novelraw Chapter 84 84: Preparations
Chapter 84 84: Preparations
The wedding kimono had survived Uzushio's fall, Akagakure's abandonment, and the desperate flight to Mount Myōboku. Kushina wasn't sure if that made it lucky or cursed.
"It's beautiful," Honoka said, running her fingers along the embroidered silk. The fabric was deep crimson edged with white, covered in the traditional Uzumaki spiral patterns that had been stitched by hands long dead. "Your grandmother's?"
"My mother's. She never got to wear it- she died before my father could propose." Kushina held the garment up to the light filtering through the window of their borrowed quarters. The silk caught the glow and shimmered like fresh blood. "Then Uzushio fell, and it ended up in the world somehow."
"How did you find it?"
"Akinari. He has a talent for tracking down lost things." She folded the kimono carefully and set it aside. "He found three Uzumaki survivors last year just by following rumors about red-haired wanderers. A wedding dress was easy by comparison."
Aina appeared in the doorway with Karin on her hip, the toddler gnawing contentedly on a wooden teething ring. "The seamstress wants to know if you need alterations for the fit. She says she can let out the waist if you need more room."
"Tell her the waist is fine for now, but she should leave extra fabric in the seams in case I need adjustments before the ceremony." Kushina's hand drifted to her stomach without conscious thought. The curve was more pronounced now, visible if you knew to look for it. "This one is growing faster than I expected."
"Is that normal? For..." Aina trailed off, clearly unsure how to phrase the question.
"For a half-demon fox pregnancy? I have no idea." Kushina shrugged. "There's no precedent. We're making this up as we go."
Aina nodded and retreated to relay the message, and Honoka waited until her footsteps faded before speaking again. "You're handling this remarkably well, you know. Most women would be terrified of carrying a child they don't understand."
"Fear is a luxury I can't afford." Kushina picked up a smaller bundle of fabric- the obi that would complete the ensemble, white silk with crimson threading. "Madara is out there gathering power. The world is on the brink of destruction. And I'm about to marry a tailed beast and bear his child. Terror would be reasonable, but it wouldn't be useful."
Honoka was quiet for a moment, then smiled in that knowing way she had. "You're terrified anyway, aren't you."
"Don't be ridiculous."
"It's fine if you are. I won't tell anyone."
Kushina shot her a look that would have sent most clan members scrambling for the door. Honoka straighted up and and shut up immediately.
She picked up a comb from the dressing table and began working through Kushina's hair, which had grown tangled from training. "Now hold still- we need to figure out how to arrange this for the ceremony."
---
On the other side of Mount Myōboku, in a clearing far from the clan's main settlement, Kurama faced Nagato across twenty meters of open ground.
Neither moved, and neither spoke. The only sound was the ambient chirping of the mountain's strange fauna and the distant rumble of a waterfall.
Kurama broke the silence first. "Your future sight- how far ahead can you see?"
"Seconds, usually. Sometimes longer if I push it." Nagato's Mangekyō was already active, the pattern spinning slowly in his crimson irises. "It's not perfect. I see possibilities, not certainties. The further out I look, the more the visions branch and blur."
"Can you see me now?"
"I see you standing there. I see several versions of the next few seconds, depending on whether you decide to attack or keep talking." A ghost of dark humor crossed Nagato's face. "The versions where you attack don't end well for me."
Kurama snorted. "At least you're honest about your limitations. That's more than most humans manage."
They circled each other slowly, feeling out the space between them. Kurama had taken his human form for this- the nine-tailed fox would have been impractical for fine-tuned coordination work, and besides, it felt wrong to loom over Nagato like a predator sizing up prey. They were supposed to be allies now. Or something close to it.
"Your healing ability," Kurama continued. "Tokotachi. What are its limits?"
"I can reverse time on injuries, returning the body to its state before the damage occurred. The cost is proportional to how much I undo- small wounds are trivial, fatal injuries drain me more." Nagato paused. "When I healed Kushina after Madara bisected her, It took a lot out of me."
"And you can do this remotely? From a distance?"
"I need to see the target. Line of sight and reasonable proximity. A few hundred meters at most."
Kurama filed that information away. In a fight against Madara, positioning would be critical. Nagato couldn't be in the thick of combat- he'd be killed instantly- but he needed to be close enough to heal and far enough to survive. A difficult balance.
"Here's how this will work," Kurama said. "You stay at range. You watch the fight through your Mangekyō, and when you see an attack coming that Kushina can't dodge, you call it out. Telepathy through the seal if possible, voice if not. Don't wait for confirmation- if you see her about to die, just tell her."
