Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

I have been reading Naruto fanfics for a while and I can honestly say that I have fallen in love with some of them. This world has so much potential.

The idea for this fanfic has been growing in me for a while, and at last I did it. I really like to read stories that take place in the generation of Naruto's parents. Honestly I think that this period of time is much more interesting than the fourth ninja war (maybe except for Akatsuki, this organization is really cool). Unfortunately most of these stories are about Naruto travelling in time, what I find really lame (he knows what will happen and is mostly incredibly overpowered). So I got the idea to write a fanfic with OC main character. I hope I will manage not to screw him up with some ridiculous ideas, and I will probably ask for some help a few times if I hesitate how to proceed. I will write most techniques in English, however some will stay Japanese(like rasengan, chidori, or shunshin). Lastly, I am not native English speaker, so expect some mistakes here and there (I hope there will not be many of them).

This story is about Nanashi Uzumaki (I like this name very much since I watched the movie Sword of the Stranger), who is Kushina's cousin. He will be the same age as Kushina and Minato. While I want him to be like our favorite Uzumaki in some ways, I don't want him to be a copy or even so much similar. Feel free to add some insights, and to correct my grammar.

So, lets start.

"…" – talking

'…' – thinking

'…' – a technique (not yelled out loud, I always thought it was bullshit for ninja to yell the names of their techniques)

'…' – summon/bijuu thinking

"…" – summon/bijuu talking

Fear, anger and sadness. These were emotions that Nanashi could feel as he run away with tears in his eyes from burning houses and remnants of the place he has been calling home. Village hidden in the whirlpools no longer existed, destroyed in the attack of 3 different villages.

Even now he could feel as his clan, his family, was eradicated. He could feel his uncle, the uzukage, dying a few hundred metres behind him. He could feel every single person around him and he knew what happened when they began vanishing from his senses one by one. Such was his fate, his gift of sensing that was causing him so much pain at the moment. His soul cried to go and rescue them…but he knew that he could not change anything. He had to escape or his grandmother's and uncle's sacrifices would be in vain and he would die. They ordered him to live.

He clenched his hands tighter on the few items that were given to him and ran as fast as he could to further the distance between him and the pursuers that were temporarily occupied with a few ninjas of the Uzumaki clan. He turned around one last time to look at his fallen homeland, before he ran into the wilds. He knew, that it was gone, but one day he would return.

He was trapped. He knew that he could not escape 2 people who were chasing him. The whole port was burned down. There was no escape from the island. He felt the panic as he sensed the enemies drawing near. There was no other way. He had to fight.

He came slowly to the ocean, unsealed a ninja-to and turned to face the ninjas who just emerged from the woods.

Kiyoshi and Kyoko were not amused. They have been tracking some stupid kid for a whole day. They were sure to become a laughingstock of their village if they failed and it seemed that the kid had some way of avoiding them. They were becoming very annoyed although they knew that there was no way of leaving the island. Red haired boy would not be able to sneak into one of their ships.

Finally, after so many hours of this pursuit, the pair of chuunins saw their target as they came out of the forest. The boy, no older than 9 stood by the ocean with a sword in his hand. They did not even try to hide themselves, confident in their skill to capture one kid.

When the boy started to make many handsigns in quick succession they began to feel something they should not have been feeling from facing a little boy. Fear.

'Impossible, this kid…'

'Water Style: Exploding Water Shockwave'

A monstrous amount of water rose from the ocean and rushed towards the stunned duo. They did not even have time to defend themselves as the mass of water hit them head on and swept them away.

'Something is not right'

Flashback

"Grandma, why don't you use ninjutsu?" asked 5 year old Nanashi

"Ninjutsu is an art for idiots and showoffs like my brothers. It consumes much chakra and using it is like advertising "I am here, come for me"" answered the old woman with green eyes and black hair dressed in a kimono. "Genjutsu is much more subtle and suited for a ninja. It does not make any noise, stupid flashes and it takes a lot less chakra to use. It is the best for controlling the flow of battle and even the simplest can create a distraction you need to defeat your opponent."

The boy almost started to shine as he heard this explanation.

"Can you teach me? I will become the best, I will be even better than you grandma" stated the boy with confidence in his voice.

