Unknown memories-II

(3rd Person PoV)

As the dust settled, the intruder leaped onto the nearby boulder....and he could see the left hand of the intruder slowly melting away, ..just like the hardened mud upon contact with water.

The intruder was tightly clutching the shoulder of the now melting arm.

"huff ...huff, you....got me, huh... you really are a slippery one."

The intruder spoke facing him, with a weary tone,... and finally admitted;

"I should never have let my guard around you."

As the intruder was speaking, immediately the next moment he found himself at the receiving end of a powerful punch,....which greatly shocked him,.... as he was speaking and the very instant,.. without any chakra fluctuations or any sound Minato had bypassed his defences and attacked him.

"Flying Raijin jutsu!"

Spoke the intruder with a heavy and pained tone. At the same time his mind began to come up with the cause of the current situation;

'So that's it,.... he must have marked me somewhere... haah!'

Suddenly he noticed that a seal appeared on his chest where Minato placed his hand and upon recognizing the seal he muttered;

'huh,.. a contract seal.'

'He intends to breach the influence I have on Nine-tails?'

"With this,.. the Nine-tails no longer belong to you."

Declared Minato, confidence beaming from his tone of speech

{At the same time, on the battlefield.}

The Nine-tails suddenly roared facing the sky, as if announcing his freedom to the heavens. The once sharingan eyes of the beast turned to its original slitted red form,.... indicating of it breaking away from the influence of the masked man/intruder.

The Nine-tails, in anger of being imprisoned by humans and for the many years of humiliation in being sealed started to destroy nearby buildings and tried to crush as many detestable humans he could.

At the same time somewhere in near proximity of the Nine-tails, a women emerged from the fallen debris,.. while protecting someone who appears to be her son;

"Iruka are you.. alright?"

Spoke the woman with concern edged to her voice. 

(Time-skip to the point where Minato teleports the Nine-tails towards a certain location,.. away from the village.)

Minato teleport alongside Kushina and Naruto outside the cottage, in order to avoid being caught up in the rubble.

"huff haa. I must erect a barrier now,.. I don't have much chakra."

"I can still do it. .Minato!"

Kushina affirmed Minato in a tired voice. Right after which five golden ethereal chains erected from her back and spread out and captured Nine-tails, simultaneously creating a large dome shaped barrier in the surroundings in order to restrain it, while the beast just growled in anger of being in a helpless situation again.

"cough hah, cough cough"

"Kushina!"

Minato cried out in panic, after seeing her violently coughing out blood. Hearing his shout, the young Naruto in his arms started to cry. 

"Woke you up hah...? sorry~ Naruto."

Kushina gently questioned her son. While sensing something amiss in her tone, Minato realized it, and looked up at her;

"Kushina!"

Seeing as Minato had caught up to her thoughts, she didn't hide it and spoke;

"I'm going to take the Nine-tails with me to my.....death, huff!"

"Because, in this way we can increase the interval between now and when he emerges again."

"hah.. huff, it's all I can manage now with what... haa ha little chakra I have left. And I'll be able to save you both."

"Also, thank you for everything you have done for me."

Kushina spoke with labored breaths, while the gentle smile never left her lips. That smile carried extreme weight of the responsibility that has befallen her, yet she was resolute in doing as she had mentioned, if meant the survival of her two most precious people in her entire life.

(Minato's PoV)

Seeing her smiling like that... broke my heart, it was the type of feeling that.. I don't want to experience again ever. It was suffocating, ..heavy, ..painful, ..unbearable. 

'Kushina. You are the one..it was you who made me the Fourth Hokage, you made me a man and you.. made me this baby's father!'

'And yet...'

Tears began to formed in my eyes, ..I fill pathetic,.. helpless. I know I might be making an unsightly face now, ..but I don't care, right now I am not the Hokage, ..nor am I some kind of genius who would be victorious in any difficult situation...right now ..I am just helpless, weak.. man-of-the-family.

"Ohh, Minato .. please don't give me that sad look!"

As if sensing my inner turmoil, Kushina spoke with a helpless look on her face, ..and;

"I am happy that you loved me ... and today is this child's birthday, if I were to imagine me alive and our future together, the three of us as a family.... I cant see us but having happy life...."

At this point tears were flowing through my eyes, ..... this helpless situation I was in, I hate it extremely so .... 

Kushina looked up at me and gave a helpless smile and said,

"If I were allowed just one regret, it is that I won't be able to watch Naruto grow up. oh... how I wish I could've seen that!"

"Kushina, there is no need for you to die with Nine-tails;"

Looking up at her I spoke with the stubborn resolution that she was oh so familiar with;

"Preserve what little chakra you have left, for a reunion with Naruto." 

Just as I was about to speak further I got the weird set of memory flashbacks ...again , just like they were from the beginning of the fight with Nine-tails. Those memories were incomplete and were just bunch of jumbled mess that I couldn't comprehend and , ..... which I had to piece together and.. the last piece I just received just shocked me to the core.

Those memories were of me from some alternate reality where peace prevailed in the land of the living, it was the planet called 'Earth', but the most shocking thing was not the memories but the specific part of it that our world, the shinobi world was nothing but a fiction.... a mere story to relieve boredom... at that I was slightly angry, but the most harrowing part was the childhood that my child had to go due to my trust in Konoha and the Third Hokage, ...

He was just but a innocent child, seeing him grow through these many hardships broke my heart, ... but also brought a smile and relief knowing that there were people who cared about him and the bonds he formed, ... he was just so much alike Kushina in many regards, that ... I couldn't put into words.