Kitsune's Creed

Chapter 1

AN: Hello all and welcome to another Chrisdz production. I know it's yet another fic that I shouldn't start without completing some others. This fic is actually several years old, I found it while looking for some vocal files on my Moto Q which is about maybe six years old if not a little older. Anyway after reading it over I decided to post it, though I did add a fair bit of editing and rewriting to add Edward and Connor into the mix. I also changed a few things from the cannon storyline for Assassins Creed for this story to work but so what. Anyway check it out and tell me what you think.

Start Now:

Within the dense forest that covered Hi no Kuni, within the shinobi village of Konohagakure no Sato, the Godaime Hokage Senju Tsunade sighed as she looked down on the form staring out at the world before him. Outside the sun was hidden and clouds darkened the sky within not a hint of rain, as if it was mirroring his darkened emotions. It was here at this point that Tsunade thought that perhaps Uzumaki Naruto unknown to anyone even himself had become the soul of the village.

It had been a few days, just shy of a week since the cluster fuck that had been the mission to retrieve Uchiha Sasuke. A mission for which due to a lack of manpower she had been forced to send out a single chuunin, brand new at that along with several of the villages most prominent gennin in pursuit of what she had since learned was a rogue Uchiha. Each of the gennin had suffered due to the rogue Uchiha's actions and their failed attempt at retrieving him. Akimichi Choji had nearly died having been forced to consume all three of his clans special soldier pills and only much work by the legendary medic-nin herself had kept him from feeling deaths embrace. Hyuga Neji likewise had also had his own close encounter with death and it was thanks to Shizune's efforts that the Shinigami had not been able to lay claim on his soul. Inuzuka Kiba had suffered a deep stab wound to his side just barely missing any organs in an effort to rid himself of a shinobi with some type of parasitic Kekki Genkai.

Naruto had come in with what appeared to be no major damage at all, however that had only been on the surface once they'd been able to get rid of his now discarded orange jumpsuit they'd discovered he'd been riddled with injuries, including a broken neck that had been held together only by the power of the Kyuubi's chakra and as if that hadn't been alarming enough a scar left behind by the hasty healing of what she suspected was a Chidori due to the lightning natured chakra that had still been at his upper left chest area just next to the shoulder and just over his heart. Not only that his chakra pool had been down to a gennin's standard level which for him spoke clearly of chakra exhaustion. Now after much work on the part of the medic's he was physically fine, though whether that was due to Kyuubi or his own innate healing ability was up in the air.

He'd been conscious for the last two days and had been allowed visitors, however the normally quite vocal blond hadn't spoken a word; not even when his not so secret crush had come to visit him. In fact being honest with herself his emotions had only seemed to darken with her visit. The Sannin herself came to see him three times a day morning, noon and night if only to sit with him a few minutes before she had to go about her other business, and in all that time he'd simply stayed there silently staring as if the lights were own inside but the boy himself wasn't home. As she got up and left the room she came upon the sight of another figure leaning against the hospital wall.

Meanwhile though he may have seemed fully coherent in the waking world the blonde currently stood within the dank sewer that made up his mindscape. Across from him staring straight back at him from behind cage bars was the Kyubi no Kitsune its fur a rust orange color and its eyes crimson red with a black vertically slit pupil. The two had been locked within a heated staring match for what felt like forever before the fox of legend snorted the wind from its nose blowing the blondes hair backwards

"Pathetic."

Naruto blinked those had been the first words from either of them since he had awoken in front of the cage a few nights ago.

"You had more than enough power to win that battle and you let that weakling beat you. Worse you let him after he nearly killed you twice!" the great beast roared its eyes alight with anger.

"That would have been pointless." said the blonde.

"POINTLESS! YOU'D HAVE WON AND PUT THAT LITTLE BASTARD IN HIS PLACE!" Roared the fox.

"AND KILLED HIM IN THE PROCESS, BREAKING MY PROMISE TO BRING HIM BACK!" Roared the boy just as intensly.

"You could have brought back his corpse." said the fox

"That would have still broken my promise as I meant to bring him back alive and even you should see that."

"So you hold back and nearly die for a fool of a girl who doesn't even care that you landed in the hospital and nearly died. Instead all she cared about was the runt of an Uchiha."

Kyuubi's words actually caused a look of hurt to cross the boys face. Despite the fact that his consious mind had retreated into the depths of his mindscape he could still clearly hear every word that had been said near his body. When she came to visit him Sakura hadn't paid the damage he had taken any mind instead focusing all of her attention on the rogue Uchiha claiming she'd get stronger to bring him back.

"So what" snarled the blonde as he banished the words from his mind.

"All I have in this world is my word and I won't break it for no one." said the blond.

As he said this Kyubi's eyes widened as a memory suddenly came to the forefront of his mind.

