Chapter 8 -> Part 8

Sakumo dropped me off at my apartment where I spent the rest of the day sleeping for real. In the middle of the night I woke and found a note Sakumo left on my table that said our team was leaving the next day, early in the morning. I was very glad that the people who ran the shinobi shops were all former shinobi and the only time their shops were closed were during festivals. Kushina never came home that night, which wasn't unusual. Sometime in the past week, Minato had been dismissed from the orphanage in light of his pending shinobi status. If it wouldn't have been so awkward, I would have just suggested he move in so I didn't have to check the training grounds in the middle of the night to make sure both of them made it somewhere safe for the night.

I packed up everything I needed for my extended mission and placed it in a small bag on the table. Frankly, it was nothing more than a handful of items: a change of clothes, a tiny kit to patch them up if they ripped, a cloak to sleep under (tents were a big shinobi no-no because they restricted movement in case of an ambush), a medic kit, and a water canteen. I laid my sticks beside my bag, as well as my kunai pouch, in which carried senbon instead of kunai.

Thanks to some clever sealing by Kushina, I could fit as many senbon as I could afford into my kunai pouch, which was a few thousand, considering the standard price of senbon was ridiculously low. In my opinion, the shop owner though he could lure me in to buy more sharp pointy things if it seemed like he was willing to offer great deals. Kushina and I were two of his more regular customers, though Kushina only ever bought sealing supplies and a few kunai while I only bought senbon (most shinobi tried their best to avoid creating any habits until they were strong enough to defend against an attack while participating in said habit).

At the same time, old habits die hard. In my old life, I was the oddball that operated on a cash-only basis, unless it couldn't be avoided. I never knew why I got into the habit, but I just did. So, every time Kushina and I received the monthly orphan's stipend and I received my rather substantial pay from the hospital, withdrew the money I would needed from the bank to pay bills such as the rent and utilities, then divvyed the rest into three jars, which Kushina stuck into a secure storage seal in the back of the fridge. One was for food and the rest was split evenly between two jars as spending money for the two of us. Both of us were rather frugal spenders, so even though I never actually looked at the account balance, I had a feeling it was significant. The village had an impressive credit system, but I didn't use it and Kushina didn't understand it well enough to utilize.

I pulled out my jar and put some of it in a small money pouch for the mission and dropped it into my pack. About half of what was left I shoved into my pocket and what remained went into Kushina's jar, I certainly wouldn't need the money considering I'd probably be roughing it for most of the remainder of the war.

I wrote down the access information for the bank account in case Kushina forgot, stuck the paper in the top of her jar, and shoved everything back into the fridge. With part of my money in my pocket, I set out to my frequented shinobi supply shop to buy as many ration bars as I could carry.

"You're a Genin now, aren't you Uzumaki?" The shop owner said as I walked inside, without looking up from the ledger he was writing in. I stood on tiptoes to see over the counter and placed my money on it. "I'm heading out to the war front tomorrow. I need the indefinite mission package of rations and a standard mission set of senbon."

"Genin aren't allowed on the warfront, kid."

"I'm a medic. We go where needed, regardless of rank."

"I'm not trying a sales pitch this time kid, but you need more than senbon and rations for a mission out of the village."

"I have everything I need."

"Do you have wire and at least a few kunai?"

"I don't need—"

"You need at least a few blades, kid, especially since you're a Genin. You can't use your sensei's all the time like in training."

"Medic, I'm a medic."

"Do you have your kit and a change of clothes?"

"Yes."

"A mat and blanket."

"I have a cloak."

"Canteen, bowl, and chopsticks?"

"Canteen, I have, but why would I need a bowl and chopsticks?"

"You can't live off rations, kid, trust me, you'll get sick of them very quick, and I can't picture you eating your food off the ground." The man placed a small metal bowl on the counter with a pile of rations and two rolls of senbon, then took part of the sum I had dropped on the counter. "Consider it a first mission discount." He added three kunai and a spool of ninja wire to the pile of goods. "I know you don't care for blades, kid, but you might need them for more than stabbing people and wire is always useful. Come back alive. If not for me, then for your sister. My business might be able to survive without your senbon obsession, but your sister won't and I won't survive losing her sealing obsession."

We shared a wry smile as he swept everything into a paper bag and handed it to me.

I was about to leave when he finished. "And take that extra money with you on your mission. You never know when you might need it. The bowl is also a convenient place to stick your money and canteen, just a tip."

I nodded once and dashed out the door. In five minutes, I was back home and finished packing. I ate a little and noticed that I had about two hours left before I was required to meet up with the team. I knew I couldn't leave without apologizing to Kushina.

