Mito's Truth
"Astra. Kushina."
Both children looked up from the tatami floor. The flames in the hearth flickered behind Mito Uzumaki, casting long, spidery shadows across the painted wood walls. Her voice was calm too calm.
"...It's time we talked."
Astra sensed it immediately. A stillness in her tone. The weight of something final. Kushina sat up straighter beside him, her usual fire subdued. She still clung to his sleeve as she always did when her nerves got the better of her though she'd never admit it.
Mito settled onto a cushion across from them, the light catching the silver in her hair. "Listen carefully, children. This is not a story I tell lightly."
Kushina's brow furrowed. "Is this about the fox again?"
Mito's smile was tired. "Yes… and no."
A long breath.
She looked at Kushina first. "You… are the last of the main bloodline. Of the Uzumaki Clan's sacred root. That alone is enough to make you a target but what lies ahead is something far more dangerous."
Kushina blinked. "You mean the Nine-Tails?"
Mito nodded.
"You are the one chosen to succeed me as its Jinchūriki."
Kushina froze. "…Why me?"
"Because your body can bear it. Because your blood still sings with the seals of our ancestors. And because… no one else can."
There was a long, pregnant pause.
Kushina lowered her gaze, voice small. "But… I don't want it."
"No one ever does," Mito said gently. "But this is our burden. For peace. For survival."
Then she turned to Astra.
"And you… are something different entirely."
Kushina's head jerked toward him, confused.
Mito's eyes softened. "I've watched you, Astra. You are not normal. Not simply gifted. Nature bends around you like wind through a reed."
Astra said nothing.
"When the Nine-Tails looked at you," she continued, "it did not see a child. It saw something ancient. Something… familiar."
Astra looked down at his hands.
Kushina looked between them. "You heard it… the fox?"
He nodded once.
"It said… 'You.'"
Kushina's face went pale.
Mito folded her hands, sealing the moment with silence.
"I do not know what you are," she said to Astra. "Not truly. But I believe you were sent here for a reason. And I believe that reason is her."
Kushina blinked.
"You are her shield. Her anchor. And perhaps—" she paused "—her only way to survive what is coming."
Astra's voice was quiet. "Then I'll stay."
Kushina stared at him. "But… you always stay."
He nodded.
Mito gave a tired, contented smile. "Then there may be hope yet."
First Day at the Ninja Academy
Two weeks after the term started, the estate gates opened for Astra and Kushina.
They wore fresh uniforms, still stiff at the seams. Kushina's hair had grown longer but wilder. She tied it in a half-knot, stubbornly refusing to cut it. Astra, ever unreadable, walked like a breeze that never left a footprint.
Outside, parents hovered, whispering.
"Is that her?"
"The red-haired girl from the Uzumaki Clan?"
"And him…? Raised by Mito herself?"
Kushina muttered under her breath. "Why are they all staring?"
Astra tilted his head. "They're curious."
She groaned. "Well, they can keep being curious. I'm not gonna make it easy."
Inside the classroom, heads turned. Mikoto Uchiha raised her gaze briefly from her notebook, eyes narrowing as they locked onto Astra.
A brown-haired boy at the back elbowed his friend. "That's the creepy kid. The one with the weird chakra."
Astra turned and stared at him. One beat. Two. The boy looked away, suddenly invested in his eraser.
Iruka's hand trembled as Astra executed a perfect transformation jutsu on his first try.
"That kid," the instructor whispered, "isn't just advanced. He's—"
"Unnatural," another muttered.
Ripples in the Village
Two chunin met on a rooftop overlooking the academy after class.
"The Uzumaki girl they're really grooming her to be the next Jinchūriki?"
"Looks like it. But it's the boy that worries me."
"The quiet one?"
"His chakra doesn't follow normal flow patterns. It moves like it's… remembering something."
A pause.
"We should inform the elders."
"They already know. Danzo's watching."
Training and Truth
Back at the estate, Tsunade loomed over the children as they practiced.
"Again!" she barked.
Kushina growled, wiping sweat from her brow. "We've been at this all morning!"
"And yet Astra's already mastered the second formation," Tsunade said, not bothering to hide her smirk.
Kushina whirled. "It's unnatural how good he is!"
Astra looked at her. "You're improving."
"I'm not improving fast enough!"
"Then stop talking."
She blinked. Then laughed, pushing his shoulder. "Tch. You're such a weirdo."
That night, under the blooming sakura trees in the garden, Kushina leaned against Astra as fireflies blinked lazily across the branches.
"I'm still scared," she said softly. "Of… everything. What's coming. What's inside me."
"You don't have to be."
"Why not?"
"Because I'm here."
She looked up. "You'll protect me?"
"I won't let you lose yourself."
And she believed him.
A Watcher in the Night
That same night, the shadows around the Uzumaki estate shifted.
A figure crouched in the tree line mask smooth and blank, robes fluttering with no wind.
He watched as Astra knelt in the garden alone, meditating.
Inside, the elders were already whispering.
The fox was secured. But the boy?
Unmapped. Unknown.
A root in the wrong place could crack stone.
A whisper through the curse seal
"Danzo-sama… he's ready."
And far below the leaves… Astra's eyes opened.
He looked straight into the shadows.
And smiled.