Flashback no jutsu

A much younger form of Kyubi watched as the one he called his father figure shuffled about slowly. He was an old human with hair whitened by age wearing the robes of a preist

"Why are you doing this?" questioned the chibi kitsune.

"Before she passed I promsed my wife that none would ever need to deal with the beast again." explained the old man.

"And no one will. It is why you created us in the first place." said the young fox

"Perhaps I did indeed envision that to be the end of it. However while I may have stripped it of its power who's to say that even now its prison is not weakening. This I will ensure will not happen." said the old man with determination shining in his eyes.

"But you'll die!" exclaimed the Chibi fox.

"All men die at some point young one. Someday you will see in the future that for some there is nothing more important in this world than ones word. For those people death would be a much better alternative."

Flashback no jutsu Kai

As the memory came back to him Kyubi lost his anger and allowed his head to rest once more on his forepaws. True to the old mans word he had indeed seen this many times over the years he'd lived and never more apparent than with his current vessel.

"Very well then" said the fox snorting once more.

"If that is how you feel then no longer shall I allow you to use my power as a crutch. Instead your own actions and abilities will be all that you have.

Elsewhere with the Hyuga Estate a trio of girls could be found within the garden, two of them doing their best to relax with the scenery. Two of the figures were the Hyuga heiress Hinata, and the sole kunoichi of Team Gai, Tenten. The two of them had ended up spending plenty of time together over the last few days and had bonded yet it had not been over Neji like one would normally believe but due to Naruto. For Hinata it was the crush she had on the boy that she didn't have the courage to even write down in her diary let alone speak on. For Tenten it was something deeper, she had revealed that growing up Naruto had been her best friend and had even gotten her into the academy somehow. However after seeing how he was being treated and by extension how Tenten was being treated had purposely distanced himself from her.

Despite their reasons the two of them worried for the blond who held a special place in each of their hearts. The third person however was none other than Hinata's younger sister Hanabi who had joined them purely out of curiosity. While she had never met the boy listening to them talk she wished she had as he sounded like he'd be fun to be around. Hearing of some of the things that he had done over the years had made the seven year old literally roll over laughing holding her sides and hardly able to breathe she had laughed so hard. From the window of a hall close by Hyuga Hiashi stilled himself quite suddenly and peering out found the sight of his daughters along with his nephews teammate all three girls giggling, though Hanabi was really laughing quite hard. It had been a long time since he'd heard such a sound within the Hyuga compound as due to the traditions of the clan they were viewed as quite stiff especially the elders, in fact he doesn't even remember the last time he himself had heard the sound, maybe seven or eight years previous, his late wife had always managed to get some kind of laughter from Hinata.

As he listened to them tell stories about the boy he had always seen as nothing but a trouble maker he found his own opinion changing and raising for the boy. From what he was hearing everything the boy did he did for others, even if as a consequence it took a negative impact on him. To learn that he had given up his relationship with his oldest friend just so that she would not be denied the education he felt she deserved spoke volumes, though he also made took a mental note to bring up the discrimination shown in the academy. However hearing from Tenten, who'd heard it from Shikamaru, who heard it from Temari of the Sand that it had been the blond that had stopped Shukaku and not the Uchiha as everyone had been made to believe due to Kakashi's report had been an eye opener. Apparently outside of that one time he'd caught the boy Gaara with the Chidori, Uchiha Sasuke had been basically ineffective. This however conflicted with the after action report from Kakashi that Naruto had done nothing but further enrage the boy which resulted in the manifestation of Shukaku. Turning away and now with much to think on and bring to the councils attention he wondered what other lies had been told to make the Uchiha look good.

When Jiraiya entered the room an hour later it was to the blonde up fully coherent and doing pushups already at 150 if his counting was anything to go by. Clearing his throat he saw the blonde look up from his pushups yet not slow in the slightest.

"Well I'd ask how you're holding up but I see you're doing pretty good."

"It's about time you came to see me ero-sennin."

"Damn it gaki how many times do I have to tell you not to call me that. Besides what makes you think I don't have better things to do with my time."

"The fact that you want to take me on a training trip." answered the blonde as he continued his set.

Jiraiya actually blinked in surprise wondering how he had known that tidbit of information.

"Shizune-nee came to see me earlier and told me. Even when my mind isn't in the living world I can still hear everything." revealed the blond.

"So what do you say gaki?" asked the sannin.

"I've got a couple conditions. First I don't want to waste my time I expect actual training no leaving me to rot so you can go peeping." said the blonde standing to his feet.

If Jiraiya had been a lesser man he would have winced. In truth that had been exactly what he had been planning bringing the boy along with him to travel, maybe work on some chakra control so that he could better control the Kyuubi's power. However looking into his eyes he could see that isn't what the blond desired at all, but rather real back breaking training. Mentally apologizing to his legion of fans for the delay in his work he agreed with the stipulation.

