Chapter Text
Minato had been talking about Obito’s strange behavior for weeks. Kushina had sat there patiently on their shared couch, while her lover rattled on and on about the Uchiha’s strange personality change. But no matter how many days he spent observing the boy, or how many nights he stayed up lost in thought instead of tending to her (his loving girlfriend), Minato still never seemed to get to the bottom of the sudden switch.
That’s not to say that Kushina believed his frustration to be misplaced, though. After all, she had seen Obito on a few occasions herself, acting as though he were a different person. He had been awkward around her, which wasn’t new. But he had also been somewhat cold and quiet. He didn’t crack jokes anymore, not unless they were deeply sarcastic. He barely smiled either, preferring to keep his lips pulled into a straight line. If Kushina was lucky, she would be able to strangle a small smirk from him. But that mostly happened at the expense of someone else’s misfortune.
She wasn’t saying he was being a terrible human-being or anything.
No, what she was really getting at was that he had miraculously become Kakashi.
Kushina was not too happy once she came to this realization. She’d had her hands full dealing with one Kakashi on her boyfriend’s team. How in the hell was she supposed to manage two of them?
Soon Kushina had gotten invested in Minato’s quest for answers as well, and the two would make it a bonding activity to throw out random theories behind Obito’s behavior before slipping into bed every night.
“Dead relative.”
“That was your first guess. And, like the first time, it’s still incorrect. His grandma died about a year and a half ago. If that had really been the cause he would’ve been acting like this for much longer.”
“Hmm … dead dog.”
“Kushina, he’s an Uchiha.”
“Dead cat.”
It seemed as though their efforts to find the root of the change was fruitless. That is, until Minato came home with a confused gleam in his eye and the name ‘Naruto’ spilling from his lips.
Apparently, the little blonde girl had been staying with Obito the whole time since his strange personality shift and the two were inseparable. They ‘needed’ each other apparently and refused to be torn apart. Despite the alignment of their staying together and Obito’s cold attitude, Naruto herself seemed to be very sweet and bright.
But more importantly, apparently, she reminded Minato of Kushina.
“You should have seen her,” Minato told her just hours after meeting the kid. “She had a verbal tic, like yours. She even smiled like you. I-I mean of course, she had blonde hair and blue eyes, but everything else just …” he sighed and dragged a hand through his spikey locks. “She reminded me so much of you.”
“Whoa there, Tiger,” Kushina teased. “She’s too young for your punk ass.”
“Kami, Kushina don’t even joke!”
“You’re right. Why be with an underage mimic when you can have the genuine article.”
“Kushina.”
“Fine fine, dattebane!” She landed a soft kiss to his nose. “You’re just so easy to mess with.”
Since then, Minato had mentioned how the blonde girl’s presence had been scarce. She didn’t mingle with Team 7 often, despite how outgoing she appeared to be. Minato had told Kushina that the reason for this was probably because of Obito.
“He’s very hush-hush about her,” the Yellow Flash told Kushina one night as they sat in bed, wondering once again the reason for Obito’s new temperament. “He didn’t even want to tell us her name at first.”
“Well, you do have to admit how strange it is that she has the same name as the main character from Jiraiya-san’s first book.” Kushina shrugged. “Maybe her parents were fans.”
“Except that sensei hasn’t even distributed it yet.”
“He will. With how much you badger him about it. He will.”
“You’re right … but that’s beside the point. It’s all very suspicious how Obito is keeping her away from us.”
“Maybe his new persona actually is connected to her, and he doesn’t want you guys to know what happened,” Kushina suggested with a snap of her fingers. Huh, that was a pretty good theory for once.
Minato went silent at that, his form sinking into the sheets and his eyebrows furrowed ever so slightly. “But why …?” Kushina placed a comforting hand on his arm. “Why won’t he just tell us? He has to know we’re there for him.”
“He does,” she assured him. “Trust me. He does.”
It had taken her awhile too, but she had eventually figured out that there were people that were there for her to depend on. Friends who she could talk to and vent to and friends who would even offer a crying shoulder. The problem after was figuring out how to actually open up enough to let them.
