'That's a lie, I met the Third Grandpa and he is a good person'
[Well, accepting the truth will take time, so how about we begin?]
'Begin?' Kushina blinked in confusion.
[That's right, the first proof that Konoha is rotten from the inside:
Your current situation]
'What does my situation have to do with Konoha?' Kushina asked angrily.
[Everything. Haven't you asked yourself? How did they manage to kidnap someone as important as you so easily? Why haven't you been rescued yet?]
Kushina fell silent for a moment. With Uzumaki Mito's death so close, she knew how important her position was. She had felt ANBU eyes following her at all times, and yet, for some reason, no one protected her at that moment.
But after thinking about it more carefully, she realized it made no sense.
'Without me they wouldn't have a jinchuriki. Even if the Third Hokage were the kind of person you're implying, it makes no sense to let me be kidnapped'
[That's because the point isn't that you get kidnapped, but that you get saved.
To the village you are a tool, and a weapon that cannot be used is useless. That's why they want to bind you to the village.]
Kushina realized what was being implied and responded with absolute denial.
'Impossible. Even if someone saves me I won't feel grateful enough to be bound'
[Are you sure? Let's talk about the worst kind of binding that exists, love.
You lost your parents and your entire village, only to be taken to another village. Then you were ignored and mocked by the children throughout your childhood, even insulting the only legacy your clan left you.
What if someone had not treated you badly? Someone your own age, someone with whom you could develop romantic feelings.
What if that person not only saves you, but praises your hair, the thing that means so much to you but that everyone else hates?
Of course, it can't be just anyone. We need someone from the Hokage faction, even better if they have the potential to become Hokage, praised as a genius since childhood.
Would you really feel nothing?]
'That's impossible. Even if Minato is strong, he's only a chunin at best, he couldn't defeat the squad that kidnapped me' Kushina said, understanding who it was referring to. 'Besides, many people must be looking for me. How could he find me alone instead of ninjas specialized in tracking and search?'
[Of course, it should be impossible, right?]
'...I don't like the way you said that'
"Captain, watch out," one of the three chunin suddenly said, stopping.
The jonin leader easily dodged the kunai and looked at the blond boy in front of them.
"Does Konoha only send a brat? It seems the reputation of the strongest of the five great villages is undeserved," the jonin said with disdain.
Minato did not get distracted. He glanced for half a second at Kushina in the arms of one of the chunin, whose eyes were wide open in surprise instead of fear, for a reason Minato did not understand.
He quickly formed hand seals and exploded into a cloud of smoke.
When the smoke disappeared, three more Minatos had appeared alongside the original.
Without giving them time to react, they moved, disappearing into the shadows and attacking from all four directions.
The Kumo ninjas reacted, protecting the chunin carrying Kushina.
"Captain, the real one is yours," one of the sensory ninjas said as he destroyed one of the clones.
The captain looked at Minato with disdain. Based solely on chakra and speed, he could tell he was barely a chunin. And seeing the look he had cast at Kushina before attacking, he was sure he was just a child acting on personal feelings.
"No. If this brat made it this far there must be a trail. It's impossible that ANBU didn't detect them," realizing this, the jonin stopped being careless and used Black Lightning.
One of Kumo's signature techniques, capable of releasing black lightning far more powerful than a normal one.
The lightning's speed surpassed even that of a natural bolt, so he wasn't surprised when Minato failed to dodge it and remained standing still without reacting.
"Pffft, h-how?" the captain spat blood as he felt a kunai pierce his heart from behind.
But he received no answer and fell dead.
"Space time ninjutsu? How?" one of the chunin exclaimed in surprise.
"Look at his face, he's tired. Let's deal with him" they said, regaining their composure.
Minato had used an ambush based on the enemy's lack of information to take down a jonin. Seeing this, it was clear that even being a genius, he was still not a jonin.
In addition, his face looked exhausted, so they assumed he probably had not fully mastered that ninjutsu yet.