So I knocked on Minato's door, my mission supplies slung over my shoulder.

He answered and stepped outside, obviously unhappy with me.

"You make Kushina-chan cry," he told me bluntly. That was one of the reasons I genuinely liked the kid. He said things as they were and expected everyone around him to do the same.

"I know. I want to apologize. May I please?"

He studied me for a long minute. "Kushina wasn't crying because you were mean."

I raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Really?"

"She was angry you wouldn't tell her what is wrong."

"Well, it's all better now."

"Liar." Scratch that, his bluntness was one of the reasons I didn't like the kid.

"I have less than two hours to report for a mission on which I could be out of the village for several years. Please allow me to speak with my sister."

Finally, after some contemplation, he stepped aside. "I'm going for a walk. Kushina-chan is working on a project for Sensei, so she's real tired."

He opened the door for me and left. I entered the boy's familiar apartment and left my bag by the door.

"Kushina?" I called into the apartment.

"Nii-san?" She answered. After a second, she appeared from the main room/kitchen area. She gestured me towards her and vanished inside the room. I followed, dancing over the miscellaneous items scattered in the entryway.

Kushina sat in the center of the floor, a sealing array spread out in front of her. I sat down at her side and squinted at the seal. I wasn't great at sealing, but I knew more than the average ninja.

"Sensei gave me this seal to see if I could figure it out, but it's so complex that I can't figure it out. It's like there's a piece missing or someone took an entire layer out."

I had perused our personal library hundreds of times. While Kushina methodically worked her way through the library, I picked random topics that interested me and learned until I got bored. I had looked into several seals whose names sounded familiar, one of which was the Shiki Fūjin, or the Dead Demon Consuming Seal. I scowled as I recognized the array in front of me.

"You recognize it," she stated.

"Yeah, it's a suicide seal," I answered her. She jerked away from it. "It summons the Shinigami and you can seal practically anything, but in exchange it takes your soul."

"What's it called?"

"The Shiki Fūjin," I answered. "Your sensei should have never given you this, it's a forbidden jutsu and I don't know how he got his hands on it."

"Alright, I know more about seals than you, how did you solve this one before me?" She demanded, rolling the seal up.

"I saw it before in our library."

"Oh, I thought you said it was forbidden. Why did you look at it?"

"I didn't know it was forbidden at the time."

"Well, Sensei will be impressed, thanks."

"I'm sorry about what I said yesterday."

"It's alright, you were upset."

"No, it wasn't alright."

"So are you going to tell me what was really wrong?"

"How much did the ANBU tell you?"

"Not much, just that you argued with Hokage-sama and threatened to kidnap me if they sealed the Kyuubi into me, and you volunteered instead, so they sealed the Kyuubi inside of you that night, they didn't even give you time to come to terms with the fact you were going to become a Jinchuuriki."

"A bit more than that happened."

"I figured. Do you want to tell me?"

"No, I don't, but I should." I gathered my thoughts for a moment. "After everyone left, it was only me, Mito, and the Hokage. Before the Kyuubi even came up, I got into an argument with the Hokage and said some things that could be considered treasonous."

"It couldn't have been that bad, Nii-san," Kushina placated.

"I don't regret anything I said, but it had some pretty severe repercussions, but I'll get to that in a minute. It wasn't until after I had said my peace that the Kyuubi was brought up. They were going to choose you from the very beginning, though I'm not exactly sure why, especially considering I'm older and stronger because of it."

Kushina slipped her arms around my waist and hugged me tightly. I patted her on the head.

"I told them I'd defect and take you with me if they sealed it into you and offered myself as an alternative. It wasn't long after that Mito resealed the Kyuubi, but she added another seal."

Kushina interrupted with a loud curse.

"You're eight, you don't need to be cussing," I reprimanded.

"Yeah, yeah, you've been cussing since forever, which seal did she use?" Her arms tightened around me.

"I don't know exactly but—"

"Are the seals still visible?"

"Yes." I pulled off my gloves and showed her the seals on my hands.

"If Uzumaki Mito wasn't already dead, I would kill her," Kushina snarled as I put the gloves back on. "Yesterday you said the Hokage didn't care about you at all; the extra seal was his idea, wasn't it?"

"It was—" I barely managed to catch her around the waist as she tried to race out of the room. "As much as I hate him right now, you're not going to attempt to assassinate the Hokage."

She swung her fists in the direction of the Hokage tower as I used a tiny bit of chakra to attach myself to the floor when she tried to drag me out the door. I didn't let go until she had calmed down, which didn't take long.

Unfortunately, the second I let go of her, she decided I needed a hug. I landed on my back with an eight-year-old around my neck and I wasn't going to be getting up anytime soon. I awkwardly returned to patting her head.

