A normal day
She had a bad feeling about today.
Groaning, she dragged herself out of bed as she tried to not think about whatever it was she was feeling. She heard her mother shout at her to wake up and head down for dinner.
"Coming~!"
She quickly headed downstairs and was met with her mother's smiling face. Her face lit up in a bright smile seeing her. Suddenly, the bad feeling was almost non-existent.
She talked with her mother like usual. Everything was fine.
Breathing in the fresh air as she stood on her house's roof, she quickly ran towards the front area to see the passing cars and bikes. She faintly heard her mother yelling at her to not run on the roof as it's dangerous but she shrugged off her warning as usual. She's done this since she was a kid. What could even go wrong?
Her leg slipped as her smile froze on her face. This time, she clearly heard her mother's voice. She was screaming her name.
Her eyes were widened with fear absolute terror as she fell down to her death.
She woke up with a scream. She faintly heard the rustle of leaves in the forest. Her breathing was ragged as she hugged herself and tried to stop her tears.
Her body wouldn't stop shaking. Gritting her teeth, she slapped herself to make her focus on the pain on her cheek rather than the resurfacing memories. Getting up, she noticed that the cave had been attacked while she was asleep.
She looked at the kunai and shuriken on the ground and the scorching marks on the plants. She glanced at the seals which had protected her. Frowning, she realized that she hadn't even heard the ninja arrive or throw the kunai at her. She had seen ninja like that attacking her and her mother before, at the time though, there was her mother to protect her and all she had done in turn was to compare her to her own mother.
'Maybe I did rely too much on her...'
She shook her head and reminded herself that she was still mourning. Even if it didn't excuse some of her actions, she knew her mother in this life wouldn't have wanted her to feel this way about protecting her.
She took out her scrolls, left by her mother, and began her reading on the history of Uzushio. According to the basic scrolls explaining chakra theory, she couldn't use many chakra related attacks right now or even physical attacks so she opted for studying history and other things she could find for maybe an year. How she would survive the year? Disguise, poison and seals left behind by her mother. However, the more time she wasted on her training the more Uzumaki were killed and enslaved.
She tried to think again and again of what she could do to help them but there wasn't any plans forming in her head. Right now, there was no safe place for them to be at. And if they travelled in a big group then they just be a bigger target. And she couldn't go to Konoha, which was a sister village to Uzushio, as her mother had never even thought of going to the place. She didn't even know where to begin to look for the hidden Uzumaki. And besides the Uzumaki, there were a lot of different clans staying in Uzushio, although the Uzumaki were more in number. Unfortunately there was no information on those clans aside from their names.
She sighed as she felt the negative emotions fill her heart again.
It felt as though the whole world was against her.
Fighting back her tears, she once again focused on throwing the kunai to the correct target. She couldn't tell if her form was correct but she was 70% sure she was doing it right. The Uzumaki guides had been very detailed on how it would feel like and what your eyes would be capturing if you had a correct form. At least there were still a few things that were fine here, she thought as she smiled towards the perfectly aimed kunai stuck in the tree. She once again started practicing for a few hours and soon headed off to town.
The district she was currently in was different than the one she had been to last time she was here.
She guessed this district connected to the market place. She made sure to look like a normal orphan child, as normal as a child could be in times of war, and bought an apple for herself. She didn't need much to live in this life.
Even if she got hungry very easily, especially after training, she found out her body has a lot more energy than a normal child's. It wasn't too unusual, she had seen some kids in her old life have more energy than other kids. But, she remembered faintly, someone saying an Uzumaki having a lot of life energy from the naruto manga she'd read. Perhaps it was due to that rather than what she thought previously.
Humming a song she didn't remember the lyrics of, she quietly hid in a bush. She didn't know how to completely erase her presence or to hide her chakra but she could still hide her child self if she tried hard enough.
She did this every day with her mother, Izuna. She had explained it was to see if there was anyone following them or some suspicious people passing by their cave. It was a good way for her rest too.
She remembered Izuna telling her that although the Uzumaki weren't known for their kekkai genkai, they did have many of them. Minds eye of the Kagura which allowed a person to sense anyone within a specific distance, supernatural healing abilities due to some Uzumaki having chakra run through their blood more densely than other humans, and their chakra chains which could even bind a bijuu were just some of them. And, she had read most recently that people walking around with tails, horns, missing a few limbs, having a few extra limbs, or just random markings were very normal in Uzushio.
She was confused at first. But then she reminded herself that the Uzumaki were known for their slight crazy and curious behavior and adding that with seals resulted in whatever craziness Uzushio was.
Honestly, she didn't think she had the normal Uzumaki personality but she thought she would've liked it in Uzushio.
She ignored the fact that some Uzumaki actually developed the caged bird seal and one of the Uzukage actually foresaw the branding being done to the Hyuuga clan.
'Ah. I've been talking to myself again.'
It was a habit she'd gained whenever she was alone. It was probably a way to cope with the loneliness.
'Or maybe you've just gone crazy?'
Her own voice whispered to her again. She talked to herself a lot. Although she did try to control it, she couldn't help but feel that maybe she should just let it be for now. There was absolutely no one for her to talk to and it was getting depressing for her.
'Maybe I should pick up a tailed beast to reside in me so that I won't be so alone.
But to do that you'll need to get stronger since you'll have to infiltrate a village.'
She hummed as she once again focused on the seals she was reading.
Kushina walked through the Uchiha clan's compound with her long time friend, Mikoto. She couldn't help but feel a small spark of jealousy light up within her.
She could still vividly imagine the streets of Uzushio filled with loud and bright children, whether they were orphans or not didn't matter there, while the adults would sing and dance around them in the yearly festival.
She focused back on her friend and couldn't help but scold herself of her thoughts. Even if she didn't have blood relatives left, its not like she was completely alone. She still had a lot of people who cared for her. She noticed Mikoto had run off to a dango shop and was calling for her.
"I'm coming, dattebane!!!"
Her face broke into a grin which was as bright as her red hair.
People, civilians, couldn't believe that such a woman was a ninja who had fought in the war once. But, the shinobi passing by could only smile at her energetic self. She was like an inspiration to them. Always being so bright and reliable, especially in missions, she was like the hope they didn't think could exist.