Amaya Uzumaki POV
My eyes quickly scanned the living room, checking if I had forgotten to organize anything. Mattresses, blankets, cushions, pillows, heater... I ran through the list in my head for a moment. I think everything's ready here.
With that taken care of, I headed to the kitchen where Kushina was preparing some snacks for us to eat later. The redhead was wearing her long pajamas thanks to the cooler temperature that night while I had opted for a short-sleeved set, since the mild weather didn't bother me as much.
I had to hold back a laugh that threatened to escape my lips when I noticed the print on her pajamas: it was yellow with dozens of little brown bear faces all over. In contrast, mine was completely dark blue without any details. Okaasan dresses more like how I should dress than I do..., I thought.
And pondering that, I couldn't help but think this was the first time, since going with Kakashi to the Eternal Labyrinth Cave when I played in the waterfall with the ninkens, that I was actually doing something someone my age would do.
I learned how to play, even if it was with ninja dogs, and a smile automatically came to my face. And today, I'm going to experience something I believe is normal for girls to do.
– A girls' night... – I said, and only when I did, I realized it was out loud.
– Is something bothering you about that? – Kushina asked, and I turned my eyes to her, seeing the Namikaze had stopped what she was doing to stare at me.
– No, the opposite – I smiled – I'm excited – The redhead gave a weak smile too – But I'm curious about one thing.
– What is it?
– Why did you suggest this so suddenly, okaasan?
The Namikaze's gaze stayed on me for a few seconds before she focused her attention elsewhere.
– I just want my daughter to spend some time with her friends, that's all!
I arched an eyebrow at the redhead's justification, recognizing right away that was clearly not the reason – although part of it probably was.
Kushina's eyes landed on me again, but this time I kept our eye contact directly, which made her not look away from me. She hesitated for a few moments.
– Ah! – She raised her tone and spoke quickly – I want to give you a girls' night so you can enjoy your youth and also so I can do with you what my mother did with me, 'ttebane!
I was obviously caught off guard by Kushina's sincerity. I didn't expect to hear that, even knowing what she told me before wasn't the whole truth about this girls' night.
But what really surprised me was the reddish color that took over my mother's cheeks, even as she kept her hands in front of her face. She's embarrassed!, I realized.
And I could have had any reaction at that moment, but the first and most spontaneous response I could give Kushina after what she told me was a laugh. Restrained at first, but soon impossible to hold back.
The embarrassed expression on the redhead in front of me gave way to an irritated look when her eyes returned to me.
– Don't laugh, 'ttebane! – Kushina said, trying to put irritation in her tone but not really managing it.
I thought about apologizing and explaining the reason for my sudden behavior, but I preferred to act. I left the spot I was in and approached Kushina, hugging her tightly.
Since I'm a little taller than my mother, I could easily wrap my arms around her body and let my chin rest on the curve of her neck. And this time, she was the one surprised by my gesture.
– Thank you, Kushina – I thanked her quietly, since I was right next to her – For everything, and especially for letting me be your and Minato's daughter.
Even though I couldn't see the redhead's face, I could feel her cheek heating up against mine – a sign she was blushing again – and also feel her arms holding me more firmly in that hug.
* Present Time *
Naruto Uzumaki POV
Before Kakashi-sensei could continue narrating the girls' night that nee-chan and our mother had, the environment around me changed back to one I had just been in: The room where Kurama was.
– Ah, you're interrupting the story again, Kurama! – I complained loudly and pointed an accusing finger at the bijuu in front of me – First you didn't want to answer my questions, and now you don't want to let me hear the rest!
– Shut up, idiot! – The fox snapped – I didn't answer any of your questions before because I knew you'd never stop asking them, and unlike Kakashi, I don't have that much patience to deal with your restlessness! – I wanted to retort, but the bijuu really had a valid point there – And besides, time here doesn't flow the same way as out there. So the time that passes here will be just an instant outside your mind – I looked at Kurama in surprise with that information.
– So you're going to tell me about that meeting you had with nee-chan? – I asked, and he nodded.
– But let me make this clear from the start: Everything I thought and said to your sister came from a time when I still hated all humans, and when I still didn't know who Amaya really was.
__________________________________________________________________________
Humans.
There's nothing I despise more than these beings.
Wild animals that walk on two legs, a little more aware than the others, but who act more beastly than the irrational ones. They take everything they lay their eyes on and think they have the right to use others.
