[Chapter Size: 2200 Words.]
Third Person POV
Land of Fire, Year 39.
...
...
Kushina had a difficult time in recent days, while they seemed to have their usual quiet life, she kept doing her own things, leaving the Senju property only for some errands, like visiting Minato's orphanage and doing some shopping, as she had developed a liking for cooking over the past years, perhaps trying to make Minato's favorite dishes, always wondering if he would like what she prepared.
A few days ago, she had baked a cake, trying to make it perfectly, as one of the things that also helped her avoid having horrible dreams about the Kyuubi. When it was ready, she stored it and took it to the orphanage, delivering it while spending the afternoon with Madam Gorete and the other children, whom she had ended up befriending. They always asked about Minato, and those who were new, Kushina had to explain who Minato was to the young children.
However, when she returned home, something felt strange—everything was much quieter than it should be. She even looked at the trees, searching for her guards, and found them, trying to sense their chakras.
"That's strange... why aren't they here today?" Kushina murmured, seeing the place completely empty... which was odd, but she first decided to put away the tray she had brought from the orphanage inside the house innocently.
She didn't notice as she climbed the one-meter steps to enter her house that there were bodies of Leaf ninjas under the stairs.
She opened the door without seeing anyone and began to enter, but when the door with the slits almost connected in front of her, she suddenly saw a ninja advancing toward her, and she barely had time to react before he grabbed a cloth and covered her mouth, falling on top of her, making her pass out.
"We got the girl... now we have to get out of the village quickly... they'll soon notice our barrier." The Kumo ninja said as his remaining companions arrived. They were waiting outside the property to avoid detection by Kushina, knowing in advance that she was a sensor.
And so they departed, proving a significant failure in the village under the command of Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane.
Kushina woke up more than a day later, frightened, as she found herself tied up, with the group of pursuers resting.
"You've woken up, girl," one of them mocked.
"What are you doing?! Who are you?!" Kushina exclaimed in fear.
"You really are strong... we sedated you to keep you asleep for the entire journey, but it seems it's harder to bring you down than it looks..." one of the ninjas said in a dark tone.
"Let me go! Do you know who I am? The village will never let you get away!" Kushina shouted, still scared. It was obvious she was being kidnapped.
"It doesn't matter, girl. You'll soon be in our country and will give us the Kyuubi," another one spoke while Kushina showed an unpleasant expression. She quickly tried to reach her thigh, where Minato's tattoo was, but her tied hands couldn't reach that area.
"Please! Minato..." she murmured, begging.
"Minato? Is he your boyfriend? I'd love to see his face when he finds out you were captured by our village and will be imprisoned for the rest of your life. Hahaha." He started to mock her. "If you survive the extraction of the Kyuubi, I'm sure the Raikage will be interested in your Uzumaki lineage. You'll become a breeding whore." He spoke, leaving Kushina speechless, losing her footing upon hearing such words.
"No...!" she murmured as tears began to fall.
"Shut up! You're an idiot for provoking her like that; she has the Kyuubi inside her body, don't forget that!" The more sensible ninja didn't want to see the Kyuubi go berserk while they hadn't even left the Land of Fire yet.
"I think you're right, sorry," the ninja murmured to the leader.
[You could kill them all...] A voice emerged inside her—it was the beast from her nightmares, wanting her to use its power, but Kushina knew she couldn't do that.
"..." Kushina just sat there, crying and trembling, wanting to be far away from there while repeating Minato's name softly, trying to call for him with just her voice, but without being able to reach her thigh, she couldn't touch the seal, desperately trying to reach it but without success, until minutes turned into hours, her skin turning red from rubbing against the rope.
At one moment, the ninjas began to move through the forest, avoiding any Konoha patrols while heading north, and Kushina was simply pushed to follow them, but no one provoked her anymore due to the Kyuubi.
Kushina just followed them, her expression lifeless, her skin raw from trying to free herself.
Night fell, and they took her to a cave, leaving her aside while they discussed among themselves. Kushina tried to use a rock behind her to cut the ropes, but as soon as they noticed the movement, she was simply kicked in the face.
"Don't try to escape again, freak, or you'll face something worse than this," one of them growled at her as she hit the wall, breaking off some shards of stone with her groan of pain.
[Do you want to live like this?] The voice returned to her.
"No..." Kushina admitted.
[Then there is a way for you to be free, to leave all this suffering. Do you have any idea what they'll do to you if you end up in their village?] The Kyuubi was trying to seduce her.
"I..." Kushina murmured, trembling.
[End this, use my power and kill all your enemies, they will suffer horrible deaths.] The Kyuubi's voice tried to seduce her once more.
"I... I can't use you!" Kushina murmured, knowing that would be her end. She still had a chance, a chance to call Minato. She would not give herself to this demon.
She was grabbed again and thrown into a corner where she could do nothing more, her nose and forehead starting to bleed, but even though she was crying, in a miserable state, they didn't even let her take care of her basic needs, something she had endured for the past days. They hadn't fed her, leaving her weak, almost lifeless, but still, she thought about the possibility of Minato coming to her rescue. Her chance was so close, yet still impossible for her. All she had now was a rock she had managed to pick up with her body by breaking the wall, and she began to rub it against the rope, no matter the pain she felt, with her arm already raw.