That was the day in which Senju Toka found her only apprentice.

Flashback end

'Something is not right, I should have crushed into the trees. It must be genjutsu' thought Kiyoshi as he tried his best to fight against spinning and drowning. He managed to create a handsing.

"Kai" when he released chakra from his body he fell on his knees as effects of the genjutsu disappeared. He looked around furiously.

'where is the-' he did not finish even finish his thought as a sword came through his heart. The last thing he ever saw was a body of his partner lying on a sand sand in a pool of blood and the green eyes of a 10 year old who managed to kill 2 adult ninjas.

He felt sick. He just killed people. Their lifeless bodies lied beneath his feet in their own blood. He did it. He killed.

He almost vomited, but deep inside he was aware that he had no choice. He had to kill in order to survive.

Suddenly he sensed another people getting closer in each moment, and he still had no way of escaping. Unless…

Flashback

"That is so cool! Teach me that" 2 children yelled in a unison as they saw the uzukage summoning a gigantic wolf.

"I was first Octopus" stated the redhaired boy to the girl his age.

"Don't call me octopus!" yelled the girl in return "and you are too lame to have such skill. Isn't that right dad?"

The uzukage only chuckled, clearly amused at their bickering.

"Kazuma, why the did you summon me here?" the wolf asked.

"It talks!" the children yelled once again.

"Umm, I just wanted to show them something cool and summoning was my best idea" Kazuma answered.

The gigantic creature eyed children curiously

"I am not some trophy you can use to impress children," The wolf bared its fangs as if he was smiling, clearly amused at the sight of gawking children, "So, these are your puppies."

"Yeah, this is my daughter, Kushi-chan and my nephew Nanashi- kun"

"Whatever. You showed off already, so I will be going. And don't summon me unless it is important," saying this the wolf disappeared without a sign.

"It…was so awesome! When will we I able to do this?" the girl cried still at the awe.

"You will never Octopus. I am sure you get something lame, like an octopus." the boy said.

A steam began coming out of Kushina as she was trying to contain her anger.

"Don't call me octopus, shorty!"

They stopped the quarrel as they heard a loud laughter, coming from the uzukage.

"Now, now, eventually both of you will learn how to summon. Remember that the summons are not your servants. They are partners. They help us and in return we help them," he explained

"Uncle, how can we make a contract with animals?"

"There are 2 ways. You must either sign an existing contract, or you can use summoning technique without one. This will transport you to the world of summons to the creatures you are best attuned to."

"So why so few people have summoning contracts? It seems easy."

"Seems is a keyword here. In order to perform summoning you must have a lot of chakra. Additionally you must pass a test given to you by the creatures. It can be very dangerous. Moreover there is a possibility that they will simply not like you and outright kill you," Kazuma said with a serious tone, "so promise me that you will not try this unless you are absolutely sure that you can are strong enough."

"We promise" they agreed.

Flashback end

'I am sorry sorry uncle. I have to break the promise. But don't worry, I wil make sure to survive and to take care of the Octopus. She is too hotheaded to trust her with her own life,' Nanashi thought while going through handsings.

'Summoning!' He disappeared just in time to see several ninjas.

"The raikage will not like this."

'I did it,' He knew that he succeeded as soon as he saw completely different scenery. He looked around.

'So incredible. I have never seen anything like that. It is so much better to see it normally than in genjutsu. I can barely see the sky'

He was in the dark forest in the mountains. Gigantic trees were towering above him, like the ones his grandmother used to show him

'I wonder, what kind of creatures live here.'

He stressed his sensing to the fullest and he felt…nothing special. Many animals without any significant level of chakra, maybe a bit more than normally in the air…but nothing else.

'It is weird, I am sure I used the technique correctly, I was reverse summoned somewhere, so why? Why can't I feel anything?'

Suddenly he felt a big source of chakra just next to him. It was weird, as if it was almost completely erased, what made it very hard to detect. He has never felt anything like that, but he remembered something.

Flashback

"Hey, grandma, can we go see the uncle? I want to practice my kenjutsu." 6 year old Nanashi asked.

"And why can't you just practice it with me?"