"There's another thing I have to tell you," I said after a minute. Her arms tightened and I thought she was going to strangle me. "Choking!"

"Oh, sorry!" Her arms loosened just enough for me to breathe, but she made no indication she was going to get off. I knew better than to not let her have her way.

"I'm heading out to the war in a bit more than an—choking!"

This time, she didn't let go and I had to substitute myself with a pillow to wheeze in a few breaths. When she re-tackled me, she pinned my arms to my side, not that I needed my hands to do a substitution. "I don't want you to go out to the war! I've heard awful stories!"

"It is horrible, but I'm going to help people, not hurt them, alright?"

She seemed like she was going to let me go for a minute, but then her grip tightened and she buried her face in my chest. "I love you, Nii-san."

"I love you too, Kushina-chan," I responded. For the first time, I felt like I actually meant it. I sat up and pulled her next to me, my arm around her shoulders. I heard Minato's front door creak open as he quietly announced his presence. There were two other sets of footsteps with him, one adult and one child, though I could barely hear the adult's.

Minato turned the corner and we both stood up, though I didn't let go of Kushina. "Kichiro-nii, this is the rest of me and Kushina's Genin team. You already know Sensei, and our teammate is Shimizu Aoi, he's ten."

"Uzumaki Kichiro," I introduced myself politely.

"You're the bastard who beat up my Nii-san and killed his teammate."

There was a very awkward silence following that statement.

"Is insulting whomever you speak with a family trait?" I asked calmly.

Aoi glared at me.

"I guess you're consciously insulting then. For the record, your brother is a Tokubetsu Jōnin and I'm a Genin medic. Make it a lesson not to ever underestimate your opponent and to know your opponent can set traps as well. As for the teammate, he tried to kill the entire team, including your brother. He got what was coming to him."

"Kushina-chan, I don't like your brother," Aoi said bluntly.

"Nii-san, will you beat up the arrogant prick for me, please?" Kushina asked.

I frowned. "Since when have I beaten up a squirt for you?"

"You have to start somewhere."

"Why am I here?" Jiraiya demanded. "I know all of you brats already."

"Kichiro-nii is going to the warfront and I don't want him too," Minato answered. I was more curious as to know when Minato decided I was his brother as well.

"Well, I can't do anything about that, his team leader outranks me."

"Yeah, but you're the Hokage's student. He's got to listen to you."

Jiraiya shook his head. "Kid, as soon as I have the three of you trained up enough not to die, we're joining him. I'm sorry. Training starts at noon." He left and Aoi followed him. The moment the door closed, Minato fell to his knees in shock. Kushina went over to kneel beside him. I looked at Kushina, confused. Minato shouldn't have even been in a real fight before, much less have an idea how terrifying war could be.

"His parents were spies in Suna. They were caught and killed six years ago and the uncle he was living with died in the brief war with Suna afterwards."

"And the entire war lasted only ten days," I finished.

In my old life, I worked in the Army communications, but I only used that job title so no one freaked out when they saw me in uniform because I was actually a Casualty Notification Officer at the height of the Afghanistan war.

I knew firsthand how much damage a war could cause.

Kneeling down, I took Minato's hands in mine. "Listen, Minato, you're a Genin, Kushina is a Genin and Jiraiya is your team leader, right?"

He nodded.

"Your sensei is very strong, you know that, right?"

He nodded again.

"He'd never, ever let you die, right?"

Minato hesitated, but after a second, nodded.

"So you and Kushina are going to be fine." I concluded confidently. "It's going to be scary as hell; you're never going to forget the bodies you're going to see, the screaming and crying you're going to hear, the blood and rot and smoke you'll smell, the bile you'll taste when you experience all of this, and the physical pain. You're not going to want to forget it. War is a horrible thing, but it dishonors those who fight and die in it to forget them, to forget our war, both our allies and our enemies. I won't try and comfort you, because by the end of it, everything will be hollow words, nothing more than words." I took Kushina's hands as well. "People are going to die, some of them will be friends, but the two of you are going to stay together, you're both going to survive. You're going to survive this war, you're going to remember it, and you're going to come home and live in spite of it. I know it and I want you to promise me you'll live after it."

"But what about you?" Kushina asked. "Are you gonna survive and come back and live too?"

I looked down. "I don't know, but promise me you'll both come back and live."

"I promise." Minato looked up and smiled at me, resolved.

"I-I promise," Kushina echoed.

"I love you both. Goodbye."

At that, I stood up to leave and both kids jumped forward to hug me. After a minute, I pulled away and left, picking up my bag on the way out and not looking back.