[Chapter Size: 2300 Words.]
Third Person POV
Konoha, Year 42.
...
...
"I want you to focus on your subconscious." Minato said while Kushina nodded, looking around with curiosity.
They were at a waterfall a bit away from the toads' lands, although this place was still part of their territory, it was much less populated, while Minato's clones were around the area finishing the barrier to protect the place from the fox's chakra.
Now with everything ready, Kushina seemed to prepare herself, as she closed her eyes in lotus position in front of Minato.
She moved her arms and took Minato's hands, squeezing them with an affectionate touch, and squeezed as Kushina opened a smile, Minato nodded with a smile and waited for Kushina to finally access the most protected part of her subconscious.
Kushina felt the whole world disappear in that moment, as she saw herself in the middle of darkness.
She soon found herself in a place full of flowers like a field crowded with them, she was barefoot as she touched the earth, but the scent made her look with a sparkle in her eyes at that field.
This was the mental image of her mind, a place she herself had built, as she kept walking through the place.
There was a road cutting through the middle of the field as she followed it to its end, knowing she had to go there to reach what she desired.
"Minato?" Kushina murmured looking back, searching for him, since he said he would be there with her. But the place was empty, there was no one on the road she had walked.
Either way, she looked ahead and kept going down the path as she finally saw the end of the flower field, with a huge stone wall, while below it, the path led to a cave.
She looked at the entrance, while she could only see darkness, but there was breathing there, with a sinister feeling. It was the place where the nine-tailed fox was kept.
She looked once more at the road in the middle of the flower field, but there was no one. Even so, she knew she had to go there, and she went toward the cave.
She entered it while Kushina seemed like just an ant, and as she took her first steps, a gust of wind came with a titanic growl, almost pushing her back, as her hair was blown back along with her clothes, with her raising her hand to shield her face.
"..." Kushina swallowed hard, as for the first time, she seemed hesitant to continue.
'I am with you.' It was at that moment that she heard Minato's voice echo through her subconscious.
"Minato..." She murmured as she nodded, confident this time, and stepped forward, entering the darkness of the cave.
She moved on, and a yellow light appeared above her shoulder, illuminating the place, knowing that that light was Minato helping her follow the path.
She felt more confident not being alone, the place began to narrow and she was in front of an open door between torches, she moved forward as she entered a dark area that not even the yellow orb of light could illuminate, but the place was immense.
Kushina moved forward until she saw the bars in the distance and walked carefully toward them, and after 10 minutes walking, she was finally in front of them, she couldn't even see the end of the bars nor the space of that place, it seemed endless, as she touched the very darkness beneath her feet, but it was solid.
Kushina analyzed the bars in front of her, with the symbol in the middle of it, protecting the gate's opening, she knew it was the seal the village had placed on her, with Mito herself having helped make it before preparing the Bijuu's host change.
"You are here..." The voice came from the darkness as the fox's two enormous eyes began to manifest to Kushina at that moment.
Kushina took a step back by instinct, quickly remembering she needed to fight the fox as she looked at the yellow orb on her shoulder.
"Nine-Tailed Fox!" Kushina exclaimed, gaining some courage.
"You know... I feel insulted when someone just comes here thinking they can master my powers, thinking I don't know what you and that boyfriend of yours are planning...?" it said as red chakra was released throughout the place, even catching Kushina by surprise as the chakra began directing itself toward her.
It started to climb up her legs and began to manifest like a cloak wrapping around her body.
"This?!" Kushina could do nothing to stop it, as the glow from the orb of light grew stronger, trying to repel the red chakra.
"Do you really think you can control my power, Kushina?! Look at you, I feel the fear inside you, I feel your anger... you can't control this chakra... this power of mine." The Kyuubi seemed to be enjoying itself, watching Kushina trying to pull away from the chakra, as her eye started turning red, like the fox's.
"You are a caged bird... You are just a tool for the village... you are only meant to fulfill your role, to die for the village." countless voices began to flood Kushina's mind suddenly, with the Kyuubi mocking her, feeding her the evil chakra so that the fool would truly believe she could handle its strength.
It wouldn't even let Kushina challenge it—it would give her the power she came to seek, turning it against the redhead herself.
Minato's light began to fade, with Kushina feeling her mind invaded by negative thoughts, until it went completely dark.
"Minato..." she murmured his name like a cry of despair as she continued to be overwhelmed by dark thoughts.
In the real world, Kushina began to erupt in red chakra, creating her cloak with three tails appearing at once, while Minato stood there in front of her, hands connected and eyes closed.
He moved his face in a slightly frustrated expression, but remained there, hands holding Kushina's hands surrounded by red chakra.
The clones looked at the scene with concern while holding firm to prevent the fox's chakra from escaping that place.
"Minato?!" Kushina screamed in the middle of the darkness she found herself in the next moment, searching for him.
"Hokage? A woman Hokage?!" Suddenly she saw herself as a little girl on the first day of the academy, just after she had shouted that she would become Hokage, wanting respect from her new classmates in such a strange village she had arrived at just a few days ago.
"Look at her hair, what a weird color, this weirdo joined the elite class? What kind of joke is this?" another student shouted, mocking her.
Kushina got angry, as her gaze went to the last rows hoping to be defended as she had been on the first day.
"Look at this weird thing..." Tsuna, who had accompanied her during her first days introducing her to Konoha, since she would be staying with the Senju clan, began to speak against her aloud, which caught Kushina by surprise.
Mikoto only looked at her with disdain, without a word, but seeing Minato looking at her with a certain disgust made her swallow hard.
"Who does she think she is? You should leave the village and go back to where you came from." Minato said with indifference, catching Kushina off guard.
"No... you're not Minato..." she murmured.
