25. Kushina’s Past

"Hehe, yes, I will tell you my story" said Kushina sitting next to Aiko.

"I migrated to the leaf from Uzushiogakure when I was seven years old, because I had a unique chakra that was very effective in suppressing tailed beasts." Said Kushina looking into the distance.

"But, at that time, I did not know this was the reason and was scared and confused about moving into a new place full of strangers, I stayed at the house of Mito-san who was also an Uzumaki and wife of the first Hokage."

"Well, it took some time to integrate and get used to the surroundings." she said with a smile remembering her early academy days and 'training' she had done with students who had tried teasing her for her red hair and round face.

'Umm, Kushina-san's smile looks scary.' thought Aiko looking at Kushina's face.

"Well Minato and I were in the same class, but I thought he was a wimp as he was always smiling and never helped me, but once I became a genin, I was kidnapped by the shinobi of Kumogakure who wanted to control the nine tails through me, because my chakra was sealed and I couldn't fight back. So, I plucked out my hair secretly creating a trail hoping that someone would see them and come to my rescue. Do you know who was the only one who noticed?" she asked looking at the boy, who shook his head.

"It was Minato, he defeated four jounin level ninja from Kumo and saved me, "It's very beautiful hair so I noticed it immediately." he said as he carried me back to Konoha" said Kushina caressing her hair, which she used to hate, and a light blush adorned her beautiful face as she recalled the moment.

"That was the moment I fell in love with him, it was like fate had brought us together and I also stopped caring about the identity as a Jinchūriki, because I knew there was someone who would accept me as I am even if I am a Jinchūriki."

"So, it was because of my special chakra and becoming a Jinchūriki, that I could come to Konoha, escape my village's destruction and have a Family here, even though it was hard and I faced a lot of difficulties, I could not ask for anything more at the moment" she said looking into the distance.

"So, acting like a victim and hating the Kyubi when we humans were the ones who first captured it is not appropriate and even cowardly right?" muttered Kushina as she caressed his hair smiling bitterly.

Aiko silently held her hand sensing her low mood, as he did not know what to say, but the respect he had for the woman who had given him a home and treated him like family increased drastically.

"Hmph, I will never forgive you humans for using me like a tool." said Kyubi, who was listening in on their conversation angrily.

"I am not asking for your forgiveness, nor do I intend to use you as a tool, I just felt a bit bad for treating you like a mindless beast, and be scared of you when you did nothing to me personally and I also know the feeling of being treated like a tool, because I was supposed to be one until I married Minato." replied Kushina mentally hearing Kyubi's angry voice.

Being a Jinchūriki, she had been under constant surveillance and was sometimes sent on dangerous missions and her status used as a deterrent on other villages.

Kyubi got silent and withdrew its consciousness into the seal as if not willing to talk further.

"Anyway, Aiko-kun how is your training going on?" asked Kushina looking at the boy as the smile returned to her face.

Aiko told her about the seal he was working on and its shortcomings and also about his match with Kakashi.

Kushina had a surprised expression on her face listening to the boy, it had not even been a month, but he had developed a seal of his own and applied it successfully in battle.

So, in this fashion the month of August came to an end and Aiko continued his training increasing the weights he used and felt that he was close to levelling up. It was one of the benefits he got after his instinct manipulation skill levelled up that he could feel when he was close to a level up.

........................

Aiko was walking along the streets of Konoha, looking at the people happily going along with their lives.

He found out the use of his new feature in Mapping skill, he can sense Kushina's aura even if she was out of his range at home, he still did not know the range of this new feature, but he thought it was a good thing.

He saw civilians going into restaurants, bookstores and clothes shop while ninjas wearing their uniforms flocking around weapon shops, fast food centres and potion shops. It was a scene of strange harmony even though their lives were totally different as one worried about how much money they made that month while the other could be in mortal danger at any time.

'The world is so simple yet so complex' he thought because even though they were all humans each one's pursuit in life was different but they also seemed fundamentally the same, he still did not understand the complexities that much, but it was nonetheless interesting.

Aiko sat on the bench which was on the side walk as he observed the interactions between people as he found out that it helped him understand the people and even himself better as sometimes the people had happy smiles on their faces, but their aura was sad and gloomy or they had angry and embarrassed expressions on their faces while their aura rippled with happiness, making him wonder why there was such a difference.

While Aiko was enjoying his free time he noticed a few suspicious people going around the shops, piquing his interest.

They were a group of four dressed in civilian clothes going around with stoic faces, but what made Aiko notice them was that all their marking in his mapping skill was red in colour, showing that they had ill intentions towards him.

As he had never met them before, nor were they even looking at his direction Aiko realised they had ill intentions towards all the people present in this area. He was a bit shocked when he came to this realisation and decided to see what they were upto.

Aiko activated his presence concealment skill as he made a few hand signs creating seals on his palms to deploy them when necessary as he entered the shop they were in.

It was a small tea shop which had a moderate amount of customers as it was nearing afternoon,the group of four sat on a table and ordered some sweets while having idle chat with the waiter, their stoic expressions were nowhere to be seen as they spoke to the waiter showing appropriate interest on their faces.

This further increased his vigilance towards them, Aiko ordered a glass of lemon juice and was given some sweets from the female waiter who said it was on the house as she pinched his cheeks.

'They taste good' thought Aiko rubbing his cheeks feeling a bit annoyed as he ate a sweet while looking at the people from the corner of his eye, it was then he noticed one of the four covertly placing a small bag which was colored like wood near the table leg as they got up and left the store.