Hey guys, it's me again. No I'm not dead, and no, neither are my other stories, but I am swamped with Uni work and studies... I shouldn't even be here again so soon, but an idea's been bugging me for sometime now so I thought I'd just throw it out there to test the waters and see if it came back with any decent results. Depending on how you guys receive it, I'll try my best to try write some more on it once I get time again.

Let me know what you guys think, I won't keep you any longer...

Disclaimer: All characters of Naruto and things Naruto belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

Just Following Orders by ShadowedNara

XxX

Prologue

And so it Begins...

"Normal talking"

'Normal thinking'

Uzu no Kuni, the beautiful island-home to one of the most feared hidden shinobi villages to grace the face of the Elemental Nations – Uzushiogakure no Sato, home to the famed Uzumaki clan and renowned for their longevity and prowess in the obscure and very much unknown art of fūinjutsu. Or maybe famed is the wrong word. They were more infamously well-known and feared for their awesome abilities with fūinjutsu than anything else.

Their skill with the art was second to none; they could accomplish nearly anything imaginable using the inexplicable art. It was this unmatched prowess with fūinjutsu that gave Uzushio its rise to fame; or rather, infamy.

They were for the most part given a rather wide berth due to their abstruse abilities. Nobody wanted to be on the receiving end of whatever the feared shinobi of Uzushiogakure could cook up.

They were not alienated by all however. The Uzumaki's were fairly close with their distant relatives the Senju's, and during the time of the Shodai Hokage Senju Hashirama's reign, a strong bond and relationship had been created through the marriage of Hashirama and Uzumaki Mito, thereby forever connecting the villages of Konohagakure and Uzushiogakure.

It was from then on decided that the Uzumaki swirl would be incorporated into the Konohagakure shinobi uniform as a symbol of their bond and friendship, and it was from then on decided that Uzushio would forever be etched into Konoha's history...

Somewhere in Uzu no Kuni...

'Come on you damned octopus, you'd better not die on me! I've come too far to have to turn around and start from the beginning!'

Kneeling beside a whirring body of water was a no-older-than-eight boy with shaggy spiky red hair and jaw length bangs framing the side of his face. He was wearing a rust-coloured polo neck poncho over a long sleeved black shirt with mesh undershirt extending out his sleeves and to his wrists. He had on a pair of black capri trousers that were tied off at the ends with bandages, and a pair of greaves over his shins with black shinobi sandals.

His eyes were narrowed in utmost concentration, beads of sweat gathering on his forehead. Letting out a short pant, the redhead continued pouring all his focus onto the eight tentacled fish beneath his outstretched palms. They were coated in a layer of green medical chakra, and it was taking every ounce of concentration he had to manipulate it in order to revive the asphyxiated cephalopod.

It lay motionless atop a specially designed seal meant to keep the fish from decaying. It was a seal designed specifically for medics in training, and it kept the fish they were 'operating' on in a healthy revivable condition. The fact that it was a seal designed for medics didn't stop fishermen from utilising the seal to keep fresh catches from the ocean as fresh as possible, but that's besides the point.

Octopuses were a lot more difficult to revive as opposed to fish however, their bodies containing three hearts instead of simply one. And while an octopus had a single brain just like any other fish, it also had eight separate nervous systems within each tentacle. All these separate organs had to be stimulated with just the right amount of medical chakra in order to perform a perfect resuscitation.

Gritting his teeth, the redhead continued pouring out his chakra, beads of perspiration rolling off his chin and impacting softly with the ground below. It wasn't too long before his hard work was rewarded, and the tentacles attached to the octopus gingerly began to twitch and sway before the fish was successfully revived.

Slowly wiping his brow clear of the collected sweat, the redhead got to his feet and carefully picked up the octopus, walking over to the giant whirlpool to his left and tossing the octopus back into the ocean whence it came. Taking a deep calming breath, the boy jumped into the air and raised a victorious fist, a broad grin exploding onto his face. "Yes! I finally managed to do it 'ttebayo!"

"Well someone seems in high spirits, 'ey Naruto?" a girl's voice questioned knowingly. The now named Naruto could practically hear the smirk that was on her face, but he simply ignored it and gathered his things that were splayed out all over the grass where he'd been working.

