A/N: The community (of writers) in this fanbase are fucking toxic.

Bunch of snarky, self-important cunts, let me tell ya.

Granted, while this story serves as a base to get the fanservice off my chest, it can be more than that!

A grade above shit, if you will.

Still, fuck those guys. Most are okay. Fuck those few.

In a barren valley near the borders of Fire and Grass, the Red Death herself dodged a flurry of kunai and shuriken, whipping through the air as the metal tools zipped past her flesh, unhindered.

She kept her sight on the group of five, now two bandits, who had dared to attack her on simple solo recovery mission.

An A-ranker. A warm up for her, if you will.

She recognised the bands of the rogue kunoichi in front of her: they were an Uzumaki Counter Squad.

See, way back when the Uzumaki still lived and prospered, they were powerful. A kunoichi of Uzu's ranks was infallible when it came to Sealing techniques. And despite their simple appearance, these techniques were capable of doing great, and terrifying things.

The land of Whirlpools remained peaceful. They honed their abilities in an isolated manner, carefully probing the lands with scouts, and slowly reaching out and teaching their craft to those they deemed loyal, and worthy.

And many hated this.

The old alliance of Grass, Rain, Stone, and River had formed over the fear of the Uzumaki. With their blood-driven and blood-given ingenuity and gifts, the Uzumaki clan had made many jealous, as well.

Whereas the Namikaze were wiped out in one fell swoop, killing many along with themselves, the Uzumaki were worn down over years.

Kushina grew up in the fighting, and many unknown redheaded survivors we born during those times.

Of the groups to assault Whirlpool, none raised more concern to the Uzumaki than the Counter Squads. Squads specifically plucked and chosen from the Alliance's ninja, designed to counter the effects of an Uzumaki's sealing techniques.

Where a redhead would make weapons appear from nothing, these squads would strip past their defence and destroy their scrolls, or prematurely release explosive tags.

One by one, the Uzumaki fell, leaving only remnants like Kushina, to carry the clan's history forward.

Luckily, she'd adapted her techniques. She'd learnt from the Nine Tail's previous Jinchuuriki the history of her clan, and of how her clan fell.

No explosives, no sealed weapons.

Her chains weren't quite effective either, as this squad had some dispelling techniques for them up their sleeves, as well.

"You guys are making this harder than it has to be." Kushina boasted, calmly, still dodging what projectiles the remaining kunoichi slung her way.

"Shut it, Uzumaki! When we bring your scalp back to our le-" The rogue ninja was silenced as an ornate kunai became lodged in her throat.

Like a red blur, Kushina charged forward to the remaining Counter kunoichi, and grabbed her by the throat. A dangerous glint was in the Konoha kunoichi's eyes.

"It's unusual for a squad like this to be so close to home… Tell me – where are they?" She asked.

The bandit in her hands writhed and struggled against Kushina's deathly grip.

"I-I have no-CACK!-idea… who yer talkin' about!" The woman cursed out, through her slowly caving windpipe. Kushina threw the woman down, and gave her a sharp kick in the ribs.

"Don't lie to me, honey. I can make you hurt much worse than this, you know." The redhead challenged, withdrawing another kunai from a pouch on her person.

"I-I-I ain't lyin', I swear!" The bandit continued, biding her time at least until that other redhead bitch died of her wounds.

The tiniest of sadistic smiles adorned her face. All she had to do was keep this bitch talking, and another squad could move in to secure her kill!

'Doesn't matter if I die… As long as we rid this world of more of these Uzu scum…'

Kushina held a passive, unmoving expression.

Then she saw the rogue kunoichi grin.

Quickly, she drove her kunai in to the kunoichi's thigh, before slowly twisting it around, and around. Despite the weakened ninja's screams of protest, Kushina continued, until it looked her victim was about to break.

"PLEASE! STOP!"

"Where are they?" She asked, calmly.

"OVER WEST, UNDER THAT-CRAG!" The woman screamed, pointing a finger over to the west. Kushina's eyes followed it, and marked her target. Wordlessly, she ended the last of the Counter Squad's life, and marked the site of their death.

They fought well, despite the cheap tricks.

She shook her head, and pressed forward, first jogging, then sprinting, burning energy for the sake of helping another. Her lungs quietly asked for a moment of reprieve, quickly being shot down by the Uzumaki's heart. She'd been fighting for hours, and still went on, determined to find her relative.

Kushina stopped when she stood in front of the massive cliff, and saw a small cave, etched into the side of it.

"Hello?" She called out, moving closer and closer to the overshadowed entrance.

"He… Here…" A tiny voice whimpered.

It was a girls, a young one, at that. The Red Death scrambled into the cave's mouth, and brought out a small light.

"Here…" There was hope, in the voice. A reasonable part of the redhead woman screamed "this is clearly a trap", but another part of her quelled that complaint, too. Kushina shone her flashlight in the direction of the voice, and almost wept.

Lying in front of her was a nearly-dead Uzumaki girl, a year or two older than her own son. Her lips were cracked and dried out, and her skin was sickly pale. Atop her head was shoulder length, beautiful red hair, marred with her own blood. On her stomach was a bandage, that had failed to mend a slowly bleeding wound.

In a swift motion, Kushina was at the girl's side, cradling her in her arms, offering her a drink from her canteen.

"M-m…" She was swiftly silenced by the cool water, greedily gulping it down. As soon as she'd received her mouthful of water, she coughed, and breathed, harshly.

"Th-thank-"

"Shh! Don't speak, sweetie. Just… Just breath, okay? Breath for me… Keep it steady… Good! Now, bite down." Kushina guided the young girl, presenting her wrist so that her fellow Uzumaki might've consumed her chakra.