"Second I won't allow my career to be stalled. I intend to become a chuunin if not a jounin before we return." said the blonde.

Once again Jiraiya could agree with that. He would have to make arrangements with Tsunade for the boy to take the exams again with his remaining teammate but it could be done.

"Finally our first destination is to be a country of my choosing, Uzu no Kuni to be exact."

"Why the hell would you want to go there, nothing is there?" questioned Jiraiya.

"It doesn't matter." said the blonde causing the Sannin to sigh.

Naruto was thankful he was in such an agreeable mood otherwise he was sure that he'd have been pressed for answers, ones which he wasn't quite ready to give at the moment.

"Alright rest up kid cuz as soon as your cleared we're out of here." said the Sannin before leaping out of the window.

It took a couple of more days before the duo were allowed to make their departure out of the village gates. Though fully healed the council had been adamant about him giving a couple of full reports. They had wanted reports on several of his previous missions including the incident in Nami no Kuni, his actions during the invasion, a lot of which he could tell surprised them, and they had wanted an after action report for his last mission, his first to have ended in failure. He was actually grateful he was still mentally exhausted otherwise he doubted he'd have been able to keep his emotions in check. Unfortunately he still managed to somehow blow his top after several of the council members tried to defend the rogue explaining that the bastard had shoved the chidori through him not once but twice and his reasons for doing so.

Upon hearing this both Tsunade and Jiraiya had been absolutely livid with the Godaime declaring the Uchiha a nuke-nin and ordering all jounin who encountered him to kill him on sight. Furthermore he was to be placed in the bingo book to be captured alive so that she could kill him herself.

He didn't know about anything after that however as she had calmly dismissed him and he for once took a clue and got the hell out of dodge. None of his friends were seeing him off as not only were those he took the mission with still in the hospital and their teammates with them he had neglected rather purposely to tell them he was leaving not even Kakashi or Sakura as in his mind they didn't give a damn about him.

Tsunade and Shizune were the only ones to see them off at the crack of dawn with the women wishing the blond luck in his training and Tsunade threatening to castrate Jiraiya with absolutely no anesthetics if he tried to corrupt him with his perverted ways. The two had only been walking for about fifteen minutes before Jiraiya motioned him to stop.

"Alright gaki now that we've gotten a bit of distance between us and Konoha we can begin your training."

Faster than the blond could blink the man had vanished and the blonde found himself buried face first in the ground as he struggled to pick himself up from off the ground.

"Your first lesson is your speed and strength. While you already pack a pretty decent punch when you connect your speed is severely lacking. That said the seal I just applied has amplified your weight making you fifty pounds heavier than you actually are. Obviously your muscles and bones aren't used to this much weight. This means it will take more of your strength to move however if you force too much you'll break your bones under the pressure. As such you'll need to use your chakra to reinforce your bones and muscles."

Immediately as he said this the blonde tried to do so only to grunt and be forced even deeper into the dirt. Seeing this Jiraiya couldn't help but chuckle much to the blonds annoyance.

"As I was trying to tell you if you use too much chakra you'll increase the weight while too little will do nothing. As such you'll have to use a precise amount, this will help you better learn to control those massive reserves of yours."

With that said Jiraiya sat with his back to a nearby tree while Naruto tried picking himself up out of the dirt. In the next thirty minutes Jiraiya would learn that the blonde could curse rather fluently. Finally even Naruto's rather stubborn pride was forced into submission and he had to calm himself and come to terms with the fact that brute force and power couldn't get him out of his predicament and he would have to do it the normal way which was much too slow for his liking.

Jiraiya was impressed it had only taken the blonde a few more meetings with the ground forced on him before he got the point. After another ten minutes the blonde slowly began to pick himself back up covered in sweat and panting from the exertion. Finally however he managed to climb to his feet staggering for a few moments before managing to stabilize himself.

"Good now that you're done playing in the dirt we can go." said Jiraiya causing the blonde to curse once more.

Walking was something far more than a chore for the blonde with the added weight that had been forced upon him. Of course Jiraiya neglected to inform him that each time he had overloaded the seal he had added an extra ten pounds and considering he'd done it four times total he was walking ninety pounds heavier than he actually was. Jiraiya had to mentally pat himself on the back, by creating this seal he had accomplished several feats at once. He had created a way for the boy to work out without actively training allowing it to happen on the move, he'd come up with a more productive way for the boy to work on his chakra control, and most importantly he had the blonde so focused he couldn't spare the energy to run his yap.

