Hello there everyone! Now I know what you're thinking, 'Dregus, what are you doing making another story?' and the truth is, I'm not. Well, not yet anyway. You see, the idea for this came to me a little while ago, so I'm going to test it out, meaning this will only be a one shot. But, if you all like it well enough, this will turn into a real story. Heck, anyone who wants to can make their own story based off of this if they want to, I don't mind.

Now, just a quick thing about my latest chap of Distortion. The thing with Minato? Minato turning into fem Ho-oh was my original plan from the start. The fact is, that little piece of his soul (or whatever) was not strong enough to overpower Ho-oh like Naruto and Kushina were able to overpower Lugia and Yveltal respectively (meaning that the Pokemon was the dominant being in the fusion/reincarnation process) and because of this, Ho-oh was the dominant being in the fusion.

Now, since im going to be touching on this anyway, its not much of a spoiler. I only used the part of Minato inside of the seal, there is still the majority of his being sealed inside of the Shinigami (or whatever it is). Even though his body was used, as the rest of his soul (along with the other half of Kyuubi) were technically still inside of the Shinigami-thing, that Minato is now a separate entity from Ho-oh, and also the reason why the other Kyuubi was not ejected from his body like with Naruto. so yes, both of those are going to be dealt with next chap.

So there, all of you who don't like me turning Minato into a woman can stop pissing and moaning as he will come back. (meaning fem Ho-oh will be like his fraternal twin sister.)

-also, there was a small glitch when I first tried to upload this, so it instead came out as a chap of Ageless Maelstrom, so sorry about that. Don't know how that happened.

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Konoha.

It was late at night in Konoha, and the city was in an uproar. Why? Because the Kyuubi, which had been ripped from Kushina and forced into attacking, had just been sealed into Naruto Uzumaki. But this is not about the village, or even Naruto, no, this is about the woman who, though dying, is holding onto her son. Not too long ago, she had just given birth to her son, and she couldn't have been happier. Well, if her son had been born with red hair, then she would have, but that was neither here nor there. But then things went horribly wrong, when an Uchiha had appeared from nowhere, and ripped Kyuubi from her. Now being an Uzumaki, she had survived, though the stress from giving birth not too long beforehand was putting her clan's famed longevity to the test. But even with it, she could not hope to survive a hole through her abdomen as well.

And so she lay there, holding her son, and dying. She lamented the fact that she would not be able to see him grow up, to raise him, to chase away girls trying to 'claim' him, but most of all… to protect him from the blind hatred of the leaf village. Oh, she had lived a normal life even as a Jinchuriki, but that was only because her secret had been kept hidden. But she knew that would not be the case for her son. No that fool Sarutobi would willingly tell the whole village what her beloved husband wanted, that Naruto be seen as a hero. Anyone with half a brain would know this was a bad idea. But it seemed as though that the Hokage's were not all that bright, as they all seemed to either be some kind of foolish idealistic fool with their head in the clouds, Hashirama being a prime example for believing that giving the Bijuu to the other nations to promote peace, when they were used for war instead. She cursed her foolish husband for purposefully making her son a Jinchuriki, and then believing the village wouldn't be blinded by hatred.

In fact, she didn't even really like Konoha! Thinking back on it, this village had done nothing for her clan! Sure they were allies, but where were they when Uzushio was attacked? Nowhere near it to do anything, that's what. In fact, it seemed as though the village as a whole had forgotten about their ally altogether! Hell, they didn't even have a day to serve as a memorial for when Uzushio had fallen! It seemed as though the village didn't care about her clan, her family. She had even asked that Minato look for her fellow clansmen, using his position as Hokage to do so, but as she had never heard any news, she actually doubted he even bothered in the first place. "After all, the leaf only really needed one Uzumaki to hold the Kyuubi at bay, so why go through the trouble of looking for any survivors?" she thought bitterly. Hell, Minato didn't even take her name when they were married! She was from the Uzumaki clan, and Minato was an orphan! Heck, he shouldn't have had a last name to begin with! And yet, she somehow wound up taking his last name. As the time, she didn't mind. After all, she had a loving husband, who was someone who she believed she would spend the rest of her life with. Only now did she realize that he was a delusional fool who only cared for his precious village above his own family, something no Uzumaki would ever do!

So as she lay their dying, she cursed her foolish husband, the masked man who caused all this, of the leaf village who disrespected her clan and of what they would do to her son. As she felt the cold grasp of death, her strength slipping, and her eyes closing, she could only shed a tear as she looked at her son. "I would give anything to stay alive and raise you Naruto…." She thought with sadness as her eyes closed.