From her own personal experience, Kushina knew these things take time. And that’s exactly what she told Minato. Not one to ever disregard his girlfriend’s advice, Minato took her words to heart and waited.
And waited.
Until one day Minato rushed into the house frantically, looking lost and so very confused. Kushina just so happened to be coming back from a minor C-Rank at the time. Sandaime-sama wanted to keep her as far away from the front lines as possible in case the other villages decided to take their chances on capturing Konoha’s jinchuriki. No one was supposed to know her status, but it never hurt to be too careful. Kushina herself hated it and spent much of her time badgering the Hokage into assigning her harder missions each time she came back from an easier one.
She had been frustrated and annoyed, cursing the Kyuubi within her and praying to join her friends and comrades on the battlefield. But her anger and self-pity instantly flowed away upon seeing Minato’s face.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” she clambered to his side as they both sat down on the couch.
“It’s Obito …” Minato began. And quite honestly, at this point, when was it not Obito?
Minato licked his lips as he collected his thoughts, hands scraping across his pants, up and down.
“He … He’s awakened the sharingan,” he told her. The news had Kushina gasping, but the look on his face didn’t allude to this being a good thing. “Kushina, he played it off as not being any of our business. And on some level, he was right. But I’m his jounin-instructor. I should be aware when my Uchiha student is able to perform new techniques forged from his dojutsu. Especially if that dojutsu can only awaken when the bearer witnesses something traumatic happen to someone they care about.”
He paused.
“Right? I’m not being too self-entitled with this, am I?” he gazed up at her, uncertainty written across his features.
Kushina hesitated before answering. “Well, you’re not wrong that awakening the sharingan can come at a great cost. And I do think, being his sensei and all, that you should be told about something like a dojutsu so that you can adjust team roles and training accordingly …”
But she could still understand why Obito kept it quiet. She hadn’t told her teammates about the Kyuubi regardless of whether it was against the law or not to tell. The fact that she had a monster within her felt too personal of a thing to admit.
However….
If she had been more forthcoming as a child, maybe she would have been able to keep from accidently dripping the Kyuubi’s chakra and burning her teammate during a really high stress mission. Maybe her teammate wouldn’t have the burn scar on her torso that she does now if Kushina had prepared her properly for what she truly was. For what she was capable of.
No, Minato was right. He had every right to be smade aware of Obito’s newly awakened dojutsu. The young Uchiha had apparently had it for quite a while now, too. Which begged the question …
How did he awaken it in the first place? Is this in any way related to his weird personality now? Did it have anything to do with Naruto?
Kushina decided that she would ask these questions later, but for now she needed to tend to her boyfriend. She relied on him so much when it came to her own bullshit, it was the least she could do for him.
“No,” she responded firmly after a while. “I think you’re in the right to be upset about this. Maybe you should speak with him.”
Minato deflated in relief, but instantly hunched up again. “And now Obito and Kakashi are fighting.”
“But they’re always fighting.”
“No, not like this. Obito’s shift has been affecting the team, but nowhere near as bad as it has been affecting Kakashi, it seems.”
Kushina bit her lip, not all that surprised. The two of them always seemed to have a routine. A gimmick. But now that Obito wouldn’t play by the rules of their little back and forth, it wasn’t all that shocking that Kakashi eventually lashed out. Of course, Kushina had a feeling there was more to the story. But for now …
“Maybe just let them think on it for now,” Kushina said. Usually, she was one to advocate for immediate action and reconciliation. But the whole drama with Team 7 had been coming to a head for a while now. This was a very delicate situation, and not all the pieces of the puzzle were connected. “You don’t have training tomorrow, right? Just give them a day to breathe.”
Minato had only nodded, once again listening to her advice.
It turned out, that had been the answer. Late in the afternoon, not two days later, Minato was telling her all about how Obito and Kakashi were somewhat normal around each other and how Naruto had even joined them for training.
“It was so strange,” the Yellow Flash mumbled in thought as the two sat down and ordered the usual from Ichiraku’s. “Obito even seemed just a little bit like his old self. Although … he was a little awkward with Rin. And kind of Naruto now that I think about it.”