Maybe at some point in my entire existence in this lost world, I felt some empathy for them. Hagoromo was the only one who really saved this cursed race that walks around destroying everything it touches. I tried, for him, to believe in these humans, but look what their actions brought:
They war amongst themselves over stupid things, destroy, kill, and use us as weapons for their conflicts. They lock us in these flesh and bone cells, fragile, in order to extract something to use for their benefit.
And even though they end up not using me, like the human I'm currently bound to, just the knowledge of my presence is enough to frighten enemy nations if Konoha were to use my power against them, or even their own residents if this woman loses the control she has over me.
Control over me...
Having my vitality linked to a being I wish to kill the moment the slightest opportunity arises is frustrating. If she dies, I'll follow shortly after. And because she carries Uzumaki blood, her mental energy is strong enough to keep me trapped in her consciousness so I can't take control of her body.
Damn you, Kushina!
But even though she's better than her predecessor, she's still just a mortal. Her defenses against me are almost perfectly impeccable, however, the experience of millennia surpasses any resistance from someone who's barely lived a full life.
I could see through her eyes what the woman observed daily when any of her emotions flared up more intensely. When she was still a child, her anger was something that easily drew me in because it opened gaps for me to influence her.
Rejection, isolation, fear, hatred, disgust... The village residents never looked at her favorably, even though she was the only one who could keep them safe from me by being my jinchuriki.
How ironic...
Yet, that unbridled rage of hers only lasted until that blonde idiot saved her from the Cloud ninja who kidnapped her. There, she discovered a new way to prevent my interventions to take control of her body: Love.
A hateful, repulsive feeling that made her happier and gave her a sense of importance and belonging that hadn't existed in her life until then. And though I hate to admit it, it made her stronger to deal with me.
Besides the feelings she has for the Namikaze clan man and all the joy that radiates from her when she's with him, the thing that bothers me the most is what she developed for another specific person...
A warm feeling hit me suddenly, and a feminine laugh echoed through Kushina's mind. A sudden feeling of shame arose in the air, and I felt bothered by it: The woman who was feeling it wasn't usually like this.
With nothing more interesting at the moment than finding out the cause, I saw the environment of the house where the redhead lived, the kitchen, and the source of the laugh the woman was hearing that was causing her embarrassment: Amaya Uzumaki.
A low growl escaped my teeth at the sight of that young human creature. Not quite human, I'd say..., I corrected myself. Since I could see the same as Kushina, I had acquired a lot of information about that bicolor-haired girl.
A living being created artificially to simulate a human, carrying Uchiha and Uzumaki blood. Just another thing humans developed for personal benefit.
This specific girl gained my attention for two reasons:
The first being the great chance she might end up being my next jinchuriki for being a descendant of the Uzumaki and Uchiha clans – the only ones who, along with the Senjus, had managed to control me until then.
And the second relating to the anger that should exist within her for being who she was. She had experienced human misery, felt pain, suffering, and the greed of others firsthand. And on top of that, she also carried the cursed blood of the Uchihas.
The girl had everything to be a bottomless pit of hatred for everything that exists in the world. She would be the best bet to succumb to me if they ever made her a jinchuriki.
But I soon discovered I was completely mistaken.
Amaya Uzumaki was the perfect reflection of kindness, carrying a noble and overly generous soul, naturally inclined to do good to those around her. I tried many times to sense any feeling of resentment stored in her, but I couldn't find a single sign.
The damn girl was a pure being.
She really couldn't receive the categorization of human, given how her benevolent behavior was exclusive to her.
I saw the younger Uzumaki move from where she was standing and suddenly approach Kushina, wrapping her in her arms.
"Thank you, Kushina. For everything, and especially for letting me be your and Minato's daughter."
The girl's words reverberated through the Namikaze's mind, and again the feeling of warmth my jinchuriki felt hit me, making me nauseous.
Kushina loved that brat, truly as a mother should love a child that came from her. And Amaya loved the woman as the parent she never had.
The girl then let Kushina finish what she was doing, since the Namikaze had told her to just rest while she finished the last things for that night that would gather the younger one's friends at their house.
(Maybe I had left Kushina's consciousness at that moment just to not have to endure all that fuss she was going through with her sister, but something in me felt bothered, almost like a sensation of being watched...)
And it was at that moment that the strangest thing in my entire existence occurred:
Kushina stopped what she was doing to ask the Uzumaki something, but when she did, the girl wasn't looking at the woman specifically, it was almost as if she was... Staring at me.
Her eyes fixed on the woman's in front of her, but as if looking at me. And that's when I found myself back in the place where Kushina kept me locked in her mind.
