Naruto Kushina Lives

[mortalone]

This thread is half idea, half discussion.

Suppose Kushina had lived. What would have happened?

1.) Let's assume that Kushina and Mikoto were close friends. How does the situation with the Uchiha unfold? This question is somewhat a resurrection of a tangential discussion from my previous thread concerning Minato surviving the sealing because he's a BAMF. But let's talk specifics.

Kushina knows that an Uchiha is responsible. If she's friends with Mikoto, it's likely that she will go to Mikoto first. We're assuming the friendship is mutual. How does Mikoto respond to this? Mikoto and Fugaku were not there the night that Kyuubi attacked. Could it be that whatever it was that separated them from the village was related? If so, then surely Mikoto must have her own suspicions. If not, then Mikoto is now in the position of having to question her clan.

In this circumstance, is it "better" if Kushina recovers quickly and stirs things up like a bull in a china shop or is it better for Kushina to take some time to recover, leading Mikoto to investigate on her own (more politically)? Does she at all? Or is she a proper Japanese housewife?

How does Kushina react if investigations turn up nothing? That is, investigations hit a dead end as every Uchiha of comparable height and weight or significantly advanced sharingan to the culprit (who Kushina has seen and presumably can imitate with henge) has an alibi. (Except Fugaku and Mikoto presumably do not have alibis other than each other.)

2.) Does Kushina decide that she wants to be Hokage? Is this advantageous for protecting Naruto? Did she relinquish her own dreams of being Hokage for the sake of Minato? Maybe she never really cared about being Hokage and was just a brat when she was younger. Or maybe she was serious.

3.) Does Jiraiya spend more time in Konoha and in Naruto's life? Was he close with Kushina or only Minato?

4.) Same for Kakashi.

 

[Dunstan]

If I remember the chapter right, wasn't a large part of why Minato died because he wanted to set up the chakra messages they gave to Naruto?

If so then.... I guess this means a much happier Naruto. :sisi:

 

[Psyckosama]

I had an idea along these lines myself, only for me it changed when she flipped out on Sarutobi when he was going to hand over Hizashi.

He basically calls her out on her questioning the Hokage, asks if she thinks that she can do any better, she bites and rips into him about how hell yes she could do better.

He smiles warmly, plops the hat on her head, and says best of luck to 'ye, Hokage-sama!

*beat*

"Oh shit."

 

[DhampyrX2]

I had an idea along these lines myself, only for me it changed when she flipped out on Sarutobi when he was going to hand over Hizashi.

He basically calls her out on her questioning the Hokage, asks if she thinks that she can do any better, she bites and rips into him about how hell yes she could do better.

He smiles warmly, plops the hat on her head, and says best of luck to 'ye, Hokage-sama!

*beat*

"Oh shit."

"Oh that Old Bastard did NOT just stick me his crappy administrative job while I'm busy at home with a three year old jinchuuriki Uzumaki. He is so going to pay for this."

 

[mortalone]

Naruto being happier is basically unquestionable. The bigger risk personality wise is that he may get spoiled by his doting mother.

If Kushina becomes Hokage, how much changes? This again ties back into Jiraiya -- does this mean he's around more and doing more for Konoha? And likewise, the Uchiha. If she becomes Hokage, does that prevent the tragedy that occurs? Assuming she is friends with Mikoto, I would think so. Assuming she is not friends with Mikoto, this could actually end worse.

How powerful is she? My headcanon puts her somewhere between Kakashi and Jiraiya as of the start of the manga. This is based entirely on speculation as we have never actually seen her fight. I do not follow the anime and I do not know if she has had any fights there.

 

[DhampyrX2]

Naruto being happier is basically unquestionable. The bigger risk personality wise is that he may get spoiled by his doting mother.

If Kushina becomes Hokage, how much changes? This again ties back into Jiraiya -- does this mean he's around more and doing more for Konoha? And likewise, the Uchiha. If she becomes Hokage, does that prevent the tragedy that occurs? Assuming she is friends with Mikoto, I would think so. Assuming she is not friends with Mikoto, this could actually end worse.

How powerful is she? My headcanon puts her somewhere between Kakashi and Jiraiya as of the start of the manga. This is based entirely on speculation as we have never actually seen her fight. I do not follow the anime and I do not know if she has had any fights there.

She could hold back the freaking Kyuubi with her chakra chains while DYING after its extraction. I'd say she was fairly powerful in her own right.

 

[ankokudaishogun]

a big problem of Hokage Kushina is her actual power without Kurama.
A weak Kage means other countries are more likely to get bold

 

[mortalone]

How much of her power actually comes from Kurama? Gaara proved quite strong even without Shukaku.

