Kushina Uzumaki

- Kushina as a child. - Kushina as an adult. 1/2 Kushina was well-known for her beauty. She was a fair-skinned and slender woman of feminine build with violet eyes, and the common Uzumaki red hair. Her hair was straight and reached her shins (thighs in the anime) with shoulder-length strands that framed both sides of her face and a black clip that parts her hair to the left. Generally, she wore a high-collared, sleeveless blouse under a long, loose-fitting dress with a wristband on her left wrist and standard shinobi sandals. While her style of clothing normally consisted of this, she has been seen wearing it in varying colours. While on duty, she wore a blue forehead protector with her hair tied up in a high ponytail and strands at the sides of her face. Her attire consisted of a standard Konoha flak jacket over a black short-sleeved shirt and black moulant fitting pants . In her childhood, she had a round face, which, with her red hair naturally framing both sides of her face, giving her the resemblance of a tomato. Her attire was a sleeveless kimono-style blouse that was yellow in colour and held closed with a green obi over a short-sleeved mesh shirt with a pair of dark blue shorts and brown shinobi sandals. In her adolescence, she wore a short-sleeved, tan kimono-like blouse with a dark embroidered border, held closed with a black obi, a dark short skirt and stockings that stopped at her thighs along with the village's forehead protector and brown sandals.

Born into the famed Uzumaki clan of Uzushiogakure, Kushina lived most of her youth being caught up in war, making her seek for daily peace. At a young age, she was sent to Konoha and enrolled in the Academy after the destruction of her village. Wanting to make a strong first impression, she proclaimed to her class that she would be the first female Hokage. The other kids laughed at her statement and began calling her "Tomato" (トマト) because of her then-round face and fiery red hair. This prompted her to lash out and pummel the kids who teased her. This, in addition to her red hair flying wildly around her as she did so, earned her the nickname of Red Hot-Blooded Habanero (赤い血潮のハバネロ, "Akai Chishio no Habanero", Viz: Red-Hot Habanero). Kushina was eventually told why she had to leave her home of Uzushio and go to Konoha; because of her special chakra, she was to be the next jinchūriki of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. Kushina was terrified by the idea, but she was comforted by the Nine-Tails' then-current jinchūriki, Mito Uzumaki. Before the transfer was performed, Mito advised Kushina that love was the only way to tame the Nine-Tails and overcome its hate. Kushina soon grew close to Mito, who would teach Kushina more about their clan and how to find her own path in life. When she was around 13 years old, Kushina — now a genin — was kidnapped by Kumogakure, who wanted to make use of her special chakra in order to gain control of the Nine-Tails. As they escorted her to Kumo, she secretly plucked and left behind strands of her red hair to mark her trail in the hopes that someone would find her. Minato Namikaze, a former classmate whom Kushina had believed to be a wimp, was the only one to pick up on this. After rescuing her, he informed her that he had always admired her red hair. Since Minato proved himself to be anything but a wimp, accepted her, and liked the one thing she'd always hated about herself, Kushina fell in love with him, now considering her red hair as the "red thread of fate" (運命の赤い糸, unmei no akai ito) that had brought them together. Ultimately, Minato's reciprocated feelings helped her with overcoming the Nine-Tails. As the jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails, Kushina was regularly watched over by Anbu bodyguards and not allowed to leave the village, with surveillance growing ever tighter after her kidnapping. At the same time, because of the Third Shinobi World War, she was getting prepped to join the war as other villages began using their jinchūriki. Fearing for Kushina's safety, Minato began working on a new technique to aid Kushina with in experience in using the Nine-Tails' power, the Rasengan, based off the Tailed Beast Ball. One day, Kushina bound her guards and left the confine of a barrier that worked in tandem with the seal keeping the Nine-Tails in her. When Minato revealed his rationale for creating the jutsu, the Nine-Tails attempted to break free, injuring Minato in the process. His love for Kushina inspired her to fight back and regain control. Ultimately, as it was a gift to Kushina, she came up with the technique's name, basing the name off her teachings of spiralling love into a target from Mito. As she grew up, Kushina became renowned for her beauty and unique ninjutsu style, including the fūinjutsu of her clan. At some point, Kushina married Minato. She was later present to witness her husband's reign as Fourth Hokage, being very excited for him upon first learning of it. During her ten-month jinchūriki-influenced pregnancy, she was secretly kept guarded by Minato's top student Kakashi Hatake under Minato's order. Midway through the pregnancy, the expectant parents decided to name their unborn child "Naruto" after the main character of Jiraiya's first book. When Jiraiya asked if they were sure about it, stating that it was a name he had just come up with whilst eating a bowl of ramen one day, Kushina said that it was a beautiful name. They even approved of Jiraiya being Naruto's godfather. Kushina also hoped that her son and her friend Mikoto Uchiha's youngest son, Sasuke, would become friends in the future. Because the seal keeping the Nine-Tails within Kushina's body would be at its weakest during childbirth, special arrangements were made. Kushina would leave the village in secret and give birth in a remote location. Minato would help maintain the seal and Anbu would guard the area. Soon after Naruto was born, however, they were found by a masked man. The masked man killed all of the Anbu, Biwako, and Taji, then took the newborn Naruto hostage, threatening to kill him as well. Minato was able to take Naruto back, but this gave the masked ninja the chance to escape with Kushina. Wishing to use the Nine-Tails to destroy Konoha, the masked man released it from Kushina's body. The vitality inherent to the Uzumaki clan allowed her to survive the extraction, though she was greatly weakened by the experience. The masked ninja tried to have the Nine-Tails finish Kushina off but she was saved by Minato and brought to Naruto, who she stayed with while Minato went to help in the village's defence. To stop the Nine-Tails' attack, Minato was forced to bring it to Kushina and Naruto's location, and both of them to it. While still weakened, Kushina used her diminished chakra to restrain the Nine-Tails. Despite fearing the trauma would kill her in her current state, Kushina volunteered to have the Nine-Tails sealed back into her body so that it would die with her, willing to sacrifice herself for Minato and Naruto out of gratefulness for giving her such a happy life. Minato suggested using the Dead Demon Consuming Seal on the Nine-Tails and sealing it into Naruto instead, choosing to believe in him as his father. As this would also mean Minato's death, and consequently give Naruto a horrible and lonely life, Kushina naturally objected. Minato, while understanding her concerns, convinced her that it was for the best because of his belief in Naruto, and that doing this would also allow Kushina to see Naruto when he was older. After Minato sealed the Yin half of the Nine-Tails' chakra inside himself, the demon shrunk significantly, loosening the chains. Realising the Hokage's intentions, the weakened Nine-Tails tried to kill Naruto, but both Kushina and Minato used their bodies to shield him. As Minato performed the sealing, and already at the point of death, Kushina told Naruto how much she loved him and gave him her best advice for the future, her final act in this world filling her son with as much of her love as possible. Minato then sealed the rest of their remaining chakra into Naruto. In the anime, before dying, the Third Hokage appeared. Kushina told Hiruzen the child's name and begged the elder to protect Naruto, dying shortly afterwards.