A Mother's Love

43. The Last Uzumaki

On her belly she crawled forward to the top of the hill. The thick grass provided her with good cover. It was just before dawn and the sky was beginning to lighten. Careful to avoid any sudden movements she brought the binoculars to her eyes and looked out. About a couple miles away was a small rough hewn fort. There was a wooden stockade around a few basic buildings. She saw a command post, a barracks, and what was probably an arsenal. From the size she estimated the garrison could not possibly have been more than twenty. At the very center was a flagpole, in the gusting wind she could see the symbol of the village hidden in the rocks. This is it? They're occupying my whole country with just twenty ninjas in a wood fort. She wasn't sure if she was more relieved or insulted. She crawled away from the crest before standing again and meeting Naruto at the base of the hill. They had been traveling five days to get here. At her insistence they had picked up a change of clothes in waterfall. They both wore spotted green and black cloaks along with greenish brown pants and tunics. She had tied up her extremely long hair into a pony tail and stuffed it down the back of her cloak so no one could see it. Naruto had picked up a light brown rag which was tied around the top of his head to hide that distinctive blonde hair. Both their hitai-ites were hidden away now, though for different reasons. Leaf ninjas were not welcome in earth territory, but there was an actual law that the whirlpool insignia could not be displayed. The idea that she was forbidden to display her hitai-ite in her home country made her furious, but the mission required them to be anonymous. So for the duration of their time here they would pass themselves off as common mercenaries or bandits rather than as ninja.

"The information we got looks to be correct. There's one small fort here." Kushina said quietly. "If the rest of the intel is accurate they mostly patrol the border with waterfall and don't bother much with the locals."

Naruto looked a little surprised. "That's good isn't it?" She nodded. "Then why do you look like you swallowed a lemon?"

She chuckled dryly. "Naruto, how would you feel if when we went back to Konoha you found a bunch of Sound nins acting as though they owned the place?" He tried to picture that image in his head. As soon as he did he let out a low growl. She nodded. "Let's stay vigilant, just because they don't do it regularly doesn't mean they won't send a patrol inland." She took a deep breath. "Now let's go."

"So we're finally going to meet Saishu?"

She nodded. "We will, but there's something I need to see first."

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It had never been even a third the size of Konoha. It had never been anything but a small walled village by the sea. As she looked about it was hard to be sure what anything was. Nothing had been left standing, not even a single wall. She would look at a pile of rubble and think it might have been a friend's home or a favorite restaurant, but she could not be sure. She'd been told that the old village had been abandoned, that the few remaining survivors who had not left lived in a small settlement a few miles away. As they went they disturbed some rabbits and a few gulls. The grass was growing in what had been the streets and the yards. As they walked around the rubble a light rain began to fall. She looked at her son who was walking close beside her.

"It rains here almost every single morning." She said a bit wistfully. She looked up at the grey sky and let the gentle rain wash her face. "It's always cloudy too, if you have thirty clear days in a year that's a lot. Gloomy, depressing place," she muttered.

Naruto could see she was unhappy. "Are you all right mom?"

She nodded. "Just a lot of memories." They continued to walk slowly through the debris filled street. Kushina let her eyes wander about. The destruction was so complete. What must it have been like? She wondered if any of her old friends had survived. She had written her uncle asking and he hadn't known of a single one. As they continued to walk she spied an old broken doll lying half buried. It was just outside a pile of bricks that had been a home once. Was the child that doll belonged to buried there? She looked away knowing what the likely answer was.