At the same time he would admit that this exercise would go a long way to furthering the boys training. It was his goal to turn the boy into one of if not the fastest shinobi alive. From what he gathered from the boys debriefing he had utterly overwhelmed the Uchiha's Sharingan with his sheer speed before it had evolved and turned the tides of the battle. He had always theorized that sheer speed could negate the evolved levels of the Sharingan but had been unable to test the theory on anything but the initial level. Unfortunately they'd been in the middle of a war the last time he'd thought of the prospect and it had been no time to find a weakness in one of the villages strongest clans. Now however would be the perfect time to prove his theory correct and he would train Naruto to be that proof.

By the time they had called a halt to their travelling Naruto was exhausted. As such Jiraiya took it upon himself to grill up a rabbit he'd caught earlier in the day during their rest period. As it was Naruto had collapsed to the ground as soon as the weight seal was removed covered in sweat from head to toe. As it was he could do nothing but wolf down his serving before tucking in for the night. When he awoke the next morning the blonde was forced almost immediately into warm up exercises. Following the warm ups Jiraiya set to work on the boy's taijutsu which was atrocious to say the least. The boy had no style at all unless someone could call brawling a style, and as one trained by the Sandaime Hokage he could not say that it was.

As he positioned the boy and worked him to correct and clean up his form into something suitable to a budding shinobi he was not surprised to learn that his academy time had been stunted by his teachers. He had suspected as much after just how quickly the brat had grasped the water walking exercise. He knew from Kakashi's own mouth that the man hadn't taught the Uchiha how which meant he had copied it while Naruto was doing it. It showed that Naruto truly had been the strongest on his team yet he could not fault Kakashi for not allowing the boys promotion, while capable especially having defeated Gaara after he had unleashed Shukaku, Naruto still technically wasn't ready. Aside from that many of the council had torn Kakashi a new one due to a number of reports he'd turned in, however he had stated he'd gotten the report for his teams involvement from Sakura and had been surprised to learn she had been knocked unconscious the entire time.

Still the blond picked up quickly on what he needed to do with proper instruction showing that he wasn't the hopeless case he'd been written off as. Finally after nearly two and a half hours the Sannin called a halt to the training and reactivated the boy's weight seal. To his credit the blonde did not immediately hit the ground instead managing to catch himself; despite the sudden increase. Their travel time was quicker than the previous day as Naruto wasn't struggling with each step though it was still a work out for him. This time instead of walking they went at a light jog as he wasn't yet at the level where he could leap through trees with the weight. After a while they slowed into a walk and Jiraiya passed him a book.

His initial reaction upon receiving the thing was to scowl however upon seeing that it was an intro into fuinjutsu, something that did interest him during the academy he bit his cheek and accepted it. By the time mid-day had come they had covered far more distance than that of the day previous and Naruto was so engrossed within the book that he'd have kept going forward if Jiraiya hadn't literally stopped him. Lunch was served quickly as they took the time to rest their feet after the hours of travel. As they finished lunch Jiraiya surprised the boy by releasing the weight seal only to toss him a water balloon already filled and tied up.

"Now that we have time I want you to work on mastering the Rasengan. I've allowed you to get away with using it thus far as we didn't have time for you to truly master it. However at this point while useful you waste far too much chakra creating a clone to do it. You already know what to do so putting all three steps together singlehandedly shouldn't be much of a problem.

Naruto frowned but admitted if only to himself the man was right. He'd seen during his battle with Sasuke how much time he wasted by adding clones, even if it was just a few seconds it was still seconds too long. Jiraiya smirked as in less than fifteen minutes the blond had managed to pop the balloon. He knew using the seal the way he had would help the brat's control, not bad for something he'd created just a few days prior. Not long later they were on the road again this time the journey only taking them about an hour before Naruto stopped the duo having come across a rather familiar sight. For stretching out in front of them was a massive bridge a masterpiece composed of both stone and steel.

"Nami no Kuni?" questioned the blond in surprise.

"Indeed Uzu no Kuni is an island a bit further out. At this point in time the only feasable port capable of taking us there is Nami no Kuni's."

While Jiraiya said this it wasn't the complete truth. They could have gone through Hi no Kuni's port but he was trying to keep the boy from being seen as such Nami's much smaller port was ideal.

"NARUTO-SAMA"

The loud squeal of his name had both looking up and going wide eyed as they finished crossing the bridge as a mob of girls were suddenly rushing towards them. While Naruto's mind had shut down from the sight Jiraiya noticed that the mob was composed of girls from as young as nine and ten years old to young women at perhaps nineteen as such while he was busy laughing at the catatonic blond his mind was already coming up with a basis for his next great work. Finally the blond came back to the living world and gave the girls a smile, however this wasn't his usual smile the sage noticed but one he could tell was less forced and more natural, which caused the girls to swoon some of them even turning red and fainting with smiles on their faces.

"Well look what the wind blew in." came a booming male voice causing the girls to part.

