3 The Incident
A couple of weeks passed, and Kushina was finally discharged with her child.
Several of her tissues had been affected because, during the extraction of the Kyuubi, the Biju made its way through the body of the Uzumaki to exit. Still, the great life force she inherited from her clan greatly helped her. With the proper treatment applied by Tsunade herself, the redhead could now finish recovering at home.
"Hm …"
Konan watched with strange fascination as Kushina suckled her baby with her eyes closed and moaning softly.
The Konan seemed to like the sight as much or even more than the child.
The Uzumaki woman bit her lower lip as she delightedly felt how her child fed on her and lost herself in the pleasant sensation he provoked on her nipple with his little lips.
"Hey, Kushina…" The amber-eyed woman was quite sorry for the insinuating moans of her friend and tried to get her attention
"W-What's up …."
Finally, the redhead reacted.
"Tell me, Konan! What's going on?"
Aware that she had lost herself in that unexpected pleasure, she became self-conscious once she detached her little boy from herself.
"Well, actually, I just wanted to tell you that I just joined the Konoha Ninja squad," replied Konan, still sorry for her friend's scene.
"Oh… That's great!" The Uzumaki smiled enthusiastically, regaining her usual intensity. "There wasn't a problem with the Hokage?"
"No... Fortunately, Jiraiya-sensei is now in the village and recommended me to Sandaime-sama." The amber-eyed girl answered.
"He said that as soon as he finished with some matters, he would come to see us …."
"That's very good, Konan…." The amethyst-eyed mother encouraged her friend.
"From today, Konoha is your home too!"
Both friends hugged each other carefully since little Menma was between the two, which made the moment all the more special because the young woman with amber eyes considered that little boy her nephew.
This was somewhat evident because Kushina was the last important person besides the black-haired child.
At that moment, she swore she would protect him as she could not with Yahiko and Nagato.
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"And our little man is ready!"
Konan picked up little Menma to see him when she dressed and changed his diaper. She wore her Jonin uniform, and her baby wore a white romper that had the symbol of the almost extinct Uzumaki Clan embroidered on his back.
Kushina felt guilty for not informing her people of the massacre they were later victims of. Because of that, she would try to maintain her clan's legacy.
That is why all the clothes of the little child had the emblem of the Uzumaki, and in her spare time wrote a compilation about the customs that she still remembered from his people so that in the future, the resurgence of her clan would not be an impossible dream.
"Come on, Menma-chan, give Aunt Konan a kiss."
The woman smiled, enraptured, and brought her face to the playful baby.
The blue-haired girl once saw that gesture between mother and son and felt envy since she obviously did not have such an intense bond with the baby. On impulse, when she had the opportunity, she did the same.
She had taken to the habit when changing him, bathing him, or sometimes just for fun.
It had been three months since the Rain Nation woman had arrived in Konoha. With a surprising recovery, the renowned red-haired Kunoichi had managed to fully recover. Even she could resume her life as a Ninja with some caution.
She taught basic Fuinjutsu courses at the Ninja Academy to generate more income for her peculiar home.
Then for Chunin and Jonin, there were more complex courses for the Ninja's needs at that level.
While doing that, Konan stayed to take care of the baby with all the devotion in the world. Kushina felt a slight hint of jealousy when she noticed her friend's closeness with her child.
It felt like they were more like a mother and son than an aunt and nephew.
She also understood that it was nothing serious; in addition, she was doing a favor for her by taking care of her beloved son when she did her work.
And that enormous affection was also the best guarantee that Konan would take really good care of the little one.
"Come on, dear, it's time to eat."
The blue-haired girl sat in a rocking chair with little Menma in her arms, and she began to feed him with a small bottle that the Uzumaki had left filled with her milk for that purpose.
"You are so cute when you eat …" The woman looked at the baby, enraptured.
"You have filled a void in my heart, and together with Kushina, you have become my new family."
Without stopping giving him her bottle, she brought the little child closer to her body.
"I will always be here for you, Menma…."
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Time passed for the peculiar family…
Both women alternated with the best precision in the world to take care of the baby, giving him all the possible attention they could without neglecting their work as Kunoichi of Konoha.
While Kushina kept her reputation as one of the strongest Ninja intact despite no longer having the Kyuubi inside her, Konan gradually gained the name of God's Angel due to her paper wings giving her the look of an angel as well as her brutality against her enemies.
As for little Menma, who was already 6 years old, people looked at him with extraordinary coldness.
Even though it was forbidden to talk about the incident from the day of his birth, all the adults in the village knew that he was the container of that terrible monstrosity that almost destroyed the village.
Due to their ignorance, they also made no distinction between the Kyuubi and the little one.
The small infant almost never left the house so that at all times, he would be protected within the walls of his home since his two protectors knew that the villagers would possibly attack him if they came to find him alone in the street.
At first, the blue-haired woman did not believe what her red-haired friend had told her about the blind hatred that people directed against the Jinchuuriki …
But one day, when Menma was two years old, and the three of them went out together for the first time to do house shopping, he immediately noticed those cold looks that did not bother to hide their hatred for the child.
