"…He escaped." Naruko said as sweat dripped down her face, legs shaking slightly from the attack she had just used. Since her organs weren't necessarily needed for her to function as a chakra construct, her body was still modeled after a human's due to her original nature, and a lack of chakra would be the same as regular exhaustion to a human.
A large crater of over 80 meter radius could be seen a fair distance from where she stood, the point of impact of her [Bijuudama], dust cloud still yet to fully disperse. The attack was meant to take Zabuza out once and for all, but she couldn't smell the lingering remains of him, meaning that he had somehow escaped. Even if he was completely obliterated, he would have left small traces of his smell around the blast area, but no such smell was present.
She had made sure that Zabuza was in no state to Shunshin out when she used her attack, but what was surprising was that she sensed another presence the moment the tailed beast bomb was fired before both the mystery person's and Zabuza's presence disappeared almost completely.
So he had backup available. She sighed slightly irritated that she wasn't able to kill Zabuza. It would have saved them a lot of trouble in the long run, now they would most likely have to face off again but purely on Kenjutsu as Zabuza wouldn't fall for the same trick twice.
"W-what are you?" Someone asking from behind could see Haruto on guard, staring at her with wary eyes whilst Haruka seemed to be slightly distant, possibly going through everything she just saw. Kushina was… Unconscious?
Nevertheless, it was a fact that both Haruto and Haruka seemed to be slightly wary of her.
"They're probably considering what Zabuza said earlier, about you being me and all," Kurama said with a hint of amusement.
…Want to join me on a prank? She asked, grinning inwardly.
"Of course." Kurama grinned back before taking control of the body. She changed her body posture to be more intimidating whilst ignoring the pain in her legs from chakra exhaustion.
"…Humans…" She, or rather Kurama growled.
Haruto began to panic seeing this, whilst Haruka stood still for a few seconds before her eyes widened in realisation. The stoic girl knew that Naruko was a prankster, and most likely caught on to her intentions and was playing along.
Tailed Beast chakra began to cover him and took a stance as if ready to leap at her at any second. "WHERE IS Naruko?" He shouted whilst growling.
Naruko couldn't hold it in any longer and fell to the floor in laughter. Even the stoic Haruka could be seen with a hand over her mouth holding in a chuckle. Haruto stood there, confused as to why everyone was laughing and evidently embarrassed from the fact that he was left out of whatever was going on.
"You actually… believed it!" Naruko managed to get out between her gasps from laughter. Haruto looked on for a moment before he realised what had just happened. He hung his head, but the two could still see that he was fuming slightly.
"Anyways, what happened to Kushina?" Naruko asked. It wasn't as if she hadn't seen a Bijuudama before, so it didn't make sense for her to faint of all things.
"She started clutching her head after you started charging that… Bijuudama… up, and fell unconscious whilst screaming afterwards." Haruka explained, causing Naruko to frown slightly
Now THAT was sending alarms off in her head. From Kushina's reactions earlier when she had hinted at her having a third child, it was quite possible that the battle had reminded Kushina of her child's existence. If that was the case, she didn't know what would happen if she woke up. There was a chance that she would recognise her, and Naruko would need to prepare herself for such a situation.
"Alright, I'll explain everything when she's up, let's get moving for now." She said whilst motioning at Tazuna, who looked as if he had seen a ghost, to lead the way.
Suddenly, her legs failed her for a moment as she dropped to her knees. It seemed that the chakra exhaustion was beginning to catch up to her.
"Naruko!" Haruto jumped forward in worry to support her.
"It's fine… just a little… tired…" She managed to mutter as she forced herself up.
"I can carry you there you know?" Haruto suggested.
"No, I'll rest when we get back, I'll be fine for now, carry Kushina and move along." She replied back, too prideful to admit that she required help. Haruto looked like he wanted to retort, but simply nodded and hung an arm around Kushina before leaping off towards where Tazuna was heading.
