I apologize in advance for the grammatical errors

Disclaimer; I don't own Naruto, never will

Naruto is approached by a member of his supposed extinct clan and is offered a chance to join them in their quest to rise again and reclaim their place in the shinobi world, will he join them and curve out a new path for himself with new friends and new goals or will he reject their offer for his longtime dream of being hokage and saving his friend?

RISE AGAIN

If someone told naruto that he would be brooding and contemplating things at night, he would have probably laughed so hard at that person. Him, brooding? Contemplating things? The idea was so alien to him that it actually made him snort with mild amusement.

Acting or behaving like Sasuke in a shape or form was not appealing to him at all, he was more of the "in the moment" kind of guy. If something needed to be done then he would do it, if something needed to be said then he would say it and then think about the consequences later.

Probably a good reason why a lot of people call him an idiot, a small smirk appeared on his lips at that thought. Just the sheer amount of people that have been pissed off with him for not 'thinking first' is quiet funny to think about.

And yet that's exactly what was happening right now, naruto uzumaki was currently sitting on a chair in the window of his apartment giving himself a clear view of konoha in the night. What's more, he was currently holding a bottle of sake from the land of the toads, he wasn't much of a drinker but every once in a while especially when he's feeling lonely, he would indulge himself.

What exactly was he brooding about? The past three years, from Sasuke's defection to the present; the good, the bad and everything in between. He could still remember the fight he and Sasuke had on the roof of the hospital, how ecstatic he was when Sasuke finally acknowledged his growing strength when he challenged him, but of course the bastard had to ruin it by trying to look down on him. He could still remember how betrayed he felt when Shikamaru told him that Sasuke has abandoned the village and sided with Orochimaru of all people. How heartbroken he felt when Sakura begged him, pleaded with him and made him promise to bring back her Sasuke-kun. Up to this day he could still vividly remember the fight he had with Sasuke at the valley of the end, how determined he was to bring Sasuke back and fulfill his promise and how equally determined Sasuke was to live the village in pursuit of his revenge.

"what do you know about it anyway? How could you possibly understand me when you've never had anyone in the first place?!" the Uchiha's wordsregistered in his mind

Sasuke was right, he didn't know what it was like to have someone to call family, he didn't know what it was like to go home to someone, to have a place that feels like home. He had asked everyone; Kakashi, the third hokage, Jiraiya even Tsunade but apparently none of them knew anything about his parents, it's so depressing thinking that one just fell from the sky, no parents, guardians, grandparents or just anyone to claim him.

But that didn't matter right now, what mattered is that he lost, badly, as loath as he is to admit it Naruto knows that if it wasn't the kyubi, he would have died at least three times in that battle.

Anyway, fast forward to a few days later, he and that pervert of a sannin were leaving the hidden leaf for a training trip. He could still remember how excited he was at the possibility of getting a full on training from one of the strongest shinobi the hidden leaf had ever produced, all the jutsu he would learn, the awesome techniques that would be passed down from master to student and then some…

Oh disappointed he was

Jiraiya was always more interested in teaching him how to control the bijuu inside of him or working on the rasengan. After two and a half years nothing much had changed except maybe he's chakra capacity and the fact that he could create a bigger rasengan.

He was completely mind fucked by Itachi and he was practically useless against Deidera and yet he was credited with the victory against the Akatsuki.

Then came the Sasuke mission, what an utter disaster that was, an embarrassing one even, they were totally outclassed by Sasuke and what's worse, he wasn't even trying. If it wasn't for Orochimaru, of all fucking people, they would probably be dead from some powerful jutsu that Sasuke apparently created.

Then a few days later, Kakashi-sensei actually had the nerve to tell Naruto about the secrets of the kage bushin jutsu, ok, so he learnt the jutsu three freaking years ago and you tell him about its secrets now? He couldn't help but wonder if Kakashi would have waited that long if it was Sasuke.

Naruto shook his head in disapproval, that was just he's bitterness and jealousy talking. But still, he couldn't ignore the fact that kakashi, Jiraiya and even the Sandaime knew about this jutsu yet they never bothered to tell him anything, was he expected to learn about it himself? It's not like it would have taken more than 30 seconds to point it out to him, how stronger would he have been right now if someone cared enough to point out one simple fucking thing.

Seriously what's so hard about "hey Naruto, did you know? The kage bushin allows the caster to retain the memories of the copies making it easier for one to learn jutsu, spy and do other useful things in a shorter amount of time than the normal"

what was so fucking hard about that? Did these people really think that he had that much time to train and get stronger? He was being hunted down by S-ranked shinobi for fuck's sake, they are not going to wait for him to finally become strong before they made their move, Itachi's mind fuck already proved that.