"Uncle is like, the best in the whole village, and Kushi is with him. You said it yourself that I should have a sparring partner"

"You can go search for them, but I have no idea where they went," Toka said a bit irritated that she had to share her grandson. She wanted to train him all by herself. He was meant to be the best of the best so she could rub it in Hashirama's and Tobirama's faces when they meet in the afterlife. Yes, they would have to praise her and apologize for each moment that they made fun of her style.

"They are by the ocean at the cliffs," he claimed with certainty.

"And how do you know that, you were not there when they left."

"I just can…I don't know, somehow sense them there," this made Toka widen her eyes in surprise.

'This mean that Nanashi can sense chakra from half a mile. It is ridiculous, even Tobirama could not cover such distance until he was 20.'

"Tell me, can you sense something else just chakra signature?"

"I don't understand. I just know when people are around me and I know where they are."

"I mean…" She made a handsign "Can you feel something different in me now?"

"Yeah, you are now more similar to other people in the village. What did you do?"

"I molded some water chakra. It seems that you can sense chakra natures. It is truly amazing gift." Hearing these words, the boy started to jump around and spin.

"So it means, that I will be the best?" Toka started to laugh out loud.

"With enough training. Just remember that you will meet people who will be able to avoid your sensing ability so don't get overconfident. There are people like the second tsuchikage Mu who can completely erase their presence. There are also people like my brother Hashirama who can use chakra that is present in the nature. It makes sensing much, much harder."

Flashback end

"Rrgh" he hearda low, terrifying growl just behind him. He felt fear, not like the one he felt during a massacre of his village. He felt fear which froze his body. He could not move.

'What is going on? I can't move and something is just beside me. Move! Move!' he thought furiously trying to break the paralysis which affected him, 'I can't move. Why? Wait, my chakra! This growl! It must be genjutsu!' he realized. He quickly bit his tongue breaking the technique and rolled over to the side, just in time to avoid getting hit by some black creature.

'It was a cat, a gigantic cat!' he realized, a bit relieved. He was internally worried that he may be attuned to some lame creature, but felines were cool. Now, his only problem laid in staying alive. Once again he could not sense nor see anything.

'I won't be able to evade the cat in the forest. I would have probably died if it had just attacked me without paralyzing. If I don't detect it, then I will die.' He sat on the ground and closed his eyes, focusing his sensory abilities in a small radius around him, before performing a few handseals.

He waited. He did not know how long, seconds were quickly turning into minutes and with every minute he was getting more tense. Suddenly he felt something quickly approaching his back and he finished the simple technique.

'Lightning Style: Blinding Flash'

Even through his closed eyes he could see the bright light that suddenly appeared . There was no way that anything close to him was not blinded. He opened his eyes and turned around to see a big, black feline creature covering its eyes with paws. Once again he went through a few handseals before touching big cat's head.

'Genjutsu: Sleep'

The cat stopped moving and fell into sleep.

"So, it seems that you are not a prey" a deep voice said and much bigger creature appeared, "Who are you, human, how did you enter our home?" It was gigantic, 3-4 meters high some kind of a cat. It was yellow with black dots all over its body. Its body was long, about 6 meters and the long tail was gracefully flinging through the air.

"My name is Uzumaki Nanashi. I was running from enemies and I performed summoning technique without having a contract." Replied Nanashi a bit wary of the creature.

"I see, so it means that you would like to become our summoner, just like so many others before you," the creature yielded a weird, rattling sound.

'It is laughing,' Nanashi realized, "What happened to them?"

"None has ever succeeded. Some were killed during the first test," the cat pointed its head at the sleeping black cub, "Some harmed the examiner. Their punishment was death. Some failed the second test. And some were simply not acceptable. They are all laying in the Valley of Bones."

"You mentioned the second test"

"I have, indeed. Another predator entered our land and we don't want to share the prey. Your task is to eliminate him. If you do so, we will consider becoming your allies. The intruder is by the river east from here. You have one day." So his mission was an assassination. Once again he will have to take the life. There was no other choice. "Why are you still here, human?"

"What kind of animal are you?"

"We are the panthers. Now, be gone. You have the task to do."

The intruder was a gigantic brown bear.

'How the hell am I supposed to take care of it? It must weigh at least a few tons.' He thought while furiously trying to come up with a plan. He made a single handsign.

