Moments before the village came under attack, Minato teleported to a safe house at the edge of Konoha with his newborn twins.
"Waaah! Waaah!"
Naruto was screaming, voice hoarse with panic, traumatized from two sudden Flying Thunder God jumps. His tiny fists clenched, his face red and purple from the hypoxia he had to endure because of crying.
Next to him, the red-haired baby was the complete opposite. He lay silently, unmoving, his wide, empty eyes staring into space. Still as an ancient stone, on a riverbed.
They couldn't have been more different. If the situation weren't so dire, Minato might've smiled at the variety of children he had gotten.
But there was no time for amusement.
He gently laid them side by side on the bed, covering them with a blanket and quickly began preparing, securing his gear, retrieving kunai, putting on and adjusting the Hokage cloak.
He needed to return. Kushina, the village, his friends and people; everything was at stake.
As he expected Naruto to keep crying, maybe even for minutes until he brought back their mother to calm them down.
But just as he lowered his body, ready to teleport, the crying sound stopped suddenly.
Alarmed, Minato stood up and turned back to check on them, feeling panicked but reality made him pause.
Nameless, the red-haired twin, was holding Naruto's hand. And somehow, Naruto had stopped his crying.
Still staring blankly into nothing, the boy's tiny hand curled gently around his brother's.
Minato's chest tightened.
Even after a short separation... they were already so connected.
"Naruto... Porotekuta... rest for a while," he whispered. "I'll go save your mother. Then we'll all be together again."
He leaned in, kissed both their foreheads, and marked them at their back, behind their shoulders, with a small Flying Thunder God seals.
After one last glance at the two small lives he cherished more than anything, he vanished in a flash of golden light.
---
Back in the cave, a minute earlier...
After Minato teleported away, Kushina and Biwako were left behind.
Alone. Weak. But still standing.
Gritting her teeth, Kushina pulled herself in front of Lady Biwako, who was holding her Menma tightly, protecting him.
The masked man didn't wait for them to prepare more and just a moment after Minato left, he moved.
Without hesitation, he strode forward and passed straight through Kushina like mist.
"Wha..?!"
The sensation made her stomach turn. She twisted to strike, but it was too late.
He was already at Biwako.
"No!!"
With surgical precision, the masked man stabbed Biwako, who was holding the child. Biwako gasped, staggering back, yet even as she fell, she didn't release Menma, her arms shielding him until the last moment.
"Menma!!"
Kushina's fury, seeing the blood, thinking that it is her son's blood, exploded. She threw a punch with everything she had, her pain fueling her strength.
But it passed through him, again.
Empty air.
"You!"
She barely had time to react before he stood behind her, reaching toward her falling body.
His arms wrapped around her torso, cold, firm.
"Got you!"
Then the world twisted.
Space distorted. The air folded inward.
Teleportation.
---
They reappeared in a dark forest clearing, distant and cold. Kushina staggered, disoriented but not for long.
She turned and struck.
BAM!
Her fist landed square in the man's chest, sending him flying through trees. Obviously, he didn't expect her to have such strength after going through so much. He hit the ground with a thud, cloak flaring, but as if it was nothing, he rose quickly, shaking the dust of his body.
Kushina dropped to her knees, gasping for breath. Her body screamed in protest, every inch of it still torn from labor, but she didn't stop.
She couldn't.
Not when Menma was hurt! Sh needed to avenge her child. Alone.
The masked man, in the other side, stood from the dust looking at the woman struggling to stand up, even having nine tails chakra flying around her, healing her wounds rapidly.
"Impressive," he said calmly, brushing himself off.
"To think you still have this much strength after giving birth to twins along with such determination... but it doesn't change what you are going to face. You're going to die here. That's the fate you have to face!"
He shouted the last words, as if trying to convince himself that was what was going to truly happen. Then, he began forming hand seals, fast and practiced.
Kushina, realizing the danger, moved to interrupt him with her new found and healed body but her vision blurred. A ripple in reality hit her eyes.
Sharingan.
An illusion gripped her mind like a chain. She fought it, fiercely. She was a jinchūriki. She was Uzumaki.
And she broke it in a second.
But it was already too late.
She was suspended mid-air, trapped in a network of glowing red seals.
And she recognized them with a quick glance.
All of them.
Her stomach twisted.
"Who are you?!" she demanded.
"What do you want with the Nine Tails?! You can't control him! You can't even seal him! And how, how did you know today was the day I'd give birth?! How do you know the seal's weakness?!"
Each question sharpened with terror and truth.
But the masked man said nothing.
He simply finished the last hand seal, and coldly muttered:
"I don't need control. I don't need power."
His eyes glinted.
"All I need is destruction. Chaos. Grief. I want this village to burn."
Then he extended his hand.