A half opened scroll of blank parchment lay off to the side with a small fūinjutsu kit beside it, a brush lying in an open ink bottle. Pulling his hands into a Ram seal, a small seal array etched itself onto the blank scroll before it was enveloped in a cloud of smoke. Naruto turned his head to the new comer as he waited for the smoke to dissipate, throwing her a small grin for her outstanding reading of the situation. "You bet I am! I just resuscitated a freakin' octopus, so go ahead and call me awesome Kushina. I won't deny it."

Kushina just rolled her eyes at her cousin's usual antics. She had a particularly round face with long fiery red hair that naturally framed both sides of her face. She was wearing a yellow sleeveless kimono-styled blouse that was held closed with a green obi, as well as a pair of dark blue shorts and brown shinobi sandals.

She watched as he grabbed the scroll off the floor and strapped it to his back, all his supplies now safely stored within the parchment. "If you're finished here, we've been summoned by Uzumaki-jiji, so we better go see what's up."

Shrugging the scroll on his back, Naruto let out a short breath and waved his hand through the air non-chalantly. "Ah, what's the rush. I'm still a little tired from saving that octopus, so a nice stroll back to the village should be fine—"

A dark aura suddenly filled the area and cut Naruto off midsentence. Slowly glancing ahead at his cousin, he found strands of her hair whipping about her head slowly as if they had minds of their own, her violet eyes narrowed into a sharp glare. "I'm guessing maybe you didn't hear me right, so I'll say it one more time. We've been summoned by Uzumaki-jiji, so I guess we better go see what's up, right?"

Naruto gulped audibly as the oppresive aura continued to press down on him, and he shakily nodded his head in agreement. At his acquiesence, his cousin's hair fell back to its usual resting place on her head, and a sweet smile was pasted on her face, the emotion looking more forced than anything. "Perfect! Just keep up then would ya?"

And with that she was off, bounding on back towards the village. Naruto shuddered involuntarily and let out a small sigh as he watched her form disappear in the distance. "Women are so troublesome..."

"What was that?!"

The yell from the distance jerked him into motion, and he darted after his cousin as they headed back to the village. "N-Nothing! I just said I'm on my way 'ttebayo." He shook his head wearily as he raced to catch his cousin. 'Again, I reiterate my previous statement. Women are so troublesome...'

XxX

Being Uzumaki's, the run back into the village had eventually turned into a full on sprint to see who could beat the other in a game of speed. Naruto had had to play a good amount of catch up, Kushina having started slightly ahead of him, but they were now neck and neck once again.

The village itself was something to behold. The entire village was centred around a massive whirlpool, houses and buildings of various shapes and sizes dotted around the whirring body of water. In the centre of the whirlpool was a raised platform that covered just over a third of the entire whirlpool's surface area, but still allowing the water to funnel beneath it. It was fashioned out of dōton ninjutsu and strengthened through the use of fūinjutsu.

All of the village's shinobi related elements could be found on this platform, and it was connected to the main body of land via four separate stone bridges that jutted out every 90 degrees in each direction, similar to the points on a compass.

The two racing redheads' destination also just so happened to be on this platform, and once their finish line came into view the two exploded towards it with renewed vigour. Civilians and shinobi alike were knocked or bumped as the two competitive Uzumaki's vied for first place. As the bridge came into view however, it was plain as day to see that it was just as busy as ever, and crossing it in the conventional manner would most definitely lose them some major ground in their race. Sticking to the sides or the underbelly of the bridge was a no-go as well. Fūinjutsu littered every square centimetre of that bridge, and the only way to cross it was like any other person.

Naruto wasn't planning on using the bridge at all however. Being an Uzumaki, Naruto had a lot more chakra than the average shinobi, even at the age of eight. He'd had to work relentlessly to get his chakra control up to snuff in order to learn medical ninjutsu, and the final exercise had been water walking over a body of water with an active whirlpool.

Walking on water was difficult enough. The continuous movement of the water beneath your feet meant you had to constantly adjust your chakra output in order to stay afloat. That was child's play compared to the whirlpool version of the exercise. The movement of the water was a lot faster, and the continuous pull and strength of the currents as they whirred around was nothing compared to a normal body of water.