"How you doin' gaki?" questioned a familiar old man.

"I'm good old man. More importantly what's up with all this?" questioned the blonde sparing the girls a look causing them to squeal and Tazuna to laugh.

"The perks of being a national hero gaki. Guys want to be you and girls want to be with you." said Tazuna.

"What are you talking about I spent more time with you than anything else last time I was here and didn't really do much of anything." said the blonde.

"True but you changed Inari kid, inspired him and he in turn inspired the villagers to rise up and stand up for themselves. These girls here were all held captive by the little swine may he burn in hell."

"YEAH" exclaimed the girls as one

"Anyway who's this with you?" questioned Tazuna.

"That's Jiraiya, he's my new sensei." answered Naruto.

"Oh what happened with you team?" questioned Tazuna.

"Team seven was dissolved after Uchiha Sasuke turned traitor and nearly got several of our more prominent genin including the gaki here killed." said Jiraiya speaking up after Naruto's expression turned stony.

"I see. Perhaps we should catch up more at my house I'm sure Tsunami and Inari would be happy to see you." said Tazuna.

"Go ahead gaki I'll see about getting us a boat ride."

"Ask for Toma and let him know I sent ya." said Tazuna before leading the blonde away.

Naruto was thankful when the mob of girls finally left him alone. Not that he didn't like the attention, it was just too much too soon and he wasn't in the right frame of mind for it. There was also the fact that he just wasn't good with girls to consider as well. His greeting by Tsunami and Inari was just what he needed to bring himself out of the funk that thinking of the rogue Uchiha had put him in. Reunited with the small family he regarded them with tales of some of the missions he'd gone on, most notably to them was his mission to Yuki no Kuni.

Upon hearing of what had happened with his team Tsunami had gasped and faster than a civilian should have been able had been able to wrap him in a hug. For a moment the blonde froze as unknown to Tsunami he had never been hugged before however he quickly managed to snap out of it and awkwardly returned the woman's embrace.

Not long later found Naruto and Inari sitting out on the small pier overlooking the water. The two weren't talking much instead merely taking the time to look up at the clouds which Naruto inwardly mused Shikamaru had the right idea doing it so much. Aside from that the blonde felt he was at a crossroads and had felt it for some time. On the one hand he felt the desire to pull his now splintered team back together and let things back to how they were.

On the other hand he knew he had to put it behind him. Truth be told he had never liked or trusted Sasuke since the first time he saw him in the academy. His eyes had held nothing but darkness within them and the desire to engulf himself deeper within that darkness. He had always wondered why it was that only he had been able to see it, or if everyone else simply pretended it wasn't there. He had also promised Sakura he would bring the bastard back. However Sakura had proven she didn't give a damn what happened to him in the effort as even when she came to see him in the hospital it had been all about Sasuke. Truth be told he had his own goals he wanted to accomplish and they had never involved Sasuke.

He wanted to grow stronger and move higher up in the rankings. He wanted to become Hokage like he'd always told everyone he would be. More than that he wanted to surpass the former Hokage's as to him that would be the ultimate form of respect. In a way he was also happy that Kyuubi had informed him he'd no longer be able to rely on its power. He had never wanted to rely on anyone or anything but himself. It had been Jiraiya that had put that idea of using the power in his head and it had never felt right to him. Training seriously with Jiraiya would go a long way to helping him achieve his goals after all the man had been the Yondaime's sensei and the old man's student before that and had been the first choice for Godaime.

Already he could feel that he was getting stronger. It wasn't just the weight seal either. Jiraiya had cleaned up his taijutsu in just a few minutes while Kakashi hadn't even done that. However he had needed to force the man to focus on his training and so made it clear that if his focus slipped he'd be heading back to Konoha before the man even realized he was gone. Looking over at Inari he was happy to see the peaceful expression he now sported as opposed to the permanent scowl and brooding aura he held when they first met. He was actually quite pleased to learn that the boy would soon begin studying carpentry under his grandfather and was now pretty happy with how his life was going.

They had only spent a few hours together catching up when Jiraiya found them. Apparently he had found the man Tazuna had mentioned and they were preparing to head out. Because of this the Sannin had taken it upon himself to stock up on supplies for their time on the island. When Tsunami came out to inform them lunch was ready however the Sannin's jaw literally dropped. Now Jiraiya in his time had met many beautiful women however even Tsunade herself couldn't compare with the woman he saw now.

While Tsunade was one of the world's most beautiful kunoichi she didn't possess the earthly beauty that Tsunami did and the nurturing smile on her face as she regarded the two boys only enhanced that beauty in his eyes. Naruto chuckled at the sight being reminded of the first time Kakashi had laid eyes on the woman as well. After a rather satisfying lunch Naruto reluctantly said his goodbyes to the small family as he and Jiraiya departed. The ship they were taking turns out to be a merchant vessel that was heading out whose captain didn't mind making the detour for the Hero of Wave.