Haruka looked at her for a moment. "Explain… Later…" She said as she followed the others, leaving her in the clearing by herself.
Catching her breath, she dismissed her armour for her hunting dress as it was more comfortable for casual wear and moved along towards, not daring to use anymore chakra in fear that it would aggravate her body further.
Due to her being a full chakra construct, all she needed to survive was chakra, and chakra exhaustion was basically akin to her being very, very hungry. If she were to use more now, she doubted that she would even make it to wherever Tazuna was taking them.
Despite this, she was naturally as fast as chuunins without the use of chakra, and was steadily catching up to the trio not including Kushina, who seemed to be heading towards a particular house. As Naruko moved, she could see the situation of the people who lived in the area. People were dressed in rags, most even skinnier than the slum dwellers of Konoha. She grit her teeth in frustration at her inability to help in the situation, and swore that she would make the one responsible pay.
The door was left open for her, and inside she could see her two siblings sitting down with Tazuna and another woman, most likely the daughter that he had been talking about on the trip. Kushina was nowhere to be seen, but she could still sense her chakra signature within the house, meaning that she was most likely left to rest in a spare room.
"Ah, you've arrived, do come and sit down." Tazuna said, gesturing Naruko towards the spare space opposite her siblings. She nodded and walked over, ignoring the gazes of Haruto and Haruka who seemed to be transfixed on her fox-like features. Before Tazuna could reach for one more cushion, she raised a hand to stop him and sat down on the spot with her tails curled under her. She dismissed the upper layers of her dress as it was still dirty from the dress, letting it burst into particles of light before fading.
Her two teammates seemed to exchange glances briefly, clearly unaware of what she just did, whilst Tazuna and Tsunami seemed to dismiss it as a shinobi trick.
They sat in an awkward silence, none daring to speak up. Seeing this, Tazuna decided to get the introductions under way first.
"Alright, now that we are comfortable, Team 12, meet my daughter Tsunami. Tsunami, meet team 12. The blonde haired kid is Haruto, the red-haired one is Haruka and the… fox-like… girl there is Naruko. If it weren't for them, I wouldn't be here." He said with a nervous chuckle, but his words had managed to break the tension between them. "Do get our guests some tea Tsunami." Tazuna added as his daughter nodded with a smile before disappearing into another room.
Before the two could even begin the interrogation, Naruko put up a hand. "Wait for Kushina to get down, I'm not explaining this twice."
The two nodded as they received their tea from Tsunami. The three talked about other subjects for quite a while until footsteps reached their ears. Looking over, Naruko could see Kushina slowly limping towards them.
"N-Naruko…" She muttered as she made her way over.
"Naruko!" She shouted this time as she, to her shock and surprise, embraced her with tears running down her face.
Instinctively, Naruko pushed her away, causing Kushina's eyes to widen.
"Naruko…?" She muttered again, staring right at her. "It's me, I'm your—"
"I know, I'm just… not prepared yet." Naruko said with her head hung slightly, not daring to look up.
"… H-have, you known… All this time? Since when?" Kushina asked, pain evident in her voice.
"… f course I did, how could I forget? Six years isn't that long when you think about it."
She heard Kushina gasp with a hand over her mouth, clearly surprised by what she admitted.
"Did you run away by yourse—"
"You and Minato forgot to include me in the blood seal. I was… rejected." Naruko said calmly as she slowly reached out to the opening in her dress just above her breasts. She pulled it down slightly to reveal a large cross-shaped scar that she never fully healed to remind herself of who she was, despite the fact that she could heal it any time she wanted.
She had tried to put the painful memories behind, but she found that the best way to deal with them was to just accept them as a part of who she was, for the memories of the past were still a part of you after all.
She could hear gasps from around the room as they stared at the large cross that shouldn't belong on her white skin. Silence followed afterwards, no one saying anything. Tazuna and Tsunami seemed to have caught onto what was happening, though Haruto seemed to be confused. Figures, he couldn't figure it out unless you spelt it out in front of him.