Shiki fūjin.

The pinnacle of Uzumaki fūinjutsu. It ensures the enemy's demise but for a steep price.

Life. The Shinigami demands the casters own soul as its payment for the service.

Minato Namikaze, Yondaime Hokage, used it to Seal the Kyūbi into his newborn, while his wife died protecting their child,her chest perforated by a single claw. Minato sealed the beast in cost of his own life, his own soul trapped inside the Shinigami's belly. But what about his wife? What happened to her?

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They say a mother's love transcends even death, that she watches over her child even after her own end. I say that's unusually cruel.

Uzumaki Kushina, or her soul, lingered in the living realm for her son, Naruto, the Hero that holds the Kyūbi and keeps it away, the Orphan who had his parents taken from him. She wanted to hold her son, to give him love he needs, to make his misery go away but she couldn't do it. She sobbed along with her child in an empty cold room. The only sound that could be heard was a newborns desperate wailing for his mother.

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Two year old Naruto was punished by the matron for stealing food. His hands were burned at the oven because he tried to eat when he was hungry. She raged when her son screamed in pure agony, the flesh of the innocent blistering and blackening. Her heart tore open when Naruto screamed for his mother to save him, to hold him away from the pain. But all she could do was watch, because a dead soul cannot interact with the living.

The matron was executed the next day, and her son was placed in an apartment near the Hokage tower. Kushina felt a pleasant shiver when Matron's blood drenched her untouchable feet red.

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She witnessed her six year old son, getting rejected from the playgrounds. The whispers that plagued her sons path:

Demon,

Monster.

Killer.

The sadness on little Naruto's face was unbearable as the kids shunned him while the parents praised their own for abandoning the whiskered child. She tried to hold him, tried to make his pain go away. But alas! All she did was try as her hand passed through her son like air, for the dead cannot touch the living.

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She was running, trying so hard to catch up with her eight year old son, who was running from a drunk civilian. Blaming him for the massacre of Uchiha, the prized jewel of their village. She watched helplessly as the drunk cornered her son and tortured him. She watched as some ANBU stood by letting this happen. She shrieked for help when her son's bones broke with a loud sound, and his voice cracked from screaming. Kushina jumped at the attacker, punched him, clawed him and tried to protect her son from the blows aimed at Naruto. She failed because the dead cannot protect the living.

Naruto was hospitalized for two weeks after this. She watched as Kakashi punished the guy by making him flay himself. The tears on her eyes were from ecstasy.

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Her eyes watered as she watched as a nine year old Naruto making friends with two of his own age. The Nara and the Akimichi heirs. Her unheard cries echoed through the village when her son's face glowed from sheer joy. He had two new friends. But at the end of the day, they too had to go home, and her son was alone again. She watched miserably as his shoulder shook from the sobs. She tried to comfort him, tried to tell her baby boy that she was here, that she loved him, that he wasn't alone...

But the dead cannot comfort the living.

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He was sweating profusely, his eyes red and his face pale. Lips cracked and teeth clattered from the fever he was down with. The tattered blanket and the cold apartment building made the illness worse. His fever was high, and it made the boy delirious. Kushina was sobbing like a child when her son asked her for water in delirium, continuously.

"Ma, wa..ter.."

She begged to the gods to end this nightmare, her heart couldn't take it anymore. She ran outside to find help, tried to grab anyone's attention. She tried to throw rocks, grabbing scarfs and even prostrating herself in the middle of the road. But she was ignored, because the living cannot see the dead.

The fever left him the next morning, and Kushina sighed with relief.

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Her eyes flashed when a shopkeeper deceived her son, selling him the almost rotten material for double the price. She watched when Naruto went to bed on an empty stomach because he had no money to buy food. Many times, Kakashi left him vegetables, but he too had to go away for missions. Her son was truly alone. She cursed the masked Uchiha for this, she cursed her husband for the seal, she cursed the fate for making her endure this. To be forced to watch her son suffer while being unable to do anything. . . What did she even do to deserve this?