Naruto looked at his hand, he didn't realize that he was holding the sake bottle so tight that cracks were forming on it, any more pressure to it and the bottle will no doubt break.

He shook his head again and took a huge slug of the sake, all this brooding is not taking him anywhere. Perhaps it was time to just go to bed and hope for a better day tomorrow, Kakashi promised to train him more about the shadow clone thing, Yippee, he was actually going to get training from someone who was already tasked with it ever since he became a gennin.

Naruto stood up from his chair and put the bottle on the table as he walked towards the bed

"yeah, turning in is definitely a good decision" he mumbled to himself

He was just about to climb on top of the bed when he heard someone say," Are you done already? I was just about to ask if I could join you."

The blond quickly turned around, creating a kage bushin and formed a rasengan before asking with a menacing glare,

"Who the hell are you?"

He allowed a small smile to appear on his lips, proud with his quick response to a possibly dangerous situation but the smile quickly dropped when he realized that this person, who they were, has probably watching him for a long time now and they could have easily killed him if they truly wanted to and he didn't even sense their movement.

Said person came out of the dark corner approaching naruto with their hands up as a sign of no hostility.

"Come down, I'm not an enemy"

"Oh yeah? Well, I'll be the judge of that. Who are you and what do you want?" Naruto snapped with the A-ranked jutsu still in hand

He heard the stranger give a despondent sigh and switched on the light

"Man you're in such an awful mood today, nothing quite like getting your ass handed to you by your teammate huh?" she said

Naruto scowled at that feeling his bad mood plummeting further but he had to force down a blush when he finally took a good look at the stranger; tall, maybe a few inches taller than him, light violet eyes, late-teens perhaps, small dimples and a figure to die for. she was wearing a black long sleeved shirt, black shinobi pants and boots and a long red coat to cover herself

But what really caught Naruto's attention was her hair, long waist length red hair that covered parts of her face.

"she's prettier than Sakura" he thought to himself

"Are you done checking me out?" the woman asked with a sly grin

"Wha… no… er… I mean yes… I mean… just answer the damn question lady who the hell are you?" he responded with venom his blush showing this time

Naruto scowled when the woman put her hand on her mouth to suppress her amused giggle

"ok, I'm sorry, just couldn't help myself. My name is Amina, Amina uzumaki, pleasure to officially meet you Naruto" she said offering her hand to naruto

"Uzu… maki? What kind of sick joke is this? What the hell do you mean you are Uzumaki?"

"I mean exactly what I said, I am Uzumaki just like you" she said a little bemused at the blonde's response

"Oh yeah? If you're an Uzumaki then how come I've never seen you before in the village?" Naruto said a little annoyed with the woman

Uzumaki? What the hell is that supposed to mean? are they related? If they are then how come he has never seen her before today?

"That's because am not from Konoha, I-

"Aha! I've got you now, the Sandaime gave me that name, are you honestly saying you are from a different village but you're conveniently named Uzumaki as well" Naruto said ready to attack the intruder who was looking at him as if he had grown a second head.

"you're joking right? You're seriously just yanking my chain right now, aren't you?" Amina asked but after seeing the jinchurikki not bothering to answer her, she frowned in disgust and mumbled something about betrayals and manipulatives bastards

"ok, so it seems to be as bad as Yuura said it was, you-

"who is Yuura?" Naruto quickly but was quickly faced with a disapproving glare and he actually had the decency to blush with embarrassment

"As I was saying before you so rudely interrupted me, Uzumaki is a clan, one of the most powerful and most prestigious clans the shinobi world has ever known. In fact, we're the only clan in the world to have their own village and we were once allied to konoha" Amina said giving Naruto a brief history lesson and continued before he could ask the obvious question

"The reason you have not heard about it is because we were raided and sacked by the so-called powerful villages, our clan is well known for our life force, huge chakra reserves and prowess in fuinjutsu, the bigger villages were threatened by the fact that a single clan could challenge their power and render their precious bijuu useless. Their jealousy and hatred made them attack our village and destroy everything, our homes, buildings, families, ships, everything." She finished as she finally sat down on one of the chairs giving Naruto time to digest what she has just said

After a minute of silence, Naruto finally replied," Wait a minute, you just said that Konoha was allied to your village, then how come they didn't help you and how are you still alive?"