What they didn't know was that even tired, Minato was still an unparalleled genius.
He quickly finished off the Kumo ninjas, whose strength barely reached the chunin level.
It might have been different if they had used Kushina as a hostage, but the last ninja, seeing his leader and comrades die, dropped her and fled in panic.
Minato eliminated him before freeing Kushina and carrying her in his arms toward Konoha.
He was surprised to notice that Kushina wasn't speaking. She was completely silent, as if thinking about something.
"Are you okay?"
"...yes, I... I'm fine," she replied weakly.
"Thank God, I was afraid they had hurt you," Minato said, relieved.
Kushina watched him for a few seconds before speaking.
"How did you find me?"
Minato smiled.
"I followed the trail of your hair. It's beautiful, I recognized it immediately"
"You like my hair?"
"Yes, it's beautiful and unique"
Kushina smiled slightly, then frowned.
"I can walk on my own"
"Ah, right," Minato said, carefully setting her down.
During the rest of the journey, Kushina remained silent, reviewing the previous conversations with the mysterious screen.
[Beautiful and unique. For years the children mocked it. It is the symbol of the Uzumaki, an extinct clan, with you being the only one left. Perhaps the only one with that hair in the world. And yet, he was the only one who recognized it. Isn't that funny?]
'Shut up, you're annoying'
When they arrived at the village, they encountered ANBU searching for her. As soon as they saw them, they took them to the Third Hokage.
"Minato, well done, you have protected the Will of Fire"
"Kushina, I'm glad you're safe. We mobilized all of ANBU searching for you. Mito wants to see you"
Throughout the Third Hokage's speech, Kushina remained silent.
"Even if the Third Hokage did that, I won't betray the village"
[Who said anything about betraying it? Besides, we have plenty of time. I will show you the darkness of this world little by little]
---
After manipulating Kushina a bit more and getting her to accept helping him, the mission would officially begin, so Kaito was willing to wait.
After all, Kushina is the type of person who would end up accepting in the end.
Of course, this is based on Kaito continuing to manipulate her, mixing lies and truths.
After all, some things are not as extreme as they seem.
The Third Hokage is an example. It is true that he is completely incompetent as Hokage and has committed quite questionable actions, however, at least most of them were for the good of the village.
That is why Kushina, who is young and still lacks the concept of gray areas, is so useful.
After all, in a ninja world most of them follow orders without caring about good or evil, and the smartest ones know that the world is not simply black and white.
Kushina, on the other hand, is the type of person who in an isekai would be the perfect hero, always thinking about good and never accepting any injustice.
Tonight's action, for example, trying to anchor Kushina to the village, didn't actually harm anyone. Of course, he manipulated Kushina a bit, but Kaito is also doing the same thing, so he can't exactly complain about that.
The point is that Hiruzen's action was something quite gray. Only Kushina would probably see it as wrong, at least to the extent of considering the Third Hokage a bad person because of it.
Even so, Kaito was not satisfied.
He was even disappointed.
Because when the system gave him the choice between a powerful character with the risk of disappearing or choosing a different one, Kaito chose the second option.
The system told him that original potential didn't matter that much. With its help, any character could grow far more.
Besides, having two characters was like having a second chance.
But now he regretted it a little.
A character tied to Kushina, in another era, that if you control Kushina there is a high chance of disappearing, with only a 0.01 percent probability on the roulette.
It was obvious who it was.
"It was Naruto, right? I discarded the damn protagonist"
[Affirmative, it was Naruto]
"Damn it, system. You could have warned me. You have my memories, you know Naruto's importance"
[Precisely because of that I didn't. Naruto's birth is too delicate. You wouldn't be able to move almost anything in the story until unlocking the second character.
Besides, Naruto and Sasuke are tied to the Sage of Six Paths and his plans.
From any perspective, it was not convenient for you]
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+13 chapters in advance on Patreon.
p-atreon.com/IAMME26
(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)