 

[Darksnider05]

She has similar strength feats to her son.

 

[zeebee1]

Assuming that her chakra chains are as effective on humans and jutsu as they were against the Kyuubi she has the ultimate binding tool and defense. Honestly, from what we saw there are very few individuals that she shouldn't be able to beat.

 

[Psyckosama]

I had an idea along these lines myself, only for me it changed when she flipped out on Sarutobi when he was going to hand over Hizashi.

He basically calls her out on her questioning the Hokage, asks if she thinks that she can do any better, she bites and rips into him about how hell yes she could do better.

He smiles warmly, plops the hat on her head, and says best of luck to 'ye, Hokage-sama!

*beat*

"Oh shit."

"Oh that Old Bastard did NOT just stick me his crappy administrative job while I'm busy at home with a three year old jinchuuriki Uzumaki. He is so going to pay for this."

Exactly the reaction I was thinking... and in some degree it allows us to preserve the attention whore element of canon Naruto, though maybe boiled down from "Absolute thundering moron" to "obnoxious pain in the ass".

His mother's busy. She TRIES to make time, she does, and he loves his mom and she loves him, but she's ALWAYS busy. To make matters worse, his poor academics (he hates to sit still and is a kinesthetic learner) still has him at the back of the class, though I see him being near the top with practicals, with the theoretical and book stuff he's pretty much crap.

While he's not openly disliked by except a few idiots, being the son of two Kage, he's more seen as a bit of a disappointment compared to his parents... which leaves him with the biggest set of shoes to fill in the Shinobi nations.

 

[Darksnider05]

I had an idea along these lines myself, only for me it changed when she flipped out on Sarutobi when he was going to hand over Hizashi.

He basically calls her out on her questioning the Hokage, asks if she thinks that she can do any better, she bites and rips into him about how hell yes she could do better.

He smiles warmly, plops the hat on her head, and says best of luck to 'ye, Hokage-sama!

*beat*

"Oh shit."

"Oh that Old Bastard did NOT just stick me his crappy administrative job while I'm busy at home with a three year old jinchuuriki Uzumaki. He is so going to pay for this."

Exactly the reaction I was thinking... and in some degree it allows us to preserve the attention whore element of canon Naruto, though maybe boiled down from "Absolute thundering moron" to "obnoxious pain in the ass".

His mother's busy. She TRIES to make time, she does, and he loves his mom and she loves him, but she's ALWAYS busy. To make matters worse, his poor academics (he hates to sit still and is a kinesthetic learner) still has him at the back of the class, though I see him being near the top with practicals, with the theoretical and book stuff he's pretty much crap.

While he's not openly disliked by except a few idiots, being the son of two Kage, he's more seen as a bit of a disappointment compared to his parents... which leaves him with the biggest set of shoes to fill in the Shinobi nations.

Nope doesn't work Kushina swamps Naruto with shadow clones 24/7 parenting problem solved. No one in Konoha would ever really be sure where the real Kushina is.

Is her clone doing her paperwork or is it really her watching Naruto in person. Also it would be easy enough for Kushina to watch Naruto and do her work as Hokage early on.

Hell if she really wants to she can remodel the office to allow for her to live there a long with Naruto. There are just so many ways to raise Naruto while being attentive parent and Hokage.

If anything Naruto would grow up knowing exactly what it means to be Hokage.

 

[Psyckosama]

I had an idea along these lines myself, only for me it changed when she flipped out on Sarutobi when he was going to hand over Hizashi.

He basically calls her out on her questioning the Hokage, asks if she thinks that she can do any better, she bites and rips into him about how hell yes she could do better.

He smiles warmly, plops the hat on her head, and says best of luck to 'ye, Hokage-sama!

*beat*

"Oh shit."

"Oh that Old Bastard did NOT just stick me his crappy administrative job while I'm busy at home with a three year old jinchuuriki Uzumaki. He is so going to pay for this."

Exactly the reaction I was thinking... and in some degree it allows us to preserve the attention whore element of canon Naruto, though maybe boiled down from "Absolute thundering moron" to "obnoxious pain in the ass".

His mother's busy. She TRIES to make time, she does, and he loves his mom and she loves him, but she's ALWAYS busy. To make matters worse, his poor academics (he hates to sit still and is a kinesthetic learner) still has him at the back of the class, though I see him being near the top with practicals, with the theoretical and book stuff he's pretty much crap.

While he's not openly disliked by except a few idiots, being the son of two Kage, he's more seen as a bit of a disappointment compared to his parents... which leaves him with the biggest set of shoes to fill in the Shinobi nations.