"And if I see something happening to you?"
"Then you tell her that too. She'll relay it to me." Kurama's tails twitched behind him, an involuntary display of agitation. "I'll be honest with you, Uzumaki. I don't like you. I don't trust you. You betrayed her once already, and the seal on your chest is the only reason I haven't killed you for it."
Nagato's expression didn't change. "I'm aware."
"But I also know you're useful. Your abilities could be the difference between victory and extinction. So I'm willing to work with you, despite my preferences." Kurama stepped closer, and his chakra pressure increased subtly- a reminder of what he was, of the power contained in that deceptively human form. "Don't make me regret it."
"I don't intend to." Nagato met his gaze steadily, which took more courage than most people possessed. "Kushina is my clan leader and my family. Whatever happened between us in the past, I won't let her die. Not if I can prevent it."
They stared at each other for a long moment.
"Good," Kurama said finally. "Then let's run through some scenarios. I want you to track my movements and call out openings. Pretend I'm Madara."
"You're faster than Madara."
"No, I'm not. Not yet." Kurama's form blurred, and suddenly he was behind Nagato, close enough to touch. "But I will be."
---
The children had taken over a corner of the main gathering area, supervised loosely by two of the younger adults. Paper decorations littered every surface- spirals and flowers and abstract shapes that might have been foxes if you squinted hard enough.
Kushina found herself drawn to the chaos as evening fell over Mount Myōboku. She stood at the edge of the activity, watching a girl of maybe six carefully fold a sheet of red paper into something approximating a crane.
"Lady Kushina!" One of the boys spotted her and scrambled to his feet. "We're making decorations for your wedding! Do you want to see?"
The others looked up with a mixture of excitement and nervousness. Most of them had been born after Uzushio's fall, raised in hidden camps and temporary shelters before finally finding stability in Akagakure. They'd lost that stability when Madara appeared. Now they were here, in this strange land of giant toads and glowing fungi, making paper decorations for their leader's wedding to a chakra fox.
"Show me," Kushina said.
The boy- she thought his name was Tetsu, one of Akaji's nephews- held up a chain of linked paper spirals. "We're making garlands for the ceremony space. And flowers for the path. And Miki is trying to make a fox but it keeps coming out wrong."
The girl with the crane-that-wasn't-a-crane looked up, her face reddening. "I've never seen a real fox before. Only the pictures in the old scrolls."
Kushina crouched down to the girl's level. "You'll see one at the wedding. A very large one, with nine tails. He might be in his human form for the ceremony, but I'll make sure he shifts at some point so you can get a proper look."
Miki's eyes went wide. "Really? You'd ask him to do that for me?"
"Yes." Kushina picked up a spare sheet of paper and began folding with quick, practiced movements. "Here- watch how I do this. The ears are the tricky part."
The children crowded around as she worked, their earlier nervousness forgotten in the face of an actual demonstration. Within minutes, she had a recognizable fox shape in her hands- simplified, stylized, but unmistakably vulpine.
"Like that," she said, handing it to Miki. "Practice a few times and you'll have it."
She left them to their work and continued through the settlement, inspecting preparations without comment. The clan had thrown itself into the wedding planning with an enthusiasm that bordered on desperate- a celebration to remind themselves that they were still alive, still together, and still capable of joy despite everything they'd lost.
Akaji fell into step beside her as she walked. "The food situation is handled. The toads have been surprisingly generous with their supplies, and we have enough sake for a reasonable celebration without depleting our reserves."
"And the ceremony space?"
"Cleared and prepared. We're setting up the traditional altar tomorrow, and the garlands should be finished by evening." He consulted his ever-present slate. "Akinari has volunteers for security, though he insists we won't need them. Nagato has agreed to attend despite his general preference for avoiding crowds. Honoka is coordinating the musicians- we have three people who can play traditional instruments and one who claims to know the old wedding songs, though I haven't verified that personally."
"You've been thorough."
"It's a wedding, Lady Kushina. The first one since we left Akagakure." Akaji's voice softened slightly. "The clan needs this. Not just for you, but for themselves. A reason to celebrate. A reminder that we're building something, not just surviving."
She considered that as they walked, the strange lights of Mount Myōboku casting long shadows across the path. He wasn't wrong. Morale had been fragile since the flight from Madara, the loss of everything they'd built. A wedding was a statement of intent- a declaration that the Uzumaki would continue, grow, and thrive despite their enemies.
"Make sure it's memorable," she said finally. "If we're going to do this, we do it properly."
Akaji smiled, a rare expression on his usually stoic face. "I wouldn't dream of anything less."