Miyu's POV
While holding little Naruto—since I know he's a boy and I'd been told that if he were male, he'd have that name—I arrived at the room where Kushina was.
In the end, I took Kushina to be treated, but with her condition so bad, I could only do one thing: put her in a coma. Now she's basically okay, at least physically; she still speaks very little, her coils are destroyed, she probably won't be able to walk again, but that can be fixed, and she still looks very pale; the rest is fine.
At this point, it will be up to her whether she wakes up or not.
We could send someone to enter her mind, but we don't know what state they're in, and that might not leave permanent damage, so we'll just leave her alone for now.
When I opened the door, Tsunade was there with some papers, looking at the data on the monitor where Kushina was connected in a coma.
Three days had passed since the Nine-Tailed Fox attacked Konoha; so far, everything had been manageable chaos.
One of the first things I did was go to the clan compound, which was 25 percent destroyed, and then I went to see if Makoto and Daiki were alive, since one couldn't kill the other when he slept with his sister.
In the end, they were both fine; in fact, the area where they were, the lawless zone, was the least affected, due to its distance from the village center.
Pure advantages. Who would have thought that being poor in Konoha these days gave you a chance to survive? But that doesn't mean some small things didn't fall in that area, like an entire building.
"Did you come to see Kushina?" my mother asked when she saw me here.
"I didn't come to deliver this thing I have in my hands," I replied, extending Naruto toward her.
"How can you say such things to Minato and Kushina's son?" Tsunade judged me.
"Neither of them is here to tell me off, so I'll treat him however I want. Now take care of him while I go to the jōnin meeting to see what's happening with the village," I explained, practically forcing her to take little Naruto.
Making sure everything was alright, I left with a shunshin, ignoring my mother's disapproving look.
...
When I arrived at the meeting, all the jonin were gathered, some unharmed and some not so unharmed; there was even one in a wheelchair completely wrapped in bandages. I don't know how he managed to convince them to let him get away with it, but I should talk to him if he has the persuasive power I suspect he does.
Out of nowhere, the monkey, the two earthworms, and the blobfish, all bandaged up, entered and sat down as if they owned the place.
I just frowned at this, since they hadn't done this since Minato was Hokage; it was as if they were announcing their intention to return to power.
"What just happened is a tragedy; we not only lost a young and promising Hokage but also many people—some family members, siblings, or acquaintances, whether shinobi or civilians. But we are ninjas, and as much as it hurts, we have to move forward to fix the village," Hiruzen recounted.
Upon hearing those words, I thought she was going to sell me some product or tell me how I had to sacrifice myself for the village and some stupid ideals. I can't really laugh, though, since I do the same thing. I can judge their results, but not their methods. In this case, the saying works perfectly in reverse.
"Sacrifices are needed right now to restore the village to its former state," said Earthworm Number One.
"Therefore, we will have to take extraordinary measures to do everything necessary to fix the problem," said Earthworm Number Two.
Which was Earthworm Number One and which was Earthworm Number Two? The real question is, does it even matter? Technically, they're both the same and do the same thing; they only differ in their faces and in whether one is male or female, nothing more.
I was irritated by these annoying creatures, so I snapped my fingers loudly, making everyone look at me.
"What kind of bullshit are you talking about? As if you guys are going to do anything. You'll just stand there and watch us all sort this out while you try to take advantage of the situation. And the biggest question is, why the hell are you here if you were removed from both administrative and shinobi duties?" I argued as some of the ninjas around me nodded.
"This isn't the time for us to fight amongst ourselves. We need to resolve this situation first," the monkey said.
"That doesn't answer my damn question," I replied curtly; I couldn't help but show my hatred for the two worms.
"I think there are more important things to consider, like what will happen to the Nine-Tails' jinchuriki," Danzo said, making the room feel like it was freezing a thousand degrees.
"What do you propose?" Hiruzen asked Danzo, seizing the opportunity to change the subject.
"Having him in my custody is too valuable an asset to just leave lying around; it's better if I train him," he communicated his thoughts as he was moving her with bandages.
"I refuse. You don't have the qualities to do it, nor are you capable of training capable ninjas; all your men are mere puppets, and frankly, they barely reach the rank of special jonin. It would only be a waste of talent to hand him over to someone as incompetent as you," I roared.
I could argue in many ways, but I decided to use the one that would hurt him the most and against which he was hardest to defend himself.
Danzo just gripped his staff tightly and remained silent, either because I was right or because I was the one who could destroy his entire base with his men. I'll never know.
The old monkey could only sigh.
"What do you propose then?" he asked me.
"The most obvious thing: to have him myself," I replied, causing some of them to become agitated at the idea.
"Nonsense," said Worm Number One.
"You talk about ability, but you don't have it either," exclaimed Worm Number Two.
