Kushina's words were like stones dropped into a deep pool.
Ripples spread in circles deep within Menma's sapphire blue eyes.
He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, the turbulence in their depths had been forcibly suppressed, leaving only the stillness of the deep sea.
"Mom..." Menma's voice broke the silence, carrying a trace of a barely perceptible hoarseness. The term of address felt unfamiliar and weighty on his tongue, "I still have some questions... about what happened back then."
Kushina had been curiously running her fingers over the cold metal surface of the lab table, sensing this never-before-seen creation.
Hearing his words, she immediately turned around. The web-like black cracks on her face couldn't hide the concern and seriousness in her eyes.
Her grayish face held the expression unique to a mother, willing to give everything for her child: "Menma, ask! Whatever Mom knows, I'll definitely tell you!"
That word 'Mom' seemed to bring a faint warmth to the area where her reincarnated heart would be.
Menma's gaze pierced through the cold air of the laboratory, as if returning to that crimson night over a decade ago: "During the Nine-Tails Attack... why did you and… Namikaze Minato ultimately choose to die?"
"With your strength, especially the Flying Thunder God Technique, was there truly no chance at all?"
Kushina's eyes instantly dimmed, tinged with a heavy layer of sorrow and powerlessness.
She walked to the window, looking out at the cold, metallic outlines of the buildings in the military district of Star City. Her voice was low with recollection: "It wasn't a choice to die... there was no other choice."
She shook her head bitterly: "That masked mysterious man was very strong, and his timing was perfect. He attacked when I was at my weakest, right after giving birth, with my body and the seal both vulnerable. He took you and extracted the Nine-Tails."
Her voice carried a tremble of lingering fear: "Although your father teleported the Nine-Tails away from the village, I was already at my limit by then. The Adamantine Sealing Chains could only temporarily restrain the Nine-Tails, and they could collapse at any moment. Once the Nine-Tails broke free, with its madness and power, it could instantly rush back to the village... Konoha would have been finished!"
She clenched her fist tightly.
"Third Hokage-sama and the others couldn't have reached such a distant location in time. Every second felt like dancing on the edge of a blade." Kushina's voice was filled with the urgency of despair.
She looked up. The gray in her reincarnated eyes churned violently, filled with deep self-blame and pain: "The Dead Demon Consuming Seal... it was the only ultimate seal he could complete instantly and that was absolutely effective at the time. Separating the Nine-Tails' Chakra, half of it was offered to the Shinigami along with himself, the other half was sealed into the only vessel with Uzumaki Clan's bloodline present at the time… that was Naruto."
Tears couldn't flow, but the heavy sorrow almost solidified into substance.
Menma listened quietly. A sharp light flashed deep within his sapphire blue eyes: "Did the Third Hokage know Mother was carrying twins?"
Kushina nodded affirmatively: "He knew. Third Hokage-sama personally inquired during the prenatal checkups. But-"
Her tone grew even heavier: "Biwako-sama and the others responsible for the delivery... they sacrificed themselves right at the beginning of the attack. Minato and I also followed shortly after..."
"Even if Third Hokage-sama knew about the twins, after that kind of chaos and destruction... he probably had no way of finding the whereabouts of the other child..." She looked at Menma, her eyes filled with guilt.
"I'm sorry, Menma... for letting you drift outside, for making you suffer so much..."
"So that's how it was-" Menma murmured, his voice betraying little emotion. The puzzle pieces of the truth seemed complete, the logic sound.
But that heavy, unresolved weight in his heart did not completely dissipate because of this.
Minato's choice was the burden of a Hokage, the determination to protect the village. He had also trusted the Third Hokage and the others too much.
Trusted that after their deaths, Hiruzen would treat Naruto well. Trusted that the village could find the other child who had been kidnapped and gone missing.
Kushina keenly picked up on the silent alienation emanating from her son.
She sighed, attempting to shift the heavy topic. She walked to the window, her gaze sweeping over the broader cityscape outside.
In the distance, beyond the cold military district, were row upon row of modern-looking buildings. Wide, clean streets teemed with people. Street lamps cast soft halos of light in the winter dusk, outlining the silhouette of a bustling metropolis.
"This place is so prosperous," Kushina said, a childlike curiosity and awe appearing on her grayish face, temporarily overshadowing the sorrow.
"Has Konoha changed this much over the years? I remember the highest things in the village used to be the Hokage Rock and the Hokage Building..." She pointed at a distant, sleek high-rise building whose glass curtain wall reflected the lingering sunset glow. "What's that? It's so tall!"
Menma walked to her side, also looking out the window at the city that belonged to him. His voice was calm and even: "This isn't Konoha, nor is it the Land of Fire. This is the nation I founded, the Land of Stars. Where we are now is the administrative building of Star City, its heart."