As there was no way to train on the ship Naruto had taken to reading the book on fuinjutsu once more becoming absorbed within the pages. As there was nothing else to do Jiraiya had worked with him on his calligraphy upon which point he was shocked to discover that the blonde could only barely read. While not completely incapable he was still awfully behind the level he should be at so the two worked on that. It was in this time that the blond would discover the secret of Kage Bunshin. Having grown rather bored during his reading he had given the task to a clone to stay there and keep reading it so as to fool Jiraiya while he got a bit of fresh air. It was upon his return dispelling the clone that he had learned he would gain all the memories of his dispelled clones.

With this new bit of information he had created several new overpowered clones and had them head to the nearest island in the small chain near them to work on perfecting the Rasengan. It took nearly five days of travel by sea before the duo of shinobi found themselves standing atop the ship as not far ahead they could all make out a large island in the distance. However between them and the island were a series of whirlpools marking this as the end of the line for the ship.

Thanking the captain and crew for the ride Naruto leapt over the railing so that he was standing on the water with Jiraiya following him not even half a minute later. Breaking off into a run the two left a crew of awed merchants in their wake as they headed towards the first whirlpool. Finally they reached it and Naruto came to an abrupt halt kneeling with his right hand within the water. Within the next two minutes Jiraiya watched surprised as the water slowly stopped churning as the whirlpool faded. Not only that but the ones behind it faded out as well revealing a clear path for them to cross with the two shooting across the water quickly reaching the island just as the whirlpools reformed.

"Alright gaki I think it's time you told me why you wanted to come here." said Jiraiya turning to the blonde.

"How about I show you instead Ero-sennin." said the teen.

Jiraiya scowled at the return of the nickname but figured at least the boy was going back to normal. As they walked off they didn't go anywhere near the center of the island as Jiraiya had thought they would. Instead they wandered off to the left through the jungle until they came to the entrance of a cave. However as they entered Jiraiya was surprised as the blonde lit a flint the spark creating a fire that quickly shot down the wall before arching up and coming back on their other side creating an illuminated path for them to travel.

"What do you know of Uzumaki Mito?"

The question startled Jiraiya as he actually froze and turned to regard his current apprentice who was looking at him with more seriousness than he'd ever seen him express.

"Mito-sama was the wife of the Shodai Hokage and Tsunade's grandmother." said Jiraiya getting a nod from the blonde.

"She was also the first container of the Kyuubi." said Naruto causing Jiraiya to frown as he actually hadn't known that tidbit of information.

"Kyuubi learned many things living within her, one of which was this place. Within this place there is a seal created by the Rikkudo Sennin. Unfortunately none of the Uzumaki ever managed to experience the full affects even Mito-sama wasn't able to but she learned much of her fuinjutsu because of it." explained Naruto.

"Gaki have you ever thought that the fox might be lying to you." said Jiraiya with a serious frown.

"I did. But it would've been counterproductive to me becoming stronger, especially since I can no longer access his chakra." said the blonde

As the boy's last words registered Jiraiya nearly froze. His plan had always been to teach the boy how to utilize the chakra of the Kyubi, it was the only way he could think of to get him to a good level in three years was to use the fox. That meant he'd have to push the boy even harder than he was planning to. Such thoughts were derailed as they entered into a large chamber in the center of which was a seal big enough for even Jiraiya to lay in with room to spare. As he moved to examine it he was surprised to find that he could only barely understand it as the characteristics that made it up were archaic to say the least.

As he stepped back and Naruto stepped forward it began glowing with a soft blue light. After a few moments a portion of the floor dropped and slid away before a reclining chair was lifted up. The chair like the floor was covered in seals which like the others were unable to be made out by Jiraiya. Nonetheless after a bit of prompting by Kyuubi the blonde finally moved to the seat hopping in and laying down.

As he did so the seals on the seat began glowing and after less than a minute his eyes closed and his breathing evened out in sleep.

Blue eyes peered around the land that their owner found himself in. It was a small island consisting of nothing but beach with a rock wall far to his left.

"Heh what's this another soul in this rotten place. Well it's about time!"

At the sound of the voice coming from behind him the blonde spun a kunai quickly flying into his hand only for it to be blocked by a knife.

"Nice reflexes kid. Still you're a while off from being able to get me with your movements."

Looking up at the man Naruto found that like him he had blonde hair only a much darker shade.

"Who are you?" questioned the boy with narrowed eyes.

"Good question, even I have to ask myself that every once in a while. For now you can call me Sixteen." said the man with a rather flippant tone as if it didn't matter.