“But it’s going well?” Kushina asked.
“Yes,” Minato nodded. “Thank you.”
Kushina hummed, pleased with herself, and began to dig into her first bowl.
“Ah! Kushina.” She looked up and gave her attention to Teuchi, the owner, as he leaned over the countertop and smiled pleasantly. “I think you’ll be interested to hear that we’ve finally found someone who can rival you as the ramen queen.”
“Wha?!” she coughed, choking a bit on her noodles. “No way! Who’s trying to take my ramen crown, dattebane?!”
She could faintly hear Minato sigh beside her.
“A little blonde girl. Real funny kid,” Teuchi answered. “She comes around every so often and scarfs down the food like her life depends on it.”
Kushina gaped. All at once, she felt threatened by a new rival and giddy at the discovery of another ramen lover. “Oh wow! I’ve got to meet her, dattebane!”
Teuchi glanced over at Minato, who had been silently munching on his food, pretending he didn’t know them, for a while now. “I’m surprised you don’t already. She’s always coming in with that little Uchiha of yours, Minato-san.”
Minato looked up and blinked rapidly at the man as he soaked in the words. “Uchiha ...? Wait! Do you mean, Naruto?!”
Before Teuchi could respond, however, a loud cry of excitement rang out just beyond the entrance of the ramen shop.
“Come on! Come on! When I say, ‘the greatest food’, you say ‘RAMEN’! The greatest food!”
“No.”
The immediate disregard for anything light-hearted or fun was distinctly Uchiha. The only sad part about it, was that the words had come from the one Uchiha who was supposed to be different from his other clan members.
Obito and Naruto slipped into Ichiraku’s in such an attention-drawing way that it was no wonder that everyone turned to look at them.
Catching the eyes now on him, Obito immediately halted in his steps. Naruto was quick to do so as well as her gaze landed on their audience. In particular, she zeroed in on Kushina and began to brilliantly shine.
“Oh wow! It’s you, dattebayo!!!” she exclaimed.
Kushina took in the girl before her and suddenly found this whole thing quite amusing.
Minato had come back home the day he had met Naruto and swore up and down that the girl looked like Kushina. But as Kushina examined the little blonde’s features now, she couldn’t help but think that Naruto actually looked a lot like Minato.
“You know me?” Kushina inquired with a quirked eyebrow. Had Obito been talking about her or something?
When she glanced at the Uchiha, the boy’s gaze was solely focused on Naruto, trepidation quickly flittering across his face as the girl responded, “Of course I do! You’re the Ramen Queen, dattebayo!!!”
Well, she certainly had a familiar verbal tic. Honestly, what were the odds …?
“Oh wow, how did you know about that?” Kushina asked, a sense of pride boiling up within her at being acknowledged as a great ramen eater.
Teuchi was the one who answered this, laughter in his voice as he said, “We do have your face up on the wall.”
He pointed, and sure enough there was a poster of Kushina holding up a pair of chopsticks after almost eating the shop out of their supply. It had been the talk of the whole town for a while, and Kushina found it funny how, instead of being called a monster for housing the Kyuubi, most people ended up calling her a monster for the atrocious amount of ramen she had eaten that day.
“Ah, good times,” she lamented.
Naruto then pointed at her, quite rudely, and declared, “I’m going to beat you one day, believe it!”
A taunting grin slid onto Kushina’s face at the declaration. “Oh yeah? You’re still ten years too young to be taking me on in a ramen eating contest.”
“Bring it on, dattebayo!”
“No! No. No. No,” Obito quickly butt in. “This is not happening.”
“What?! But why?!”
“Because I said so. Seriously, I thought you said that we were eating out to make me feel better,” Obito griped. “Do you really think I want to drown my sorrows in a bowl of ramen while you drain my wallet on some stupid contest with Kushina-neesan.”
“STUPID?!” Kushina cried out while Naruto pouted.
“What’s wrong with drowning your sorrows in ramen?! Ramen is the best food for any kind of mood!!!”
