The night gently enveloped Menma's courtyard.
Warm, yellow light flowed through the floor-to-ceiling windows into the living room, which was carpeted in a dark plush rug, creating an indescribable, subtle atmosphere interwoven with the new and the old.
In a corner of the living room, on a soft leather sofa, Kushina sat upright.
She had changed out of the dark gray cloak and was wearing the dark green long dress she often wore in life, which barely covered the grayish tone of her reanimated body. However, the web-like black cracks on her face and arms were still clearly visible.
Her sitting posture was proper, carrying a natural aura belonging to the mother's generation. Her eyes, with their gray glow, were looking with interest and kindness at the young girl sitting on the opposite sofa.
At this moment, Hikari was slightly bowing her head, her hands somewhat awkwardly folded on her knees, her fingertips unconsciously twisting the hem of her clothes, seeming a little restless.
The cold, scrutinizing, even slightly displeased demeanor she had on the engawa earlier had long since vanished.
She was now curled up on the sofa like a small cat that had strayed into unfamiliar territory, appearing somewhat flustered under the gaze of the homeowner.
Faced with Kushina's undisguised, curious, and kind gaze, she only felt her cheeks grow slightly warm, and even the roots of her ears turned a little red.
Menma walked out of the kitchen carrying a fruit platter filled with freshly washed, glistening apples, oranges, and several bunches of sparkling grapes.
He gently placed the fruit platter on the glass coffee table in front of the sofa, producing a crisp sound.
Then, he very naturally walked over to the long sofa where Hikari was sitting and sat down next to her.
The sofa sank slightly under his weight, their arms almost touching.
Hikari's body tensed for an instant. Feeling the familiar body heat and scent from the person beside her, that sense of helplessness strangely receded a bit, but her heartbeat seemed to quicken even more.
She secretly glanced at Menma's calm profile beside her, then quickly lowered her eyelids.
"Have some fruit," Menma said, picking up an apple and skillfully peeling it with a small knife. His movements were smooth and natural, as if he didn't notice the subtle tension in the air.
Kushina's gaze swept back and forth between the young man and woman sitting side-by-side on the opposite sofa. A look of extreme satisfaction, even a touch of gratified relief, gradually appeared on her grayish face.
The smile tugged at the cracks on her face, yet it remained as warm as melting spring snow.
"Hikari-chan, it's okay to call you that, right?" Kushina's voice held the unique kindness and curiosity of an elder. "Which branch of Konoha's Uchiha are you from? I grew up with Mikoto, your clan head's wife, since we were kids! We're like sisters!"
She brought up the old acquaintance with great enthusiasm, seemingly wanting to build rapport.
After all, her consciousness was still stuck at the moment before her death, having just become a mother. Now her child was already in a relationship.
So Kushina was also a bit nervous, thinking about how to build a good relationship with her daughter-in-law. Neither she nor Minato had any experience in this area, both being orphans.
"I..." Hikari was just about to answer when she was calmly interrupted by Menma beside her.
"Mom, Hikari isn't from Konoha's Uchiha Clan," Menma said, handing a small piece of peeled apple to Hikari. The latter took it subconsciously, her fingertips brushing against him, causing another slight tremble.
"Ah?" The smile on Kushina's face froze. She tilted her head slightly to the side, showing an extremely puzzled expression, as if she couldn't understand the meaning of the words, "Not from Konoha? Then..."
Menma handed the entire peeled apple to Kushina.
Although the Impure World Reincarnation couldn't taste it, Kushina still retained the habits of her life and took the apple her son offered.
Menma picked up an orange and began peeling it leisurely, his tone flat as he introduced: "Strictly speaking, her age is probably over three hundred years old."
Crack.
The piece of apple Kushina had just taken seemed about to fall from her hand. She quickly tightened her grip.
But her expression had completely turned into a giant question mark. Her eyes, with their gray glow, were wide open. Her whole person seemed to have been put on pause, completely frozen.
"Th-Three hundred years old?!" Kushina's voice rose an octave, filled with disbelief. Her gaze focused once again on the cold, beautiful girl opposite her, who looked to be fifteen at most, as if she were looking at some prehistoric monster.
"Mhmm…" Menma said, peeling a segment of the orange and naturally bringing it to the still somewhat dazed Hikari's lips.
Hikari subconsciously opened her mouth and accepted it. The sweet and sour juice spread in her mouth, finally bringing her back slightly from the shock of the 'three hundred years' revelation, though her cheeks grew even redder.
Menma continued explaining, his voice clear in the warm living room: "She's a figure from the Warring States Period. Because her power was too great, she was jointly sealed deep within a ruin in Uzushiogakure by the Senju Clan, the Sarutobi Clan, and our Uzumaki Clan at the time. The seal lasted for over three hundred years. Later, when I went to Uzushiogakure to search for the Uzushiogakure's legacy, I uninally broke her seal."
