Ch10- A new beginning

"Seems like the 'Purple Devil' is at it again."

"Yeah, but I mean, who told those guys to mess with her?"

Many Customers were marveling at the sight of the waitress beating up a Genin, who had refused to pay. However, one of them seemed confused, as he went over to a nearby table to inquire about it.

"Excuse me, can you tell me about that waitress? Is she a retired shinobi or why are people calling her the Purple Devil of Konoha?"

"Well, my dear friend, if you value your life, come here and listen!"

"It was a time when this restaurant had recently become famous and many came to either taste the food or watch the waitresses work.

However, a few were dump enough to harass the waitresses, thinking they were better than all of us because they were shinobi. Though only Genin, which had been stuck there all their life.

One of them tried to do the same on the Purple Devil. However, she, already pissed because of the complaints about their table, reacted quickly without the Genin group being able to retaliate and broke the arm of the one reaching for her butt.

This enraged the shinobi group and they decided, like cowards, to gang up on her."

"Did nearby shinobi stop them?" -Mob3

"Nonononono. She, along with a few other employees, proceeded to beat the living crap out of them. They even robbed them clean and threw them out. Only after one started using a Jutsu did she let a nearby Jonin take care of it." -Mob2

"Thus the legend of the Purple Devil, who can beat most Genin while being a normal civilian." -Mob1

Although at the start many speculated, that she was a retired Kunoichi, Konoha's police shot those rumors down after checking her for any sign of having a higher than normal amount of chakra.

***

"Welcome, what can I get for you?"

"The usual."

"Yes, Lord Hokage."

Yui had finally achieved her dream of running a restaurant with Agrona's help. At first, they had been deployed at Ramen Ichiraku, before opening their restaurant.

Surprisingly, Nozomi herself had volunteered to work as a waitress once the restaurant opened, saying that Yui had told her she could do it. Which confused her a lot, till she remembered joking about it one time.

Pakura's face, on the other hand, was too famous and she was thus unsuitable to work as a waitress except for using a Henge, which was too risky because of the few Hyuuga and Uchiha eating there.

Surprisingly she was quite the decent cook and was thus employed in the kitchen.

After working for Teuchi, Yui had persuaded him to open a bigger restaurant with them, making it possible to enjoy his Ramen in his food stall or the connected restaurant, run by Yui.

This would give him extra help if things got too hectic, while also making it possible to take more days off to spend time with his daughter, who was currently 4 and loved running around her dad's kitchen.

The most problematic one was Rin. Nozomi had thought a lot about how to explain that she couldn't go back to her team as she was presumed dead.

Fortunately or rather unfortunately she was still in a coma, even though it had already been two years, since her 'death'.

***

"There you go, Lord Hokage, Lady Kushina. Your Miso-Ramen."

"Thank you Nozomi, though why do I have an extra salad?"

"Since you are pregnant, you should eat a bit more, the salad is on the house. Enjoy!"

Smiling at her antics, both of them started eating while Kushina started ranting about how Minato should come home more often, as he was always in the office.

The restaurant had become famous for its tasty food and good-looking waitresses. However, it also had a certain aspect of privacy, as even the Hokage could eat in silence, while no one would bother him. Naturally, this Genjutsu was only working in the restaurant and Minato would usually be swarmed by fans the moment he left, prompting them to let him leave through the backdoor.

***

Although it rarely showed, Nozomi had to learn how to interact with customers from scratch. At some point, Yui had enough and started beating her up after Nozomi scared another group of customers away.

This caused her to have multiple sleepless nights, staying up and learning. Well, it unfortunately didn't stop Yui's beatings, as she would instead be hit for sleeping while working.

Grumbling, Nozomi could only hide her dissatisfaction as Yui was her only source of income.

After arriving in Konoha, she had started going to the Casino once in a while, earning the moniker: The second coming of Tsunade Senju. Not because she was addicted, but because her luck was almost as bad.

Yui realizing this too late was barely able to save enough money to live on for a few more weeks before she started regulating Nozomi's access to money and forced her to stop going there, which she promptly did.

***

Nozomi was sure that Kushina would give birth in the next few days as both she and Minato had stopped coming.

Although she wanted to help the wife of one of the people, which she considered friends, her identity didn't allow so and she could only hope for everything to turn out fine.

Today was a busy day, the 9th of September. Yesterday, Kushina had send someone over to ask for baby food recipes. It was not like their restaurant had them, but Yui and Pakura were happy to start experimenting.

Just a few hours ago, they had finished their prototype product. Unfortunately, they didn't have much time to celebrate, due to the high number of customers swarming in today.

After more than a year of operating, they had already gotten a rather huge crowd of regulars. Although they were mostly consisting of shinobi, many were also civilians due to the affordability and quality of the food.

***

The 10th of September was a rather uneventful day. However later that day multiple groups of people were supposed to arrive at their restaurant.

One especially large group came because two regulars of the store had married and wanted to come over to celebrate.

It was quite the festive mood, as drinks were chugged down like water and the food on the huge table was quickly depleting.

***

"How bothersome..."

"Don't worry, this won't happen that often anyway. On another note, go get some more fries, they are almost gone."

"Yes my Lady, Yui."

"Stop being sarcastic and start moving, Nozomi."

Both of them had sat down, as they were running around since quite a few hours ago. Normal civilians would have long collapsed from exhaustion. They however were merely tired from working for the whole day. If they wanted they could just get up and fight in a battle in a matter of seconds.