'Shadow clones!' He thought as 3 clones came to life, mentally thanking his great uncle for creating such incredible technique.

"Search the whole surroundings, we have still much time." He ordered them. He knew that the panthers were observing him. He could not fail.

Finally, finally he knew what to do. It has already been getting dark, but he managed to make a plan. He could not kill the bear by himself that much was certain. However he was not powerless. The plan was very simple, but he was rather sure that it will be enough.

He grasped a kunai with an explosive tag and threw it at the great creature.

BOOM! An explosive tag detonated. The bear noticed him and started to chase him in rage. Now began the hard part. The animal was much faster than he was, and using a shunshin was tricky in the forest. His control could not falter even for a moment or he was a dead meat. He also must have remained in bear's field of vision or it could stop chasing him.

Finally after a few minutes of a wild chase he arrived at his destination, with the bear almost at his back. He quickly casted genjutsu over it. His control would not be damaged by anything at this point.

"Rrrgghaa!" The bear roared enraged at the human who dared to harm him, and charged. Straight into the dark cave.

Nanashi looked sad for a moment, but nonetheless there was no other way. He detonated the explosive tags which were planted all over the place, destroying everything inside and causing the ceiling to collapse. He felt bear's signature disappearing and he knew what it meant.

"So you have succeeded," said the great panther from before as he came into view, "The hunt was well prepared and executed. We decided that we will let you sign the scroll. You will become the Panther."

Suddenly a lot of chakra signatures seemingly materialized out of thin air all around him and Nanashi saw a great variety of creatures. Smaller, bigger, differently colored, but without a doubt every single one of them was a panther.

"My name is Raime, the leader of the Panther clan" stated the cat as before producing a scroll. "Sign this in blood and you will become the first one to bond with us."

It has been a month since Nanashi came to the realm of summons and he could honestly say that he really liked the panthers. He has been learning their way of hunting. They believed stealth to be the most important ability, so for the whole time he was learning from Yoru – the smaller cat which attacked him after coming to the forest. While his grief over the loss of his family was still present, it slowly began to fade. He knew that he must let it go, or dark emotions may consume him. But he was certain that he would never forget about his home. Even if he was going to become a ninja of another village.

"So, Nanashi. Where do you want to go?" Raime asked.

"Konoha, I want to go to the village hidden in the leafs."

"Very well, I will take you there"

"The barrier around Konoha will detect me as soon as I cross its borders so I will leave you here. If you go down this road you will surely meet some people from the village."

"Thanks Raime. I know it will take a while before I have enough chakra to summon you, so well…thanks for everything and stay safe."

"You too kid. Become strong, you represent us as our summoner." He disappeared to his home with a puff of smoke.

After some time he finally sensed 4 people approaching. 1 much stronger than the other 3.

'Probably a genin team. Grandma told me that they operate in such squads.'

"Hey, you! Who are you? Why are you heading to our village?" The team finally showed up and the blond girl belonging to it immediately started to shout. They were all maybe 2 or 3 years older than him.

"My name is Uzumaki Nanashi. I am from the Whirlpool," Nanashi replied.

"You are lying! Everyone knows that the Whirlpool was destroyed without any survivor." The girl was clearly hotheaded.

"You don't have to remind me," Nanashi stated quietly in a cold tone. He did not want to be reminded of his fallen family.

"So-" she was interrupted by the Jonin. "Aika, be silent."

"I am jonin of Konoha, Katou Shinji. This is my team, Yamanaka Aika, Aburame Shiki and Hyuuga Hisato," he introduced them, "Am I right to assume that you are heading to Konoha, Uzumaki-san?"

"Yes, you are," The boy stated.

"We will escort you to the village. I am sure that Hokage-sama would like to speak to you," the jonin offered.

"Thank you, Katou-san."

Sarutobi Hiruzen has certainly not been having a good day. War erupted not long ago and he had so much work that it was not even funny.

'Why the hell did I take this job. I could have let someone like Danzo rot in this office.'

He did not even have a time to use his crystal ball in any creative way. He was truly happy when the doors to his office opened and one of his genin teams entered with 1 additional person. A short boy not older than 10, dressed in worn clothes. Dark green blouse with a hood, and black pants. Oval face and green eyes with a look that the Hokage has seen far too many times lately.