"Now as for your next question of where we are. This place is what is known as the Black Room or Animus Island. It is a virtual world that I created to hold my consciousness a while back. Now what the animus does is allow you to relive the lives of your ancestors by way of what we call genetic memory." said Sixteen

"I don't understand." said the teen getting the elder to sigh.

"Ok well everyone has DNA that they get from their parents and within those genes are memories. The animus allows you to live them as if they are your own." explained Sixteen.

"Ok so I can live in my parents time?" questioned the blonde teen only for the man to scoff

"That is nothing the animus allows us to live out lives that date far further back than one generation. Seeing as you were allowed this far in you must be really special so let's get started. That white light over there is a portal into the life of your ancestors. Naruto raised an eyebrow but shrugged of his skeptism and entered through the portal for the first of many times and stepping into the shoes of one of his earliest ancestors

Altiar Ibn-La'Ahad

Jiraiya was far passed worried it had been nearly a full eight hours since his newest student had sat within the chair. During this time he'd found some notes that explained what the seals did and how long the Uzumaki usually occupied it. The longest time before Naruto had been four hours.

Thankfully he had picked up a few things by having a medic on his team coming up and as such had been able to tell the boy was for all intents and purpose simply asleep. Before he could fret anymore upon the boy he was sitting up and after a few moments to reorient himself climbing down off the chair. However instead of descending like he thought it would the chair remained where it was as if waiting for the blond to reoccupy it.

They ate in silence with both lost in thought. Naruto was still shocked at the life led by Altair and had only been further shocked by Sixteen's admittance that he had been the first to go so long in one session. Before him the longest anyone had gone was three or four hours before calling it quits. Sixteen had then explained that they would use their common ancestor Altair for him to learn what they were all about. They being an ancient order that the two of them had descended from known as the Assassin Brotherhood.

Through Altair he was learning the tenants of the creed, lessons that through Altair he would keep true to. It was also through Altair that he was learning how to kill. He may not be physically capable like the man but he was definitely ready mentally now. Jiraiya for his part was mentally categorizing the differences he could get from the boy. Sure he hadn't spoken much but that was also a big give in itself. Naruto for all he knew was a talker and it was when he went silent that something was wrong. After a bit of prodding on his part he managed to coax out a reason for the silence in that the boy had learned of the history of a clan he hadn't even put much stock in. However he was still just as eager to learn as he could see from the gleam in his eyes.

Nearly two weeks later found Jiraiya looking up from his latest work as Naruto rose up out of the seat a full four hours earlier than he expected. As he settled on the ground the seat lowered back into the ground and was quickly covered as if it had never even been there. In the time that had passed the two of them had grown closer as the blonde had finally decided to inform the Sannin of what was going on. Learning exactly what the boy was up to while in the seat had thrown the Sannin for a loop. The thought of learning from ones ancestors that had long since passed had never even been dreamed up by him. Obviously however that wasn't true of those who had lived in the past and they had created a means to do just that.

However it had been that which had prompted the Sannin to tell the boy of his parents. Naruto had taken the news surprisingly well though at this point he'd outgrown his previous mentality. He had explained that the reason he hadn't raised the boy himself was that his care had been left in the hands of his parent's friends a move blocked rather quickly by the council who had gone a step further and had all records and assets of the Uzumaki clan seized. Naruto wasn't worried about that at the moment however. Instead he had focused on what he had picked up from his time within the Animus. After his time with Altair had finished Sixteen had placed him with a new person in order to learn the skills he needed by way of what he called the Bleeding Effect. That person had been Ezio Auditore da Frienze, an Italian born noble who would later become Grand Master of the Assassin Order. As he had spent the most time with Ezio he had picked up a rather large amount of things from him.

Then following that he'd been Ratonhnhaketon otherwise known as Connor Kenway an assassin of half Native American and half British descent during the 18th century. Through Connor he would lean to wield several more weapons including the bow, tomahawk, rope darts and firearms. It was through Connor that he would experience the horrors of war and even learned how to operate a ship. Then he had lived several years as Edward Kenway, Connor's grandfather, and Edward had been everything that the other three had not been. Despite their difference the first three had all had something in common purpose, Edward had not. For years Edward had been about one thing, becoming rich and famous, and in the age of pirates had been one of the best however his grandest goal was something that he and Naruto shared, the desire to prove that he was better than anyone thought he could be.

Because of this it was no surprise that his biggest influences were Ezio and Edward. He felt that Altair had been too rigid and Connor too soft. Connor however wasn't one of his direct ancestors in fact his line came from Edwards first child, his daughter Jennifer born of his first wife Caroline. However Sixteen had done a bit of 'tweaking' and allowed him to live as Connor as not only was he family but his data had already been stored in the Animus.