She stayed awake all night, trying to cut the rope, making some progress. The next day, they continued avoiding ninjas, forming a spread-out formation with some ninjas surrounding the main group.
Kushina finally caught a glimpse of hope as she managed to break one of the ropes, but still couldn't reach her thigh. She knew she had to make an effort, and before any of the ninjas could react, she twisted her body forcefully, falling to the ground, breaking more ropes, and managing to touch her thigh above the seal with a finger. Her chakra was sealed with a seal on her bindings, but it didn't prevent her from generating enough to signal Minato.
"What are you doing, you idiot!" One of them approached, grabbing her by her hair, making her groan in pain.
"I'm going to beat you so badly in Kumo that you'll be unrecognizable!" The ninja said, dragging her roughly along the ground.
It was at that moment that Minato appeared above her and the ninja, surprising everyone, landing kicks on the nearest enemies. Then he launched his strange lightning at the nearby ninjas, and then at the distant ones, destroying them all in an instant. He looked at her with concern, the sight she most wanted that day. Without thinking twice, still tied with her hands behind her back, unable to free herself completely due to other bindings still holding her, she threw herself at the one she desired most.
"Kushina!" Minato looked at her worriedly. "You're hurt..." He said angrily as he passed his kunai behind her, cutting her bindings.
"Minato!!" Kushina didn't respond to anything Minato said. She just threw herself into his arms, crying as she hugged him with her now free hands, her raw, bleeding arms staining his clothes, but he didn't care—he just hugged her back.
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry for not coming sooner, Kushina," Minato said angrily, as if he had almost failed to protect her, even though he hadn't neglected her at any point or wasn't at fault—he still blamed himself.
"I swear... I swear you'll never go through this again." Minato once again emitted a burst of unconscious Haki, beginning to feel hatred stronger than anything he'd ever felt, his desire being to kill as many Kumo ninjas as possible right then, starting with these. But he couldn't do that when they had information that could be passed to the village, so his duty had to fight against his desire for revenge.
They stayed there, embraced, just thinking about having the loved one saved while the other promised to protect her from any harm, and desiring vengeance, as Conqueror's Haki coursed through the area without either of them noticing the events happening around them.
Until the Haki began to calm down and disappeared a moment later, as Minato remained there with Kushina crying and not wanting to let go of him for even a moment.
Nearby, a ninja patrol was circling the area. For some strange reason, dozens of ambush teams had left Konoha, issuing orders all along the northern border, and from what they heard, across all other front lines. It was strange for the village to suddenly send out so many ninjas, almost leaving it without protection, but no one in the lower ranks knew anything; it was something big, but the only information they were given was that they should search for any invading group on an S-rank mission, which was surprising.
"Let's check another area, there's nothing else here..." one ninja murmured.
"I think you're right..." They spoke, and at that moment an explosion happened in the distance, making them all look toward the direction they were leaving behind. Two more explosions followed, with large yellow orbs covering part of the forest.
"What's happening there?!"
"I don't know what that is, but we better check it out ourselves!"
"Stay alert!"
So, the team of four advanced to the location, as another explosion occurred while things were calming down, yellow lightning appearing, shaking the whole area, confusing them even more. But even so, they continued on until the lightning disappeared, finding something unexpected: two young people hugging, the girl crying, in the middle of corpses and knocked-out bodies.
Minato might not have noticed his Haki, but his gaze fell on the approaching Konoha ninjas, giving them a dangerous glint as he held Kushina close.
"Are you a Jonin of the village? What happened here?" The older ninjas noticed Minato's uniform, despite him being so young, but the situation was very strange, finding him with the injured girl who wouldn't let go of him.
"I'm Minato Namikaze. This girl, Kushina Uzumaki, was kidnapped. So I left my post at the western border of the country and came to rescue her. The dead ninjas are from Kumo; I knocked some out to gather information," Minato said, the last part with a certain disdain.
"Minato Namikaze?! The hero against the Village of Suna... And this is the pupil of the late Mito-sama!" One of them recognized him immediately, as Minato's name had been circulating along the borders, and there was only one Uzumaki in the village. Everyone knew she had been adopted by Mito and what it meant after her death, with the Kyuubi passed on.
"I see now why Konoha ninjas are so desperate..." Another murmured.
"Where are we?" Minato spoke in a demanding tone, his patience thin.
"Eight kilometers from the main camp at the northern border..." one of them answered cautiously.
"Can you take us there? Kushina will stay with me." Minato spoke with no room for discussion. He could take her to Konoha, but they would only take her away from him and reinforce her guard. Minato didn't trust those two advisors managing Konoha at the moment. His best bet was the Third Hokage being there to take her, and with an incident like this, it wouldn't be long before he left the east if the situation was under control.
The ninjas looked at each other—Commander Sakumo would know how to handle this better than them—so they nodded. "Yes," they said.
"We'll take care of you, Kushina." Minato turned back to Kushina as she nodded, but without letting go of him, starting to cry less.
"You guys can take care of the bodies... I'm kind of busy here..." Minato had to say awkwardly, as Kushina didn't want to leave. With no choice, they did as he asked, leaving the place, heading north, where Sakumo Hatake's camp was located.
---
Raccoon Here:
This chapter was kind of heavy, but this isn't a pretty world, and I wanted to bring more realism.
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