"S-she is a monster!"
"We have to run, we have to get out of here!"
"L-let's run, she's playing with us, she enjoys our suffering!"
"A demon!"
"The red-haired demon!"
Half an hour later, Kushina was sitting on the branch of a nearby tree, swinging her legs in the air while watching them and smiling.
It was a warm and innocent smile that, combined with her natural beauty, would make men look at her more than once. But for the members of Root in front of her, it seemed like the smile of a predator that was just playing with its food.
Hearing Root's screams, Kushina frowned and complained internally.
'What do they mean I'm playing with them? I'm clearly giving them the chance to escape, they're the ones who keep coming back for some reason.'
[They are Root, they will not disobey orders. They are just puppets.]
Kushina read Kaito's comment and looked at the 'puppets' on the ground in front of her.
Even though their masks hid their expressions, the fact that the moment Kushina looked at them they stepped back and stumbled while trying to move away clearly showed their mental state.
[You made emotionless puppets feel fear, congratulations!]
'As if I wanted that achievement' Kushina sighed.
At the same time she extended her hand behind her, where a spear of air appeared. When she moved her hand forward it was thrown instantly, piercing a ninja who was approaching stealthily from her right.
"You killed Ryunosuke!"
"Impossible!"
"He was the most stealthy among us!"
"For puppets you sure don't stay quiet even for a second," Kushina said as she jumped down from the tree.
Even though there was no one below, she still attacked, creating a crater when she landed. Pieces of earth and dust rose up and blocked the vision of the non sensory ninjas. Kushina used the cover to move toward the nearest ninjas who had approached and killed them quickly.
[You are quick at copying techniques.]
"You shut up too" Kushina said before clearing her throat and transmitting her voice perfectly to everyone with wind magic.
"All of you leave. This is your last chance. Otherwise after killing all of you, I will deal with Danzo."
In Root, the only thing above Danzo's orders is Danzo's own safety, so the moment they heard this they all stopped.
"You cannot kill Lord Danzo, it is illegal, the village will hunt you down."
"Pfft, illegal?" Kushina laughed as if she had heard the funniest joke in the world. "Please, you are puppets, not idiots. Which of the things Danzo does is not illegal? Killing him would be killing a criminal.
As for proof, it is the word of the heroine of the Third Ninja War against the darkness of Konoha. Even if it is not enough to kill him, it is enough for them to investigate him.
Everyone knows the only reason Danzo is still alive is because Hiruzen covers for him due to their friendship. Once he is investigated, most of his crimes will come to light."
At her words, they all lowered their heads in silence, thinking for a moment.
But Kushina spoke again, and this time her voice contained barely restrained fury.
"Leave! I am not someone Danzo can meddle with, much less mere puppets of his."
Although they were all furious at her words that not only humiliated them but also Danzo, they were forced to swallow their anger and not respond because they knew it was the truth.
Not only her strength, but also her reputation far surpassed Danzo. Most of Konoha does not even know who he is. No matter how loyal they are to him, they can recognize her strength and they know that maybe Kushina herself might not do it, but the organization behind her could destroy not only Danzo but Konoha itself, turning his dream of becoming Hokage into nothing more than a fantasy.
"Withdraw!"
The one standing at the front, perhaps the leader, perhaps someone who succeeded him after the leader died, or perhaps the successor of the successor, gave the order and everyone disappeared from the place immediately.
Of course, disappeared in the ninja sense. Kushina could actually see them leaving, so slowly that she could easily kill them all.
After that she turned around and headed toward the white hell of steam behind her.
When she entered, she noticed that what had already been steam at impossible temperatures had become something even worse. The mixture now included Kurama's negative chakra, extremely toxic and oppressive to anyone using normal chakra, so dense it was almost miasma, making the place basically uninhabitable.
Kushina snapped her fingers, just because it looked cool, and two massive tornadoes appeared in front of her, gathering all the steam in the air before moving toward the sea, merging and finally disappearing while muddying the surrounding waters.
Without the steam, Kushina was able to see around her.
The state of the surroundings was terrible. It was completely arid, as if it had suffered a drought of a hundred years and water had not touched the place during all that time.
There, three beasts lay resting on the ground. The enormous fox at the end sensed her arrival and lazily opened his eyes.
"You came back, you took quite a while."
"It wasn't that long. Did you defeat him?"
"Of course we did," Kurama said with offended disdain at the doubt. "He resisted quite a bit, but he could not hold his breath forever. Once he breathed, his endurance dropped considerably and he lost. We have been waiting for you for ten minutes."