Following this he experienced the end of the world as Desmond Miles arriving just a tad too late to stop the Templars from activating a device that had caused a wave of death to wash over the world. He would learn that over Jennifer's line had gone into hiding and training in secret. Over the years following the destruction of the world by the Templars they had emerged and brought other Assassin family lines together and retreated to their hideout of Great Inagua, the lines eventually merged and they became a clan unto themselves, they became the Uzumaki clan and Great Inagua became Uzu no Kuni.

Finally he found himself back in the shinobi academy as Namikaze Minato during which time he learned everything he hadn't during his own tenure. The difference however was the subject matter as Konoha was still in war time and as such had a more practical drive behind it. After that period it skipped ahead and he would witness the night of his birth from Minato's perspective. He'd witnessed his brief abduction just after being born, the fight that followed the rescue of his mother and even the final moments up to the sealing of the Kyubi before he was pulled out for the final time.

When he shared that story with Jiraiya the told sage seemed to age before his very eyes before revealing that he'd suspected foul play and furthermore he now believed his family had been betrayed. They spent their final night within the cave talking of all he'd learned with the blonde leaving very few details out.

The next morning found the two of them making their way through the once prosperous village that had been Uzushio. The buildings were all still standing even if they were in states of disrepair however there wasn't a single sign of life other than the wild vines growing all over the place. Even still as they walked Naruto could see phantoms all around them fleeing as they were chased down by shinobi bearing hitae-taes for Kiri, Ame and others dressed in leaf ANBU gear with faceless masks. At the back he could see three ghostly figures gazing down on the scene in the distance who's features he immediately memorized.

As they went further he was met with more scenes of the past playing out before his eyes as red haired warriors tried defending their home from the invaders. However eventually the sheer number of invaders began to take hold on the warriors and eventually they were all bleeding out on the ground. Only one survived his long red hair frazzled as he held his sword in hand as he gazed at the sea of corpses surrounding him.

Sheathing his blade the man turned and made his way into a large compound with Naruto leading Jiraiya as his curiosity had him hooked. Following the specter he watched as he leapt over a cliff only for his arms to pull him back and into the entrance of a cave. Naruto followed after the man shocking Jiraiya at the feat before Jiraiya followed after. Eventually the man led them to a large room which was filled with shelves of books, chest full of glittering jewels and in the center within a glass case something that shocked Naruto as he recognized it as an Assassins outfit if slightly modified.

"I don't know if you're seeing this, but something tells me you are. In my life I gathered all of this here for you after a premonition given to me by the preistess of Demon Country. All of the clans collective knowledge and wealth is yours to use at your disposal. I am sorry we could not be there for you in your time of need but know that our clan will always be with you in spirt my grandson. Now then young one; Where other men blindly follow the truth, remember..."

"Nothing is true." said Naruto realizing what was happening.

"Where other men are limited by morality or law, remember..."

"Everything is permitted."

"We work in the dark to serve the light. We are Assassins."

As this was said a seal began to glow before in a puff of smoke appeared what both recognized as a shadow clone. The clone was of course an exact phantom of the man he'd seen with long dark red hair that hung down to the shoulders.

"Uzumaki Genrei" said Jiraiya with a nod of respect.

"Jiraiya-san it truly has been a while since I died. You've aged well."

"You actually managed to figure out how to store a clone for later usage" said the Sannin impressed

"Indeed however I have little time to catch up I will dispel soon." said the clone turning to face Naruto.

"So you are my Kushina's child. I see much potential within you and much pain in your eyes. Alas our time is short, as such there is only one thing left."

So saying he reached and grabbed a pair of metal tongs. as he held it the two watched as the end quickly proceeded to heat up. Knowing the purpose the blonde held up his right hand and neither flinched nor cried out as the metal burned into his ring finger. When the tongs were removed a stylized marking could be seen embedded into the boys flesh. Placing them down the clone picker up a small chest from where he pulled out a bracer with what looked like a hawk flying over the waves of an ocean.

"Your grandmother and mother gave me this on my 32nd birthday, I now gift it to you. It is made from a very special metal we developed which will make it very resistant to damage, shape itself to your arm and even conduct elemental chakra. I'd advise staying on the island for the time being so that you can make use of the library. I personally sealed the contents of the library so all you have to do is see the entrance. As a final secret the Uzumaki clan is not dead, we have survived the ages, and something as lowly as an attack here could not do us in. I had expected treachery and as such many of our clan, including my youngest daughter and your aunt were evacuated. Per my orders they have gone into hiding and only await a signal to return."

With its words spoken the clone dispelled leaving Naruto and Jiraiya alone. Years later in the future when all was said and done, an older Naruto would realize that it was here that, not only did his life change, but it was were his legend would be born.

AN: That's it chapters done. I actually stopped it early mostly because I thought I could use the rest of the original draft in the second chapter. So anyway thanks for reading, and review. Till next time, LATER