Taking all this into account, Naruto ran past the entrance to the bridge and jumped straight down into the water below, letting out a yip of excitement. Kushina's eyes widened as she realised what he was doing, and knowing full well that she wouldn't be able to follow. Sure she could walk on water. She'd had to improve her own chakra control for her brand of ninjutsu, but she hadn't needed to perfect it to the degree that Naruto had to in order to learn medical ninjutsu.

Gritting her teeth, she ran as fast as she could over the bridge just like any other person would, but the amount of oncoming civilians and shinobi were halting and restricting her movements severely. She was going to lose, and she knew it. Blowing a red bang out of her face in annoyance, she carried on running as fast as she could. All she could do now was soften the crushing blow of defeat. 'He's not gonna let me forget this any time soon 'ttebane...'

XxX

Kushina walked as fast she dared now that she was in the building that her and Naruto had been racing to get to. Although all Uzumaki's had a different temperament to other people in the Elemental Nations, and it was more often than not an Uzumaki acting contrary to their age, inside this building was different. This was the building that housed their head shinobi, and it demanded a certain amount of restraint and discipline that was a lot more difficult to comply with for an Uzumaki, not to mention the fact that she was only eight.

She passed by an elderly Uzumaki woman that gave her a small glare for walking fast enough to ruffle the frills of her dress, but Kushina merely stuck her tongue out and pulled her eyelid down childishly. The elderly woman's eyes widened in shock before she glanced around the passage discretely and then mimicked Kushina's childish display, having deemed the hall empty enough to even attempt such a retort.

Kushina huffed irritably as she turned the next corner. 'Damned old hag. What a hypocrite 'ttebane!' She was glad to be away from that old coot, but the sight that greeted her when she turned the corner wasn't really a welcomed one either. An ear-splitting grin courtesy of her cousin was the first thing that caught her eyes, his chest puffed out and his head held just that much higher.

He was standing outside the doors to Uzumaki-jiji's office, quite literally bouncing on his toes. He looked like he could explode any second. Resigned to her fate, the red-haired girl walked up to him and let out a small sigh, her cheeks heating up with the smallest amount of red. "J-Just go ahead and say it 'ttebane!"

His grin only seemed to get wider and his violet-coloured eyes were sparkling with mirth. Lifting up a solitary finger and pointing it at the girl, his body shook a little more as small wheezes escaped his lips, his soft snickering now filling the quiet air. "Y-You... you... you said 'ttebane 'ttebayo!"

The girl clenched her fists at her sides and shut her eyes as she fought the urge to let fly with a fist. Her cheeks reddened a little further and her body shook from embarrassment, and her eyes shot open in rage. 'Screw this! He has it coming!' She cocked her fist back and let fly with a haymaker of a punch, her cousin lifting off the ground and ploughing head first through the door they were standing outside of.

After a couple seconds of huffing angrily and admiring her work, her eyes widened as she realised where she flung Naruto, and she dashed in after him. All she found however was her cousin shaking with unbridled laughter, his head using the floor as a cushion and his legs dangling over the top of Uzumaki-jiji's desk.

She glanced over the desk to the person seated behind it only to see the old man's eyes twinkling with amusement. He was an extremely elderly man with long white hair that cascaded down his back, as well as a white moustache and a squared-off goatee. He wore armour that was reminiscent of the Warring States Period with a long-sleeved black outfit beneath that.

Immediately feeling her embarrassment rise, Kushina quickly bowed her head and muttered out a string of apologies, her verbal tic making itself known more than a few times. She raised her head however upon hearing his chuckling, and he held a hand up in apology. "Forgive me child, but there is no need to apologise. It was all just a simple misunderstanding, correct?"

His left eye closed in a wink, and her own eyes widened before she smiled shyly and nodded her head, grabbing Naruto off the floor and pulling him up to stand next to her.

Naruto himself was struggling to contain his own laughter, but he managed to rein it in well enough. It was then that he noted the presence of another person in the room, and his immediate hushing drew all the other eyes to the mysterious occupant.