"The Land of Stars?" Kushina whipped her head around, shock and bewilderment on her reincarnated face. Her red hair seemed to stir slightly without any wind.
"You… your nation? Menma, you… you are now-?"
"That's a long story." Menma interrupted her potential follow-up questions, turning towards a storage cabinet in the corner of the laboratory.
"Those are all the questions for now. I'll ask you if I have more later. For now..." He opened the cabinet door and took out a brand new, thick, dark gray wool cloak. It was simple and elegant in style, without any markings.
He shook out the cloak, walked behind Kushina, and draped it over her shoulders. His movements weren't particularly gentle, but they were careful, covering some of the cracks.
"Mom, you've never been to a city outside of Konoha, have you?" Menma said, "Would you like to see my city?"
Kushina was taken aback for a moment. She looked down at the soft wool cloak on her body, then at her son's profile, noticing a hint of softness in his eyes.
She nodded vigorously, a brilliantly bright smile blooming on her grayish face: "Mhmm!"
Even though the cracks made the smile seem somewhat broken.
The [Avenue of All Things] in Star City's commercial district was the city's most prosperous artery. Even on a winter evening, it was bustling with noise and excitement, brilliantly lit.
Kushina, like a country girl visiting the city for the first time, seemed to lighten up, her reanimated body feeling almost buoyant.
Wrapped in the dark gray cloak, she looked around curiously, her eyes with their purple glow shimmering with an unprecedented brightness.
"Wow! Menma, look! That light changes color by itself!" She pointed excitedly at a floating chakra lamp post by the roadside that was softly cycling between blue, white, and warm yellow, tugging on Menma's sleeve.
Menma stumbled slightly from her tug, sighing helplessly, but still offered an 'Mhmm'.
"Oh my god! What is this? There are little people moving inside?!" Kushina rushed to the floor-to-ceiling window of a large shopping mall, staring dumbfounded at the electrically-powered puppet dolls inside demonstrating basic Taijutsu movements.
Her face was almost pressed against the glass.
"Puppet demonstration toys…" Menma explained, his voice quiet but clear amidst the noisy environment.
"So amazing!" Kushina exclaimed in admiration, then was immediately drawn to a shop next door wafting with an enticing sweet aroma.
"It smells so good! Red bean soup! And tri-colored dango!" Like a small animal following a scent, she immediately pulled Menma over.
"Boss! Two bowls of red bean soup! Double the mochi! And five sticks of tri-colored dango!" Kushina ordered with gusto, completely ignoring Menma's look that said 'You can't eat that'.
Reanimated individuals indeed couldn't truly consume food, but her nostalgia for the familiar flavors and her current excitement made her not care at all.
"Coming right up! Just a moment, please!" The busy shop owner was a portly middle-aged man, deftly serving the soup and plating the food.
When he looked up and saw Kushina's grayish complexion and the fine cracks on her face, he visibly started, a flash of surprise and sympathy in his eyes. But his good professional demeanor quickly brought back his smile as he handed over the food: "Your red bean soup and dango, please take them!"
When Menma stepped forward to pay, the owner couldn't help but take an extra look.
This extraordinary black-haired youth with his handsome features... he seemed somewhat familiar, but he couldn't remember where he'd seen him before.
Kushina held a bowl of steaming hot red bean soup. Though she couldn't truly taste it, she leaned in and took a deep breath of the sweet, warm aroma.
An expression of utmost satisfaction appeared on her face.
She picked up a stick of tri-colored dango and took a symbolic 'bite', saying to Menma muffledly: "Mmm... still the taste from my memories! Menma, you have some too!"
As she spoke, she tried to stuff another stick into Menma's mouth.
Menma turned his head away: "I'm not hungry."
But he still took the stick of dango.
The two of them walked like this along the bustling main street.
Kushina was full of interest in all sorts of novel things: exquisite shops selling various ninja tool models and chakra toys, huge LCD screens playing promotional videos for Star Ninja… Kushina even let out a surprised 'Oh!' when she saw the Ninja's figures flashing across the screen.
There was even a boutique specializing in high-end kimonos and modernized Ninja Attire. Kushina lingered there, unable to tear herself away, running her hand over a red furisode kimono embroidered with flame patterns over and over, her eyes filled with fondness.
"If you like it, try it on," Menma said, leaning against the shop entrance, watching his mother's expression of wanting to touch it but being afraid of damaging it.
"Ah? Me... looking like this..." Kushina looked down at her grayish hands and the cracks on her body, retracting her hand somewhat self-consciously.
"Try it…" Menma said decisively, signaling the shop assistant to take down that kimono.
Kushina ultimately couldn't resist. Under the somewhat strange but polite gaze of the shop assistant, she slipped the fiery red kimono on over her clothes to try it, then hugged it to her chest, overjoyed.