"Is that so? Do you truly want to live, child of the spiral?" asked a voice, echoing from nowhere.

Opening her eyes, Kushina saw that she was no longer in Konoha. In fact, she didn't even know where she was! Looking around, wherever she is, was a place heavily blanketed in fog, and she could barely make out something moving within in it. She looked up, to see if she could use the stars to get a bearing of where she was, only to see that the 'sky' wasn't the blue of the day, or the black of the night. It was as if all color had been sucked out of the sky, leaving only a bland gray like color. Though when she looked for the sun, or moon, she was again surprised to not find a single celestial body in the sky, not even stars!

"Where in the world am I?" she wondered aloud. But soon she felt a presence behind her, and quickly turned around, only to find nothing but more mist. Narrowing her eyes, she walked in the direction of the 'presence'. As a kunoichi, and a damn good one, she had learned to trust her instincts, and they were telling her something was in that direction.

After walking for who knew how long, as there was no way to tell time, she eventually found evidence of life. Well, if you counted plant life that looked like it was living ebony as 'life'. Though it moved, it looked and shined like polished stone. She reached out to touch it, only for it to shy away. Plants sure as hell didn't do that! Well, maybe the ones in the forest of death, but this place certainly wasn't that forest. But then a strange little crystalline bulb appeared on it, and it lit strange dull colors that alternated. Soon she could see more on either side of her, as a kind of path. "Looks like this are the way to go..." and so she went on.

After more walking, the lights stopped appearing along her 'path'. Instead, there was a singular large one, about the size of her own head if she had to guess, in front of her. But when it shone brighter, it was accompanied by a strong gust of wind, and she had to shield her eyes. When it stopped, she could see that the mist was now gone. But when she looked to see where the light was coming from, as they could only stare in confusion as to what she was looking at. The path she had followed had lead her here, but there was nothing save for the large crystal light bulb. But then, she heard it.

"Ah, so you've finally come. Welcome, child of the spiral." Said the voice she had heard earlier.

Kushina quickly took up a defensive stance, but the voice chuckled. "Come now, there is no need for that. I only wish to speak with you." Said the voice.

"Then show yourself! I won't talk with someone who doesn't have the courage to come and face me!" said an angry Kushina. She wanted answers, not play around with whoever was talking!

"You have a point. It is rather rude to not speak to my guest face to face." Said the voice. She then saw the strange plants moving, and could hear what sounded like a tree groaning in movement and branches breaking. Then she saw it. But to be honest with herself, she wasn't even sure what she was looking at. It looked like a writhing mass of plant branches shooting high into the sky. But soon they started to split off from the main part, which she could see was a large tree that looked more like a throne. Then several branches moved toward the crystal in the center, and wrapped around it tightly, and moved into the air. There were sounds of breaking and snapping as the wood disconnected from the writhing roots on the ground. But she was very surprised, when the plants encircling the crystal began to take on a human like appearance, and its newly formed 'head' had two small like bulbs for glowing eyes! When it was all done, standing before her was an eight foot humanoid like creature, with two glowing 'eyes' and the crystal from before in its chest.

"Welcome to my home." Said the plant creature, in a deep rumbling voice.

Kushina quickly got over her shock. "Ok, I'm here, wherever the hell 'here' is. But who are you and why did you bring me here?" she asked impatiently. Even when faced with some kind of otherworldly being, she would not show any ounce of fear.

The creature let out a chuckle. "My, you certainly are a spirited one aren't you? That's why I liked about the clan of the spiral, always full of energy and spirit, not backing down to anything. I was rather saddened when your kind was attacked and scattered to the winds. But to answer your questions, you are in my realm, and I am its master. Though for my name, I'm afraid there is no proper way to say it for your human mind to comprehend it." Said the creature, surprising Kushina.

Kushina didn't know what to think of this… thing. Its wording about this place being its 'realm' confirmed her suspicions that this place was another realm entirely, much like the summon realm where the animals live. It made sense, as the color of the sky, and very feeling of this place was like nothing she had felt before. It was like being inside of the ruins from an age long since passed, combined with the feelings of a graveyard and a forest. In short, an ancient and very dead feeling forest.

But looking at the odd plant being in front of her, she had to call him, she, it… whatever gender it was, if it had one, needed to have a name that she could understand. Snapping her fingers, she had come up with the perfect name. "Then I'll call you Burakkuruto then!" said Kushina with a smile on her face.

