"I should have killed that yellow-haired brat along with that old man Hiruzen when I had the chance!" the Raikage bellowed as he went to smash few high rise mountain boulders which have been absorbing nature energy for a long time even they could not withstand his rage.
Behind him, the space shimmered. Benihime appeared as if she had stepped out of the air. She did not flinch at the debris raining down around her. She simply walked into the epicenter of the concentric craters.
"Smashing the landscape won't bring our Grandson back," she said, her voice cutting through the ringing silence following his explosion.
The Raikage turned, his chest heaving in anger. His red hair and beard bristled with lightning. "They have Kaien, my Grandson... our Grandson and Konoha thinks they can use him as a bargaining chip?"
Benihime stepped forward, placing a hand on his massive shoulders. The lightning hummed against her skin from the Raikage's cloak, but she didn't pull away. "Tomorrow is the day for the peace treaty. The terms have been set. We will exchange the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki for Kaien."
The Raikage took a deep breath, forcing the cloak to recede into his pores. He had only just woken from a deep slumber, only to be greeted by a geopolitical nightmare."Where is she?" he asked, his voice dropping to a low, dangerous rumble.
"See for yourself," Benihime said without waiting for an answer. She gripped his shoulder, and with a surge of her unique jutsu, they both vanished.
~~
On a secluded side of the Genbu island. There was a place that naturally drained the chakra of those who set foot on it, a perfect spot for Genbu's food.. It was the perfect prison for a Jinchuriki.
Kushina Uzumaki sat cross-legged in the center of her own built house. She was sat like a statue as several small mountain birds had perched on her shoulders and in the crook of her lap, sensing no killing intent from the woman who sat as still as the trees around her.
Her Kagura's Mind Eye was wide open, spanning miles. She felt the heavy, oppressive thrum of the island's natural energy.
"Ten minutes," she thought, her brow twitching slightly. It still takes ten minutes to balance the intake. If I were in a real fight, I'd be dead three times over before I could even gather a spark of Sage chakra.
Her eyes snapped open. The pupils were no longer simple slits; they were surrounded by vibrant orange circles, the mark of the Sage. Every time the Nine-Tails tried to claw its way out of the seal, the island would greedily suck away the fox's malevolent chakra, leaving Kushina a hollow shell. To survive the backlash, she had learned to pull nature energy from the world around her, without any support all while being an imperfect jinchuriki.
She felt them before they arrived. Two chakra signatures... one like a raging inferno, the other as elusive as a shadow. She knew Benihime's signature well; the woman moved through the world as if the concept of distance didn't exist just like Minato but the other... it felt like her own kin... her own bloodline.
When the two figures materialized in a swirl of displaced air, the birds on her shoulder took flight. Kushina made her way out as she undid her sage mode... to see an angry young man who had the same hair color as her standing next to the old lady Benihime
Through her heightened senses which have evolved after learning sage mode, she could feel the swirling vortex of emotions coming from the Raikage: urgency, a bitter sort of pride, and fury directed towards somewhere else.
"You are going back to Konoha," the Raikage stated, cutting straight through any pretense. "To the place you belong."
For years, she had dreamed of going back to the village Hidden in the Leaf. She had dreamed of the ramen, the Konoha, and... Minato. But when she it was finally happening, she was not excited about it. She thought, "Maybe I should escape to Uzushiogakure and rebuild and start over there before they give me back to Konoha. But why so suddenly?"
Then, she wondered. "I wonder how Minato is doing? How would he react if he heard I am rebuilding Uzushio? Would he become a rogue ninja to join me? or Would he as loyal shinobi of Konoha hunt me down? Do I even love him? Either way I have to grow strong if I have to pursue my goal and not to be dependent on anyone. The first enemy I would make would be Konoha."
Benihime was growing with impatience in waiting for a response. "Why are you surprised? Have you become so attached to Kumo that you don't wish to leave? Or you still want to rebuild that Uzushiogakure??"
The Raikage's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "What? You want to rebuild Uzushio?"
He began to scratch his red beard, the gears in his mind turning. He looked at Kushina as a political asset.
Kushina's upgraded, Kagura's Mind Eye, allowed her to "see" the emotion behind their thoughts. She felt Benihime's cold pragmatism, an urgency that bordered on desperation and anger but not directed towards her in fact she had no feelings towards her neither positive nor negative expect for her how I could be put to use... She felt the same thing from the the young man beside her.
"What could be the urgency?" Kushina thought.
"If you are serious about rebuilding Uzushio," the Raikage said, his voice taking on a formal, "then Kumo will do more than just let you go. We will sponsor you."
"A vassal state agreement," the Raikage explained, stepping closer. "Kumo will provide the resources, the labor, and the protection until it rebuilds the Land of Whirlpools. We will establish tax-free trade routes for the first few years. In time, I will use my influence to see that Uzushiogakure is recognized as one of the Great Six Villages. In exchange, you will be our permanent ally. A sovereign nation for others but a vassal state to Kumo. Of course, nothing comes without a price."
Benihime added, "On that note... Kaien have actively pushed to find the Uzumaki lineage. In our search for the last of the Kekkei Genkai users, we've located six families of the Uzumaki clan. There is a girl... Karin Uzumaki. She carries the blood as strongly as you do."
Kushina's heart hammered against her ribs. There are other Uzumaki clanmates alive... Karin and other families. A chance to gather her people and give them a home. It was everything she had ever wanted, offered to her by the "enemy".
Kushina listened as the two spoke about the future of Uzushio., as emotions swelled within her, but she kept her expression steady, revealing nothing.
"Before I agree… I would like to thank that little boy, Kaien, personally."
The moment the words left her lips, she sensed a sharp shift in their emotions to anger. "It was all because of that yellow-haired brat… Kaien better be safe, or Konoha will face my wrath."
Kushina quickly pieced it together. "So the boy has been captured… that explains why I'm being sent back to Konoha... an exchange. And that 'yellow-haired brat'… is it Minato?"
Her gaze lowered slightly, thoughts racing. "I have to help that boy… the one who made me question Konoha… the one who brought back my childhood dream of becoming the Uzushiokage."
She looked up, resolve settling in her eyes.
"I agree to your terms. Uzushiogakure will stand with Kumo honoring the permanent friendship. And as its First Uzushiokage… I will help you retrieve Kaien. We are in this together, but no one should know about it, keep it secret until the time is right."
~~
A/N: Bonus chapter for every subscriber. I will upload the bonus chapter in awhile.
Upto 20 Advance chapters available @ patreon.com/aizenDuchiha0