He glanced at Hikari beside him: "So, she doesn't have much connection to the current Konoha's Uchiha Clan."
Kushina listened quietly. The shock on her face gradually faded, replaced by a deep look mixed with understanding and affectionate pity.
She looked at Hikari's beautiful face, at the occasional flash of alienation and loneliness in her eyes that didn't belong to this era.
Suddenly, she felt that she and Menma were so alike...
"So that's how it is..." Kushina murmured, her voice thick with a deep sigh.
She suddenly stood up and, under Hikari's somewhat stunned gaze, quickly walked around the coffee table. Without another word, she opened her arms and pulled the three-hundred-year-old 'young girl' into a tight hug!
The embrace was cold and carried the scent of dust, not warm in the slightest, yet it was exceptionally strong and firm.
"Poor child..." Kushina's voice sounded next to Hikari's ear, filled with maternal gentleness and heartache, "All alone... locked up in a place like that for so long... it must have been so lonely, right?"
She gently patted Hikari's back, her movements careful yet full of sincerity.
"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid. From now on, this is your home! If that boy Menma dares to bully you, you tell me! I'll teach him a lesson for you!"
"Pfft!" Menma, who was drinking water, almost choked. He looked at his mother with an expression of speechless exasperation.
He remembered the Kushina from the [Limited Tsukuyomi World], just as fiery-tempered. If he crossed her, he'd be in for a serious scolding, and not even his father Minato could save him.
Hikari, held tightly in the embrace, was as stiff as a wooden statue.
Kushina, reanimated through the Impure World Reincarnation, had a cold embrace, but the unreserved acceptance and warmth conveyed in her words felt like a scalding warm current, instantly filling Hikari's heart.
Three hundred years of sealed life, the bewilderment of waking alone in the darkness, the alienation of integrating into a new era... Countless complex emotions surged up, making her nose sting.
Her stiff arms slowly, tentatively, gently returned the hug around Kushina's waist. She buried her face in the embrace that smelled of dust yet felt incredibly reassuring, and let out a muffled 'Mhmm'.
This was only the second time in her hundreds of years, besides Menma, that she had felt such pure, unconditional care.
The atmosphere in the living room instantly became incredibly warm.
Menma watched this scene, a trace of softness also flashing in his sapphire blue eyes.
"Alright, alright," Kushina released Hikari, her grayish face full of smiles, and took her hand, "Don't just sit there dumbly! Come with me to the kitchen! Let Menma watch TV by himself! Us girls need to talk!"
She pulled the still somewhat dazed Hikari to her feet without another word and headed towards the kitchen, leaving Menma, who had just picked up the remote, alone in the living room.
The sounds of running water, the light clinking of pots and pans, and Kushina's enthusiastic chatter soon came from the kitchen.
"Hikari-chan, this refrigerator is so big! It must hold so many things!"
"Mhmm... it's a new product bought a while ago."
"Wow! This stove! No need to light a fire??"
"Electric stove… It's very common now."
"Hikari-chan, what do you and Menma usually like to eat?"
"We... it's alright."
"Let me tell you, back in Konoha, Mikoto and I, we-"
In the living room, Menma turned on the large screen TV embedded in the wall.
Clear pictures and sound came through, broadcasting a report from the Land of Stars' official news channel. The content was about the grand spectacle of the latest batch of students' enrollment ceremony at Star Ninja Village. The screen showed glimpses of Natsuhi and Hotarubi, and a shot of Nono giving a speech as the vice-principal.
He leaned back on the sofa, his gaze on the screen, but his thoughts seemed to drift towards the chattering conversation coming from the kitchen.
The kitchen door opened and closed, and enticing aromas continuously wafted out.
Kushina seemed determined to pour out over a decade's worth of maternal love all at once.
She directed the still somewhat unfamiliar Hikari to assist, and the two of them managed to prepare a full table of sumptuous dishes for dinner.
During dinner, the atmosphere was even more peculiar.
Hikari and Menma sat on one side. Hikari's face still held a hint of lingering blush. The two of them occasionally served each other food.
Their movements were skilled and natural, revealing a strange tacit understanding and habit.
Kushina sat opposite them, watching the coldly beautiful young woman sitting next to her son, carefully looking after him.
An extremely complex yet supremely happy smile appeared on Kushina's grayish face. Her eyes were filled with the loving light of 'the partner my son found is really good'.
The meal ended amidst Kushina's chatter and Hikari's occasional soft responses.
After the meal, Hikari proactively stood up and began deftly clearing the dishes, carrying them to the kitchen to wash.
Kushina initially wanted to help. Just as she stood up, her gaze fell on Hikari's busy back in the kitchen. For a moment, she seemed to see her good friend Mikoto, who had also been a Jonin of the Uchiha Clan before retiring after marriage to devote herself fully to her family.