"Burakkuruto? Black root? Hmm…" it hummed in thought. Then it smiled, or what Kushina believed was a smile, as it was hard to tell since its face was made of branches. "Very well, you can call me Burakkuruto then." The newly dubbed Burakkuruto said.

But then Kushina realized something. "Wait, you still haven't said as to why you brought me here in the first place." said Kushina.

Burakkuruto tilted its head at that. "I suppose your right. The reason I brought you here… was to offer you a chance to live with your child."

Kushina could only stare in shock at what she had just heard. At first, she thought she had died, and this was just some weird place she was sent to be judged before going to the afterlife or something. But to be offered another chance at life? To raise her son, and keep him safe? While the offer sounded it good, it sounded too good.

"What's the catch? Even if you could do as you say, and somehow keep me from dying, what do you gain out of this?" asked a skeptical Kushina. She was a kunoichi, and a damn good one, and you didn't survive as one without being cautious. Especially when dealing with strange creatures you knew nothing about.

But Burakkuruto grinned as well as his wooden face could. "Why you ask? Because, I love nothing more than throwing wrenches into the plans of the gods." Seeing Kushina's confused expression, he decided to continue. "You see, I am an ancient being. One that has been around long before your species was even a thought in the minds of those gods who made you. And they are such a petulant lot. They draw strength from your prayers and offerings to them, and in turn reward you. And in times of need, appoint someone to handle a coming threat that you humans would otherwise be unable to handle. And for you see, this time around they have appointed your son as a 'child of prophecy' to save humanity." Burakkuruto said, surprising Kushina. Her son was destined to be the savior of humanity?

"But why would you interfere with the gods' plan for having my son as this 'child of prophecy'? Do you want him to destroy the world instead?" said Kushina in an angry tone. She did not like the idea of anyone, let alone deities using her son for their personal plans, no matter how noble they might be. And she liked the thought of Burakkuruto using her son as a tool against the gods.

But he simply shook his head no. "No, I have no intention to destroy humans. If that were to happen, I would have nothing to watch. After all, being immortal is rather boring, and I need something to pass the time. But that aside, the reason I am doing is this because… I want to see how things would change if you were to survive and raise him. I managed to view the boy's future, and I must say I was rather… unimpressed. The village squandered his natural talents with their hatred, fear and paranoia of his Jinchuriki status. Anyone and everyone who could have, should have helped him to achieve greatness did not, and failed miserably. Sure that toad sage trained the boy, and he later managed to master the sage arts at a young age, but he was so poorly trained in virtually all forms of your ninja arts that he didn't know any shinobi techniques outside of the shadow clone, that rasengan and variations of it, the toad summon and sage arts and even the fox's power. And that was It." he let out a sigh.

"You're giving me another chance at life because you want my son to be a source of entertainment for you?" asked an irate Kushina. While she was not happy at the fact that he had admitted that humans were a source of entertainment for him, she hated the fact that she was not only right about konoha not following her hus- no, Minato's wish, and sabotaged him at every turn. Hell, it sounded like Jiraiya didn't even take his duty as Naruto's godfather seriously, even though she never wanted him to have that honor to begin within the first place. I mean, who chooses a man who writes porn novels as a godfather?

"A source of entertainment? No, not him… you." He said, getting a raised eyebrow from Kushina. "You see, while the boy was insufficiently trained, he still managed to do things that not even the toad man, his father or you could do. He mastered the sage arts, managed finish the rasengan by adding an element to it, and even beat the Kyuubi's hatred and befriended it. While impressive, I'm more interested in what you would do and change his life should you survive." At this his crystal eyes glowed brightly. "I can only imagine it! Would you take your son away from the leaf village to keep him safe, depriving that village of the Kyuubi Jinchuriki, making it vulnerable? Stay in the village that hates your son? Maybe even try to resurrect your clan, by finding the survivors hiding throughout the nations? So many possibilities! And I want to see what you will do! So, tell me Kushina of the spiral, will you accept my offer to return to the world of the living?" asked Burakkuruto with a somewhat giddy tone to his voice.

While the offer sounded good, she was actually focused on part of what he said. Survivors? Then she was right, and other Uzumaki did survive Uzushio's destruction! That meant she would not only be able to raise her son, but reunite her family as well! But how? She didn't have the power to keep her son safe from his father's enemies both outside and inside of konoha, as well as find her missing brethren. Unless…

"All right, listen up! I'll agree to being revived, if you agree to some of my terms! I must have the power to not only protect my son, but to be able to find my scattered clansmen as well!" said Kushina. She knew this was a gamble, and really had no business asking anything when a person should be happy to just be revived. She hoped her plan worked.

