Chapter 1

You awakened to the sounds of bugs chirping. Sitting up in your bed you decided to look around the room. It was a rather nice looking if unfamiliar with a view of the outside porch. The floor and walls were clean if rather barren looking.

Glancing over by the door you saw a blur of what looked to be a yellow flash before it disappeared. Making you wonder if it was a trick of the sunlight coming in from the nearby clear window. You stared out the window looking into the rather scenic yard outside. Whoever attended to it did so rather meticulously.

Your musings about nothing were interrupted by the sound of footsteps rapidly approaching until you were met with the visage of the woman who had saved you earlier. Er, well, sort of saved? It wasn't like you were really that uncomfortable. Besides your mom would have likely saved you soon as well.

You watched as the red haired woman almost immediately went to speed walk at you before watching you cringe away from her. In response she decided to slowly inch her way forward. You noticed that she had food in a plate in her hands.

You watched her suspiciously for any sudden movements as she put the plate close to you before quickly retreating back to the doorway. Not even having the decency to move her head out of it. You watched her for a few minutes before approaching the food on the plate. Taking a tentative bite before taking a second one.

You heard a whispered cheer from the doorway as you ate. Proceeding to ignore it as you finished the food you were given. It was alright. Your mom made better food though. And the food you were given with the cloud ninja was also pretty good too. Possibly better.

"So…how are you holding up?"

You blinked in surprise as the woman had suddenly crossed the distance between you by about half. You briefly considered whether or not to run away as she obviously would allow you to, before deciding against it.

"I'm good. How are you…ninja?"

You knew for a fact what she was, but not what village she belonged to. You only knew a brief overview of each one, not what their headbands look like. She seemed to frown slightly at your comment before fixing her face to smile.

"I see. My name is Kushina. Kushina Uzumaki. That means I'm in the same clan as you, you know?"

You blinked in surprise. Mom did say there were other survivors in the clan. Maybe she was telling the truth? Kushina must have seen the look of recognition and surprise as a good sign, as her expression brightened. Her voice getting a bit more rushed with excitement.

"Did you know your mom? Or your dad?"

You blinked suspiciously at her.

"I don't have a dad."

Kushina didn't even blink at your answer.

"Did she have red hair like mine and yours?"

You considered whether or not to put your faith in her before deciding to take a gamble. You nodded at her words. She seemed to be that much more excited by your admission.

"When's the last time you saw her? Where? What was she like?"

"She was in the forest with me. People came out of the shadows to attack us and she told me to run away. When i ran I accidently ran into the cloud ninja while waiting for mom."

Kushina's smile slowly fell from her face. For some reason you didn't like the look she was giving you now. When you told how long ago it was that she disappeared she slowly pulled you into a hug. Whispering in your ears that it was alright and she was sorry. You don't know why she was saying these things, but they were enough to make you deeply sad. So you attempted to not show weakness by letting out your emotions.

Which of course resulted in blubbering and snot coming out of your face. Obviously part of some ploy in order to make her lower her guard. She took quickly to comforting and after a few minutes you realized there was a second pair of hands around you. Turning about you realized there was a small girl hugging you as well.


…well this was a bit awkward. You blinked at the young girl who had closed her eyes to hug you. You blinked at Kushina who simply kept whispering to you with her eyes screwed shut.

How do you tell them you're fine now?


*~o~*


You were in the land of Konoha. Also known as the village hidden in the leaves. Mother told you in terms of danger all the villages were exceedingly high, but between villages themselves Konoha was on the lower side. Only being beaten out by Stone in terms of safety.

You don't quite remember the specifics but she had informed you that your clan had established a relationship with Konoha. The terms of the relationship eluded you. Whether or not it was friendly or even very important.

Kushina had a daughter. Her name was Naruko and was apparently extremely boisterous. Something that was difficult to believe due to the shy glances and silent demeanor she had adopted towards you.

She was a few years younger than you by your estimate. Her furtive gazes gained more of a frequency and edge to them over time. Becoming more and more bold when looking towards you. Currently you expected her to be on track to stare at you while sleeping.

And sleep you would.

As Kushina informed you that you'd be staying with her for the foreseeable future. Your eyes narrowed slightly at not being given a choice. You were quick to add on the condition of until your mom found you which was something Kushina reluctantly agreed to.

Kushina herself was a high ranking member in Konoha. A jonin, which meant she was an important asset to the entire village. It also meant she was absolutely loaded in terms of money. Including a rather nice looking estate as her main residence. Something you took note for the future of your clan.

Unfortunately the future clan estate was rather barren. The main residence was rather large and luxurious looking but there was no one around to fill it. A few small houses were also around, but they didn't seem to be in use.

You had previously thought that if Kushina and you were in the same clan that perhaps she had the same goals as your mother. Though it would look like that wasn't the case. You didn't comment on it just yet though.