"Hokage-sama, on our way back from the mission we met this boy. His na-"

"I am Uzumaki Nanashi. I am a survivor from the Whirlpool," he interrupted. He wanted to be the one to introduce himself.

That was a suprise.

'I did not think that anyone managed to escape. Kiri, Iwa and Kumo were very thorough.'

"I see. Leave us please, I would like to speak with Uzumaki-san."

After the team left, Nanashi was alone with the Hokage and his ANBU guards.

"As you propably already know, I am Sarutobi Hiruzen, the third hokage of Konoha. I would like to offer you my condolence for what has happened to your clan. I have sent ANBU to Uzu, but they only found burned remains of the village. We have not met any other survivor, so I am afraid that only people who were not on the island can be still alive. That brings my question to you. How did you escape?"

"I used summoning technique without a contract."

'Very creative and truly ingenious way…if he speaks the truth.' Thought the Hokage. It would not be beyond other village to send a child to pose as an Uzumaki.

"And, do you have any proof, about your identity?"

"My cousin Kushina is a resident of this village. She can confirm my identity."

"Bring Kushina here. She is probably in the Uzumaki clan compound," Sarutobi ordered one of the ANBU who immediately left. "So, Nanashi-kun, tell me do you want to become a ninja?" The boy opened up a bit.

"Yes, I want. I have been training my whole life," this made the hokage smile.

"I see, you will attend the academy with your peers. So, do you also want to become the hokage, like Kushina?"

"No way, this position is lame. My grandma said that her "moron of a brother" wanted to take this position and when did, he created the shadow clone technique to take care of his job"

Sarutobi's eyes widened.

'I am such a moron. It was so simple. Shadow clones. How did I not think of it myself?'

"Was your grandmother perhaps-"

"She was Senju Toka"

'Toka-sama! I have only seen her once. Sensei said a few times that she was the greatest genjutsu master that he has ever seen. I must inform Tsunade about this.'

He was ripped out of his thoughts as the doors opened and Uzumaki Kushina went in.

"Old man, what do you want?"

Yes, Kushina was such a lovely girl. She definitely made the village much more interesting since she had arrived from the Whirlpool just a year ago. Some of her classmates were still scared of her, after a beating she gave them. Calling her names appeared not very safe. It was such a shame that she has been so very gloomy for the last month. Though he could not blame her.

"Kushina-chan, I have some great news to you-"

"Do you want to give me this hat?" sometimes she was predictable, more than a month ago it would surely amuse him very much, but nowadays it did not have a tone that it used to have. Maybe she will cheer up once again.

"Look to your right" Kushina turned her head and stood there gawking, with tears in her eyes.

"Octopus, don't be such a crybaby. Uncle would not want to see you like-" He was cut short as Kushina hugged him tightly, still crying.

"Shut up, I thought that I lost everyone." She said through her tears. "I thought that you died there with father and the whole clan."

They stood there embracing each other for a while before breaking up.

AN

So, this is it. I hope you liked it. I certainly had fun writing this. I would like to explain a few things that may be confusing.

Nanashi calling Kushina "octopus" – I think this is easy to make out, but it will be explained.

Nanashi's fighting style – I would like him to be a bit like Itachi without the sharingan. This guy was a true badass. Genjutsu + kenjutsu, but he will also learn ninjutsu (he will just not spam it all the time).

I personally find it weird that it was Iwa, Kiri and Kumo who invaded the Whirlpool. I checked it out and Iwa is completely on the different side of the continent. In order to move their forces to Uzu, they would have to pass konoha, go really all the way around, or Kumo would have to let them pass through the land of lightning (I find it not very possible). But nonetheless, getting destroyed by 3 united armies sounds better than 2, so I left it like that.

While I may, from time to time, borrow a name from other series, this fanfic will be strictly Naruto one. No zanpaktous, haki, the force or some other stuff. Only chakra.

Concerning very important piece of every fanfic – pairings. I want Nanashi and Kushina to be like siblings so don't expect them to end up together. I am leaning towards Mikoto.

So, if you have any ideas, please share. I will make sure to read them (but I don't promise I will use them.)

If you have questions, ask. I will answer them, unless it would reveal too much of a plot.

Yours faithfully

Alendi.