Kushina looked again at Menma sitting on the sofa. The longing and worry for Naruto surged up in her heart once more.
She walked over to the sofa and sat down next to Menma.
The TV was still playing a promotional video of Star City's bustling night scene, forming a stark contrast with Kushina's heavy mood at the moment.
"Menma..." Kushina's voice lowered. She gently took Menma's hand, which was resting on the sofa. Though she couldn't transmit warmth, her concern was crystal clear, "Naruto... Naruto he... is he doing well in Konoha? Did Third Hokage-sama... take good care of him?"
Her gaze was locked tightly on Menma's eyes, full of hope yet with deeply hidden anxiety.
Menma was silent for a few seconds. The light from the TV screen flickered in his sapphire blue eyes.
He gently patted Kushina's cold hand with his own, his voice low and calm as he spoke slowly: "The Third Hokage settled him. Arranged a place for him to live. Basic food, clothing, and necessities are provided. But..."
He paused, watching the instantly tense look in Kushina's eyes: "In the village... there has always been a rumor that he is the 'reincarnation of the Nine-Tails demon fox'. The villagers... transferred their fear and hatred of the Nine-Tails onto Naruto. No one was willing to get close to him. Children threw stones at him... Adults looked at him with disgust..."
Kushina's body trembled violently. Her grayish hands clenched into white-knuckled fists, as if she wanted to crush something.
Those dark cracks seemed to grow deeper.
Though she couldn't cry, the heart-rending agony was clearly written across her face.
"The caretakers hired by the Third... no one was willing to look after him long-term. They were changed again and again. In the end-" Menma sighed softly: "So Naruto has lived alone since he was a child. In an empty house, eating expired milk and instant noodles, learning to take care of himself..."
"No... please, stop..." Kushina bowed her head sharply. The shoulders of her reanimated form shook with suppressed sobs.
She could almost see her bright-haired son, usually like a little sun, huddled in a cold room with his knees drawn up, gazing out lonely at the city lights...
The mere thought of that loneliness and pain was suffocating.
She couldn't understand it. Menma's tragic experience could be blamed on that mysterious masked man, explained away by his disappearance. But why hadn't Naruto received better care?
Only the cheerful background music from the TV and Kushina's muffled weeping remained in the living room.
Menma sat quietly.
After a long while, Kushina's emotions gradually settled.
She raised her head. Her face was a web of fissures, her gray eyes filled with profound sorrow and deep helplessness.
Menma looked at her and sighed softly, his voice gentle. "Mom, don't be too upset. Tomorrow, I'll take you to Konoha Village to see for yourself."
"See Naruto with your own eyes. And see... what Konoha has become after you and Father sacrificed yourselves."
Kushina nodded forcefully. A glimmer of hope shone on her ashen face.
Being able to see Naruto herself, even if only from a distance, would be a tremendous comfort.
The night grew deeper.
Early the next morning, winter sunlight streamed gently through the large floor-to-ceiling windows, filling the living room.
Menma walked down the spiral staircase, dressed in simple, dark home clothes.
He moved quietly toward the large window that opened onto the courtyard.
Through the clear glass, a peaceful and warm scene came into view.
The courtyard was blanketed in a thin layer of fresh snow from the night before, glittering in the morning light.
Under the simple, rustic engawa, Kushina and Hikari sat side by side.
Kushina still wore her dark green dress, bundled in a thick cloak.
Hikari was dressed in an elegant home kimono with a beige knitted cardigan over it.
A small red clay brazier sat between them, its charcoal burning brightly with a soft crackle.
An antique copper kettle rested on the brazier, a wisp of white steam curling from its spout. The scent of tea, mingled with the smell of burning charcoal, drifted lazily on the cool air.
Kushina was turned toward Hikari, speaking with animated expressions and warm smiles, her hands moving as she talked.
Hikari listened, leaning slightly forward. Her usually cool profile looked much softer in the morning light, and a faint smile even touched her lips.
She nodded gently now and then or offered a quiet response.
This obedient demeanor in front of an elder was a stark contrast to her typically proud and aloof Uchiha bearing.
Delicate snowflakes drifted down from the clear blue sky, settling silently on the courtyard snow, the engawa tiles, and their hair and shoulders.
The red glow of the brazier warmed two faces from different eras, yet they looked perfectly harmonious in that moment.
The tea fragrance misted the air. Time itself seemed to pause gently in that little corner.
Menma stood by the window, leaning against the pillar beside it, a slight smile on his lips as he quietly took in the heartwarming scene.
The morning sun fell upon him. His sapphire blue eyes reflected the snow's glow, the brazier's light, and the two figures chatting softly… all clear and serene.