Time quickly moved forward, soon enough the day of graduation arrived. Kushina was staring at her new black Konoha forehead protector. Outside of the ninja registration number and photo, the headband is the main symbol which identifies if one is a shinobi/kunoichi.
'So this is it, I'm finally a shinobi of Konoha. A shinobi of the Naruto universe. This isn't a fantasy anymore, it's really real life for me now.' Kushina thought to herself with excitement brimming in her chest. She was staring down in a daze at her forehead protector.
"Hey Kushina." Minato's voice broke her out of her daze. "How come Nikita-sensei didn't tell you your assigned team like he did with everyone else?"
Because of her close relationship to Minato and Tsume, the three of them sat next to each other in class with Kushina being in the middle. Due to hanging out with one another quite often because of their friendship with the red-haired Uzumaki, Minato and Tsume also developed a closer friendship. Tsume had already left with her team with a Jōnin not long after teams were announced.
Of course Minato was on Jiraiya's team, no surprise to Kushina.
"If I had to guess, it's likely the Third Hokage has a different set of plans for me. He's likely about to deploy me to the frontlines of the war." Kushina answered in a nonchalant tone.
Minato's eyes widened. "You can't be serious?!"
"Oh no I'm pretty certain, think about it Minato. Right now Konoha isn't doing well on multiple fronts of this war. As a leader, there are times where one has to make hard decisions and take dangerous risks to secure victory against the enemy. Konoha needs someone to turn the tides and it's no surprise I'm the one who he's pinning his hopes on. Yeah I'm a kid but you know I'm not normal even by shinobi standards." Kushina explained.
Minato still didn't like it, however he was also aware that Kushina words are true. To be honest given what he's seen her be able to do and how much he's improved under her tutelage. Minato isn't too concerned about Kushina's ability to survive. Not only does she know the Flying Thunder God jutsu of the Second Hokage, she also has the ability to travel between dimensions at will in a near instant. The more Minato thinks about all the outrageous feats Kushina performed in front of him, the less worried he feels.
Sensing Minato's emotions calming down, Kushina mentally nodded. There's no reason for him to be worried about her safety. One punch using Gura-Gura no mi is more than enough to level an entire village if she desires.
"Now that I think about it, you are right about one thing. You aren't normal, that weird ability to control vibrations is certainly not normal. I've never heard of a kekkei genkai like that." Minato said.
"I'm not surprised, I've already told you that I don't have the typical Uzumaki bloodline. Plus there are many weird abilities all throughout the world. Mine is just one of many." Kushina shrugged.
"Somehow…I doubt that's the case." Minato chuckled.
Unlike canon Minato, this Minato doesn't have a crush on Kushina. At least he no longer does after constantly getting his ass kicked by her in her efforts to train him. His feelings turned into sibling-like affection, even though he's older between the two Minato notices how Kushina looks after him like a big sister. She's even forced him over to the Senju Clan's estate to have dinner with her family multiple times. Sometimes sending him home with leftover food so Minato doesn't have to worry about spending his expenses on dinner often.
He remembers when he asked her why she's always looking out for him so much? Her answer surprised him, apparently she's investing in him and his prodigal talent. While Minato can't compare to Kushina, he definitely is the next strongest out of their graduation class by a wide margin. Both of them had broken the previous academic and practical records of the academy. Pretty much everyone in the academy and even within the village has heard of Kushina and Minato's names more than once.
According to Kushina, she knew who Minato's jonin instructor was going to be. She didn't have much faith in his instructor's ability to fully draw out Minato's incredible potential as a future Kage-level shinobi. She told him that she's going to become Hokage in the future and wants him to be her right-hand man. In order to be that he needs to be extremely powerful. This is why Kushina made it a priority to teach him both the Flying Thunder God and Rasengan before graduation.
Although shocked and a bit overwhelmed, Minato didn't shy away and accepted Kushina's role for him. He understands that in under a year Kushina helped him become a very dangerous force before officially becoming a genin.
Kushina wasn't worried about Minato becoming a target of the village's higher ups. Hiruzen already was informed Minato was under the protection of the Senju Clan, which also meant Danzo also was aware.
Not even the Shinobi of Darkness himself was foolish enough to try to get on Mito's bad side.
Eventually Minato left as Jiraiya showed up to pick up his new team. It wasn't until she was the only remaining one in the classroom when an Anbu suddenly made themselves known in front of her.
Of course she was aware of this particular Anbu's presence the moment she sensed them approaching the academy.
"Uzumaki Kushina, your presence has been requested by Lord Hokage. You are to report to him immediately in his office." The Anbu stated in a calm tone.
Kushina nodded. "I figured this was going to happen."
She followed the Anbu member to Hiruzen's office.
'I wonder if I'll end up joining Anbu in the future…even though they are practically a useless force in shippuden. It will still be too cool to say that I served as an Anbu Captain or even commander at a young age.'
The young Uzumaki was very excited about her future as a Konoha ninja.