"..." Minato looked at her still with disgust, just like the entire classroom.
"Get out of here..."
"Go away, stranger."
"This is not the place you should be."
This started to throw Kushina into panic, as she couldn't stand the stares, even the teacher looked at her with disgust. She gave one last look at the young Minato and ran out of the classroom.
She ran through the academy corridors and out the main entrance, leaving the academy and entering the village, tears falling from her eyes, passing through the crowded streets, while she didn't yet have the ninja skills she would acquire over the next 10 years, causing her to bump into a man in front of a shop as she looked up.
The man looked at her with hatred, and Kushina saw everyone in the street looking at her.
"Monster..." one of them said, catching Kushina by surprise, as she felt something behind her. Her shadow had changed—it no longer had a human shape, but was now connected to her with one of the tails of the Nine-Tailed Fox as it growled.
"Monster!"
"You should leave, freak."
"The Nine-Tailed Fox, it could kill us all!"
"Leave the village, you curse."
They started to verbally treat Kushina like trash, while the girl began to feel her emotions growing increasingly negative, unable to control it.
She didn't think twice before running again, dashing through the streets of Konoha as everyone watched her on the path to the Senju clan, desperately with tears falling even more than before, the figure of the fox still behind her.
"Monster!"
"Monster!"
"Monster!"
"Monster!"
"Monster!"
People called her a monster repeatedly—men, women, and children, all there, seeing her as a plague.
She finally saw the gate of the Senju clan and ran quickly toward it. Someone stood in front of it, and her eyes widened as she saw Minato there.
"Monster." he said with a malicious smile.
Kushina's heart tightened even more as she passed him, tears falling to the ground. She entered the clan grounds, seeing emptiness, and tried to find Mito, who should be alive at this moment, hoping she would take her out of that place.
She saw her, her shadow standing on top of the tower that had once taken her up. Kushina ran quickly there, climbing the spiral stairs, heading to the rooftop.
She finally reached the rooftop and saw Mito with her back turned, looking at the statues of the Hokage.
"Mito-sama!" Kushina exclaimed through tears as Mito turned to her.
"Kushina?" she seemed to raise an eyebrow in concern, different from all the others, while Kushina had a look of relief as Mito wasn't like everyone else.
"Mito! Is it really you?!" she murmured as the woman looked surprised.
"Of course it's me, silly girl... What's going on?" She approached Kushina, who immediately ran into her arms, the elderly woman holding her.
"It's okay..." Mito murmured.
"Mito... I'm scared... this place isn't real... Minato isn't real..." she said in despair.
"It's going to be all right, Kushina... once you disappear for good!" Mito's voice changed, and Kushina took a frightened step back. She saw the woman who had treated her like a daughter smiling in a bizarre way, seeing that even Mito seemed to hate her.
"You are a monster, Kushina..." Mito said.
"No!! You're not real! Minato's not real either! This is all from the Kyuubi!" Kushina screamed, trying to back away.
"Even if it weren't real... the Minato you know is just using you, Kushina. He only wants the power of the Kyuubi in his hands and won't hesitate to sacrifice you for it." Mito said.
"Lies!" Kushina screamed.
"Isn't it true? Can't you see the obvious, monster?" Someone else appeared on the rooftop—it was the young Minato himself.
"You're not real!" Kushina exclaimed.
"Come on, Kushina! Give me the Kyuubi's power and die!" Minato said, opening a smile.
"No..." she murmured through tears.
Outside of that vision, still within Kushina's consciousness, she was inside the cage, floating above the fox's hands while pure red chakra surrounded her like a cocoon.
"Destroy everything! End this suffering." the Kyuubi said as it closed its hands.
On the outside, in the real world, Kushina burst into chakra as her skin began to tear, making all the clones frown, while the chakra spread even to the original body. Light-like lines appeared across his body, seeming to hurt him, while his intangibility activated, healing the damage. Even so, Minato remained there, standing in the same place.
"Stop, stop, stop!" Kushina murmured in her vision.
"Monster, monster, monster!" Mito and Minato kept repeating those words on that rooftop, with Kushina in a corner of it, curled up around her knees, crying without pause.
"Please, stop!!!" she screamed in despair.
"Kushina." Then a voice that wasn't filled with hate came—it was Minato's voice, and her eyes immediately searched for him in desperation, with Mito and Minato still in front of her, now looking up at the sky in surprise.
Suddenly, the sky began to crack. Beams of light started shooting out from the openings, multiple rays of light fired downward, heading for the village.
Kushina was surprised as the first beams struck the village, exploding everything they touched. The rays didn't stop, as every place was destroyed in balls of yellow light.
The entire village exploded, and Kushina watched as the Hokage Rock began to shatter next, breaking everything. Her eyes widened as the rays moved toward the tower where she stood.
The entire Senju estate began to be destroyed, and the rays struck the tower as well, with Mito and Minato there, screaming in shock. Kushina also expected the worst for a moment—but there was no pain.
The beam enveloped her in a warmth with a feeling of tenderness, and she felt all the fear and despair she had before disappear.
The entire village exploded, as yellow light took over the whole place—there was no more darkness, everything became yellow.
"Kushina." an elderly voice called her, and she immediately looked ahead, seeing none other than Mito, smiling at her with closed lips.
"Mito... is it really you?" Kushina murmured, tears falling.
"Of course, now you're safe, silly girl." Mito said, and Kushina immediately knew it was the real one and ran into her arms the next moment.
-------------Nexts Chapters ----------------
Chapter 262 - Plans and Problems in the Southwest.
Chapter 267 - Let's Get Married!
Chapter 277 - Konoha Civil War 01.
Chapter 286 - Konoha Civil War 10.
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