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Her twelve year old son is now on the verge of being a shinobi graduate, and this Mizuki bastard already sabotaged his taijutsu techniques, his marks, and tricked him into stealing a scroll from the Hokage tower. Kushina gnashed her teeth together. They were trying to prove her son a traitor. Naruto succeeded against all odds as he retrieved the scroll from the tower bunker. How he evaded the ANBU was beyond her, but Naruto made her proud today. Her boy was growing up. She watched as Naruto learned his status as the Kyūbi Jinchūrriki, fought his traitorous academy teacher and ultimately getting saved by Iruka and a liberal use of Shadow Clone technique. She smirked, her son wasn't as little anymore.

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She watched as Kakashi of all people left his son to some nobody to train the Uchiha. An intense feeling slowly gathered in her stomach, a burning hatred. Betrayal.

Ultimately, it was Jiraiya who found the boy, and trained him for the chunin exams. Kushina smiled again. She was smiling a lot now a days.

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Her helpless eyes stared at her son, who got struck with Gogyō fūin by Orochimaru. She should have flayed that slimy reptile when she had the chance. She witnessed the invasion, she watched Leaf's battle for survival. She placed a comforting hand on her crying sons shoulder, his tears flowed freely as the only father figure of Kushina died in the battle against Orochimaru.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was dead. She felt a hollow ache in her heart...

Can the dead even feel anything?

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He son who was once an outcast is now almost a hero. He brought the village their princess back. One of the three legendary shinobis, the granddaughter of Hashirama Senju, Tsunade.

Tsunade Senju, the slug princess, was nominated the Godaime Hokage the next day. Naruto saved the village from the wrath of the one tail and transported civilians to safety. He was being hailed as a hero.

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Then the training trip with Jiraiya started, and she witnessed her sons' growth, his true potential. His presence grew by leaps. His battle against the traitorous Uchiha, who shoved a chidori through Naruto's chest. Kushina wasn't worried anymore, she was proud, she believed in her son. She believed that he'd overcome this, and her son made her words true. He rose again and again, getting stronger every time. She truly smiled for first time in thirteen years, a smile of a mother.

Then suddenly like a bolt from the blue, Jiraiya died.

She watched his soul smile a melancholy smile and passed on, but Kushina' soul still held on. She sat with her child and grieved with him. After a day or two, the Akatsuki attacked leaf.

Kushina watched with pride as her son faced Pein, the illustrious holder of the Rinnegān and the leader of Akatsuki, and overcame him. Not by brute force alone - the holder of Rinnegān was much more dangerous than Kyūbi. Naruto overcame him by his morals, by his will to do good and the ability to inspire others. She remembered Nagato. He was a tiny crybaby when she and refugees left Uzushio. The war made him the Pein he is today, the kind and compassionate Uzumaki nature was suppressed. She watched, amazed as Nagato revived everyone in the Leaf that died by his actions. Such miracle. A God indeed.

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Her son was now a savior. Everyone was talking about him, praising him, thanking him. Some even apologised. If anyone could see Kushina now, they'd be blinded by the glow of her face. She was content, no, she was happy. After all that hardship, all that struggle, he still remained true to himself. Never giving in, never giving up. He defeated every foe he faced, be it a shinobi or life itself, and became who he is now.

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Her soul was glowing tonight, like something heavenly was gently pulling it towards something, and she understood. Her time was up. Her smile was faint, content yet longing for more.

She gently ran her hand through her son's hair, and was surprised when her hands didn't pass through. Tears flooded, her vision when the warm face of her baby boy touched her hand. She thanked profusely whatever god gave her this one chance, this small time to feel something she thought was beyond her. She kissed Naruto gently on the forehead, tears not stopping even once.

" We will always love you, my brave baby boy. Always...." And she was gone.

Naruto just turned in his sleep with a small and warm smile on his face.

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Special thanks goes to my friends! DFTBA!