"My, aren't you a greedy one? And why should I grant you the power to do as you ask?" said Burakkuruto, crossing his arms over his chest.

But Kushina smirked. "Because, it would provide you with more entertainment. After all, Konoha basically tried to erase my clan from history by not even honoring it being destroyed, so what better way to rub it in their faces that I manage to bring them together, and show them just how much better it is than the other clans in their own village? Not to mention, wouldn't it be funny to see the plans my sons enemies make to try and harm him, fail utterly? To see all their hard work be completely ruined before them?" asked Kushina. And honestly, she was only bragging a little bit. Compared to the Uzumaki clan, most others were nothing. Really, only the Uchiha with their Mangekyō Sharingan, and to a lesser extent the Hyuuga's Byakugan and those with elemental bloodlines could compete with the Uzumaki clan. After all, a single Uzumaki Chunin would be able to take on several Jonin from any other village! While their clan was small, they made up for it by being all around better and stronger than ninja from other nations. As for the other part, Burakkuruto obviously took joy in watching humanity, like it was a play. And besides, who didn't like seeing the look on the evildoers face when their plans failed, and they were defeated?

She was broken from her thoughts when Burakkuruto laughed uproariously. "Very well then Kushina, you shall have what you wish for! You shall be given the power to smite your enemies, and find your missing kin. Now, if there is nothing else, then you shall be on your way." He said, and raising his hands, several crystal buds of different colors appeared in his hands, and flew straight toward Kushina and into her body. She recoiled at first, as she felt them burrow into her flesh, but soon settled as she could no longer feel them. Her body began to disappear, signifying that she was leaving this world and returning to the world of the living.

"Wait! Before I go, can you do one last thing for me?" asked Kushina, getting an interested look from Bura. "Can you please remove all of Minato's blood from Naruto, and make him a pure Uzumaki?" she asked, getting a surprised and amused look from Bura. She only asked, because Minato didn't deserve to call himself Naruto's father, not after subjecting her child to a life of torment, gods plan or not.

"Very well, after your return, your son shall be purged of all of Minato's blood." And with a grateful smile from Kushina before she fully disappeared, back to the land of the living. "…though I never agreed to making him a pure Uzumaki. I wonder whose blood I should give him instead?" Bura mused with a grin. There were just so many choices!

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Back in Konoha.

Kushina opened her eyes, and got up, gasping for air. She looked around, and found herself outside on the ground. She heard the sound of a child squirming, and turned to see it was her son on the ground. Moving quickly, she picked him up and held him close to her and cried. "He did it, I'm alive! Oh my sweet baby boy, mommy isn't going to ever leave you again." She thought as she cried tears of joy at being able to raise her son.

Though her moment was ruined by the untimely appearance of the former Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, who was flanked by several ninja.

"Kushina, you're all right! What about Minato, is he…" he stopped when he saw Minato's dead body on the ground. "I'm sorry for your loss. But how did you survive all this? And what happened here?"

Turning her gaze from Sarutobi back to the blue eyes of her son, which she noticed that appeared to be changing colors, a sign that Bura was keeping his end of the deal, she smiled and stood up. "Sarutobi, I will explain everything, but first I need to take care of my child." She said before walking off.

"Kushina, what about... Minato!?" asked a confused Sarutobi. What had happened? Why wasn't she grieving over her dead husband? While he understood that she would want to take care of her child after what had happened, but it was like she didn't even care that her own husband was dead! Just what was going on here?

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And here it is. Yes, this is a darker Kushina, who completely gives up all attachments to Minato. After all, he sacrificed even his own family for the leaf, and so she 'sacrificed' him for her family.

Burakkuruto (black root) is the name of that creature. I was going for some kind of ancient, eldritch creature, but I wanted something different, so this guy came into being. And yes, he does see humans as a source of entertainment. I mean, he's an ancient being that has been around before the gods themselves. What the hell else is he going to do? Also, the gods can't even interfere with what he does, as he is outside of their plane of influence, meaning they can't do jack shit about Kushina coming back to life.

And he will be referred to as Bura when I don't feel like using his full name.

Now, there is going to be a poll on my profile on whether or not I should make this a full on story, or just leave it as a one shot, and turn it into a story challenge.