Bound to a large, solid round stone, with each of my tails and paws held in place by stakes, as was my belly. And to complete the prison, at least a dozen adamantine chains wrapped around me.
However, this time, the difference in that place was that I didn't feel alone.
I lowered my head as much as I could toward the stake that was on my abdomen. There, the girl with predominantly red hair stood with her gaze fixed on me.
And the surprise seemed to be mutual.
– You brat, how are you here?! – I asked, already letting my anger permeate the environment.
A normal person would probably have recoiled or even been frightened by the negative energy that was predominant in that place even with Kushina's control over me. However, Amaya didn't seem shocked; her gaze was... Intrigued.
– Your chakra... I've felt it before – The girl said in her characteristic gentle tone, with her eyes fixed on mine – Why does all this negative energy emanate from you? Who are you?
– I don't owe any explanations to a damn lab-created creature! – I shouted.
A new expression took over the redhead's features, but it wasn't the irritation I expected, rather surprise.
– You know about me? – She asked in a way that sounded rhetorical – I appeared in this place when my attention was on Kushina, because of the irritation I felt coming from her and the burning sensation it caused me.
(And for the first time in centuries, a human managed to pique my curiosity. Not because Amaya had managed to feel the anger I emanated from within Kushina – I had noticed that quite a while ago since the Uzumaki had always shown herself to be more sensitive to others' chakra. But because of her comment about the burning sensation...)
For a moment, I didn't respond by shouting insults at the girl, and she seemed to notice my reflection on her last comment.
She turned calmly to me and moved her long hair that fell down her back. The Uzumaki moved her arms, letting the button-up shirt she was wearing slide down a bit on her back.
And something just below her nape caught my attention: A kind of symbol, but one that resembled a birthmark.
A crescent moon and a circle that seemed to refer to the sun because of the previous symbol, with two smaller spheres to the right and left, as well as one above and another below the two central celestial bodies.
– This seems to be related to you, somehow – The girl commented suddenly, looking at me over her shoulder – The first time I felt your chakra, the same burning happened. Do you know what this means?
Although many years had passed, I could never forget that symbol – at least what concerned the crescent moon and the sun. This mark looks like the symbols that characterized his sons..., I thought for a moment.
And thinking that, the only meaning those six spheres brought me referred to just one thing, one that made my irritation toward that girl return. No, I refuse to accept this absurd idea!
Amaya Uzumaki POV
That immense orange-furred being I was sharing the space with which until that moment I hadn't understood where it was had remained silent for a few moments when I showed him the mark on my back.
That seemed to have really captured his attention and even calmed part of all the anger that being was emanating into the environment. But his expression soon returned to irritation, and I'd venture to say it was even worse than before.
– You damned thing! – That being vociferated in a much louder tone than any he had used until then – I'm going to end you!
All I could think of was some reason for him to have turned his initial rage against me again. However, I couldn't figure out what I had done to provoke him to that state, and I didn't even have more time to try to unravel it.
I had noticed the state that being was in there, completely trapped. Yet, even so, he tried to move against all those restraints.
His energy was dense, charged with hatred that seemed to seek ways to emerge in me as a rage similar to his. But at the same time, another chakra made itself present there, making the chains tighten against that being, and this particular chakra was familiar to me.
At that same moment, I found myself in another place, or rather, back to where I really was: At home, in the kitchen with Kushina.
– So, have you thought about which movie we're going to watch later? – The redhead asked, smiling, and I turned my eyes to her, though I wasn't really paying attention to her.
I spent some time talking to that being, but here it seems like not even a second passed..., I mused.
– Okaasan... – I said quietly, trying to process everything that was happening – What is that trapped orange being?
And finally, I raised my eyes to my mother's. She blinked once, twice, three times before the smile left her lips and gave way to a worried expression.
– What do you mean? – Kushina asked in a serious tone of voice, something rare for her.
– I don't know how to explain it right, but I just spoke with that being. The time from where he was trapped was different, and here it seemed like a mere second when I returned – I explained quickly – He seemed bothered, though surprised, by the fact that I had appeared to him. His energy made the air heavy and seemed to seethe with...
– Rage – The redhead completed my sentence before I could and I stared at her – A massive chakra of the purest rage – I nodded slowly – That's why he was restless now... – She commented quietly and momentarily placed a hand on her belly.
And that made me conclude something.
– That thing is inside you... – I concluded.
– Amaya... – Kushina hesitated for a moment before looking at me – I think I can't postpone this conversation about the Nine-Tails any longer.