'and here comes the hard part' Amina thought herself

"I think you better sit down if you really want to hear the truth Naruto" she said but then rolled her eyes when she saw the jinchurikki not moving an inch

"Look, I think we've already established that I'm not here to attack, if I wanted to I would have done so already now come and sit down" she finished

Naruto looked at her for a couple of seconds before giving a deep sigh, she was probably right anyway so you wouldn't hurt to actually hear what she wanted to say, plus he was also curious to hear about his apparently fallen clan.

He dispelled his rasengan and sat on the chair that was directly opposite her

"alright I'm seated now talk"

"Good, now, since the beginning of the shinobi villages Senju and Uzumaki have always been close, some would say that we are sister clans, we were so close that after Hashirama Senju was selected to become hokage, he married the daughter of our clan head Mito Uzumaki and thus cemented our alliance with the village hidden in the leaf. The original terms were that the hidden leaf would protect us from the other villages and we would provide konoha with seals and jinchurikki. Obviously we did our part, konoha didn't" Amina explained

"wh… what do you mean 'you provided konoha with jinchurikki?'" Naruto asked trying to wrap his head around what he's just heard

"Naruto you are not the first jinchurikki of the kyubi, Mito was a jinchurikki and so was your mother Kushina"

Naruto looked at the redhead Uzumaki with wide eyes.

his mother?

His mother was a jinchurikki?

she knows his mother?

Seeing the current jinchurikki's expression, Amina couldn't help but frown, what kind of tight leash did they put on him in this village?

"By your expression, I take it you don't know who she is, do you?" she asked the blonde who didn't bother to respond

"Your mother, Kushina Uzumaki was a kunoichi of the whirlpools, her father, the clan head at the time, sent her here to be the new jinchurikki of the kyubi it was also during the time when Iwa, Kumo and Kiri were getting restless about our growing power. They banded together and attacked us, we waited from some assistance from Konoha but nothing came, not even a single shinobi" Amina said anger showing on her face

"H-How did you survive?" Naruto finally asked after a minute of silence

"Tunnels, Uzushiogakure was a small island surrounded by whirlpools, so beneath the buildings and infrastructure, they were underground tunnels that led to storages and hideouts that were protected by seals. When we were attacked all the children were sent there while the adults fought. We have lived in those hideouts ever since"

"I… I-I'm sorry to hear that" Naruto said as he showed some towards his guest

"Don't be, it won't change anything" Amina replied

"So, er what are you doing here?" he finally asked the question that has been bugging him

"When news got out that Konoha was attacked by the Kyubi, we knew that something bad had happened to Kushina-sama, father sent of our older members to come and confirm it. We found out that you were the only Uzumaki left in the village but we couldn't talk to you or even get to have any form of contact with you because you're kept under close surveillance, so father instructed Yuura, my older brother to keep a close on you" Amina said standing up, she took a few steps closer to Naruto and sat on the chair right next to him.

"We need you Naruto, our clan has suffered enough already, it's time we rose up again, it's time we reclaimed what's ours, it's time and we know that we cannot do it without you Naruto, we would like you to join us"

Naruto actually started in surprise at hearing that, he stood up abruptly from his chair causing to fall down

"The hell? I c-can't go with you" he said his face showing how shocked he was with the proposal

"And why not?" Amina challenged

"W-Well for one thing I barely know you and I'm a hidden leaf shinobi I mean at the end of the day this is my home so you just can't expect me to drop everything and just go with you to a place I barely know" Naruto reasoned

"Home? You think this is your home? Naruto we've been watching you since you were born, we saw everything that happened to you. This village… this village betrayed us, insults us and continuously mistreats you…you, the only living proof in this village that the Uzumaki clan existed"

"B-But I cannot just abandon my friends, I-

"Friends don't lie to friends Naruto; we don't try to kill the people we see as friends either. Naruto both your parents were well known and loved in this village, your father was seen as some untouchable god because of our fuinjutsu, they had many friends and what happened when they died?" Amina said with frustration

"You know my father?"

"Every clan head in this village knows your father, the whole world knows about him, Tsunade, Kakashi, Jiraiya, the third, they all knew your parents. They have been smiling at your face and yet they laugh at you when you turn around"

"Who is my father"

"Minato Namikaze, the yondaime"

What.

The.

Fuck?!

