Kakashi: What Did You Say Her Name Was?! (Voice Trembling)

As the saying went, if you didn't lay the groundwork in advance, how could the story's climax possibly be convincing in the end?

"Then who was that woman who appeared at the end?"

Naruto looked somewhat lost.

During the earlier attack, the other party had seemed to approach him in order to confirm the Demon Fox's power.

But Naruto hadn't seen the sort of disgust and incomprehension he had encountered in the past from her attitude. Instead, it had seemed more like heartache and pity?

Naruto hadn't seen her face clearly, yet he somehow had that feeling.

"Ice Release ninjutsu requires a unique bloodline attribute to perform. Ninjutsu like that is called a Kekkei Genkai. In the Land of Water, a clan known as the Yuki Clan possessed this power, but I'd heard that the Yuki Clan had already perished during the 'Bloodline Hunt.'"

Sparkle's Shadow Clone Jutsu explained.

"I really didn't expect them to have such a trump card hidden away. That woman who appeared later and the boy using Ice Release should be mother and son, or something similar."

Kakashi guessed.

"No."

But Sparkle denied Kakashi's speculation. "Rather, the one who was initially targeted wasn't us, but Momochi Zabuza. The hostility seemed to have initially been directed at him."

Sparkle pretended to ponder for a moment. "Her attitude was extremely erratic, but what ultimately made her decide to come out was that boy's presence and Naruto—"

Kakashi and Sasuke both turned to look at Naruto.

"M-Me? I was being targeted?"

Naruto swallowed.

"Probably an ambitious person coveting the Demon Fox's power."

Kakashi considered it.

"The Demon Fox's power?"

Sasuke looked at Naruto, his gaze clearly asking, Does this guy actually have some incredible power?

"Though it's classified information, if their target really is the Nine-Tails Demon Fox, Sasuke, then you should know. The Nine-Tails Demon Fox is sealed inside Naruto's body. It would be dangerous if enemies set their sights on that power, so Naruto, you need to be careful too."

Fortunately, the other side wasn't strong. If they had been too troublesome, Kakashi would have had no choice but to request reinforcements from Konoha.

"But—she—she looked like she was in so much pain."

Naruto opened his mouth.

For some reason, Naruto suddenly wanted to argue back.

But he didn't know how to begin.

He just felt inexplicably irritated.

Meanwhile, Sparkle walked cheerfully at the front.

Of course Naruto would feel that way.

Because that woman, the woman named Kushina Yukiei, had been tailor-made by Sparkle for Naruto.

After entering the Promotion Test, fate's restraints on Sparkle had been greatly loosened.

Although Sparkle still had no way of fabricating entirely fictional plots and absurd settings out of thin air.

Adding a "character," however, was acceptable.

As long as it was reasonable and well-founded, Sparkle could add "settings" to this plot.

But that came with restrictions as well.

One of them was that the character's origins couldn't be made up recklessly. She couldn't simply declare someone to be a "hidden descendant of the Sage of Six Paths" and set it however she pleased.

Instead, it had to be designed reasonably according to the circumstances of the world itself.

Furthermore, even if she created this character, the one playing the character would still only be Sparkle.

And most importantly, these settings only existed for this "set" and its "audience." The world itself was still a living, real world.

It wasn't as if Sparkle could just casually claim that some awesome person would appear or add some setting and have it automatically generated. Nor would it give Sparkle additional settings out of nowhere.

In that case, she would do it herself. If there was no character, she would create one herself.

So, Sparkle immediately thought of such a character.

Sparkle had long since discarded the Land of Waves script.

What she wanted to make was a character connected to Kushina.

Then what sort of character could rival Kushina?

Or rather, what kind of character could rival such a great mother?

Naturally, it had to be another "mother" character.

To correspond with a character like Kushina, it could only be someone who was likewise a mother.

And thus, "Kushina Yukiei" was born.

"Kushina" was both a surname, and its pronunciation was also identical to "Kushina." The two were pronounced exactly the same.

In fact, in certain translated versions, Kushina was also translated as "Uzumaki Kushina." It was simply that Kushina was generally used as a surname rather than a given name.

As it happened, because Sparkle possessed Jingliu's card and Jingliu's inheritance, she had an affinity for the ice attribute.

In the Naruto World, that meant possessing the Ice Release Kekkei Genkai.

And that was enough.

In the Naruto World, Ice Release was the Kekkei Genkai of the Yuki Clan. But because Kirigakure had always rejected, and even slaughtered, those with Kekkei Genkai, by the end only Haku's mother had barely survived. Then Haku awakened his Kekkei Genkai, exposing their identity and causing his mother's death. Haku was left homeless as a result, and was eventually picked up by Zabuza.