"You took twenty five minutes without being able to break his defenses? He was really strong!" Kushina said, impressed by the strength of the Third Raikage.
Hearing this, Kurama let out a mocking snort.
"The only reason it took so long is that we had to restrain ourselves so we would not kill you by accident. I do not want HIM coming later to take revenge for you."
"Good job," Kushina raised a thumb in gratitude.
"Keep your strange human gestures for yourselves," Kurama said before disappearing from the place.
At the same time, Son Gokū, the Four Tails, and Kokuō, the Five Tails, also disappeared into the air.
Kushina felt them entering the familiar space before approaching the body on the ground.
Even dead, the Third Raikage still looked imposing. He lay on the ground on his back, with both arms in front of him almost completely crushed, as if he had protected himself from a powerful attack.
His skin was completely dried out, as if he had been dehydrated for days, while blood flowed from all his limbs.
Any one of these things would have killed someone, but the former Third Raikage had several fatal wounds at the same time, showing how difficult he had been to kill.
As she approached him, Kushina knelt down and extended her hand to store him inside a sealing scroll, when the body suddenly extended its right hand and grabbed her wrist.
The body was so hot that it immediately burned her skin, leaving a red mark.
"Tsssss..."
"You... do not destroy... my village," he said before closing his eyes again.
It is not possible to store living beings inside a scroll, so the moment the body completely collapsed Kushina knew he was truly dead.
"You were strong. I will make sure that someday you are remembered with the honor you deserve, but not now," Kushina said. "As for Kumogakure, I am sorry, but I cannot fulfill your request. There is no need for there to be so many villages in the world."
---
"Kushina, are you alright?"
As soon as Kushina returned, she found Minato's camp, which had already packed everything and was simply waiting for her.
"Of course, just a Third Raikage. He is nothing against me" Kushina said with fake pride. In reality she was somewhat disappointed that she still did not have the strength to handle him by herself.
"Incredible!"
"Just a Third Raikage, how could he defeat Miss Kushina!"
"Can you tell us about the fight?"
"Your students are quite lively" Kushina said with a small laugh while looking at Obito, Rin and Jun.
"Did you see that? Miss Kushina smiled at me." Even though the voice tried to whisper, Kushina heard it clearly.
"Rin is something like your fan" Minato explained.
Kushina understood and smiled before patting her hair.
"To be Minato's student you must have great strength. I hope to fight alongside you someday."
"Yes Miss Kushina! I will do my best!" Rin almost shouted her words, making her teammates laugh a little.
Kushina turned around and repeated the gesture.
"You two work hard as well."
"Yes!"
"Yes!"
While doing this she noticed that Minato was looking at her strangely. Seeing his gaze, Kushina simply smiled and brought her index finger to her lips, signaling him to keep it a secret.
"Let's go back!"
The moment she appeared, the camp tacitly assumed Kushina as the leader, so the moment she gave the order everyone followed her.
---
One week later, the group finally arrived at Konoha.
The reason it took so long this time was that, after months of war, they took their time to properly rest along the way.
As soon as they returned, they found the entire village gathered around the entrance waiting eagerly for them. Most were not surprised, they had already imagined it. Only Kushina was genuinely surprised.
The surprise increased even more when they began shouting her name.
"Kushina!"
"Miss Kushina!"
"It is the red-haired demon!"
"Kyaaa! I was able to see Miss Kushina in person!"
"She is as beautiful as the stories say."
"It feels like her hair is dyed with blood."
"But it is the blood of our enemies, long live Kushina!"
"Long live Miss Kushina!"
"Long live the red-haired demon!"
"Long live...!"
Seeing that they were starting again, Kushina smiled awkwardly.
"You should greet them" Minato whispered behind her.
Kushina nodded and raised a hand. Immediately, the shouts became even louder.
"She greeted me!"
"No, she greeted me!"
"She greeted the entire village! Miss Kushina thinks about everyone!"
"Ah! She smiled at me!"
"This is embarrassing" Kushina murmured while quickening her pace to arrive quickly, but the entire village was filled with people waiting for her along the whole path.
"You should get used to it, this is what awaits you. It is what you always wanted, right?" Minato said.
"What I always wanted" Kushina smiled, and cheerfully greeted everyone, unconsciously quickening her steps.
______________________________________
Hey, I just published the first chapters of a new fic: To Love Ru: Chaos.
If you're interested or want to support me, go read it and leave some Power Stones.
But it's literally the complete opposite of this series, so I recommend reading the 'Before You Read' section to see if you'll like it.
+15 chapters in advance on Patreon.
p-atreon.com/IAMME26
(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)