He looked to be in his late twenties, and he had dark eyes with deep lines running underneath them. He had spiky, silver-coloured hair that reached into the middle of his back tied in a ponytail, with bangs that hung over his hitai-ate. His Konoha hitai-ate. He was wearing the standard Konoha-nin uniform with a pair of gloves and a flak jacket, with bandages on his right arm and a distinctive short white sleeve with red edges and the Uzushio symbol on his left.

A small cough brought their attention back to the elderly Uzumaki sitting behind the desk, and he gestured with his hand to the man standing off to the side. "Naruto-kun, Kushina-chan, allow me to introduce to you Konoha's White Fang."

The man took a step forward and offerred them a kind smile, his left hand coming out while his right rubbed the back of his head softly. "Please, Sakumo is fine Uzumaki-sama."

The elderly Uzumaki just nodded his head before turning back to the two young redheads in front of him, his two hands linked together beneath his long black sleeves. "The reason I have summoned you two here today is because I have a special mission for you." Watching as the two seemed to stand a little straighter, he gestured his head towards the Konoha-nin to his left. "You two are to be transferred to Konohagakure no Sato in order to bolster inter-village relations, effective immediately. Konoha's White Fang here will be your escort back to his home village. Are their any questions?"

Sakumo himself heaved a small sigh hearing that the leader of the Uzumaki's just disregarded his request to be called Sakumo, but he knew that the Uzumaki's were an eccentric bunch, so he wasn't too fazed.

Both eight year olds seemed a little too stunned with the sudden dropping of the bomb however, both having their eyes wide and their mouths slightly agape. Hearing no questions though, the elderly Uzumaki nodded his head and gave them a shooing motion. "Well best hurry up then, you depart immediately, so I expect to see you at the village's harbour within the hour."

Both children were ushered out by an Uzumaki attendant, the two red heads still far too dazed by the information to move on their own. Waiting for the two to leave, the elder Uzumaki turned his attention back to Sakumo. "You said you needed to provide detailed reports on the both of them for Sarutobi-dono?" Seeing the man nod, he continued. "As you know, they are not active shinobi yet, so they have no files. You will have to write up one yourself I guess."

Sakumo nodded and retrieved a scroll from a pocket in his flak jacket, a brush and ink ready and waiting as he gave the signal for the Uzumaki to continue.

"Well, they're both orphans who have been staying together within the orphanage. There aren't many orphans in our village, and the few others that we do have are still in diapers, so Naruto and Kushina had no one else in their age group but themselves. Both lost their parents when they were far too young to remember, so they've never known the alternative."

Seeing that the man was diligently writing down each word he said, the man stood up from his seat and began pacing his office as he continued. "Their abilities in the ninja arts thus far are exceptional. Both are highly adept at fūinjutsu and have been taught sufficiently in the art for any Uzumaki their age. Kushina is quite proficient in kenjutsu as well, and she has an extremely powerful chakra, even among our clansmen. This gives her the ability to wield her special brand of ninjutsu which allows her to manifest chakra chains. She is nowhere near mastery though, but given due time I believe she can can gain control of them."

"And what of the other, Naruto?" questioned Sakumo, his eyes still glued to the scroll as his hands moved in a flurry of motion to keep up with the speaking Uzumaki.

Humming softly, the old Uzumaki linked his hands beneath his sleeves and continued pacing. "Naruto himself is also highly intelligent, and he is just as proficient with fūinjutsu as Kushina. He also has an extremely powerful chakra for someone among our clan, and his is another special case."

This gave the silver-haired Hatake pause. "Special in the sense that he can manifest these 'chakra chains'?"

The head shinobi of the Uzumaki shook his head softly. "He possesses a special ability known as the Heal Bite. By biting him and consuming his chakra, he can heal the injuries of others and replenish their chakra at the cost of his own. It is quite remarkable, and it can heal even the most life threatening of injuries in a very short amount of time. This among other things has lead him down the path of medical ninjutsu. He knows that his parents died on the battlefield, but more specifically they died after bleeding out and not receiving medical attention fast enough. They were rushed back to the village as fast as possible, but by the time they got here it was already too late. This motivation has propelled him leaps and bounds in the medical arts, and he is already somewhat proficient with the Shōsen jutsu the last I heard."

