"Where are we going?" Honoka asked, her breath visible in the cool morning air.
The two redheads moved quickly through the dense forests of the Land of Rivers, their sandals whispering against damp leaves. The air here carried the smell of moss and distant water, broken only by the occasional rustle of a bird startled from its perch.
"I know of another Uzumaki in the Village Hidden by the Rain," Kushina replied without looking back. "That's our next destination."
Honoka's steps faltered for just a moment. "Another… Uzumaki?" Her voice rose with a mix of disbelief and excitement.
Kushina only gave her a small smile.
Both of them were carrying more than just weapons- they carried memories of a homeland burned to ash. Honoka had escaped Uzushiogakure with her parents on the day of its destruction. She could still remember the thunder of collapsing walls, the red haze of fire reflected in the sea, the acrid smoke choking her lungs. They'd run to the Land of Rivers, fighting off pursuing shinobi, hiding for days at a time in damp caves and shallow riverbeds when they couldn't keep going.
It hadn't been a good life, but at least they'd been together.
Until they weren't.
Her parents had both died fighting off Iwagakure ninja, giving her enough time to escape while they stayed behind. Honoka still remembered her father's last smile, her mother's voice shouting for her to run. She had run until her legs gave out.
After that… she hid. A chunin-level kunoichi with talent in fuinjutsu and taijutsu could only survive a small-town life in a place like Tanigakure. She had to keep her head down, never venture far out, and keep her hair covered constantly. It was a lonely, stagnant existence- until Kushina had found her.
And now, the thought of finding more family filled her chest with something she hadn't felt in years: hope.
"Do… do you think he'd want to come with us?" Honoka asked, a little shyly.
Kushina blinked. "Why wouldn't he?" Her tone was matter-of-fact, as though the question itself were strange. Sure, she had nudged Honoka into following her with a little manipulation, but that was just to make the process a little easier. She couldn't imagine an Uzumaki refusing their own kin.
'So… it's a boy!' Honoka's heart gave an unsteady flutter. Her excitement sharpened, though she now had to deal with Kushina's unwavering confidence.
"Maybe he likes his life the way it is," Honoka pressed, "or maybe he wouldn't trust us."
"But we're Uzumaki, just like him," Kushina said, almost impatiently. "Why wouldn't he?"
Honoka lowered her voice. "He might not even remember Uzushio. I was only eight when it was destroyed… if he's younger…"
Kushina's pace slowed slightly. She'd heard about this boy, Nagato, from both Jiraiya and Kurama.
From Jiraiya's side, he was a former student, trained alongside two others, Konan and Yahiko. He taught them so that they could survive in Amegakure's brutal environment, where the Great Hidden Villages used it as a perpetual battlefield.
From Kurama's side… no personal knowledge, but he had the advantage of something rarer: foresight. Nagato possessed the Rinnegan, a legendary dōjutsu whose origins tied back to Madara Uchiha himself.
Even with that knowledge, Kushina couldn't be certain what kind of boy he would be right now. Kurama knew him from the future. Jiraiya knew him from years past. And both descriptions painted someone whose loyalty would be fiercely bound to his friends, perhaps even above his own blood.
And then there was the arrogance. If she were being honest, she'd expect it. The bearer of the most revered dōjutsu in shinobi history had every reason to think highly of himself.
She had really gotten lucky with Honoka, who was so simple.
----
Infiltrating Amegakure was challenging, much more so than it was for the Land of Rivers or Tanigakure.
Ame might not have been a Great Hidden Village, but it was on the precipice of becoming one. Every path in and out was dangerous. It was still deep in the throes of the Second Great Shinobi War, its skies perpetually grey, the patter of rain masking the distant thunder of battle.
Still, the chaos had advantages. Who would notice a few missing chunin or genin when bodies were piling up by the dozen every day?
The challenge wasn't getting in; it was finding Nagato.
If he was already a registered Ame shinobi, as he should be, that made things simpler. Otherwise, she'd have to sift through a city's worth of orphans and war survivors. She had gotten lucky with Honoka, but she didn't think the same would happen twice.
Kushina wasn't built for slow, quiet spy work. Patience wasn't her style. So she went with the most direct approach- and the most effective one she knew.
