and took a deep breath before she gazed at her female companion with a serious expression. "We have two choices. Escape through the wall right to us and give away our position to the guys in front of us … or."

"Or?"

"Or we use the moment of surprise and attack them right ahead. Either way they will know of our position, though with Plan B they won't be able to follow us anymore."

"And our pursuers?"

"For that, we've got to decide fast, because there is no trap behind us to slow them anymore."

Taji nodded grimly, while her mind argued the pro's and con's for each choice. "I hope you have an especially nice sealing technique of yours left," she pulled a syringe out of one of her many pockets, "I will inject myself with a universal antidote, but I don't think it will last longer than one or two minutes before my body will become paralyzed again."

"I don't want to die here," Kushina replied and wrapped a sealing tag around her kunai. "This is my last sealing tag for offensive use. I didn't know I would have to fight a war, otherwise I would have brought more with me."

"In any case, this may be the only chance we have," Taji replied and placed the syringe at her arm's vein. "We have two minutes from now on. Maybe more, maybe less."

Kushina nodded and hurled her metallic weapon at the clueless duo. The left Uchiha, however, noticed the darting weapon and threw himself to the side, sweeping his clansman with him. The kunai hit the concrete wall with an audible 'thud'. Both Uchiha looked at the kunai above of them and were surprised by the lack of fizzling noises that would indicate a exploding tag. On one hand, they were happy about the faulty weapon, on the other hand though, they were also quite angry about the vicious attack on the other hand, both shinobi activated their prized Dōjutsu and sprinted towards their attackers.

Kushina and Taji braced themselves against the corridor's wall as the redhead clapped her hands together, and thus, activated the unknown sealing technique. Taji was scared as she felt a stream of air moving to the seal's center. At first it was a small breeze, but developed into a storm split seconds later.

"What's going on?" Taji asked half-astonished, half-terrified.

"The technique is called Gravity Point. It sucks everything in its vicinity in, before it concentrates the caught material in an indefinitely small point. Once caught, a normal body flicker should be enough to escape death. Though, it can prove difficult with all the stuff flying around," Kushina answered while she saw pieces of furniture flying to her technique's center.

"Ah, and how large is the vicinity?" The medic inquired, slightly terrified about the technique's destructive potential.

Kushina blinked her eyes at the unexpected question and replied, "Eh? We should be safe."

"Should?" The medic's eye widened in fear after hearing her red-haired companion's not-so-reassuring answer.

"Fifty-fifty … no … more like forty to sixty. That should be a safe guess," Kushina mumbled and rubbed the head of her back sheepishly.

"Should … ," Taji deadpanned … and hoped for the best.

The charging Uchihas were surprised by the change in the gravity. One second, they were sprinting towards their attackers, and the next one, they found themselves falling backwards – parallel to the ground! Trapped in the technique's outer center, the forces of attraction nullified themselves in the utmost curious ways. Levitating through the hall, both Uchiha gave each other a surprised WTF-look that anyone would understand if he or she ever found themselves in the same position. Uchiha Takatu was about to reach for his friend, when said friend had a bad run-in with a especially big exemplar of flying furniture.

Takatu looked frantically for something to hold on. He even tried to 'swim' through the weightless area. Fear had clouded his mind, otherwise he would have reflected on his shinobi training and performed a simple body flicker technique. Though, he would never have the chance to come to that conclusion, as the gravity increased suddenly thousandfold and compressed: the two floating Uchiha, chunks of concrete and one room of furniture, into a sphere by the size of a peanut. One second later, when the seal tag's stored power was completely exhausted, the sphere exploded and flooded the hall with the pulverized contents of the things it had caught.

Kushina and Taji used the opening and sprinted through the big hole the technique had created. They were about to jump onto the nearest roof, when two shuriken hit Kushina's right leg, causing her to lose her balance. Taji turned on the spot and watched with horror as her pursuers walked through the buliding's open front. Moving to the redhead's side, the Medical ANBU had planned to carry her to safety, though it was unrealistic plan to begin with, when you are being followed by three, highly trained shinobi. Yet, Taji didn't even the chance to give it a shot, when her body slumped to the ground.

"The antidote's duration is up. I've failed you, sorry," The female ANBU admitted, grief-stricken.

"It's not your fault, Taji." Kushina responded and heaved herself from the ground.

"Only three left? You're a horrible excuse for a shinobi when you lose so many people just to capture a wounded kunoichi and a civilian," the redhead mocked her followers with the intent to produce and opening. As long as there was a little bit of hope, she would never give up.

"How dare you! You've killed Keichi, Mako, Kyousuke and the others. I'll never forgive you!" Rei roared and charged at the taunting redhead.

Blinded by his rage by the death of his comrades, not even the Sharingan could avoid the unavoidable. His stabbing motion was evaded by Kushina, who only glared at the kunai in his hand. She would have liked to kick him where it would hurt the most. But she felt the poison circulating in her right leg and decided it would be deadly to lose her balance. Well, a heavy punch would work nice too, and a split second later, Kushina's fist was buried in Rei's face, sending him flying a couple feet.

The redhead grimaced at her poor display. When she was an active shinobi, she could have knocked out a normal guy with a nice punch of hers. She shook her head in memories of the good old days, before she glared at the Uchiha in front of her, who groaned in pain and clutched his bleeding and broken nose. Rei cursed her and arose to his feet while the two left Uchiha flanked Kushina.

"Namikaze Kushina, you are hereby in our custody. Don't resist, or we are forced to resort to violence," the leading Uchiha announced.

"What? I'll kill her for sure! That damn bitch even broke my nose," Rei snapped at his leader, who was being far to peaceful for his liking. He even doubted the reason behind their cause.

Kushina smiled at the argument directly in front of her. Two of them were occupied in a heated conversation while the last one looked totally terrified when she gazed at him. "Hmm, maybe that will gain me a new reputation."

She smiled at the afraid-looking Uchiha, who abruptly stepped back, and muttered something along the line 'red-haired devil' and 'creepy smile' which caused a bulging vein to appear on her forehead. Kushina redirected her gaze at the discussing duo again and concentrated her chakra to perform her most unique technique.

Chains of chakra shot through her clothing and darted at the shocked trio. In split seconds they were entangled by them and pushed to the ground when the chains' lose ends buried themselves in the street, and thus, very effectively restricting any movement of her pursuers.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?" The Uchiha trio shouted in unison, surprised by their objective's unusual arsenal of shinobi techniques for the umpteenth time on that day.

"Kushina, that's amazing!" Taji admired the glowing, gold-colored chains that appeared from her companion's abdomen.

"Now we have only wait for help and -" Kushina said. Her eyes widened when she felt the familiar, yet hated feeling of her chakra disappearing. The chakra chains flickered a few times before they vanished into thin air and thereby releasing the captured Uchihas.

"Fuck! Why now?" The redhead gritted her teeth while she cursed her special condition.

"I don't know what happened, but you're done for," Rei stated, while the tomoes in his Sharingan ran wildly.

A/N: I'll give you a short explanation of Kushina's sealing techniques. To perform the really devastating ones, she had to use special seal tags, which must be prepared beforehand. That means, she isn't able to spam them. Though she is able to perform the minor ones, like the Permeable Wall, directly on the spot. If she wants to use them as a trap, a sealing tag is needed again. You will receive a better explanation from Kushina personally in the near future.

My beta told me when I asked for her opinion about the chapter, that there's some disturbing death in it. The amount of gore is high. Though I've no problems to ease them somewhat. In my opinion it's a lot better than to read something like "He was hit by a kunai and died".

Well, tell me your opinions. Reviews, please :)

Roadrunner