Nope doesn't work Kushina swamps Naruto with shadow clones 24/7 parenting problem solved. No one in Konoha would ever really be sure where the real Kushina is.

Is her clone doing her paperwork or is it really her watching Naruto in person. Also it would be easy enough for Kushina to watch Naruto and do her work as Hokage early on.

Hell if she really wants to she can remodel the office to allow for her to live there a long with Naruto. There are just so many ways to raise Naruto while being attentive parent and Hokage.

If anything Naruto would grow up knowing exactly what it means to be Hokage.

Yes, because everyone uses Shadow Clone for everything...

And I'm not saying that he doesn't know exactly what it means to be Hokage, just mom's always busy.

She does make time, but even redheaded alpha MILFs have their limits.

 

[NuitTombee]

Would it be too far-fetched that Kushina would create just one kagebunshin to watch Naruto when she's working in the office? Mothers are usually very protective and having that as a means to do both should be something she'd look into if she doesn't know it already. ^_^

Or is 'busy busy mother' so a necessary of an element in your idea that you're willing to forgo such an easy option?

 

[Dunstan]

Yes, because everyone uses Shadow Clone for everything...

Everybody? No, but as one of the few things we know about her is that it was said that Naruto has her fighting style, and as shadow clones pretty much are Naruto's "fighting style", it's not that much of a leap to say she knows them. :sisi:

And the reason everyone always has Fanon-Naruto use them for... Well, everything, is because, if you have enough chakra to do it.... Why the bloody hell not? :hmm: Actually making use of the "I can be in ten places at once without even braking a sweat" power when you can.. Is just common sense. :sweat:

 

[Amberion]

Would it be too far-fetched that Kushina would create just one kagebunshin to watch Naruto when she's working in the office? Mothers are usually very protective and having that as a means to do both should be something she'd look into if she doesn't know it already. ^_^

Or is 'busy busy mother' so a necessary of an element in your idea that you're willing to forgo such an easy option?

^^^^- This.

Not only that, different upbringing would make a different Naruto.
If he understood what they taught at the academy, he probably wouldn't hate it.

Then there is the fact that he pretty much screwed around to get acknowledgment, why would he seek that now?

It seems you want to have a semi canon!Naruto in this idea, I just think him having his mother there, makes it highly unlikely that he would be anything even close to how canon!Naruto is.

 

[Darksnider05]

Would it be too far-fetched that Kushina would create just one kagebunshin to watch Naruto when she's working in the office? Mothers are usually very protective and having that as a means to do both should be something she'd look into if she doesn't know it already.? ^_^

Or is 'busy busy mother' so a necessary of an element in your idea that you're willing to forgo such an easy option?

^^^^- This.

Not only that, different upbringing would make a different Naruto.
If he understood what they taught at the academy, he probably wouldn't hate it.

Then there is the fact that he pretty much screwed around to get acknowledgment, why would he seek that now?

It seems you want to have a semi canon!Naruto in this idea, I just think him having his mother there, makes it highly unlikely that he would be anything even close to how canon!Naruto is.

Naruto and his mom are pretty alike personality wise he would be even more so raised by her. Who the fuck knows how they share that talking tick when they had never met.

 

[ankokudaishogun]

While he's not openly disliked by except a few idiots, being the son of two Kage, he's more seen as a bit of a disappointment compared to his parents... which leaves him with the biggest set of shoes to fill in the Shinobi nations.

Sasuke and him bonding over their inferiority complexes, becoming a lot like Kid Hashirama and Kid Madara.

Maybe with Mikoto being the "cool, scary aunty" who, depending on her ramen-cooking ability, might or might not be Naruto's first crush.





Main problem is, would the shinobi of Konoha take Kushina being Hokage well? She lost Kurama, and while worthy of the Bloody Mist, she wasn't quite known to be a battlefield monster like the other Kage...

Maybe having her on a Pro Tempore position, only it sticks and they never quite get around in making it official and\or finding a replacement, especially because she's GOOD at that shit so Jiraiya really doesn't have any reason to take the position, Tsunade is still Not!Missing Nin and Danzou wouldn't be more convincing than her.

Like, Hiruzen gets sick, and she a Hokage Pro Tempore must be put in place to avoid risking the same fate of Suna when they lost the Third Kazekage and were left with a power-hole for way too long, the political instability becoming one of the reason of the Third Ninja War.
Konoha ends with nominating Kushina because she's respected both as shinobi and as the Fourth's wife, she's in good terms with the Uchiha(via Mikoto) but is also a Uzumaki and therefore related to the Senju but otherwise pretty much not influenced by any clan.
In short, the perfect stand-in for a limited amount of time while Konoha wait for Sarutobi to heal and\or find a Fifth Hokage.
But then she's GOOD and nobody really wants her to go away.