The tension was so palpable in the small apartment that Amina feared that someone would actually be alarmed and come to check what was going on, she knew that she was revealing too much to the jinchurikki in a short amount of time but at the moment it really didn't matter, if shit hits the fan she could easily wipe his memory of this conversation ever taking place

Her thoughts however were interrupted when she saw the Kyuubi's chakra leaking out of his body, a quick look at him was enough to inform her that she needed to act and fast

"Fuin; suppression seal level 1" a sealing array appeared from the ground and quickly surrounded him before completely suppressing his chakra

Amina kept the seal in place until she was completely sure that the blonde jinchurikki had regained his calm, it seemed so for about a few minutes but looking at his face one could tell that the thoughts circulating in his mind were anything but pure

"Look Naruto, I know that this is hard to hear but these people have continuously lied to you, Jiraiya your godfather abandoned you to the wolves and even he doesn't have the decency to tell you the truth, how many times did you ask the Sandaime about your parents? Kakashi, your father's favorite student preferred to watch from the sidelines as you suffered, even after you were given to him as a student he's attitude was indifferent at best. Sasuke, your so-called best friend was more than willing to kill you just for his revenge." Amina said taking a deep breath after her monologue, she shook her head and continued;

"I have no right to judge you or how you want to live your life but I have one question to ask you Naruto; Don't you think you deserve better than this, don't you think you deserve to live in a place where you're not judged or discriminated because of ignorance and misconceptions?

The hidden leaf keeps on preaching about the will of fire, about never turning your back on your comrades but look at yourself, these people turned their backs on you the minute Minato died."

Naruto turned his head to the window, watching the view of Konoha at night his hands formed into fists.

The more he thought about what Amina was telling her the angrier he got, so he was the son of the hokage huh? He would have never guessed.

The son of the freaking yondaime and the godson of the freaking Jiraiya the sannin

Life has a special way of fucking with him, doesn't it?

He remembered all those times he asked the third about his parents and how he would always rebuke him or change the subject. He asked them all; Jiraiya, kakashi, Tsunade and they lied to him.

What else have they lied to him, all of them, all the fucking clan heads knew who he was and yet they were more than happy to ignore him, they even told their kids to stay away from him.

What was he to them? A pet, a toy, a fucking WEAPON? They all manipulated him for their own fucking purposes and Jiraiya of all people was he's fucking godfather, he's supposed guardian.

His fury intensified at this thought, in fact it was now at a point where his hands were bleeding because of the elongated nails digging into his skin. Naruto knew that if it wasn't for seal currently suppressing his chakra, he would probably be in four-tails state by now, but at the moment he honestly didn't give a fuck, he has never felt as much hatred as he feels for the village at this point.

"look, obviously this conversation has given you a lot of things to think about, so I'm going to give you one week to think about our offer" Amina said taking Naruto out of his thoughts

She put her hand on his cheek and gave him a sincerer smile

"I really hope you accept Naruto, family needs to be with family and I swear to you that with us, I'll never be alone, ever" she said hen gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

The seals on his body started disappearing as Amina walked to the door

"oh… please don't tell anyone about this conversation" she said as she walked out and closed the door leaving the jinchurikki alone with his thoughts

The silence in the room was broken when Naruto suddenly grabbed the sake bottle from the table and threw it at a nearby mirror breaking it instantaneously.

"FUCK!"

THE FOLLOWING DAY

It's funny how one can easily change one's attitude to something in such a short amount of time after a few revealed secrets. Well, at the amount Naruto did not care a single bit about the irony of it all

Just yesterday, he was willing to risk it all for Konoha, his friends, his village and yet now he was wondering whether they were even worth the trouble. Yesterday's revelations had proven how two-faced and hypocritical people could be, just thinking about it dipped his already sour mood.

He had not slept a wink last night just thinking about all the bullshit he had to endure because of these people

Hokage's son

If it was anybody else, they would be treated like royalty right now but him, NOOO! Naruto Uzumaki has to earn their love and respect

Naruto had to force down the scowl from reaching his face when he spotted Kakashi and Yamato as he approached the designated training ground.

"Ah, you're finally here, I was wondering when you would finally show up" kakashi said no bothering to look up from his icha-icha novel

How ironic

"I'm sorry, I go lost on the path of life" Naruto replied with a sardonic tone

O_O

O_O

"Yeah, he's your student alright" Yamato muttered in an amused tone

"Uh, yes well, I guess when you're lost on the path of life all you can hope for is not to lose yourself eh, am glad you've not lost yourself Naruto" Kakashi said scratching the back of his head obviously feeling a bit embarrassed that Naruto has just called him out on his own bullshit

"What are we going to do today Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked a bit coldly trying to change the subject

"Well, we are going to use the kage bushin trick I told you about yesterday to start your elemental training, if all goes well your training will go much faster" Kakashi responded though he couldn't help but wonder what has gotten his wayward student in such a testy mood

Naruto's eye twitched at this response, he had begged Jiraiya countless times to teach him some elemental jutsu or at least just the basics of it but NOOOO!