“Wait … you pay for her ramen?” Minato’s eyes widened. “Do you still have any money, Obito? Do we need to take on more missions?”
Naruto squawked at his concern for Obito’s wallet but ultimately decided to ignore them and sat down firmly at the seat beside Kushina. “One big bowl of my usual, oji-san!”
Minato seemed to have a sudden hot flash at Naruto’s rudeness, but Teuchi took it in stride, hinting that this probably hadn’t been the first time she’d refer to him that way.
Obito frowned at her but ultimately sighed and sat beside her. “I’ll get whatever she gets, please.”
“That’s the spirit, Obito!” Naruto exclaimed while Teuchi turned away to prepare their meals. She glanced back at Kushina in wonder. “I don’t think we’ve actually met. But you’re Kushina-san right?”
Kushina smiled pleasantly. “Yep, that’s me. And you’re Naruto-chan?”
“Yep! I’m so happy I got to meet you, dattebayo! You’re so cool!” Like a kid, the young blonde began kicking her legs back and forth under her seat. Kushina found it quite endearing.
“Why thank you~! I think I’m pretty cool myself.” She turned to Minato for a moment with a sly grin. “My boyfriend is pretty cool, too. But I’m definitely the coolest.”
“I bet!”
Minato huffed out a laugh. “So, what brings you two to Ichiraku, Naruto?”
Naruto shrugged. “Obito got his heart broken. So, we’ve come to eat the best remedy to a broken heart.”
Obito glared. “Okay first off, that’s not true in the slightest. Neither of those statements are. Second, we’re here because you would’ve complained endlessly if you didn’t get your fix of ramen.”
He said it so matter-of-factly that Kushina couldn’t help but guffaw at the boy. Sure, he had been different these last few weeks, but he still managed to crack Kushina up. “Can you blame her, Obito? Ichiraku’s is the best!”
“Why thank you,” Teuchi said, placing Obito and Naruto’s bowls in front of them.
“Itadakimasu!” The blonde one clapped her hands together before splitting her chopsticks and digging in. “Yu cin seh thir agin, Kushina-san,” she mumbled through her noodles, the broth sticking to her cheeks as she slurped them down.
Obito winced. “Gross,” he complained, but ultimately ended up wiping at the mess she’d made on her face with his own napkin.
They’re so adorable, Kushina squealed internally. She just wanted to pinch their cheeks.
Affection bloomed within her as Obito began berating the blonde girl about the proper, cleaner way to eat. “You have a lot of nerve,” Kushina laughed. “Obito, you’re a messy eater, too!”
“I was a messy eater. But I’ve learned the error of my ways and Naruto is definitely old enough to learn hers too,” he sniffed. Oh god, he really was Kakashi.
Naruto rolled her eyes at the boy and smirked back at Kushina. “Ne, ne. He talks all high and mighty, but a few days ago he found this really cool onigiri place and ended up swallowing five of them whole! You should have seen all the rice he got all over the place, dattebayo!”
“You’re being ridiculous,” Obito shot back. “It was only three!”
“But you’re not denying the mess!”
“I-”
Suddenly, Minato was bursting into laughter beside Kushina, clutching his stomach as the pleasant noise tumbled out of him in uneven fits. “Oh man,” he murmured, trying to compose himself. “That’s just like you, Obito.”
Just like the you from before …
Kushina could tell the direction her boyfriend’s thoughts had taken and gripped lovingly at his left hand. He returned the gesture with a squeeze.
Looking back at the younger shinobi, Kushina caught an embarrassed blush staining Obito’s cheeks as Naruto giggled in delight.
And for the first time in a while, Kushina suddenly felt that everything would turn out alright for Team 7. Sure, they would have trouble in the future, and their bonds would have a few more ups and downs. But in the end, it would all be worth it.
They would all have each other.
And … hopefully … maybe Team 7 would find it in themselves to include Kushina in their happiness. If anything, they should definitely add Naruto to the mix.
Kushina shot the girl a conspiratory grin and Naruto returned it in equal measure before the two of them began their next attack on Obito’s sanity.
Yeah … she really liked this Naruto girl.