"Are you sure this place is safe?" A male's voice whispered firmly. His orange hair not helping in the least to make him in conspicuous. His companion gave a bark of laughter.

"Kid, this place has been abandoned for years." A heavy hand none too gently shoved the younger male's back causing him to stumble forward a bit. "This my little ones." He spread his arms wide to gesture in a small circle the wreckage of what used to be tall and fancy buildings, "Is what's left of Uzushiogakure." He glanced at the three children.

The red head clung slightly to the only girls side, his purple orb taking everything with a wide clarity. His jaw was slack but still closed enough to save himself from the embarrassing comparison of a fish unlike the Orangette. Said Orangette was trying to take in the whole place with his light blue eyes wider than dinner plates and floored expression. The only one relatively calm and not in some sort of trance was the girl. Her blue hair was as short as the red head with a bun at the side of her head and a paper rose holding it together. She was always the calm even tempered one of them all. Her lids were at half mast taking in the swirls carved in on the wreckage.

In a strange light, these ruins might have been breath taking. Whirlpool certainly was the last time the man had been there, the buildings were only just starting to crumble and he was there to get the survivors out and to safety. Now the buildings leaned to one collapsed side, or the middle was caved in. Several were just a pile of rubble and pillars broken in pieces. The palace where Mito-sama and her younger sister had grown up, where his own teacher met with the younger sister's daughter who was around his age. That Sarutobi-sensei would always complain that she never aged. This was a place of fortune and the only place that didn't look like it was about to fall completely down. There was a dent in the roofing about halfway down on the left side of the building. The awning in front of the entry way were leaning precariously supporting splintered wood and loose shingles. Two swirls adorned the two pillars and the doors were missing. This whole island was probably looted a few hundred years ago as it was.

"Uzushiogakure?" The Orangette repeated with subdued awe coloring his words.

"Yes, Yahiko-kun. This is where Nagato-kun's ancestors came from." The older male placed a huge hand on top of the red mop of hair, the child's purple eyes looked up to him wide and slowly filling with tears.

"It's beautiful." The girl breathed.

"That it is, Konan-chan." He gave her a toothy smile, "It used to sparkle back in the day."

Both boys looked at him as his black eyes glossed over with images neither of them could see. "You've been here before?" Nagato asked removing the older males hand from his hair.

"Once." The white haired male breathed, "But that was a long time ago when the buildings were just barely starting to fall." He looked around a bit comically, before suddenly pointing to the river that still glittered under the sun. "They used to have these huge bridges that glittered when the sun hit the water just right." A lopsided smile lit up his face, "Sunsets were amazing to witness."

The three children squinted their eyes towards the river. The only thing they could see were broken pillars sticking out of the water in all different sizes.

"Come." The white haired male moved with purposeful steps over to the palace. The kids held back for a slit second before running to catch up with their sensei.

"Jiraiya-sensei?" Konan asked quietly as they passed the open doorway into the eeriely quiet place.

"Hm?" He answered distractedly as he ran a hand over the carvings in the walls and etched in the floor.

"What happened to them?"

He turned to her, "The only answers I ever got were about rebels and what they ended up teaching in my home town; they were world famous for their fuuinjutsu and that is what caused their down fall." He shrugged before his eyes caught an opening in the walls to his right from the door. That shouldn't have been there, he thought as he ventured over cautiously. His curious students trailing after him.

He pulsed his chakra out inside the room to do a very crude sensing job for threats. Something pinged off his sonar and had him drawing out a couple of kunai's for just in case as he inched his way in the darkened room. The lighting was pretty bad inside as the only light sources were from the crack he just ventured through and a hole in the ceiling about the size of his fist in the left furthest corner from himself. It was completely empty except for a box. It looked more like a tomb than anything else. Made from grey slabs of concrete with seals etched all over it with black ink that stood out in curves and delicate strokes from the brush.

Some of the seals he could read, others he couldn't decipher. He wasn't a seal master for a reason. There wasn't really any one left talented enough to teach the concept to anyone else. From what he could read they were seals dealing with time and living energy. Curiously he tucked the knives away and inched forward to tr and read the other seals.

"Sensei?" Nagato croaked frightened from the darkened room.