You have to learn how to control the Kyuubi's chakra first

'how wasteful these 3 years has been' he thought bitterly

"I see, so why am I learning about elemental jutsu now?" he asked curiously

"Well, before you left Jiraiya-sama and I arranged to split your training, he would teach other things while I would teach you elemental training"

Yeah because I sure learnt a lot from him these past 3 years, no wonder Sasuke left

Naruto quickly shook his head to banish his darkening thoughts

"ok, there's no sense in standing around doing nothing, we might as well start"

Later that day

"Alright that's enough training for one day Naruto I think it's time we call it a day" Kakashi said

Naruto gave a brief look at the copy ninja and wordlessly dispelled his clones. He had just spent the whole trying to split a leaf with his chakra, the first step of learning how to control his wind element. Though his mood hasn't change he still couldn't contain the excitement of finally learning something useful after 3 years of little progress

He quickly said his goodbyes and started walking towards his apartment hoping that after a good long bath and some ramen, he would finally be in a better mood to think about everything he learnt yesterday and also the proposal he got.

Naruto's thoughts were however interrupted when he spotted Sakura standing close to a tree 20 meters away from him, she was looking at him with a small smile almost as if she has been waiting for him this whole time

"Hey Naruto, finally done for the day huh?" she said

"Yeah, I gotta be strong if wanna be hokage someday ya know" Naruto responded with a full blown fake grin on his face

"Great, so um the other teams were meeting up a restaurant so I came to invite you as well since you know… we never really hard time to fully welcome you with everything that has been happening lately" the pink haired kunoichi said

"Huh… er, I'm sorry Sakura-chan but today has been a very long day and I just want to go home rest ya know" Naruto responded feeling a little guilty for blowing his friends off

"Oh… er, I guess next time then" Sakura said/asked unable to keep the disappointment out of her tone

"Yeah, next time. Well I gotta go Sakura-chan see you tomorrow" Naruto said as he began to walk away from her

"Yeah… next time" Sakura muttered long after Naruto had already disappeared from her view

'That wasn't anything like Naruto at all' she thought to herself wondering what has put the jinchurikki in such a bad mood, she looked at Kakashi hoping to get some sort of clue but all he did was shrug

"Long day" he said though even he was asking himself the same question

NARUTO'S APARTMENT

He's apartment was… clean, no, it was actually spotless, everything was in place, the dishes were clean, the laundry done and supper was already prepared and set on the table.

As he looked around, Naruto couldn't help but with this really his apartment or not, his apartment has never been so clean before, even during the times he had a caretaker it wasn't this spotless.

He wondered who would do this for him but he quickly got his answered when he spotted a freshly showered Amina on a chair reading a book about fuinjutsu written by Jiraiya with a disapproving frown her face

"Er… hello?" the blonde said with a dumbfounded look

Amina looked up from the book and responded with a warm smile on her face

"Hi, welcome home Naruto-kun"

Welcome home

That's something he never thought he would ever hear, ever.

Home

He's heart warmed up when thought of that word, this was something he had always wanted in life, to belong somewhere, with someone.

The blonde Uzumaki couldn't help but wonder if this is how it would be like with the rest of the clan

Would he feel wanted? Needed? Accepted?

"You cleaned?" he asked feeling a bit embarrassed that that's the smartest thing he could say

Of course she cleaned you idiot

"Huh, yeah. I hope you don't mind but this place was really a mess so I figured why not, oh and I really that you are hungry because dinner is ready" the redhead replied

"Yeah, er… thanks" Naruto said with a blush obviously not used to having people do things for him

"No problem, besides do have any clothes that isn't orange or some food that isn't ramen? Seriously what kind of life do live?" Amina asked her smile now turned into a frown

"Ramen is food for the gods and Orange is an awesome color" the replied with his usual defiance as he sat down ready to start eating

"No they aren't, Ramen is an unhealthy food and orange is an easily identifiable color, you are nothing more than a walking target with such a ridiculous outfit

"Good, let them see me. It's no fun beating an enemy from the shadows"

"Tsk, back at home, you would get caned just for thinking that. Nobody would tolerate such nonsense" Amina quipped giving the blonde a pointed glare

"Would you… er, would you tell me about them? The other Uzumaki I mean" Naruto asked looking a little unsure of himself

Amina looked at Naruto with a surprised look obviously not expecting such a question from the jinchurikki, she shook her head and gave him a full blown smile

With his bad mood forgotten, the two Uzumaki spent the entire night talking their presumed extinct clan, the good, the bad and everything in between.

END CHAPTER

Another one, hope you like it

SARAVAN OUT!