When the Uzumaki halted in his speaking for more than a minute, Sakumo looked up only to find the man simply sitting behind his desk with his eyes closed and a cup of tea now held in his hands, the steam coming off the top signifying it had just been made. 'When did he have time to get himself a cup of tea?'

The question died on his throat however as the old Uzumaki cracked open a single eye and looked at him in confusion. "As much as I enjoy the company of Konoha's White Fang, what are you still doing here? If I'm not mistaken, you have somewhere to be, correct?"

The Hatake was somewhat taken aback before he realised that they had been speaking for close to an hour. Quickly replacing the scroll in his vest and bowing to the man, he exited the room and sped off to the harbour where his boat awaited. It was time to head on home.

Okay guys, that wraps up the prologue of this short intro into a story that could be, depending on your review of it. Did you find it any good? Is the idea interesting enough that you wanna maybe favourite, follow and possibly leave a review for further ideas you might like to see if this story comes to fruition? I'm also not too sure how good the title and summary are, so any help with that would be appreciated!

I'll give a few short explanations about a few things here quickly just to straighten things out. Naruto is born roughly about 24 years before the canon Kyūbi attack, and he's been born in Uzushio. He's a pure bred Uzumaki this time through and through, and he even has the red hair to go with it, ha! As explained above, he's been living with Kushina in the orphanage since both their parents died young. Kushina was always the one to have the verbal tic, and after Naruto having lived with her his whole life, ended up developing one himself.

Kushina being an orphan makes sense to me, because even in canon, I don't think she'd have been as accepting of leaving her home to go to Konoha if she had a family. It doesn't really explain anywhere that she was accepting of it, but she didn't seem too averse to it either, and she was desperate to call Konoha her home, so I imagine she had no family back in Uzushio. With that in mind, I find that both Kushina and Naruto will agree to go to Konoha without much of a fuss.

Also as explained above, Naruto has the Heal Bite. He also knows his parent's died while bleeding out, and this has motivated him to become a medic-nin, and become the best damned medic-nin at that. He's got a strong motivation, and if he has things his way, he'll never see a comrade bleed out in the field again. His parents could've been saved, but there had just been no medics in the squad or anywhere nearby for that matter, so Naruto wants to try and rectify that one day. I guess you could say that would be his dream in this story. He won't be overpowered in any way, but the shinobi from the time he is in now were a lot stronger at a young age than when canon starts, so I feel its fitting the abilities he has at the moment, as well as Kushina.

The fact that he's with Kushina should give you another idea as to what time period this is in if you didn't know before, and the friendly but not so familiar face of Sakumo Hatake, Konoha's White Fang also makes an appearance. I decided to have Sakumo being the escort because this is of quite a sensitive nature. Naruto and Kushina don't know the true intentions of this transfer, but Kushina's powerful chakra was the reason she was chosen as the next vessel for the Kyūbi, so her safety is of utmost importance. Being the White Fang, I feel his abilities more than fit the bill of being able to protect her. He was claimed to have more fame than even the Sanin at his prime, which should be now in his late twenties, so I feel that it's fitting. Depending on how this story pans out, you should have an idea about what other characters they'll most likely come into contact with, so hopefully that inspires some motivation for you people to want to see more.

Any ways, apologies for the long author's note. I'll leave the decision on whether this story continues in your capable hands now. As the reader it's up to you guys to decide if you want to see more of this story or not. I felt that the idea was a pretty good one, and I've already got loads of plans for the rest of the story should you decide you wanna see it carry on. So favourite, follow, leave some reviews if you have some ideas you'd possibly want to be seen sometime down the line and I'll see what I can come up with if enough people are keen about it. I'm always open to your ideas, and if they're good I don't mind trying to incorporate them into the story.

Heads up in advance though, I'm in the middle of exams and won't have any writing time for a bit, so I won't be able to get started until after that, if it comes to it. Well, enough of my rambling, sorry if I've wasted more of your time, enjoy the rest of your nights or days guys, and thanks for taking the time to read this. I eagerly await your feedback!

ShadowedNara