"Unseal."
---
The seal on her stomach turned pitch black.
Chakra began to pour out, thick and slow, like oil in water. Dense, living, terrifying.
It swelled, faster and faster, until it burst into a massive sphere, then took shape.
A head.
Limbs.
And finally Tails,nine of them.
The Nine Tails stood, once again free.
The air vibrated around it. Even the chakra in the atmosphere seemed to bow.
It stretched its massive form, limbs crackling, tails twisting, then roared into the sky, announcing its freedom with thunder.
Then, it looked down.
At her.
She had imprisoned him. Faced him. Feared him. Loved him for a while. Even relayed on him for few years and finally, shamed him after marriage and birth giving.
And yet, even with all that resentment, there was something else, something bitter and old. A bond. Twisted, but real.
He didn't want to her die, even if that meant he had to stay with her for the rest of his life but...
But freedom was more important.
He turned, preparing to leave, while crushing the bastered who had freed him.
He had saw it. That eye.Mangekyō Sharingan. The same kind of eye that would rush to him every now and then, asking him to help him in fighting a bastered with a lots of chakra chains of trees...
Those cursed eyes. Descendants of Indra. The roots of his torment since the days of the Sage of Six Paths.
He snarled.
He would crush him and destroy the man who dared to control him.
But a single glance was enough.
The genjutsu took hold.
The Nine Tails froze, his will stolen.
The masked man walked forward, now guiding the beast like a puppet.
He looked up at Kushina, who was still alive unlike other Jinchūrikis that would die the moment the Biju left them.
"Even after losing your tailed beast... you're still alive. Impressive."
He gestured.
"Then let it be the one to end your pain."
The beast raised a claw and then, it came down with a crushing force. Kushina faced it with dispare, not knowing a way to stop it at her current situation. She closed her eyes, wishing to see her children for one last time, but before the pain hit her a pair of hands hugged her scratching out of a golden flash lit in the air behind her.
Minato.
He teleported in, grabbing Kushina just in time and jumped a short space with her. The claw struck empty ground.
---
High in the trees, Minato held Kushina close as she gasped in relief, pressing herself against his warm chest, seeking relief.
"Minato…"
"I'm here."
He brushed back her damp red hair with destress and love. And then, became ready to teleport away once again.
"You're safe now. Rest."
She grabbed his sleeve weakly, stoping his action.
"He's… going to attack the village…"
"I know."
His voice was calm, but his gaze burned with cold fury.
Far below, the masked man scoffed.
"So the Fourth Hokage finally shows up. Too late, though. You can't change anything!"
Minato's expression didn't change, as he throw a cold line before disappearing with Kushina.
"We'll see."
In the next second, he vanished.
"Hah! Choosing her over the village?! You do have a heart after all."
The masked man turned toward the beast.
"Come. Let's bring hell to this maggot nest, Nine Tails!"
In a blur, both man and beast disappeared into the darkness.
---
Minato reappeared at the safe house.
He gently laid Kushina beside their sleeping sons and poured her a warm cup of medicinal solution, helping her drink it slowly.
She grimaced but drank.
Then she looked up at him.
"Minato... you should've fought him. You had the chance."
He didn't hesitate.
"And leave you behind? Knowing you were still in danger?"
Her lips trembled.
"But... you're the Hokage."
"And I'm also your husband. And their father. Besides, you three are my world and most important reality."
They looked down at the twins, still soundly asleep, holding each other hands.
Minato smiled softly but full of confidence.
"I can save you, Kushina. I'll seal the Nine Tails again. The four of us will be together. Just believe in me. One more time."
She met his gaze and saw the same eyes that had always held their future.
And she believed.
"Okay," she whispered. "I believe in you."
She inhaled, then grit her teeth.
"Give me the black medicine."
Minato blinked, then grinned.
"There's my Kushina."
He grabbed the medicine, but as he did, his gaze shifted to Menma.
He smirked.
"Hey... since we named one Naruto, how about we name this one Hatsuka Daikon? Red Radish! Big, red and juicy or maybe Purotokuta, as he is protecting his brother so tightly."
Kushina rolled her eyes.
"Dream on. His name is Menma. Got it? M-E-N-M-A."
"Yes, ma'am! It's a great name. Looks like you, named by me, perfect combo. The same way as rusengan."
He raised his hands in mischief, surrender as he turned to the Flying Thunder God kunai.
It was time to fly away, leaving the nest to bring safe and medicine for her family.
Menma, meanwhile, was frowning in his sleep, clearly irritated by Naruto, who was now nibbling on his fingers again.
Kushina let out a tired breath, heart full.
She would recover. She had to.
She wanted to see them grow.
A breeze blew past her, brushing her temple.
Minato was gone.
Gone to keep his promise.
---