"Take anything, just let at least one of these kids grow up with their parents!" A man with spiky blonde hair said to the ghostly form that was floating behind him.
"… Anything? For AT LEAST ONE of your children to grow up with their parents?" the shinigami asked as if amused.
"Yes… anything."
"Alright, I'll let you live, and I will follow your wish BY THE WORD." And as the ghostly form disappeared with a chuckle, the sealing was complete. Minato fell to the floor in exhaustion, panting from chakra exhaustion.
"By… the… word…" The words echoed as a headache assaulted Minato as he swiftly fell unconscious.
At the same time, Kushina had woken from a terrible headache, clutching her head whilst screaming in a makeshift hospital room within the walls of Konoha.
***
"This is Arrow, target is on the move."
"Great Red speaking, target moving towards stairs."
"…Silence speaking… Target confirmed…"
"This is base, good work, keep at it."
"Great Red speaking, why do we need to talk like this again?"
"Arrow speaking, its practice for future missions in other villages, though I doubt its usefulness. Why is your codename Great Red again?"
"Haven't you seen my new choice of clothing? Red's the best colour in the world!"
"…Target approaching site…"
As the sun rose for the residents of the Elemental Nations, three new genins were on a mission as shinobi
Namely, to catch Tora the Cat.
The Hokage insisted that it was an important mission for genins to take in order to develop their team work, communications and also experience for infiltration missions, though everyone knew that the truth was that the daimyo simply insisted on the cat being caught every time or his wife would give him an earful.
They were allowed to choose their codenames, and Naruko simply went with the first thing that came to mind whilst Haruto decided to choose his favourite… colour… as a codename. Haruka didn't even speak, so Kushina thought it would be funny if she chose the name for her.
…It had been a full hour since they had accepted the quest, and to say that Tora was a master of the escape arts was a huge understatement. Naruko wouldn't be surprised if it could even escape from a Kage's grasp.
It had been a full month since they had formed a team, and Kushina still hadn't a clue as to her true identity, which in itself was depressing even though she knew that Kushina wasn't known for her intellect. She had yet to meet her father yet as her mother would always be the one to accept quests, so there was still a chance that they would recognise her, and so she continued to hope.
Half an hour of frantic searching later, Naruko had managed to locate the demon in disguise from a vantage point, the next half hour was spent mostly observing it under Kushina's orders as she wanted to see most likely wanted to see how patient her team was. Haruka was somehow multitasking between reading and keeping track of the cat whilst Haruto seemed as if he was already at his limits. Since she had proven her senses to be far keener than the rest of the team, her mother included, she was allowed to keep her distance, much to her luck as she could relax whilst letting her enhanced hearing senses do all the work without the others finding out.
"Base to team, you may commence operation." Almost immediately after hearing the words come out from the comms, Haruto had leapt towards the cat at chunin level speeds. Naruko could see that his whisker marks were slightly deeper than usual, meaning that he was currently utilising a small portion of Kyuubi's chakra.
The more tailed beast chakra a person used, the more they would lose themselves to the power. With training, one could theoretically hold off the madness, but she had learnt from Haruka that both she and Haruto could only use up to three tails without the power consuming them, even after their several years of training.
Despite the fact that the cat was good at escaping, it wasn't good at running away after being spotted. It didn't even know what hit it until Haruto had already grasped its tail, dangling the cat in front of him.
"…mission accomplished…" Haruka whispered as she appeared from behind a bush along with Kushina, who simply shunshin'd into the middle of the two.
"Good work team, I'm impressed Haruto-kun managed to hold it in for so long, he cracked only five minutes last time as well!" She said whilst facing said boy, who was now slightly red in the face.
"S-shut up! That was because the cat fell asleep and you still didn't let us go for it!" He retorted with his fist raised in the air.
"Anyways, Naruko-chan, go and inform Minato-kun on the success, we'll be there shortly."
She nodded and leapt off from the building, heading towards the large building in the distance. As she moved, she realised that this would be her first meeting with her father in several years. Seeing that her appearance was radically different from when she began living in the forest, there was close to no hope of her father recognising her. She sighed in disappointment as she picked up the pace.
"Don't mind it imouto, We've been prepared for it to be like this for over five years now." Kurama reminded within her mind.
She made her way through the first and second floor, greeting others as they passed by her, eventually arriving outside a room labelled 'Hokage'.
She took a deep breath as she announced her presence.
"Team 12 member Naruko reporting in." She said.
