Chapter 62.6- One Thousand Hands

XXXX- KUSHINA UZUMAKI

When her brother had told hr that he would be taking her ff to war with him, this was not. What she had expected. If she was being honest, she had been more than a little bit scared. Especially since Grandmother Mito and Big Brother had fought about it. They had tried to keep her out of the room, but she’d figured out their barrier seals years ago, and they still hadn’t caught on that she could listen in on them whenever she wanted to. Probably because she rarely ever wanted to. All their conversations were about boring adult stuff, but that conversation. The one about her, it had been something else.

“She is one of Konoha’s Jinchuriki, whether we like it or not, and the uzumaki are already beginning to to get looks from the other clans. I have obeyed your terms as you set them, Grandma. No Uzumaki are going to risk their lives for the village that Tok them in but unless you want that village to turn against them in what I can guarantee you will be one of the ugliest things ever ever see. This is war, Grandma. We need to be seen to be giving just as much as they are and I’m not enough. Even Kushina might not be enough but she could be the next Clan Head and she needs to be seen pulling her weight” She had left after that then. Jinchuriki. She knew what that word meant. How could she not?

It was all the old stuffy Uzumaki cousins could think of when she was near them. They weren’t afraid of her, but they still held her apart like she was something different. Something other. She had expected it from everyone, but not him. Not her big brother. But she could not dwell on that, now that she was here at war. She knew what she’d been brought here for— to protect her teammates. They weren’t Jinchuriki like her.

“He’s unreal” She heard Mikoto whisper to herself and was jolted out of her thoughts.

“What?”

“Sensei. He’s unreal” She said, pointing to the side where big brother and the Tsuchikage were exchanging blows. The Tsuchikage’s jutsu was something she had never seen before. The way he formed shapes with light from his own chakra and sent it firing away was something else. She’d seen one of those bolts hit the forest when Shori dodged an attack, and everything it touched was just gone in the next second. She had no idea how you’d even fight something like that. Someone who’s jutsu just made everything go poof.

But somehow, Shori was doing it. He was teleporting all over the place, catching the Tsuchikage off guard and forcing him into taijutsu exchanges every now and then, but beyond that was content to just keep distracting the Tsuchikage while his clone did something that she hadn’t even known was possible. Her team and big brother’s friend were here to protect the clone and prevent Iwa from getting to it but they hadn’t even had to move all through. After that jutsu big brother had used— he still hadn’t taught her the rasengan yet even if he’d taught Minato-baka. Said something about it being Minato’s right to learn it. Like she wasn’t his little sister and the one with all the rights. Yeah, that’s right. Maybe he didn’t see her as that. He called her Jinchuriki after all. She was no longer just Kushina to him.

One mud clone loosed a war cry that all the others joined him in as he jumped at the rushing Iwa shinobi. The clones were barely managing to achieve much, losing three for every Iwa shinobi they took with them, but they had one advantage the Iwa didn’t. Near infinite numbers. The clone that was on top of the whale with them just remained in that stance and more and more clones were coming their way.

“Jinpei dig” She heard the clone suddenly say before her eyes snapped up to where his were looking. The Tsuhikage’s light thing. And it was heading their way.