Haku was simply Haku. He had no surname. In the Naruto World, not everyone had a surname, much like ancient Japan in the real world.

The so-called "Yuki Haku" was merely fanfiction fabrication. Besides, there really was a Yuki Clan in the Naruto World.

Since it was only a "Yuki Clan," that made things easy.

Kirigakure had slaughtered who knew how many members of the Yuki Clan, and who knew how many bloodlines had scattered and fled.

So setting it up this way posed no problem.

The "Yuki" in Kushina Yukiei came from that.

As for "Yukiei," Sparkle had thought of the Jinchuriki's "Tailed Beast Cloak." Moreover, Kushina Uzumaki was the fiery "Blood Red Habanero," so using "cold" and "white" as a counterpart resulted in this.

Her appearance also corresponded to Kushina's.

Kushina had red hair and blue eyes, while Kushina Yukiei had blue hair and crimson eyes. Even their facial features bore several similarities.

The reason Naruto had felt dazed was the maternal feeling Kushina Yukiei exuded, as well as the pain hidden beneath that maternal nature.

Thus, Kushina Yukiei's origins were settled.

After determining her origins came her experiences.

There was no need to elaborate on Kushina's experiences.

Nothing was more powerful than a mother, and an injured mother was even more so.

Then what if she were a mother who had lost her child?

Naturally, that would be even more so.

To set up the arrangement, Sparkle first needed to find a village that had been wiped out and create some sort of "background."

Fortunately, that was easy to find.

Kirigakure practiced bloody and cruel internal rule, and there were countless villages that had been destroyed.

Among them, creating a particular identity was absolutely no issue.

Once her origins were established, what came next was her experiences.

Kushina Yukiei was the existence opposed to Kushina Uzumaki.

What if, on the night of the Nine-Tails, the one who died hadn't been Kushina Uzumaki, but Naruto Uzumaki?

Actually, Sparkle had initially wanted to reverse Kushina's alias or Romanized name, but unfortunately, it didn't sound much like a person's name, so she had no choice but to give up.

Naruto followed behind everyone with an indescribable feeling in his heart. He seemed to have lost his usual vitality, and he couldn't shake the inexplicable frustration weighing on him.

Just then, everyone finally arrived at the town. There were very few people here, and every face looked sallow. The atmosphere was far from pleasant.

"My house is just ahead. We can finally take a break."

With home close at hand, Tazuna finally let out a sigh of relief.

"Cough, cough..."

"Hm?"

Naruto heard coughing from nearby.

A woman draped in a long cloak was carrying a bucket of water and resting weakly nearby.

"I'll help!"

Naruto rushed over almost instinctively. If he didn't find something to do, he felt like he would only become more irritated.

"Don't go too far, Naruto."

Kakashi called out.

By then, Naruto had already reached her.

"Ma'am, let me help you!"

Naruto called.

"Thank you."

"I haven't seen you before. That forehead protector... are you a ninja?"

"Hehe, that's right! I'm a ninja from Konoha, and I'm the man who'll become Hokage someday! Naruto Uzumaki!"

"Naruto...?"

The woman's body trembled.

"Kushina. Kushina Yukiei."

She answered in a faintly trembling voice.

Kakashi: What Did You Say Her Name Was?! (Trembling Voice)

There was something deeply reassuring about Aunt Kushina.

They had clearly only exchanged a few words, but upon hearing her gentle voice, Naruto somehow felt his mood lighten considerably.

Aunt Kushina lived in a rather remote place, and it took quite a while to get there.

Her home was simple, but it had been kept very clean.

Her health seemed poor, and her face was somewhat pale.

But the ice-blue tips of her hair hidden beneath her hood, along with her red eyes, were beautiful.

"Heave-ho~"

After helping Aunt Kushina pour the water into the water jar and doing a bit of physical labor, Naruto's mood finally began to recover.

"Thank you, Naruto. Where I live is rather remote, so fetching water isn't very convenient."

"Is your body...? Are you in a lot of pain?"

Naruto noticed that she seemed to be in poor health.

It reminded him of the figure amid the ice and snow.

That woman also seemed to have been clutching her chest the entire time.

"It's nothing, just an old ailment. Rather, it's proof that I exist."

She spoke softly, seemingly unwilling to discuss the matter.

"Oh, okay. Then I'll be going now, Aunt Kushina."

However, just as Naruto was about to leave, she grabbed him.