As time went by, people who had no understanding of what had happened began to spread all kinds of absurd rumors about them to justify why two of the best Kunoichi in the village were taking care of the monster that had almost destroyed the town village.
It ranged from mind control, possession of their bodies, the Kyuubi had stolen their souls, or after murdering the originals, the Kitsune had created clones to take their place and thus be protected in what was preparing for his revenge …
As time passed, people created more and more incoherent rumors and lies.
To avoid problems, Kunoichi decided to move to a house on the outskirts of the village, at least until he was enrolled in the Ninja Academy, as according to Konoha law, it was illegal to attack him on the street.
Although this distance only caused the villagers to continue exaggerating the rumors and even caused some Ninjas to begin to believe all that nonsense.
And that was what caused that incident.
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One day like any other, both women were at home doing their chores taking advantage of the fact that it was a day off for both of them.
All so they could be on the lookout for their beloved little one, who was entertaining himself by reading in the corridors of the house with the books he had.
The two moms of the little boy were preparing a delicious meal for their little one and for themselves, and since it was his fifth birthday and they wanted to give him a big surprise.
They had made a nice cake and a huge pot of ramen made, just as the little one loved it. They were very excited because their child did not seem to have been affected by the prejudices throughout the village.
The child was seemingly unaware of the hatred around him. Since he hardly lived with other people apart from Kushina and Konan, he was very naive and innocent, like every child at his tender age.
That is why everything was so sudden.
A group of Ninjas secretly prepared what they believed would be the village's salvation.
The plan they had been plotting for years was to pretend to be a Ninja from other villages and fake the kidnapping of the little boy when the reality was that they would assassinate him on the outskirts of Konoha as soon as they had the chance.
It took them years of planning as they methodically watched the movements of Kushina and Konan, whom they stupidly believed they would free from the demon's influence.
House, academy, mission, a departure from Konoha to stock up.
It was meticulous work that gave them a great advantage. With a discreet observation of the house as widespread as it was methodical, they infiltrated to walk every corridor of the property when the peculiar family left Konoha for groceries.
Several times they were tempted to destroy it, but that would only alert the protectors of that monster, so they were limited to exploring and gathering information.
That group of four Ninjas, two Shinobi and two Kunoichi, had their refuge in a supposedly abandoned house not far from the one inhabited by the Uzumaki. Therefore, they could spy freely as long as they maintained absolute discretion.
The members of that plot were as follows.
Sora Ishida, a 20-year-old Chunin with blonde hair, had lost her husband when the Kitsune crushed him between her teeth. She had stolen a Jonin uniform from Kumo, and with a Henge, she had darkened her skin.
Jyou Tachikawa, a 32-year-old Jonin with blue hair, had watched helplessly as the beast demolished his house with one blow, with his wife and children inside it. He complimented Kiri's clothes that he had stolen from a corpse with special makeup that gave him a vicious appearance.
Koushirou Mochizuki, a 21-year-old black-haired Jonin whose sister was burned alive by the flames that were set by the monster in a destructive frenzy. Her Ninja outfit from Suna, which she had obtained by revealing classified information, was complemented with a mask.
And their leader, Hikari Takaishi, a 23-year-old tanned ANBU, could not do anything when his parents were crushed by the claws of that diabolical entity.
His Iwa Ninja costume was complemented with a special clay that he stole from the Earth Nation village military facilities to mold a new face.
The four had come together when they met during the funerals of their loved ones and quickly came to the conclusion that the monster should be annihilated while he was a defenseless child.
As he grew up, they believed, based on their fears, he would become more and more powerful until he regained the power that the Yondaime had taken from him with his heroic sacrifice.
Fortunately for them, after their arduous observation work, they came to a conclusion that, despite seeming otherwise, their best chance was that moment when God's Angel was at home.
The only tricky thing was to attract the attention of the beast to the walled courtyard of the house to kidnap it without the women noticing because, as they knew, there was a network of seals inside the house that would alert the two mothers immediately.
The idea was to discreetly replicate the sounds of common birds, dogs, and cats, in order to stimulate the feigned curiosity of the beast, which according to the four Ninjas, would pretend to be a child and keep the two mothers deceived.
"All ready…"
Sora, with a unique whistle, began to replicate the soft song of a bird near the wall that separated the Uzumaki house from the outside. In contrast, at opposite points, Koushirou and Jyou kept watch.
Once they both signaled, Hikari would jump to the other side of the wall to take the monster.
The signal that the mothers would receive through the seal network would arrive a couple of seconds later: too late to avoid kidnapping.
Kushina and Konan heard that sound and thought the supposed bird's song was very beautiful.
After appreciating it momentarily, they continued preparing the feast for their adored boy without suspecting what was about to happen.
Menma also heard that imitation and, moved by curiosity, approached the door that led to the garden.
His mothers had left him reading his new books, which covered all ranges of topics, but he was curious by nature.
He knew that he was smarter than others, and sometimes it would feel as if he already knew the things he had read.
Unfortunately, his current intelligence lacked experience and knowledge of how cruel human beings were.
So unknowing of the tragedy that was about to befall him, the little boy slowly opened the door so as not to make a noise to avoid scaring whatever he heard.
He slowly walked out into the garden when suddenly everything went dark.