After a few seconds, she heard books shuffling as a familiar voice replied. "Come in."
As she entered, she came face to face with a blond haired man in his early 30's who was smiling lightly whilst reading a scroll on his desk. As he looked up, he froze on the spot as his eyes widened, staring at her in shock.
Almost immediately, He clutched his head with a hand as if in pain.
"H-Hokage-sama?" She asked with uncertainty. She certainly hadn't expected such a reaction from her father, but the hopes that she had buried within her mind resurfaced again. She watched expectantly as Minato let go of his head, face strained slightly, indicating that the pain was still present. The two continued to stare at each other, both refusing to blink.
"N-Naruko—" He began as her heart started to race, shoulders stiff in anticipation—
—until Kushina walked in with Haruto and Haruka in tow.
"Is everything alright here? Kushina asked, slightly perplexed as to why Naruko and Minato were staring at each other.
Minato seemed to snap out of his shock and turned towards his wife with a slightly awkward smile. "I-It's fine, anyways, I see that you completed the mission."
"Mhm, had them observe the cat for a while to test their patience, they all passed except Haruto who seemed a little too eager to hit something." She said whilst giving said boy a stern look, causing him to step back in fear.
To say that Naruko was irritated would be the understatement of the year. She was finally about to get an answer from her father until her team had walked in, what even was that timing?
"Eh, Uzumaki's were known to have abysmal luck, It seems that it's starting to kick in after a year of peace." Kurama answered, sensing Naruko's irritation.
She sighed. "It's fine, nothing will change for now even if they do realise." She said mentally as she brought her attention back to the real world.
"Then how about another D-ran—" Minato began before being interrupted by Haruto.
"Why can't we do a C-rank already? We've been weeding gardens and catching cats for a whole MONTH, we can totally handle it!" He shouted with his signature fist raise.
Kushina seemed to support the idea. "I'm pretty sure the team can handle even a B-rank by this point, just give it to them Minato-kun."
He seemed to contemplate for a moment, but gave in after Kushina pressed on with a look that seemed to say 'agree or you die'.
"O-ofcourse, I have one here actually, it's an escort mission for a bridge builder who needs you to guard him until he finishes the bridge building in Nami no Kuni. He should be in the village currently, so I'll go contact him, just wait here." He immediately called an ANBU to find said man and bring him to the tower.
A few minutes later, the same ANBU along with an old man, clearly drunk with a sake bottle in one hand, walked in.
"Team 12, meet Tazuna, the man you will be escorting to Nami no Kuni. Tazuna, meet team 12." Minato introduced.
"I see, the famous jinchuuriki twins and the wife of the Hokage, the young girl seems capable too, thank you for your generosity, Hokage-sama." He said after taking a sip from the bottle. Though Haruto seemed like he wanted to complain about their supposed contractor, a glance from Kushina shut him up instantly.
Kushina spoke up first since Tazuna didn't seem to have anything further to say. "Team, I want you all up and ready to go in an hour, go and pack for a month's worth just in case there are any complications, and make sure you bring enough weapons, though that isn't a problem for you, right Naruko-chan?" Naruko nodded in response. "Good, now off you go, we will meet you at the gates in an hour for departure then, is that alright with you Tazuna-san?" She asked.
"Eh? Yeah, sure, whatever." He replied and left through the door before anyone could say anything further.
A tick mark appeared on Kushina's forehead as the temperature dropped slightly. "I will soooo kill him if he does that again, hehehe." She chuckled as Minato began to sweat slightly. It seemed that he knew that a pissed off Kushina was a bad Kushina rather well. "Team dismissed." She called as she disappeared behind the door whilst muttering something about disrespectful men. Haruka and Haruto shortly followed her out to pack for the mission.
Just as she was about to do the same, Minato spoke. "Wait."
She looked back at Minato, who was back to staring at her with a slightly worried expression.
"I-Is it possible to have a chat after you get back? I have a feeling that I know you from somewhere, but for some reason I can't remember, the headache is getting worse the more I think about it, so why don't we call it a day for now?" He said whilst rubbing his forehead.
Alarms started going off in her mind at the words. Headaches from trying to remember something? It sounded awfully like some seals she had read in the Uchiha clan library.
No, she couldn't jump at conclusions this early with such little information, but the hope that had been all but extinguished as of late sparked. "Fine by me, just call me once I get back."
He smiled. "Be safe, and take care of the Kushina, she can be pretty headstrong at times."