Pillar of support
"Astra. Kushina."
Both children looked up as the Uzumaki Matriarch stood before them, her aged eyes knowing, her gaze heavier than ever before.
"...It's time we talked."
And Astra suddenly knew whatever she was about to say would change everything.
The soft crackling of the brazier echoed in the silence that followed. Mito's robes rustled gently as she took her seat before them on the tatami mat, her back straight despite the weight of her years. The flickering light painted long shadows across her face, making the lines of age appear like delicate brushstrokes on parchment.
Astra sat calmly, his hands folded neatly in his lap. Beside him, Kushina fidgeted her tiny fingers playing with the hem of her sleeve as her eyes darted between Mito and Astra. The nine-tails' subtle stirring inside Mito had faded, but a residual presence lingered in the room, as if something vast and watching had briefly leaned close.
Mito exhaled slowly.
"There are things I have hidden," she began, "for your safety. For our clan's legacy. But the world is changing too fast, and I will not leave you unprepared."
She turned her eyes to Kushina.
"You are the heir of the Uzumaki bloodline. The strongest bloodline in sealing arts… and also the most feared."
Kushina blinked, confused. "But… I'm just Kushina."
"No," Mito said, softly but firmly. "You are much more than that. You were born with a powerful chakra—vivid, rich, untamable. That is why they targeted us."
The little girl's lips trembled.
Astra's small hand reached over, slipping gently into hers.
Mito watched the movement, and for the first time in many years, her expression cracked into something between sorrow and admiration.
"You are not alone," she said to Kushina. "And you won't be, not as long as Astra walks beside you."
Kushina glanced up at him, her expression unreadable.
Astra tilted his head slightly, meeting her gaze with quiet calm. "I'll walk beside you even if the rest of the world turns away."
Mito continued. "Astra… your role may be different, but it is no less important. You are our pillar. Where Kushina's fire may burn wild, you must be her stillness. Her balance. That's why… I brought you here. That's why the Nine-Tails recognized you."
Astra blinked.
"You felt it, didn't you?" she asked softly. "The whisper in your soul when the beast stirred?"
He nodded once, slowly.
Mito sighed. "I won't live much longer. But while I do, I will teach you both all I know. Sealing arts, chakra control, defence against those who would use you. And when I am gone..."
Kushina suddenly lunged forward, wrapping her arms tightly around Mito's waist.
"No!" she cried. "You can't go! You're the only one left!"
"I am old, child," Mito said, stroking her hair. "But I won't leave you with nothing. I will leave you with each other."
Astra closed his eyes, pressing Kushina's hand in his quietly.
Mito watched them both… and smiled.
Life in the Uzumaki Estate
The days that followed fell into a new rhythm. The children woke with the sunrise, trained until midday, and rested beneath the trees by afternoon.
Astra became Mito's hands around the house. He cooked rice and set the table. He wiped windows taller than him and arranged scrolls neatly in her study. Every movement was precise, elegant almost ritualistic.
Kushina followed him everywhere.
"Astra, wait!" she'd call as he floated through the estate with a basket of herbs. "Let me help!"
He'd hand her a flower, say nothing, and keep walking.
He spoke little, but when he did, it was always to answer her first.
Sometimes, Kushina would just sit and watch him work captivated not by what he did, but the strange peace he carried in everything.
He wasn't like the boys she'd known back in Uzushio.
He wasn't loud. Or showy. Or even very… normal.
But he was Astra.
And somehow, that was enough.
The Decision to Enroll in the Academy
Time passed like water over stone.
Kushina's hair grew longer, and more vivid. Her voice was louder. She laughed more. She cried less.
Astra grew taller but still held that strange and still quality that no one could quite describe. He read entire scrolls with the calm of a monk. And yet… he laughed when Kushina dragged him into trouble. He smiled when she pouted. He was still, yes but never distant.
And then, one morning, Mito summoned them to the veranda.
"It's time," she said.
"For what?" Kushina asked through a mouthful of rice.
"The world outside these walls. The Academy."
Kushina sat upright. "Really?!"
Astra blinked, then looked out the window.
"I don't like the idea," Mito added, "but I'm old enough to know that I can't keep you hidden forever. And besides…"
She met Astra's gaze.
"The village is already watching."
Scene 11: The First Day of School Approaches
They didn't join at the start.
Mito insisted on waiting two weeks long enough for the initial fuss to die down.
In those two weeks, word spread quickly.
The child Mito took in is joining the Academy.
Two Uzumaki?
Tsunade's little siblings, they say.
Some villagers watched curiously.
Some whispered behind fans.
Some simply stared when Astra passed, his footsteps soundless on the stone streets.
Tsunade, who visited whenever she wasn't training, grinned when she saw them in their training uniforms.
"You know," she smirked, poking Astra's cheek, "you're going to break hearts the moment you walk in."
Astra tilted his head. "Break them? Am I supposed to?"
Kushina laughed so hard she fell over.
The Night Before
The air was cold that evening. The paper lanterns swayed gently in the breeze.
Inside the estate, the children sat cross-legged across from Mito, who seemed more solemn than usual.
Astra noticed the faint tremble in her hands.
Kushina sensed it too.
Mito placed two scrolls before them long, sealed, red with the symbol of the Uzumaki clan.
"What are those?" Kushina asked.
"Everything," Mito replied.
She looked at them for a long time before speaking again.
"When you step into the Academy tomorrow, you step into more than just a classroom."
Kushina leaned forward. "What do you mean?"
Mito's voice dropped to a whisper.
"There is something you must know before you step into that Academy…"