Torture.
She left Honoka at a secured camp, the area surrounded by layered fuinjutsu barriers that the two of them had set up together. Honoka didn't need to see what Kushina was about to do. She didn't want her clansmen to think she was cruel or sadistic.
Now, all that was left was finding her next informant. Nagato and his group should be pretty popular as prodigies. So finding people who know them won't be difficult. However, only a jonin would likely know anything about their precise location.
Her first target was a chunin. Not important enough to be heavily guarded, but high enough to know where to find someone who was. The chunin will know the location of a jonin, who will then hopefully know the location of Nagato, or at the very least, another jonin. Simple!
Kushina trailed him for hours, moving silently through the trees until she dropped behind him in a blur, chopping the base of his neck to paralyze him instantly.
She tied him to a tree, gagged him, and then released the paralysis. He woke with a muffled cry, thrashing in his bonds.
"I need you to tell me the location of a jonin," she said evenly.
The chunin glared at her and shook his head.
"That's a shame," she said, stepping closer. "Guess I'll have to force it out of you."
She tapped his hand, letting the barest sliver of Kurama's chakra seep into his system. It was toxic and caustic, burning through his chakra pathways like molten acid. He couldn't even scream, not with the gag, but his body jerked in agony, eyes wide and wet.
If Kushina had to imagine what it felt like, it would probably be as though all the cells in his arm were being pierced over and over again by a needle.
When she finally pulled it back after a few minutes and removed the gag, he gasped, "Y-yes! I'll tell you! Just m-make it stop!"
Kushina smiled, almost gently. "Good, good. Now, where's the nearest Ame jonin?"
----
Kushina repeated the process over and over again. From jonin to jonin, from one shinobi to the next, she clawed her way forward. The hardened Ame veterans broke in minutes under her methods.
Finally, she found what she needed: Nagato's group had been sent to the Suna front, fighting against Sunagakure shinobi. Not far to the west of her current position.
When she returned to camp, Honoka's eyes lit up. "You found him?"
"Yeah. He's west of here, on the Suna front. Should be around a day or so of travel with both of us."
Honoka straightened. "When do we leave?"
"Soon," Kushina replied. "I'm going to meditate for a bit. Don't disturb me."
Honoka gave her a quick salute and moved off.
Kushina lay down on her makeshift bed and closed her eyes, letting her consciousness slip into the familiar weightless pull of the seal space.
The damp air of the forest faded, replaced by the endless stone floor and oppressive atmosphere. Kurama was stretched out in the shadows, massive tails curling lazily around him. Even half-asleep, his presence filled the space.
She crossed her arms and walked closer. "What do you think of my plans so far?"
One of his eyes cracked open, the slit pupil locking on her. "They're not bad," he said slowly, "but…" His voice dropped into a low rumble, "…I don't think going after Nagato is a good idea."
Kushina frowned. "Why not?"
"You know why." He rose up slightly, his muzzle lowering until his teeth glinted in the dim light. "Those eyes of his… they aren't his. They belong to someone else- someone far more dangerous than you've faced." His voice carried a deep growl as he spoke the name. "Madara Uchiha!"
She tilted her chin stubbornly. "I can't leave an Uzumaki behind! If I did, I wouldn't be any better than those old bastards back in Konoha!"
Kurama's gaze sharpened. "You think sentiment will keep you alive? That boy is a storm you don't understand, and you're walking straight into it because of some childish notion of family." He leaned forward, his voice lowering to something almost coaxing. "Family didn't save Uzushio. Family didn't stop Konoha from taking you."
Her hands balled into fists. "And if I walk away, then I'm just letting the world chip away at what's left of us. I'm not doing that. Not ever."
A long silence followed. Kurama's eyes never left hers, the faintest flicker of something appeared behind them. Maybe approval, or calculation.
Finally, he huffed, a warm gust of breath washing over her. "Fine. Go after him if you must. But do it quickly. The longer you linger, the more eyes will find you."
She smirked. "Don't worry. I'll be out of there before that evil old Uchiha ghost even knows we're there!"
Kurama merely snorted and turned away.