The current leader of the village was the third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi. Which was odd as you had thought there had been a fourth but perhaps you were simply thinking of a different village. Upon being guided around the village itself you noticed many different landmarks as you were jerked around this way and that.

The most important landmark that she made sure to show you no less than four times was some sort of ramen stand. You considered that it might be a code of sorts. More importantly you could feel the stares of a good portion of the populace around you.

Or rather, they were directed towards Kushina herself. The gazes themselves seemed mostly…neutral for the most part. No, that wasn't quite right. They seemed to be swallowing a bitter pill but were quick to look the other way. Almost as if they were scared of her. If Kushina noticed she made no note of it.

Thankfully the gazes that were directed towards you for being near her were much less hostile. Confused and dismissive for the most part.

Kushina made sure to introduce you to the academy where you will soon be going. She hadn't even seemed to consider the idea that perhaps you didn't want to be a ninja. Which was fine as that was your goal anyways.

She did inquire as to whether or not you had any previous experiences with any of the subjects. Your mother had given you a solid theory of most of the basics but nothing concrete. Answering in such a way seemed to spark Kushina's interest in testing your knowledge and seeing what you were good at.

Kushina tests were a bit…brutal. You were unsure why she started with taijutsu. You've only studied a few basic styles under your mother. Which meant she mostly manhandled you until you were a limp tired puddle on the ground.

She seemed to find your talent adequate.

Despite your best efforts, you couldn't help but be rather annoyed at such an assessment. She smirked as you redoubled your efforts in the next test.

This one involved fuinjutsu. Something Kushina felt was rather imperative to any clan member. You correctly identified and completed every single seal she sent your way. Even the ones that she seemed to think you wouldn't be familiar with.

You were quick to bask in her praise as a true Uzumaki. The next test was genjutsu which was mostly about whether or not what to look for inside a genjutsu and how to get out of one. That being course using your fine control of your chakra in order to send a shock to your body or to create the shock yourself and inflict some sort of pain in order to achieve the same result.

She waved her hand side to side in a so-so motion in your results. You had obviously failed to impress her in this test, which meant you would just have to put even more effort for the next one.

She smirked once again as you dived head first in the next test.

Shurikenjutsu. How well you could handle both kunai and shuriken's against your opponents. Kushina brought you to the backyard of the house in which targets were scattered about. This was at least something you had more than just knowledge about.

Your mother made sure you could hit your targets from a rather early age. From simple goals to targets. This was no different.

Each target that you had aimed at was hit. You hadn't hit the center of all of them, but you got real close to most. In retrospect you were still a bit rusty and tired after not being able to move for about a month. Once more Kushina grabbed and pampered you with sweet words about how talented you were. Because of course you were.

You were to be the greatest Uzumaki who had ever lived after all. You'd bring back your clan as your mom wished and you'd find her. Such things had to be a given for you.

The final test was with a blade. Whether or not you could use a weapon in order to fight. Your opponent being a strange wooden figure with wooden spikes jutting out of it. Though you've never had experience yourself swinging a sword, you had more than enough first hand experience seeing your mother's style of fighting.

Especially her forbidden clan technique: Mother-Son Style Beat Down. In which she'd use and swing your body around hitting muggers and other villains that would seek to attack the two of you. The main angle of attack being either hitting them with your legs, or your butt. And of course the most important part was to shout 'ORA' every time you drew blood on your opponent.

…Oh wait, no. Your mother expressly told you not to say 'ora' when beating your opponents to death. That only she was to do such a thing and you were too young to use such a devastating move.

Nonetheless you knew her technique by having become the technique. You were the weapon as the weapon was you.

With this thinking you performed careful strikes on the wooden figure with wooden spikes. You quickly realized hitting a spike would cause it to come at you from the other angle. And hitting that way would cause it to swing the other way. A constant loop of attacking.

Which meant if the goal was to not be attacked you simply had to both attack and defend yourself in the same breath. It became increasingly hard each wooden spike that came to hit you, but was quickly pushed away. After half an hour of practice Kushina stopped you in order to switch up your weapons.

This time she gave you a staff. You simply adjusted your style to better fit the weapon and did much the same. Next time she gave you a bat. You did much the same.

This went on with more and more absurd weaponry getting mixed in until you were forced to stop due to both the sun setting as well as the wooden figure becoming nothing more than a few planks of wood. Kushina was surprised at your skill before going in and praising you once more. Something that you were happy enough to bask in. It had been awhile since you've used so much energy…

You yawned in her arms as she proceeded to carry you back to your room. The act reminding you of your own mother. Bringing thoughts of soothing memories in order to lull you to sleep.

*~o~*

It wasn't long until you finally were shipped off to the academy to get the training of a Konoha ninja. Before then you had spent a few weeks at the Uzumaki estate. It was strange being introduced to your clan name for the first time as well as others in it. You were unsure why your mother kept the name from you, but she must have thought there was good enough reason to do so.

