Chapter 7

"Are you finally up Kushina?"

The drowsy red head girl walks down the stairs with hed eyes still somewhat half closed.

She stretches her legs and sits at the table while I finish preparing the food I made for the two of us.

"Oshima are we going to the Senju compound today?"

"Oh have you already learned all the sealing jutsu in the beginner book Tsunade-sama gave you?"

Kushina nods while pouring syrup on the pancakes I placed in front of her.

"Tsunade said I'm really talented at sealing jutsu, far better than her."

Kushina had a smug smile on her face when she said that.

I suppose that is something to be smug about. It would be sacrilegious of me to compare myself to Kushina in terms of sealing jutsu.

Despite being a jinchuriki, one of the nine tails no less, she still has incredible control over her massive chakra reserves.

This chakra control makes her far superior to me in sealing jutsu, not to even mention Minato and the other academy students.

I pat her head with the surface of my palm and she looks up at me in surprise, obviously not expecting any form of encouragement from her 'rival.'

"I'm glad your not completely useless Kushina, just remember to continue your taijutsu training otherwise," A cruel smirk crosses my face and I stare down at her condescendingly like she's some pitiful person. "I'll have to settle for that loser Minato as a rival."

Immediately the stunned face turns into one of scorching anger.

"Dammit! You bastard! Do you really think you're that much better than me?"

The red hot habanero gets that iconic red tint in her eyes and I can feel a small amount of bijuu chakra being pulled from the seal containing Kurama.

Kushina really needs to get a grip on that foreign chakra otherwise any time she feels any intense emotion she'll lose control.

Ever since the death of Mito and the news of Tsunade leaving the village half a year ago to go to the land of Rain she's been very unstable.

The reason she was sent here is because all of her blood relatives were about to be almost completely wiped out by the other four great villages. Kushina isn't stupid, she knows that the rest of her clan is most likely dead at this point despite the Hokage not officially declaring that the village hidden in the whirlpool has been destroyed.

Kurama isn't making this any better either. The hokage keeps coming by to talk to her but it's obvious she doesn't actually pay attention. Kurama is most certainly influencing her thoughts.

Why didn't the hokage stop the genocide of your clan? If he's so strong and loves the Uzumaki as much as he says he does why didn't he stop the other nations?

Those sorts of thoughts.

Kushina is definitely not safe in Konohagakure, she's perhaps the only remnant of her clan and now even keeping the Uzumaki seals with the last Uzumaki alive will be difficult.

Hiruzen, Danzo and the other two elders will likely confiscate the unique Uzumaki sealing jutsu and spread them to the other shinobi in the village.

Soon all the remaining parts of her culture and lineage will be taken or destroyed and the name Uzumaki will just be another page in the history book of the great villages.

"Kushina."

Kushina pauses at my suddenly very serious tone and turns silent.

"I know that the beast inside you can tell what emotions and intentions people have right?"

Her eyes widen and she nervously nods her head while shifting her eyes to the side so she can't look at me.

"What does that beast say about Hiruzen?"

It's here where Kushina shakes a bit, her knees wobble for a second before her previous misty eyes clear up slightly.

"H-he says that H-Hiruzen and the elder named D-Danzo want to use me as a weapon in the upcoming w-war."

I thought so.

There is no way that the extermination of the Uzumaki wasn't in some way connected to Danzo. I wouldn't be surprised if Hiruzen did think of using Kushina as a human nuke.

With a seal master like Jiraiya and several elite anbu teams accompanying Kushina it wouldn't be hard to use her as a highly effective reusable bomb.

"Um."

Kushina chokes on her words and her eyes look up to meet mine.

"Aren't you curious what the beast says about you?"

Hearing that come from her mouth only makes me smile.

"Of course not. You already know the type of person I am and why I train with you."

Kushina drops her head again and stays quiet for a few seconds before whispering something.

"It's fine if you only talk to me because of your greed. At the very least you aren't like the hypocritical hokage, full of false words and promises."

"Hah, don't say things like that otherwise I'll legitimately feel bad for you."

She smiles brightly at me with tears falling from her light brown eyes. At this moment I can't help but feel bad for her, she reminds me too much of Angel.

"Shut up you jackass I just wanted to go get another sealing scroll and now you've made me cry."

My arms wrap around her and she digs her face into my shoulder, completely letting the floodgates open.

Maybe you're worth more than I thought Kushina Uzumaki. Is it bad that some of my emotions are being influenced by memories that aren't really mine?

Perhaps due to what Midnight experienced in the tower of heaven I can't help but feel sorry for Kushina.

Who is there left in this world that truly cares for her?

Mito is dead. The Uzumaki clan is dead. Kushina will never see Tsunade again. She is segregated and bullied in this village where she is only treated as a cage for a demon fox.

The monster inside of her is constantly trying to escape it's cell and Kushina is the only one that can bear this weight.

Am I really becoming soft? Or am I finally truly becoming "Midnight?"