"What the FUCK just happened?!"

While Nozomi had just gone into the kitchen, a sudden burst of chakra overwhelmed her for a moment. It was nothing like she had ever felt, it was made up of pure hatred.

And she wasn't the only one, as Yui, Pakura, and even some customers all looked in the direction where the presence full of malice was coming from.

"T-..-Th..-THE KYUUBI!!"

There it was, a huge fox with nine tails storming towards Konoha, destroying everything in its way.

Realizing the spread of panic in the restaurant, Nozomi decided to activate the defensive Fūinjutsu, which she had learned after the raid of Uzuchigakure with the there acquired seals. This was also the time when she had adopted another child, Namiko, and given her a way to live instead of being slaughtered like all the other children even if she was but a toddler at that point.

"Shut up!"

Even the strongest of shinobi in the restaurant looked at Nozomi, shocked. They would have never imagined, that a normal Civilian would have enough courage to speak in such a situation.

"Every person under the level of Jonin should stay in this restaurant! It is safer than panicking and running away."

Having said her piece, Nozomi turned to her friends.

"Pakura, Yui, and I will check out what's wrong. Namiko, you will protect Rin and the restaurant."

As they stealthily made their way outside, Namiko went towards a hidden room in the building to check on Rin.

***

Arriving at the scene, all of them were shocked to see the degree of damage done by the Kyuubi.

Nozomi however was even more shocked to see Minato easily teleporting the Kyuubi's attack outside of Konoha.

He had become more powerful since the last time she had seen him while she had done nothing in recent years.

***

As I flickered to Minato's position, I noticed him attacking a cloaked figure whose abilities seemed familiar to me.

Seeing Minato almost being sucked into something, It finally clicked in my mind. The humanoid figure, who had slaughtered the Kiri-nins before I was able to rescue Rin had the same abilities.

I waited, not revealing my presence as I watched the two battle.

As they continued to face off, the person called Madara was slightly ahead with his attack. Unfortunately for him, Minato easily dodged it with his 'Flying Thunder God Technique' and rammed a huge Rasengan in his enemy's back.

While the fight took place, I was analyzing the fight. I was trying to learn the weakness of Madara's technique, but I also noted how much Minato had grown.

***

After Minato sealed the connection between Madara and the Kyuubi, Madara retreated proclaiming that this will just be the start.

Unfortunately for Minato, he had no time to rest as the Kyuubi was still rampaging in the Village.

With Pakura secretly helping Sarutobi and multiple other shinobi, the Kyuubi had largely been stopped from advancing.

***

Time slowly ticked, as Konoha watched the fight between the Kyuubi and the fourth Hokage.

Minato with the Flying Thunder God technique was able to teleport the Kyuubi outside of Konoha, stopping its rampage temporarily.

He took this time to save his wife, a Fuinjutsu grandmaster, and their child. Unluckily an attack of the Kyuubi had caused the building they were in, to collapse.

"I don't have much chakra left. Even though I made it this far..."

"Minato... I can still do it."

With the last strength remaining in her, Kushina summoned her adamantine sealing chains, restricting the Kyuubi's movement.

"I'll take...the Kyuubi with me... to my death...so that...the interval until he...emerges again....is delayed."

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[Emotional Speech, which we will ignore...]

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"[Reaper Death Seal]"

Minato, using the Reaper Death Seal prepared to seal half of the Nine-tails in Naruto while sealing the other half inside of him forever at the cost of his life.

However, the Kyuubi, noticing their actions wasn't very keen on being sealed and robbed of his freedom again, using all of his strength tried to attack the infant with his nail.

"Nnrgh"

With both their bodies, Minato and Kushina were able to barely stop the attack from hitting their son in exchange for their lives.

***

"Minato..."

Looking at the wound in his stomach, Nozomi knew it was too late.

"Nozomi..., no... . W..ho...are you?"

"You have already forgotten me? And that after impaling me...,*sob*."

Seeing Kushina's glare, Nozomi knew she had to at least explain her joke before they died.

"It's me Namaki ..., I was tasked with Infiltrating Konoha a few weeks after the war ended."

"The why....are you...here?"

"I d-don't know....on one hand, I was ordered to never reveal my identity. On another hand, I wanted to save my friend.

I c-can't just betray Iwa, but seeing you like this is making me think that all my life is a l-lie. No decision I make is truly made by me and I can't betray those orders. What am I without my orders? What is my purpose without them?"

Unfortunately, their time was nearing. Both Kushina and Minato were dying. However, they wanted to say one last thing to Nozomi, as they had already said their goodbyes to Naruto before she had arrived.

"I have never....personally met...you. Even though....Minato told me....a lot of stories...about you. But please...do me a favor. Take care...of our son, Naruto.... . At least...if it doesn't...bother you...too much. My...friend."

"My...wife already said...our...last...wish. But,...make sure...to take care...of...yourself too. I hope...maybe Naruto...will help you...finding...what...you...wish....for.

Thank...Y...ou."

Nozomi felt horrible as she saw the light in their eyes go out. She had never felt worse before and she hated it. Her insecurities had cost her the possibility of saving her best friend.

Looking at the ugly little creature nearby, Nozomi made a kind smile while holding her tears back.

"Don't worry little one. You can always come over if you're hungry."