Your other clan mates had welcomed you in those few weeks. Mostly Kushina of course. Though there were a good few times where Kushina had to leave on ninja business, she usually made sure to arrive back in less than 24 hours.

Which was…nice. You liked the amount of attention she placed onto you. Occasionally putting you in her lap and talking about this and that. She seemed to greatly enjoy your stories about how your mother acted and what she was like.

Naruko on the other hand was a bit…strange. After about a week had passed she had finally begun to show her true colors. That being a rather loud and rowdy little girl. She would constantly hog up most of the food on the table when served. She'd yell about how strong she was and how she'd become the next hokage every fifteen seconds.

It had at least been manageable until she challenged you to a taijutsu match. Neither of you had much in the way of experience or knowledge but your bigger build easily had the edge in the experience. Which lead to her swift defeat.

You'd have let her won if you had known what was coming next.

She had gotten frustrated at her loss. Frustrated enough to start practicing and training without having been told to by Kushina. Something you were alerted to as not usually being the case.

That wasn't the problem. The problem was that after each of her practice sessions she would attempt to fight you. After the first few times you exercised your right to say no. Which after the first few times she responded in exercising her right to simply ignore your wishes and jump you.

It took Kushina's intervention to stop her or you simply beating her into the ground. And she seemed to be able to take a lot of abuse. Even still, if Kushina wasn't at home it was simply free reign for Naruko. Which usually meant it was time for pain for you…

So of course it was only a matter of time before you had a plan.

You could strike or redirect the problem all you want, but that wouldn't get rid of the fundamental problem underneath. You needed to get at the reason. The heart of why she did what she did. After destroying that she would have no reason to attack you.

Thus began your investigation into finding out the reason.

"Hey, why do you keep attacking me?"

You asked abruptly as Naruko ran towards you. She stopped suddenly in her tracks at your words. She tilted her head to the side as if to think before slamming a fist into her hand.

"To beat you of course!"

Well that wasn't useful.

"Why me?"

"Because the Hokage is suppose to be the strongest in the village. So if I beat you I'll start becoming stronger and mom will start giving me more attention instead."

Hmm…you see…

The solution was clear to your eyes.

"Let's fight then."

Your words seemed to surprise Naruko. But as you left the housing part of the estate and headed towards the sparring center outside she quickly followed afterwards. She bounced on each leg with an abundant amount of energy before the match finally began.

You thrust your hand out in a lazy motion that was easily dodged. In retaliation Naruko punched you in the stomach.

In response you quickly folded and fell down in the ground in a huff.

"Ow…owie…"

You moan through scrunched up eyelids. After a while of rubbing your stomach you cracked an eye open to witness a frowning Naruko with her hands on her hips.

"You beat me…I lost…"

You added in order to sell the act completely.

You felt the side of Naruko's foot hit your stomach in a spiteful manner. Strong enough to get you to actually yelp in pain.

"You faker! Get up and fight me for real!"

She saw through your acting skills? Hmm, perhaps she was sharper than you had previously thought…

She kicked you again which forced you to stand in order to not get hit again. It would seem you would need to change up your strategy this time.

You decided to start to try to teach her how to fight instead. Changing the fight from a 'you vs me' mentality to a 'you and me' mentality. The first few attacks she made easily had a few things wrong with it.

"What are you doing? You can't have your thumbs in your fists."

Naruko looked up at you in confusion as you calmly walked over to her and corrected her. From there she gave a few fundamental jabs before continuing on towards you. For a bit you continued to spar before correcting another stance or move.

It slowly went from a spar to something more like a practice session. Thankfully Naruko didn't seem to notice this change. Instead she seemed intent on simply getting better and taking your words to heart.

Despite having done this in order to get out of constantly being annoyed, teaching Naruko was actually fun. Or perhaps it was that this was helping you make an actual conversation with Naruko?

Hmm…

No, it was definitely the teaching aspect. Something about it was very appealing. Perhaps it was the fact that you were proving how much you knew by making someone better with your knowledge. It was somewhat interesting to know you could have so much influence over something else. Making it that much stronger in return.

Though you doubt Naruko would appreciate being called a it.

You continued until the day had fallen. And upon the next day rising, Naruko once more bothered you. This time to help teach her how to fight.

Just as planned.

A few days later Kushina came back and was quickly intercepted by Naruko who excitedly explained how much stronger she was. Kushina was roped into a small demonstration of Naruko's newest skills on display. It didn't look like much to you, but Kushina seemed to be able to detect the differences from before.

That, or she was lying in order to make Naruko feel better. It was probably one of those.

Afterwards Kushina allowed Naruko into her lap and started to pamper her once more. For some reason you felt a bit cold and decided to do some more fuinjutsu practicing inside. Allowing them to have their own time to themselves.