"You can't let a Kutubi junchuriki stay in a clan; it can be trained, and besides, it gives the clan more power by disrupting the existing balance," said the bandaged mummy.
"In this case, you're right. The best thing is to send the child to the orphanage so he can be better supervised," Hiruzen ordered.
The room fell silent.
"Hmm," I just stared intently at Hiruzen before opening my mouth. "I don't recall taking orders from a Hokage who's already proven incapable of making good decisions."
When he said those words, it felt like no one was breathing.
"That jinchuriki everyone's talking about is Kushina and Minato's son, and they left me as his godmother, so it's my duty to take care of him. And if you're not happy about that..." I paused briefly, "...you deserted and took the child and my entire clan with you."
My response was like someone dropping a glass at an important meeting.
"How dare you say that? Are you a traitor?" the first worm asked.
"Do you want to overrule the Hokage?" the other one chirped.
"According to what people said, you could have controlled the Nine-Tails, but you didn't; maybe it was intent on betraying the village for a while now," said the first earthworm.
"You were probably hiding, waiting for the fox to destroy the village, traitor!" exclaimed the second earthworm.
"Will you both shut up? You're just parasites who only want to suck money and prestige. If you keep talking, don't blame me for revealing certain things that might not end well for you, not to mention that old man next door has already retired, so this isn't a real home anymore!" she exclaimed, silencing them both.
At that moment, Shikaku, who wasn't far away, walked forward.
"In fact, in a crisis, if the Hokage isn't present, the highest-ranking ninja would take command, in this case, the Third," he argued.
I just stared at him, making him shudder.
"But I can bring back the Fourth Hokage." My words left the others speechless and unsure how to respond.
"What do you mean?" asked a nearby jōnin.
"I can bring Minato here so you can sort all this out, at least temporarily," I explained.
"Can you do that?" questioned the old monkey.
"Yes, but I need help," I said.
"Who do you need?" he inquired.
"Two criminals and a Yamanaka," I replied.
At that moment, Inoichi Yamanaka stepped forward.
"I volunteer, if I'm of any use, of course," he said respectfully.
The Third Hokage simply nodded.
"Let's see if what you say is true."
...
After walking for quite a while, dragging two criminals from the interrogation cell, we arrived at the Uzumaki mask shrine that Granny Mito had left behind.
It was just Shikaku, Inoichi, Hiruzen, and me; no one else.
When we reached the destroyed temple, I drew two circles and went to retrieve a mask that bore the face of the Shinigami himself. I planned to keep it in case I needed to use it again.
"Leave each criminal in the circles, and Inoichi controls one of them," I ordered, and the three of them did as I asked.
Once Inoichi had control of the criminal, I untied him.
"Put on this mask, and I have a question: how good are you at enduring pain?" I asked him.
"What do you mean?" Inoichi asked me again, his body in the criminal's body, only to see my exhausted face and reply, "I can handle it."
"Alright," with that clear, I positioned myself in front of the other criminal to perform the hand seals to activate the seals, which began to surround the guy but not yet envelop him. "Now, Inoichi, copy the hand seals I'll show you, and when you feel your stomach being destroyed, leave your body."
Inoichi nodded at my words. I performed the hand seals, molding chakra as he followed my movements, only for him to stop dead in his tracks and his body to go berserk, covered in chakra.
(Note: In the anime there weren't hand seals, but I feel there should be, since just putting on the mask and having the shinigami stab you in the stomach doesn't make sense to me.)
Out of nowhere, the criminal's stomach ripped open, causing a large amount of chakra to spill out of his body; that was my signal.
I took out a knife, which was covered in Minato's blood—which I'd collected during a quick run from the morgue—and held it up to the hand seals.
With everything ready, I applied the hand seals.
"Summoning Jutsu: Edo Tensei!" he exclaimed, causing the old monkey to open his eyes as he recognized the technique's name.
Out of nowhere, a mass of paper began to envelop the other criminal, whose only groans of pain could be heard since he was gagged, as the paper began to form a person.
Shikau opened his eyes as he watched the mass of paper form Minato's body.
Summoningly, Minato, or rather, Minato's reanimated body, opened his eyes to look around.
"I wasn't in the shinigami's stomach," he asked, a little confused, with a small smile as he scratched the back of his neck.
"Edo Tensei, are you playing with life and death?" the old monkey scolded me, grabbing my shoulders.
I roughly removed his hands.
"Desperate times call for desperate measures; besides, I don't intend for Minato to stay like this forever. I plan to return him to the Pure Land once I've finished fixing the situation in Konoha," I explained, looking at Minato. "Does that sound alright to you?"
"If you think the situation warrants it, then all that's left is to do my job," he replied optimistically.
Hirizen could only sigh; Shikaku was still worried about this jutsu that brings people back to life, while Inoichi lay on the ground enduring the phantom pain of having his stomach ripped open with a wakizashi from one side to the other.