"Hm?" He answered non-committedly too absorbed in the tomb sitting in front of him. "What would you seal that involved time and living chakra?" He rubbed his forehead through his forehead protector. His other hand traced some of the seals he couldn't read.

"Why don't you open it?" Yahiko asked from his elbow. Jiraiya gave a small laugh and shook his head.

"The Uzumaki were dangerous with seals. Who knows what might come out of this if I were to open it." He rubbed his jaw line, "Although..." He leaned in to peer closer to a certain seal. "I think this one means human, or something like that."

"Let's open it." Yahiko put his hands on the top slab ready to start pushing.

"We don't even know what's in it." Jiraiya looked slightly alarmed, "It could very well blow up in our faces or could be one of the bijuu popping back to earth to tear it apart! Or-" Yahiko gave a strong heave and the lid slid open about a few inches. The thing was made of concrete. "What the hell!" Jiraiya picked the boy up and slung him over his shoulder and booked it out of the room before anything could happen, knocking his two other students who were in the doorway over in the process.

He dropped the boy on his ass harshly. "What the hell did you do that for?! You idiot, that could have killed us!"

"But it didn't." Yahiko gave a huge impish smile up at Jiraiya.

He fumed and was about to snap some more at the boy when he heard the scraping of concrete. It was harsh and sent a shiver down his back, his two other students were looking at the room's entrance with fearful eyes. Nagato's were starting to fill with tears. The scrapping happened again. Jiraiya jumped in front of his students crouched low with kunai fitted between his fingers, the two crab crawled as fast as they could away from the dark room not ever taking their eyes off of the opening in the wall.

There was more scrapping until a loud boom filled the silence and made their ears ring with anticipation. A low moan came from the room, a female moan. Jiraiya's eyebrows furrowed as he scuttled backwards still in his defensive stance. There was shuffling and then they could hear a pair of feet touching the ground and walking in their direction. He tensed, Nagato's tears started to fall down his face, Yahiko had stood up and stepped in behind Jiraiya, Konan was watching with wide eyes and small tremors shook her small frame.

"Oh god, where am I?" They heard the female before she exited the room with her left hand cradling her forehead. Jiraiya's jaw went slack and dropped the kunai loudly. Nagato let out a surprised sob, Yahiko's eyes widened to sausers, and Konan blinked stupidly.

The woman had floor length crimson hair with half of it up in a large bun at the back of her head and a huge gold head dress curved over the top of it almost like a sun rise. She had a white sash across her forehead and her bangs were cut straight across her face covering the sash with two longer fringes framing her heart shaped face. She wore a red kimono that hugged her very large assets and small waist. It had gold trimming and ivy stitched in gold trailing up from the bottom towards the white obi that held the number together. Her lips were painted a crimson red and when she opened her eyes, purple stared back at them in surprise.

"Who are you?" She bit out defensively before taking in the state of her palace, her eyes widened briefly before narrowing dangerously on the warriors in front of her, "What did you do to my people?" She hissed.

Jiraiya quickly held his hands up in the universal sign for the intention of no harm, "We didn't do anything, honest!"

She looked him over and settled on his Konoha symbol he still supported. The tension suddenly drained from her body, "Did Saru-kun send you for help?"

He tilted his head to the side, what are you talking about?" The woman frowned, "I didn't know there was anyone still living here."

She glared, "My people live here."

"Your people?" He raised an eyebrow at her, "If your referring to the Uzumaki clan, they abandoned this place years ago."

"What?"

"Uzushiogakure fell and the Uzumaki separated and dispersed into the hidden villages about six or seven years ago." He carefully added.

The woman blinked before slightly swaying, "That's impossible." She breathed, "Yesterday every thing was normal, red heads everywhere." She pushed her hands to her stomach in panic. "My baby. Where is my baby?" She asked her voice shaking with fear.

Jiraiya and his students blinked at her, "That was a stasis box wasn't it?" He asked referring to the stone tomb she had just left.

She blinked and looked back into the room. "Why was I in a stasis box?" Her voice cracked, tears filled her eyes. "How long was I in there?"

"I don't know."

"My baby, is she still alive?" She asked instead of dwelling on it any longer.

"Who?" Jiraiya asked picking up the dropped kunai and storing them in his belt.

"Kushina."


This was a trail fic. If you like it, I will continue. Please leave your thoughts!

Prologue :3