The girl in her arms did, and siphoned Kushina's chakra, slowly. She faltered, minutes in, and Kushina's heart sank.

"No-no-no! COME ON!" She presented her wrist to the girl again, and she could see the tears forming in her eyes.

"M-m… Mom? I-I… found… you…" The girl asked, fear evident in her gaze. Kushina was stuck in horror, looking feebly as life left the Uzumaki girl in her arms. As the redhead woman softly pressed her hand against the girl's wound, she realised there was little she could do to save her.

"I-It's me, sweetie… It's your mother…" Tears ran freely from the Habanero's eyes as she comforted the girl.

"Wh-… What's your name, honey?" Kushina asked.

"Ho… It's… Honoka, mom…" The girl answered incredulously.

The redhead woman nodded and smiled to her, through bitter, bitter tears.

"Honoka" rang a bell. She'd overheard an expecting mother in Whirlpool sampling the "perfect" baby name. She would've given birth and had her daughter smuggled out of the country when she was very little.

Honoka probably didn't know what her mother looked like, fully. The older look, red hair, and motherly overture, not to mention the blood loss the poor girl had suffered had probably given Kushina that guise.

"Of course… I… Sleep tight, my little angel… Mom loves you…" Kushina said, kissing the girl on her forehead.

"I-l… Love you, m-mo... m…" And her failure was ingrained in her heart. As the last vestiges of life left the girl in Kushina's arms, she wept.

After some hours, she gave the girl a proper burial, marking her site with an insignia of Whirlpool that she'd ripped off from her flak vest.

If she couldn't bury the girl in her homeland, then Kushina would give her grave site a piece of the homeland.

Kushina then sealed the grave, to keep any robbers and carrion away.

She wasn't evil, and Honoka definitely didn't deserve the death she received.

She was a little girl, scared out of her mind. She carried with her a photo album, dotted and dated with the family tree of the Uzumaki families, and all relevant photos.

In her final days, it appeared that she was searching for family, documenting when she found battle or burial sites for her clan.

As Kushina stared on at the family of hers in that little album, she clenched her free fist so tight that it drew blood – nails digging into skin.

"I am going to find whoever sent that damn squad… And I'm going to find your mom, Honoka…" Kushina promised, holding her hand to her heart.

After her service, Kushina pulled out an emergency Targeting Seal for the Flying Thunder God technique, and ingrained it with the seal on the girl's grave.

When she found Honoka's mother… She'd make sure they'd be together, even in death. For now, both physically, and emotionally she felt exhausted. She only wanted the presence of another person with her now.

Her rock, Minato.

(Some days later, back in Konoha…)

Minato smiled as he finally entered Konoha, after what felt like weeks. The impromptu trip with his son had…

He felt tired, mind, body, and spirit.

He wanted nothing more to see his rock, Kushina. To hold her in his arms again, smell her hair, and rock them both to sleep.

He was sure his son felt something similar, and chuckled to himself as he caught sight of the blonde goofball getting caught up with Shikamaru. He knew of her feelings towards his boy.

It was Namikaze intuition! Never mind the fact that after Hinata had staked her claim in Naruto, the entire Ninja Clan Head Cohort was in chaos. Hiashi smugly sipped her tea whilst Kira's mother, Tsume, and Chouji's mother, Chouza, valiantly argued against the Hyuuga clan head's daughter's brashness.

Never mind the fact that on several occasions, Shikaku had tried to bargain with Minato on Naruto's hand to Shikamaru's in marriage.

It was Namikaze intuition!

Man, those were fun days. Minato loved his son, and it disturbed him greatly to see the lives of so many elders intertwined with his son's. There was care for your daughter, and there was wanting to alleviate their disappointment when they didn't get what they want, but…

There were boundaries crossed. Even if they were little ones, Minato had fun threatening the Clan Heads under him with an utmost diabolical tone.

"My son is not a prize", "my son is with who he chooses to be with", "don't kid yourselves", "I will cut the tits off the next chick who makes a pass at him" were fun little acting practices for the usually bored-out-of-his-brilliant-mind Hokage.

Gravely serious practices, but practices nonetheless. You could hear a pin drop as Minato's mood soured in the middle of an impromptu meeting.

Man, such odd thoughts.

As Minato entered creaked his door open, he felt the warmth and presence of another in his home. A smile formed on his lips, and he shed his gear, leaving it at his front door.

He'd pick it up tomorrow.

He moved passed the foyer of the house, and halted as he heard crying, coming from his living room. He saw Kushina, on their couch, sitting up with her family album in her hands.

"M… Min-min?" Kushina called out.

"I'm here, baby. What's wrong?"

"I'm… Jus… C'mere, please?"

And so he did. The two wrapped their arms around one another, talked, cried, and laughed, falling asleep in each other's embrace.

And to the loving husband and wife, things seemed alright again.

They were found by Kazumi, casually letting herself into the Uzumaki / Namikaze residence.

"Are they coming in today?" Iruka whispered from behind the Jounin. Kazumi opened her mouth to answer back, umming and erring.

"They-… Nah. Take Kushina off the day's roster, as well." Kazumi answered, closing the door behind herself as she and Iruka left the grounds.

A/N: CUT MY CUT INTO CUT, THIS IS MY CUT RECUT

CUTFUCKATION, NO CUTTING, DON'T GIVE A CUT IF I COME WHILE YOU'RE CUTTING

Love you all, and thanks for the continued support,

Sightronix.