20 Chapter 20 - a visit..

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{Kushina pov}

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"So pretty!" Her son shouted as they gazed out the window to see the enormous lotus flower seen towaring in the sky for all to see as the blooming pedals loomed overhead.

Kushina knew it could only be one individual capable of such a thing. From tsunade's reports her eldest s- houzu... had inherited the wood style kekkei genkai but seeing it performed with her own eyes was a whole other story.

Hearing mito squealing in excitement in her arms brought a smile to her face as the infant stretched out her chubby arms to try and grab the enormous structure despite the difference in distance and size.

If she had to guess, the structure was at least a few kilometers away from their home.

*Fwish!*

Looking towards the living room she saw Minato appear from means of a flying raijin mark inscribed on the middle of the floor. A safety measure for emergencies in case of a home invasion or attempted kidnapping.

"Minato? Why are you back so suddenly, weren't you in a meeting with hiruzen and the daimyo?" She asked as he picked up Naruto who hugged him lovingly in celebration for his return home.

"The meeting was already concluding when that structure appeared. The elder council demanded houzu to be brought into custody for 'disciplinary reconditioning' for his actions. They were denied of course..." Minato sighed at the councils blatant attempts to make his eldest son their tool.

Kushina frowned at this news, ever since the news of her child possessing wood style reached those old coots they have done everything they could to have him 'trained' for the 'good of the village.' Specifically by danzo. Voicing that the boy was far to destructive and undisciplined.

But she and Minato were far from ignorant of the old war mongers clear desire for power and methods of training shinobi. The root were an exact demonstration of his practices. Hiruzen more than likely knew what they were after too, thus his immediate rejection. Kushina had a feeling that man no longer saw his old teammates as comrades anymore...

"Should...should we go and check on him? Escaping the clutches of death must have put a toll on him..." kushina asked as she gazed to the large flower beyond the horizon. The blonde shook his head sadly.

"That..would be unwise. Especially since the houzu doesn't trust anyone but a few. What can we even say? The boy had stated to tsunade that he'd come to terms with being by himself..." her grip on mito tightened at hearing those words. No child should have to go through such a mindset.

Walking briskly over to her room upstairs she put down her daughter onto the bed and got dressed into her old shinobi gear. Tying her hair into a ponytail she ran back down stairs with mito in toe. "Kushina what are yo-"

"Naruto, put on your shoes, we're...going to visit your brother." She shouted as her baby boy's blue eyes brightened in excitement. Quickly the little blonde ran to the entrance and sloppily did his best to put on his saddles.

With hesitation the former hokage walked over to his son and helped the boy. With his sandles securely on his child's feet he picked him up. Noticing her husband's actions she turned towards him in confusion.

"Minato..?" She asked as her husband's eyes bore a glint she hadn't seen in ages. Pure determination.

"I'm coming with you. Someone will need to watch your back in case something goes wrong." Minato smiled as she looked on in shock. But soon a smile blossomed on her face as well and strided over to the man. Giving him a peck on the cheek she ran out the door with him not far behind.

The moment the couple stepped outside the jumped into the trees with grace and zoomed across the tree tops above. As a few minutes passed the two saw the enormous tree draw closer and closer, but as it did so they sensed other individuals doing the same from the direction of the village.

In mere seconds their mysterious strangers revealed themselves to be children, three of them in fact. Following the three from a distance their enviorment soon began to change as the once crisp dull forest was slowly being replace by beutiful plants and flowers of all sizes. Some of which were large enough to sleep upon.

Kushina wanted nothing more than to pluck a bouquet of them for later decoration. But she saw the kids a from afar were doing their best to avoid touching a single petal. Foregoing her desire they soon came the many massive roots leading up the trunk to which she could hear the children shouting at the flowers, as though they had ears.

"What on earth are they doing!?" Minato questioned while staring at the three. To their astonishment a shere of vines manifested from the ground and formed into a platform. As the three of them climbed on, kushina and Minato sprinted towards them a got on as the platform began to levitate towards the top.

To say the children were surprised by their unannounced appearance was an understatement...

While the eldest of the two bowed in respect at their presence the two other frowned in dissatisfaction.

"What are you doing here?" All the occupants flinched at the distorted voice in their ears as their gaze fell on a mutated looking blossom that seemed to have grown silently in the middle of the structure during their awkward meeting.

The only feature that made the flower stand out was a single eye staring at them with a unamused gaze...

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{Houzu pov}

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...

Staring up at all his...guests through the flower he manifested onto the platform he waited for their answer.

"We didn't-" Hana tried to say but houzu looked her way with a softer gaze, well...as best he could as a flower. "It's alright Hana, you three did nothing wrong."

His three comrades gave a sigh of relief as he looked into the dark violet eyes of his...mother..

"We...wanted to see you. I know it's too late for us to be a family...but mito..naruto...they should at least get to know you." Kushina spoke hopefully as houzu stared at the toddlers looking into his gaze with curiosity.

For a time he remained silent, dismissing the flower and opened his own eyes. Looking around his new residence he had made the floor a soft fuzzy material similar to moss. Other than that the pedals of the structure would be closed at night or during abhorrent weather. Houzu had no need for furniture or a bed, the floor was enough. As for food he was capable of absorbing the nutrition from the earth or the negative energy within the air.

But...seeing as he'll have guests the need for actual decorum seemed appropriate...

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