Next, she took a fancy to a wool scarf printed with a cute little fox pattern and bought it without hesitation.
"This is for Menma!" Kushina said, her eyes sparkling.
Menma just silently paid, then resignedly took the shopping bags from the assistant, which were piling higher and higher.
An exquisite kimono gift box, the packaged scarf, several boxes of Star City's specialty snacks, even a uniquely shaped chakra wind chime... The sunset had completely sunk below the horizon, and the decorative lights had come on, adorning the Avenue of All Things with flowing light and dazzling color.
Kushina was finally a little 'tired' from shopping. Though her reanimated body wouldn't fatigue, her mental excitement had gradually settled.
She sighed contentedly, looking at the large and small bags Menma was holding that almost drowned him, finally showing a hint of embarrassment: "Did I buy too much?"
Menma expressionlessly weighed the items in his hands: "It's fine."
He turned and started walking towards the administrative district: "Let's go home."
Passing through the relatively quiet tree-lined streets of the administrative district, they arrived at a high-end residential area with a serene environment.
In front of a residence that blended traditional Japanese and modern styles, complete with a delicate small courtyard, Menma stopped.
"We're here."
Kushina looked curiously at this dwelling that obviously belonged to her son, her gaze sweeping over the carefully pruned pine trees and stone lanterns in the courtyard. She was just about to offer a few words of praise when her eyes suddenly fixed on the heavy wooden gate of the courtyard directly opposite the residence, across a quiet path.
Carved clearly on that gate was the Uzumaki Clan's crest!
"Uzumaki?!" Kushina cried out in surprise, her reanimated face filled with incredible excitement. She grabbed Menma's arm tightly.
"Menma! Across the street! That's... that's our Uzumaki Clan's crest! There are other Uzumaki Clan's members here? Who is it?"
Menma followed her gaze to the closed gate opposite and said evenly: "Mhmm. Clansmen who were living outside. Uzumaki Kanon and her daughter, Karin. They weren't doing well in Kusagakure when I found them, so I brought them to the Land of Stars. You might see them later."
"Kanon… Karin..." Kushina murmured the two unfamiliar names.
"That's really wonderful..." She was eager to learn more about these two surviving clansmen.
Pushing open the gate to their own courtyard, they walked along a short gravel path to the engawa in front of the main house.
Menma was about to step onto the platform when his footsteps paused slightly.
A figure stood quietly there on the engawa.
Hikari was wearing her signature dark blue high-collared clan attire.
Her ink-black long hair cascaded down like a waterfall, a few strands gently lifted by the evening breeze.
She had her arms crossed over her chest, her delicate chin slightly raised. Those clear, cold eyes, like winter stars, were now fixed with unconcealed scrutiny and displeasure on the woman with striking red hair wrapped in a dark gray cloak standing behind Menma!
An invisible, chilly low pressure hung in the air.
Kushina immediately sensed this highly palpable gaze.
Curiously, she peeked out halfway from behind Menma, her eyes meeting Hikari's clear, sharp, cold ones.
Her grayish face held pure curiosity and a trace of confusion, 'Who was this pretty girl appearing in my son's house?'
'This proud aura... it felt a bit like an Uchiha?'
'She looked...'
'A bit unhappy?'
Menma seemed not to notice this subtle atmosphere, or perhaps, he simply didn't care.
He unceremoniously placed the mountain of shopping bags in his hands onto the clean wooden floorboards of the engawa, creating a series of clattering light sounds.
Then he straightened up, looked calmly at Hikari, raised his hand to point at Kushina beside him, and said in a tone as natural as commenting on the weather:
"Hikari, this is my mom, Uzumaki Kushina."
Then, he turned his head slightly and introduced her to Kushina, who was blinking her eyes curiously as she examined Hikari: "Mom, this is Uchiha Hikari. She lives here."
The air seemed to freeze at that moment.
The cold, slightly displeased expression on Hikari's face instantly shattered!
Her eyes, which always held calmness and even a trace of aloofness, widened to their limit, filled with shock and bewilderment!
"M-M-Mom?!"
A stammering exclamation, completely devoid of her usual cold tone and even carrying a hint of a crack, escaped uncontrollably from Hikari's slightly parted lips.
Her arms, which had been crossed, fell loose and hung awkwardly at her sides. Her entire body stood rigidly in place, staring dumbly at the 'woman' below the engawa with her grayish complexion, shoulder-length red hair, and cracked face.
Then she looked at Menma beside her, his face utterly calm, as if he'd just said something as ordinary as 'let's have ramen today'.
Giant question marks almost seemed to materialize above her head.
'Menma's mom?!'
Hikari's earlier imposing manner instantly collapsed. Her fair, delicate face flushed slightly with embarrassment.