 

[Shirotsume]

Or just have Hokage be somewhat monarchical- just that each spouse either A: died before the elected Hokage (Biwako/Sarutobi), or B: passed on it and sent it to election (Mito/Hashirama).

Kushina very obviously WOULDN'T pass, because she could protect Naruto.

Kind of like Queen Elizabeth- just because the King died, doesn't mean you necessarily need a new king. It could fit with a decent explanation- we don't actually know what any of the Hokage's spouses did, only that they were very well respected and leader material in their own right.

 

[ankokudaishogun]

the problem is, we know the Hokage is elected. Having the spouse becoming Hokage only because she legally fucked him doesn't quite make sense in the context of the structure of the village.

 

[Shirotsume]

Keep in mind that most of the Hokage's spouses look to be arranged. Hell, Kushina looks to be arranged as well- ANOTHER Uzumaki with the Kyuubi wed to the Hokage?

I was thinking more along the lines of them trying to modernize such things, to allow a non-arranged marraige for the Hokage, and Kushina catching a legal loophole that hadn't quite been closed yet, or somesuch.

Basically, she caught it at just the right time, or even in the midst of a restructuring that allowed her to marry minato.

This is definitely something where, if it happened, most people in story would be like "Wait, the fuck?"

 

[mortalone]

We have vague knowledge of how the selection process works. Once somebody is selected for the position, the jounin have to vote on whether they accept the appointment.

The manga canon honestly does not tell us anything about Kushina's battle reputation. We know about her reputation from the academy and we've seen some evidence that she was strong, but we have almost nothing. I do not follow the anime.

I do not think it would be wrong to speculate that she has a reputation for being strong, potentially an S-class bingo book target. My headcanon puts her somewhere between Kakashi and Jiraiya. Post-TS Kakashi was considered by the elders for the role of Hokage.

My answer would be that she has enough power and reputation to be considered. Reasons why she might not be considered might include:
-She was not born or raised in Fire Country.
-If she's like Naruto then she's probably not a strong strategist. Naruto is an instinctual fighter, not an intellectual one. She's probably also impulsive and headstrong.
-Potential bias against a female Kage, especially if she is to be the first. No female Kage have been identified other than Tsunade and Mei, both of whom are recent.
-She is a single parent of a small child.

When you consider what Konoha is, the first two points are fairly strong reasons. The latter two are fairly weak.

There's also the possibility that she would turn down the role. We don't know her motivation for wanting to be Hokage. Minato is dead and she has a baby to look after.

Kage Bunshin is over used in fanon, especially by fanon!Naruto. We don't see canon!Naruto constantly spamming KB all over Konoha. He only does it for fighting or training and when he does use it for training he gets a massive feedback of information that literally knocks him unconscious (see his FRS training). This is despite him being a jinchuuriki. Kushina is no longer a jinchuuriki and I'm resistant to the idea that her chakra levels even come close to comparing to current canon Naruto who is basically at SS4 right now.

I am not saying that Kushina cannot use KB to keep up with Naruto, but let's put a cap on how much. Being a full time mom and a full time Hokage 24 hours a day, 365 days a year is just too much.

 

[nixofcyzerra]

It's horribly unlikely that Naruto would be that weak on theory, for the simple reason that Kushina knows this stuff and thinks in a very similar way to him. We saw during the Sage training that Naruto works well with unusual metaphors. If he ever found something hard to understand, he's ask her, Kushina would come up with a comparison that makes everyone around her WTF, and then they'd do it a second time when Naruto goes"Oh, now I get it. Thanks Mom!"

 

[mortalone]

That does not mean he would be very book smart. I don't have strong feelings about where he would be in terms of theoretical basis, but if I were to guess his strong point would be practical knowledge. He'd more likely be an engineer than a scientist -- and I don't see him as a philosopher regardless of upbringing.

 

[Amberion]

That does not mean he would be very book smart. I don't have strong feelings about where he would be in terms of theoretical basis, but if I were to guess his strong point would be practical knowledge. He'd more likely be an engineer than a scientist -- and I don't see him as a philosopher regardless of upbringing.

I don't really agree with you. Both Minato and Kushina I think where good with theory. At least I think it's necessary when you are into seals. And things like that are somewhat genetic. And a Naruto with the right stimuli growing up, would have a vastly superior mind to the one he has in canon.